0:03

Dr. Mindy Pelz: On this episode of The resetter podcast, I am

0:07

bringing you a call that I did for my reset Academy on how do

0:14

you customize building a fasting lifestyle. So those of you that

0:19

read fast like a girl, you I had a whole section in there on what

0:24

a fasting lifestyle is. And I am so dedicated to this fasting

0:30

lifestyle, that it's really important to me, you understand

0:36

that it's completely customizable and completely

0:39

personal to your lifestyle. So my reset Academy, we do several

0:44

experiences together every other month, we do a fat burning

0:48

experience. I have coaches in there that are teaching on all

0:52

different types of health concepts. And one of the most

0:55

common questions we get within our reset Academy is we would

0:59

like more information on how do we customize a fasting lifestyle

1:05

to our personal needs. So what you're about to hear is the best

1:10

explanation I could possibly it's an hour long, I went into a

1:13

lot of detail, I gave a lot of examples, I gave a lot of

1:17

concrete principles for you to follow. And what I'm hoping and

1:22

why I wanted to release it with the resetter podcast is I'm

1:25

really hoping you will see a personalized path for you. And

1:32

you will understand that all the tools that I have taught you in

1:36

fast like a girl and here on the resetter podcast and on my

1:39

YouTube channel. They're all tools. Now your job is to take

1:44

these tools and make them customize them make them

1:48

personal to you. This is totally opposite of what many people

1:54

teach. Many doctors, many nutritionists, many health

1:58

influencers say this is the way and this is the only way and you

2:02

follow my way to a tee. I don't teach like that. I am teaching a

2:08

lifestyle that now your job is to make it unique to you because

2:14

your body is not like any other body on the planet. So when we

2:19

look at the tools that I offered up and fast like a girl like the

2:22

Keto biotic eating style, the hormone feasting meeting style,

2:26

the six different length fasts, how to break a fast, like how do

2:30

you take all of that and customize it to fit your

2:35

personal needs? If that has been a question, this is the episode

2:39

for you. And I'm so excited to bring it to you. So here you go.

2:43

If you want to make this a personal health path, that here

2:47

is your answer. Here's your resource. And as always, I hope

2:51

it helps. Welcome to the resetter podcast, this podcast

2:57

is all about empowering you to believe in yourself. Again, if

3:03

you have a passion for learning, if you're looking to be in

3:06

control of your health and take your power back, this is the

3:11

podcast for you. What I'm looking at this conversation as is as if I was

3:22

personally coaching you, this is how I would be explaining the

3:28

customizing of a fasting window and an eating window to match

3:33

your lifestyle. And honestly, I think that might be what I love

3:38

about fasting the most is it's customizable. I've sat with

3:42

patients that have said, I it's really important to me to eat

3:46

dinner with my family. And we all get home from the sporting

3:50

events. And it's eight o'clock at night. And that's when I'm

3:54

going to eat dinner. So we've I've learned like, okay, that's

3:57

important. That's oxytocin, that's, it's part of what a

4:01

value of you and your family, we need to make this effortless. So

4:05

let's build a fasting lifestyle around this anchor of sitting at

4:10

the family table at eight o'clock at night. I've had other

4:14

people say to me, I work out in the morning. And I need to

4:19

either eat before I work out or I need to eat right after I work

4:23

out. And that's around seven or eight in the morning. And so

4:28

we've customized family life or fasting lifestyles that will fit

4:32

that early morning workout. So literally you can position this

4:39

any way you want to position it and in fact, I encourage you to

4:43

position it for your lifestyle. And you might even position it

4:48

differently every day. If you're like me where I don't really

4:51

have a set routine. And my and my routines are always changing

4:55

so I'm always adapting my fasting and eating Windows

4:59

according to my routine. So I'm going to go through some basic

5:03

principles. And then I'm going to go through some different

5:08

scenarios, I'll use the scenarios in my own life, I'll

5:10

use the scenarios I've been using in with some of the high

5:15

performing clients that that we've had to really work some

5:18

interesting fasting and eating windows through. To start with,

5:23

the way that I look at every single day is that I have an

5:29

eating window, and I have a fasting window. So the eating

5:34

window starts, the minute my blood sugar goes up. So I'll

5:40

give you an example. It's right now it's what nine o'clock here

5:46

in California. I was up early doing my morning time. And then

5:50

I had a call at eight o'clock. And I had this short little

5:54

break before I came to you all, and I'm hungry. And I'm like,

5:59

because I ate a really early dinner last night I I'm like,

6:02

Man, I want breakfast. Like I'm craving food, I'm craving

6:06

breakfast. But I had to come on a call here with you all. So

6:10

instead of like taking a bite of my Gluten Free bagel that's

6:16

waiting for me, I grabbed some bone broth, because bone broth

6:21

will most likely keep me fasted, I know this from my glucose

6:24

monitor. And I saved the bagel for after this call. Because my

6:30

brain was like, Oh, if I even take a bite of that bagel, I've

6:34

now opened up my my eating window. And if I can wait

6:38

another hour, it might be either hunger goes away. And maybe I'm

6:43

not going to open up my eating window for several hours. Or

6:46

maybe you know, my eat, I'll just open my eating window up an

6:50

hour from now. So I'm always thinking the minute I spike my

6:55

blood sugar, the eating window is now officially open. And I

7:01

know because I wear continuous glucose monitors all the time,

7:05

I'm very clear on what will pull me out of a fasted state and

7:10

what doesn't and bone broth doesn't seem to pull me out, it

7:14

seems to actually bring my blood sugar down. So it was kind of a

7:18

good resource at this moment to be able to curb my hunger while

7:24

I maybe wait a couple more hours before I open my eating window.

