> Don't mix eating with philosophy,

I think this is kind of a trap. It assumes that there is a default mode under which we're operating, and that something like IF is straying from a natural order.

But you're already obeying a philosophy of eating. The philosophy that you go out and buy things that will likely induce a lot of craving for more, the cultural norm that you will eat at times that are appropriate for the company you work at, etc.

Essentially you are eating by someone else's philosophy.

> which I later figured was probably the body releasing a bunch of hormones or something in response to a sustained unhealthy calorie deficit.

This sounds pseudo-sciency to me.