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Losing weight should't be expensive or complicated. The ideal process would reduce our stress while driving results. Dr. Z weaves together his perspective on physical and mental health and the powerful way that fasting can connect these two spheres of our lives. Let's move toward total wellness and a holistic vision of health and healing. Learn more at SimpleFasting.com
Welcome to fasting space.
So nice to have you here. I'm doctor Z.
And if you are looking for a call
settled space
to grab a coffee or tea,
have a little chat then.
You are in the right place.
Chat a little health and wellness.
Some weight loss and metabolism.
Some life in the reality
we are experiencing.
This is the idea. So.
Fasting space.
This session to me is like a mirror
fasting space in the body.
My favorite medical concept
that I've come across in medicine and.
I think the reason for that is that,
as far upstream as we can get
of everything,
fasting space,
not the only thing that does that,
but it's one tool in the toolkit.
I always say probably the most neglected.
So many wonderful health experiences,
practices that we can pursue
on in our life, on our journey,
as we're trying to take care of ourselves
in each other.
And I try to touch on all of those
moving our body in the healthiest ways,
eating the healthiest food,
getting our mindset into the most calm,
centered, and powerful space.
I love all that.
And then to me, a fasting space.
It's like the glue that ties
all these things together because,
it's the exact
other end of the spectrum
from so much of what
society is saying
more and bigger
and better and consuming more.
And even in the weight loss space.
So many people saying
you've got to eat more to lose weight.
And this is something
that, has always bothered me
as just, violating a little bit
of common sense.
And has created a scenario,
modern nutrition advice.
I'd love to have some disagreeing
nutritionists
and, you know,
come on and let's have a chat.
I'm a very, very, I think, hopefully
respectful interviewer.
I'd love to have more discussions.
I've given talks in rooms
full of nutritionists,
and where it's been about 6040,
maybe 7030 a majority,
but not overwhelming
who think I don't like what you're saying.
Fasting is not what we do.
We tell people to eat more,
to lose weight and more frequently.
And then there's the other side of the room that is kind of saying like, you know.
Let's
just have a calm, quiet discussion here.
This is what I'm liking in the vibe
today.
Let's just think a little bit here.
Some things we're trying to find truth.
You know, truth in the body.
Truth in life,
fasting space.
Look where we are.
Calm and quiet.
Such a simple little thing.
Very easy to overlook,
very easy to cast aside.
I love the discussion
I was having with Greg.
Maybe last year.
About fasting.
Like an anchoring practice.
Like a sailboat that is getting blown,
that has a rudder
that is helping to steer things
in a direction.
Fasting as much as anything is a concept,
and it's a very powerful
and a very thoughtful concept.
Like any concept
can push a concept too far.
So what I want to have this space be
grounded, thoughtful.
Fasting itself is open space.
So taking some open space,
let some concepts breathe a little bit.
This is what I really want
fasting space to be.
The idea.
Eat more.
To lose weight is the idea that
our metabolism.
Will instantly slow down
the moment we stop
feeding it like a steam engine.
Gotta keep shoveling the coal in.
And I think this is generally
an unhelpful analogy.
I think it's mostly inaccurate,
although not completely inaccurate.
The human system,
from a very reductionist perspective
that I don't endorse or like
is machine like.
I think in this age, though, I will say,
well, we are having people every day
talking to us about machine
consciousness and machines
going to take over everything.
I, I increasingly feel
bad about the analogy, but
human being
requires energy
is called a dissipative system, right?
We take in energy
and then it is dissipated outward.
We don't generate energy, right?
We don't even really harvest it
like a plant.
Right?
Plant can unfurl its leaves
and then just soak in the energy
like we've got to eat stuff,
consume it.
But there is so much more leeway
in this space
than we have been led to believe.
The modern moment
leads us to believe that
a human being is a fragile creature,
and that if we are not eating
routinely,
maybe even every couple hours,
you know what?
This system going to start shutting down.
You're going to experience this health.
This is a big thing
that I want to open up.
Fasting space,
a space for people to recognize.
You know what?
Like things are okay here.
Things are okay in this space.
In fact, I can feel okay.
I think this is showing us
both in the health space
and in life more broadly.
While life is always trying to speed up
and sell us more,
and the idea that we have to consume more
to be happy and healthy, fasting showing.
Look for a period of time here.
Actually, the body can thrive on this.
We can be doing quite well indeed,
and the fasting extends
for a very long period of time.
It's like we're talking
multiple days here.
Very clear.
The body can adjust to that body's
extremely efficient
body, will try to conserve
every bit of energy that it can.
Absolutely.
And this is how I think we get into this
confused space in the short term.
Because people
experience this, people experience weight
loss plateaus.
They experience that as frustrating.
They feel
almost like, cavitation.
