Since James Clear's blog is getting shared because it's old (2012), I will share the OG post that kicked off the intermittent fasting trend: Leangains (2010).
Leangains didn't invent IF, but it did inspire more people in the last decade than anything else, including James Clear (it's the first reference he cites in this article).
> the OG post that kicked off the intermittent fasting trend ... 2010
The Warrior Diet book came out in 2001 and it had quite a following in the 2000s. It wasn't exactly IF but it was still focused on eating most of your food once a day in the evening.
I'll admit it's been 15 years since I originally read Warrior Diet, but I thought it advocated a massive salad as the first part of your dinner followed by the protein source? I don't recall much mention of stew in the book, but like I said it's been ages since I read it. Not challenging you. Just curious since it has been so long since I read it and I'm trying to jog my memory.
I think we're both right, because the author recommended what you're saying: eat a big salad first, then try to have your protein source be a stewed meat of some kind so that the nutrients in the meat wouldn't be lost by the cooking process. They would be captured by the water in the stew, and more bio-available because they've been cooked.
Leangains didn't invent IF, but it did inspire more people in the last decade than anything else, including James Clear (it's the first reference he cites in this article).
https://leangains.com/the-leangains-guide/