The holiday festivities have come and gone…and let’s be honest, those skinny jeans are fitting a little tighter right about now. The New Year has started as most people put on their list of New Year’s Resolutions…It’s time to lose weight and become healthier. But how, each year brings a new diet, a new eating plan and you just want to find something that works.
Did you know that intermittent fasting helps alleviate symptoms of menopause? Did you know that “clean” fasts make intermittent fasting easier to do and maintain? Also, did you know that fasting can help promote a healthier relationship with food?
Sounds exciting right?
My guest on this week’s podcast episode is Intermittent Fasting Coach and Author, Laurie Lewis. I am so excited to have Laurie talk to us all about how to start intermittent fasting, today.
Meet Laurie Lewis
For Intermittent Fasting Coach and Author, Laurie Lewis, menopause dealt a crushing blow — brain fog, lack of balance, memory loss, and the sudden gain of 50 pounds of stubborn hormonal fat. She tried everything she knew to feel better, and the methods that worked in the past made no difference.
After four years of struggle, Laurie stumbled upon Intermittent Fasting and started fasting that very same day. The menopausal fog lifted in less than one week, she had more energy and felt more “like herself.” She lost 51 pounds in 15 months and has kept it off for years!
Now, at 57-years old, Laurie has turned her personal success into the
premier thriving Intermittent Fasting coaching business. As a certified health
coach (Institute for Integrative Nutrition) she combines her knowledge of
nutrition with deep research and practice of Time Restricted Eating. Laurie
guides her clients with a dream come true — eat the foods you love and
enjoy the rest of your life feeling vibrantly well.
Visit her website. Connect on LinkedIn and Facebook.
To download your free guide, head over to Laurie’s website, scroll down the Home Page, fill out your email address and you will be sent your Free Guide.
In This Podcast
Summary
- Mindset is everything
- Does intermittent fasting work?
- Starting intermittent fasting
- Clean fasts
Mindset is everything
Mindset is everything! … this isn’t about “being good”. You know, we’re always trying to “be good”. This isn’t about “being good”, it is about feeling good. (Laurie Lewis)
What is going to make you feel good? Ask yourself that, instead of thinking about whether you should “be” good, when it comes to food.
Eat foods that you love, that are nourishing, that make your body feel revitalized and satiated not only from the taste but from nutrients and wholesomeness. Focus on overall well-being.
Does intermittent fasting work?
There’s a reason why fasting is part of all religious, spiritual, and meditational traditions because those wise people know that if you go out alone in the quiet to have some sort of awakening or new thoughts … not eating helps a lot … but it isn’t about restricting or deprivation or control. (Laurie Lewis)
This does not mean that you should go down a path towards an eating disorder. Having regular eating windows and periods of fasting is the structure of intermittent fasting.
Often, intermittent fasters have wonderful relationships with food, because they prioritize eating foods that make them feel good when they are within their window period of eating.
Intermittent fasters eat whole foods instead of allowing themselves to eat whenever and for whatever reason, which may lead to overeating or choosing to eat for emotional reasons.
Starting intermittent fasting
Laurie recommends starting with 12-hour windows. Everybody’s starting point and ending point will be different.
1 – Decide today what time you are closing your eating window and at this point, the fasting begins for clean fasting.
2 – Over your clean fasting period, you can have clean unflavored water, clean black coffee, clean unflavored black or green tea.
3 – Sleep, wake up, and enjoy your first meal. If your closing window started at 8 pm the night before, then you have breakfast at 8 am.
Clean fasts
Clean fasting makes intermittent fasting easier because any small amount of nutrients in a squeeze of lemon into your water makes your body think that food is coming.
Do not add things like pickle juice, bone broth, or lemon to your water while you fast, because it will seem to your brain like food is on the way, which makes you grumpy when it does not.
The thing to realize is that hunger … is not an emergency … if you are shaky … and strong ravenous feelings, you should eat … but thoughts of food, a stomach rumbling, a funny emptyish feeling in our stomachs, that is not hunger, it is an alert system. (Laurie Lewis)
You can structure your fasting however you like. For most people, the goal is to get to 16-hour clean fasts with 8-hour eating windows.
However, try 12-hour fasts if you are new to intermittent fasting for a month before changing it up slowing to 16-hour fasts. If you are giving it a try, keep it slow, and make sure to listen to your body.
Books mentioned:
Laurie Lewis – Celebrating Your Vibrant Future: Intermittent Fasting for Women 44 to Forever
Dr. Jason Fung – The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss
Dr. Jason Fung – The Diabetes Code: Prevent and Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Naturally
Dr. Jason Fung – The Cancer Code: A Revolutionary New Understanding of a Medical Mystery
Gin Stephens – Delay, Don’t Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle
BJ Fogg – Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything
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Meet Veronica Cisneros
I’m a licensed therapist and women walk into my office every day stressed and disconnected. As a mom of three daughters, I want my girls to know who they are and feel confident about their future. I can’t think of a better way to help other women than by demonstrating an empowered and unapologetic life.
So I started Empowered and Unapologetic to be a safe space for women to be vulnerable and change their lives for the better before she ever needs to see a therapist.
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Thanks for listening!
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