Right?
A dissonance in the body where our goals
and the body's
goals are not completely aligned.
There is a real space, isn't there?
In the body
where the body looks at extra energy.
Body fat is a powerful resource,
the type of thing that can keep
a human being alive
in a difficult time and situation.
Always see,
I look at a space like that, and I see
this wise that the body wouldn't
let go of that too easily.
It is wise,
although difficult, to appreciate
when you're struggling with it.
And so really, a fasting space.
Fasting space, the program, fasting space
in the body is a space to try to dig in
to this space, get in the middle of
the negotiation of the body.
The communication that's happening
between the cells of the body, different
types of cells, different purposes.
Right? Think a fat cell and a muscle cell.
We have needs and we have resources.
We're trying to power the body
and plan for the future.
And it's a big equation to balance.
Big equation to balance.
I think in the weight loss space
it often gets boiled down
to strictly a calorie balancing equation
calories in, calories out.
Done. The actual formula?
More complicated as we get into it,
and we realize calories
in multiple things and in multiple places.
Calories in food.
Calories in the liver are calories
a sugar calorie is a fat, a
calorie is stuck in certain places
and not others, and it's needed
at certain places and in certain types
than in other places
different in the brain
than in a muscle, than in a fat cell,
than in all these different things.
And so
here we are in a space,
try to open up
the lock.
Right.
This is what everybody wants to do
in the weight loss space.
Or is whatever body cells is
what everybody who comes to
it is looking for the answer to it,
and then it's
what everybody on the other side
is trying to sell.
And this is the space where
I'm kind of sitting in a little bit,
at least observing it,
at least observing it.
Fasting space.
What I have here, part of that
I like is an observation, a discussion,
at least I hope it is,
and I hope it can be,
and certainly I it is with the wonderful
people who are sticking with me
on my obscure little channel.
I was joking the other day,
the more,
the more I talk, the fewer people watch.
It's a real observation I have noticed,
I don't think I haven't noticed,
but I'm having a I'm in general
having fun with it.
Even though I'll be honest,
I've struggled a little bit with it.
Here's a little bit of poking fun with it.
I got a comment on my video channel,
if you can believe it.
I actually did the other day.
And so let's, let's celebrate
and highlight it.
I really liked this comment.
From my,
I believe, American if I'm saying that.
Right.
Nice to have you with us.
Encouraging people
to stop comforting themselves with food
is a hard sell.
Agree with the observation.
I'm doing it for health reasons,
otherwise I probably wouldn't
be doing it either.
And it is a high form of personal
development, isn't it?
I think it is.
I think that's one of the reasons
that I'm really called to it
is, is for this reason, it
is, they note, very rewarding.
Absolutely.
I think it is.
And they say,
thank you for sharing the experience.
Hey, thank you for sharing
your experience and for being here.
And thank you for everybody.
If you're here with me, live,
if you're here on the replay.
It means a lot to that. You are here.
I think that it is, a beautiful thing,
actually.
A beautiful space, fasting space.
And,
you know, I took a day off yesterday.
Just to
open up some more space
personally for myself.
And that was beautiful.
I, I had the great opportunity.
Not so many things that I had to do.
Trying to open up the space,
working on my diabetes project.
If you or someone you know
have type two diabetes, you can see
links in the description doctor Z method.
I'm building a system there
helping people with type two diabetes.
I've had some incredible experiences
type two diabetes
in my clinical practice,
which I have discussed.
If you're new here, go to the deep dives
with doctor Z, watch the science talks.
You know, I did the talks on
my research study that I was able to do
at the University of Wisconsin
when I was there.
I think it's incredible.
Harper Group is here.
Nice to have you here.
Just absorbing
and thinking about what you're saying.
Hey, thanks for dropping the note.
Really nice to have you here.
Very happy to have any observations.
Reflections, of course.
And, if you have reflections,
anybody coming through?
Of course you can put them in the chat.
And then I will say to invite anybody,
feel free to send me an email later.
I put it in the chat.
Doctor Z at simple fasting.com.
Send me an email.
So many people send me a
thoughtful emails
which I really love,
and taking this offline,
you know, at least as offline
as an email conversation
is, is
is always a really, really fun to.
A sense
is that consumption and resulting outcomes
like obesity are more accepted,
at least in regard to behavior,
than not consuming and maintaining
a fasted state in body and mind.
Hey, that's a deep observation.
And I, I do share that.
I do share that thought.
It's very interesting.
It's a very interesting stay home
and space that we're in in medicine,
health, society.
And very interesting to think,
at least from my perspective.
What is the
most thoughtful way to move forward?
You know, how do we help people
the most in this time?
And it's one of the beliefs that I have
and something that I've really
felt for quite a while
and tried to lean into that.
