Episode 68: Stress and Weight Gain, Insulin Levels, Ultraprocessed Food Addiction, and More

<v Speaker 1>Welcome the Fast Feast Repeat Intermittent Fasting for Life. I'm
<v Speaker 1>Jen Stevens, author of the New York Times bestseller Fast
<v Speaker 1>Feast Repeat.
<v Speaker 2>And I'm Sherry Bullock, longtime intermittent faster and health and
<v Speaker 2>wellness advocate. Please keep in mind that this podcast is
<v Speaker 2>for educational and motivational purposes only, and is not intended
<v Speaker 2>to provide medical or diagnostic advice. Jen and I are
<v Speaker 2>not doctors, so make sure to check with your trusted
<v Speaker 2>healthcare professionals before making changes, especially when it comes to
<v Speaker 2>any medical treatments or medications.
<v Speaker 1>Whether you're new to intermittent fasting or an experienced intermittent faster,
<v Speaker 1>tune in each week to get inspired, to learn, and
<v Speaker 1>to have some fun along the way. Hi, everybody, we
<v Speaker 1>are so glad you're here today. Welcome to this week's
<v Speaker 1>episode of the Fast Feast Repeat Intermittent Fasting for Life Podcast.
<v Speaker 1>How are you doing today, Sherry?
<v Speaker 2>I'm doing well.
<v Speaker 1>I'm so glad me too, How are you doing great?
<v Speaker 1>Just the time is flying. By the time this comes out,
<v Speaker 1>it is mid October, and I can't believe how fast
<v Speaker 1>time's flying. I know.
<v Speaker 2>Do you know what's funny? I don't know if you
<v Speaker 2>saw this. You know, I traveled like the third week
<v Speaker 2>of June, July, and August, and Eric was losing his
<v Speaker 2>mind about it. And somebody in our community was in
<v Speaker 2>Cocoa Beach and I asked if she was going on
<v Speaker 2>a cruise and she said, no, not yet. That's the
<v Speaker 2>third week of September that her and her husband go
<v Speaker 2>on our cruise. And she said, you should come along
<v Speaker 2>so you can continue your third week of the month travel.
<v Speaker 2>That's funny, I said, Oh, I would love to.
<v Speaker 1>I would love to do what Eric say.
<v Speaker 2>Oh my gosh, I'm down. He would lose his mind anyway.
<v Speaker 2>All right, well, let's share a celebration from Alabama where
<v Speaker 2>I'm Yeah. Hi Connie, she said, hello. I started intermittten
<v Speaker 2>fasting two months ago. I am sixty nine years old,
<v Speaker 2>and I thought that there was no way I would
<v Speaker 2>lose much weight at my age. Yesterday, I had my
<v Speaker 2>six month checkup with my doctor. I have lost twenty
<v Speaker 2>four pounds and all of my blood work was normal.
<v Speaker 2>My doctor took me off my met foreman and is
<v Speaker 2>reducing my pratonics for my gurd. Thank you for this lifestyle,
<v Speaker 2>which is completely doable. My eating window is five to
<v Speaker 2>six hours a day. I can cook for my husband
<v Speaker 2>in the evening and sit down to eat with him,
<v Speaker 2>which other diets wouldn't allow. This has added so much
<v Speaker 2>to my life and I love that.
<v Speaker 1>That is fantastic. Connie Wow sixty nine years old, down
<v Speaker 1>twenty four pounds off all of her well off of
<v Speaker 1>two meds met Foreman and protonics, and all of her
<v Speaker 1>blood work was normal. That is amazing, and that is amazing.
<v Speaker 1>You know, we get so caught up in diet culture
<v Speaker 1>over the years, and of course I haven't had to
<v Speaker 1>go on a diet for weight loss in a long
<v Speaker 1>time now thanks to Internet and fasting, But you know,
<v Speaker 1>having to eat different meals and not being able to
<v Speaker 1>enjoy the foods, that's just I never want to do.
<v Speaker 2>That's in bringing her line cuisine to it was it
<v Speaker 2>was it.
<v Speaker 1>Was actually Michelina's was the brand. Remember that brand? They
<v Speaker 1>still have it. It was Michelina's spaghetti. It had two
<v Speaker 1>hundred and twenty calories. Everybody but my stepmother had spaghetti.
<v Speaker 1>She's like, we're having spaghetti, y'all come over. This was
<v Speaker 1>in the nineties when I was, you know, counting calories
<v Speaker 1>or I might have been counting fat. I don't even know.
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure it also was very low fat, but it
<v Speaker 1>had shar twenty calories. And they're like, like, well, they're
<v Speaker 1>eating spaghetti. I'm eating spaghetti. I'm having my two hundred
<v Speaker 1>and twenty calorie Michelinas spaghetti.
<v Speaker 2>I'm my lord, I'm sure you were so satisfied after
<v Speaker 2>you ate that.
<v Speaker 1>Oh right this minute. If I had to eat a
<v Speaker 1>two hundred and twenty calorie box of spaghetti, I would
<v Speaker 1>that would be like, Okay, where's the real food.
<v Speaker 2>I know I'd be like, Okay, what's next? Exactly?
<v Speaker 1>You know.
<v Speaker 2>I want to share another celebration today because I saw
<v Speaker 2>this in community this morning and I love it so much.
<v Speaker 2>Caroline This she says. She's posted a picture of her
<v Speaker 2>and her precious little granddaughter, and she said, I am
<v Speaker 2>happy to say I can get off this sofa without
<v Speaker 2>help while visiting my granddaughter. Last time I visited, I
<v Speaker 2>needed my son to pull me up. It's a little thing,
<v Speaker 2>but it's huge to me. And I just want to
<v Speaker 2>say that is not a little thing. I know, it's
<v Speaker 2>h is huge because I mean, when you lack mobility
<v Speaker 2>and you start to lose your ability to just do
<v Speaker 2>everyday things like getting up and down off of a
<v Speaker 2>sofa or you know, going up and down steps. That
<v Speaker 2>just really starts to drive down your longevity and your
<v Speaker 2>quality of life. And so beyond any scale victory, she's
<v Speaker 2>having that right there is huge, and I just wanted
<v Speaker 2>to share that. I thought that was just such a
<v Speaker 2>great non scale victory.
<v Speaker 1>Absolutely, And you know, the older I get, the more
<v Speaker 1>I realize strength really is the name of the game.
<v Speaker 1>As we age, we want to be strong. Actually, you know,
<v Speaker 1>I'd been going to plots once a week and that
<v Speaker 1>inspired me so much that I now have every single
<v Speaker 1>day in my to do list some sort of exercise
<v Speaker 1>and I have to do it, you know, check it
<v Speaker 1>off my clear it off my schedule every day because
<v Speaker 1>I don't you know, I saw my dad age and
<v Speaker 1>he became so immobile so quickly, like it happened so quickly,
<v Speaker 1>and so we need to have the strength in case,
<v Speaker 1>you know, God forbid, we do have an illness as
<v Speaker 1>we as we get older, you know, all of us
<v Speaker 1>will eventually, but we want to have the strength reserves
<v Speaker 1>and the muscle and.
<v Speaker 2>It keeps getting strong and yep.
<v Speaker 1>Yep, yeah, yeah, I'm really enjoying Sherry. Like YouTube, what
<v Speaker 1>did we do before YouTube?
<v Speaker 2>I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>I finally got YouTube Premium like maybe a year ago,
<v Speaker 1>and like literally there's everything you want to do. Some
<v Speaker 1>high intensity pilates, you can find it. You want to
<v Speaker 1>do tai chie. I did tai chi this morning on
<v Speaker 1>the on the porch. Oh that's hardly watching me do
<v Speaker 1>tight chi on the porch. Ad in my little phone
<v Speaker 1>with me and I'm doing taichi and just a little
<v Speaker 1>bit of that. And just every day I have to
<v Speaker 1>do something, and you know, I get bored stuff, so
<v Speaker 1>I like to try different things. So I've got some
<v Speaker 1>resistance bands. Now, I've got some regular weights. I've got anyway,
<v Speaker 1>I'm really having fun with it and being strong is
<v Speaker 1>my why. Yeah, that's great.
<v Speaker 2>I need to set stronger boundaries around my workouts, my
<v Speaker 2>physical activity. I let my husband talk me out of
<v Speaker 2>doing it a lot.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yhic, stop doing that. You know, we need to
<v Speaker 1>stay strong.