7:28

So the first thing you want to every day is when like when I

7:32

wake up in the morning, it's when is that eating window going

7:36

to start? Now some mornings, I wake up, and I'm not hungry at

7:42

all. That was actually yesterday morning. And I had a really big

7:46

day, the last couple of days, I've been doing a lot of YouTube

7:49

videos and podcasting and production work. And I I like my

7:55

high performance work to be done in the fasted state. I do really

8:00

well with that. So yesterday, I didn't open up my eating window

8:06

until one o'clock. And then again, once it opened up, then I

8:12

was now in an eating food. So the first thing to do is to

8:17

figure out when's that eating window for you? And every day it

8:21

could change. Now sometimes I do more of a reverse approach,

8:27

which is okay, what is the healing effect of fasting that I

8:32

want? am I wanting to go a little longer because I want

8:39

more autophagy? Do I feel like I need to reset my gut. If I feel

8:43

like I reset my need to reset my gut, I'll wake up, and I'll be

8:47

like, Okay, I'm not hungry. I've got a busy day, I'd like to

8:51

reset my gut, could I go all the way to dinner, and maybe I'll

8:57

just have dinner. So I'm thinking about my day, the state

9:03

I want to be in and the repair that I would want. So that's

9:07

sort of how I decide that eating window. And to me, the way my

9:11

brain visually sees it is it moves around that eating window

9:15

moves around for me, sometimes the eating window is 10 to five,

9:21

sometimes the eating window is three to eight, like it's but

9:26

I'm constantly moving the eating window around and when I have a

9:32

time period where you know, I want to use fasting as a healing

9:36

tool, then I just have to adapt my eating window. So I think the

9:40

first thing to think about is sort of come at it from the

9:44

eating window perspective. And what when are you opening it up

9:49

and when are you closing it down? And then how many hours

9:54

does that leave for fasting? And is that are those hours enough?

10:00

To create the healing effect you want to create in your body. I

10:05

mean that that is like a daily thing that goes through my head

10:09

all the time, the and then, you know, if like Sunday was Easter,

10:15

and it also happened to be my husband's birthday. And we had a

10:18

ton of family here. And so my brain was like, Well, I know,

10:23

I'm gonna have this really big meal at six o'clock at night,

10:27

it's not my preferred time to have a big meal. But this is

10:30

what the family is doing. So I fasted all the way up until the

10:35

big meal, and then we sat down, and it was quite a meal. It was

10:39

like a four hour meal, where we sat there and ate till 10. And I

10:44

just enjoyed this incredible experience and all the food that

10:47

it provided me, but then I knew that at 10 o'clock, my eating

10:51

window had was shut. And so the next day, I was like, Okay, that

10:56

was really late. I think I'm going to fast, a little longer.

11:00

And a Monday, I didn't open my window up until two or three in

11:04

the afternoon. So, play with it. The first advice I have is on a

11:09

daily basis play with that eating window, where are you

11:12

putting it based off of your needs? The biggest challenge you

11:17

have that I see sometimes is if you have a need for food in the

11:23

morning, because it's post workout. And maybe you have a

11:27

social event at night. And so how do you you're not going to

11:31

have a long enough period for a significant fasting window. So

11:36

those are the days you wouldn't fast. Like there are some days

11:39

that you know, I don't fast, which is is a lot of what I

11:44

teach that it's okay to have days that you don't fast, and

11:46

then you would just maybe you open up your eating window at

11:49

seven or eight in the morning. And you're kind of grazing all

11:52

day, and then you close it it you know, seven or eight at

11:55

night, that would not be a fasting day. So think in terms

11:59

of how you move this eating window around. Now, the second

12:04

thing that I think about when I open up my eating window is what

12:08

does my body need? Does it need a low carb day? Does it need a

12:13

high protein day? Does it need more of the three P's poly

12:18

phenyl probiotic prebiotic foods does does it need more carbs?

