The Best Times to Eat if You Are Over 50

How meal frequency affects your health: Timing is everything

Debbie Koenig,

AARP

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Published April 07, 2026

split-screen conceptual image illustrating the "start early, end early" eating philosophy. On the left, a plate with a full breakfast is shown under a bright sunny sky with a green checkmark. On the right, a bowl of pretzels is shown under a dark moonlit sky with a red "X," indicating that late-night snacking should be avoided

NOVALUE

AARP (Getty Images,4)

Key takeaways

When you eat appears to matter more than how often, with earlier eating linked to better metabolic health.
Research supports eating a larger breakfast and lunch, then cutting back later in the day, especially as insulin sensitivity declines with age.
Time-restricted eating with a 13- to 14-hour overnight fast has health benefits and is easier for many people to maintain than stricter fasting plans.

Eat six small meals a day. Do intermittent fasting. Skip breakfast. With all this conflicting advice, it’s tempting to just eat whenever it’s convenient. But science says that would be a mistake.

“Think start early, end early,” says Dorothy Sears, a professor in the College of Health Solutions and the John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering at Arizona State University. She’s been studying the links between meal timing and health for years. “That’s a great, simple way of looking at it.”

Timing trumps frequency

The advice to eat six small meals a day took hold toward the end of the 20th century, but research results have been mixed at best. A 2023 review of studies comparing high-frequency (four or more) meals to low-frequency (three or less) meals found no significant difference in their metabolic effects. And one recent study published in the journal Obesity found that eating more often could actually dull your ability to recognize hunger and satiety cues. The time of day you eat is proving to be much more important.

“There’s definitely evidence to say that the earlier you start your eating window, and the earlier you end it, the better,” Sears says. “That makes sense, because we’re better at processing nutrients early in the morning.”

Your body produces hormones according to your circadian rhythm. In the morning, insulin sensitivity and cortisol levels peak, which helps you use the energy in the food you eat. Later in the day, melatonin kicks in. That sleep-friendly hormone interferes with insulin, making your body slower to move glucose out of your bloodstream.

Breakfast: The most important meal of the day

“There’s a ton of evidence to say eat a larger breakfast and lunch, and don’t eat as much later in the day,” says Susan Roberts, senior associate dean of foundational research and a professor at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. “The quality of the breakfast is important, especially as older people tend to have a loss of insulin sensitivity. Eat a moderately low-carb breakfast with some protein and healthy fats.”

The AARP book The Whole Body Reset, based on research conducted on adults age 50 and older, says older people should get 25 to 30 grams of protein with every meal. Americans tend to skimp on protein at breakfast, but research has found that it's better to spread your protein throughout the day.

Skipping breakfast could be harmful to your health. Research has linked it to a higher risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. One review of research with nearly 200,000 participants said those who skipped breakfast had a 32 percent higher risk of all-cause mortality, compared with consistent early eaters.

Getting older makes you more likely to experience those late-start harms. A 2025 study followed nearly 3,000 older adults for several decades. As people aged, they tended to begin and end eating later.

Cancel your bedtime snack

Numerous studies have found that eating too close to bedtime elevates your risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, obesity and being overweight. In one study, participants who ate within two hours of bedtime consumed 235 more calories per day than those who didn’t.

In a 2024 study that followed more than 40,000 participants for eight years, people who ate between 11 p.m. and midnight were more than twice as likely to die from diabetes, compared with folks who stopped eating by 10 p.m.. Those who ate from midnight to 1 a.m. had a 38 percent higher risk of death overall.

Shift workers, who eat and sleep at hours that don’t align with their natural circadian rhythm, are more likely to experience health issues in both their hearts and metabolism. But a recent study found that even with an out-of-sync sleep schedule, eating only during the day — between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. — helped maintain cardiovascular health.

While scientists haven’t pinpointed the why yet (circadian rhythms seem to play a key role), they have noted what time things start to shift. The first tipping point comes distressingly early: 6 p.m.

