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Today's episode is a special treat—a deep dive into customizing your fasting lifestyle, straight from a recent call within the Reset Academy. Those familiar with "Fast Like a Girl," know the significance of a fasting lifestyle. But what sets it apart is its adaptability to suit your unique needs and routines. Drawing from tools like the ketobiotic and hormone feasting eating styles, along with various fasting lengths, Dr. Mindy empowers you to tailor your approach to match your body's unique rhythm. This episode is your roadmap to crafting a fasting lifestyle that resonates with your body's needs and your lifestyle demands.
To view full show notes, more information on our guests, resources mentioned in the episode, discount codes, transcripts, and more, visit https://drmindypelz.com/ep231
Check out our fasting membership at resetacademy.drmindypelz.com.
Please note our medical disclaimer.
We were taught that doing anything "like a girl" was a weakness. Dr. Mindy Pelz is here to prove it's your greatest strength.
A renowned advocate for women's health, Dr. Mindy is passionately committed to helping women embrace and trust their body's natural healing processes. Drawing on an extensive background in women's health, she's developed groundbreaking, science-backed approaches that help women work with their hormones, not against them, through every stage of life, from cycling to perimenopause to the wisdom of the years beyond.
On Live Like a Girl, Dr. Mindy helps you come home to your own body. Every Monday, she sits down with some of the brightest minds in health and wellness for honest, meaningful conversations that hand you the knowledge, tools, and science to do health your way. No more pushing through, gaslighting yourself, or shrinking to fit. Just permission to live in rhythm with the body you were designed to have and to finally feel at home in it.
Press play, and let's live like a girl.
Dr. Mindy Pelz: On this episode
of The resetter podcast, I am
bringing you a call that I did
for my reset Academy on how do
you customize building a fasting
lifestyle. So those of you that
read fast like a girl, you I had
a whole section in there on what
a fasting lifestyle is. And I am
so dedicated to this fasting
lifestyle, that it's really
important to me, you understand
that it's completely
customizable and completely
personal to your lifestyle. So
my reset Academy, we do several
experiences together every other
month, we do a fat burning
experience. I have coaches in
there that are teaching on all
different types of health
concepts. And one of the most
common questions we get within
our reset Academy is we would
like more information on how do
we customize a fasting lifestyle
to our personal needs. So what
you're about to hear is the best
explanation I could possibly
it's an hour long, I went into a
lot of detail, I gave a lot of
examples, I gave a lot of
concrete principles for you to
follow. And what I'm hoping and
why I wanted to release it with
the resetter podcast is I'm
really hoping you will see a
personalized path for you. And
you will understand that all the
tools that I have taught you in
fast like a girl and here on the
resetter podcast and on my
YouTube channel. They're all
tools. Now your job is to take
these tools and make them
customize them make them
personal to you. This is totally
opposite of what many people
teach. Many doctors, many
nutritionists, many health
influencers say this is the way
and this is the only way and you
follow my way to a tee. I don't
teach like that. I am teaching a
lifestyle that now your job is
to make it unique to you because
your body is not like any other
body on the planet. So when we
look at the tools that I offered
up and fast like a girl like the
Keto biotic eating style, the
hormone feasting meeting style,
the six different length fasts,
how to break a fast, like how do
you take all of that and
customize it to fit your
personal needs? If that has been
a question, this is the episode
for you. And I'm so excited to
bring it to you. So here you go.
If you want to make this a
personal health path, that here
is your answer. Here's your
resource. And as always, I hope
it helps. Welcome to the
resetter podcast, this podcast
is all about empowering you to
believe in yourself. Again, if
you have a passion for learning,
if you're looking to be in
control of your health and take
your power back, this is the
podcast for you.
What I'm looking at this
conversation as is as if I was
personally coaching you, this is
how I would be explaining the
customizing of a fasting window
and an eating window to match
your lifestyle. And honestly, I
think that might be what I love
about fasting the most is it's
customizable. I've sat with
patients that have said, I it's
really important to me to eat
dinner with my family. And we
all get home from the sporting
events. And it's eight o'clock
at night. And that's when I'm
going to eat dinner. So we've
I've learned like, okay, that's
important. That's oxytocin,
that's, it's part of what a
value of you and your family, we
need to make this effortless. So
let's build a fasting lifestyle
around this anchor of sitting at
the family table at eight
o'clock at night. I've had other
people say to me, I work out in
the morning. And I need to
either eat before I work out or
I need to eat right after I work
out. And that's around seven or
eight in the morning. And so
we've customized family life or
fasting lifestyles that will fit
that early morning workout. So
literally you can position this
any way you want to position it
and in fact, I encourage you to
position it for your lifestyle.
And you might even position it
differently every day. If you're
like me where I don't really
have a set routine. And my and
my routines are always changing
so I'm always adapting my
fasting and eating Windows
according to my routine. So I'm
going to go through some basic
principles. And then I'm going
to go through some different
scenarios, I'll use the
scenarios in my own life, I'll
use the scenarios I've been
using in with some of the high
performing clients that that
we've had to really work some
interesting fasting and eating
windows through. To start with,
the way that I look at every
single day is that I have an
eating window, and I have a
fasting window. So the eating
window starts, the minute my
blood sugar goes up. So I'll
give you an example. It's right
now it's what nine o'clock here
in California. I was up early
doing my morning time. And then
I had a call at eight o'clock.
