Episode 25: New Year’s Community Fast Start, Lifestyle vs. Diet, and More

Welcome to Fast Feast Repeat Intermittent Fasting for Life. I'm Jen Stevens, author
of the New York Times bestseller Fast Feast Repeat, and I'm Sherry Bullock,
longtime intermittent faster and health and wellness advocate. Please keep in mind that this
podcast is for educational and motivational purposes only and is not intended to provide medical
or diagnostic advice. Jen and I are not doctors, so make sure to
check with your trusted healthcare professionals before making changes, especially when it comes to
any medical treatments or medications. Whether you're new to intermittent fasting or an experienced
intermittent faster, tune in each week to get inspired, to learn, and
to have some fun along the way. Hi, everybody, we are so
glad you're here today. Welcome to this week's episode of the Fast Feast Repeat,
Intermittent Fasting for Life Podcast. How are you doing today's Sherry, I'm
doing wonderful well. I am super excited because this is coming out on December
twentieth. As of the date this comes out, we are six days away
from my new book being delivered for everyone who pre ordered. That's so exciting.
I'm really excited, Like I have been really ready for this one to
come out for a while because I know how much it's going to help people
who are struggling to have this support. But I wanted to take a few
minutes to talk about how we're going to incorporate this into the community. And
I was figuring out, Okay, look, it's a new book. It's
a New Year twenty eight day fast Start day by day. It's coming out
right after Christmas. Then we've got the new year starting and a lot of
people will be ready to start. And I was like, well, when
do we want to start? Like all these people who are going to be
starting, they're fresh start if they've been fasting for a while, and kind
of we don't like to say fallen off the wagon, but let's just say
they quit fasting and they're ready to start again, or someone is brand new
and they're ready to start. Normally, we just have people start every single
day during the year. There's always somebody new in the community and it's their
day one. But I thought was with this new book coming out and also
the New Year, it would make a lot of sense for us to have
a community twenty eight day fast Start or Fresh Start for the people that are
new And I'm so glad you were on board with the idea as well.
But I did like some reverse engineering. I'm like, when do we want
to start? You know, the book comes out December twenty sixth, but
then we still got new year to get through, and do you start on
January first? And then I'm like, well, you're still kind of holiday
feeling sometimes the kids are still out of school exactly. So I thought,
well, let's backtrack, let's end to the twenty eight day fast start on
January thirty first. It's like, good time to end. And then we
backed it up, so we will start a community wide twenty eight day Fast
Start or Fresh Start on January fourth, and it will go through January thirty
first. And the more I started thinking about it, the more excited I
got, because that'll give us time to work through the new book as a
community, and everybody can be at the same place that's starting off day one
on January fourth and then end up on January thirty first. But then I
also thought, Sheerry, it would be a lot of fun to have a
celebration one year later on January fourth of twenty twenty five, we can celebrate
everybody's one year fastiversary. That would be really fun. Yeah, so it'll
be like a co see how many people, yeah, in twenty twenty five
are celebrating their one year anniversary that day exactly. And that's something that's in
the twenty eight day Fast Start Day by Day is that commit to a year
unless you know, you get pregnant or something happens that would mean you can't
fast anymore. Other than that, commit to a year and commit to celebrating
your first fastiversary. But we can do that as a community. So for
everybody who thinks this sounds like something they would like having community support, there
are several things you need to do. First of all, you're going to
want to join the community obviously Jen Stevens dot com slash community. Join the
community, and you'll want to join for a year so you can get support
throughout your first year. And you also want to pre order twenty eight day
Fast Start Day by Day so that you'll have it on release day, which
is December twenty sixth, six days away from when this podcast episode comes out.
But in between the time of when you join the community and when you
get the book and when we start on January fourth, you're like, all
right, what am I supposed to do? Well, there are some things
for you to do. I want you to introduce yourself in the community.
Go ahead and go to the twenty eight day fast Start group. Figure out
where it is. It's right there in the left navigation menu. Introduce yourself
so we get to know who you are, look around, see what the
community is all about. And then also once you get the book December twenty
sixth through January third, there's like some beginning sections where you're understanding about what
is fasting, why do you want to do it, what is the clean
fast, little basics of that, and also crafting your why, which is
so important, figuring out what plan. So you'll do all that beginning part
before January fourth, and then January fourth is day one and we'll do days
one through twenty eight together in the community. Now, for anybody who's listening
that you maybe you're listening to this after January fourth, it's you can start
anytime. You don't have to wait for a start date to start. And
for someone who's excited, if you want to start on December twenty first,
December twenty second, you don't have to be in sync with us January fourth
or January thirty one. But I thought it would be fun to have a
cohort of people who are in sync together. So each day, you guys
will have a you'll lead a discussion about that day's work from the book.