And we don't have a culture of health,
you know, I'm sitting here
in Wisconsin in the US,
but of course, it's a global issue.
We have a lot of metabolic dis health,
and unfortunately,
it's just becoming normal.
It's it's really becoming normal.
It's rare that people experience
metabolic health across a lifespan.
Like this is something that is
rarely happening in the world today.
And the extent to which it is happening
is basically the extent
to which people are not connected
to the dominant global culture.
So if if you, you know, were to head,
you know, anywhere in the world,
pretty much with rare exceptions,
people
practicing some indigenous way of life
cannot connected to modern food systems
or modern thinking of any kind.
You'll find people
who are metabolically well.
And then of course, the other side of it,
you'll connect
with people who are living a much more,
you know, primitive sort of existence.
And then there is a spectrum of this.
And the more you are connected
to the industrial society, as far as I see
it, the higher the probability
that you will be experiencing dis health.
And so this comes to,
you know, a big point that I've tried to.
Get to.
We really hit it on that talk,
The Hidden History of Obesity, as we try
to connect the deep threads of history
about how we have come to this space,
how we move forward in a thoughtful
and respectful way.
To me, here are two worldviews
that are really clashing the dominant
thought,
certainly in the weight loss space,
in the medical space more broadly,
is that obesity is genetic, for example.
And,
The idea of this.
As it is practiced by many people
is that because genes influence
many things, of course they do.
This is
a compassionate way to communicate
to people about obesity, because it stops
what has been experienced
by many people in the past
as shaming and guilt tripping.
And this is where I'm getting to your
space.
That that whole culture
and that whole mindset is, is terrible.
It really is terrible.
And to the extent that anything
takes pressure off of people,
of course I like it.
And and there is a positive element
to that.
I put almost a whole talk together
on genetic factors of weight loss.
I have the slides.
Maybe I will do it.
I, I read so many papers on all the genes
and and all these incredible
gene association studies
that they have done.
And you know, you can get so deep into it.
And ultimately
I decided not to do the talk yet because.
And maybe I never will.
It's I feel like we are missing the forest
for the trees.
And it's not.
I don't even by talking about it.
Not that hardly anyone is, watching,
but I don't want to do anything
to perpetuate this idea because I.
I slide on the talk.
I even put this whole article from the
what was it, Obesity Association
of America or something like this.
About how weight loss is all,
you know, genetic.
And then going through all the genes
and all the association studies.
But then basically the last line of their
articles summarize the whole thing,
which is basically
like all these genes have existed for,
you know, millennia.
It's like the genes haven't changed
and no one, you know,
you turn the clock back a hundred years
and no one was struggling with this.
And it's it's obviously the environment
and the culture is what has changed.
And the,
the interaction of our environment
and culture with what a human being is.
The genetic variety across what a human
being is, is what is creating this.
And so I don't think that it is accurate
scientifically, philosophically
to categorize
the problem as a genetic disorder.
Even though I'm trying to share with you
that I recognize
that genes do influence it.
Right.
But if we really want
to get to a root level, a
to a place that is going to
change this in a way that is
both true and helpful and thoughtful,
I don't think we need to twist
the reality of our genetic situation
just in order to take away the,
guilt tripping of people
that people have experienced
in previous decades.
And the way the perspective
that I've shared, that which to me
makes sense and I think is accurate,
is just to see that in many ways,
you know, we live in this individualistic
culture, this society.
When the reality is,
I think more broadly that,
we're not so separate as we think,
and we are
in many ways
caught up in this grand sweep of history.
This culture is pulling us all along in a
in a fashion that can be very hard
to resist.
You think about a fish
swimming upstream, right?
You have to push against the current.
And so I believe that in many ways,
our bodies collectively
just a reflection of the society
we come out of it.
And it's this,
this dance, this complex interaction.
I mean, we do have seemingly
a real individual experience, but really,
we're also just part of this gigantic
collective experience that is happening.
And to me, I think as we look that
the dysfunction
really resides outside of the human body.
And so many times by our connection to
the dominant
culture, which is unhealthy, it's
bringing dysfunction
and dis health into the body.
And I don't think in obesity,
even in type
two diabetes, you know, we can have a very
nuanced debate and discussion about it.
Love to do it.
So anyone can disagree.
Come on, come on. Live. We talk live.
You want to record our podcast offline.
Anybody who disagrees, you know,
have a broad discussion about it.
But I think metabolically I think a lot
or I should say
almost
nothing is actually broken in the body.
The the idea of genetic genetics
at the cause of obesity,
it implies that some people's
genes are bad, like,
oh, you were born with bad genes.
And see,
now we're back into guilt tripping.
Now we're back into seeing people
as broken and dysfunctional.
And I don't think it's true.
I don't think there are bad genes.
