Conquering Stress Eating, Overeating, and Binge Eating with Dr. Glenn Livingston

If you’ve ever struggled with avoiding yo-yo dieting, overeating, binge eating, and the guilt, shame, and lack of confidence that follows - this episode is for you. The physical consequences of overeating are one thing - weight gain, lack of energy, and other diseases secondary to inflammation. But there’s a bigger thing to letting food conquer you over conquering your food cravings - it will interfere with your relationships, productivity, happiness, confidence, and even get in the way of going all in on your purpose. Learn the practical steps and strategies to conquer these cravings to get freedom in your physical and mental health.

Connect with Dr. Glenn and learn more about his resources link the Never Binge Again book at https://www.neverbingeagain.com/ 

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Intermittent fasting and time restricted eating have been ‘trendy’ recently for both mental and physical benefits. Some of those benefits include weight loss, improved cognitive performance and productivity, improved hormone regulation, and many other benefits. And while fasting has picked up popularity recently, it’s one of the longest practices that have been around - and often not by design. Learn the ins and outs of fasting/time restricted eating, the different types, why it’s so beneficial, and how to get started based on effective fasting experience and protocols.

Men Made For More Podcast Episode 153: 

Connect with Dr. Derek at https://www.revivenatmed.com/ or on Instagram @revivenatmed, @verviafit or his personal account  @docdereknd

Resources:

Docderek.com to join the Revive Your Health Facebook Group

Doc Derek Fasting Series on Youtube

Book Recommendation from episode: The Complete Guide to Fasting by Dr. Jason Fung

Men Made For More Podcast Episode 153: Intermittent Fasting and Time Restricted Eating 101 with Dr. Derek Lawrence

[00:00:00] Dave: [00:00:00] Hey there mighty man. I'm your host, Dr. Dave Paczkowski founder of man-made for more coaching, our business helps husbands level up their life. Their leadership and their legacy in marriage and in business. The purpose of this podcast is to bring together like-minded men that feel destined for big things in their life and provide you the resources and community that you need to lead yourself, your family and your business.

[00:00:30] If you've ever felt overwhelmed, frustrated, lost, or alone on your journey to a better and more purposeful life, you're in the right spot. You weren't designed to be average. So it's time to quit living that way today. I'm giving you permission to unlock your true potential and step into all that you were made for.

[00:00:48]All right. Welcome to the men made for more podcasts. Join here with a good friend of mine and a someone who I've learned a ton from my own naturopathic doctor that I go see for, [00:01:00] uh, for all my health issues, if you will, my health, uh, maybe it's a better way. That's better than better way to put it. Uh, but here with Dr.

[00:01:08] Derek Lawrence, uh, we did a podcast maybe a couple months ago, w we'll have that linked up in the show notes to have a deep dive on sleep. And for anyone that hasn't listened to that one, it was one of our most listened to episodes. People, uh, just are seeing the importance of, of sleep and how much that's.

[00:01:23] Not just for, uh, just for energy and performance, but for longevity, for so many things, that's a, that's a good starting place. If you guys haven't listened to that one, cue that one up next. It's a say it's a good two hours or so we chatted on that one. So we went, we went pretty, pretty deep on that one before that one look good stuff, full of practical stuff, full of, uh, uh, more knowledge than you probably need, but, uh, all stuff that's going to be good.

[00:01:44] So with that being said, I'm joined here with Dr. Derek, Derek. Thanks for coming on. My man. I'm excited for this one. Uh, thanks for having me back. Uh, I wasn't sure that was going to happen after spending two hours talking about sleep, but, uh, you know, that [00:02:00] one was fun and we're going to hit on another fun topic today that, uh, you know, we're hitting these big foundational pieces, right.

[00:02:10] Derek: [00:02:10] That have their hands in a lot of different regulatory. Um, kind of cookie jars of our system. And I think some of that stuff too, to speak to the importance of that is, is valuable because it's, when we were talking about this off mic of products, product sales, um, you know, people who, you know, recommend and et cetera, et cetera, don't get me wrong.

[00:02:38] I recommend products all the time. They're tools though, right? They're not the fix solves. And they usually play in one or two arenas. Um, but spending some time like talking about the kind of themes or, or the physiological, um, components that have their hands in a lot of regulatory mechanisms that are in the like [00:03:00] lifestyle realm in the nutrition realm and the exercise realm, I think are more valuable because usually they're free.

[00:03:12] And too, they, they address so many different SIM systems that, um, it's, uh, Big bang for the buck and, you know, today we're going to dive into fasting. Um, and that's another one of those big bang for the buck type, um, interventions as it were. So, yeah. Yeah. It's so good. I'm sure we'll, we'll get into today and on your, you're a big believer of fasting.

[00:03:43] We'll, we'll kind of clear up what that, what that even even means for people, but it's these, these tools that we have readily available, people are always looking for what's that supplement what's that new drink out there. That new thing that can give me that extra. You know, 0.5, 1% edge when we're neglecting sleep or neglecting [00:04:00] key nutrition principles, these key things that are robbing you maybe of 5% or 10% or 25%.

[00:04:06] So it's, it's, uh, people get too quick on, well, what can I take? That's a easy thing to take that I can quickly do to give me an edge versus like, Hey, why don't I just build a lifestyle around these principles that will greatly improve whether it's physical performance, mental performance for entrepreneurs, for anyone all the above.