And I had this short little
break before I came to you all,
and I'm hungry. And I'm like,
because I ate a really early
dinner last night I I'm like,
Man, I want breakfast. Like I'm
craving food, I'm craving
breakfast. But I had to come on
a call here with you all. So
instead of like taking a bite of
my Gluten Free bagel that's
waiting for me, I grabbed some
bone broth, because bone broth
will most likely keep me fasted,
I know this from my glucose
monitor. And I saved the bagel
for after this call. Because my
brain was like, Oh, if I even
take a bite of that bagel, I've
now opened up my my eating
window. And if I can wait
another hour, it might be either
hunger goes away. And maybe I'm
not going to open up my eating
window for several hours. Or
maybe you know, my eat, I'll
just open my eating window up an
hour from now. So I'm always
thinking the minute I spike my
blood sugar, the eating window
is now officially open. And I
know because I wear continuous
glucose monitors all the time,
I'm very clear on what will pull
me out of a fasted state and
what doesn't and bone broth
doesn't seem to pull me out, it
seems to actually bring my blood
sugar down. So it was kind of a
good resource at this moment to
be able to curb my hunger while
I maybe wait a couple more hours
before I open my eating window.
So the first thing you want to
every day is when like when I
wake up in the morning, it's
when is that eating window going
to start? Now some mornings, I
wake up, and I'm not hungry at
all. That was actually yesterday
morning. And I had a really big
day, the last couple of days,
I've been doing a lot of YouTube
videos and podcasting and
production work. And I I like my
high performance work to be done
in the fasted state. I do really
well with that. So yesterday, I
didn't open up my eating window
until one o'clock. And then
again, once it opened up, then I
was now in an eating food. So
the first thing to do is to
figure out when's that eating
window for you? And every day it
could change. Now sometimes I do
more of a reverse approach,
which is okay, what is the
healing effect of fasting that I
want? am I wanting to go a
little longer because I want
more autophagy? Do I feel like I
need to reset my gut. If I feel
like I reset my need to reset my
gut, I'll wake up, and I'll be
like, Okay, I'm not hungry. I've
got a busy day, I'd like to
reset my gut, could I go all the
way to dinner, and maybe I'll
just have dinner. So I'm
thinking about my day, the state
I want to be in and the repair
that I would want. So that's
sort of how I decide that eating
window. And to me, the way my
brain visually sees it is it
moves around that eating window
moves around for me, sometimes
the eating window is 10 to five,
sometimes the eating window is
three to eight, like it's but
I'm constantly moving the eating
window around and when I have a
time period where you know, I
want to use fasting as a healing
tool, then I just have to adapt
my eating window. So I think the
first thing to think about is
sort of come at it from the
eating window perspective. And
what when are you opening it up
and when are you closing it
down? And then how many hours
does that leave for fasting? And
is that are those hours enough?
To create the healing effect you
want to create in your body. I
mean that that is like a daily
thing that goes through my head
all the time, the and then, you
know, if like Sunday was Easter,
and it also happened to be my
husband's birthday. And we had a
ton of family here. And so my
brain was like, Well, I know,
I'm gonna have this really big
meal at six o'clock at night,
it's not my preferred time to
have a big meal. But this is
what the family is doing. So I
fasted all the way up until the
big meal, and then we sat down,
and it was quite a meal. It was
like a four hour meal, where we
sat there and ate till 10. And I
just enjoyed this incredible
experience and all the food that
it provided me, but then I knew
that at 10 o'clock, my eating
window had was shut. And so the
next day, I was like, Okay, that
was really late. I think I'm
going to fast, a little longer.
And a Monday, I didn't open my
window up until two or three in
the afternoon. So, play with it.
The first advice I have is on a
daily basis play with that
eating window, where are you
putting it based off of your
needs? The biggest challenge you
have that I see sometimes is if
you have a need for food in the
morning, because it's post
workout. And maybe you have a
social event at night. And so
how do you you're not going to
have a long enough period for a
significant fasting window. So
those are the days you wouldn't
fast. Like there are some days
that you know, I don't fast,
which is is a lot of what I
teach that it's okay to have
days that you don't fast, and
then you would just maybe you
open up your eating window at
seven or eight in the morning.
And you're kind of grazing all
day, and then you close it it
you know, seven or eight at
night, that would not be a
fasting day. So think in terms
of how you move this eating
window around. Now, the second
thing that I think about when I
open up my eating window is what
does my body need? Does it need
a low carb day? Does it need a
high protein day? Does it need
more of the three P's poly
phenyl probiotic prebiotic foods
does does it need more carbs?
Now I base all of that off of
symptoms. So if I feel like I
want to drop weight, I will then
go into a lower carb day. So if
I'm like ooh overdid it a lot,
feeling a little couple extra
pounds, not not feeling good
about that, I will tell myself,
I'm going to shorten my eating
window. And when I eat, it's
going to be meat and vegetables.
