Episode 142: Fasting For Health, Eating Disorders and IF, Fasting Clean, and More

<v Speaker 1>Welcome to 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's.
<v Speaker 2>Sherry, I'm doing fine.
<v Speaker 1>I'm so glad to hear it.
<v Speaker 2>How are you well?
<v Speaker 1>We're recording on the same day, so just like last week,
<v Speaker 1>I'm still flummy.
<v Speaker 2>Oh well, you seem to bounce back really quick when
<v Speaker 2>you get sick, so.
<v Speaker 1>I do usually, which is why it's unusual that I've
<v Speaker 1>had this cough and all of it not like me.
<v Speaker 2>Well, you know, I feel like anytime I fly on
<v Speaker 2>an airplane, I get something afterwards. Yeah, some sort of
<v Speaker 2>upper respiratory something. Well, you know, I went to a
<v Speaker 2>new place.
<v Speaker 1>I don't not familiar with those germs, right, these were
<v Speaker 1>not mainland germs I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Well and cold showers for well, that's true.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't have cold showers.
<v Speaker 2>Maybe that stressed your system. Who knows. All right, so
<v Speaker 2>now it's time for our weekly celebration. We have a
<v Speaker 2>celebration from Lori and Maine. She wrote, I've been fasting
<v Speaker 2>now for two years, and I've lost nearly fifty pounds.
<v Speaker 2>My biggest victory, though, has been in my attitude towards
<v Speaker 2>my self. I have spent most of my life hating
<v Speaker 2>my body. I have so often fallen into the trap
<v Speaker 2>of comparing myself to others and wishing that things were
<v Speaker 2>different for me. Somewhere along the line in recent months,
<v Speaker 2>that has changed through my continued commitment to IF and
<v Speaker 2>the amazing community of support that I'm part of. I
<v Speaker 2>truly do love and appreciate my body. Now I feel
<v Speaker 2>so much more positive, and I've been willing to put
<v Speaker 2>myself out into the dating world. Even life is so
<v Speaker 2>good right now. I'm not in a hurry for quick
<v Speaker 2>results because I know that changes are happening and I
<v Speaker 2>will get there. Thank you, Jen and Cherry and the
<v Speaker 2>amazing community that you have cultivated.
<v Speaker 1>I love that. And I just think that learning to
<v Speaker 1>appreciate our bodies and stop hating our bodies is one
<v Speaker 1>of the most transformative things that we can do as women,
<v Speaker 1>as men, as everyone who's listening. Because you know, I've
<v Speaker 1>got parts of my body that are flabby and jiggly
<v Speaker 1>and always will be. And I started hating the thighs
<v Speaker 1>right after I went through puberty. And all those years
<v Speaker 1>of hating my thighs, We're just not helpful at all.
<v Speaker 2>No, And I have to say, you know, I was
<v Speaker 2>the first person that would pick apart my body and
<v Speaker 2>pick get my flaws. And I would see myself in
<v Speaker 2>a picture and I would immediately pick myself apart, and
<v Speaker 2>I talked horribly to myself and Eric that man loves me.
<v Speaker 2>He loves my body. He loves my body twenty pounds lighter,
<v Speaker 2>He loves my body twenty pounds heavier. He doesn't care.
<v Speaker 2>But one thing he does not allow is for me
<v Speaker 2>to talk bad about myself. And he is quick. If
<v Speaker 2>I say one negative thing, he is quick to jump
<v Speaker 2>on me and tell me that I am not allowed
<v Speaker 2>to speak to his wife that way. And that has
<v Speaker 2>made the biggest difference to me. For me, I think,
<v Speaker 2>and even when I think things, I'm like, no, don't
<v Speaker 2>talk about yours. Don't say that about yourself, Sherry. And
<v Speaker 2>at first it was don't talk about yourself like that
<v Speaker 2>because Eric's gonna jump you, and he will. He'll give
<v Speaker 2>me a tongue lashing. So if you catch yourself talking
<v Speaker 2>bad about yourself, if you can stop that habit, and
<v Speaker 2>it feeds on itself. So the more you do it,
<v Speaker 2>the more you do it. But when you stop doing
<v Speaker 2>it and you recognize when you're doing it. And for me,
<v Speaker 2>it was helpful when I had a negative thought to
<v Speaker 2>think a positive thought like, Okay, my legs are thicker
<v Speaker 2>than some women's legs, but they're strong, right, you know,
<v Speaker 2>And so I try to reframe my thought to more
<v Speaker 2>of a positive thought. And I think probably in the
<v Speaker 2>how long have we know each other, but now eight
<v Speaker 2>years yeah. Do you notice a difference in the way
<v Speaker 2>I talk about myself?
<v Speaker 1>Yep, yeah, And I love that Eric helped you work
<v Speaker 1>through that. And you know, I've been self conscious about
<v Speaker 1>my body, like I said, since I went through puberty.
<v Speaker 2>And it is amazing the.
<v Speaker 1>Nice things that a nice partner can say to you
<v Speaker 1>can make difference, because like with Chris, it's night and day.
<v Speaker 1>We've only been seeing each other for a very short time.
<v Speaker 1>But we went to Florida and I'm like, look, I'm
<v Speaker 1>gonna be wearing a bathing suit. I'm gonna be a
<v Speaker 1>little flabby, and I got cellulate. He's like, I don't
<v Speaker 1>care to me, it just shows you're a real woman,
<v Speaker 1>right Yeah, Eric says a woman is supposed to be supple. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>He's like, look how hot you are in that bathing suit.
<v Speaker 1>I'm like, what use that is?
<v Speaker 2>Not?
<v Speaker 1>Let me just put it out there. Not feedback I've
<v Speaker 1>been getting for the pest well thirty something years. You know.
<v Speaker 2>Look, I get it because my ex husband would pick
<v Speaker 2>apart my body and everything. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you know, you remember in twenty twenty when
<v Speaker 1>we were going on after the cruise got canceled and
<v Speaker 1>we were meeting in Charleston. I was walking around by
<v Speaker 1>the pool at our house at the time, and someone
<v Speaker 1>may have said to me, you're not gonna let people
<v Speaker 1>see like that. Are you talking about? You know that
<v Speaker 1>I have cellulate and all that. I'm like, well, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that's how I look. But that really does a number
<v Speaker 1>on your self esteem. So I guess that's why I
<v Speaker 1>warned Chris, you're gonna see some cellar light, right, And
<v Speaker 1>he's like, I love it. I'm like, what, what? What?
<v Speaker 2>And you know, I think it comes a lot from
<v Speaker 2>our youth because even growing up, my body was commented
<v Speaker 2>on by my family. And I don't think they meant
<v Speaker 2>to hurt me and to scar me the way they did.
<v Speaker 2>I know they didn't, right, but it doesn't mean that
<v Speaker 2>it didn't right. And so I grew up with a
<v Speaker 2>brother and sister who were very very small framed, lean,
<v Speaker 2>thin people. I've talked about this before. They talked about
<v Speaker 2>my weight. Anytime I gained weight, it was commented on.
<v Speaker 2>If I lost weight, it was commented on. My body
<v Speaker 2>was always commented on, not my sister's mine. And you know,
<v Speaker 2>I noticed my dad would say stuff to my kids,
<v Speaker 2>and my sister would say stuff to my kids, and
<v Speaker 2>so as an adult, I said, I don't think so,
<v Speaker 2>we're not doing that. Do not comment on my kids' bodies.