There are genes that might make people
feel hungrier in a situation
or when they're exposed to,
you know, this processed garbage
that is served at people.
And and that may very well
make it more difficult for some people
than others, to make certain decisions.
Okay.
But those genes also serve people
very well.
And the reason those genes are there is,
you know, because they were selected for
because they helped our ancestors
stay alive.
And they may help our ancestors
stay alive in the future.
Again,
if this, modern moment does not persist
of infinite factory food
and industrial agriculture, you know,
if this has a hiccup, right,
then we're going to be very thankful
for these genes again.
And that's, you know,
that's the reality as far as I see it.
So I think that it is
actually the compassionate space
to sink into this space and say,
you know what?
I'm a human being here,
and I'm part of this human family
here, and we are having this experience,
and it is a very difficult
and confusing experience.
And,
And now from
that space, you can have a lot of grace
and compassion with yourself.
We don't need to twist reality
into anything other than what it is
to say
that we did not create this system right.
We didn't decide
on any of it.
Yet we find ourselves here and now.
We are in the middle of it
and we can see, you know, if
if I've sat with hundreds
and hundreds of people
for many, many years
who are in the middle of a struggle
with weight loss
and trying to navigate it in a
in a world that is full of confusion
and hype and everybody
selling things and,
and then the trouble with it, other
compared to other types of decisions
is like we're talking about our very body
and our being, and it's so deeply
tied into our emotional state,
and our interaction with food
can become such a complex
tangle of, you know, meeting
the needs of the body and the mind,
our emotional state and our social state
of interacting with other people
and interacting with the culture.
And so getting into that space.
Really taking a deep breath, really
trying to find anchoring practices
that are true,
that are helpful,
that are real, that are moving
forward in a way that is grounded
and centered and pushing back
against so much of the crazy
making thinking of society.
Yeah, this is
this is what I want to be doing.
This is what I feel like
conversations are like this.
This is how I feel
a conversation should be.
I think we should be having a more
hopefully this is, you know,
the deepest
thinking that I can personally do on it.
And I want to have a broader discussion
with people about it.
And I think this is more the type of space
that we should have to do it.
You know, I think on,
I don't know what your experience is like,
but I'm personally pretty tired of,
the the way
dialog happens in our society today,
everything
perfectly
curated and edited and scripted out.
And I think we would do better
to have more,
more openness, more,
Dialog about it,
more people willing to say, you know,
I don't actually know everything
about it.
And the issues that we face
are difficult and complex,
and that's also why people struggle
with it.
Despite buying all of the programs
and doing all of the things
and spending all of the money
and continuing
to take all of the special treatments
that you know are here,
which some people are benefiting from
and some people are not.
And, you know, there's a there's a whole
a discussion that we could have.
I did that talk on why I stopped
prescribing GOP ones for weight loss.
If you haven't seen that, check it out
and share your opinion on it.
Obviously, as a
controversial, space these days.
But I give you a sincere take.
I won't rehash it all here for you now.
So I really do like this comment.
Consumption and obesity more accepted.
I mean, it absolutely is.
This is a consumption culture.
It absolutely is across every domain
and not food.
Like food.
Just one little aspect of it.
Food mirroring the broader,
industrial society,
which, you know, I just
I broadly don't feel too good about that.
You know, I don't feel too good about,
the sustainability,
the impact of just society in general.
But then you say my experience in medicine
is like
these concepts
just bleeding into medicine and health.
And so,
I think really a good space to come to.
I want to accept people.
I love that word like except people
know, judging of people in a situation
absolutely only helpfulness.
And then the thing that is helpful.
How do we walk out of it?
So if you're new coming through,
look through the archive of live shows.
I have them organized on the playlist
tabs.
I do a lot of thinking heading.
That's why I head through these books,
you know, to try to bring
a deeper thinking to us.
You know,
I've done videos,
especially early on on the channel.
If you go on the video side, you know,
when I started out do a lot of videos
like, you know,
what is a 168 and, and how do you decide
1680 man, fasting for a day.
How long should you do it?
You dial in,
you know, a lot of stuff like that.
And of course you go to most fasting
channels.
There's other things like this.
And you can get a lot of videos like that.
And To me,
the deeper space and the reason
why I like the live format so much
is because really fasting, very simple.
The concepts, the true health concepts
that bring wellness to the body across
all domains.
Very, very simple.
And I, I really like,
you know, thinking
like Einstein,
you know, he's like it's actually
brilliance is in the simplicity.
You know, he takes,
you know, chalkboards full of equations
and gets it boiled down
to just two, two variables.
You know, that's where like, true
like insight lies.
And I wouldn't say that I am the type of
person that really has any great insight
other than just to look at human history
and say, fasting
is something that has been a part
of every culture and tradition.