Yep, it'll be very very I have a huge suggestion to make. Okay,
if a person is listening and they haven't started pasting yet and they're kind
of waiting for this, or they think I want to get through the holidays
or whatever, I have homework for you, love it. Don't wait until
or day one to switch to drinking black coffee. Oh hallelujah. Good suggestion,
because this is the thing that so many people struggle with in the beginning.
So if you can go ahead and start making that switch now, it's
gonna make it so much easier. There's one less mental battle that you have
to overcome when you're starting. Yep, So start playing around with skipping the
cream or the creamer, the sugar or the splendor, the whatever you put
in your coffee. Start playing around with getting rid of that now. Because
here's something people decide they don't really like their coffee. They're drinking coffee with
so much other stuff in it, and when you take it out, they're
like, this doesn't taste good. And some of the reasons it doesn't taste
good is because you're just not drinking good quality coffee. Quality coffee. Yeah,
and you do become a little bit of a coffee snob once you start
drinking black coffee. It's true. You could not pay me to drink hospital
coffee. Sisters was the worst coffee ever. And she's like, well,
I needed to throw that away. I'm like, yes, you should have
thrown it away, and then we had some better coffee, so you know,
but it makes a difference. Even I, who liked black coffee,
I was like, this is the worst black coffee in the world. Gent
texted Roxy and I and she said, you, guys, my sister has
the worst black coffee ever. It was so bad, but she knew it
was bad. In her defense, someone had given it to her and it
was old. It was like really old coffee anyway, so it was bad.
That's a great, great suggestion. Oh can I tell you a really
fun story real quick? Sure? This morning I had to do the pickups
for twenty eight day fast Art Day by Day the audio book. And by
the way, everybody, if you're only going to get one version of twenty
eight day fast Start Day by Day, don't get the audio. The audio
is a supplement. You're gonna want the paperback, get the paperback, and
if you also want the audio, get the audio. But I would not
only get the audio. That's just my suggestion. But I still did an
audio book because people like to hear things, right, they like to hear
the days. So there were some pickups. Pickups are like when you have
to go back and like I said somebody's name wrong and I had to say
it again. Just took like nine minutes to record the pickups. But I
had my producer on there. Chrissy is her name. She works for McMillan
Audio, and she was on the line the whole time I was recording the
audio book, initially a few weeks ago. And she also is the one
that is editing the audiobook and putting it together. Guess what she is doing,
what she's fasting. Yeah, she was not an Internet faster listening to
you the book. Yes, she listened to me record the book. She
got super excited about it. She got a copy of Fast Feast Repeat.
She began right away, and she was telling me today about how she's used
to black coffee and she was surprised and she couldn't believe it. And she's
at the point in the fast start where it's a little hard, uh huh.
So she's like, can I ask you a question about when it starts
to get hard? So we talked about that. But it was so exciting
to see. And what's funny is when I was recording Fast Feast Repeat this
is twenty the producer that was on with me also started fasting while we were
recording it. That's great. I'm two for two on that audio. People
They're like, I could do it. I could do it anyway. It
was very exciting to talk to her and hear that she had started. Well,
I just can't wait for all these people to get started, and then
for them to write into the show and tell us about their celebrations along the
way. And I know, I'm so excited what tweaks they find that are
working for them or whatever it is. So on that note, let's share
today's weekly celebration. We have a celebration from Vicki in South Texas. She
wrote My Life is a success story, but after nearly five years of intermittent
fasting, it's not that big of a deal anymore. Yesterday I went to
review my recent hormone replacement therapy and fasted insulin bloodwork, and since my husband
struggles with insulin resistance, I felt the need to know my levels. Well,
I was elated with my visit to the nurse practitioner. First, my
fasted insulin level is four point three, and both practitioners in the room were
literally astounded at that level. One of them said they had never heard of
anyone with a fasting insulin level that low. It's funny, Sherry, because
we hear all the time from people in the community who have fasted insulin levels
of five or below, like all the time. Well, I'm just astounded
that her practitioners even knew how to draw a fasting insulin or what interpreted a
low level is, because it's just not a test that's performed right. So
that itself is great. She said. Oh, second, they told me
that I was not sixty six because they had thirty year olds that didn't have
as remarkable blood work as mine. Lastly, my blood work consistently shows five
hundred plus antibodies for my thyroid and they tell me that means that I have
Hashi motives. My thyroid hormone levels are healthy, however, despite this,
and I asked if there was something else I should be doing to maintain my
very healthy thigh levels, and she said, well, you are fasting and
staying active, so you just need to keep doing what you are doing.