12:24

Now I base all of that off of symptoms. So if I feel like I

12:33

want to drop weight, I will then go into a lower carb day. So if

12:38

I'm like ooh overdid it a lot, feeling a little couple extra

12:43

pounds, not not feeling good about that, I will tell myself,

12:48

I'm going to shorten my eating window. And when I eat, it's

12:52

going to be meat and vegetables. And I will stick to it and I

12:58

will do no fruits. On those days that I feel like I need to be

13:02

more in a Keto biotic place. And I need to become more insulin

13:06

sensitive, and I need to drop a few pounds. So on that kind of

13:12

day, it's a shorter eating window. And it's more of the

13:15

Keto biotic eating plan. Now for those of you that have irregular

13:20

cycles sit with me, I'm going to time this we're going to once I

13:23

get through these principles, I'll talk about how you relate

13:26

them to an active cycle. For my postmenopausal women, you don't

13:31

really have to do that as much you can do it a little more

13:35

every day, sort of check in with yourself and see what you're

13:38

trying to accomplish. So the other place that a longer fast,

13:45

more keto day, another symptom that would work now this is a

13:49

symptom, I don't get any more, but I did get and that is hot

13:54

flashes. If you are getting hot flashes, oftentimes that can be

13:58

low estrogen like your estrogen system has completely tanked. So

14:03

if you got night sweats that night, or you had two more hot

14:06

flashes during that the days preceding a longer fast, more

14:12

keto, less alcohol, those are the three cures for hot hot

14:17

flashes. If I have a high performance day, where I'm like, I need my

14:24

brain to be incredibly sharp for me, then I would do more fasting

14:31

and more keto, because that keeps those ketones coming so

14:36

that I can have that mental clarity. I point that out

14:39

because a lot of the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause is

14:44

brain fog. So when brain fog is high, fast go longer, carbs go

14:49

away. And that seems to really help sharpen my brain for a

14:54

performance day where I just have a ton to do. So that would

14:59

be I would organize more of a Keto day, my hormone feasting

15:04

day. These are the foods that I lean into where I will bring my

15:09

carbohydrate load up. And I know it's time to bring my

15:14

carbohydrate load up. When I'm feeling more anxiety, like

15:20

whether it's just random thoughts of anxiety, or I can't

15:25

sit on the couch without relaxing, or if I have insomnia,

15:30

those are signs that potentially progesterone has gone low. So I

15:37

will do if I'm starting to see a pattern of those kinds of signs,

15:42

I do less fasting, and I do more hormone feasting fits. Hormone

15:48

feasting foods, for me is going to be a lot of squashes, a lot

15:52

of fruit, a lot of potatoes, and maybe some gluten free bread

15:58

breads. I am a huge fan of fermented sourdough bread

16:02

because you get that added probiotic in there. So if I am

16:06

going to go into bread, it's usually I would go in with more

16:10

of a fermented bread because there's some benefit to the My

16:14

microbiome. But I lean I will eat these hormone feasting foods

16:20

when I feel those symptoms. Again, I just want to remind

16:26

you, that is through the lens of a postmenopausal woman. In my

16:31

Peri menopausal years, I started noticing that if I did longer

16:35

fasts, and did more keto biotic days, that I would find I

16:41

started spotting, because you know, you'd have in your Peri

16:45

menopausal years, you can go 60 days without a period, I would

16:49

start to see that I was spotting a lot. And if I was starting to

16:53

spot a lot that was assigned progesterone was trying to build

16:57

in order to be able to shed the uterine lining. So I needed to

17:03

bring glucose up and fast less, so that I can give progesterone

17:08

what she needed, so that I can have a full period. So you can

17:14

either use your symptoms, or you can, you know, you can look at

17:19

like what your hormonal needs might be. And I and as opposed

17:23

menopausal women, it's usually my symptoms, because that's all

17:26

I have to go off of right now. Or I'll follow the moon cycle,

17:29

which we'll talk about here in a second. So, again, I want to

17:34

recap that you're picking your eating window based off of what

17:41

your day looks like. So you're gonna move that eating a window,

17:46

according to are you sitting down to dinner with the family?

17:51

Do you need to be able to eat breakfast, or eat around a

17:56

workout. Or maybe it's a busy day, and you like having

18:02

ketones, fuel your brain so that you can function at your best.

18:08

That's how you're picking where that eating window goes. And

18:12

that eating window, it's okay to change it every single day. Now,

18:21

the and then you're looking at the length of your eating window

18:27

is really determined based off of how long you want to fast. So

18:33

if you feel like you need to detox, then you need to at least

18:37

get to 17 hours of fasting, which would leave you with a

18:43

seven hour eating window. So you would just take that seven hour

18:48

eating window and you would move it around according to where you

18:53

want to put your food that day. So it makes sense. And then if

19:00

you wanted a gut reset, you would have one meal a day. Now

19:04

where's that meal gonna go? You just need at least have 24 hours

19:08

without food and then you put the meal in. So I hope you're

19:13

gathering that you can move your eating window very freely. And I

19:20

experiment all the time. So lately I've been really

19:23

experimenting with the eating window being in the daylight. I

19:29

am absolutely finding that if I keep my eating window in the

19:33

daylight that I tend to sleep better and I tend to stay the

19:40

weight that I want to stay. If you're not familiar with that

19:44

concept that is based off of melatonin when we when it's dark

19:51

out melatonin is high. When melatonin is high you are more

19:56

insulin resistant. So eating your meal You're in the daylight

20:01

when melatonin isn't around, allows your cells to be more

20:05

insulin sensitive so they can take in that glucose. Now,

20:09

obviously, the example I gave you about Easter doesn't work,

20:13

because I ate in the dark. But that was an unusual situation.

20:18

But what I'm trying to show you and I hope hope hope this is

20:21

coming across is that you have flexibility in this eating

20:29

window and the length of your fasting window. That's what

20:34

makes this so easy to stick with over time. Because you get to

20:41

create the length of your fasting all at whatever you're

20:45

trying to do, and you get to move the eating window around.

20:49

So Jesse Itzler is this really fun, beautiful human. He is what

20:55

started off as a rapper, he had a rap song that the New York

20:58

Knicks used as their as their their theme song. And then he

21:02

became a serial entrepreneur, Marquis Jet, yo, he was co owner

21:06

of that, and Zico, coconut water, and he's now part owner

21:10

of the Atlanta Hawks. And he happens to be married to one of

21:13

my heroes, Sara Blakely, who started Spanx. So Jessie heard

21:18

me on a podcast and got really fascinated about this fasting

21:22

thing. And so he brought me on, or asked for a consult with me.

21:28

And we worked together for about a year customizing all of his

21:32

eating windows around his family meals and his workouts. And they

21:40

constantly changed, the eating window constantly changed based

21:45

off of if he was literally about to do 100 mile endurance race,

21:51

if he was training for one of those. Or if he was on going on

21:55

vacation with the family. He then invited me in to a

22:01

mentorship group, where he was he has all these high performing

22:06

entrepreneurs have these really crazy lifestyles, and my job to

22:10

that for this group is we would pop on a call, and for a month,

22:15

I would create a fasting plan for them. And it was always

22:20

based off of what their work schedule was, what their

22:24

priorities with their family was, what their workout schedule

22:27

was, and, and how we could vary that in a week's time. So it's

22:35

really just about moving the eating window around to match

22:41

your, what you're trying when you're trying to eat with loved

22:45

ones, or what you need to eat according to your workouts or

22:49

what kind of performance state you're at. So I hope, I hope

22:54

that makes sense. Because it's a moving target that you get to

23:00

myth, if you are postmenopausal. This is where we have a lot of

23:07

freedom, because we don't really have a cycle that we're matching

23:12

it to. So I like to use my symptoms, like I explained to

23:17

you, I like to use my symptoms, so that I can sort of say check

23:22

in with my body every morning and be like, what do you need?