And, you know, from my vantage
point as a primary care doctor
interacting with thousands of people,
I interact with many, many people,
especially, you know, in Madison,
I'm sitting on a university campus, people
coming from all over the world.
I have many people
coming from outside of the U.S.
and I notice, like, well, look,
people coming from India,
different Hindu traditions
is this people practicing fasting,
and they're very healthy, like amazing
different people coming from various,
places practicing
some sort of Islamic practice,
the fastest practice for Ramadan,
people
experiencing a weight loss in this space.
It's just fascinating.
And I see that in my own practice,
I see, oh, look,
even within a modern medical practice,
when do we have people fast?
Well, go get a fasting lab.
You know, go get your cholesterol checked,
go get a medical procedure.
You get a screening colonoscopy.
Got a fast a little bit.
And isn't it fascinating
within one
day, you know, you have someone fast
for a colonoscopy.
One of the only times
this is almost the only two terms.
You hear the word fasting in a modern,
even in our society, basically,
but especially within the modern
medical system, look is what is happening
when someone fast for a colonoscopy
as easy as to see
in someone who has type two diabetes.
Because as soon as you start
opening up the fasting space,
the blood sugar is dropping.
Do you see it?
This is.
See, to me, if there's any insight
that we say is is good
is just to see this, you know,
here is a very, very simple observation.
You start opening up some fasting space,
someone having a colonoscopy.
Every doctor in the country
that prescribes insulin knows it.
You know what you have to do, right?
You got to cut basal insulin
the day before.
You got to get it way out of the system
because it is too powerful, right?
To mix of fasting and a basal insulin.
Your patient is going to get hypoglycemic.
Right.
And the standard
perspective in medicine today, because we
we are so stuck in a medication
paradigm
and we're stuck in a disease paradigm.
And this is where
all this judgment comes in to people.
You get a diagnosis
in a modern medical system
that can never come off your chart.
You never see that.
It's like you get diagnosed with
something is permanent, always.
And because you get diagnosed
with something and it's always a permanent
and then you get a treatment for it, well,
that treatment can never stop either.
It's like we get stuck in this space
where it can never change, but look
less than one day of a fasting space
and things are changing.
This is what is so profound, okay,
someone and type two diabetes
is just like the same physiology
that everybody has.
But it's because the insulin resistance
has pushed the sugar up.
It's just bringing it
to a level of awareness
where we can actually see it more easily.
We can, and we've got the glucose
monitors on and we can see it more easily.
You open up even 18 hours fasting space.
Look what we're doing already.
Medications got to be reduced,
blood sugar normalizing.
And instead of being stuck
in this medications
only and never stopping phase
okay. Alright.
We're starting to peel it back.
And this is what has been a miracle
for me to see.
Right to me.
I started with type two diabetes
because I saw like, oh,
like we start implementing fasting space.
Medications can be reduced.
See, I think that's incredible.
But people don't
don't have a lot of time
to think about it.
That's what I would say.
Primary care doctor, difficult job,
especially these days
with the state of the health system.
Hard to have enough space
and enough bandwidth, you know, to do it.
And I even found it difficult.
And part of the idea
of leaning into this,
this is why I have links simple
fasting.com have the space
and the bandwidth to help people
really thoughtfully lean into it.
Because to me, what would be like the
the ultimate unlock?
What I would really like to see happen
in society
is we start running every problem
that we have in reverse.
Like,
you know, I've shown graphs in the past,
okay, it's just a parabolic curve
that has been happening
of our difficulty
with weight and diabetes.
If you look, I've shared the study
from the 60s
that the incidence of diabetes in
the 60s is basically like.
Half of 1% type two diabetes incidents
in the adult population,
and we've 20 x to that over,
two generations.
You know,
I would like to see the other side of that
where we unwind that.
And I feel like,
you know, this discussion we're having,
it's like, oh, we've we've kind of walked
into a practice that can rather quickly
start to unwind that,
I mean, within a day of fasting space.
And already, you see we're pulling back
a insulin for someone with type
two diabetes, the same power of that
practice is happening.
And anyone who practices fasting,
anybody who is opening up
a fasting space,
energy is stopping flowing into the body.
Body is now using energy within it
instead of without it.
Right.
So powerful
metabolic changes happening in the body
to me is a completely
complete paradigm shifting change.
And for all the discussion
on YouTube,
all the big you say big channels,
people talking about fasting, the.
I don't think
we're having deeply philosophical,
you know, thoughts or questions about it,
even as it does, you know,
bleed in a little bit into, you know,
some mainstream practice I reviewed on
the global what did I call that one?
The global.
Move or whatever?
I said to
overcome insulin resistance,
even the American Diabetes Association
guidelines now are acknowledging
fasting based practices, helping diabetes.