[00:04:25] Yeah. So all those things and, uh, for, for kicking off fasting, I know there's a lot of directions we can, we can shake on it. Uh, and if people, you know, people have. Probably heard of intermittent fasting. I think it's much, much more common. The more people I talk to and where guys I talked to, the more business owners I talk to it's, there's a lot of questions on like, Hey, have you heard of this intermittent fasting thing?

[00:04:44] And it's like, yeah, yes, yes we have. And uh, I wanna, I want to kind of have you cleared up because a lot of people, I feel like people either stumble upon, at least from what I've heard through like, oh, it's a good way to lose weight or get lean is one side of that. And the other side is the mental performance of it for, [00:05:00] for business owners, entrepreneurs, those high performers out there.

[00:05:02] So maybe if we start, uh, why don't you clear up kind of, uh, you know, what, what is, what is fascinating? What is it? What does it not? Cause I think it can be, it can be a little vague and B can be ambiguous. So I want you to start by clearing some of that up. Okay. Uh, you know, the, the first place I always start is that this, like, it seems to be like the new kid on the block, but one could argue it's literally the oldest, um, Like prescribed therapy that maybe humankind has ever had and certainly a, um, non prescribed therapy as well.

[00:05:45] I mean, look, if we could not go as humans in extended time without food, we wouldn't be here. Right. Our evolutionary reality and [00:06:00] adaptation required us to be able to do this. Right. And so like with that, this has been around for forever. It's just like, as, as we kind of grow our science and our understanding, it's like, we start to like put labels on some of these pieces and then it is now a thing.

[00:06:21] And that's great, you know, because now people are actually. More interested in it than they were before. But I mean, if you, if you subscribe to any religion, there's many that have fasting as sometimes a routine part of the week, if not a routine part of the year. Um, and so it's not uncommon for, for that to be, you know, uh, brought awareness to through, through that lens.

[00:06:47] But, um, so yeah, and even through, through that, you ask the question, well, what is fast? That's a great question. And it depends on who you ask and. [00:07:00] Because it means different things to different people. And there's no technical, I would say definition of really what that means. And so if you're going to have a conversation with someone it's best to use, maybe a different word than fasting, or to dive a little bit deeper than what, like, what do you mean by that?

[00:07:22] Because, you know, there are folks who will say, well, I, you know, I don't eat between, you know, uh, or I only eat between 10 and six and that's what they call fasting. Okay. Um, I wouldn't call that fasting. I would just call that narrowing your eating window or what you go with time, restricted, eating, or time restricted feeding.

[00:07:47] And in fact that's what the literature, the terminology, the medical literature research literature uses for that type of scenario. But that is. I mean, and I don't know [00:08:00] what your experience is talking with your clients, but that is most commonly when the word, the F word, the fasting word is, he was like, oh, I do, I do fast.

[00:08:07] I fast, I don't eat after six and I don't eat until 10 and I fast. Okay. Is that, is that, is that kind of what you see to the most kind of common use of that word? Yeah. Majority, majority of people are talking as a, like you said, as mainstream would describe intermittent fasting, which is 16, eight is, is kind of the common, most common one.

[00:08:30] And that, that, that window can move a little bit, but what, what you would call the, the time restricted feeding window and, and that's, that's what I do most regularly. And that's what I know a lot of people are. Cause that's, it's. It seems like such an easy one for most people to do in the day. They're like, okay, I can stop eating a little earlier and at night and then wait a little longer in the morning when I'm not hungry.

[00:08:49] And it, it, uh, you know, give some benefit. And I don't know if we want to circle back on the effects of that, or if we want to clear up some of the other ones first might be, might be helpful. I mean, I think so. So through that lens, right. It's [00:09:00] just, if that's what we're considering fasting, right. Or, and w we'll talk about more pieces of that, but if that's what one is considering fasting, and they say, well, I do this, but like, I don't know.

[00:09:11] I'm not getting, like, I'm not getting all the results that people are saying they're getting when they're fasting or that like, well, I tried fasting, but it didn't do anything for me. It didn't do enough for me. I didn't fill in the blank. Right. Have the expected result. Well, And that may be because what they're comparing is apples to oranges, right?

[00:09:29] They are both fruit, but they're very different. And so being clear, especially when you're looking from an expectation of results or perceived understanding of what's happening, physiology, physiologically, um, the variables of what fasting means actually matter. Right? So there's two things that I take into consideration when we're talking about fasting.

[00:09:54] And one of them is like, well, what are you like? Are you consuming calories? [00:10:00] Are you consuming anything? Right. So this is the, what are you doing to fast? And then this is, and then the next one is just like the wind, meaning like time duration, et cetera. Right. So the, the what's our, okay, well is your fast water only.

[00:10:18] Tea, black coffee, you know, these things that don't generally trigger the fed response in the body. And we may have to go into that a little bit deeper. Um, is this a caloric restricted fast? All right. So meaning you limit how many calories you're eating in a day? Is this a juice fast, right? Where you are going to the local cold pressed juice place?

[00:10:47] Like, you know, we're in Carlsbad, like choice or pressed, um, and getting green juices in there, fast and kits. Love those juices and they have juice fast. [00:11:00] Maybe they call them cleanses there. Um, are you doing broth, are you doing some other type of cleanse? Like, I mean, people have heard of like a master cleanse or maybe from a supplement company, like standard process or designs for health, or are they doing their, one of their detox cleanses and they may be perceived that as a fast then I agree.

