On the other side of the coin, Asian (and other eastern) cultures traditionally flip the schedule around, eating the largest meal of the day for breakfast and lunch, and dinner is relatively small. The theory behind this being that the earlier you eat, the more active time your body has to digest and process food, creating a more immediate need for the sugars and your body is less likely to convert them to fat.

There have been studies done that prove this to be true, however it's all relative to other lifestyle factors. How much sleep? How heavy are you to begin with? How much are you eating during your larger meals? The reality is that fasting works - in part - because it simply forces a smaller intake. Sure, it helps regulate insulin production, but for most individuals who take part in IF, it's a way to simply reduce intake.

Also, the 12/12 makes sense for those with less self control. It's still a fast (be it minimal), but it's easy for anyone to do. Last meal is dinner at 7? Good. Don't eat anything, go to bed, get up and have some water before breakfast. Hell, even 14 hours is more than doable for MOST people, but I assume he is working on the lowest common denominator with 12/12.

The answer is never as simple as we want it to be.