I am so proud of myself. I want to be thin, but more
importantly, I want to be healthy. My numbers prove my good health and
I will be an intermittent faster for life. And so for anybody who isn't
aware of what hashimotos is, according to John Hopkins, it is an autoimmune
disease that occurs when your body makes antibodies that attack the cells and your thyroid
and symptoms may include an enlarged thyroid gland, tiredness, weight gain, muscle
weakness. And they also agree with Vicky's nurse practitioner so that since her thyroid
hormone levels are normal, there is no treatment for it, which is fabulous
awesome. I love that story. And you know, when you have your
blood work and your your practitioner says, your blood work is better than that
of most thirty year olds that we see. I mean, what else could
that be? That's great, so exciting. All right, So now we
have a question from a lie listener. The question is from Lost in El
Paso, and Lost says, Hello, beautiful ladies. I have been fasting
since July of twenty nineteen, and at that time I was diagnosed with type
two diabetes. When I started fasting, it helped me tremendously with lowering my
A one C to the point that I didn't need to take medication. I
was good until twenty twenty two, at which point I was going through marital
problems and left my job that I had for seven years to move to a
new company. The stress I had was extremely high, and I started gaining
weight. I also lost my way in my fasting hours. For almost that
whole year, up until late twenty twenty two, I was opening my window
earlier and closing it late. I finally went to my nurse practitioner and was
told that my diabetes was back, as well as high blood pressure and cholesterol.
I was so upset that I had let it get to that point again,
so I decided to get strict with my windows again. The problem is
that I had to start on insulin injections and ozimpic once a week with met
Foreman twice a day. Now, I could you say that sharing? Well,
I think she's misunderstanding, and I think she thinks ozempic is insulin,
Okay, because she wrote insulin injections and then ozempic and parentheses because ozempic is
not insulin, and we'll talk about that in a few minutes. Okay.
So she's she said that she started insulin injections, but then she said ozempic
and parentheses. So I think she's just taking ozempic once a week and then
met Foreman twice a day. She said, My A one seed did go
down from seven point two in November of twenty twenty two to six point four
in May of twenty twenty three. I continue to fast every day and try
to keep my window open for four hours a day. My concern is should
I continue to inject And she says insulin, but I think she means ozempic
once a week. Since the point of fasting is to lower your insulin.
Am I reversing all the fasting benefits that I get from fasting by injecting insulin.
Okay, so you wouldn't take influin once a week? No, right,
share it? Yeah, okay, so she's definitely not taking insulin once
a week, all right, So she said, my nurse practitioner knows I
fast and is neutral about it. I really feel better and have lost the
weight that I had gained, but I want to stop injecting myself. I
just feel really lost right now about what is the best thing for my health.
All right. So I think it's really important to dress this because I
think it's important for everybody to understand what medications they're on and what they do.
And from everything I have read that you've shared, you do not appear
to be on insulin unless you're injecting something else. In addition to the once
weekly ozempic. Ozempic is not insulin. Ozempic is a GLP one agonist,
so it does lower your blood glucos much like metforman does, but it is
not insulin, so you can kind of take that concern off the table.
Insulin is a hormone that tells cells in the body to absorb glucose from the
blood, and if the body doesn't use insulin well due to insulin resistance that
glucose stays in the blood, which is what leads to your high blood sugars
and high A and C O. Zembic on the other hand, and the
other GLP one agonists, they stimulate your pancreas to release insulin when high glucose
is present, such as after a meal, and they rely on your body's
own insulin to lower blood glucose. It also helps prevent your body from producing
glucagon, and glucagon is another hormone. It stimulates your liver to release glycogen
into the blood stream. So while they that would also keep your blood sugar
lower because you're not releasing new depleting the liver's glycogen. Right, So we
can't advise you on whether or not you should get off of your ozembic.