<v Speaker 2>Do not comment on their weight, their size, or how
<v Speaker 2>they eat. And that message was very much heard by
<v Speaker 2>my dad and I've never heard them say a word
<v Speaker 2>to my kids ever again. But a lot of these
<v Speaker 2>thoughts we have started in childhood. So if you can
<v Speaker 2>catch yourself and you can change that and change it
<v Speaker 2>to a positive, flip it to a positive where you
<v Speaker 2>think of the good that your body does, it's easier
<v Speaker 2>to start to see yourself that way. Yeah, And it
<v Speaker 2>takes work. It does take work.
<v Speaker 1>It does take work, And just walking around confidently in
<v Speaker 1>your body is just really so much more attractive than
<v Speaker 1>feeling self conscious about it, because I've done both and
<v Speaker 1>it feels so much better, same body. But projecting confidence
<v Speaker 1>just makes you feel more confident. So now have Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>now we have a question from a listener. This question
<v Speaker 1>is from Emily and Saint Louis. Is there a better
<v Speaker 1>time during the week to eat an occasional higher calorie
<v Speaker 1>meal like pizza.
<v Speaker 2>I usually have.
<v Speaker 1>One meal a day in a two to four hour window.
<v Speaker 1>I started adding a down day and an up day
<v Speaker 1>once a week, and with this variety in the week,
<v Speaker 1>it got me thinking, I also do a harder weightlifting
<v Speaker 1>workout once a week. Is it better to time the
<v Speaker 1>meal after my hard workout or on the up day
<v Speaker 1>or does it matter? Typical week for me Monday two
<v Speaker 1>to four hour window, Tuesday hard fasted workout than two
<v Speaker 1>to four hour window, Wednesday full down day, Thursday up
<v Speaker 1>day twelve ten to twelve hour window, Friday two to
<v Speaker 1>four hour window, Saturday four to six hour windows, Sunday
<v Speaker 1>two to four hour window. I do lighter workouts like
<v Speaker 1>walking in yoga during the week. I always listen to
<v Speaker 1>my body and if two hours is not enough, I
<v Speaker 1>eat more. I'm a volume eater. I'm forty, I have
<v Speaker 1>a lot of weight to lose. I've been fasting for
<v Speaker 1>almost five years now. Okay, I have two answers for you.
<v Speaker 1>Number One, if you want pizza, eat pizza. I mean, really,
<v Speaker 1>I don't think we need to overthink every single thing
<v Speaker 1>we do. Are you eating pizza every day? Probably not.
<v Speaker 1>If you are, you might need to rethink that. I'm
<v Speaker 1>not sure that's going to serve your weight loss goals.
<v Speaker 1>If you're having pizza occasionally or if it's a once
<v Speaker 1>a week thing that your family likes to eat pizza
<v Speaker 1>once a week, eat it when it works for your
<v Speaker 1>family and when it works for your schedule. I don't
<v Speaker 1>think we need to second guests and plan out every
<v Speaker 1>little detail. Having a plan is great, but I don't
<v Speaker 1>think we need to go that deep into it.
<v Speaker 2>Now. With that said, I really I say I eat
<v Speaker 2>dessert every day, but it's not quote dessert. You know.
<v Speaker 2>It might be yogurt and fruits, it might be a
<v Speaker 2>Outshine popsicle. But if I'm having a real dessert, I
<v Speaker 2>usually save that for a once a week thing. And
<v Speaker 2>it's usually going to be an uppusher up day for
<v Speaker 2>me because on my other days where I'm having a
<v Speaker 2>regular window, I want to make sure I'm getting plenty
<v Speaker 2>of really good solid nutrition in there, and so I
<v Speaker 2>do tend to plan out my dessert, and it's usually
<v Speaker 2>could be on Wednesday when my husband and I are
<v Speaker 2>off and we eat together on that day. If I
<v Speaker 2>had an upish day every single week, and since we
<v Speaker 2>want to overeat on the up day, I might plan
<v Speaker 2>my pizza for my upday. But I'm not gonna really
<v Speaker 2>it's not gonna be a do or die situation. For me,
<v Speaker 2>it might be a goal to eat pizza on my update,
<v Speaker 2>but if it doesn't work out and I end up
<v Speaker 2>having on another day, I'm not gonna stress out about it.
<v Speaker 2>Do you have an any thoughts on that, Jen, Well,
<v Speaker 2>I agree with that too.
<v Speaker 1>I'm a big fan of not overthinking what we're doing,
<v Speaker 1>and like you said, we're not eating like that every
<v Speaker 1>single day. We are going to have higher calorie meals.
<v Speaker 1>I do want you to make sure, Emily that you're
<v Speaker 1>not accidentally over restricting in those days with a two
<v Speaker 1>to four hour window, and you just really want to
<v Speaker 1>be careful with that. We talked about that last week
<v Speaker 1>in the episode, and if you're someone who's been living
<v Speaker 1>an overly restrictive life in general and a lot of dieting,
<v Speaker 1>then you can accidentally have that happen, you know, especially
<v Speaker 1>since you have Monday two to four hour window, Tuesday
<v Speaker 1>hard fasted workout, then two to four hour window. Then
<v Speaker 1>you're having a full down day. And I know you're
<v Speaker 1>having that one full up day and slightly longer window
<v Speaker 1>on Saturday, but even your slightly longer window is four
<v Speaker 1>to six hours, so I would just be really cautious
<v Speaker 1>about accidentally overrestricting. You know, you mentioned that you have
<v Speaker 1>a lot of weight to lose. I just don't know.
<v Speaker 1>There are a lot of variables there, and I don't
<v Speaker 1>really know. Like you said, you're a volume eater, I
<v Speaker 1>don't know how much you're eating, but just be cautious
<v Speaker 1>that you're not accidentally overdoing the fasting, especially with short
<v Speaker 1>window hard workout, short window, full down day.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I saw that too. I don't know what a
<v Speaker 2>hard fasted workout is right for you, but if a
<v Speaker 2>typical eating windows two to four hours and then you
<v Speaker 2>do a hard basted workout, it would make sense to
<v Speaker 2>me that your body's going to need more food after
<v Speaker 2>that than what you do any other day, and especially
<v Speaker 2>when the next day is going to be a full
<v Speaker 2>down day. So I definitely agree with that. All right,
<v Speaker 2>So we have a question from Susan and Pennsylvania. She says,
<v Speaker 2>I've been doing ayah for about two years now for
<v Speaker 2>health reasons, as dementia is part of my family history.
<v Speaker 2>My beloved husband probably thought I was a bit nuts
<v Speaker 2>in the beginning, but never said a word, even though
<v Speaker 2>I rarely eat with him and eat at off times.
<v Speaker 2>After some time, he decided to do a twelve twelve protocol,
<v Speaker 2>and he has really done well. He knows I do
<v Speaker 2>nineteen five for the most part, and he's always said
<v Speaker 2>he doesn't know how I do it. For reference, he
<v Speaker 2>is extremely thin, to the point that I'm shocked his
<v Speaker 2>doctor has never told him that, and is the type
<v Speaker 2>of person who can eat one bite of a cookie
<v Speaker 2>and forget to finish it. He has never been heavy
<v Speaker 2>in his life. We eat very healthy and he eats
<v Speaker 2>very well, but tends to not overeat as he really
<v Speaker 2>does not like the feeling of being full. Who does.
<v Speaker 2>I often tell him to try to go longer, even
<v Speaker 2>fourteen hours, but he feels as if he can't wait
<v Speaker 2>to eat in the morning, as he drinks his coffee
<v Speaker 2>and likes to nibble on something, and this is so
<v Speaker 2>ingrained in him. I think that is his issue habit.