<v Speaker 2>He can't relax until I am done with all my
<v Speaker 2>running around and housework and my work, so he follows
<v Speaker 2>me around going how much longer? How much longer? Are
<v Speaker 2>you done yet? Are you done yet? Are you done yet,
<v Speaker 2>and so I might have it on my schedule that
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to rebound for thirty minutes at two o'clock,
<v Speaker 2>but then he has other ideas.
<v Speaker 1>That's when you say, no, I'm going to re bound
<v Speaker 1>for thirty minutes at two o'clock. You just tell him.
<v Speaker 2>And I don't have a problem with boundaries generally. I
<v Speaker 2>don't know why I don't have strong boundaries with my husband.
<v Speaker 2>I need to work on that.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's that's my advice to you today. Just say nope,
<v Speaker 1>I've got to do this because you know, twenty years
<v Speaker 1>from now, he's going to be really glad you're strong.
<v Speaker 1>Exactly right, So you're setting yourself up for long term.
<v Speaker 1>So now we have a question from a listener. This
<v Speaker 1>question is from Sarah and Arizona. She says, thank you,
<v Speaker 1>ladies for all that you do and for putting this
<v Speaker 1>podcast out there to encourage and teach all of us.
<v Speaker 1>You know, I was thinking about this the other day, Sherry.
<v Speaker 1>You know us podcasting and there's so many podcasts out there,
<v Speaker 1>and that's really I think what we're about encouraging and teaching.
<v Speaker 1>You know, I'm a teacher, and you know we're not
<v Speaker 1>health well you're a healthcare professional that you're not a doctor,
<v Speaker 1>but I'm not a healthcare professional. But we really do
<v Speaker 1>want to teach everyone and encourage you. You know how
<v Speaker 1>you can craft your own intermittent fasting lifestyle that works
<v Speaker 1>for you. So thank you, Thank you, Sarah. Sarah says,
<v Speaker 1>I'm currently forty years old. I was diagnosed with PCOS
<v Speaker 1>in my early twenties, so I know I have insulin resistance,
<v Speaker 1>but I don't have pre diabetes or diabetes. I started
<v Speaker 1>IF in January of twenty twenty and weighed one hundred
<v Speaker 1>and sixty one pounds and I'm five foot six inches.
<v Speaker 1>I did sixteen eight and gradually moved to nineteen five
<v Speaker 1>and twenty four. By September of twenty twenty, I had
<v Speaker 1>gotten down to one hundred and forty seven. However, in
<v Speaker 1>December of twenty twenty, my husband was diagnosed with leukemia,
<v Speaker 1>which began a year and a half journey of treatment
<v Speaker 1>for him. It was a stressful, emotional time, and I
<v Speaker 1>got back up to one sixty by April of twenty
<v Speaker 1>twenty one. I've stayed between one fifty five and one
<v Speaker 1>sixty ever since. I've never stopped fasting and I've stayed
<v Speaker 1>around eighteen six and nineteen five all these years. I'm
<v Speaker 1>currently consistent with nineteen five or twenty four. However, I
<v Speaker 1>can't seem to lose weight again no matter what I do.
<v Speaker 1>I've done some adf I've tried to shorten my eating window,
<v Speaker 1>but I don't see any changes in this scale. I'm
<v Speaker 1>a very active person. I alternate between running, cycling, and
<v Speaker 1>strength training every day of the week. I do several
<v Speaker 1>half marathons throughout the year, so I'm fit and generally
<v Speaker 1>feel pretty healthy, but I have a good amount of
<v Speaker 1>fat around my mid section that doesn't want to budge.
<v Speaker 1>My goal weight is about one forty, which is where
<v Speaker 1>I've felt good in my twenties and early thirties, but
<v Speaker 1>I'd be glad to get to one hundred and forty
<v Speaker 1>five as well. I'd love some advice into tips. I
<v Speaker 1>have read all of Jenn's books and love your podcast.
<v Speaker 1>It's inspired me to keep fasting for over four years.
<v Speaker 1>Though I'm frustrated that I'm not losing weight. I've seen
<v Speaker 1>so many non scale victories and I know it's amazing
<v Speaker 1>for my help. Thank you well.
<v Speaker 2>First of all, I just want to say, you know
<v Speaker 2>you've had a stressful time since you originally started fasting.
<v Speaker 2>I know that. You know, a year and a half
<v Speaker 2>half of leukemia treatment for your husband was definitely a
<v Speaker 2>stressful and emotional time. And I actually did some research
<v Speaker 2>into how stress impacts weight loss, and there is actually
<v Speaker 2>I wish I would have saved it. A research article
<v Speaker 2>that I read that talked about how stress actually downregulates
<v Speaker 2>our metabolism, and it's a it's just a natural thing
<v Speaker 2>that our body does. If your body's under stress, you know,
<v Speaker 2>think back to the feast and famine days and back
<v Speaker 2>to when you were out foraging for your own food
<v Speaker 2>or running from bears and lions. Your your body wants
<v Speaker 2>you to maintain it's fat because you may need it
<v Speaker 2>if you go into famine. Right, it's too much stress,
<v Speaker 2>too much adrenaline. Your body is downregulating your metabolism so
<v Speaker 2>that you don't lose weight, and that you know you
<v Speaker 2>have fuel so that can happen.
<v Speaker 1>It's very real.
<v Speaker 2>I needed to see that after some periods of stress
<v Speaker 2>in my life where I had some issues with not
<v Speaker 2>being able to get my weight to budget. It answered
<v Speaker 2>so many questions. It totally showed me that anytime i'm
<v Speaker 2>under severe stress, whether it's psychological or physical stress, I
<v Speaker 2>cannot lose weight. And this is a real reason why
<v Speaker 2>this happens. Now, with that said, since you've gone through
<v Speaker 2>that period of stress, it sounds like you are potentially overtraining.
<v Speaker 2>And I hate to say this because we talk a
<v Speaker 2>lot about you know, staying active and doing strength training
<v Speaker 2>and this and that, But you can overtrain to where
<v Speaker 2>you are putting too much stress on your body, driving
<v Speaker 2>up cortisol, which drives up belly fat. When cortisol is high,
<v Speaker 2>it causes insulin to be higher. It's going to make
<v Speaker 2>it harder for you to shift into fat burning during
<v Speaker 2>your fast.
<v Speaker 1>And so.
<v Speaker 2>I actually did some research on this as well, because
<v Speaker 2>I do like to share facts, not assumptions, and so
<v Speaker 2>here's what I've found. So too much steady state cardio,
<v Speaker 2>such as training for a marathon, running marathons, it can
<v Speaker 2>have a negative impact on all weight loss through increased cortisol,
<v Speaker 2>like I said, which makes you less insolent sensitive, and
<v Speaker 2>it can contribute to belly fat. It can also eat
<v Speaker 2>up muscle mass, lowering your insulin sensitivity further and your
<v Speaker 2>metabolic rate. So my suggestion to you is really focus
<v Speaker 2>on your food quality. Take rest days. They are so
<v Speaker 2>so important. Think about incorporating some sort of restorative exercise.
<v Speaker 2>If you're a person that you want to stay active
<v Speaker 2>every day, that's completely fine, but you need to incorporate
<v Speaker 2>restorative exercise.
<v Speaker 1>Tai chi like I did on this night.
<v Speaker 2>Chi is a great one. Yoga is a great one.
<v Speaker 2>Just walking outside for not for cardiovascular exercise, not to
<v Speaker 2>get your heart rate up, just to get outside, move
<v Speaker 2>your body, take in nature, get some sunlight. That sort
<v Speaker 2>of thing can be really really beneficial, lower your cortisol,
<v Speaker 2>practicing some self care. And then rather than steady state cardio,
<v Speaker 2>consider interval training for cardio fitness, and that can make
<v Speaker 2>you know, a big difference. Trying to remember, I had
<v Speaker 2>thought maybe I had linked something as show notes, but
<v Speaker 2>I may not have, so don't quote me on that.
<v Speaker 2>Check the show notes because I might have put a
<v Speaker 2>link there about interval training for cardio fitness without putting
<v Speaker 2>so much stress on your body. But I really do
<v Speaker 2>think you are probably overtraining and you need to scale
<v Speaker 2>that back.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, And you know, when we think about stress and
<v Speaker 1>our body, there's all sorts of different kinds of stress,
<v Speaker 1>you know, too much fasting can be a stress on
<v Speaker 1>your body. So more is not always the answer your
<v Speaker 1>pretty much, you know nineteen five twenty four. I don't
<v Speaker 1>think that a shorter window is the answer, you know,
<v Speaker 1>just like Sherry said, restorative exercise, less stress, that that's
<v Speaker 1>what we would recommend. You know, exercise can be a
<v Speaker 1>stress if you overdo it as well, so you know,
<v Speaker 1>more is not always better. Then again, though, you know
<v Speaker 1>you mentioned ADF and you said you've done some ADF.