And it seems like, you know, that
kind of blew my mind when I read that.
And so even
as a lot of science
has backed up a lot of these
thoughts and studies,
even major guidelines, recognizing
that there is a sound
scientific basis to these practices
feels like
the actual, impact or implementation.
Into society has been pretty minimal.
That's what I think, pretty minimal.
Do you think that is fair?
I don't know, within certain little niches
obviously is a big deal,
but it certainly hasn't changed
the culture.
I would say that.
So yeah,
as I think about it, fasting space
took the day yesterday.
I really like the idea,
and I've done it for for quite a while.
Fasting space is kind of a weekday thing.
I like the vibe of this session.
Kind of like a morning show,
like a morning radio.
People turn on as they're
getting ready, frame the day.
Obviously whenever it works.
For people, you have a a space over
lunch, over any time, hit the replay,
hit the podcast, and mix down most of this
audio into the podcast special.
Shout out and hello to anybody
listening on the podcast.
It's available.
Simple fasting.com
really do want it to be a discussion
and a place to advance
thinking on this topic.
A love, comments
and things that are shared.
I really do want it to be your show.
If you're listening,
I do give you an invitation.
I share thoughts for topics
you would like covered.
I've got a list.
It might take me a little bit
to get to your session or idea,
or it might not, but,
thoughts?
It was coming to me in my space from it
yesterday.
I was thinking, well,
what is the value
that we are providing for people,
you know, and are we providing value?
And this was a thought
that I was diving into a lot.
And welcome
to hear your reflection on it.
And what would create the most value
in a space that I could provide.
And sometimes I've thought, well,
I could go back and just,
you know, produce kind of standard
YouTube videos that aren't alive, but,
maybe more clickable, you know,
and, you know,
say, was the channel more successful when,
when I was doing something like that.
Okay.
By like the standard measures,
I would say it certainly was.
But standard measures,
you know, it just doesn't
mean much of anything to me.
And I don't know what it is like to you,
but I'm.
I think I was saying earlier,
I'm kind of tired of things
that are overproduced and overhyped and,
I, for its tiny, nature.
I would say the thoughtfulness
of the interaction
and the things, you know,
when I made regular videos like,
you know, two years ago or three,
I would never get emails from people.
Well, you know, with thoughtful insights.
So that's the type of thing
that I'm really looking for.
So, yeah, in my day yesterday
took the break.
No fasting space
because I said, well, I'm going to open up
space to work on my diabetes project.
I did get a lot done on it,
but I would say, I don't know that
it really helped because to me,
this practice of sharing reflections,
interacting with people,
putting this space out there to me.
I was find it very beneficial.
Personally, I realized again,
taking a break from it yesterday,
I was like, I missed it.
It feels good to me to
center the thinking and and,
maybe I'm actually more productive,
more dialed in.
And I hope this is the case for you.
I hope it's the
case that anybody listening
is. Like you were saying.
Harper group bringing the
letting
just some of these thoughts absorb,
you know, and if you're absorbing
and mulling them over,
maybe they are helpful.
Maybe they help you to move forward
in a healthy way in the day.
I would love that.
And maybe
something.
I'm just a guy sharing
my thoughts out into the world.
Maybe you encounter something that oh,
I don't know if that is quite right.
I don't know if that fits well here.
We could have a dialog about it
and then I would love even more.
And so feel free
to share any perspective.
I, I like the.
Quote or perspective.
Iron sharpens iron I love that.
Yeah thank you.
You know people. Yeah.
Being on a task switching treadmill
I know this is something for me
personally.
And this might be even,
you know, doing this personally.
I shut down the camera, I silence
my phone, I turn everything else off.
And,
I think there's there's a real,
benefit to
to getting distractions out of our life.
And this is one of the personal struggles
that I have
when I'm trying to get things done.
I just read a great book.
Love to do some sessions on this one.
Inside the Box
How Constraints Make Us Better
by David Epstein
I really did like this book.
This is a follow up book to the book range
that he put out a couple years ago,
which I also really loved.
Range may be more fun,
I might say range might be more fun
because it's big and expansive,
you know, and like unlimited, right?
And you say this one a little
more challenging because who likes
constraints, you know, say
constraint is something I don't want.
We're trying to free ourselves
from constraints.
But he says constraints make us better.
And I think
there's a lot of synergy in this space.
Fasting is a constraint, right?
And whether that's just eating twice
in a day instead of three or more, okay,
that's a constraint.
But like the ideas of this book are like,
what are the rules
that actually bring freedom to our life?
What are the guidelines
like bumper bowling?
You know, where it's like,
if if there's no space, you know,
maybe we're getting gutter balls
going everywhere,
but if we got some bumpers on there,
it's like,
you don't have to, you know,
going to get a strike from time to time.