And I will stick to it and I
will do no fruits. On those days
that I feel like I need to be
more in a Keto biotic place. And
I need to become more insulin
sensitive, and I need to drop a
few pounds. So on that kind of
day, it's a shorter eating
window. And it's more of the
Keto biotic eating plan. Now for
those of you that have irregular
cycles sit with me, I'm going to
time this we're going to once I
get through these principles,
I'll talk about how you relate
them to an active cycle. For my
postmenopausal women, you don't
really have to do that as much
you can do it a little more
every day, sort of check in with
yourself and see what you're
trying to accomplish. So the
other place that a longer fast,
more keto day, another symptom
that would work now this is a
symptom, I don't get any more,
but I did get and that is hot
flashes. If you are getting hot
flashes, oftentimes that can be
low estrogen like your estrogen
system has completely tanked. So
if you got night sweats that
night, or you had two more hot
flashes during that the days
preceding a longer fast, more
keto, less alcohol, those are
the three cures for hot hot
flashes.
If I have a high performance
day, where I'm like, I need my
brain to be incredibly sharp for
me, then I would do more fasting
and more keto, because that
keeps those ketones coming so
that I can have that mental
clarity. I point that out
because a lot of the symptoms of
perimenopause and menopause is
brain fog. So when brain fog is
high, fast go longer, carbs go
away. And that seems to really
help sharpen my brain for a
performance day where I just
have a ton to do. So that would
be I would organize more of a
Keto day, my hormone feasting
day. These are the foods that I
lean into where I will bring my
carbohydrate load up. And I know
it's time to bring my
carbohydrate load up. When I'm
feeling more anxiety, like
whether it's just random
thoughts of anxiety, or I can't
sit on the couch without
relaxing, or if I have insomnia,
those are signs that potentially
progesterone has gone low. So I
will do if I'm starting to see a
pattern of those kinds of signs,
I do less fasting, and I do more
hormone feasting fits. Hormone
feasting foods, for me is going
to be a lot of squashes, a lot
of fruit, a lot of potatoes, and
maybe some gluten free bread
breads. I am a huge fan of
fermented sourdough bread
because you get that added
probiotic in there. So if I am
going to go into bread, it's
usually I would go in with more
of a fermented bread because
there's some benefit to the My
microbiome. But I lean I will
eat these hormone feasting foods
when I feel those symptoms.
Again, I just want to remind
you, that is through the lens of
a postmenopausal woman. In my
Peri menopausal years, I started
noticing that if I did longer
fasts, and did more keto biotic
days, that I would find I
started spotting, because you
know, you'd have in your Peri
menopausal years, you can go 60
days without a period, I would
start to see that I was spotting
a lot. And if I was starting to
spot a lot that was assigned
progesterone was trying to build
in order to be able to shed the
uterine lining. So I needed to
bring glucose up and fast less,
so that I can give progesterone
what she needed, so that I can
have a full period. So you can
either use your symptoms, or you
can, you know, you can look at
like what your hormonal needs
might be. And I and as opposed
menopausal women, it's usually
my symptoms, because that's all
I have to go off of right now.
Or I'll follow the moon cycle,
which we'll talk about here in a
second. So, again, I want to
recap that you're picking your
eating window based off of what
your day looks like. So you're
gonna move that eating a window,
according to are you sitting
down to dinner with the family?
Do you need to be able to eat
breakfast, or eat around a
workout. Or maybe it's a busy
day, and you like having
ketones, fuel your brain so that
you can function at your best.
That's how you're picking where
that eating window goes. And
that eating window, it's okay to
change it every single day. Now,
the and then you're looking at
the length of your eating window
is really determined based off
of how long you want to fast. So
if you feel like you need to
detox, then you need to at least
get to 17 hours of fasting,
which would leave you with a
seven hour eating window. So you
would just take that seven hour
eating window and you would move
it around according to where you
want to put your food that day.
So it makes sense. And then if
you wanted a gut reset, you
would have one meal a day. Now
where's that meal gonna go? You
just need at least have 24 hours
without food and then you put
the meal in. So I hope you're
gathering that you can move your
eating window very freely. And I
experiment all the time. So
lately I've been really
experimenting with the eating
window being in the daylight. I
am absolutely finding that if I
keep my eating window in the
daylight that I tend to sleep
better and I tend to stay the
weight that I want to stay. If
you're not familiar with that
concept that is based off of
melatonin when we when it's dark
out melatonin is high. When
melatonin is high you are more
insulin resistant. So eating
your meal You're in the daylight
when melatonin isn't around,
allows your cells to be more
insulin sensitive so they can
take in that glucose. Now,
obviously, the example I gave
you about Easter doesn't work,
because I ate in the dark. But
that was an unusual situation.
But what I'm trying to show you
and I hope hope hope this is
coming across is that you have
flexibility in this eating
window and the length of your
fasting window. That's what
makes this so easy to stick with
over time. Because you get to
create the length of your
fasting all at whatever you're
trying to do, and you get to
move the eating window around.
So Jesse Itzler is this really
fun, beautiful human. He is what
started off as a rapper, he had
a rap song that the New York
Knicks used as their as their
their theme song. And then he
became a serial entrepreneur,
Marquis Jet, yo, he was co owner
of that, and Zico, coconut
water, and he's now part owner
of the Atlanta Hawks. And he
happens to be married to one of
my heroes, Sara Blakely, who
started Spanx. So Jessie heard
me on a podcast and got really
fascinated about this fasting
thing. And so he brought me on,
or asked for a consult with me.