<v Speaker 1>That really may be something that works well for you
<v Speaker 1>if you give it a good try. As far as
<v Speaker 1>like really making sure you have good up days, I
<v Speaker 1>know that tends to be difficult for a lot of
<v Speaker 1>people because we're used to if you're used to nineteen five,
<v Speaker 1>it's really hard to have a full upday.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And that brings up a good point is that
<v Speaker 2>when you are doing intense cardio workouts and you do
<v Speaker 2>them routinely over and over and over and over again,
<v Speaker 2>that in itself can lower your metabolic rate, right, Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>so you may need the boost of ADF with.
<v Speaker 1>The up days and again the full update and then
<v Speaker 1>you know, delayed on tonight the second edition, I have
<v Speaker 1>been much more clear that you need a full up
<v Speaker 1>day of eight to twelve hours, three meals you want
<v Speaker 1>to give your body. Okay, there's plenty of food. The
<v Speaker 1>up day is not the weight loss day. That's the
<v Speaker 1>metabolic boost day. That's the day. You know, maybe you're
<v Speaker 1>more tired that day, and maybe it's not convenient because
<v Speaker 1>you like to go to work and fast through the
<v Speaker 1>work day, and we get used to that, and it's
<v Speaker 1>annoying to eat breakfast and then have to have a
<v Speaker 1>lunch and then have a dinner. I get it, But
<v Speaker 1>think about the therapeutic benefits that come from the up day.
<v Speaker 1>You know, you're you're boosting your metabolic rate, You're letting
<v Speaker 1>your body know food is plentiful and it's going to
<v Speaker 1>have you know that that's going to help with the
<v Speaker 1>stress of if you're accidentally overfasting overtraining, because there's going
<v Speaker 1>to be a point, and you know, we can't prescriptively
<v Speaker 1>say what it is because all bodies are different, but
<v Speaker 1>there's going to be a point where fasting gets to
<v Speaker 1>be too much fasting and where exercise gets to be
<v Speaker 1>too much exercise. That doesn't mean fasting is something to
<v Speaker 1>be scared of or exercise is something to be scared of.
<v Speaker 1>There's such a thing as too much water. You can
<v Speaker 1>drink too much water and die. But should we be
<v Speaker 1>scared of water. No, But there's a sweet spot, and
<v Speaker 1>it's not the same for everybody. So if you think
<v Speaker 1>you might be overfasting and overtraining, then really maybe ADF
<v Speaker 1>is what you need, and maybe you can figure out,
<v Speaker 1>you know, what kind of exercise feels good on your
<v Speaker 1>down day versus or eat on your up day.
<v Speaker 2>F five two, using your down two down days as
<v Speaker 2>sort of your restorative healing day and followed by days
<v Speaker 2>and then have it by your updays. So do your
<v Speaker 2>more intense training on your up days when you're you know,
<v Speaker 2>well fueled and you're you're getting that metabolic boost, and
<v Speaker 2>find a rhythm like that and do like a five
<v Speaker 2>to two high. So yeah, and that. Again, I just
<v Speaker 2>hate to say this too much, but we're not in
<v Speaker 2>our forties and fifties going to have the body we
<v Speaker 2>had in our twenties. Some people just have great, great
<v Speaker 2>genes and they can do that, but that's sort of
<v Speaker 2>the exception, not the rule.
<v Speaker 1>So work with your body. And I also noticed that
<v Speaker 1>she mentioned that she had PCOS from her early twenties,
<v Speaker 1>So she's got insulin resistance, and again she's got that
<v Speaker 1>belly fat which we see with the insulin resistance. So
<v Speaker 1>food quality, I know that, you know it, Maybe even
<v Speaker 1>get a fasting insulin. Yeah. I don't think there was
<v Speaker 1>anything in here about food quality, but I think fasting
<v Speaker 1>insulin is a great thing to do, just to have
<v Speaker 1>that data and real quick. When it comes to fasting insulin,
<v Speaker 1>two point five to five is considered by many to
<v Speaker 1>be optimal. But don't expect every time you get it
<v Speaker 1>it's going to be precisely the same.
<v Speaker 2>Right.
<v Speaker 1>You know, there was somebody in the community the other day,
<v Speaker 1>you like, last time she got it checked, I'm just
<v Speaker 1>going to say, maybe it was a four or something,
<v Speaker 1>and then she got it checked and it was five
<v Speaker 1>and she was like, oh my god, it's going up. No,
<v Speaker 1>we don't have continuous insulin monitors like we do with gluecase.
<v Speaker 1>I wish we did, But you're right there within that range.
<v Speaker 1>Just like blood glucose is going to vary from minute
<v Speaker 1>to minute, so is the amount of insulin circulating in
<v Speaker 1>your blood. So having a four something and then the
<v Speaker 1>next time it's five something does not mean that you're
<v Speaker 1>trending upward, it just might be you're within that normal
<v Speaker 1>fluctuation range. Just like if you get a fasted blood
<v Speaker 1>glucose one time it might be eighty five and the
<v Speaker 1>next time it's ninety two, that doesn't mean that you're
<v Speaker 1>getting worse. It just might mean you just checked it
<v Speaker 1>at a different time in the natural cycle of what
<v Speaker 1>it does. So, get a fasting insulin, and if your
<v Speaker 1>fasting insulin is high and we're you know, we're talking
<v Speaker 1>two point five to five is what we might consider
<v Speaker 1>to be optimal. You know, eight, nine, ten, that's not
<v Speaker 1>going to be horrible. But if you start seeing you know,
<v Speaker 1>fifteen twenty something like that, that is when you're going
<v Speaker 1>to really need to focus on diet quality. And also
<v Speaker 1>that's where ADF can also come in super handy with
<v Speaker 1>the longer fasts of the down day. So something to
<v Speaker 1>keep in mind. I'm glad that you mentioned insulin because
<v Speaker 1>if you if you're a PCOS then and you know
<v Speaker 1>that you're insulin resistant, that's just one of those things.
<v Speaker 1>And I actually talked about this in I don't know
<v Speaker 1>if it's in delayed on to my second edition or
<v Speaker 1>just in the digging Deeper. It might just be in
<v Speaker 1>the Digging Deeper book that I've just revised. Both of those.
<v Speaker 1>Remember butter Bob, Yes, Sherry butter Bob. He was a
<v Speaker 1>low carb guy and he had a video that he
<v Speaker 1>made that we would share in our Facebook groups, and
<v Speaker 1>it was fasting and the fifty percent insulin problem was
<v Speaker 1>the name of it. Remember that, yep. And it talked
<v Speaker 1>about how we just all have different levels of insulin
<v Speaker 1>and so knowing what your insulin is can make a
<v Speaker 1>big difference. If you're not losing weight, it could be
<v Speaker 1>it could be that you just naturally have more insulin. Right,
<v Speaker 1>and if you show us in your twenties, I was.
<v Speaker 2>Going to say too, you know, if if you still
<v Speaker 2>have some insulin resistance and you're overtraining, then that's sort
<v Speaker 2>of exacerbating that. Yeah, that issue, and that you know
<v Speaker 2>absolutely can impede fat burning.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, we really want everything to be optimal, and if
<v Speaker 1>you're still having the belly fat, something's not optimal. So yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that's where the whole you know, you're your own study
<v Speaker 1>of one. And gosh, that's annoying. I wish that wasn't true.
<v Speaker 1>I wish that we could just say here is exactly
<v Speaker 1>what everybody should do. Do exactly this, and you will
<v Speaker 1>have fabulous results. But we're just too different. That's the
<v Speaker 1>study of one well.
<v Speaker 2>And I know it's clear that what she's been doing
<v Speaker 2>for the last couple of years is not getting her
<v Speaker 2>where she wants to be, right, And so I know
<v Speaker 2>it can be really scary to be like, I'm working
<v Speaker 2>out all this and I'm not losing weight. What's going
<v Speaker 2>to happen if I quit working out? But I've heard
<v Speaker 2>this before, and we just had this conversation with somebody
<v Speaker 2>in community just a couple of weeks ago, and just
<v Speaker 2>give it a chance, give it a chance, give it
<v Speaker 2>six weeks and see how your body, you know, responds
<v Speaker 2>to less training, you know, maybe throw in some down days,
<v Speaker 2>do it hybrid five two or four to three, and
<v Speaker 2>I feel like you can get there.