<v Speaker 2>He is very healthy, so that isn't an issue. My
<v Speaker 2>question is what do people do who are so thin
<v Speaker 2>they don't need to lose any weight and actually need
<v Speaker 2>to hang on to every ounce, but would like to
<v Speaker 2>get the most health benefits possible. Twelve twelve doesn't seem
<v Speaker 2>long enough, but he could never eat enough in a
<v Speaker 2>five hour setting. To be satisfied even eight hours, and
<v Speaker 2>he would feel like he was cramming food in just
<v Speaker 2>to get it in. Is fourteen ten good enough? The
<v Speaker 2>issue will be he feels he cannot wait in the
<v Speaker 2>morning to eat something, but he gets home so late
<v Speaker 2>in the evening and has such a busy day that
<v Speaker 2>his dinner is usually a little later, which of course
<v Speaker 2>pushes back his morning opening, which he doesn't really like.
<v Speaker 2>I'm just wondering how much fasting time is good enough,
<v Speaker 2>and maybe that is just an individual thing, and there
<v Speaker 2>may not be a firm answer. Perhaps once he retires
<v Speaker 2>he will have more leeway to tighten up his window.
<v Speaker 2>I don't push, but will sometimes say, well, it's twelve hours,
<v Speaker 2>so you can easily get to thirteen. I know for
<v Speaker 2>him it is mental, as anyone who can take one
<v Speaker 2>bite of a cookie and walk away would be able
<v Speaker 2>to walk away from eating anything for a long period
<v Speaker 2>of time. I keep telling him he is making himself
<v Speaker 2>hungry by nibbling like that. He will never be one
<v Speaker 2>to fast a long time. But how long is good enough?
<v Speaker 2>We are a very young, sixty ish Shif that helps,
<v Speaker 2>I just want him to stay as healthy as he can.
<v Speaker 2>The older you get the more you worry about these things.
<v Speaker 2>I know nineteen five is good for maximum fat burning,
<v Speaker 2>but he doesn't need that, So what is a good
<v Speaker 2>fasting time for a very thin person? Thank you for
<v Speaker 2>your opinions. I love hearing you both sharing your thoughts
<v Speaker 2>when you get these questions.
<v Speaker 1>Well, I'm going to tell you, Susan, I think twelve
<v Speaker 1>twelve is probably just right for him. And I have
<v Speaker 1>actually seen a lot of information over the years, obviously
<v Speaker 1>about fasting and benefits, but you do get some benefits
<v Speaker 1>at a twelve twelve health benefit wise. You know, if
<v Speaker 1>he wanted to do fourteen ten, he could, But if
<v Speaker 1>he doesn't want to, and he's healthy and he's at
<v Speaker 1>a wait and he has no fat despair, and if
<v Speaker 1>he's happy with twelve twelve, I think you can confidently
<v Speaker 1>just let him know that's probably a good approach.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And I actually just did a quick google on this,
<v Speaker 2>and there's like, you know, fasting is therapy and neurological disease,
<v Speaker 2>and there's lots of stuff out there, but the consensus
<v Speaker 2>is fasting for twelve to eighteen hours daily or engaging
<v Speaker 2>in a five to two intermittent fasting plan. It's considered
<v Speaker 2>beneficial for brain health. It promotes neuroplasticity, reduces inflammation, and
<v Speaker 2>so like, I think what he's doing is fantastic. Now,
<v Speaker 2>one thought I had is you say he's a nibbler.
<v Speaker 2>If he's a nibbler and he's eaten this way his
<v Speaker 2>whole life, it's possible. There are very thin people who
<v Speaker 2>have high fasting insulin, So it could be something where
<v Speaker 2>if you're concerned about his brain health, and he's concerned
<v Speaker 2>about brain health, he may want to just get a
<v Speaker 2>fasting insulin drawn just to see where he's at with that.
<v Speaker 2>If he has a great fasting insulin as blood guco's
<v Speaker 2>control is great, I think twelve to twelve is perfectly
<v Speaker 2>fine for him to continue with.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and now it's time for our segment called what's
<v Speaker 1>your Why. Most of us begin intermittent fasting with weight
<v Speaker 1>loss in mind, which is a great reason to begin,
<v Speaker 1>but there is so much more to what intermittent fasting
<v Speaker 1>can do for us beyond weight loss. I genuinely believe
<v Speaker 1>when your why is deeper than weight loss alone, you're
<v Speaker 1>more likely to find long term success and view intermittent
<v Speaker 1>fasting as a lifestyle.
<v Speaker 2>So this week. We have a wife from Christy and
<v Speaker 2>grand ups. She said, I just want to say that
<v Speaker 2>I'm super grateful to have found you. Thank you for
<v Speaker 2>all you do. I had my fourth child and my
<v Speaker 2>only girl, at the ripe age of thirty nine. She
<v Speaker 2>deserves to have a full life with a healthy mom,
<v Speaker 2>the same way her older brothers had. I want to
<v Speaker 2>be a blessing to her as she grows up and
<v Speaker 2>not a burden. YEP.
<v Speaker 1>I think that's a powerful why and one that so
<v Speaker 1>many of us share.
<v Speaker 2>So we have a question from Lauren in Utah. She wrote,
<v Speaker 2>Hyjen and Cherry. I'm reaching out because I have some
<v Speaker 2>questions about intermittent fasting and my eating patterns. I have
<v Speaker 2>a history of anorexia, and I was an inpatient treatment
<v Speaker 2>multiple times over several years. I've been out of treatment
<v Speaker 2>for a couple of years now, but I still struggle
<v Speaker 2>with food, hunger and feeling and control around eating. Over
<v Speaker 2>the past year, my weight has fluctuated. I'm currently thirty
<v Speaker 2>five years old, five foot six and around one hundred
<v Speaker 2>and twenty pounds, and I would like to lose ten
<v Speaker 2>more pounds. I find that one and I try to
<v Speaker 2>restrict or go long periods without eating, I end up
<v Speaker 2>becoming extremely hungry, and then I overeat or binge. I
<v Speaker 2>often binge on cookies, chips, ice cream. I also sometimes
<v Speaker 2>exercise for several hours a day. I'm confused about if
<v Speaker 2>and how it's not considered a diet when I look
<v Speaker 2>up ways to avoid eating, resources flag eating disorder concerns,
<v Speaker 2>Yet IF is widely promoted. I don't understand how people
<v Speaker 2>fast for long periods without becoming preoccupied with food. When
<v Speaker 2>I try to go even several hours without eating, I
<v Speaker 2>feel intensely hungry and lose control. I'm wondering whether IF
<v Speaker 2>is appropriate for someone with my history, and if not,
<v Speaker 2>what healthier approaches I should consider to feel more stable
<v Speaker 2>and balanced with food. But I also would like to
<v Speaker 2>lose more weight. I would really appreciate your guidance.
<v Speaker 1>Well, Lauren, I am sending you a giant virtual hug
<v Speaker 1>from across the miles because I know that this is
<v Speaker 1>a real struggle and a challenge, and I want to
<v Speaker 1>talk to you, you know, like a mom. I could
<v Speaker 1>be your mom. Old enough, I could be your mom.
<v Speaker 1>I am worried about you because you said you've been
<v Speaker 1>in inpatient treatment multiple times for anorexia. You've been out
<v Speaker 1>of treatment for a couple of years. I think it's
<v Speaker 1>time to get back in treatment because from what I
<v Speaker 1>understand about eating disorders, it's when you feel like you
<v Speaker 1>need to lose more weight, but you really don't. Your
<v Speaker 1>body perception is that you need to lose ten more pounds.
<v Speaker 1>You are five six and one hundred and twenty now,
<v Speaker 1>so if you lost ten more pounds, that would put
<v Speaker 1>you down to one ten And when we run the
<v Speaker 1>smart BMI for you, you are right now almost underweight,
<v Speaker 1>and if you lose ten more pounds, you will be underweight.