23:27

And sometimes, I don't really get a clear answer, like my

23:32

body's like, I feel good. So then if that's the answer, I

23:36

asked myself, have I done too many keto days? Have I eaten

23:40

enough carbs? What Foods haven't I eaten? Do I need to open the

23:44

diversification of my foods? So I'm constantly adapting to what

23:51

my body needs or what my lifestyle demands. That's if

23:55

you're postmenopausal. If you have a menstrual cycle, we have

24:00

more boundaries. So your eating window can be shorter. From day

24:08

one to day 10. Day one is the day you bleed. So from day one to day 10. If

24:15

you're trying to lose weight, if you're Peri menopausal, and you

24:19

want to clean up the hot flash situation or you have brain fog,

24:23

or you have big high performance moments. Then you're going to

24:28

lean into a shorter eating window leaving a longer fasting

24:32

time. And you're going to want to eat more keto biotic, that is

24:37

your performance state combo. But if you have a menstrual

24:41

cycle, you can only do it from day one to day 10. And then

24:47

after ovulation Day 16 Today night 10. So you have about half

24:55

of the month to lean into those those that setuptools If you

25:01

look at it, if you're trying to lose weight, you literally have

25:05

half the month that your hormones will be okay going into

25:10

these more cortisol rich experiences, which, you know, a

25:14

longer fast creates a higher cortisol spike, estrogen doesn't

25:18

mind that as much. And you can go into keto, so that you can

25:26

lose more weight, you can have more ketones for better, better

25:30

mental clarity, you've got half of a month to be able to lean

25:34

into that tool. The challenge we had as women, was that we were

25:42

doing once Kido came out or in fasting came out, women were so

25:46

excited. I mean, everybody was so excited about the energy it

25:51

gave us and the mental focus it gave us and the ability to drop

25:56

weight that we were able to get from it. But then when women

26:01

were doing it all month long, they started to see that it was

26:05

at the expense of another key hormone, which is progesterone.

26:11

So just to be clear, although estrogen and progesterone are

26:17

both considered sex hormones, they require very different

26:23

lifestyle tools. And so when we do a restrictive diet, when we

26:29

go, we get addicted to one meal a day, or we love fasting, and

26:33

we're like, I gotta just do this all the time. We are doing it at

26:38

the expense of progesterone. She does not like that. So if I want

26:45

to lose weight, I am going to use day one to day 10 of my

26:50

menstrual cycle, and day 16 To day 19 of my menstrual cycle to

26:56

fast longer and to do keto longer. That's how I map that.

27:02

And now I mind in the principles of, of estrogen. When we go into

27:07

the ovulation window, which is Day 11 Today 15. So day 10 Is

27:14

this weird day, it's a transition day, it's like a day

27:16

your you know, your body's getting ready for ovulation. Now

27:20

we have a really different scenario going on in that window

27:23

in that time period, because estrogens at her peak,

27:28

testosterone comes roaring in and you get a little bit of

27:33

progesterone. For the experienced faster, you can get

27:38

away with like a 15 hour fast. I think a 15 hour fast is really

27:43

good in that little window period. If you don't want to

27:47

fast you're fine not fasting. If you want to fast, even lower

27:50

like a 13 hour fast, you're fine. But when you open up your

27:55

eating window during ovulation, it is massively important to

28:01

lean in to more of what I call nature's carbs. And nature's

28:07

carbs are basically anything that has been grown on a tree or

28:14

come out of the ground and didn't require any alteration.

28:19

So like you could say wheat is a nature's carb. But most people

28:23

don't just take a wheat wheat stock and eat it. It has to be

28:27

milled and refined in order to be put into a flower so that we

28:33

can make a bread and so now it's a man made carb. To me nature's

28:37

carbs are like fruit, potatoes, you know, all the vegetables

28:42

that came out of the earth and were instantly ready for me to

28:46

eat them. When you're in that ovulation window, you're eating

28:52

those nature's carbs are really important because they have a

28:56

ton of fiber in them. And you need fiber to be able to feed

29:03

the bacteria in your gut that break down your hormones. Your

29:09

hormones have to be what we call metabolized. metabolized is

29:16

where you take a hormone that's been produced, and you make it

29:21

usable for the cells. It's very much like if you have to export

29:27

a document to be able to email it to somebody, you have to

29:31

change the format of that document so that it can be sent

29:36

as an email. So the same thing during ovulation. You have all

29:42

of these hormones surging in and so you need to step out of keto,

29:49

you need to go into these hormone feasting foods you need

29:52

to eat more carbs so that you can feed your gut so that you

29:58

are able to breathe Take these hormones down so they're usable

30:02

to your cells. So I like to use ovulation for a lot of fiber

30:08

fueled meals, you can still fast, it just has to be a little

30:13

shorter because progesterone is around, she's hanging around.

30:17

And progesterone doesn't like when we fast longer when you

30:21

come out of ovulation, now all your hormones drop, and you are

30:27

able to go into a shorter eating window and a longer fasting

30:31

window. But that's another point. Like you have a dip, you

30:36

can go into the fasting as your tool and a shorter eating

30:40

window. When we hit day 20 day 19 day 20. I know I'm not trying

30:46

to be vague. It's just everybody's a little different.