<v Speaker 1>And we're not saying stop working out, Nope, We're just
<v Speaker 1>saying be you know, be a little more mindful of
<v Speaker 1>vearing it up. You know, Like I said today, I
<v Speaker 1>did tiede chi. It felt very very calming and RESTful,
<v Speaker 1>and it's it's a great way and it wasn't like
<v Speaker 1>high intensity at all. I'm just gently moving but it
<v Speaker 1>was something and you know, in Okinawa where they're doing
<v Speaker 1>a lot of the centenarians are doing the tiede chi
<v Speaker 1>is one of their main activities. It's really good for us.
<v Speaker 2>So all right, so we have a great question from
<v Speaker 2>Angela and Iowa. She said, High ladies, I'm super excited
<v Speaker 2>to share that my FASTA INSU level has gone down
<v Speaker 2>from seventeen point six on April first to fifteen point
<v Speaker 2>one on August fifteenth. That's only four and a half months.
<v Speaker 2>I know from listening to Jin's podcast that this is
<v Speaker 2>very good news and that you guys recommend having the
<v Speaker 2>fastest insulin tests done periodically to monitor the numbers. What
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, though, is what lowering my insulin level means.
<v Speaker 2>What's happening inside my body? Does it mean that I
<v Speaker 2>have less glucose in my blood than I used to?
<v Speaker 2>Does it mean that my pancreas doesn't need to work
<v Speaker 2>as hard to regulate my blood glucose now that my
<v Speaker 2>insulin level is lower? What is different inside my body?
<v Speaker 2>I definitely see and feel differences on the outside of
<v Speaker 2>my body. I've lost thirty pounds since mid January doing ADF.
<v Speaker 2>It's a nice feeling to get the insulin test's report
<v Speaker 2>back showing that changes are happening. We always assume that,
<v Speaker 2>but having a measure to confirm it is reassuring that
<v Speaker 2>I have his doing its magic. I just love knowing
<v Speaker 2>that the inside of my body is getting healthier. There's
<v Speaker 2>still more work to do, but it feels good to
<v Speaker 2>know that I'm headed in the right direction.
<v Speaker 1>So Jin, what a great question, Angela. And it's perfect
<v Speaker 1>timing since we were just talking about fasting insulin, and
<v Speaker 1>you know here we are. You're going from seventeen point six,
<v Speaker 1>you've trended downward to fifteen point one. You're doing ADF.
<v Speaker 1>ADF is a great protocol for lowering insulin because you're
<v Speaker 1>more you have more fasting. Right, you're fasting for the
<v Speaker 1>down day longer periods of time. Even if you have
<v Speaker 1>the five hundred calorie down day meal, you are still
<v Speaker 1>having lower insulin than in a typical eating window. So
<v Speaker 1>great job with that. So why do we want our
<v Speaker 1>insulin to be lower? A great book that really taught
<v Speaker 1>me a lot about how high levels of insulin are
<v Speaker 1>really linked to so many health conditions. Why we get sick?
<v Speaker 1>Doctor Benjamin Bickman and He really talks about fasting insulin
<v Speaker 1>and if we have high fasting insulin, it's going to
<v Speaker 1>cause a cascade of problems all throughout the body. He
<v Speaker 1>really goes into a much better explanation of all the
<v Speaker 1>different things, all the systems of the body, and how
<v Speaker 1>having high levels of insulin negatively affect those systems. Everything
<v Speaker 1>from you know, in your brain, you Knowsheimer's being considered
<v Speaker 1>type three diabetes and it's linked with high levels of insulin.
<v Speaker 1>You know, metabolic problems obviously, our weight. You know, one
<v Speaker 1>really easy thing to think about is you know the
<v Speaker 1>fact that insulin is going to keep us from burning
<v Speaker 1>fat becauselin insulin is a storage hormone. So, like we
<v Speaker 1>were just talking about in the previous question with Sarah,
<v Speaker 1>if you have really high levels of insulin all the time,
<v Speaker 1>it's going to be harder for you to burn fat
<v Speaker 1>because insulin's a storage hormone. So as we bring that down,
<v Speaker 1>bring it down lower, suddenly we're able to burn fat
<v Speaker 1>more easily because insulin is low. So that's a really
<v Speaker 1>good sign you're going to be tapping into fat stores
<v Speaker 1>better with your insulin coming down. But really, if for
<v Speaker 1>anybody who wants a deep dive Why We Get Sick
<v Speaker 1>by doctor Benjamin Bickman is just a great read for
<v Speaker 1>understanding why we don't want to have high levels of
<v Speaker 1>insulin all the time. Now, I'm going to you know,
<v Speaker 1>be Frankie and I don't agree on the best eating approach. Necessarily,
<v Speaker 1>we don't agree on food. He's more low carb community,
<v Speaker 1>And I don't think that you have to be low
<v Speaker 1>carb to get your insulin down, obviously, because fasting will
<v Speaker 1>do that for you. And also, you know, talking to
<v Speaker 1>the Mastering Diabetes community, there's more than one way to
<v Speaker 1>get your insulin down, and low carb is not the
<v Speaker 1>only answer. And in fact, as Cyrus told me when
<v Speaker 1>he was recording with me for Intermitten Fasting Stories, he's
<v Speaker 1>one of the authors of Mastering Diabetes, he needed to
<v Speaker 1>go high carb, low fat to need less insulin. You know,
<v Speaker 1>he's Type one diabetic. So there's many ways to bring
<v Speaker 1>your insulin down through food choices. But also, you know,
<v Speaker 1>fasting is the best tool we've got. We're all here
<v Speaker 1>fasting and that might be the only tool that you need.
<v Speaker 1>You may not need to dramatically change up what you're eating,
<v Speaker 1>but that being said, if you're somebody who you know
<v Speaker 1>has been fasting for a long time and your fasting
<v Speaker 1>insulin is not trending down. We've got the tools of
<v Speaker 1>dietary approaches that you can also try. But Angela can
<v Speaker 1>ratulations on your insulin coming down and again every few
<v Speaker 1>months is frequently enough to get that, to get that checked. Yep.
<v Speaker 1>Do you want to add anything sherey to that?
<v Speaker 2>Well, so as you're I just wanted to throw it
<v Speaker 2>in there too. That so when you have high insulin levels,
<v Speaker 2>that means you have insulin resistance, and it just means
<v Speaker 2>that your body cannot use glucose, the sugar in your blood.
<v Speaker 2>It can't it can't use it appropriately. And this is
<v Speaker 2>what eventually causes people to become diabetic because your muscle
<v Speaker 2>is your fat, your liver, they can't use the insulin
<v Speaker 2>really to to take that glucose out of your bloodstream
<v Speaker 2>and use it. So as you become more insulin sensitive,
<v Speaker 2>then your body can now respond appropriately to the glucose
<v Speaker 2>from the food that you'd eat. And so it's not
<v Speaker 2>I mean, yes, it translates to fat burning as well.
<v Speaker 2>And it's also you know, going to translate to just
<v Speaker 2>better health in general because when you have high blood glucose.
<v Speaker 2>It puts your body just in a state of inflammation
<v Speaker 2>and that's what leads to disease and illness and you know,
<v Speaker 2>autoimmune disease and really everything. And so, like Jen said,
<v Speaker 2>if you're really curious about how it works and you
<v Speaker 2>know what it means to be more insulin sensitive, I
<v Speaker 2>would absolutely recommend the book that book.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, oh and she she did ask, does it mean
<v Speaker 1>that I have less glucose in my blood than I
<v Speaker 1>used to?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>Probably, Yeah, you would need to measure your glucose to
<v Speaker 1>be sure about that, right, but probably if you're if
<v Speaker 1>your body isn't needing as much insulin to get the
<v Speaker 1>job done right, right, it's going to release less insulin
<v Speaker 1>because it's your more insolentcese.
<v Speaker 2>And you're right, your pancreas is not working as hard
<v Speaker 2>because it's not having to spit out as much insulin
<v Speaker 2>in response to blood glucose exactly. So now it's time
<v Speaker 2>for our segment called that's your why.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, we all have a different reason for
<v Speaker 1>coming to intermittent fasting. For most of us, the initial
<v Speaker 1>draw was ooh, and I can lose weight too, But
<v Speaker 1>now we realize that intermittent fasting does so much more
<v Speaker 1>for us, like lowering our insulin levels and leading to
<v Speaker 1>greater health down the road. So I am a big
<v Speaker 1>believer that when your why is deeper than weight loss alone,
<v Speaker 1>you're more likely to find long term success and view
<v Speaker 1>intermittent fasting as a lifestyle.