I would really work with your doctor. If you don't want to be doing
that, If you don't want to be taking that, let them know that,
because I'm just gonna say, your body, your choice. You have
a role in your health care, and I'm just a huge advocate for really
understanding why are you on a medication, Why is the doctor prescribing a medication,
how does the medication work, What are the alternatives. I see this
a lot in my work at the hospital every day, and I am the
biggest person that's I really try to educate people. I don't feel like there's
enough education that happens with people when they get put on different medications or they
receive a diagnosis of something. So that's my soapbox. I'm sorry, no,
never apologizody. I think that's important. We need to know what we're
taking and why exactly exactly. So you know, you said that your pemoglobe
and A ANDC came down in a year from seven point two to six point
four. Something that I would really recommend is get your A ANDC tested every
ninety days. I would even at this point, I would really encourage you
to get a fasting insulin done. It would be really really good to know
where you fall on the spectrum of insulin resistance. And you could even inquire
about a CGM to monitor your blood glucose. That might be something that you
could talk to your practitioner and tell her, like you don't want to use
ozebic, that you would like to control your blood sugars with diet, and
the CGM can be a really really helpful tool. To do that. So
again, I just really feel like, one you're concern that you're injecting insulin,
which is defeating the point of fasting, that's really unfounded because you're not
on insulin. So you can just take that worry right away. And you
know, you said you've tightened up your windows. Knowing your level of insulin
resistance can kind of help you address any diet or even fasting protocol issues,
tweaks that might need to be made, any other ideas, Jen, Yeah,
I also think this is an example where it's important to really understand how
food is medicine. And you know, if I were diagnosed with diabetes,
I would manage it through diet. However, I could, you know,
and I know for me, my body does really really well with a whole
food, low fat, plant based approach. My blood sugars are beautiful when
I do that. Lower they're lower when I do that, which sounds the
opposite of what people might think, you know, but that would be what
I would choose. Other people find that a low carb approach is what works
best for them if they're diabetic. People have had amazing results. Jason Fung's
work The Diabetes Code with reversing type two diabetes. So there's really like two
opposite approaches that can work really really well when it comes to food. We
got the Mastering Diabetes method, which is the whole food, plant based,
lower fat approach, and then we've got the Jason Fung approach, the Diabetes
Code, which is a low carb approach. But both of them can get
great results. And you know, it might come down to bioindividuality food preferences
the way you like to see. I think it really is going to come
down to which way would bring you the most enjoyment exactly as a way of
eating for the rest of your life, and maybe not for the rest of
your life, because you can improve, you know, your body's health,
and then you're not diabetic anymore. Now you don't want to then add in
all the ultra processed foods again, but you can maybe have some more flexibility.
But really, the more we're learning it's the ultra processed foods that are
driving all this metabolic derangement. And even when you listen to like the Mastering
Diabetes guys, they're not having you have vegan twinkies or whatever. You're eating
whole food, real food, and the same thing. On Jason Fun's side
of things, He's not having you buy keto bread at the grocery store.
You're eating real food. So it's all about finding the real food that makes
you feel good, that makes you feel satisfied. Understanding food is medicine,
and I would always rather manage it through diet and lifestyle than through medications if
I can. Now, I'm not going to say I would never take a
medication. I absolutely would. There's a time and a place for medications.
You just have to decide how you would like to do it. Yeah,
Yeah, And I believe you know you've already got fasting benefiting you. So
I believe it is very, very possible for you to control and reverse your
diabetes when you mix the right food with fasting. Ye. And both Mastering
Diabetes and the Diabetes Code include fasting as part of their protocol, So I
think that that's really important to understand. Two of the best selling books on
managing diabetes both have fasting as an underpinning part of their program. So fasting
plus eating the foods that are going to help you not be insulin resistant and
not have those crazy blood sugars, that's the key. And both ways of
eating can do that. Yeah, yeah, I would really recommend everybody read,
Like, if you don't know what to do and you don't know where
to start, read both books. And one of the protocols is going to
feel right to you. She's that one exactly. And our bodies are complicated,
and so it makes perfect sense why each of them work, even though
they seem to be complete opposites. You know, it makes a lot of
sense when you understand why they're working. All right, So now it's time
for our segment called what's your Why? And we know most of us come
to intermittent fasting for weight loss. That's certainly why I did. It's fine
for that to be part of your why, But there's so much more to
what intermittent fasting can do for us beyond weight loss. And in my new
book twenty eight day Fast Start day by day, I ask readers to craft
their why statement before they begin. So when your why is deeper than weight
loss alone, you're more likely to find the long term success with IF as
a lifestyle. So today we have a y from Pam. Pam said,
I started IF to combat menopausal weight gain and avoid the metabolic diseases that have
hit my family for years. My focus has completely changed to working on my
mindset. My why is allow myself the time and space to really hear my
thoughts and self talk. I had no idea how much I was using food
to deal with my emotions. I had no idea what kind of emotions I
had buried by acting as if throughout this journey and through the DDD online community,
I have found tools to help me address these long buried emotions and beliefs,
which allows me to be much more present in my day to day life
and see all the wonderful things that life gives me on the daily. No
matter what the scale says, I will continue to fast because this gift of
being myself, being present in the now and understanding how very blessed I am
means way more than any number on the scale, And that's really powerful.
It is powerful, and it's something that I have really I recognize this very
early in my eye of journey, and I have said this all along.
Is like if clears the noise to allow deeper healing. Yeah, that you
didn't even know you needed. YEP. I think a lot of people don't
realize that they are using food and beverages to numb emotions and push them down.
You may not realize that you're doing that until suddenly, now you're fasting,
and then you're feeling the emotions and you're like, wait a minute,
I'm feeling something and you're used to just numbing it and you don't realize.