30:49

But around day 19 day 20, we need to step out of fasting

30:53

because this is progesterone is moment she is needs to peak, you

31:00

have to have a high amount of progesterone in order for your

31:04

uterine lining to shut. If you don't hit just like estrogen

31:09

during ovulation, she has to peak in order for an egg to be

31:14

released. Starting day 1920 progesterone has to peak in

31:21

order for that uterine lining to shed that's what will trigger

31:25

the uterine lining to shed and for you to bleed as progesterone

31:28

hits a peak. So we need more carbs, less stress, less

31:33

fasting. So you could customize your fasting lifestyle, but

31:41

through your menstrual cycle, following those guidelines,

31:46

that's what fast like a girl was all about. Now, the good news is

31:51

that I have a sequel coming out called eat like a girl. And that

31:55

sequel is all about the eating window. What do we look at

32:00

according to the menstrual cycle, and my menopausal

32:03

friends? I heard your cries of like more postmenopausal

32:07

information. So there's a ton. There's a whole chapter

32:11

dedicated to you. There's a ton of information in there about

32:15

how we eat to help our post menopausal symptoms, and how do

32:22

we eat when we don't have a cycle. So I've got you covered

32:26

there. But what I want you to think of and what I when we're

32:30

customizing a fasting lifestyle, I really want you to think about

32:36

moving this eating window around according to your lifestyle

32:42

demands, according to what you're trying to accomplish with

32:47

your body and according to where you are with within your

32:51

menstrual cycle, or what your hormonal needs are. So it's

32:56

movable. Does that make sense? Now what I can totally do is

33:02

sort of I'll give you you know what I'm going to do, I'm going to give

33:06

you Lisa billion's plan that I customized for her last week,

33:11

because she's been very public about the work we're doing

33:16

together. So, Lisa, Bill, you is the podcast host for women of

33:21

impact. I highly recommend you follow this badass woman. She is

33:27

incredible. She is a high performer. She was the founder

33:31

of Quest Nutrition. She sold that company about five to seven

33:36

years ago. And she now has this amazing podcast that is all

33:41

built around empowering women. And she had last week, a really

33:48

busy week. So she literally sent me her calendar. And we built a

33:54

fasting lifestyle around her demands that week. And I'm going

33:59

to give you some of the highlights that I created for

34:02

her that you might find necessary for your fasting

34:07

lifestyle. And you're going to see if you're like I'm so

34:11

confused. We took the demands of her life. And we customized

34:17

eating windows and fasting or windows around what her life

34:20

demanded. And when she needed to be in a performance state. So it

34:27

started on a Sunday. She was flying from LA to New York on on

34:33

Sunday, but her flight was at like 11 or 12 California time.

34:40

So I would have told her to fast all day long. A lot of times my

34:47

travel days are fasting days. And this is a really important

34:52

note. When you go up in an airplane, your digestion shuts

34:57

down. That that pressure change causes a change to your

35:03

digestion. And so the best thing you can do when you fly is to

35:10

not eat a meal two hours before the flight or just to fast all

35:15

day. One trick I've been doing lately is bringing bone broth

35:19

protein powder on a flight with me. And then I just asked for

35:23

hot water. And I'll just do drink boat bone broth while I'm

35:27

on the flight. Now, Lisa, we had seen some days, she's very thin.

35:33

And we had seen some days when she fast all day that she went

35:38

into a really cortisol saturated anxiety state and her blood

35:44

sugar dropped. We had already experimented with that two weeks

35:47

earlier. I didn't want to reproduce that. So I told her to

35:52

get up that morning and eat breakfast just make sure the

35:55

that and have a big breakfast, a carb rich breakfast a protein

35:59

rich breakfast, two hours, make sure it was two hours before she

36:04

got on the flight. By the way, another fun hack is she's in her

36:10

mid 40s. She built this badass company that was a lot of

36:15

stress. And so both myself and she had just interviewed Dr.

36:20

Daniel, amen on her podcast. And he told her that he just doesn't

36:26

fly red eyes anymore. Because he's like, I'm too old and I

36:30

care too much about my sleep. And I want to protect my brain.

36:34

I don't do red eyes. So she was used to doing red eyes because

36:38

they're very time efficient. And I told her no, we're trying to

36:43

get you out of dysregulation with your nervous system. I

36:47

agree with Dr. Amen. No red eyes. So she took this flight

36:52

right smack in the middle of the day, which was great for her

36:54

nervous system, but it created a bit of a challenge for her food

36:58

system. So her biggest meal that day was breakfast. Then she got

37:05

to New York. And the plan was for her to do bone broth. But

37:12

she messaged me and she's like I'm here. It's eight o'clock at

37:15

night. She had a big day of interviewing, she was

37:18

interviewing the next day, Mel be the Spice Girl. And she was

37:23

really excited about it. And I had already witnessed that she

37:27

needs to be fueled before a high performance state. So I needed

37:31

to get some food in her. So I told her at eight o'clock at

37:35

night, here's what I would tell you is eat some protein, because

37:38

protein is going to stabilize your blood sugar. So she had

37:41

taken some paleo Valley beef sticks. And when she got to her

37:46

hotel, she had a bunch of beef sticks and some bone broth

37:50

protein and went to bed. So now she had amino acids in her. We

37:55

had stabilized her blood sugar. She woke up the next morning her

37:58

interview with Melby was that two or three in the afternoon.