[00:11:24] And you want to know what someone is, uh, considering that, or are they doing time restricted eating and calling it fasting or are they doing a truly intermittent fast where they are intermittently fasting? So like, are they doing a fasting, mimicking diet, like ProLon and you know, Valter, Longo stuff. Um, Like all of that matters when you're using this word.

[00:11:48] Um, because from a medical standpoint, they're all going to do very different things, functionally in your body. And I'm not saying one is better than the other, they're just different. Right. And so being [00:12:00] clear on what one is doing, why they're doing it and are they doing what they think they're doing and is what they think happening to them from a physiological standpoint, actually happening, um, based on the variables that they're doing well, that might depend.

[00:12:18] And so education in that arena is I think really important so that they're clear of what they're doing and why they're doing it. Um, yeah. You know, th the same thing. This is like a philosophy that I just practice in my practice. Like, I really want people to be engaged in knowing why they're doing something, what they can expect from it and how to maybe monitor are those expectations coming to fruition, whether that's lab testing or subjective, checking in journaling, fill in the blank, weight, you know, body impedance analysis or BIA.

[00:12:49] Right. Um, those are metrics that help you understand. Well, I think this is [00:13:00] happening and I'm accomplishing it or I'm not . And I know you said they all have, they all have different effects, which can, I hope you guys can see it as there's these wide different things. How you're doing it is going to have a big effect on the outcome of it.

[00:13:13] But I think that's a good point to kind of double click on is like, what is the goal behind it? Because so many people are like insane sample. Like I want to lean up. I want to be able to see my abs. So I'm so I'm doing okay. I read that that's a good way to lean up. And it's like, maybe, but what you're eating in that, in that, uh, feed window is important.

[00:13:31] What, like total amount of caloric consumption still plays a role. Like you can I've I found you can still eat a lot of food and eight hour window. If, uh, if you're anything like me, like you can still find a way to, to do that. So it's, it's, it's taken the goal and saying like, maybe that's the best way, but there might be.

[00:13:46] Better ways to do that. Maybe some kind of carb cycling, maybe there's other, other things to do too many other things to take into account to say like yes or no. Uh, I guess if it helps you eat a little less, then you're going to see some somebody's comp benefits, but [00:14:00] for someone that's, you know, for someone that's new and listening and they're like, wow, I didn't even realize there were, there were that many fast, are there kind of some tried and true ways of where you would start people where you would lead people or stuff that's more universal.

[00:14:12] Cause we obviously don't have time to talk about we, we, as much as we'd love to break each one of these down, you don't have time to break, break each one of them down. Do you have any, uh, you know, guidance on someone who's newer to fashion or maybe this is new information then that there is even this, these different kinds of fast and where to start.

[00:14:27] Yeah. Uh, yeah, we, we definitely can go into that. I wanna, I wanna circle back on a piece that you piece that you said, um, About like the variables that matter. It's kind of like if you were to go to, if someone was to come and see you and they say, I actually, uh huh. Tell me more. What do you mean? Is that walking your dog three times a week?

[00:14:55] Is that, you know, heavy lifting six days a [00:15:00] week? Is it yoga? Is it climbing? Is it sports? Is it hockey? All of those things are so different. We'll have different impacts on your body and your success and not, or otherwise where like you wouldn't, you would never really classify those as at least from a PT standpoint, right.

[00:15:22] And performance, you wouldn't classify those in the same way. Types of exercise. Like, are they all exercise? Yeah. But the specifics kind of matter. And the same thing goes with fasting. And so understanding those, those specifics I think are useful. Well, so, you know, you talked about like, are you asked, like where do you start?

[00:15:45] So I think the next variable to ask, so we talked about like, well, well, what are you doing? Right. I think that like when, in some respects also, uh, when, or maybe how long is, is [00:16:00] another thing, right. So I break it down. I break kind of fasting down into these categories of, well, from like most significant li physiological impactful, like strongest seemingly um, um, Treatment and remember, this is what we know now.

[00:16:24] This is what we know based on the studying of fasting in, um, in basically every level of organism from single cell to humans. Right. And the impacts that they've been able to see on all of those arenas. Um, and so. The there's water only being probably the cause I would recommend what people called dry fasting, like not drinking water.

[00:16:56] I wouldn't typically recommend that for anyone. I think that you're just playing with [00:17:00] fire. Yeah, that sounds miserable too. It sounds dangerous. We're not really sure Christina, in that this is a great time to put that caveat in of this is not medical advice. Um, and if you have any interest in utilizing these things from a medical standpoint, I would strongly encourage anyone listening to contact their primary care or someone who's familiar with this because most of the time, you're not going to get that kind of guidance from your primary care.

[00:17:23] You can be like you crazy. You're not, but you know, water only being at one end of the, the, the realm, um, calorie restricted me maybe being the next step down. Um, There's this idea of like, what's called a fasting, mimicking diet. And, and you've heard of probably like the longevity diet or Valter Longo, uh, researcher.

[00:17:48] Who's studied a lot of fasting and, um, in humans and animals, and he works with a company, um, that makes a kit called ProLon and it's a [00:18:00] researched and designed fasting, mimicking diet. What that means is basically it's designed to give you the benefits of fasting while still having some food. And so the box is basically broken down into five days, one, two, three, four, and five day one.