Brene Brown talks a lot about the shame spiral. Yeah, And one of
the things she really talks about, and I think it's gifts of imperfection,
is she gave a alcohol years ago because she realized she was guilty of using
food and alcohol to numb. And so when you are feeling the shame spirals,
basically like her theory is that a lot of our emotions and behaviors or
whatever are shame based, and they are things that we carry with us from
our youth. So you're having a bad day, you feel bad about yourself,
you feel bad about your weight, you start thinking bad about yourself,
and so what do you do. You start numbing with food, with alcohol,
sometimes with too much exercise, whatever it is that is not healthy for
you. We use that to avoid really dealing with the real issue. And
then what do you do The next day? You wake up and you feel
worse about yourself, and then you start beating yourself up, saying I'm so
weak I can't stick to a diet. Da da dah. And that's that
shame spiral she talks about. And I think with intermittent fasting, when you
just take a pause from eating and thinking about food, it really stops that
spiral. Yeah, but then you have to figure out maybe new ways to
cope. Yes, And that's something that people weren't expecting to have to deal
with because they didn't know maybe that they were doing it, and then they
have to figure something else out. But self awareness is the first step towards
solving the problem. And you're like, oh, I really do want to
have a mug of creamy coffee to soothe myself when I'm not feeling good,
and why do I want that? And instead, sometimes I tell people feel
the feelings instead of thinking you need to numb them with something, feel them.
And somebody told me at the community the other day they didn't want to
and I'm like, I get it, I get it. I want to
yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean so often you're trained don't show emotion.
Yeah. I can't tell you how many times I've heard kids being told
stop crying or I'll give you something to cry out. You're taught from a
really young age don't feel your emotions, don't wear your heart on your sleeve.
So yeah, I get that, but I don't know true. It's
it's hard journey. I mean, growth isn't easy. No, it's really
worth it, it really is. Well. We have another question this week,
and this is from Carol and Dayton, Ohio. She said, my
question is about having a long window with a break between meals. I'm an
early eater, roughly ten or eleven am to two pm. But when I
have dinner plans with friends, instead of me closing my window when I would
normally close it, I open at my regular time and I keep it open
until I'm done with my dinner plans. This means that sometimes it's a long
window, like eight hours, I am not eating during those entire eight hours.
I think maybe I'm only eating a total of three hours. What is
your input about long windows with breaks between meals? Love you ladies. Thanks
all right, Carol, that is such a good question, and I mean
there is not a thing wrong with that, really, not a thing at
all. And there are a couple of reasons why. First of all,
that might be a great approach for someone to do every single day. You
know, we actually had a tweak of the week that was similar to this,
Remember that one sherry a few weeks ago where the person said that I
can't remember who it was, I'm sorry that someone in the community. It
was like a linked in to a six hours and a six hour window and
they were having like a mini meal at each inn. Yeah, like a
Chad fast. Like Chad eats lunch and then he doesn't eat anything again,
and then he eats again, so he doesn't eat between meals, he doesn't
snacks. That's we call that the Chad fast, just in his honor because
that's what he does. But that's a really great way to structure an eating
window. And if you're somebody who does well with eat something, don't graze
at all, don't snack, don't snack, have something else later. That
works, and that could be a daily approach. But it's certainly not a
problem to do that every now and then, right, I mean, I
can see a benefit to it. Even you know, we've talked before about
homeostasis, and if you do the same thing every single day, exactly the
same. Your body is more likely to adapt. Even with fasting, your
body will adapt, and so just switching it up every now and then is
a good idea. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I'm like,
if she always eats between ten and two, and she's pretty rigid about that,
I think having some days where she has some longer fast and throws in
an extra meal or whatever, then I think that's actually really beneficial to her
body and metabolism. Yeah. I think so too. And I always get
concerned when people think the goal is to have a really really short window every
day, and it isn't. That is not the goal. And I'm just
the person who never really let myself get stuck in that just because I'm like,
it's the weekend, I'm going to have a longer window today. You
know. I tend to have a celebratory longer window and I feel like it
and I always have, so my body never adapted. But we really don't
want to get in that. If you're someone who really likes routine, it
can actually not work out for the best. So having a longer window here
and there, especially Carol, since you're not eating the whole time. Yeah,
Yeah, And you know, let me just say something too, that's
just popped in my mind. So this episode's coming out on December twentieth,
that means Christmas is coming right around the corner. And we're actually recording this
the week of Thanksgiving. And it's so interesting the conversations that are happening community
right now. Yeah, there's a couple of different approaches people are taking to
the holidays. And I just want to say. There are some people who
are asking, should I have a down day the day before the holiday so
I can have an upday on holiday? And you know, my answer is
if you routinely do down days and you like to do down days, and
that feels good to you, and you want to do that, knock yourself
out great as absolutely, Yeah, do you have to do that? No,
you do nots You can just have a long window on the holiday.
I mean, it's one day, it's fine, relax about it. You're
not falling off program, you're not undoing the rest of the week's progress.