<v Speaker 1>So to me, that is a red flag, the fact
<v Speaker 1>that you want to lose more weight and get down
<v Speaker 1>into the underweight range and that you're concerned with your
<v Speaker 1>weight needing to go down. So as a red flag,
<v Speaker 1>I would like for you to stop considering fasting, like
<v Speaker 1>take it off the table. Fasting is not right for
<v Speaker 1>you right now, and what you need to do is
<v Speaker 1>get back into therapy, talk to your therapist, and you
<v Speaker 1>may actually need to gain some weight in order for
<v Speaker 1>your body to release the binging behavior. Because we've talked
<v Speaker 1>about this before on this podcast, but what we know
<v Speaker 1>about human physiology and over restriction is that when we
<v Speaker 1>over restrict, our body sends us signals to eat wants
<v Speaker 1>it's to stay alive, And so increased binge behavior or
<v Speaker 1>feeling like you want to binge is a sign from
<v Speaker 1>your body that you should not ignore. So as you
<v Speaker 1>work through this with a counselor you know, food quality
<v Speaker 1>makes such a difference nourishing our body well, but really
<v Speaker 1>body image and recognizing that you probably don't need to
<v Speaker 1>lose more weight physically and probably gaining some weight might
<v Speaker 1>be a good strategy for you at this point, do
<v Speaker 1>you have anything to add.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, just because, like so you want to know how
<v Speaker 2>is intermittent fasting not a diet? And you said that
<v Speaker 2>you were looking up ways to avoid eating, so that right,
<v Speaker 2>there's a red flag for me. And you said that
<v Speaker 2>when you look this up, that resources flag eating disorder concerns.
<v Speaker 2>And I have never I can tell you looked up
<v Speaker 2>how to avoid eating? Now with intermittent fasting, yes, we
<v Speaker 2>avoid eating during parts of the day, but then we
<v Speaker 2>feast during our eating windows. So how is it not
<v Speaker 2>a diet? Well, if you read a lot of the
<v Speaker 2>new disarticles out there, they talk about how intermint fasting
<v Speaker 2>is a diet, and it's just calorie restriction. That by
<v Speaker 2>eating less often through the day, you're restricting calories. But
<v Speaker 2>when we fast clean and our body has access to
<v Speaker 2>our fast stores, then it is different than and a
<v Speaker 2>diet in the fact that we are metabolically allowing our
<v Speaker 2>bodies to access our fat stores for fuel rather than
<v Speaker 2>over restricting our food intake. And so to me, that's
<v Speaker 2>what makes it different than a diet. This is a lifestyle.
<v Speaker 2>This has metabolic healing, This has just so many benefits
<v Speaker 2>above and beyond a diet to me. And you may
<v Speaker 2>get to a point down the road where you are
<v Speaker 2>feeling healthier, where you have strong support for your eating disorder,
<v Speaker 2>and down the road you may find the intermint fasting
<v Speaker 2>is a good strategy for you. We have several people
<v Speaker 2>in our community who come from eating disorder backgrounds and
<v Speaker 2>they have found internment fasting to be very beneficial for them.
<v Speaker 2>But I don't feel like you're there right now, So
<v Speaker 2>I agree one hundred percent with Jin. I think it
<v Speaker 2>is time to speak to your eating disorder special list.
<v Speaker 2>If you don't have one anymore, please get one. What
<v Speaker 2>we are working on is total body health and healing
<v Speaker 2>and sometimes that includes mental.
<v Speaker 1>Health, right, so always it includes mental health, right right, right?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, So I would not say that intermt fasting is
<v Speaker 2>appropriate for you at this point. You don't hardly have
<v Speaker 2>any fat to spare, right.
<v Speaker 1>So, and one other thing about how is intermittent fasting
<v Speaker 1>different from a diet? This is what really always I
<v Speaker 1>think about. A diet is what you eat. Intermittent fasting
<v Speaker 1>is when you eat. You can combine intermittent fasting with
<v Speaker 1>a diet. We all have a diet, even if it's
<v Speaker 1>just the standard American diet. You know, maybe you eat
<v Speaker 1>the Mediterranean diet or maybe you have a healthy diet,
<v Speaker 1>but everyone has a diet. Going on a diet means
<v Speaker 1>you're restricting your food intentionally. But intermittent fasting is about
<v Speaker 1>when we eat. So diets are about what intermittent fasting
<v Speaker 1>is about when. That's the main difference to me. But
<v Speaker 1>even when you do it, you're eating a diet, even
<v Speaker 1>like I said, even if it's the standard American diet.
<v Speaker 1>Diet is what all Right, So we have a question
<v Speaker 1>from Ann from Sacramento. Dear Jen and Sherry. I am
<v Speaker 1>a sixty eight year old, very healthy and fit woman.
<v Speaker 1>I've been fasting successfully since twenty eighteen. I actually started
<v Speaker 1>intermittent fasting when I was underweight due to illness, but
<v Speaker 1>with fasting, I was able to get back to a
<v Speaker 1>healthy weight of one hundred and thirty five pounds, where
<v Speaker 1>I stayed for seven years. I have always worked out
<v Speaker 1>first thing in the morning, and since starting, if I
<v Speaker 1>work out in the fasted state, I do yoga, weights, biking, hiking,
<v Speaker 1>and swimming. Exercise helps me with symptoms of adhd IS.
<v Speaker 1>I always have too much energy. I eat a healthy,
<v Speaker 1>whole foods diet, with most foods being prepared at home
<v Speaker 1>and very little sugar or ultra processed foods. For the
<v Speaker 1>last ten years, I've been taking eighteen hundred dred milligrams
<v Speaker 1>of gabapentin daily. I have decided to wean myself off
<v Speaker 1>of that because it was not relieving the neuropathy it
<v Speaker 1>was supposed to help with, and I was experiencing severe
<v Speaker 1>skin itching. I also read that in older adults, gabapenton
<v Speaker 1>can lead to dementia. I'm taking six months under doctor's
<v Speaker 1>advice to wean myself off at an appropriate speed. Since
<v Speaker 1>decreasing the amount of gabapentin, I've experienced blood sugar fluctuations
<v Speaker 1>and weight gain. I'm five foot five, with my healthy
<v Speaker 1>weight hovering around one hundred and thirty five. I'm now
<v Speaker 1>one fifty with almost four months to go before being
<v Speaker 1>weaned off completely. I'm concerned that I will put on
<v Speaker 1>more weight before this process is complete. My window is
<v Speaker 1>from one to six so I can accommodate taking amino
<v Speaker 1>acids to help me sleep. I usually take those last
<v Speaker 1>thing in my eating window. I am now unable to
<v Speaker 1>fasten until one, as my blood sugar drops too low
<v Speaker 1>and I'm extremely hungry at ten am. My window is
<v Speaker 1>now eight to nine hours long, and I know this
<v Speaker 1>has contributed to the gain. I am becoming anxious at
<v Speaker 1>having gained so much. I always learned so much from
<v Speaker 1>your show and from intermittent fasting stories, and I would
<v Speaker 1>appreciate any advice you're able to offer, sincerely and well.
<v Speaker 2>So commonly, gabapentin is used for neuropathy from diabetes, so
<v Speaker 2>my first question is are you taking any diabetes medications
<v Speaker 2>that could be contributing to this feeling of low blood
<v Speaker 2>sugar or you know oftentimes different cancer treatments can cause neuropathy,
<v Speaker 2>so I don't know what your neuropathy stems from but
<v Speaker 2>if you are on any medications that could be impacting
<v Speaker 2>your blood sugar, you may need to address those. It's
<v Speaker 2>actually more common to lose weight after discontinuing gabapentin than
<v Speaker 2>it is to gain weight, so I'm sure the weight
<v Speaker 2>gain is from the longer eating windows. Now here's where
<v Speaker 2>it gets a little muddy. Is Gabapittan can cause hyperglycemia.