[00:18:18] You eat the stuff in box one day, two, you with the stuff in box two and so on and so forth. Um, it's all macronutrient controlled. And you're designed to stay within the limitations of that. And we want to say that's one of the ways that I was introduced to fasting was, was through that literature and, and seeing, um, and just utilizing ProLon and just diving into they'd be like, oh, this is interesting.

[00:18:43] Um, and a lot of my patients actually like it, uh, because they don't have to think. And while I will argue, you have to think even less, if one is doing a water only fast, um, it's intense, far more intense than the [00:19:00] ProLon. Uh, and the purlins are really nice introduction to people where one, you can sit back on.

[00:19:04] Well, it's been researched for not only safety, but efficacy in too. It's not so unfamiliar that like, there's no food and there's no nothing. And so it's a little bit, it's a, it's a familiar step. It certainly costs money. Right. But, um, Whereas, you know, water doesn't right. But, um, it's a nice introduction for a lot of people that are like, okay, I want to like dip my toe in the shallow end and it'd be quite nice on that front to do that.

[00:19:35] And that's like a five day, um, one. So that's, you know, you asked about introductions. It's not a bad introduction for a lot of people. Um, at the core of that though, we usually try to build folks up from a time restricted eating into a intermittent fast of maybe a day or two or a day [00:20:00] every other day. And we can talk, you know, like there's the idea of five, two or alternate day fasting.

[00:20:05] Look, there's no, there's no real wrong way to do a fast per se or, or maybe right way to do a fast, but there's, there can be a wrong way in some respects. So, um, with that, we want to. Build up to be able to be more comfortable with that experience, because I think, and you know, you can share with me your, your kind of experienced with fashion.

[00:20:28] Like a lot of people are scared. There's fear over like, well, What's going to happen if I don't eat. Right. Um, did you, have you had that, like, I know you fasted before, like what was your, what was your, what was your first Fastly? Like what were you like going into that? Yeah, so I had done, uh, well, what w what people would consider interment fasting time, restricted feeding winter, like 16, eight, 18, six type stuff for probably since I stumbled upon it, maybe somewhere in grad school, just because I didn't want to [00:21:00] get up too early before class, it was easy to miss a meal and, uh, read Veta was helpful through, uh, gotten the paleo scene.

[00:21:07] And mark Sisson, I think was one who introduced me to it. So I tried it and my body just responded really well to that style of eating from a physical standpoint, from a mental standpoint. Uh, so I'd done that for probably seven, eight years. Off and on not a hundred percent of the time, but, and then I got introduced more to the water fast only though the true fast and longer duration staff.

[00:21:29] So I've done a couple, I've done two 72 hour water, fast point. And, uh, they were both easier than expected when going into it some equally though, overwhelmed. When, when going into the first, one of your, like what what's, what's it going to be like, what's going to do, and once you get past that initial and for me, like going 24 hours without eating, wasn't, uh, wasn't a big jump.

[00:21:55] So it was just that second day going to sleep hungry and Lindsay trying to cook food when I'm not [00:22:00] around. So I don't have to, I don't have to smell it too much, but it really wasn't as hard as I thought. And by the time you get past that second, maybe it was that, you know, about the halfway point, the 36 hour mark or whatever, you wake up that second day and feel fine.

[00:22:13] Like I could have, I could have extended longer. I just miss food a little bit. And I'd gotten in on only saying I was going to do three days with it, but, uh, It was, it was much easier than I expected. Assuming you keep busy, assuming you're not just sitting around ruminating about food. I use it as a time to connect with people as a time to get some more work done that had been putting off as a time to just sleep and recharge and be with Lindsay.

[00:22:32] So that, that was, uh, you know, my experience, the things that I learned from it. But, uh, yeah, that's, I wouldn't say I've, I've talked to as many people who have tried that, like, people are more intimidate, I would say about, about the water only for those same reasons that people are worried about how to do if they, if they could possibly survive it.

[00:22:51] Yeah. You know, there's the, the, the framework that, that, um, I've helped people kind of put [00:23:00] into place because very rarely will. I suggest someone just like, go jump into a water fast, you need the right type of like personality and the, a person who kind of knows their body. Well, and, uh, sometimes we don't always get those folks.

[00:23:16] Right. Uh, and sometimes you get the person who's like academically, um, really interested in it, but it's like, Ooh, how do I, how do I like, Hey, this sounds great. How do I, how do I do this? So there's a few like structured steps. I mean, we have a, um, on my YouTube channel on the doc, their YouTube channel, we have a fasting series.

[00:23:40] I think it's five or six videos deep. And we go into, um, the different types of fasting and like how to be successful at it. So there's a couple of steps and you go watch the videos for a little bit more detail on them, but I'm sure Dave will link to that stuff. I want you to, yes, we will. [00:24:00] The. One of the things that I find successful is helping people go into that already starting to operate collate some of their fat burning.

[00:24:12] So moving them into a low carbohydrate diet before they're even attempting to stop eating. Right? So meaning, you know, that if you're planning on, you know, practicing, getting better at this moving towards a low carbohydrate and you know, that could be truly under 30 grams net carbs a day, that's pretty low.

[00:24:41] Uh, but if you can get there and sustain in that space for a week, um, you'll have much greater success at then implementing a fast whatever that's going to look like. Right. Then another step that you can do simultaneously. Or [00:25:00] afterwards, yeah. After implementing that low carbohydrate diet is working on time, restricted eating.