“But there’s also a tipping point at 8,” Sears says. “In all of our protocols, we say you can stop whenever you want to, but it has to be before 8 p.m.”

Time-restricted eating: The evidence

Scroll around on social media and you’re bound to see an influencer sing the praises of intermittent fasting. The trendy eating pattern has multiple variations, including fasting every other day, fasting two days a week and time-restricted eating. That last one, time-restricted eating, limits the hours in which you eat each day. Not only does this approach to intermittent fasting have some solid research showing it can protect your health as you age; it’s also the easiest to live with.

A 2024 review compared how intermittent fasting — largely time-restricted eating — and calorie restriction affect factors related to aging, such as cardiometabolic health (affecting both the heart and metabolism), cancer and cognitive impairment. It found that while both eating patterns lower your risk of those things, participants were more likely to stick to intermittent fasting.

With time-restricted eating, you might opt to eat for only eight hours a day and fast for the other 16 or follow a 10-hour/14-hour schedule. Both Sears and Roberts recommend against the tighter eight-hour window.

“Is that enough time to get all the nutrients you need?” Roberts asks. “There may be nutrients you don’t know you’re short on, like calcium — until you get diagnosed with osteoporosis.”

Some research suggests eating for only eight hours a day may come with its own risks. In a recent study that followed 20,000 people for eight years, those who fasted for 16 or more hours were more than twice as likely to die from heart disease as those who ate for longer.

On the other hand, studies have found a 14-hour fast boosts cardiometabolic health in people with metabolic syndrome, and it improves energy, mood, hunger and weight.

Sears has done several studies among various populations, including breast cancer survivors, that look at how long you need to fast to see health benefits — and some results can be applied more broadly to people over 50.

When it comes to pairing impact with doability, 13 to 14 hours seems to be the sweet spot. In one study, those who fasted less than 13 hours or more each night had better blood sugar control and slept more hours at night.

A small study looked at time-restricted eating versus exercise. The differences in compliance were eye-opening: 74 percent of participants met the fasting goal of 13 or more hours, but only 40 percent kept up with aerobic exercise — and just 18 percent stuck with strength training.

“People really liked the fasting. They felt like it was something they could do,” Sears says. “We didn’t ask them to change what they ate, only the time.”

Making it work

The beauty of time-restricted eating is that you’re in charge. Nobody’s telling you what to eat — though experts obviously recommend a balanced diet that provides all the nutrients you need. They’re not even telling you when, since you get to choose your eating window. Just remember, research shows the earlier you start (and then stop eating, the better. Try to be done by 8 p.m.

If the thought of fasting makes you nervous, Sears suggests easing into the practice with a 12-hour eating/fasting split. You may not see the metabolic health benefits, but if it cuts off your habit of mindlessly munching after dinner, that’s a great start. You can increase your nightly fasting window gradually up to 14 hours, she adds.

“I think a lot about being a participant,” Sears says. “I don’t ask people to do what I wouldn’t want to do.”

This works for almost everyone, but if you have a health condition like diabetes, ask your doctor or registered dietitian about the best plan for you.

How Much Is Enough?

The obesity rate for people over 60 stands at 43 percent, but up to 30 percent of people over 65 experience a loss of appetite. As you age, eating the right amount can get tricky.

A 2023 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine estimated daily calorie needs based on age, sex, height, weight and activity level. While the exact numbers vary with all those variables, most people aged 50 to 70 need about 200 fewer calories a day than they did in their 30s and 40s. That number drops again once you hit your 70s.

For instance, a 5-foot-4-inch woman who weighs 157 pounds and walks for 60 to 80 minutes a day needs 2,234 daily calories from ages 31 to 50, 2,078 from 51 to 70, and 1,866 when she’s over 70.

Roberts has an easy way to know if you’re hitting the right mark for you: Hop on the scale regularly. If you’re overdoing things, you’ll be able to catch it sooner and adjust your eating. Of course, this works in the opposite direction too.

“That’s another reason to watch the scale,” she says. “Unexplained weight loss is a harbinger of future problems. If you can catch that, you can think about how to eat more.”

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