<v Speaker 2>It can cause high blood sugars. So if your body
<v Speaker 2>has gotten used to these high blood sugars and now
<v Speaker 2>you've stopped taking it and your blood sugar is reduced,
<v Speaker 2>it could be that you're feeling the impacts of that.
<v Speaker 2>So it's hard to guess what's going on in your
<v Speaker 2>body and like, are you checking your blood sugar? Are
<v Speaker 2>you just feeling hungry and so you're assuming it's your
<v Speaker 2>blood sugar, or are you having symptoms of blood sugar?
<v Speaker 2>So I would suggest that you either wear a CGM
<v Speaker 2>so you know what's going on and you can show
<v Speaker 2>that data to your practitioner. You can get a fasting
<v Speaker 2>insulin if you've had one before, see if there's a
<v Speaker 2>change in that. If you're having symptoms and you think
<v Speaker 2>you're having low blood sugar. If you don't want to
<v Speaker 2>wear a CGM, just get your basically cometer at the store.
<v Speaker 2>They're not expensive. Check your blood sugar.
<v Speaker 1>You know.
<v Speaker 2>The other thing is that gabapentin can have some mood effects,
<v Speaker 2>like it can be used off label for like anxiety
<v Speaker 2>and some mood disorders. So is it possible that the
<v Speaker 2>increased hunger could be more of a psychological manifestation. Are
<v Speaker 2>you having more anxiety? Are you wanting to use food
<v Speaker 2>to cope? And that the gaba pentan was sort of
<v Speaker 2>masking that before. So it's really hard for us to
<v Speaker 2>know what's going on. But testing is going to be
<v Speaker 2>your first step into figuring it out. And then definitely
<v Speaker 2>talk to your doctor about that you have any question.
<v Speaker 1>That's what I was going to say as well. Definitely
<v Speaker 1>talk to your doctor about it. But I love your
<v Speaker 1>advice to actually wear a CGM, check your blood sugar,
<v Speaker 1>check your fasting, insulain all of that, and see what's
<v Speaker 1>really going on, because sometimes we don't really know what's
<v Speaker 1>happening behind the scenes unless we test it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And the reason I said, you know, if you've
<v Speaker 2>been running around with elevated blood glucose because of it.
<v Speaker 2>I have patients who will swear their blood glucose is low,
<v Speaker 2>and when it's tested it's not low. It feels low
<v Speaker 2>to them, so they feel like they're having hypoglycemia, but
<v Speaker 2>they're really not. So is it something that you just
<v Speaker 2>get need to get used to feeling this way. If
<v Speaker 2>your blood sugar is not low and it's not dangerous,
<v Speaker 2>it may just be something that your body needs to
<v Speaker 2>adapt to. But if it's really getting low, then you
<v Speaker 2>need to figure out why is it getting low and
<v Speaker 2>it's I mean, I don't think it's fasting related, right,
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, so that's a good point.
<v Speaker 1>Figure out if it is low, and if it is low,
<v Speaker 1>figure out why it's going low.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. All right, So we have a question from Angela
<v Speaker 2>and Omaha. She wrote, thank you so much for the
<v Speaker 2>great podcast and sources. Your tips have truly improved my life.
<v Speaker 2>I now take cilium husk every day and it has
<v Speaker 2>really helped my gi issues. I'm struggling a little with
<v Speaker 2>not having food flavors during the clean fest. I love
<v Speaker 2>a hot cinnamon spiced tea that has five kinds of
<v Speaker 2>cinnamon in it but no sugar, or Starbucks flavored coffee.
<v Speaker 2>The ingredients are one hundred percent coffee with natural flavors,
<v Speaker 2>items with no sugar, protein, or nutrients, only flavors. I
<v Speaker 2>am five foot three and a half inches and around
<v Speaker 2>one hundred and thirty pounds and I have been doing
<v Speaker 2>IF since October of twenty twenty four. I would love
<v Speaker 2>to lose five to ten pounds that I gained after
<v Speaker 2>the COVID shots, but like sharing and some others, it
<v Speaker 2>has been a real challenge to lose them. Based on
<v Speaker 2>the smart BMI, I am in the healthy range, so
<v Speaker 2>I'm not really trying to lose weight. I do feel
<v Speaker 2>much better with IF, and I will continue. I know
<v Speaker 2>you both are questioners, so can you please provide some
<v Speaker 2>of the studies on how why food flavors without sugar
<v Speaker 2>or calories are an issue during the clean fest? Since
<v Speaker 2>I potentially don't actually need to lose weight, but I'm
<v Speaker 2>continuing the IF lifestyle for the non scale benefits. Are
<v Speaker 2>these food flavors potentially okay during the clean fast? For now?
<v Speaker 2>I could would cut them out if I see some
<v Speaker 2>weight regain, such as pants fitting more tightly. I do
<v Speaker 2>have a bit higher cholesterol, but my doctor wasn't concerned. However,
<v Speaker 2>I decided to start a very low dose statin to
<v Speaker 2>help me with that. If you think the clean fast
<v Speaker 2>would potentially help with the cholesterol, I might reconsider it.
<v Speaker 2>Thank you so much.
<v Speaker 1>All right, So we are talking today about the cephalic
<v Speaker 1>phase insulin response and flavors. All right, so let's think
<v Speaker 1>about why do we fast clean. We fast clean because
<v Speaker 1>we want to keep insulin low. That's one of the
<v Speaker 1>main goals of the clean fast, and to do that,
<v Speaker 1>we avoid sweetness and we also avoid food flavors. Right, So,
<v Speaker 1>if you're taking in the food flavors, the cinnamon, all
<v Speaker 1>of those different food flavors, your brain is perceiving fla
<v Speaker 1>are coming in, food flavors are coming in. I'm gonna
<v Speaker 1>need to release some insulin to deal with that. So
<v Speaker 1>for the Clean Fast, we stick to no food flavors.
<v Speaker 1>Now I have dropped something into show notes called insulin response.
<v Speaker 1>Why doesn't everyone agree? And it's all you know, the
<v Speaker 1>research about cephalic phase insulin response and that the sweet
<v Speaker 1>tastes and why our brain does what it does with
<v Speaker 1>a cephalic phase insulin response. We have to keep in
<v Speaker 1>mind that we're talking about sweetness, but food also causes
<v Speaker 1>the insulin response. And that is why we avoid the
<v Speaker 1>food flavors like cinnamon and anything that's going to be
<v Speaker 1>like like a caramel flavored coffee or a vanilla flavored coffee,
<v Speaker 1>because our brains perceive that also as you know, food
<v Speaker 1>slash sweetness. So I want you to go through what
<v Speaker 1>I have linked and I put it in the show notes.
<v Speaker 1>Like I said, it's at jen Stevens dot com on
<v Speaker 1>my blog posts and like I said, it's called insulin response.
<v Speaker 1>Why doesn't everyone agree? And you know, go through the
<v Speaker 1>different papers that I have, and I don't think I
<v Speaker 1>have this in here, but when I was writing Fast
<v Speaker 1>Feast Repeat, and I think this is in the clean
<v Speaker 1>Fast chapter of Fast feat Repeat, I actually did look
<v Speaker 1>up insulin response to all different kinds of flavors.
<v Speaker 2>Not just sweet.
<v Speaker 1>But we don't have an insulin response to bitter flavor profile.