[00:25:07] Right. So moving that feeding window between, I'm not a stickler of if it's in the morning or if it's in the afternoon, uh, some literature would suggest it might actually be more effective if the, if the, um, feeding windows in the morning versus in the afternoon evening, um, it's socially seemingly easier to do eating at night because most people would kind of have dinner together.

[00:25:34] Um, and abstaining from that meal is a little bit harder than abstaining from breakfast. Like how easy is it to just not eat breakfast? It happens so five to six days of the week for me. Right. That is the literature say because of, is that a digestion thing or is that metabolic? Okay. Metabolic insulin regulation stuff.

[00:25:56] So. So I don't want [00:26:00] to stickler of when that window is, make it work with your life more often, often than not, people are missing breakfast, eating a late lunch, eating until six, seven o'clock bed, nine 30, 10, 10 30 11 for you. 7:00 PM. Cause I'm ready to go to bed early, pretty early for anyone listening. I always give Dave a hard time because he's basically had his half of his day done by the time I've had my second cup of coffee and I'm ready to go.

[00:26:25] Um, and so that's a good strategy to do that. So the time restricted eating is a next good one. It just gets you the next level of comfort with no food. Great. Then from there you can say, well, Yeah. And I just, I wanted to just reiterate what you said too, about the window, not mattering as much, not getting caught up in the details of these things.

[00:26:48] Cause that's what stops a lot of people I've seen from implementing something like this, cause it's like, oh, but it's supposed to be from this time to this time or this long. And it's, uh, you know, that's, I can't make that work with my schedule. It's like the thing that you can stick to [00:27:00] most consistently over a long period of time that fits in your lifestyle.

[00:27:02] It's, it's important to, for people listening to realize that don't get caught in the details of, but I read that 16 hours as a magical or 18 or something is going to give me better benefits. It's like in general shift towards that. And if it feels good to your body, you're getting the results you want.

[00:27:17] Like if it's morning, if it's night, if it's the weekend thing, if it's during the week, like find, find what works for you because that's, uh, that's gonna be an important thing that if you, if it gets in the way of you eating dinner with your family or something to try and get this special benefit, it's not worth it.

[00:27:31] Move your window to a point where you can connect. Right. And if it's four days out of the week and not seven. Okay. Like, don't like, yeah, don't get stuck in that. Uh, I mean, I think that's the crux. I mean, you could, you could look at that in so many different arenas of life from finances to goals, to work to health.

[00:27:51] It's like, don't get stuck in, in the minutia there. Just, just do it. It's the, you know, uh, it's that's the hardest [00:28:00] part is like getting that momentum, but yeah, the, the there's the window, the time restricted window. And you can narrow that window. Right. So for instance, you can go from it being a window of 12 hours and 12 hours.

[00:28:12] Right. And then you can start over the week, be like, all right, I did 12 and 12. Now I'm going to do 14, 10. I'm going to do, uh, you know, and narrow that down until maybe you get to one meal a day. Right. Whether that's in the morning or in the afternoon. And that's not an uncommon, um, well, time restricted eating, uh, occurrence some of my patients.

[00:28:34] Yeah. And some days I just we'll have dinner. Okay, great. Um, that gets you familiar with how it feels to not have food in your belly and energy all the time, or at least glucose and carbohydrates kind of happening all the time. And then you can expand that into will that F F at that point, right? Once you get to the place where you had one meal a day, it becomes less terrifying to just miss that.

[00:29:00] [00:29:00] And then you've gone a whole, not just 24 hours, because then you'll generally go to sleep for another, hopefully seven to eight, if you've listened to the podcast before. Right. And you've, and you've already like rolled into a ballpark of like 30, 30, two hour type fast and it, oh, and then you'll wake up in the morning and you realize I'm actually not that hungry in the morning.

[00:29:24] You might be, but you also might not be. And then you start to realize, oh, like I didn't eat. I'm still here. And I'm even not even that hungry. Huh? Okay. And then you start to learn, right? Just start sh stops being scary and you start to learn and maybe you wake up and you're like, holy smokes. I got to eat cool eat.

[00:29:45] Right. But you've started to get an experience with them and then you can expand it and expand it and expand it. And it's about building that comfort. You know, when I started doing, when I started fasting myself, I've [00:30:00] always had a kind of, uh, you know, like when I grew up, when my dad went out sick, my dad who's in medicine.

[00:30:09] He was like, don't eat, you, go lay down, sweat it out. Don't eat, drink water. That was his advice as simple and beautiful and frustrating as that, um, probably was right. Um, the, it got me kind of accustomed to, okay, well, When I'm sick, I just don't eat. I'm the hungry. Most people aren't hungry when they're sick too, but they like, oh, I got to eat.

[00:30:37] Well, why, why do you have to eat? Um, and so it got me some experience with like, alright, if I just don't feel like eating, I just won't eat. Um, and maybe that was helpful because I had a little bit of familiarity with it. So for me, and also, you know, and, and I think you're cut from a similar cloth. Like sometimes when I'm at work, [00:31:00] like the day just happens and all of a sudden you come home, I'm like, I haven't eaten dinner yet.

[00:31:05] And every once in a while you get home kind of late and you're like, I probably shouldn't eat. And you can just start all over again the next day. And so it was about kind of building that familiarity though. Every time I've done a fast, it's been very different almost every time. Some of it's super easy because I was excited and.