And we worked together for about
a year customizing all of his
eating windows around his family
meals and his workouts. And they
constantly changed, the eating
window constantly changed based
off of if he was literally about
to do 100 mile endurance race,
if he was training for one of
those. Or if he was on going on
vacation with the family. He
then invited me in to a
mentorship group, where he was
he has all these high performing
entrepreneurs have these really
crazy lifestyles, and my job to
that for this group is we would
pop on a call, and for a month,
I would create a fasting plan
for them. And it was always
based off of what their work
schedule was, what their
priorities with their family
was, what their workout schedule
was, and, and how we could vary
that in a week's time. So it's
really just about moving the
eating window around to match
your, what you're trying when
you're trying to eat with loved
ones, or what you need to eat
according to your workouts or
what kind of performance state
you're at. So I hope, I hope
that makes sense. Because it's a
moving target that you get to
myth, if you are postmenopausal.
This is where we have a lot of
freedom, because we don't really
have a cycle that we're matching
it to. So I like to use my
symptoms, like I explained to
you, I like to use my symptoms,
so that I can sort of say check
in with my body every morning
and be like, what do you need?
And sometimes, I don't really
get a clear answer, like my
body's like, I feel good. So
then if that's the answer, I
asked myself, have I done too
many keto days? Have I eaten
enough carbs? What Foods haven't
I eaten? Do I need to open the
diversification of my foods? So
I'm constantly adapting to what
my body needs or what my
lifestyle demands. That's if
you're postmenopausal. If you
have a menstrual cycle, we have
more boundaries. So your eating
window can be shorter. From day
one to day 10.
Day one is the day you bleed. So
from day one to day 10. If
you're trying to lose weight, if
you're Peri menopausal, and you
want to clean up the hot flash
situation or you have brain fog,
or you have big high performance
moments. Then you're going to
lean into a shorter eating
window leaving a longer fasting
time. And you're going to want
to eat more keto biotic, that is
your performance state combo.
But if you have a menstrual
cycle, you can only do it from
day one to day 10. And then
after ovulation Day 16 Today
night 10. So you have about half
of the month to lean into those
those that setuptools If you
look at it, if you're trying to
lose weight, you literally have
half the month that your
hormones will be okay going into
these more cortisol rich
experiences, which, you know, a
longer fast creates a higher
cortisol spike, estrogen doesn't
mind that as much. And you can
go into keto, so that you can
lose more weight, you can have
more ketones for better, better
mental clarity, you've got half
of a month to be able to lean
into that tool. The challenge we
had as women, was that we were
doing once Kido came out or in
fasting came out, women were so
excited. I mean, everybody was
so excited about the energy it
gave us and the mental focus it
gave us and the ability to drop
weight that we were able to get
from it. But then when women
were doing it all month long,
they started to see that it was
at the expense of another key
hormone, which is progesterone.
So just to be clear, although
estrogen and progesterone are
both considered sex hormones,
they require very different
lifestyle tools. And so when we
do a restrictive diet, when we
go, we get addicted to one meal
a day, or we love fasting, and
we're like, I gotta just do this
all the time. We are doing it at
the expense of progesterone. She
does not like that. So if I want
to lose weight, I am going to
use day one to day 10 of my
menstrual cycle, and day 16 To
day 19 of my menstrual cycle to
fast longer and to do keto
longer. That's how I map that.
And now I mind in the principles
of, of estrogen. When we go into
the ovulation window, which is
Day 11 Today 15. So day 10 Is
this weird day, it's a
transition day, it's like a day
your you know, your body's
getting ready for ovulation. Now
we have a really different
scenario going on in that window
in that time period, because
estrogens at her peak,
testosterone comes roaring in
and you get a little bit of
progesterone. For the
experienced faster, you can get
away with like a 15 hour fast. I
think a 15 hour fast is really
good in that little window
period. If you don't want to
fast you're fine not fasting. If
you want to fast, even lower
like a 13 hour fast, you're
fine. But when you open up your
eating window during ovulation,
it is massively important to
lean in to more of what I call
nature's carbs. And nature's
carbs are basically anything
that has been grown on a tree or
come out of the ground and
didn't require any alteration.
So like you could say wheat is a
nature's carb. But most people
don't just take a wheat wheat
stock and eat it. It has to be
milled and refined in order to
be put into a flower so that we
can make a bread and so now it's
a man made carb. To me nature's
carbs are like fruit, potatoes,
you know, all the vegetables
that came out of the earth and
were instantly ready for me to
eat them. When you're in that
ovulation window, you're eating
those nature's carbs are really
important because they have a
ton of fiber in them. And you
need fiber to be able to feed
the bacteria in your gut that
break down your hormones. Your
hormones have to be what we call
metabolized. metabolized is
where you take a hormone that's
been produced, and you make it
usable for the cells. It's very
much like if you have to export
a document to be able to email
it to somebody, you have to
change the format of that
document so that it can be sent
as an email. So the same thing
during ovulation. You have all
of these hormones surging in and
so you need to step out of keto,
you need to go into these
hormone feasting foods you need
to eat more carbs so that you
can feed your gut so that you
are able to breathe Take these
hormones down so they're usable
to your cells. So I like to use
ovulation for a lot of fiber
fueled meals, you can still
fast, it just has to be a little
shorter because progesterone is
around, she's hanging around.
