I learn so much from my clients! Recently a client said to me, "Gretchen, I feel like I should work with my body and skip breakfast."
All my training would say NO,
we want to fuel as soon as we wake up
if your blood sugar is regulated you'll be hungry after sleeping
.....and so much more.....
And I listened! I get to be coachable.
What happens when we fast?
What is a real fast?
What happens to our hormones after menopause? What happens to our metabolism when our sugar and glucose are constantly flowing?
I found Dr. Mindy Pelz's books, The Menopause Reset and Fast Like A Girl.
No wonder we are fat, sick, lethargic, stuck, with stubborn stores a adipose tissue - stored energy that fasting protocols can start to move!
We have 30,000-80,000 stored calories that we need to get at and BURN! Fasting may just be the tool!
Dr. Mindy Pelz likens it to food stored in the downstairs freezer that we have no need to access because our upstairs fridge, freezer and pantry are over flowing at all times - even if it's HEALTHY FOOD.
The food we eat all day long is the upstairs, the stored fat that we can't loose is the downstairs.
We rarely go to the basement for stored food!
Now, enter post menopause, our systems HAVE CHANGED.
(if this is not your season, there is a fasting protocol to truly support your cycle, honoring your cycle is a beautiful step in optimal health)
It is unrealistic to think that a postmenopausal women can eat like a cycling menstruating woman.
The need is not there!
We no longer NEED to fuel like we may be carrying and building a baby!
We no longer need to fuel like we might need to breastfeed,
We no longer need to fuel like we will be bleeding for 7 days.
Of course our relationship to food gets to change, our season of life has changed - dramatically.
I am excited to combine my training with this new research so women can get the results the deserve.
We don't have to go into menopause adding inches and feeling lethargic, mentally foggy and like the ship has sailed!
We do get to change our ways!
We get to fuel for this season of life we are in!
To start:
Listen to your body.
Do you naturally eat in the morning or prefer to wait till later?
Do you go to bed early?
What is your natural eating window?
Start there and aim for 12 hours of fasting before that natural first meal of the day.
The trick with having it be a REAL FAST is no calories.
As soon as you have caloric food you have broken your fast.
So having a vanilla latte at 7am and no nourishment until 11am is not a fast - it is a metabolic disaster.
How to start?
Start with a 12:12 eating cycle, eat for twelve hours and fast for 12 hours.
For example - 7pm-7am
Hydrate like crazy to flush toxins out
Eat clean healthy food
Go ketogenic (not Keto craze that has so much processed non-food)
Consider fasting as a way to restore the proper power dynamic to your relationship with food. It doesn't control you, you are nourished by it. It is fuel.
For more on fasting and more check out Dr. Mindy Pelz, Fast Like A Girl and The Menopause Reset.
To make that manageable, address your health needs and to create a plan that supports you as an individual, work with me!
We will look at sleep, blood sugar regulation, creating a flexible metabolism and more.
Together is a great way to do life! Gretchen
Comments