[00:31:25] I think I was in a metabolically good space and other times have been hard or w I mean, you know, there were times in which I was four days in or three days in, and I was like, I'm, I'm done. Like, this is a short one. And I like to normalize that, like, I don't perceive that as a failure. I just perceive that as like, uh, all right, well, I'm just listening to my body.

[00:31:48] This is not, this is like, not right, but it's because of become familiar with some of those sensations that come with that I was telling you earlier, we just posted a [00:32:00] video about why I haven't fasted in the last year. And here we are talking about fasting and here I am saying, I haven't fasted in a year.

[00:32:11] Yeah.

[00:32:14] It was with COVID and running a business and all the stuff that kind of came in, I just couldn't. Psychologically navigating that. And I would continually like check in with myself, but I just, I couldn't bite it off. Did I continue time restricted eating? Yeah. That's kind of my normal Mo, but I like to personally do elongated water fast for anywhere from four or five, six days, a few times a year.

[00:32:46] I just couldn't muster the strength. How about you? How was this last year for your fasting? Did you execute any or, yeah, so I've only I've done. I can't remember if that was during, during COVID or not. [00:33:00] Maybe, uh, it might've been during it, but yeah, I've I got, I did one and I was planning on doing them more often because of how good I felt.

[00:33:07] But then with stress, with different things, I, I decided against it for, you know, for a lot of reasons of not adding, adding more stress, not, not the more is better type of thing of, and, uh, you know, for me, for me, it's always hard. I, I. We don't have to give him this just yet, but like the, the physical side of it too, where for me trying to put on lean muscle in and working out, trying to figure out where fasting fits in that side.

[00:33:31] I agree with that. I know there's so many hormonal benefits and longevity benefits and those things too, which is why I want to find a rhythm that I can incorporate it in periodically. But how much is that affecting some of those, those other fitness health goals I have, and we don't have to circle into that yet, but that, that, that was some of my, my reserve with that on top of the stress of business and COVID and all those things.

[00:33:52] Yeah. You know that, I mean, that's a good, that's a good thing to remember is that it, again, all of these tools are designed to [00:34:00] fit into a, um, a sustainable framework and. I know that one of the things you focus on with your PT clients and performance clients, is this idea of like, how do we build sustainable habits?

[00:34:17] And also remembering that it's not just about burning yourself out in these arenas. And I think that, I mean, that was exactly what was driving my abstaining from fasting was yeah. Like I know it's good. I know I can do it. I know I probably could have even done it, but the like cost just didn't fit the benefit fit for me at that particular juncture.

[00:34:46] Um, multiple times throughout that last calendar year. Right. So, um, w w Y N remembering that to that, it's not just like this all or none, um, is an important piece of it. And this [00:35:00] is where getting back to. The understanding what's happening when you're doing what, right. Yeah. And so there's, there's this concept in, in fasting.

[00:35:11] And first up, if anyone tells you there's like a right way to fast and like that this is a guarantee of these types of results, it's just, I would suggest you look elsewhere for your, your advice because, um, one, we don't know the right way to fast. We have theories and ideas and some of them are based on a combination.

[00:35:33] Well, most of them are based on a combination of literature and then clinical experience. Right. Um, the, a lot of the longevity pieces are actually pulled from animal studies, because guess what? It's really hard to do. Longevity experiments on humans. We live really long. Compared to my six cetera. Right?

[00:35:54] And so granted the longevity improvements of fasting have [00:36:00] passed the sniff test at pretty much every level. It's relatively safe to assume we are going to reap some of those. Right. And maybe one day we'll get to see some greater results, but it's a, it's a challenging, um, field to study in, especially in humans.

[00:36:17] But we do know from the biological mechanisms that are either activated or inactivated during fasting, that it seems as if those should perpetuate themselves in there. Um, I lost my train of thought for a second. Where was I going? Yeah, we were talking, uh, when we started talking physical, like some of the physical benefits of it, but I think a good.

[00:36:38] You know, a good thing to maybe jump in here with would be like, what are the benefits of some of these longer fasts? Because I know some people come in and talked about some people come in and probably here in a minute fast, and they're probably coming in of, with that 16, eight mentality, more of that time, restricted feeding.

[00:36:51] And we've cleared up that there's a difference between that. And there are plenty of benefits to the longer, fast, but why would someone do this? If someone's sitting there listening and being like, Hey, three days water, [00:37:00] like that's not five day water. That sounds miserable. Right. Right. So thank you. That's actually what I was, what I was going to hit on.

[00:37:05] And so I'll tell you that the most important part of fasting or the part that gets me excited about fasting and. That one that I share with my patients. It's it's not weight loss. It's really not. Cause I don't. I mean, yeah. Can we, can I maybe like lose like five pounds maybe? Sure. Right. I'm not a string bean, but like it's not for weight loss.

[00:37:27] I don't do fasting for real yet. Do I lose weight? Yeah. Do I put generally most of it back on? Yeah, I do. So I'm not doing it for weight loss. The most exciting part of it to me is this idea of what's called a topic G or sell a tophi G. And a lot of people, if they're familiar with fasting have heard this word, if you haven't, uh, autophagy is this idea of basically, um, I mean, if you, if you break down the word auto meaning self and then Faigy or faggy [00:38:00] eating.