<v Speaker 2>So this week we have a way from Pat in Cincinnati.
<v Speaker 2>She said, I would like to share my why. I've
<v Speaker 2>always been over weight. I tried all the diets in
<v Speaker 2>the books. I would lose ten to twenty pounds, and
<v Speaker 2>then it would find me again. When my son began
<v Speaker 2>his recovery from heroin, I did a lot of reflecting
<v Speaker 2>on my behaviors. I realized I was an addict, also
<v Speaker 2>a food addict. I took my eating seriously. I exercised faithfully,
<v Speaker 2>and I lost some weight. Then I found intermittent fasting.
<v Speaker 2>I acknowledged my addiction. So while my son was getting clean,
<v Speaker 2>I was getting lean. He is eight plus years clean
<v Speaker 2>and I am at a weight I can't remember. I
<v Speaker 2>once topped out at two hundred and ten pounds at
<v Speaker 2>a size twenty. I am now one hundred and forty
<v Speaker 2>five pounds and a size eight to ten. I am
<v Speaker 2>only five foot one and I'm seventy four years young.
<v Speaker 2>So as he stays clean, I will stay lean and
<v Speaker 2>I will be lovely at his wedding in June.
<v Speaker 1>Fat. Oh my gosh, friend, I love this so much.
<v Speaker 1>That is a powerful why. That is a powerful why. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>and you know, congratulations. Yes, yeah. It is not easy,
<v Speaker 1>as as I know, to be a parent of a
<v Speaker 1>child who's suffering from an addiction. So I get it,
<v Speaker 1>and I think these stories are out there more than
<v Speaker 1>you realize. Yep, you were about to look through it.
<v Speaker 1>And I'm so proud of him for getting clean and
<v Speaker 1>you pad for getting lean and recognizing that, yeah, there
<v Speaker 1>were some foods that were not working for you. And
<v Speaker 1>I think that's really so important. That's one reason why
<v Speaker 1>I love the book Ultra Processed People Sharing, because you
<v Speaker 1>realize that we're set up by the food industry to fail. Yes,
<v Speaker 1>you know, if you go through the grocery store, most
<v Speaker 1>of the food in there is highly processed. It's ultra
<v Speaker 1>processed food, and it is literally designed in a lab
<v Speaker 1>to make us addicted to it. You know, for me,
<v Speaker 1>it's cheesy, crunchy things once I start eating, like cheese
<v Speaker 1>pops or doritos, I have no off switch, and you
<v Speaker 1>know that is it my fault? No, those foods are
<v Speaker 1>engineered to be that way. Sugar is like that for
<v Speaker 1>a lot of people. And when we realize that it's
<v Speaker 1>designed that way by the food industry, they want us
<v Speaker 1>to keep buying bags and pouches and cans.
<v Speaker 2>When I saw something the other day and it was
<v Speaker 2>kind of shocking to think about, but I sat it
<v Speaker 2>was something like they'll quote me on this, like eighty
<v Speaker 2>percent of the money from lobbyists that support the FDA
<v Speaker 2>come from food manufactures. So when you think about that,
<v Speaker 2>it's easy to see how you know, some of these
<v Speaker 2>foods that are not real food Frankin foods, Well, there's
<v Speaker 2>incorporated into our diets everywhere we look, whether it be
<v Speaker 2>kids' school lunches, to you know, to the For a
<v Speaker 2>while there, remember there was like the inventing machines. There
<v Speaker 2>was like a special green something if it was considered
<v Speaker 2>healthy or something, and when you really look at it,
<v Speaker 2>you know, is it really healthy? But it met some
<v Speaker 2>criteria that made it, you know, the healthy vending machine choice.
<v Speaker 2>And so yeah, I mean it does it does make you, really,
<v Speaker 2>it does make you. It kind of makes you angry.
<v Speaker 1>Well it does. And when I was writing Cleanish and
<v Speaker 1>really reaching why we're in this situation to begin with,
<v Speaker 1>and it really it goes to really subsidies, right, our
<v Speaker 1>government is paying farmers to grow certain crops. You know,
<v Speaker 1>not to get political, but it's corn and it's soy,
<v Speaker 1>and you know these sort of I go into more detail,
<v Speaker 1>like I said in Cleanish, But okay, so I mean,
<v Speaker 1>if you were a farmer, you're trying to make a
<v Speaker 1>business and make a living. It's it's a hard job,
<v Speaker 1>and so you're going to you're going.
<v Speaker 2>To do like, oh, you're going to subsidize me if
<v Speaker 2>I grow this crop.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so you're going to do it right. And I'm
<v Speaker 1>not criticizing the farmers. I would be doing it too
<v Speaker 1>if I was a farmer, because you know, you're trying
<v Speaker 1>to not lose your farm, so you are incentivized to
<v Speaker 1>grow more and more and more corn. Okay, so what happened.
<v Speaker 1>We got a lot of corn. We had a lot
<v Speaker 1>of corn. Everybody's growing the corns and they're like, well,
<v Speaker 1>what are we going to do with all this corn? Well,
<v Speaker 1>corn syrup. They processed it, they made all these put
<v Speaker 1>it in all the farm.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah back in the Mazola days.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, I remember that commercial absolutely, So you know
<v Speaker 1>it's it's it comes downstream to us. And so it's very,
<v Speaker 1>very frustrating. And so nobody is subsidizing organic vegetables, right,
<v Speaker 1>but we are paying for the government subsidies. We are
<v Speaker 1>the government, our money funds.
<v Speaker 2>It would say it all goes back to money. It
<v Speaker 2>really does.
<v Speaker 1>The government is us, We're we're paying it. That's our
<v Speaker 1>tax money. So if we don't want that to happen,
<v Speaker 1>we need we need to really get vocal about it.
<v Speaker 1>And we want we want subsidized organic food yep. If
<v Speaker 1>we're going to pay for something, I'd rather pay for
<v Speaker 1>that for for everybody because we want to eat real food. Anyway,
<v Speaker 1>all that rabbit hole was just from Pat, you know,
<v Speaker 1>saying that she was a food addict. But it's really
<v Speaker 1>how the system is designed right now for us to
<v Speaker 1>be addicted. And so taking back our power and say, huh,
<v Speaker 1>that's it's not my fault that I can't stop eating
<v Speaker 1>these franken foods. It is not my fault.
<v Speaker 2>Well, and I don't know if I shared this. You know,
<v Speaker 2>European countries are very different in what they allow in
<v Speaker 2>their food and what additives they allow and food colors
<v Speaker 2>and corn syrup and you know whatever. My son when
<v Speaker 2>he was in Ireland was so unhappy with the foods
<v Speaker 2>because they weren't as palatable. What he say, didn't taste
<v Speaker 2>like pizza. Their kit cats didn't taste like United.
<v Speaker 1>States kit cats, the Coca Cola.
<v Speaker 2>Didn't taste the same. And he was like, I'm so
<v Speaker 2>over this healthy food over here.
<v Speaker 1>I just want my real food.
<v Speaker 2>But he is a product of the food culture in
<v Speaker 2>the United States and his palate was not accustomed to
<v Speaker 2>eating foods that were not latent with corn syrup and
<v Speaker 2>artificial colors and flavors. And I unfortunately have a franken
<v Speaker 2>food child.
<v Speaker 1>Will you know again, it's the culture, it's you can't
<v Speaker 1>avoid it, right, and things are different than they were
<v Speaker 1>twenty years ago. You know, I look back and think
<v Speaker 1>about you know, I ate a lot of processed foods
<v Speaker 1>growing up, But the processed foods of the eighties are
<v Speaker 1>not the same. No, as the processed food like Taco
<v Speaker 1>bell in twenty twenty four is not the same as
<v Speaker 1>it was. No.
<v Speaker 2>I would love to know for listeners, if you live
<v Speaker 2>in Ireland, Scotland, Europe at UK and you come to America.
<v Speaker 2>I want to know what you think of our food here. Yeah, like,
<v Speaker 2>could you taste a difference? Yeah, write in and tell us.
<v Speaker 2>I'm curious it really.
<v Speaker 1>It really is interesting because we know that there are
<v Speaker 1>a lot of ingredients that they're not allowed to use
<v Speaker 1>in Europe that we use, and so it's really really
<v Speaker 1>sad and we've just really got to get more vocal.
<v Speaker 1>Chad and I were having this conversation yesterday because he
<v Speaker 1>is now doing stock trading, that is, now that he's retired.