<v Speaker 1>That's the only one bitter flavor profile. So if you're
<v Speaker 1>taking in sour or sweet, those are the things we
<v Speaker 1>don't want. That's why we don't have limon and that's
<v Speaker 1>why we don't do some of the you know, the
<v Speaker 1>flavored type things. The bitter flavor profile. That's why we
<v Speaker 1>can have the black coffee and the plain tea. So
<v Speaker 1>absolutely we are not going to recommend that you have
<v Speaker 1>any kind of natural flavors or any kind of flavors
<v Speaker 1>like that at all. And you know, you mentioned that
<v Speaker 1>you're struggling with not having food flavors during the fast.
<v Speaker 1>You know, if we're used to having sensory input all
<v Speaker 1>the time, we get used to it emotionally, and so
<v Speaker 1>that is an emotional kind of a thing. Once you
<v Speaker 1>stop having it, you're going to feel better and then
<v Speaker 1>you'll realize you don't need that. You know, we don't
<v Speaker 1>want our fast to be exciting flavor wise, save the
<v Speaker 1>flavors for your eating window. Do you have anything you
<v Speaker 1>want to add to that sharing.
<v Speaker 2>Well beyond the fast, just if you're having an insulin
<v Speaker 2>response to what you are drinking all day and then
<v Speaker 2>you're fasting, basically what you are doing is restrictive dieting
<v Speaker 2>and you're not protecting your metabolism. So weight gain is
<v Speaker 2>really inevitable. Jen and I is when we first started fasting,
<v Speaker 2>we didn't we didn't fast clean, we didn't know about
<v Speaker 2>it right, and we both lost our weight. But after
<v Speaker 2>for me it was about a year, I started to
<v Speaker 2>have a little weight regain and that's when I found
<v Speaker 2>gin and I found the Clean Fast, and it changed
<v Speaker 2>everything for me. So if you're not protecting your metabolism
<v Speaker 2>because your body does not have access to your fat stores,
<v Speaker 2>it's going to think that you're restrictive dieting. In addition
<v Speaker 2>to that, if you're spiking insulin all day long, you're
<v Speaker 2>not improving your insolent sensitivity, So your long term health
<v Speaker 2>is not going to be improved. And potentially it could
<v Speaker 2>be dangerous if I was to drink something that was
<v Speaker 2>food like and I was deep in my fast and
<v Speaker 2>I had an insulin response and it dropped my blood
<v Speaker 2>sugar and I was driving and I got dizzy or whatever.
<v Speaker 2>That could be a safety concern as well. So, you know,
<v Speaker 2>there's so many pros, there's so many whys you would
<v Speaker 2>clean fast. I really can't find a reason why I wouldn't.
<v Speaker 2>The benefits are just they just are too plentiful.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think I just gave myself an insulin response.
<v Speaker 1>I had to take an advil. If you listen to
<v Speaker 1>the last episode, I'm fighting this funk whatever heart is,
<v Speaker 1>and I just started having a headache and I haven't
<v Speaker 1>eaten yet, so I took an advil in between podcasts.
<v Speaker 1>We don't recommend that on an empty stomach, but that's
<v Speaker 1>all I have over here. So I was feeling so bad.
<v Speaker 1>Now I'm feeling queasy, and I just looked it up.
<v Speaker 1>You know, advil and blood sugar, and I looked it up.
<v Speaker 1>Guess what. Advil can lower your blood sugar levels by
<v Speaker 1>potentially increasing insulin release.
<v Speaker 2>Ah, there you go.
<v Speaker 1>So I'm sitting here having it feels like a hypoglycemic
<v Speaker 1>response from I think that advil just made me have
<v Speaker 1>an insulin response, and now I feel well, My headache's gone,
<v Speaker 1>but now I feel shaky. So in real life, I'm
<v Speaker 1>living it right this minute. So anything that causes an
<v Speaker 1>insulin response during the fast is not going to help
<v Speaker 1>you feel your best. Like if I had some thirud,
<v Speaker 1>i'd beaten it right now. But as soon as I
<v Speaker 1>finish recording, we're going, I'm gonna go have something to eat.
<v Speaker 1>But I knew that I was feeling weird. I had
<v Speaker 1>to decide headache or risk it. Well, guess what insulin response.
<v Speaker 1>Now I'm feeling shaky. So I want to challenge you
<v Speaker 1>to fast clean, and I want you to give it
<v Speaker 1>a month and I want you to stop having those
<v Speaker 1>flavored things, and I bet you'll notice a difference.
<v Speaker 2>I agree.
<v Speaker 1>We have a question from Can't Get It Right in
<v Speaker 1>the Bay, Hello Jen and Sherry. I write this with
<v Speaker 1>tears in my eyes as I cannot seem to get
<v Speaker 1>my life in order. I am a fifty year old
<v Speaker 1>female one hundred and eighty pounds with a goal of
<v Speaker 1>one hundred and thirty five. I'm five foot five inches
<v Speaker 1>and I've been fasting since twenty nineteen. I strive to
<v Speaker 1>eat within four to five hours every day, but realistically
<v Speaker 1>I've been having more of an eight hour window. Additionally,
<v Speaker 1>I feel like since I've turned fifty, I've had numerous
<v Speaker 1>small health issues, and I feel like my poor eating
<v Speaker 1>choices are finally catching up with me. Prior to about
<v Speaker 1>ten years ago, I was always thin and could eat
<v Speaker 1>whatever junk I wanted and not gain weight. Issues with
<v Speaker 1>my son started and the weight piled on and I
<v Speaker 1>got older. Of course, my two struggles not sticking to
<v Speaker 1>my four to five hour window. I often open early
<v Speaker 1>due to emotional eating and then binging in my window.
<v Speaker 1>Once I start, I keep going, not a lot of
<v Speaker 1>one food, but small portions of lots of different kinds.
<v Speaker 1>I eat too many processed foods, cookies, candies, and I
<v Speaker 1>crave bread. I do always eat veggies or a salad.
<v Speaker 1>There was a month where I was able to keep
<v Speaker 1>to a four hour eating window, and I saw my
<v Speaker 1>body quickly respond and start to change, but I didn't
<v Speaker 1>keep it up. Long story, stressed with family. I know
<v Speaker 1>the answer is to keep to my desired eating window
<v Speaker 1>and eat whole foods. The question is how, as with
<v Speaker 1>the other things I tried, I know what to do.
<v Speaker 1>The problem is acting on it. Any tips would be
<v Speaker 1>greatly appreciated. I'm grateful for both of you.
<v Speaker 2>Okay, Well, I have a couple thoughts going on here.
<v Speaker 2>Have you you said, as with other quote diets, you
<v Speaker 2>knew what to do, the problem was acting on it.
<v Speaker 2>Have you ever successfully changed your eating style long term?
<v Speaker 2>If the answer is no, then I really believe that
<v Speaker 2>the two things could be happening. It's time to really decide.
<v Speaker 2>Are you an emotional eater? It's not uncommon if you are.