[00:38:01] And so in that instance, this is the idea of basically the cell breaking itself down and. Beginning to recycle old inefficient cellular cells to become a more, um, almost fuel efficient human being. And it's so hard. The ones that are less than optimal functioning cells are damaged. Cells are, are abnormally growing.

[00:38:28] So these are more susceptible to breaking down. So really the cells that are dysfunctional begin to get cleaned out of your system. That's what excites me. So people are often looking for, Hey, like, you know, doc need like any, a reboot. I want to do a cleanse. Now you want to cleanse. Stop eating and stop eating for five days and start to get your body to recycle itself.

[00:38:53] Right. You're starting to break down, um, really the inefficiencies of your physiology. And that's, [00:39:00] what's wild to me about this process is it focuses on diseased ridden, inefficient cellular processes and makes you more efficient at the back end. And the cool thing is, is because we're controlling this, right?

[00:39:14] Meaning we're either choosing to eat or not eat. It's not like we're necessarily in a famine. Right. But remember that, that cellular efficiency is driven as if, well, we're not sure when that food's going to come. So why do we need to become efficient? Because right now your body's getting a sense of there's no calories coming in.

[00:39:34] I don't know when the calories are going to come in. Cause your body lives in the moment. Right? Your physiology is in the moment. And so it doesn't know, it just says, well, right now it's not good. I'm going to become more efficient. We know that on Saturday, we're going to have, we're going to break our fast, right?

[00:39:51] And then we can do that with this robust, nutritious nutrient dense food that now all of a sudden we're working in a totally different machine. That's more [00:40:00] efficient. And that to me is the exciting piece of it, because this is the, this is the component that helps. Um, the longevity of our body helps to address the chronic disease states that can exist.

[00:40:15] And most of those are driven around dysfunctional cellular, um, kind of processes. And so that's the piece that's exciting to me, which is why I'm a fan personally and kind of clinically elongated fast. Cause you don't get that until they three, four plus of a fast, it does not happen with intermittent fasting.

[00:40:37] Okay. Doesn't happen with time restricted eating. Are there their own benefits there? Yes. They tend to be in the metabolic around blood sugar regulating. Okay. Um, accessing fat. Okay. Fat burning. But the autophagy piece seemingly does not really dramatically upregulate till later on down the road. And so that to me is the [00:41:00] really, really high value of fasting and thus requires in the long run and gated fast to be able to access that.

[00:41:11] So your two, you know, three day fast, right. At, you know, right at the end of that, you're, you're starting to dip your toe in that autophagy realm. Right. Are you all, all along the way, upper upregulating your fat burning machinery, your ability to basically use fatty acids as fuel is what we mean by fat burning.

[00:41:30] Right? It's not green coffee bean it's it's using fatty acids as fuel. Okay. All that's happening in your time, restricted, eating all that's happening in your, your, your intermittent fasting, your 24 hours or 20 you're 48 hours. But you only get into this kind of autophagy zone a little bit later on. And to me, that's the goal.

[00:41:55] And I will argue it happens right at this threshold. We're fasting. It gets it's [00:42:00] like, it's like, right. It's at its peak of the hardest time. And after that, it actually gets a lot easier. Interestingly enough, uh, hunger dies down. Um, it becomes easier to actually go throughout your day. I've personally find the like first 48 to 72 hours, the most challenging.

[00:42:20] And after that, it's dramatically easier. Once you're familiar with the fact that you'll wake up every morning and you'll be okay. Yeah. I found the same thing too with there was a. And I don't remember our exact time length, but once the second, the second night after the first night was easy, excited, had a meal around lunchtime and then, uh, fallen asleep.

[00:42:43] The second night was hard. But waking up after that, it was, it seemed almost no problem at that point. Like I said, I, I could have extended longer. I just had already predetermined in my head that that was when I was going to break it on a Sunday or whatever. So, uh, but yeah, I think that's the, you know, that to get people past that scary [00:43:00] points, like you have to try and don't maybe don't get on with it with an expectation, but I like what you're describing sounds almost like you can have this like fasting tool belt of there's things that you can tools you're gonna use more often of the time restricted feeding you can use, you can do that most, every day you throw on a 24 hour fast when there's a work deadline.

[00:43:18] When I use them, like when I'm traveling, if there's not, if there's not good food options is another time too, where I'll naturally extended fast because I don't feel like having airport food or something. So I'll just extend the longer if I, uh, So it's just good to have that flexibility though. And you build that flexibility then to be able to withstand the longer things, if, if need be or that the 24 hours, which might seem like a lot, if you've never done it before, becomes, becomes almost, almost easy and gives you not just metabolic flexibility, but flexibility to not snap at, uh, your spouse.

[00:43:51] When you, when, when you haven't gotten to meal right on time. Right. You're looking for a place to eat. So there's, there's other, you know, relational benefits to it too. And then productivity benefits and those [00:44:00] things too, that can come with it. And you know, you, you, before you're saying like, how do we, how do we do this successfully?

[00:44:06] Right. And that's a one, let some of the people around you. I mean, well, let your close people around, you know, that you're fasting, but I generally don't tell other people it's none of their business. And secondly, like this is your health. You do it for the, your reasons why you want to do it. Um, I tend to find working is great.

[00:44:27] Uh, it's a diamond, which, because it brings a lot of mental clarity to my brain and a lot of mental energy, um, so much so that sometimes like I need some help turning it down. And one of the things that I find, um, very useful is okay, is, and I've done, I've done fast with this. I find I've done fast without it.