<v Speaker 1>He loves resenting, and so that's what he's doing, you know,
<v Speaker 1>figuring out what companies. He said, Oh, natural foods are
<v Speaker 1>really getting more and more popular. I said, that's awesome,
<v Speaker 1>that is amazing.
<v Speaker 2>I'm glad to hear that.
<v Speaker 1>It's so funny watching, you know, because he's learning through
<v Speaker 1>researching for stocks, he's really learning what's going on. But
<v Speaker 1>the fact that consumers are demanding more real food is
<v Speaker 1>a real positive and so we just got to have
<v Speaker 1>you know, we we what we buy in the store
<v Speaker 1>makes such a difference. Buy the real food by the
<v Speaker 1>organic option. You know that that is you know, we're
<v Speaker 1>voting with our dollars, really is what we're doing. So
<v Speaker 1>the more of us that can do that, the better. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>And you know, if you've always eaten this way and
<v Speaker 2>you've never thought about it before, that's not your fault.
<v Speaker 2>That's the culture that you were raised in. That's the
<v Speaker 2>culture that we live in. But you know, I just
<v Speaker 2>encourage everybody to get a little bit more informed and
<v Speaker 2>educate yourself on it. And you know, like Jen said,
<v Speaker 2>read that book Ultra Process people. There's several books out
<v Speaker 2>there on the subject, and you'll see how when you
<v Speaker 2>turn to real food you'll be more satisfied and yeah,
<v Speaker 2>you'll feel better and it makes a difference.
<v Speaker 1>I want to pop in there just because I said
<v Speaker 1>it's not your fault that these foods are addictive and
<v Speaker 1>that you were addicted to them. Once you know, then
<v Speaker 1>you've got to make a change. Like I know that
<v Speaker 1>Dorito's I can't stop with them. So guess what, I
<v Speaker 1>don't buy them? Do I want to? Yeah? Every time
<v Speaker 1>I walk by and I'm like, ooh, I would love
<v Speaker 1>to eat those, but I don't. And that's where the
<v Speaker 1>hard work of discipline comes in. Would I be better
<v Speaker 1>off if they stop making them? Completely? Yes, is that
<v Speaker 1>going to happen? No, so I have to not buy them.
<v Speaker 1>You know, I make my decision in the grocery store
<v Speaker 1>so that when I'm home and having a weak moment,
<v Speaker 1>I don't have to decide. Then. So, now that you
<v Speaker 1>know that these ultra processed foods are addictive and it's
<v Speaker 1>not your fault that they're addictive, that's when you make
<v Speaker 1>the change and say, okay, I just am I going
<v Speaker 1>to buy them again? Voting with your wallet are said
<v Speaker 1>than done. But when you're at the grocery store, that's
<v Speaker 1>where you decide.
<v Speaker 2>All right, Well, we have a question from question in Oklahoma.
<v Speaker 2>She says I have been he she I'm sorry I
<v Speaker 2>should not have assumed. They said. I have been doing
<v Speaker 2>clean if since November of twenty twenty three, I lost
<v Speaker 2>seventy pounds using one of the injectable drugs, and I
<v Speaker 2>have been keeping it off with intermittent fasting. I currently
<v Speaker 2>do a nineteen to five approach most of the time.
<v Speaker 2>Thank you ladies for your podcast. It does help keep
<v Speaker 2>me accountable and I appreciate all you guys.
<v Speaker 1>Do.
<v Speaker 2>I just have a question. I recently heard the podcast
<v Speaker 2>with Roxy and the two of you talking about magnesium.
<v Speaker 2>I have been using the Element raw unflavored packets in
<v Speaker 2>my water once a day during my fast. I thought
<v Speaker 2>I heard Jen say that they did not break the fast,
<v Speaker 2>but when I was listening to this podcast, I got
<v Speaker 2>the impression that was not the case. Should I not
<v Speaker 2>be doing those during my fast? I don't seem to
<v Speaker 2>get hungry or notice any changes after I drink one,
<v Speaker 2>and it seems to satisfy my desire for something. Besides
<v Speaker 2>it's water. I don't drink coffee, but I do sometimes
<v Speaker 2>drink plain tea when I get bored with water. Thank
<v Speaker 2>you for all you do. A patient turned me on
<v Speaker 2>to delay, don't deny, and I have loved this journey
<v Speaker 2>so far. I am maintaining my weight loss for the
<v Speaker 2>first time in fifty three years.
<v Speaker 1>Well, congratulations on maintaining a seventy pound loss. That is amazing.
<v Speaker 1>All right, So let's dig in to what we may
<v Speaker 1>have said and whether Element raw unflavored packets or minerals
<v Speaker 1>in general do or don't break the fast. All right,
<v Speaker 1>So minerals should not break a fast. So element element
<v Speaker 1>is what it looks like, just the letters LMNT the
<v Speaker 1>raw unflavored. It's just minerals, so that should not break
<v Speaker 1>a fast. If you're using the flavored products, obviously we
<v Speaker 1>wouldn't want to have those during the clean fast. You
<v Speaker 1>might have been confused, though, because I think when we
<v Speaker 1>talked to rock See, we might have talked about salt
<v Speaker 1>making some of us hungrier.
<v Speaker 2>That might be that's exactly where the conversation went.
<v Speaker 1>I think, So it makes me hungry.
<v Speaker 2>Element is very high and salt.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, salt makes me hungry. Does that mean it's breaking
<v Speaker 1>the fast? I don't know. It just makes me hungry,
<v Speaker 1>so I don't I don't do it. I don't have
<v Speaker 1>salt during the fast because I don't like to be starving.
<v Speaker 2>It could be that you like salty your foods, and
<v Speaker 2>when you get salt, your brain thinks, ooh.
<v Speaker 1>Salt time, good, let's go. Maybe salty food causes me
<v Speaker 1>to have an insulin response because I like salty food
<v Speaker 1>too much. Who knows, that could be. That could be
<v Speaker 1>just me and maybe that's just my weird body. I
<v Speaker 1>don't know. So does salt break a fast technically? Note,
<v Speaker 1>and you're saying that it doesn't make you hungrier, you
<v Speaker 1>feel fine. Sounds like it works really well for you.
<v Speaker 1>So physiologically, it shouldn't break a fast. It makes me
<v Speaker 1>really hungry to have salt. I don't have it. I
<v Speaker 1>also don't need a lunch of lights for whatever reason.
<v Speaker 1>I just don't. I've never needed them. So it is
<v Speaker 1>absolutely fine for you to use element raw and flavored
<v Speaker 1>during or fast, especially if it doesn't make you hungry.
<v Speaker 2>Yes, all right, all right.
<v Speaker 1>We have a question from Cali in Arkansas.
<v Speaker 2>Hi.
<v Speaker 1>I have been intermittent fasting for about eighteen months. I
<v Speaker 1>was putting cream in my coffee zero calorie, but still
<v Speaker 1>now if it was cream, it wouldn't be zero calories.
<v Speaker 1>So I bet you were using a zero calorie creamer.
<v Speaker 1>That would be my guess, she said. I learned not to,
<v Speaker 1>and I will see if that makes a difference. I
<v Speaker 1>just turned thirty five. I weigh one hundred and eighteen
<v Speaker 1>pounds and I'm five foot one inches. I have plateaued recently,
<v Speaker 1>but I think I wasn't taking it as seriously as before.
<v Speaker 1>People were asking me constantly what I did to lose weight,
<v Speaker 1>and now I have stopped. I don't want to lose
<v Speaker 1>much more. But I was at one sixteen and have
<v Speaker 1>gained in the last couple of months. Granted I have
<v Speaker 1>broken my fast. My fasting window is eight pm to
<v Speaker 1>twelve pm. Sometimes I go eight pm to one pm?
<v Speaker 1>Should I go longer? What else should I tweak in
<v Speaker 1>my fast? Besides no cream in the coffee? I am
<v Speaker 1>also suffering from constant bloating. Okay, there is a lot
<v Speaker 1>to unpack your calories.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, so you say you've been intermittent fasting for eighteen months,
<v Speaker 2>but you were putting some sort of creamer in your coffee.
<v Speaker 2>I'm not sure when you've stopped doing that. You said,
<v Speaker 2>I will see if that makes a difference. So if
<v Speaker 2>you just stopped that, I suspect that alone is going
<v Speaker 2>to help shift your weight, because when you are consuming
<v Speaker 2>anything in your fast that contains you know, artificial sweeteners, flavorlabors,
<v Speaker 2>any of that, you know, you're preventing your body from
<v Speaker 2>shifting into I'm superplexed with the zero calorie part. But
<v Speaker 2>whatever it was you were putting in your.