And progesterone doesn't like
when we fast longer when you
come out of ovulation, now all
your hormones drop, and you are
able to go into a shorter eating
window and a longer fasting
window. But that's another
point. Like you have a dip, you
can go into the fasting as your
tool and a shorter eating
window. When we hit day 20 day
19 day 20. I know I'm not trying
to be vague. It's just
everybody's a little different.
But around day 19 day 20, we
need to step out of fasting
because this is progesterone is
moment she is needs to peak, you
have to have a high amount of
progesterone in order for your
uterine lining to shut. If you
don't hit just like estrogen
during ovulation, she has to
peak in order for an egg to be
released. Starting day 1920
progesterone has to peak in
order for that uterine lining to
shed that's what will trigger
the uterine lining to shed and
for you to bleed as progesterone
hits a peak. So we need more
carbs, less stress, less
fasting. So you could customize
your fasting lifestyle, but
through your menstrual cycle,
following those guidelines,
that's what fast like a girl was
all about. Now, the good news is
that I have a sequel coming out
called eat like a girl. And that
sequel is all about the eating
window. What do we look at
according to the menstrual
cycle, and my menopausal
friends? I heard your cries of
like more postmenopausal
information. So there's a ton.
There's a whole chapter
dedicated to you. There's a ton
of information in there about
how we eat to help our post
menopausal symptoms, and how do
we eat when we don't have a
cycle. So I've got you covered
there. But what I want you to
think of and what I when we're
customizing a fasting lifestyle,
I really want you to think about
moving this eating window around
according to your lifestyle
demands, according to what
you're trying to accomplish with
your body and according to where
you are with within your
menstrual cycle, or what your
hormonal needs are. So it's
movable. Does that make sense?
Now what I can totally do is
sort of
I'll give you you know what I'm
going to do, I'm going to give
you Lisa billion's plan that I
customized for her last week,
because she's been very public
about the work we're doing
together. So, Lisa, Bill, you is
the podcast host for women of
impact. I highly recommend you
follow this badass woman. She is
incredible. She is a high
performer. She was the founder
of Quest Nutrition. She sold
that company about five to seven
years ago. And she now has this
amazing podcast that is all
built around empowering women.
And she had last week, a really
busy week. So she literally sent
me her calendar. And we built a
fasting lifestyle around her
demands that week. And I'm going
to give you some of the
highlights that I created for
her that you might find
necessary for your fasting
lifestyle. And you're going to
see if you're like I'm so
confused. We took the demands of
her life. And we customized
eating windows and fasting or
windows around what her life
demanded. And when she needed to
be in a performance state. So it
started on a Sunday. She was
flying from LA to New York on on
Sunday, but her flight was at
like 11 or 12 California time.
So I would have told her to fast
all day long. A lot of times my
travel days are fasting days.
And this is a really important
note. When you go up in an
airplane, your digestion shuts
down. That that pressure change
causes a change to your
digestion. And so the best thing
you can do when you fly is to
not eat a meal two hours before
the flight or just to fast all
day. One trick I've been doing
lately is bringing bone broth
protein powder on a flight with
me. And then I just asked for
hot water. And I'll just do
drink boat bone broth while I'm
on the flight. Now, Lisa, we had
seen some days, she's very thin.
And we had seen some days when
she fast all day that she went
into a really cortisol saturated
anxiety state and her blood
sugar dropped. We had already
experimented with that two weeks
earlier. I didn't want to
reproduce that. So I told her to
get up that morning and eat
breakfast just make sure the
that and have a big breakfast, a
carb rich breakfast a protein
rich breakfast, two hours, make
sure it was two hours before she
got on the flight. By the way,
another fun hack is she's in her
mid 40s. She built this badass
company that was a lot of
stress. And so both myself and
she had just interviewed Dr.
Daniel, amen on her podcast. And
he told her that he just doesn't
fly red eyes anymore. Because
he's like, I'm too old and I
care too much about my sleep.
And I want to protect my brain.
I don't do red eyes. So she was
used to doing red eyes because
they're very time efficient. And
I told her no, we're trying to
get you out of dysregulation
with your nervous system. I
agree with Dr. Amen. No red
eyes. So she took this flight
right smack in the middle of the
day, which was great for her
nervous system, but it created a
bit of a challenge for her food
system. So her biggest meal that
day was breakfast. Then she got
to New York. And the plan was
for her to do bone broth. But
she messaged me and she's like
I'm here. It's eight o'clock at
night. She had a big day of
interviewing, she was
interviewing the next day, Mel
be the Spice Girl. And she was
really excited about it. And I
had already witnessed that she
needs to be fueled before a high
performance state. So I needed
to get some food in her. So I
told her at eight o'clock at
night, here's what I would tell
you is eat some protein, because
protein is going to stabilize
your blood sugar. So she had
taken some paleo Valley beef
sticks. And when she got to her
hotel, she had a bunch of beef
sticks and some bone broth
protein and went to bed. So now
she had amino acids in her. We
had stabilized her blood sugar.
She woke up the next morning her
interview with Melby was that
two or three in the afternoon.
