I think the anti-inflammatory benefits are very real. Digestion is a taxing process, especially so with our modern western diets that are high in protein, sugar, and fat. There are anti-inflammatory diets that might work with similar results, but I imagine fasting is a much more fool-proof way to get the benefits.

The other benefits are more dependent on the individual. Like you, I tend to binge. But I also weigh myself every morning. If my weight is drifting up I find that it is easier to cutback on calories when I am only interacting with food for a limited time during the day. So yeah, it is a bit of a hack, but I think calling it a psychological shortcut sells it short. A typical modern western meal can easily be more than 1000 calories. And in a time when most folks work sedentary jobs, there is really no reason they should be eating 3 square meals a day plus snacks. From a diet perspective, intermittent fasting is basically just getting people to skip one of those meals a day. Maybe a good alternate name would be the '2 square meals diet'.

When I do IF it lowers my blood pressure (the only thing I can easily measure). I am pretty healthy, I cycle reasonably hard for 20 minutes twice a day (to work and back) and often more. I eat fairly well and am not overweight. Without IF my blood pressure hovers around the borderline for hypertension (my family has a history). With IF it drops to healthy levels.

Interesting. Are you controlling properly by measuring blood pressure during the eating window?

Nope, I never thought to. I don't measure on fasting days though, just fairly randomly.