38:02

So I had her eat breakfast and eat like a couple of good meals

38:08

before the interview. They were more keto biotic, we didn't go

38:13

into carbs. We did more protein, more vegetables so she could be

38:17

in a performance state at two o'clock in the afternoon. Then

38:22

she came out of that by the time she was done. It was six o'clock

38:28

at night. And for recovery, we went back in to more protein,

38:33

same kind of meal that she had that night. Now, Tuesday, she

38:40

got up early and flew home. So there was no breakfast. But now

38:45

by the time she got home, I was like we got to get some carbs in

38:48

you. You've done a lot of protein and a lot of fasting. We

38:52

need some carbs. So I told her when she got home to eat a carb

38:57

rich meal that night so we can bring the carbs back in. And

39:02

then Wednesday, she had another day where she was had a couple

39:07

of podcasts. So I kept her fasted that day. But I had her

39:11

do a bone broth fast so she could keep her blood sugar up,

39:15

and that it was easy for her as she was going through her

39:18

podcasting day. And then the following day, now she had a

39:24

little more free time. So we went a little more into carbs

39:27

because carbs can sometimes tank your your energy. We hoped we'd

39:31

create a longer eating window. And then the next day was her

39:36

husband's birthday. And I Mike you got to do whatever is right

39:40

you eat to celebrate his birthday, like let's not have a

39:44

rule around it. So I tell you all this to say we had to build

39:48

fasting around the flight. We had to keep her food in more of

39:53

a Keto state built around performance. And we had to find

39:57

pockets that fit where I could Bring some carbs in, and some

40:01

more diversity of foods. So we she was well, that everything

40:05

was she had enough nutrients to be able to keep her blood sugar

40:08

at a high level. So I if you if I completely lost you no

40:14

problem, I just want you to know that the name of the game was we

40:20

created variety around the ever changes changing the cadence of

40:27

her schedule, and you can do the same. If you have more of a

40:31

routine, it's much easier. If you have like an exercise

40:35

routine, you have like a a workout routine much easier.

40:39

Like you get up in the morning, your fasting window may be

40:42

always in the morning, you like like when I'm when I'm not

40:47

traveling, I like to work out 11 o'clock. So I and I like to work

40:51

out in a fasted state. So when I work out, I I'll you know, I'll

40:57

do some aminos I'll do maybe some collagen powder, I'll go

41:00

work out and then the minute I come home, I open up my eating

41:02

window. And now I lean in to more fit. So I'm just sort of

41:08

showing you the flexibility of this moving target, believe me,

41:14

it would be a lot easier for me to just tell you, here's when

41:19

your eating window opens up every day, here's when it closes

41:22

down, here's the food you're going to eat, it's so much

41:25

easier to tell you that. But we all have these sort of

41:32

lifestyles that tend to change. And so we need to have our food

41:37

patterns change with it. And then we have to change with our

41:41

hormones. So again, I hope, I hope that makes sense. Another

41:47

eating window that I did for years or eating variation that I

41:51

did for years in my clinic was around high performing athletes.

41:58

And what I did is we looked at the days that they did not these

42:04

athletes did not work out as rigorous. And those were our

42:11

longer fasting days. So I used the days with less training as

42:18

longer fasting. And I use the days so that we could stimulate

42:23

them. By the way, there was a reason for this. The reason was

42:27

to be able to stimulate the release of stored glucose in

42:32

their muscles, so that we can make sure that those muscles

42:36

stayed insulin sensitive. So that when they did eat, the

42:41

muscles, were grabbing the nutrients that were grabbing the

42:44

glucose so they could be ready for a performance state. Then on

42:51

the days that they were training harder, or they were lifting

42:55

more weights, we didn't fast as much, we actually leaned into

43:02

more protein. So I used recovery days, and less working out for more

43:09

fasting, and I use the harder fitness days for more eating and

43:14

more food. So it changed according to that. So again, I'm

43:20

hoping that you're seeing that there's flexibility in all of

43:26

this. And and I'm not trying to confuse you, I'm trying to help

43:29

you find your pattern. I'm a huge believer in a couple of

43:34

principles that will tell you if you nailed your eating and

43:39

fasting windows. So the first thing is, I really want you to

43:43

understand this concept called N of one and I talk about it a lot

43:48

here in the reset Academy. I write I have a big section on it

43:53

in eat like a girl so you can understand it. When we look at a

43:57

science article or add a study the n equals how many people

44:03

were in the study. So well, let's use my favorite study to

44:09

break apart that horrible not a study but pretended to be a

44:14

study that came out saying that 91% increase in cardiovascular

44:21

event, if you intermittent fast. Just so we're all clear. That

44:27

was not a peer reviewed study. But when I first saw that

44:33

statistic come out, my brain was like this makes no sense because

44:41

I've spent the last decade of my life looking at fasting

44:45

research. And over and over and over again. I am seeing the

44:51

exact opposite of what this study is saying. I am seeing

44:55

that people who intermittent fast that they actually really

45:00

help improve their blood pressure, their cholesterol,

45:04

their liver enzymes, their belly fat, all the things that are

45:08

predictors for a cardiovascular event. So I was massively

45:15

suspicious from the 91% statistic. But the next thing I

45:20

went and did is I looked at how many people they studied. And it

45:24

was impressive. I'm not gonna lie, it was over 20,000 people.

45:29

So the end was 20,000 people. So then my brain went, like, how

45:36

were they able to do that? Like, how do they? What did that how I

45:39

mean, being able to put 20,000 people in a study setting is

45:45

almost near impossible, like you just don't see ends of 20,000.

