Fast Like a Girl: A Woman's Guide to Using the Healing Power of Fasting to Burn Fat, Boost Energy, and Balance Hormones

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One of the things that I have committed to doing for myself and all of you is always showing up authentically. I believe we live in this world where it’s easy to put on a highlight reel and just show all the good things in your life. However, this will set you up for disappointment because life isn’t a highlight reel. Also, we often find ourselves comparing our lives to the highlight reels of others. So, I want to be as transparent as possible about my journey and why I decided to write Fast Like A Girl. Why I Decided To Write Fast Like A Girl Our ancestors adapted to have energy reserves even after fasting. They feasted during the day, and their bodies entered a fasting state overnight. Come morning, they needed enough energy to scavenge for more food. This energy was supplied by ketones their bodies produced while fasting. This changeover from using glucose for energy to ketones is what we call metabolic switching. We won’t be able to cover all the specific foods that can best support a healthy and fasting lifestyle. But by the end, you’ll have the basic information needed to begin fasting safely –and a great springboard for how to craft a fasting lifestyle that fits your unique body. hour fast: The more you fast, the more it forces your body to burn glucose, insulin, and toxins that are stored in fat. I always say that it is better to have fat around your muscles than around your organs and this length of fast will force your body to burn stored glucose and insulin. 36-48 hour fasts is where to start to see fat loss, anti-aging, and an increase in dopamine.

A much-needed fasting resource for women! – Sara Gottfried MD, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Hormone Cure This section goes on to blame most chronic diseases on metabolic syndrome, and her solution to “our current metabolic situation”, is fasting (a single cause for multiple complex issues = red flag). Now, how do you know if you’re in nutritional ketosis and your body is beginning to secrete ketones? Your ketones should be reading at 0.5 or above. If you’re not seeing this, time and repetition is important here. Sometimes the body simply needs more time to acclimate in this step and make that conversion from sugar burning to fat burning mode. If you still find you’re having trouble getting into ketosis, you might have a congested liver. STEP 3: INCREASE YOUR FASTING WINDOW TO over 17+ HOURS Finally, the concept of linking a fasting cycle with your hormonal cycle, to my research, doesn’t seem to exist anywhere outside of this book. The last 15% of the book was recipes, the glossary, and the index of cited sources, so I definitely skimmed that part. None of those recipes appealed to me in the slightest, gonna go ahead and pass. But overall, a good read to expand your knowledge on the benefits of fasting and the proper way to do it.

The Reason I Have Committed Myself To Authenticity

Funnily enough, women (mothers especially) love fasting while men dislike it. How come women are susceptible ones? Why is fasting challenging for women? Not all studies are created equal – a finding about diet restriction in 6 rats is not equal to a well-designed randomized control trial in hundreds of people. You can find a small study to show almost anything, but that doesn’t mean it’s reproducible, reliable or actionable for us. This book also includes more than 50 recipes based on the two food plans—ketobiotic and hormone feasting—she created to best support women’s hormones. And it has recipes specifically created to break a fast such as her Coconut Cacao Chia Pudding. The optimal time to fast is during the power phases when your body is generating estrogen. Fasting can lower insulin levels, which is beneficial for estrogen production. Fasts of any length during these power phases can be advantageous. Pelz encourages experimenting with different fasting durations, from intermittent fasting to 72-hour fasts. For longer fasts, like 24 hours or more, remember to give your body ample time to recover before embarking on another prolonged fast. It’s not advisable to squeeze in more than one 72-hour fast per cycle! The tools in Fast Like A Girl, will see me through my life, and adopting this as a lifestyle. I have witnessed first hand how fasting has healed both me and my husband.

The final section of recipes was ehh. With 5 kids, these recipes are not practical for easy prep or likability. There were a few that would be family friendly but for the most part I skipped over the recipe section. On the flip side, hormone feasting is predominantly designed to support progesterone production. This is crucial during the manifestation and nurture phases when your hormone levels are at their peak. The nutritional split for this style of eating is no more than 150 grams of carbs, a maximum of 50 grams of protein, and as many healthy fats as you like. Calories in must be less than calories out. How many times have you heard about or tried a diet that focuses on this idea? It’s been a popular mantra for years –if we eat fewer calories than we burn working out, we’ll lose weight and be healthier. However, studies have recently shown it’s less about how much you eat, and more about when you eat. You’ve made it to autophagy fasting! You’ll continue staying under 50 net carbs, however you will want to further reduce your net grams of protein to under 20 grams, with 60% of your food still coming from healthy fats . Drinking water and maybe coffee during this fast is okay.

How long should you fast?

I really enjoyed the customized section of fasting time frames for different conditions. (For example with adrenal fatigue you must go at a totally different pace.) And I really liked the recipes for breaking a fast so your body is truly repairing itself and then renourishing.

hour fast: This is a 3 day fast when you feel like you just do not know what to do anymore. I have seen these fasts used for people with severe injuries and diagnoses that want to reboot their whole immune system where healing starts. At 72 hours your stem cells for the immune system are regenerating as well as stem cell production for musculoskeletal injuries. Before we jump in, let’s clarify something. In this context, the term “woman” refers to anyone who has a hormonal cycle of estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone. This includes individuals who have experienced menopause, or those who may not have their period due to stress or birth control. I love the food recommendation for helping the healing process, from ketobiotic days, hormone feasting days and gut reset days etc. To name a few. No stone has been left unturned. There is also recipes to get you started. This book also includes more than 50 recipes based on the two food plans-ketobiotic and hormone feasting-she created to best support women's hormones. And, it has recipes specifically created to break a fast such as her Coconut Cacao Chia Pudding. The opening line of a chapter in this section titled How to Break a Fast is “to eat or not to eat- some people think fasting is that simple”. I can’t stress enough that EATING can be this simple- and by NOT following a fasting lifestyle, you would be able to SIMPLY decide if you want to eat or not eat based on your bodies’ hunger cues.

What Is The Science Behind Fasting?

There is growing evidence in support of intermittent fasting. However, high quality scientific evidence is limited: much that shows benefit is from rat and other animal studies – these aren’t always reliably reproduced in humans. The first part was just barely skimmed as I’ve done extensive research on fasting and learning about my cycles already. Fundamentally, there are three variations to women’s menstrual cycle. Here is how to fast around these variations: Regular menstrual cycle Dr. Mindy has written the guide of all guides for women looking to improve their health by adding fasting into their life. Most importantly, she plans it all around their menstrual cycle. As a women’s health and hormone doctor, I can’t recommend this book and her step-by-step process enough! – Carrie Jones ND, FABNE, MPH, head of Medical Education, Rupa Health