So I had her eat breakfast and
eat like a couple of good meals
before the interview. They were
more keto biotic, we didn't go
into carbs. We did more protein,
more vegetables so she could be
in a performance state at two
o'clock in the afternoon. Then
she came out of that by the time
she was done. It was six o'clock
at night. And for recovery, we
went back in to more protein,
same kind of meal that she had
that night. Now, Tuesday, she
got up early and flew home. So
there was no breakfast. But now
by the time she got home, I was
like we got to get some carbs in
you. You've done a lot of
protein and a lot of fasting. We
need some carbs. So I told her
when she got home to eat a carb
rich meal that night so we can
bring the carbs back in. And
then Wednesday, she had another
day where she was had a couple
of podcasts. So I kept her
fasted that day. But I had her
do a bone broth fast so she
could keep her blood sugar up,
and that it was easy for her as
she was going through her
podcasting day. And then the
following day, now she had a
little more free time. So we
went a little more into carbs
because carbs can sometimes tank
your your energy. We hoped we'd
create a longer eating window.
And then the next day was her
husband's birthday. And I Mike
you got to do whatever is right
you eat to celebrate his
birthday, like let's not have a
rule around it. So I tell you
all this to say we had to build
fasting around the flight. We
had to keep her food in more of
a Keto state built around
performance. And we had to find
pockets that fit where I could
Bring some carbs in, and some
more diversity of foods. So we
she was well, that everything
was she had enough nutrients to
be able to keep her blood sugar
at a high level. So I if you if
I completely lost you no
problem, I just want you to know
that the name of the game was we
created variety around the ever
changes changing the cadence of
her schedule, and you can do the
same. If you have more of a
routine, it's much easier. If
you have like an exercise
routine, you have like a a
workout routine much easier.
Like you get up in the morning,
your fasting window may be
always in the morning, you like
like when I'm when I'm not
traveling, I like to work out 11
o'clock. So I and I like to work
out in a fasted state. So when I
work out, I I'll you know, I'll
do some aminos I'll do maybe
some collagen powder, I'll go
work out and then the minute I
come home, I open up my eating
window. And now I lean in to
more fit. So I'm just sort of
showing you the flexibility of
this moving target, believe me,
it would be a lot easier for me
to just tell you, here's when
your eating window opens up
every day, here's when it closes
down, here's the food you're
going to eat, it's so much
easier to tell you that. But we
all have these sort of
lifestyles that tend to change.
And so we need to have our food
patterns change with it. And
then we have to change with our
hormones. So again, I hope, I
hope that makes sense. Another
eating window that I did for
years or eating variation that I
did for years in my clinic was
around high performing athletes.
And what I did is we looked at
the days that they did not these
athletes did not work out as
rigorous. And those were our
longer fasting days. So I used
the days with less training as
longer fasting. And I use the
days so that we could stimulate
them. By the way, there was a
reason for this. The reason was
to be able to stimulate the
release of stored glucose in
their muscles, so that we can
make sure that those muscles
stayed insulin sensitive. So
that when they did eat, the
muscles, were grabbing the
nutrients that were grabbing the
glucose so they could be ready
for a performance state. Then on
the days that they were training
harder, or they were lifting
more weights, we didn't fast as
much, we actually leaned into
more protein.
So I used recovery days, and
less working out for more
fasting, and I use the harder
fitness days for more eating and
more food. So it changed
according to that. So again, I'm
hoping that you're seeing that
there's flexibility in all of
this. And and I'm not trying to
confuse you, I'm trying to help
you find your pattern. I'm a
huge believer in a couple of
principles that will tell you if
you nailed your eating and
fasting windows. So the first
thing is, I really want you to
understand this concept called N
of one and I talk about it a lot
here in the reset Academy. I
write I have a big section on it
in eat like a girl so you can
understand it. When we look at a
science article or add a study
the n equals how many people
were in the study. So well,
let's use my favorite study to
break apart that horrible not a
study but pretended to be a
study that came out saying that
91% increase in cardiovascular
event, if you intermittent fast.
Just so we're all clear. That
was not a peer reviewed study.
But when I first saw that
statistic come out, my brain was
like this makes no sense because
I've spent the last decade of my
life looking at fasting
research. And over and over and
over again. I am seeing the
exact opposite of what this
study is saying. I am seeing
that people who intermittent
fast that they actually really
help improve their blood
pressure, their cholesterol,
their liver enzymes, their belly
fat, all the things that are
predictors for a cardiovascular
event. So I was massively
suspicious from the 91%
statistic. But the next thing I
went and did is I looked at how
many people they studied. And it
was impressive. I'm not gonna
lie, it was over 20,000 people.
So the end was 20,000 people. So
then my brain went, like, how
were they able to do that? Like,
how do they? What did that how I
mean, being able to put 20,000
people in a study setting is
almost near impossible, like you
just don't see ends of 20,000.