45:50

And that's when the study started to fall apart. And just

45:54

so we're clear, because this has been a thorn in my side over the

45:59

last couple of weeks, because, unfortunately, we have lost some

46:03

people who have got had great results with fasting to a

46:08

sensational headline. And we have spouses that are concerned

46:12

friends that are concerned that their loved ones are fasting,

46:14

and is going to create a cardiovascular event. So where

46:17

the fun study fell apart, is they looked at these 20,000

46:22

people over many years. And they had them report in two days, out

46:30

of many years, they had to call in an answer some questions. And

46:36

one of those questions was, do you intermittent fast. And the

46:41

people who say yes, all got put in a separate grip, to be

46:46

analyzed. Now within that group, just so we're clear, 27% of that

46:52

group smoked. So they didn't, which probably was part of the

46:57

huge reason for the cardiovascular event, and

47:00

calling in, what they realized is people don't really remember

47:06

their food choices, and they don't remember their, their

47:10

fasting windows. And as you all are learning, intermittent

47:13

fasting is a different phrase to different people. So if somebody

47:18

says, Do you intermittent fast, one person might be like, Yeah,

47:21

I only have fruit juice in the morning. And I don't eat a meal

47:26

until noon, that's not intermittent fasting. They

47:29

didn't vet this group for what they were doing in their eating

47:32

window, or in their fasting window. And then the second part

47:36

of that is they didn't ask them what they ate in their eating

47:39

window. So this is why it is a bogus study. But I tell you all

47:45

this, to say that the N group was really big, what I'm going

47:51

to ask you to do is to be an n of one, where the only person

47:57

that matters, in your fasting lifestyle is you. And what works

48:03

for you. One of the biggest challenges we have around

48:08

science is that you take people, if you even if you're even

48:13

looking at people and not mice, and you put them in a very

48:17

controlled environment, and you try to take as many variables

48:21

out of the equation as possible. That's not how we live. That's

48:26

in opposition of everything I just taught you, which was this

48:32

fasting, lifestyle is flexible, and it can work to your

48:38

lifestyle. So you customize it, you change that eating window

48:42

based off of the demands of your family, the demands of work, and

48:47

what you're trying to do with your health. And keep in mind

48:52

your hormonal symptoms, or where you are in your menstrual cycle.

48:57

You could never study that. Like, it's got a lot of

49:02

variables in it, which means the only person that matters in this

49:05

moment is you and making sure that you are fitting this to

49:11

your needs. So yes, it's confusing when I when I teach

49:16

it. But the more you listen to it, the more curious you are,

49:20

the more you play with these principles. The the easier this

49:25

becomes. My experience is when we take ownership back of our

49:32

health and our lifestyle and say, I'm going to make this

49:36

thing work for me and the demands of my life. That it

49:41

becomes effortless over time to stick to it. How many diets have

49:46

we gone on where we're like, I'm done carrying extra weight and

49:50

I'm done feeling horrible. And my friend went on the X, Y and Z

49:56

diet and she lost 30 pounds so I'm going to do what she did.

50:01

And we go on that diet. And either we get a result. And then

50:06

over time, we're like, this is really hard. It's a lot of

50:09

discipline, and I'm not able to eat with my family and, and I'm

50:13

finding that like, like, this is actually how I feel about

50:16

protein right now. I love that we're bringing protein into the

50:20

conversation. I love that we have a marker now one gram of

50:26

protein for every pound of ideal body weight, I love that. But

50:31

how many of us are discovering that over time, keeping that

50:36

focus on protein is exhausting and hard. And on a busy day, I

50:42

get to the end of the day, and I'm like, oh, man, I forgot my

50:44

protein. So we have to find our own natural rhythm with protein

50:51

intake. So we can keep protein in the diet conversation for the

50:56

long haul. Because the principle is good. And the principle is

50:59

not going away. But there's no way I don't think unless you're

51:07

a fitness bodybuilder who has really got your, your body at

51:13

the forefront of every single part of your day. I don't think

51:16

it's it's an easy eating style to to stick to over time. If you

51:24

give yourself permission in a fasting lifestyle, to flex in

51:29

and out of high carb, low carb, high protein, Oops, didn't

51:34

wasn't able to do a lot of protein today. Long, fast,

51:37

short, fast, and you look at them as tools you're going to

51:41

use to build yourself a healthy lifestyle, it will get easier

51:47

over time, and it becomes effortless. But the minute we

51:53

start to do it, like our friend did it the minute we go into

51:56

rigidity over time, the whole all of what I'm saying falls

52:02

apart. And we can't sustain it. And this lifestyle when we use

52:09

the put our n of one glasses on, and we take these principles and

52:13

we look at them like tools, and we customize them for our needs

52:18

and our lifestyle. They become easier and easier and easier.

52:23

What I had this amazing dinner on Easter, we had some great

52:28

wine, oh my god, this place had gluten free sourdough bread. I

52:32

was like, I'm normally the person that's like put the don't

52:35

even bring me the bread basket at a restaurant. This one, I was

52:39

like, keep bringing me the bread basket. I had dessert. This is

52:44

not a normal thing that I typically lean into. But I was

52:49

in celebration with my family. And in that moment that I have a

52:53

foodie family. We love food. In fact, our son right now is is

52:58

training to be a chef. And so the food experience is important to the family

53:04

experience. So I went into it without any guilt. And then I

53:09

the next day was like, Okay, what tools do I have here? I'd

53:13

like to fast a little longer. I'd like to sharpen my brain.

53:16

I'd like a little bit of a recovery from that meal. Now I'm

53:19

going to go into more keto. If that makes sense. Is that

53:24

helpful. So in fastonic, a girl what I tried to do is give you

53:28

some protocols. So if you have an autoimmune condition, if you

53:31

have a thyroid problem, if you're trying to get pregnant, I

53:35

just was on a call with a client who is wanting to become insulin

53:41

sensitive before she got pregnant. And so we've spent the

53:45

last three to four months really working on that insulin

53:49

sensitivity longer fast, more keto. And now we're at the month

53:53

she's going to try to get pregnant. And so the whole thing

53:56

changed. Because now her target is different. I think we should

54:01

should do this with every eating style. We do it with working out

54:06

anybody who's serious about working out doesn't do the same

54:10

workout over and over and over again because we get less of a

54:13

result we're constantly changing the workout to meet what we're

54:17

what we want to accomplish in our body your fasting and your

54:21

should be the same fasting window eating window timing, how

54:26

am I mapping those and what food style do I need? But I really

54:33

want you to see that there's freedom in this lifestyle. And

54:38

this is why I you know, we in full transparency, like fast

54:44

like a girl is doing better than anybody thought. Especially me

54:48

like I was blown away like I just wrote a book because I

54:51

really wanted women to have another resource and what I'm

54:56

discovering in over 4000 reviews on an Amazon is that women are

55:02

finally finding a lifestyle that they can stick to. And it's

55:07

because it's so customizable. So if you're one of those women

55:13

that you like the rigidity you like the structure, okay? Well,

55:18

we in fast like a girl, I gave you a 30 day reset in there, you

55:24

can, you can use that structure and kind of start there. I in

55:29

the back of the book, I gave you weekly structures that are

55:33

mapped over like eight to 12 weeks. So if you have a

55:37

condition, you can lean into that and use that. But

55:40

ultimately, I think those are training wheels. And that you

55:44

should start to like this should start to become an effortless

55:48

experience. So I just really, it's it's, I think the hardest

55:53

part for people is when we go on a diet, it has a lot of rules.