<v Speaker 2>Many many people are emotional eaters. So that's something that
<v Speaker 2>you're going to have to tackle. The Other thing is,
<v Speaker 2>sometimes when we decide we're going to clean up our diet,
<v Speaker 2>we're going to change our diet. We try to do
<v Speaker 2>too much at once, and it's overwhelming. And if life
<v Speaker 2>is already overwhelming and you already have stress in your life,
<v Speaker 2>then that can just feel like too much to add
<v Speaker 2>on top of it. So my first suggestion is look
<v Speaker 2>intos eat like a granite program because it's small, sustainable
<v Speaker 2>changes over time, so it's not overwhelming. It's something that
<v Speaker 2>you can do over the course of a year, and
<v Speaker 2>at the end of the year you're going to have
<v Speaker 2>a whole new toolbox of how to eat and how
<v Speaker 2>to feel good with the foods that you're eating, how
<v Speaker 2>to incorporate them, and that might be just what you
<v Speaker 2>need to get going to kind of give up these
<v Speaker 2>processed foods. It might be the encouragement you need. You're
<v Speaker 2>not doing it alone. There's a group component to it,
<v Speaker 2>and sometimes by changing up what you're eating and having
<v Speaker 2>better satisfaction from the foods you're eating, sleeping better, just
<v Speaker 2>having more energy, getting more nutrients in is going to
<v Speaker 2>make you to be able to better handle stress. The
<v Speaker 2>other component is you're fifty and unfortunately, perimenopause does a
<v Speaker 2>number on our moods, Anxiety, our emotions, and so if
<v Speaker 2>you already were an emotional eater and then you're dealing
<v Speaker 2>with the low moods and energy that come with perimenopause,
<v Speaker 2>it could be compounding. So you may want to address
<v Speaker 2>the whole perimenopause component or postmenopause component, wherever you are
<v Speaker 2>on that spectrum, because that can help you so much
<v Speaker 2>with sleep, with your moods, with feeling more energetic, with
<v Speaker 2>being able to tackle life a little bit easier. But
<v Speaker 2>then changing up what you're eating too, is going to
<v Speaker 2>make it easier for you to stick to the eating window.
<v Speaker 2>When you are satisfied with the fizzier eat eating, when
<v Speaker 2>your body's getting the nutransit needs, you're going to be
<v Speaker 2>better able to stick to that four to five hour
<v Speaker 2>eating window that you are struggling to stick with. And
<v Speaker 2>then you know, you do say that you open early
<v Speaker 2>due to emotional eating. Again, never too late to start therapy.
<v Speaker 2>And but you'll hear me say that. But just because
<v Speaker 2>you start therapy doesn't mean it's something you have to
<v Speaker 2>do the rest of your life. Sometimes you learn some
<v Speaker 2>good tools that you can apply to life to help
<v Speaker 2>you get through the hard times. Sometimes it's nice to
<v Speaker 2>have an impartial party to talk to, especially if you're
<v Speaker 2>having family issues. It's just nice to have a person
<v Speaker 2>to unload on and to help you process things. So
<v Speaker 2>that's my best advice for you. Yeah, I think that's
<v Speaker 2>really good advice.
<v Speaker 1>And you know, to piggyback on the suggestion for therapy,
<v Speaker 1>you know, your therapist can help you come up with
<v Speaker 1>a toolbox of things to do other than emotional eat right,
<v Speaker 1>And so I was also going to suggest that you
<v Speaker 1>like a grown up program, but also Cherry's coaching. I
<v Speaker 1>was going to suggest that because this is the kind
<v Speaker 1>of thing that Sherry is doing with her clients, So
<v Speaker 1>tell them how to find you for that, Shary, you
<v Speaker 1>can go.
<v Speaker 2>To fast Feastrepeat dot com, slash coaching, or just email
<v Speaker 2>me at Cherry at fast Feast Repeat.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, because you know there are tools that can help
<v Speaker 1>you with this and food quality, but also accountability and
<v Speaker 1>figuring out what is the reason why you're ending up
<v Speaker 1>with an eight hour window when you desire to have
<v Speaker 1>a five hour window and really figuring out what is
<v Speaker 1>happening and what strategies do you need to put in
<v Speaker 1>place to keep that from happening. But sometimes talking it
<v Speaker 1>through with someone else can really help, and it just
<v Speaker 1>can give you some tools that you hadn't thought of
<v Speaker 1>and get you out of that cycle over and over again.
<v Speaker 1>But I really cannot overstate the importance of food quality
<v Speaker 1>because the better I eat, the more satisfied am. Like, Oh,
<v Speaker 1>Shery had the best meal last night. It was a
<v Speaker 1>Marley spoon. It was this wonderful soup. It had beans,
<v Speaker 1>and it had potatoes, and it had kale, and it
<v Speaker 1>had chicken sausage, which I'm a little skeptical of, but
<v Speaker 1>it was delicious. And it was So's onions garlic. It
<v Speaker 1>was so satisfying that sounds delicious. It was delicious. I'm
<v Speaker 1>gonna go eat some's sitting in the refrigerator because it
<v Speaker 1>made a ton. So when I opened my window, that's
<v Speaker 1>what I'm going to have today. But I was so
<v Speaker 1>full from that like that. I opened my window with
<v Speaker 1>that and I had some good bread with it, and
<v Speaker 1>then later I just needed a little something else. But
<v Speaker 1>the better the quality of my food, the more satisfied
<v Speaker 1>I am. And so if I had opened with cheese
<v Speaker 1>and crackers, you know that's not giving my body a
<v Speaker 1>lot of nutrients.
<v Speaker 2>It doesn't satisfy me. The same way.
<v Speaker 1>So just something to keep in mind. Real food really
<v Speaker 1>makes a difference. And so the question that can't get
<v Speaker 1>it right in the bay, she said, I know, but
<v Speaker 1>how well that's where you eat like a grown up
<v Speaker 1>can really help because it helps you every week you're
<v Speaker 1>making one change, working on one thing, adding in more
<v Speaker 1>fiber for example, eating protein until you're satisfied, something like that.
<v Speaker 1>So before we get to our teek of the week
<v Speaker 1>here we are, I want to take them in it
<v Speaker 1>to tell you about the Fast Feast Repeat app that
<v Speaker 1>we were just talking about. If you are struggling with
<v Speaker 1>food confusion or diet brain, or if you know you
<v Speaker 1>need to make changes but you don't know where to begin,
<v Speaker 1>or if you even know what the changes need to be,
<v Speaker 1>like our last question, but you don't really know how
<v Speaker 1>to do it, That's what the Eco grown Up Program
<v Speaker 1>is all about. It's a fifty two week learning journey
<v Speaker 1>that helps you finally build a peaceful, confident relationship with
<v Speaker 1>food without dieting, guilt, or feeling overwhelmed. And it's only
<v Speaker 1>available in the Fast Feast Repeat app. Join me in
<v Speaker 1>the app for the grown Up Year fifty two weeks
<v Speaker 1>to listen, play and nourish. Each week, you'll watch a
<v Speaker 1>short video lesson and you'll download a simple practical mission
<v Speaker 1>designed to help you listen to your body, play with
<v Speaker 1>your food in a joyful way, and nourish yourself with
<v Speaker 1>calm intention. You'll learn how to move past emotional eating,
<v Speaker 1>understand your hunger cues, make meals deeply satisfying, and fall
<v Speaker 1>back in love with real food, all while connecting with
<v Speaker 1>a community that's growing right alongside of you in the app.
<v Speaker 1>So if you're ready for transformation that unfolds gently but
<v Speaker 1>meaningfully over time, this is where it begins. Go to
<v Speaker 1>app dot fast Feast Repeat dot com to join us,
<v Speaker 1>or you can find the fast Feast Repeat app in
<v Speaker 1>the app store that works with your phone. Along with
<v Speaker 1>the eat like a grown up fifty two week program,
<v Speaker 1>you'll find an ever growing library of intermittent fasting resources
<v Speaker 1>as well. Go to app That's app dot fast Feast
<v Speaker 1>Repeat dot com to join us, or download the Fast
<v Speaker 1>Feast Repeat app today. There is also a link in
<v Speaker 1>show notes. So now it's time for our tweak of
<v Speaker 1>the week. You know I always say tweak it till
<v Speaker 1>it's easy, but the tweak that works for me might
<v Speaker 1>not be the one that works for you. And that's
<v Speaker 1>why it is super helpful to hear how other intermittent
<v Speaker 1>fasters are making intermittent fasting work for them. Sally from
<v Speaker 1>Ontario says, I break my fast with at least thirty
<v Speaker 1>grams of protein. Dinner is now smaller than lunch. A
<v Speaker 1>handful of nuts is a good snack that helps me
<v Speaker 1>eat a little less at dinner. Also, it helps me
<v Speaker 1>to keep busy during my fast. I think that's super important.