No, just enjoy your day. There's no reason to overthink it. And
the worst thing you can do is have a long window on Christmas. Eat
all day long, start with Christmas breakfast, and you know whatever, and
then wake up Friday or whatever day is to day after Christmas. Yeah,
I don't know, I had Thanksgiving in my brain. Yeah, wake up
the next day and feel like you failed or you ate too much and then
over fast. Yeah, then a taste to make up for it. Don't
do that. We call that revenge fasting, you ever, revenge to retaliate,
like, oh, I've got to do something. That's diet brain,
that's diet thinking. We're not in that anymore. We're doing something different.
We're loving ourselves. And that's what I love the most about the community sharing
is how many people are really on a journey of compassion with themselves and self
love. And it's not about oh I finally got to my goal weight,
now I love myself. No, it's about people who maybe they're plateaued and
they're not losing any weight at all, and they're stuck and they're still even
obese, and they're like struggling, but they're like, now I have self
love, and they're learning to work with their body and give themselves compassion because
we don't heal a body that's been struggling for decades in five months, right,
It takes a while, and but part of that is the self compassion
and the self love and giving yourself grace and understanding. Right, that's one
of the most powerful things I see in the community. We're not just like
how much weight did you lose this week? Woo No, No, maybe
you didn't lose any weight, but you discovered something important about yourself and you
changed something you've been saying to yourself, and that's that's where the power is.
And if it's your first holiday, or if it's your first time having
like a really celebratory day and maybe there's more food and more sweets and more
alcohol than normal, you're gonna wake up the next day and fasting's gonna feel
harder than normal. It really is. You're not gonna probably kick over into
fat burning at the same time, you're gonna be hungry. And my best
advice to you is just push through, because really all you've done is you've
stored a little bit more glikage and than you normally do in your window and
you want to burn through it. Yeah, So just kind of push through
that day. Just know it's probably gonna be a harder fast. Get busy,
stay busy, take your tree down, whatever, it is you do
the day after Christmas? And who takes their tree down the day after Christmas?
Yere, I know a lot of people who take it down the day
after Christmas. Once I heard that you could keep it up through like I
forgot what it was like January whatever. I can't remember. I always have
to look it up. I'm like, I got permission to keep that from
the UK. It's something that I don't know, like Epiphany. Is that
what it's called? I can't remember. Yeah, like the twelve Days of
Christmas? I don't know, but that gave me great permission to keep my
tree of Well. I stay with a friend when I go to work on
the weekends, and last year we worked on Christmas and we go to work
at about six o'clock in the evening. She came to work and told me
she started taking her tree down. Well, she wanted to get home and
it's fresh. I get it. Everybody, you can do whatever you want.
I support you if you want to take it down the day before Christmas
because you're busy. But anyway, I enjoy mine like I'm drinking out of
my Christmas mugs the day before Thanksgiving, drinking out of my Christmas mug.
Now my trees are up. I was just thinking it's time to put min
oup. Next week, I'll get mine up. Well, I can't just
have that in a baby potted tree, so it's yeah, but all right,
well that was some really good holiday advice. But everybody, don't feel
guilty. It's the feast season. And there's like a saying that it's like,
it doesn't matter what you do between Christmas and New Year's. It matters
what you do between New Year's and Christmas. That's true, that's true.
And since the beginning of time, people have enjoyed feasting. So every season
is a season of weight loss. Right, Sometimes we have seasons of weight
maintenance or even a slight season of weight gain. But this is my tenth
holiday season as an intermittent faster. That was that exciting that number one.
This is number ten for me. And you know, I've made it through
ten holiday seasons. And I never fell off the wagon, because there is
no wagon. I never quit fasting, but I had longer days of feasting
and that was okay. And I ate all the Christmas food I want to
eat. Yep, yep. I can tell you this about Jen if she
wants to eat. She's gonna eat. Oh, it's true. Well,
before we get to our tweak of the week, I want to take a
minute to tell you about a life changing bedding hack from Muslin Comfort. So
my husband and I we sleep very different. We are constantly fighting over the
sheets and blankets. He hates for the sheets to be tucked in. He
wants his feet free. I want them tucked all around me, so I
don't get any air in and I call that air gap. I'll say there's
an air gap. So a top sheet is never big enough. And so
my husband he would just give up and use the comforter, which drove me
nuts. I don't know how many of you have a sweaty husband. My
husband is the sweatiest sleeper. I saw this ad for this oversized Muslin blanket
and they advertise it you use it in place of a top sheet and blanket,
and so I took a chance on it, and we love it.
We are no longer fighting for real estate with the top sheet. It is
so amazing. I can swaddle myself in it, and he has plenty of
cover as well. Best of all, it is one hundred percent breathable.