And that's when the study
started to fall apart. And just
so we're clear, because this has
been a thorn in my side over the
last couple of weeks, because,
unfortunately, we have lost some
people who have got had great
results with fasting to a
sensational headline. And we
have spouses that are concerned
friends that are concerned that
their loved ones are fasting,
and is going to create a
cardiovascular event. So where
the fun study fell apart, is
they looked at these 20,000
people over many years. And they
had them report in two days, out
of many years, they had to call
in an answer some questions. And
one of those questions was, do
you intermittent fast. And the
people who say yes, all got put
in a separate grip, to be
analyzed. Now within that group,
just so we're clear, 27% of that
group smoked. So they didn't,
which probably was part of the
huge reason for the
cardiovascular event, and
calling in, what they realized
is people don't really remember
their food choices, and they
don't remember their, their
fasting windows. And as you all
are learning, intermittent
fasting is a different phrase to
different people. So if somebody
says, Do you intermittent fast,
one person might be like, Yeah,
I only have fruit juice in the
morning. And I don't eat a meal
until noon, that's not
intermittent fasting. They
didn't vet this group for what
they were doing in their eating
window, or in their fasting
window. And then the second part
of that is they didn't ask them
what they ate in their eating
window. So this is why it is a
bogus study. But I tell you all
this, to say that the N group
was really big, what I'm going
to ask you to do is to be an n
of one, where the only person
that matters, in your fasting
lifestyle is you. And what works
for you. One of the biggest
challenges we have around
science is that you take people,
if you even if you're even
looking at people and not mice,
and you put them in a very
controlled environment, and you
try to take as many variables
out of the equation as possible.
That's not how we live. That's
in opposition of everything I
just taught you, which was this
fasting, lifestyle is flexible,
and it can work to your
lifestyle. So you customize it,
you change that eating window
based off of the demands of your
family, the demands of work, and
what you're trying to do with
your health. And keep in mind
your hormonal symptoms, or where
you are in your menstrual cycle.
You could never study that.
Like, it's got a lot of
variables in it, which means the
only person that matters in this
moment is you and making sure
that you are fitting this to
your needs. So yes, it's
confusing when I when I teach
it. But the more you listen to
it, the more curious you are,
the more you play with these
principles. The the easier this
becomes. My experience is when
we take ownership back of our
health and our lifestyle and
say, I'm going to make this
thing work for me and the
demands of my life. That it
becomes effortless over time to
stick to it. How many diets have
we gone on where we're like, I'm
done carrying extra weight and
I'm done feeling horrible. And
my friend went on the X, Y and Z
diet and she lost 30 pounds so
I'm going to do what she did.
And we go on that diet. And
either we get a result. And then
over time, we're like, this is
really hard. It's a lot of
discipline, and I'm not able to
eat with my family and, and I'm
finding that like, like, this is
actually how I feel about
protein right now. I love that
we're bringing protein into the
conversation. I love that we
have a marker now one gram of
protein for every pound of ideal
body weight, I love that. But
how many of us are discovering
that over time, keeping that
focus on protein is exhausting
and hard. And on a busy day, I
get to the end of the day, and
I'm like, oh, man, I forgot my
protein. So we have to find our
own natural rhythm with protein
intake. So we can keep protein
in the diet conversation for the
long haul. Because the principle
is good. And the principle is
not going away. But there's no
way I don't think unless you're
a fitness bodybuilder who has
really got your, your body at
the forefront of every single
part of your day. I don't think
it's it's an easy eating style
to to stick to over time. If you
give yourself permission in a
fasting lifestyle, to flex in
and out of high carb, low carb,
high protein, Oops, didn't
wasn't able to do a lot of
protein today. Long, fast,
short, fast, and you look at
them as tools you're going to
use to build yourself a healthy
lifestyle, it will get easier
over time, and it becomes
effortless. But the minute we
start to do it, like our friend
did it the minute we go into
rigidity over time, the whole
all of what I'm saying falls
apart. And we can't sustain it.
And this lifestyle when we use
the put our n of one glasses on,
and we take these principles and
we look at them like tools, and
we customize them for our needs
and our lifestyle. They become
easier and easier and easier.
What I had this amazing dinner
on Easter, we had some great
wine, oh my god, this place had
gluten free sourdough bread. I
was like, I'm normally the
person that's like put the don't
even bring me the bread basket
at a restaurant. This one, I was
like, keep bringing me the bread
basket. I had dessert. This is
not a normal thing that I
typically lean into. But I was
in celebration with my family.
And in that moment that I have a
foodie family. We love food. In
fact, our son right now is is
training to be a chef.
And so the food experience is
important to the family
experience. So I went into it
without any guilt. And then I
the next day was like, Okay,
what tools do I have here? I'd
like to fast a little longer.
I'd like to sharpen my brain.