<v Speaker 1>Crimer, some kind of funky something.
<v Speaker 2>Was impacting your ability to shift into fat burning.
<v Speaker 1>This goes back to the insulin that we were talking
<v Speaker 1>about before. Yep, when you're that's the zero calorie cream
<v Speaker 1>or whatever it was, it's going to have a sweet
<v Speaker 1>flavor and that causes your body to release influence. It's
<v Speaker 1>going to keep your infulin high, and it's going to
<v Speaker 1>keep you from tapping into your fat stores. You're basically
<v Speaker 1>now doing a low calorie diet because you can't tap
<v Speaker 1>into your fat stores for fuel. Yes.
<v Speaker 2>And then the other thing is is that you say
<v Speaker 2>that you fast from around eight pm to twelve pm.
<v Speaker 2>Occasionally you go an hour later and you don't open
<v Speaker 2>your window till one pm, So that means you're having
<v Speaker 2>anywhere from seven to eight hour windows. So coupled with
<v Speaker 2>the fact that you were not clean fasting, it is
<v Speaker 2>I have no doubt that you were not fat adapted.
<v Speaker 2>It was very, very unlikely that you have been able
<v Speaker 2>to access your fat stores for energy during your fast.
<v Speaker 2>So switch to clean fasting. You don't, like you said,
<v Speaker 2>have a lot of weight to lose, so maybe just
<v Speaker 2>switch to the clean fasting and see how that affects
<v Speaker 2>your weight. But I personally, if I was wanting to
<v Speaker 2>shift some weight and to get my body into katosis
<v Speaker 2>daily to take advantage of that fat burning, I would
<v Speaker 2>definitely shorten that window up. Maybe you could do a
<v Speaker 2>two to eight window and see how that affects. But
<v Speaker 2>I would not go any longer than five to six hours.
<v Speaker 2>I would personally, I like to stick it at five,
<v Speaker 2>just to make sure that we do not over consume
<v Speaker 2>in our window and prevent our bodies from going into
<v Speaker 2>you know, dipping into some fat burning during our fast
<v Speaker 2>the next day. Do you have any other thoughts, Jen.
<v Speaker 1>Well, I also, you know, the difference between one sixteen
<v Speaker 1>and one eighteen is very very slight, So that would
<v Speaker 1>call that maintaining, not gaining. Because we fluctuate within a
<v Speaker 1>range anyway, So you know, back when I was weighing,
<v Speaker 1>I could be one well I wasn't one sixteen. But
<v Speaker 1>let's just imagine, Look whatever my weight was, let's let's
<v Speaker 1>say one thirty five. I could be one thirty five
<v Speaker 1>one day thirty three than one thirty seven. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>you're gonna fluctuate around the middle numbers. So one sixteen,
<v Speaker 1>one eighteen, that's still the same, Raine, I will say
<v Speaker 1>that more maintaining.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I would say too though that if you're noticed
<v Speaker 2>she said she has gained in the last couple of months,
<v Speaker 2>and she's still wanting to lose some more. So if
<v Speaker 2>you are starting to see a little rebound weight gain
<v Speaker 2>that is very common in people who aren't clean fasting, right,
<v Speaker 2>because you're not getting that metabolic protection from the clean fast.
<v Speaker 1>And I talk about this and delayed. Don deny how
<v Speaker 1>you know I was not clean fasting because we didn't
<v Speaker 1>know anything about that. The Obesity Code hadn't even come out.
<v Speaker 1>I'd never heard of Vincelin other than with diabetics. Right,
<v Speaker 1>So I wasn't fast and clean, and I still managed
<v Speaker 1>to lose weight, but then I started gaining it back.
<v Speaker 1>So I in delayed on tonight's second edition. I tell
<v Speaker 1>the whole story. I was gaining it back. I gained
<v Speaker 1>back about eight pounds.
<v Speaker 2>That's what led me to DDD and the clean faast. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Then I started fasting clean and low and behold, not
<v Speaker 1>only was fasting easier, you know you mentioned Kelly that
<v Speaker 1>you're having about a seven or eight hour window. I
<v Speaker 1>bet fasting has been hard, like I white knuckled it
<v Speaker 1>every day before the clean fast. So I would make
<v Speaker 1>sure that you're fast and clean because you mentioned that
<v Speaker 1>you've taken the creamer out, but you need to make
<v Speaker 1>sure you're having plain water, no flavors, no water enhancers,
<v Speaker 1>no fruit in there no lemon, just plain, plain, plain,
<v Speaker 1>plain sparkling water. No flavors, black coffee, no sweeteners, nothing
<v Speaker 1>that adds flavor, nothing that adds creaminess. Just black coffee,
<v Speaker 1>plane tea. Just that. And I wouldn't be surprised if
<v Speaker 1>there's something else that might be going on in your
<v Speaker 1>fast besides just the creamer, like maybe you're chewing gum
<v Speaker 1>or having mints. Really make sure you're fast and clean.
<v Speaker 1>That should help you get to the window, you know,
<v Speaker 1>the five hour eating window much easier. Also. You know,
<v Speaker 1>as far as the bloating goes, bloating has to do
<v Speaker 1>with what you're eating, and it's a matter of figuring
<v Speaker 1>out what that might be. You know, if you're suffering
<v Speaker 1>from bloating, then you may want to do an elimination
<v Speaker 1>protocol of some sort to see what that might be,
<v Speaker 1>what might be causing it. You know, Whole thirty is
<v Speaker 1>a popular elimination protocol. You know, I'm not telling everybody
<v Speaker 1>to do a Whole thirty for weight loss, but I
<v Speaker 1>think it's a great way to pinpoint what might be
<v Speaker 1>causing your body to have issues. And then as you
<v Speaker 1>add things back, you say, oh, this one makes me
<v Speaker 1>blow it. Every time I have it, so then you
<v Speaker 1>can figure it out. And then the book Fiber Fueled
<v Speaker 1>is a great read to help you heal your gut.
<v Speaker 1>Like if you figure out you know certain things are
<v Speaker 1>not working for you. The goal is not just to
<v Speaker 1>get more and more restrictive and take more and more
<v Speaker 1>things out, but to heal your gut so you can
<v Speaker 1>add those things back in. Say, the bloating is a
<v Speaker 1>whole separate thing. One good thing is that the period
<v Speaker 1>of gut rest with the clean fast that you're going
<v Speaker 1>to be giving yourself now is very healing for your gut.
<v Speaker 1>So I just wanted to pull that out there all right,
<v Speaker 1>Before we get to our tweak of the week, I
<v Speaker 1>want to take a minute to talk about my book.
<v Speaker 1>And I was just talking about Delayed on Deny, And
<v Speaker 1>if you're new to intermittent and fasting, or if you're
<v Speaker 1>sharing it with others, you're you're going to want a
<v Speaker 1>copy of Delayed on Deny because it's a quick and
<v Speaker 1>easy to understand introduction to intermittent fasting. The second edition
<v Speaker 1>is now available in paperback, hardback, and the kindle version
<v Speaker 1>through Amazon, and it should also be available through any
<v Speaker 1>other ebook retailer. Such as book cobo, iBooks all the
<v Speaker 1>major platforms. The paperback and the hardback are only through Amazon. Now.
<v Speaker 1>Amazon can be confusing, so I have a few ordering tips.
<v Speaker 1>You do not want to accidentally end up with a
<v Speaker 1>used copy of the first edition, so stick to new.
<v Speaker 1>And the first edition is still going to come up
<v Speaker 1>in a search because it's been around for so long.
<v Speaker 1>But you'll know which one to order because it's the
<v Speaker 1>one that was published in August of twenty twenty four.
<v Speaker 1>Take a minute to verify that. And it also is
<v Speaker 1>identified as the second edition in the listing description and
<v Speaker 1>at the bottom of the cover. If you go to
<v Speaker 1>the get the book's link in the show notes or
<v Speaker 1>at Jen Stevens dot com and follow my links, you
<v Speaker 1>will know you're getting the right one. I have also
<v Speaker 1>recently updated the Delayed on Deny Life Journal. I was
<v Speaker 1>motivated to do that because people who are using twenty
<v Speaker 1>eight day Fast Art day by day really enjoying having,
<v Speaker 1>you know, twenty eight days of journaling through that book,
<v Speaker 1>wanted more, and so the Delayed on Deny Life Journal
<v Speaker 1>gives you a bunch of tools that you can follow
<v Speaker 1>for six months. It's a six month journal and then
<v Speaker 1>I also just updated Delayed Don't Deny Digging Deeper. Both
<v Speaker 1>of them are available on Amazon. I only updated the
<v Speaker 1>interior files, so they are still available through the original listing,
<v Speaker 1>but you can see in the description that they are updated.