Bumper bowling, some constraints
on the ball, helping it to move forward.
How do we get something like that
in our life.
You know, what are the constraints
that are moving us forward.
And one of the big points
that he was making in here is like
you are saying that,
that there's not really such a thing
as multitasking, that every time
we're switching from one thing to another,
we got to switch gears
and it takes a while to get going.
And he talks a lot in
there about the benefit of,
clearing out the distractions.
He talks about a lot of artists
and writers and people,
basically anybody trying to get anything
done.
It's like, get the phone away is like,
do one thing at a time.
And.
You know,
this is the way that you can get
into a flow state, right?
Flow state.
Have you experienced it where it's like
you're doing something,
you're being productive, you're dialed in,
your awareness of time starts to go away
and you're just doing, you know,
or you're just being in a space.
When we are switching from thing to thing
to thing,
it's it's resetting in some way.
The counter that is getting us in toward
a flow state, you know.
And so I think a lot of people
I know, this is my experience,
not experiencing a flow state.
A flow
state is a state of contentment, right?
It is a type of contentment.
It's not a mental anxiety.
It's a calm, centered,
productive, thoughtful space.
I did a video on the productivity series
Fasting Flow State.
This is the way that I want people
going through a fasting space,
not struggling with it.
Right? Not white knuckle.
Something like so many standard
dietary things are,
but actually creating an environment
or a space
where we can flow through it
without struggling.
This is the way that practices
can become sustainable.
And so here we're seeing the mirror again
between body and mind,
our health and our broader life.
When we are constantly
distracted and multitasking
and we have 17 different things running
and the phone is going
and texts are coming, and check the email
and what news is happening
and what social media like this is.
Just think how abnormal that is.
Like a human mind is not
built for that, as far as I can see.
Think about what it must have been like
to be a human being even
a hundred years ago.
No cars, not really roads
like we have them.
It's like just more trees in the nature
and the things on.
My gosh.
And then compared to this existence,
and of course, there's certain things
about it.
I'm staring at a camera and,
you know, it's like
pros and cons,
but when we think about it.
See, I want to dial in on a weight loss
process, a health process
that isn't a struggle.
Okay?
Look, in the context of a broader life,
do we need to get the distractions out?
Do we need to really dial in a
our mindset
without so many screens
and without the apps and the
and the digital tools,
are they really helping us?
You know,
I'm a big believer in a CGM for someone
with diabetes, for example,
is just an incredible tool.
Many pros be able to see
where is the blood sugar at any point
can help anyone without diabetes actually
to see how is food really interacting
deeply with the metabolism?
And what happens when I exercise?
It's like a window into the body.
But you know, the other side of it to is,
When there's just a constant
data stream coming at you
is a little harder to get in a flow state
because, like, here's
another thing to check,
okay, what's the news?
What are markets doing?
What does this social thing say.
And what does the where's
the sugar at now.
And it's like you know.
The goal
or the end states or the pure state.
The flow state is a way to disconnect.
And I would say this is like a root space
where I want
a fasting to take us, you know.
At least for a period of time
within a day.
Can we just disconnect from all of this?
You know, like where we started
the discussion earlier.
We say the whole sweep of history,
all the genetic influences
and and all of the industrial society and.
All the noise in the marketing
and the things like,
how do we quiet this down a little bit?
I think we are to the best that I can,
think about it or communicate it.
I feel like these are the ideas that can
really help us move forward in health,
remove the distractions, silence
the noise,
open up some space for a breath.
A fasting space
can be a core part of that.
Just to realize the power in the body,
to let it flow out.
Say nothing is required.
No consumption.
Don't have to purchase anything.
No special programs.
See, that is empowering in the body,
right?
Coming across your content again,
I have a realization
this is a space I need to cultivate
rather than a YouTube video.
I need to consume
and find something else to move to hate.
That is a beautiful observation and
that is exactly what I am trying to do.
So it's it's beautiful to me
that you're feeling that,
this I just.
Communicates
so much that I want
I love my favorite word there cultivates.
Cultivate is key.
We want to be
cultivating a mindset
more than anything else,
a mindset of strength and contentment
that isn't that isn't
just the type of thing you do, you know?
And so this is the sort of vibe
that I really want.
I don't know what your experience
has been like, but like,
you can watch another video and it's like,
and it just can get you
in a loop, you know, where it's like,
oh, I need to find another one.
I was doing this just last night.
You know, it's like,
oh, I'll watch a video from creator
I like, but then you see another one
and you want another one.
And, and even when it's good things,
you know,
like been thinking a lot about, oh,
our life controlled by algorithms
and these things and you know.
Systems profiling you.
They know what you're going
to want to watch.
They know what you're going
to want to click on.