<v Speaker 1>You know what. Sally says, She's figured out what helps
<v Speaker 1>her be satisfied, and of course that's part of what
<v Speaker 1>we want to figure out from the eat like a
<v Speaker 1>grown up program, as you're your own study of one.
<v Speaker 1>Sally has figured out that if she breaks her fast
<v Speaker 1>with at least thirty grams of protein, she is satisfied.
<v Speaker 1>Not because somebody told her she had to do that.
<v Speaker 1>She's figured it out through trial and error. This is
<v Speaker 1>what my body needs to feel satisfied. She also finds
<v Speaker 1>that nuts help her feel satisfied. Nuts don't do a
<v Speaker 1>thing for me.
<v Speaker 2>Well see one of the things I've noticed, well number one,
<v Speaker 2>and that's are very easy to overeat and so a
<v Speaker 2>lot of my coaching clients. They'll tell me, oh, I
<v Speaker 2>have nuts every day, and I ask them, do you
<v Speaker 2>eat a quarter cup of nuts? And they look at
<v Speaker 2>me with a shock look on their face, and they're like, no,
<v Speaker 2>I should just have a big handful, and then sometimes
<v Speaker 2>I go back for more, and then sometimes I might
<v Speaker 2>have more later. Well, they're a very calorically dense snack. However,
<v Speaker 2>I recently did some research about nuts, and what I
<v Speaker 2>found was one serving of nuts a day has no
<v Speaker 2>negative impacts on weight loss, but can have beneficial impacts
<v Speaker 2>on satiety. And so they said, when you eat an
<v Speaker 2>ounce of nuts, which is about a quarter cup of nuts,
<v Speaker 2>prior to eating a meal, it can help with a
<v Speaker 2>tidy with the meal, so that over the course of
<v Speaker 2>your day of eating, you actually end up eating less.
<v Speaker 2>That's so interesting, isn't that interesting, especially since, like I said,
<v Speaker 2>I've never had like, I ate some nuts. Now I
<v Speaker 2>feel satisfied. But maybe, yeah, that are some nuts, like
<v Speaker 2>almonds were better than other nuts because of the high
<v Speaker 2>fiber content in them. And so, but the key is
<v Speaker 2>an ounce of nuts. And if I know most people,
<v Speaker 2>they don't want to weigh, they don't want to measure anything.
<v Speaker 2>So a quarter one time, take a quarter cup measuring
<v Speaker 2>cup and put a quarter cup of nuts in your hand,
<v Speaker 2>and see what a serving is. It's less than you
<v Speaker 2>think it is. But yeah, I thought that was really
<v Speaker 2>interesting because I've also read other things where you know,
<v Speaker 2>nuts are easy to overeat because they're not satisfying. Apparently,
<v Speaker 2>when eaten in conjunction with a meal, they help with sotiety.
<v Speaker 1>That's so interesting. Now I want to experiment again my
<v Speaker 1>own study of one. See if I notice a difference.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, all right, Well, we love to leave you with
<v Speaker 2>inspirational motivational quotes or messages, and this week the message
<v Speaker 2>is from me. Okay, so this is something that I
<v Speaker 2>have been noticing, and I've noticed in community. I'm noticing
<v Speaker 2>it with some of my coaching clients. And the message
<v Speaker 2>is good enough, is good enough. So let me explain.
<v Speaker 2>People get caught up in this all or nothing way
<v Speaker 2>of thinking and behaving. So, for instance, you have your
<v Speaker 2>day planned out, life throws you a curveball. You left
<v Speaker 2>your healthy window opener at home. Let's say you forgot
<v Speaker 2>to take it to work. So you think I'll just
<v Speaker 2>go grab something healthy with my coworkers to open my
<v Speaker 2>window with. But when you get to where they're going,
<v Speaker 2>they're just starting any healthy options, and you're hungry and
<v Speaker 2>you're there, so you decide, okay, I'm just going to
<v Speaker 2>go with it, and you pick a food that maybe
<v Speaker 2>you don't normally eat. And at this point you have
<v Speaker 2>two choices. You accept that it was an ideal that's
<v Speaker 2>not in at the end of the world, and you
<v Speaker 2>can carry on like normal and then focus on balancing
<v Speaker 2>out that meal with a healthy dinner, or you can say, oh, well, great,
<v Speaker 2>now this whole day is blown, and I might as
<v Speaker 2>well order the fries and the fried chicken sandwich and
<v Speaker 2>wash it down with the milkshake. And since this day
<v Speaker 2>is ruined, forget the healthy dinner I have planned. I'll
<v Speaker 2>just go home and order a pizza and might as
<v Speaker 2>well have wine and heck, awesome cheesecake too. And this
<v Speaker 2>sounds kind of silly, right, but we do this. People
<v Speaker 2>do this, and I believe it all comes back to
<v Speaker 2>this idea that we have to be perfect in order
<v Speaker 2>to be worthy and to be successful, and if we
<v Speaker 2>fail to be perfect, then by god, we're just going
<v Speaker 2>to fail all the way. But the sooner you realize
<v Speaker 2>that perfection is an illusion, the sooner you can practice
<v Speaker 2>letting go of perfection, the happier and more successful you'll become.
<v Speaker 2>And I believe this one hundred percent. And it's not
<v Speaker 2>just me. There are endless articles, there are endless studies
<v Speaker 2>even done. There was one in a medical journal that
<v Speaker 2>was directed at doctors, and it's when we strive for perfection,
<v Speaker 2>it fuels depression, anxiety, and a sense of not feeling
<v Speaker 2>like we have control in our life. So remember, success
<v Speaker 2>does not come from the falls. Success comes from the recovery.
<v Speaker 2>So one of my clients actually shared this the other day.
<v Speaker 2>She said she was traveling. She intended to do an
<v Speaker 2>uppish day on Thursday after a really short eating window
<v Speaker 2>the day before, But when she got back to the
<v Speaker 2>hotel that night, she ended up eating all of the
<v Speaker 2>hotel snacks in her room, and she thought, for a second,
<v Speaker 2>oh well, I blew it. I might as well just
<v Speaker 2>not fast tomorrow and I'll just wait until I get
<v Speaker 2>back home and I'll start fasting in on Saturday.
<v Speaker 1>But she caught herself.
<v Speaker 2>She knew she was going to check in with me,
<v Speaker 2>and she realized, how was that going to be helpful?
<v Speaker 2>How was that going to make her feel good? So
<v Speaker 2>she said, she just decided to put those late night
<v Speaker 2>snacks behind her and try again the next day, and
<v Speaker 2>that decision in itself fueled her to make better choices.
<v Speaker 2>On Friday, she went to sleep not feeling bad about herself,
<v Speaker 2>and it just really set the tone for that last
<v Speaker 2>day of travel and her whole weekend. So I was
<v Speaker 2>so proud of her when she explained to what she
<v Speaker 2>did and how she was thinking. And we see this
<v Speaker 2>happen time and time again. You don't have to be perfect,
<v Speaker 2>you just have to try and if it doesn't work out,
<v Speaker 2>oh well you're not getting a grade on the day.
<v Speaker 2>Good enough is good enough? Yeah, pick yourself up. I
<v Speaker 2>love that.
<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much for listening today. We would love to
<v Speaker 1>have you join us in the Delayed On 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
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<v Speaker 2>a five star review that helps new listeners find the show.
<v Speaker 2>And we really appreciate it.
<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
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<v Speaker 2>Until next week, Thanks for listening. This podcast was edited
<v Speaker 2>by Resonate Recordings.