<v Speaker 1>I would also avoid getting used copies because you don't
<v Speaker 1>want the old edition. So you might not have ever
<v Speaker 1>heard me talk about Delayed on Deny Digging Deeper. It
<v Speaker 1>is a book study work book. You know, you're wondering
<v Speaker 1>what is it. It's far when you're reading Delay Don't
<v Speaker 1>Deny the second edition. You go through every chapter and
<v Speaker 1>you read the chapter, and then you go to Delay
<v Speaker 1>Don't Deny Digging Deeper to reflect on what you've read,
<v Speaker 1>explore your diet history, you know, really unpack the information
<v Speaker 1>from the chapter. It's very school teachery. The school teacher
<v Speaker 1>in me came out and I actually designed it free
<v Speaker 1>to use on your own or as a part of
<v Speaker 1>a book study group. When I wrote it, we were
<v Speaker 1>having the Facebook groups and people were, you know, more
<v Speaker 1>breaking away into smaller groups and wanting to have you know,
<v Speaker 1>in person meetups and things like that. So I really
<v Speaker 1>designed it for you to work through with like a
<v Speaker 1>group of people or even by yourself to really study
<v Speaker 1>the concepts deeper and apply them. You know, because if
<v Speaker 1>you think back to when you learn something, If you're
<v Speaker 1>just reading a book and you read it straight through,
<v Speaker 1>you've read the book. Now you're done. But if you
<v Speaker 1>take the time and I think back to when you
<v Speaker 1>were in school, if you take the time to write
<v Speaker 1>about it and read it again and look for things,
<v Speaker 1>that's when you're really going to understand the concepts better.
<v Speaker 1>So that's the point of that delayed on tonight, digging deeper.
<v Speaker 1>So now it's time for our tweak of the week,
<v Speaker 1>and this one is from Melissa in New Jersey. She said,
<v Speaker 1>hello again, Jenn and Sherry. This is a follow up
<v Speaker 1>celebration and a twek of the week. My previous questions
<v Speaker 1>were answered on your March sixth show, Thank you. One
<v Speaker 1>of my questions was about the timing of wine and
<v Speaker 1>alcohol in my eating window and the impact on flipping
<v Speaker 1>the metabolic switch, and Sherry's response made me laugh out loud. Literally,
<v Speaker 1>I was one hundred percent trying to game my body
<v Speaker 1>so I could continue with my nightly wine and lose weight.
<v Speaker 1>Being postmenopausal at fifty six, I can not anyway. I
<v Speaker 1>continued on with My Nightly Wine and a few months
<v Speaker 1>later was listening to a Zoe podcast about habits and
<v Speaker 1>healthy eating, which was the January eighteenth, twenty twenty four episode.
<v Speaker 1>Jane's Clear, author of Atomic Habits, was the guest, and
<v Speaker 1>discussion got me thinking about how my nightly wine was
<v Speaker 1>a habit and I could develop new habits to quit
<v Speaker 1>the wine. This is not a new idea. I'm pretty
<v Speaker 1>sure he mentioned this in the book. Anyway, it was
<v Speaker 1>a new idea to me, and I started googling Atomic
<v Speaker 1>habits and quitting alcohol and found a podcast where he
<v Speaker 1>did a few episodes applying his habit principles to just that.
<v Speaker 1>Hello Someday episodes thirty four through thirty six, In case
<v Speaker 1>you want to share so everybody that what she's saying
<v Speaker 1>is the Hello Sunday podcast episodes thirty four through thirty six,
<v Speaker 1>James Clear applying his principles to quitting alcohol. She said
<v Speaker 1>it made such an impact on me that I am
<v Speaker 1>writing you as a follow up on my one hundredth
<v Speaker 1>day of being alcohol free, and I am seven pounds
<v Speaker 1>down from March. The weight loss is great, but like Jen,
<v Speaker 1>I have realized how much better I feel, and how
<v Speaker 1>much better I sleep without the nightly wine and psychologically,
<v Speaker 1>because I've done this really hard thing quitting wine, I
<v Speaker 1>feel as though I can do anything now. Thank you
<v Speaker 1>for calling out calling me out on the March sixth episode,
<v Speaker 1>and you are welcome because we do it all with love.
<v Speaker 2>Right.
<v Speaker 1>Sometimes your school teacher gives you some tough luck, and
<v Speaker 1>that's what me and Sherry are gonna do. I'm always
<v Speaker 1>not straight.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah you might not exaciate it, but it's from the
<v Speaker 2>people get mad.
<v Speaker 1>Right. We're never gonna just tell you things we think
<v Speaker 1>you want to hear. We're going to tell you what
<v Speaker 1>we think you need to hear. And they're not always
<v Speaker 1>the same. So she said, finally, here is my tweak.
<v Speaker 1>A large part of my nightly wine habit was the taste.
<v Speaker 1>I drink black coffee, plain water, and plain saltz all day,
<v Speaker 1>so that first class of wine signal that I was
<v Speaker 1>done for the day, and drinking sweet drinks coffee and
<v Speaker 1>water was just not satisfying. I've tried many different types
<v Speaker 1>of beverages that would satisfy the different taste without being
<v Speaker 1>too sweet, and finally found an alcohol free prosecco by mianetto,
<v Speaker 1>which tastes exactly like the regular prosecco that has done
<v Speaker 1>the trick. It's super low in calories, and because it
<v Speaker 1>is alcohol free, having only one or two is easy
<v Speaker 1>no impact on cognition, sleep, or food cravings. So my
<v Speaker 1>eating windows can easily close after five hours. Now I
<v Speaker 1>can focus on better few quality, increasing muscle mass, and
<v Speaker 1>just go about my day on a good night's sleep.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you for your podcast and the education you provide. Well,
<v Speaker 1>I love that. Yeah, I'm interested to try it because
<v Speaker 1>most of the alcohol free ones just taste like garbage,
<v Speaker 1>peel water. Looking for one that is good is important.
<v Speaker 2>You know.
<v Speaker 1>I enjoyed what Melissa said about having a taste. I
<v Speaker 1>get it, Like I want to have a beverage in
<v Speaker 1>a fancy glass every day and I still do. It
<v Speaker 1>just doesn't have any alcohol. Maybe it's a Heineken zero
<v Speaker 1>point zero and a wine glass. Maybe it's kombucha. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's something though I need a little something. Maybe it's
<v Speaker 1>just club soda with lime. If I'm at a restaurant.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm the same way. I just want a little
<v Speaker 2>something different. I want my my eating window beverage to
<v Speaker 2>be different than my Fasting beverage.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so I get it. Well.
<v Speaker 2>We love to leave you with inspirational or motivational quotes,
<v Speaker 2>and this week we have a really powerful quote from
<v Speaker 2>a Cherokee proverb. It was originally set in by Rachel
<v Speaker 2>and Maryland, and then just yesterday an in the DDD
<v Speaker 2>community shared the very same quote. The quote is if
<v Speaker 2>you listen to your body when it whispers, you won't
<v Speaker 2>have to hear it scream. Anne wrote, my body is
<v Speaker 2>communicating with me every day. Fasting has turned down the volume,
<v Speaker 2>so now I can hear it. Now that I can
<v Speaker 2>hear it, I am learning to take the right action
<v Speaker 2>and I really love that.
<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much for listening today. We would love to
<v Speaker 1>have you join us in the Delay don Tonight community,
<v Speaker 1>where you can interact with both me and Sherry plus
<v Speaker 1>the most supportive bunch of intermittent fasters you'll find anywhere.
<v Speaker 1>Go to Jenstevens dot com slash community to join us.
<v Speaker 2>Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast to your favorite
<v Speaker 2>podcast app, and if you haven't already, please leave us
<v Speaker 2>a five star review that helps new listeners find the show.
<v Speaker 2>And we really appreciate.
<v Speaker 1>We are a community driven podcast, so to submit your
<v Speaker 1>success stories, your questions, your favorite tweak it till It's Easy, moments,
<v Speaker 1>or anything else you want us to share on the podcast.
<v Speaker 1>Go to Fast Feast Repeat dot com slash submit and
<v Speaker 1>then listen each week to see if we share your
<v Speaker 1>submission or answer your question
<v Speaker 2>Until next week, Thanks for listening.