A space like this,
a video like this, like this sort of idea
is, is also the type of thing
help you totally get out of that,
you know?
And how much time do we spend in
like here's an analogy
that is like the way social media
and technology is
like it's always looking for
the next thing you know, a swipe, a swipe.
I know I can get stuck in that
just like anyone else.
And then it's just profiling
you and learning, and then it just kind of
can suck you in like a vortex.
But here's just some open space.
I was working
yesterday on my diabetes program,
like I was saying,
and then, you know, in, in my mind,
I was thinking
about why is it
why is it difficult to sell?
You know, like the comments
I put up earlier,
like here is a and it's the culture.
This is what I came to.
It's like we're pushing back
against culture, I think as part of it.
And.
I was thinking a lot yesterday
marketing
spend money, push things out there.
The whole drive for everything
has to be better.
Everything, everybody.
So much competition on it
to so much money.
You know, this moment,
the pharmaceuticals.
People want pharmaceuticals.
Doctor Z not pushing
pharmaceuticals is like.
I don't know
I had put the post on the channel
that I was just,
canceled alive for the week
so that I could just have some space
to think
and work on this other project.
But then I was missing it.
And, you know, this has been thinking,
this reflection together
that we've been doing,
Definitely thinking about it.
And, you know, even just these simple,
beautiful comments
that have come, you know, I'm so happy
I turned on the camera today.
It was a
it was
I only decided to do it about half an hour
before hand.
I was like, you know,
fasting space is meaningful to me.
Even if nobody watches or listens.
It has meaning to me
as a space really,
just to speak out things that I am
thinking about and feeling
and that process of doing it.
Look what has happened as we're heading
through an hour together.
Fasting space
has been happening in the body.
This is the thing that I love
the most about it.
We dial in thinking about fasting space,
the deep scientific,
philosophical and physiologic implications
in the body.
Incredible.
But as we do it, the time is passing.
I don't know what your experience is like
as a listener.
My experience as a speaker
is that I feel calmer
now than when I started.
I started
I was like, oh, what am I going to say?
Because I didn't plan for it, you know?
But this is something beautiful to me.
It's like, we don't everything
doesn't have to be planned.
Everything doesn't have to be optimized.
Our whole life is not an algorithmic
equation
that needs optimization.
This is something that we're experiencing.
This is what I want
fasting space to be more in the future,
something that we experience together.
You know, I would like,
you know, in a grand
vision of the future, we would have a way
to bring people together.
The more people that are coming together
around it
and sharing experiences
and thoughts, the more fun it will be.
Honestly, we've had some sessions on here.
I think the Peak Live viewers,
I think we had 16 viewers
somewhere in the late spring
and that that was really fun.
And he's like lots of charts and comments
coming in, lots of perspectives.
I am under no delusion
that I have a monopoly on good thinking.
This is why.
This is why I
haven't even produced a video in so long.
I think because,
I just I love putting an idea out
and then receiving, you know, feedback,
communication, the dialog.
I do want this to be a broader dialog.
I think this is how we can really advance
it, hopefully have more fun,
have more fun, more spaces like this
that are,
Centered spaces
helping us do the practice
as we're moving through the day.
I know I'm feeling
pretty dialed in right now.
I said in that post, oh,
I won't do the show so that I can
have more space to do this other project.
But right now I'm feeling dialed in.
And like I said yesterday,
I was missing it.
And so I just feel like,
let's, let's stick with it,
let's lean into it, let's dive
in, and I'm going to think about,
Think about it.
The,
the biggest idea, the fun idea
that is coming to me right now,
I would love in maybe,
maybe I could even hire somebody.
Wouldn't it be?
I would love to have a co-host.
Wouldn't that be fun?
A lot of them, you know, a radio show.
Oftentimes it isn't just a monologue.
Need. I need a co-host.
Where do I find one?
Let me know.
Maybe I can post it.
Beautiful to have you here with me.
I've really loved sharing these thoughts.
I hope you have a thoughtful,
powerful day of health.
Dial in.
Make the very best of this day.
Here's the only opportunity
we have to live this moment of our life.
What does the most powerful expression,
the healthiest expression, look like
across all the domains of health?
How can you move your body
in a thoughtful and gentle way?
That that
is just
good, not punishing yourself in any way?
And what is the optimal number of times
that you eat in a day fasting space?
Giving us the question that it might be
less than we commonly think.
And when we are eating,
Can we bring only
the most pure and nutritious
and healthy things in.
These are powerful things.
They seem small, but they are
they are really,
they are the things that really matter.
And how can we. Yes.
Take a mindset of calmness, peace,
contentment everywhere we go in our day.
Remove the distractions.
And I will be back with you tomorrow.
We'll keep the conversation going,
and we'll look forward
to talking with you again soon.
Be well everybody.