Muslin cotton. It moderates your body temperature, so no more hot, sweaty
nights. It's lightweight, it warm, it's moisture waking, hypoallergenic, resistant
to microbes, mites, and allergens, and so I have serious dust my
allergies. It works great for me. It washes really easily. It's not
like trying to wash a big comforter. Just toss it in the washer and
dryer. It comes out wrinkle free and there's no batting in it. It's
just layers and layers of muslin fabric quilted together. And I really don't know
how I ever live without this blanket. So can a blanket be life changing?
Yes? Check out Muslin Comfort. There is a link in show notes
and you can save an extra ten by percent by using the link and the
code in show notes. Awesome. So now it's time for our tweak of
the week. And you know I always say tweak it till it's easy.
But the tweak that works for one person might not be the one that works
for you. You know, we're all different, and that's the beauty of
intermittent fasting. You're always empowered to figure out what works for you. We
fast clean, and then the rest we figure out. So this tweak was
submitted by Marvin and the delayed on to Night community, and he said,
lifestyle versus diet. When I treat intermittent fasting as a diet, I'm judging
my past self, punishing my present self, and overwhelming my future self with
unrealistic expectations. All at the same time. When I see intermittent fasting as
a series of lifestyle choices, I'm being kind to my past and wounded self,
which provides healing. I'm also being kind to my present self, which
provides encouragement and contentment. And I'm being kind to my future self by providing
manageable yet exponential growth potential. The best part either way, I'm making one
choice and getting results in three areas. But over the long haul, dieting
creates instability while living in intermittent fasting lifestyle integrity. And you know what I
love about this. When Sherry we asked Marvin if we could share it,
this was just a regular post in the community, and this is the kind
of stuff people are talking about and really thinking about. You know, the
whole idea of in the past, we all have done diets all the reasons
they were not sustainable, and how's intermitten fasting different, and Marvin Is he
was just writing something in the community and it was just, yeah, this
is profound. Yeah, you know, it's funny to me because like when
I think of a diet, you're like, Okay, well I've gained all
this weight, I have to take it off. So you say I have
to go on a diet, right, and that itself feels like punishment.
It's like such a negative I have to go on a consequence. Yeah.
Yeah, and then what happens. You go on this diet. It works
for a little bit, it doesn't work, and then you get down on
yourself and then you're looking for the next diet and it's just such a negative
cycle. Yeah. But when you just are like, I'm going to choose
this new lifestyle and you incorporate it, and you are able. I said
something to somebody one day in the community, said she resented having to fast
every day, and she keeps starting and stopping, starting, stopping, And
I said, when you are able to see that fasting is a gift that
you are giving yourself, and you are able to see how much better you
feel when you fast, then it's no longer something you have to do,
something that you choose to do. And I think it some people like it
clicks the first time around, they really get it, and for other people
it takes a couple go arounds and really sitting down and really figuring out what
is your why, what are your goals long term? What do you want
to continue to do to manage your way in your health? And I hope
it clicks for everybody at some point eventually. But that really reminds me of
my own journey. I remember driving Will to school back Calvidor in another school,
but Will was going to school with me, and I remember driving through
a drive through to get something for Will, but I couldn't have it because
I was fasting and feeling deprived. This was before I understood intermittent fasting.
It was before I understood the health benefits. When I first started, everyone
was really talking about, well, you just start, you eat fewer calories.
Intermittent fasting works because you eat fewer calories. Now you know it's so
much more powerful than that. But I remember resenting that I couldn't eat whatever
it was Will was eating. I couldn't eat that and also stay slim.
Once I understood how intermittent fasting is so much more than just a way to
lose weight, it changed everything. It changed my mindset. Instead of like
I can't eat that, I'm choosing not to eat that because I'm fasting right
I could have it later, I could have something else. There's going to
be something delicious in my window. But I suddenly began to prise and prioritize
the fasting time. When you understand the power of the fasting time, it's
like you're healing time. Yeah. Yeah, well, And also I think
too, when you are able to approach your feast with joy and not like
trepidation, then it's not necessary to eat mindlessly all day and to eat what
everybody else is eating when you have designed a feast at the end of your
fast that you're excited about. And that's why I also think like people who
really take joy in their food and eating delicious food, I think it also
helps them stick with internet fasting because they're like, yeah, I'm fasting right
now, but later I'm going to have this delicious meal. And it's so
many times it's foods that people are like, I could have never eaten this
before. When I was doing diet xyz, it wouldn't have been allowed,
or I wouldn't have had enough points to eat this or whatever it was.
So I think when you are able to look at the fast and the feast
as both being positive gifts to yourself, then yeah, I mean, I
just think if that's a huge mindset tweak, that just really is going to
speak to your ability to stick with the lifestyle. It's true, and I
always like to make the distinction when we're thinking about intermittent fasting lifestyle versus diet.
Diet is what you eat, whatever it might be. Maybe you're eating
the standard American diet. Maybe you have a more Mediterranean diet, maybe you're
vegan, maybe you're keto, whatever it is. Everyone eats a diet.