I'd like a little bit of a
recovery from that meal. Now I'm
going to go into more keto. If
that makes sense. Is that
helpful. So in fastonic, a girl
what I tried to do is give you
some protocols. So if you have
an autoimmune condition, if you
have a thyroid problem, if
you're trying to get pregnant, I
just was on a call with a client
who is wanting to become insulin
sensitive before she got
pregnant. And so we've spent the
last three to four months really
working on that insulin
sensitivity longer fast, more
keto. And now we're at the month
she's going to try to get
pregnant. And so the whole thing
changed. Because now her target
is different. I think we should
should do this with every eating
style. We do it with working out
anybody who's serious about
working out doesn't do the same
workout over and over and over
again because we get less of a
result we're constantly changing
the workout to meet what we're
what we want to accomplish in
our body your fasting and your
should be the same fasting
window eating window timing, how
am I mapping those and what food
style do I need? But I really
want you to see that there's
freedom in this lifestyle. And
this is why I you know, we in
full transparency, like fast
like a girl is doing better than
anybody thought. Especially me
like I was blown away like I
just wrote a book because I
really wanted women to have
another resource and what I'm
discovering in over 4000 reviews
on an Amazon is that women are
finally finding a lifestyle that
they can stick to. And it's
because it's so customizable. So
if you're one of those women
that you like the rigidity you
like the structure, okay? Well,
we in fast like a girl, I gave
you a 30 day reset in there, you
can, you can use that structure
and kind of start there. I in
the back of the book, I gave you
weekly structures that are
mapped over like eight to 12
weeks. So if you have a
condition, you can lean into
that and use that. But
ultimately, I think those are
training wheels. And that you
should start to like this should
start to become an effortless
experience. So I just really,
it's it's, I think the hardest
part for people is when we go on
a diet, it has a lot of rules.
And it has a lot of rigidity.
But this is why the diet culture
doesn't work. And so this is why
I call it a lifestyle. To me a
lifestyle is something that's
adaptable, and that's what a
fasting lifestyle is. And then
the last thing that I want to
say is really be curious about
what your body needs. Because
you can't mess this up. So if
you have a day that you're like,
get to the end of the day, and
you're like, Okay, well, I tried
a longer fasting window, and
then I opened up my eating
window. And the next thing you
know, I ate the whole house.
Okay, well, that was a good
experiment. Like, maybe we need
to have like that first meal.
And I have a whole chapter
called The first meal matters
and eat like a girl. But maybe
that and I had a whole chapter
called breaking the fast and
fast like a girl, maybe that
first meal, you just need to
focus on that first meal, the
next time you go into longer
fast. As opposed to what we used
to do, when we would go in to a
diet is we would mess up, and
then we ridicule ourselves, I
messed that up, it was doing so
well and I messed it up. And now
I'm really mad at myself. And
then the next day, you're
holding on to guilt and shame.
And you're beating yourself up,
and you're feeling bad. And all
of a sudden your favorite food
comes in front of you and you
have it, you eat horribly again.
And now that second day, you're
like No, like two days in a row.
I've messed up. If you do that,
in enough days in a row, you
just go, I give up. I'm going to
ask you to stop that behavior
that play with these tools play
with the fasting window and the
eating window. Play with them.
What are you breaking your fast
with? What diet? Are you leaning
into play with these tools. And
if you get to the end of the
day, and you're like, well, that
tool didn't work for me because
at three o'clock, my energy
crashed, or you do three or four
days of hormone feasting foods
in a row. And you're like I'm
gaining weight. Okay, well now
lean into the next tool, which
is keto and a longer fast. But
don't beat yourself up because
the minute that the mind starts
to go after itself. Now we're
back into the arms of the
western standard diet. And once
you have given up, and you're
not in this fasting lifestyle,
and you're just eating what's in
front of you, or you're just
eating what your tastebuds tell
you to do, or you're just going
into the market, and eating
whatever you used to eat, you're
dead in the water. And I can't
say this enough, but we we
literally now live in a time
that if you are mindlessly
eating, you are putting yourself
in the category of building
chronic disease. We have
chemicals in our food that are
called obesogens that are
triggering stem cells to become
fat cells and are known
endocrine disruptors that are
throwing all of your hormones
off. So if we are not
intentionally eating and
intentionally thinking about
when we fast or when we don't
fast, you are in the lane of
chronic disease. This is why we
have to have a lifestyle that
gets easier with time. And the
only one that I know when it
comes to eating and it comes to
when to eat and what to eat is a
fasting lifestyle. It mean you
might know another one you can
let me know. But it's it's our
door out of this chronic disease
our door out is not ozempic
Because what happens when you
stop ozempic Like where are you
going from there? And if you're
on ozempic, then this fasting
lifestyle is even more important
because the path off of ozempic
is a fasting lifestyle. So I,
and I've tried to disprove this,
and I can't I'm here I sit a
decade later, after studying
this fasting lifestyle and how
it fits to the feminine body, I
am more convinced than ever
before, that this is our way out
of the horrific food culture
that we are living in. So I hope
that helps. I really like my
biggest concern is that the
information will overwhelm, and
so you shut down. So go back,
really listen to this, and be
curious about this beautiful
body you get to live in. And if
you have a day where you're
fasting and food didn't work for
you, then that then it's just
data, just that, Okay, that
didn't work today. I'm going to
do it differently tomorrow. And
I have a lot of tools and a lot
of ways I can do it different.
Okay. So I really hope that
helps I try when I give
confusing information, I try to
come at it from different
directions, knowing that some of
you are going to hear this very
differently. I also know that
some of us are auditory
learners, some of us need the
visual, I'm a visual learner.
And some of us need the
experience of it, which is why
the reset Academy was created so
we could experience this. So
please, please stick with that.
Don't give up on it because I
again, I'm more convinced than
ever, that this is our way out
of chronic disease. Thank you so
much for joining me in today's
episode. I love bringing
thoughtful discussions about all
things health to you. If you
enjoyed it, we'd love to know
about it. So please leave us a
review, share it with your
friends and let me know what
your biggest takeaway is.