55:59

And it has a lot of rigidity. But this is why the diet culture

56:03

doesn't work. And so this is why I call it a lifestyle. To me a

56:09

lifestyle is something that's adaptable, and that's what a

56:12

fasting lifestyle is. And then the last thing that I want to

56:16

say is really be curious about what your body needs. Because

56:23

you can't mess this up. So if you have a day that you're like,

56:29

get to the end of the day, and you're like, Okay, well, I tried

56:33

a longer fasting window, and then I opened up my eating

56:36

window. And the next thing you know, I ate the whole house.

56:41

Okay, well, that was a good experiment. Like, maybe we need

56:46

to have like that first meal. And I have a whole chapter

56:51

called The first meal matters and eat like a girl. But maybe

56:55

that and I had a whole chapter called breaking the fast and

56:57

fast like a girl, maybe that first meal, you just need to

57:00

focus on that first meal, the next time you go into longer

57:03

fast. As opposed to what we used to do, when we would go in to a

57:12

diet is we would mess up, and then we ridicule ourselves, I

57:16

messed that up, it was doing so well and I messed it up. And now

57:20

I'm really mad at myself. And then the next day, you're

57:24

holding on to guilt and shame. And you're beating yourself up,

57:28

and you're feeling bad. And all of a sudden your favorite food

57:31

comes in front of you and you have it, you eat horribly again.

57:36

And now that second day, you're like No, like two days in a row.

57:39

I've messed up. If you do that, in enough days in a row, you

57:44

just go, I give up. I'm going to ask you to stop that behavior

57:50

that play with these tools play with the fasting window and the

57:54

eating window. Play with them. What are you breaking your fast

57:58

with? What diet? Are you leaning into play with these tools. And

58:01

if you get to the end of the day, and you're like, well, that

58:04

tool didn't work for me because at three o'clock, my energy

58:06

crashed, or you do three or four days of hormone feasting foods

58:10

in a row. And you're like I'm gaining weight. Okay, well now

58:14

lean into the next tool, which is keto and a longer fast. But

58:19

don't beat yourself up because the minute that the mind starts

58:23

to go after itself. Now we're back into the arms of the

58:29

western standard diet. And once you have given up, and you're

58:34

not in this fasting lifestyle, and you're just eating what's in

58:39

front of you, or you're just eating what your tastebuds tell

58:42

you to do, or you're just going into the market, and eating

58:45

whatever you used to eat, you're dead in the water. And I can't

58:51

say this enough, but we we literally now live in a time

58:56

that if you are mindlessly eating, you are putting yourself

59:01

in the category of building chronic disease. We have

59:05

chemicals in our food that are called obesogens that are

59:10

triggering stem cells to become fat cells and are known

59:14

endocrine disruptors that are throwing all of your hormones

59:17

off. So if we are not intentionally eating and

59:22

intentionally thinking about when we fast or when we don't

59:24

fast, you are in the lane of chronic disease. This is why we

59:32

have to have a lifestyle that gets easier with time. And the

59:38

only one that I know when it comes to eating and it comes to

59:42

when to eat and what to eat is a fasting lifestyle. It mean you

59:46

might know another one you can let me know. But it's it's our

59:50

door out of this chronic disease our door out is not ozempic

59:54

Because what happens when you stop ozempic Like where are you

59:58

going from there? And if you're on ozempic, then this fasting

1:00:03

lifestyle is even more important because the path off of ozempic

1:00:07

is a fasting lifestyle. So I, and I've tried to disprove this,

1:00:14

and I can't I'm here I sit a decade later, after studying

1:00:19

this fasting lifestyle and how it fits to the feminine body, I

1:00:22

am more convinced than ever before, that this is our way out

1:00:27

of the horrific food culture that we are living in. So I hope

1:00:33

that helps. I really like my biggest concern is that the

1:00:37

information will overwhelm, and so you shut down. So go back,

1:00:42

really listen to this, and be curious about this beautiful

1:00:47

body you get to live in. And if you have a day where you're

1:00:52

fasting and food didn't work for you, then that then it's just

1:00:57

data, just that, Okay, that didn't work today. I'm going to

1:01:01

do it differently tomorrow. And I have a lot of tools and a lot

1:01:04

of ways I can do it different. Okay. So I really hope that

1:01:10

helps I try when I give confusing information, I try to

1:01:14

come at it from different directions, knowing that some of

1:01:18

you are going to hear this very differently. I also know that

1:01:22

some of us are auditory learners, some of us need the

1:01:26

visual, I'm a visual learner. And some of us need the

1:01:29

experience of it, which is why the reset Academy was created so

1:01:33

we could experience this. So please, please stick with that.

1:01:38

Don't give up on it because I again, I'm more convinced than

1:01:41

ever, that this is our way out of chronic disease. Thank you so

1:01:47

much for joining me in today's episode. I love bringing

1:01:51

thoughtful discussions about all things health to you. If you

1:01:55

enjoyed it, we'd love to know about it. So please leave us a

1:01:58

review, share it with your friends and let me know what

1:02:02

your biggest takeaway is.