You might not be on a diet, but you're eating a diet. Diet
is what intermittent fasting is when so I've never said I do the internet fasting
diet because it's not. The diet is what you eat within your intermittent fasting
paradigm, and you're eating it in you're eating window or on your updays.
You know, everyone eats a diet of some sort. That might once since
I started fasting said oh, I can't eat there right now because I'm dieting
right now. No, I say, oh I can't eat that right now
because I'm fasting. I'll have it later. I'll have it later, or
no, thank you, I'm fasting right now. I tell people at work
all the time. They're like, oh, hey, there's this or that,
and I'm like, oh, I'm good, thank you. I already
ate and I've closed my window. I'm back to fasting. Yep. I
don't know. Not once have I been like, oh, I'm so sad.
I already closed my window because I already ate something delicious exactly satisfic key.
It needs to be satisfying. It needs to be something that you love.
That doesn't mean I want to throw it out there. Because sometimes people
feel a little salty about the idea that wait a minute, I can't just
eat whatever I want. You know, I talk about this and fast,
feast, repeat. You can eat whatever you want, but you can't eat
whatever you want. You know, even in an eating window, we need
to be mindful of what we're eating. You can eat so much food in
an eating window that you will not lose weight or you could gain weight.
Right, So, it's a matter of choosing the delicious things you want.
Like I made some muffins. They were Hello Fresh muffins, Sherry. I
don't think i'd ever ordered any Hello Fresh muffins. It came with everything that
you needed. They were like these had cherry jam in there. They were
so good. This sounds like things. They were delicious. But I had
a muffin, but I didn't have four muffins. Right, I can eat
whatever I want. One muffin is appropriate. Four muffins would not have been
appropriate. You know. We still I love pumpkin pie. Yeah, and
I'm working over the holiday weekend. It's Thanksgiving this week. I'm not going
to any Thanksgiving celebrations, so there is no Thanksgiving dinner for me. Last
week I bought a pumpkin pie and I've been eating on it this whole week.
And every night I've had a little slice of pumpkin pie with some whipped
cream. And I thought, you know, probably not gonna see any loss
on the scale this week. And that's one hundred percent, Okay, I'm
embracing that because dang it, pumpkin pie comes around once a year. And
I went absolutely, Yeah, So we just had Chad's birthday, and we
had a birthday cake and we ate a little bit of cake every night,
and then we got to the last night of it, there was still some
more left and both of us were like, retired of this cake. So
and then we just threw the rest away. We threw away cake because we
didn't want any more of it. So I think a lot of it's just
realistic expectations. Exactly nowhere do I think I can eat pie every night for
five nights and still see weight loss at the end of the week. I
mean, maybe I will. I don't know, but I'm not expecting it,
and I'm not gonna be sad. I'm not gonna beat myself up.
And you're gonna know it was the pie I have. We want to know
it was the pie and it is what it is, and guess what it
is delicious and I loved it, and yeah, you know next week there
won't be any pie. Yeah. So it's all about figuring out what works
for your body. But even with a written fousting, you can't just eat
as much as you want of everything that you want. And that's the part
that some people are like, wait a minute, I was promised I could
eat whatever I want. You can. You can eat whatever you want,
but you still have to be mindful with it. Right. Well, and
I say too, like, you can eat whatever you want. Can you
eat whatever you want in every window every day off what you want to eat
is an idquality food? Probably not? But but that said, I love
Cheetos, and if I want Cheetos, I'm gonna get me a little bag
of Cheetos and I'm gonna eat that little bag of Cheetos and I'm gonna enjoy
them. Can I do that every day? No? I do have to
moderate that. Yeah, So it's a balance. It's a balance of eating
food that really fuel your body's goals and health goals and weight loss with eating
the foods that really that you love and that make you happy. Absolutely well.
We love to leave you with inspiration from other listeners, and this week
we have a message from Sue. Happiness is a choice, not a result.
Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy. No person
will make you happy unless you decide to be happy. Your happiness will not
come to you. It can only come from you. And that's from Ralph
Harlson. And if that isn't the truth. We all know what is.
That's a great quote. Thank you for sending that in, Sue. Thanks
so much for listening today. We would love to have you join us in
the Delayed on Tonight community, where you can interact with both me and Sherry,
plus the most supportive bunch of intermittent fasters you'll find anywhere. Go to
Jenstevens dot com slash community to join us. Don't forget to subscribe to this
podcast to your favorite podcast app, and if you haven't already, please leave
us a five star review that helps new listeners find the show and we really
appreciate it. We are a community driven podcast, so to submit your success
stories, your questions, your favorite tweak it till It's Easy moments, or
anything else you want us to share on the podcast, go to Fast Feast
Repeat dot com slash submit and then listen each week to see if we share
your submission or answer your question Until next week. Thanks for listening.