[00:44:53] Um, sometimes I'll fast with black coffee. Other times I will do a caffeine free, [00:45:00] fast as well. Um, inevitably that's always a little bit more challenging for me because I am a routine caffeine drinker and I need a little wash out period. Um, but I do like that to me, takes this to the next level of challenge for me because caffeine is a fantastic appetite suppressant.

[00:45:17] Just makes it kind of go away. Um, and definitely brings a lot of like mental energy as well, but a lot, most of the, some of the times, and most of them, I don't need any more mental energy in those instances. There's plenty of clarity there. Lots of water, tea flavored waters, um, carbonated water is probably my best friend during a fast.

[00:45:37] It just feels like a nice treat, you know, on that front. Uh, and, and, you know, there are, um, there are some things to be, you know, I'll share some of the things to be aware of too. Right. Um,

[00:45:56] Things like lightheadedness can happen [00:46:00] in most of the time. It, you just have to kind of go slow, hydrate. Some folks need a little extra electrolytes during it, especially if they're working out. Um, and I'm not against doing workouts while fasting, but you do have to again be you have to work into these things to become familiar.

[00:46:17] And you have to say that this isn't about just maxing out. It's just, you have to listen to your system. Right. Um, and that's why being, you know, having someone who like knows that, you know, this is happening, you know, um, is important. And to remember, to pace yourself within that, uh, electrolytes can be useful.

[00:46:35] Magnesium can be useful on that front. Some of the same stuff that can happen when people go into ketosis, um, can arise during a fast, uh, I've had some patients feel kind of miserable and I've felt kind of miserable at times, usually at the boat, the 72 hour mark, when like my, uh, when that autophagy is kicking in, I kind of just get a little sore, [00:47:00] like my legs feel just kind of heavy and a little achy.

[00:47:04] It almost is a cause it doesn't happen before that. 72 hour mark. And it just to me is like signaling, oh, I'm like, I'm like breaking things down here and I try to stay active during a fast cause. Um, I want to make sure, you know, I'm not just sitting on my butt, uh, eating, eating muscle, you know, and I don't want to dive into that too much.

[00:47:24] So some of your, your, your audience may be like, well, I don't want to like, eat all my muscle. Um, the studies has shown that if in short-term fast and remaining, you know, reasonably active during that period of time, you're not going to drop your lean muscle mass dramatically. There's a lot of folks get stuck in this piece of like, that what we're doing is forever.

[00:47:50] It's like, no, it's like for like four days. Right? Right. So they're like, well, I don't want to get, I don't want to move my body into like hibernate mode. And then I can't be able to say [00:48:00] that doesn't happen. If you were to elongate or calorie restrict yourself for months at a time. Yeah. In fact, you can't get into these, these problems.

[00:48:10] Right. Where, and, and during a short-term period of time, do you see thyroid hormone changes? You absolutely do. And this might be for the next podcast, but like they're short term they're reversible when you start to consume food again. It's okay. Right. Um, the same thought too is, is steer people wrong from a.

[00:48:31] Uh, even from away from time restricted feeding of people that are trying to put on lean massive, the I go, well, I have to stoke my, my metabolism. Your metabolism will slow down if you don't eat every two hours or I don't want to let my muscles start. And that's. Miss miss a interpretation of literature, misinterpretation of a bro science misinterpretation of a lot of those things out there thinking that it has to, you, you read this thing and you extrapolate it to [00:49:00] everything.

[00:49:00] Then I'm like, oh, well then, because this one study said this, I have to eat every two hours and make sure there's protein in and do this or else my muscles are going to starve. And it's like, well, really that's, that's not the case in terms of stoking your metabolism, your patterns is not going to slow down by doing time restricted feeding, or by doing a faster, by doing those things.

[00:49:15] For those that are worried about the physical, maybe side effects of something like that when it comes to lean muscle mass. Yeah. And then it also kind of goes back to what is your intention behind? W what do you want to, what are you trying to get out of this? Right. And that's arguably the most important piece.

[00:49:33] Like, what do you, what do you think you're getting out of it? What do you want to get out of it? And then how do you execute that appropriately? Right. So if you're a fast thing, if you're trying to implement some degree of. Caloric control, you know, um, maybe a better way to put it, uh, for metabolic reasons.

[00:49:50] Well, maybe something that is more routine and less dramatic is going to be more impactful for you. Right. Um, [00:50:00] if you're looking to impact your immunological regulation and clean out some cellular debris and some old garbage cells, well would suggest there's really only kind of one avenue to do that. And that would be in a long gated fast.

[00:50:20] And so you're like, wow, I don't know. That's tough. Do a, ProLon do a caloric restricted. And so when you actually look at the literature on fasting, You get you, you get, um, I don't think you get mixed results. You get mixed, um, um, studies on what they call fasting. So a lot of times, a lot of fasting literature, isn't actually totally fasted.

[00:50:45] It's Clarke restricted, and you're still seeing these benefits, right? So it doesn't mean it has to be water only. Um, it can be, it can have these, these different levers to restrict it. That's kind of the, one of the nice pieces about [00:51:00] ProLon is they've kind of helped navigate that a little bit for you because there are, there is some, my new HSA that's important in that there, there seems to be some benefits of just truly caloric restricted, but one of the other mechanisms that seems to be at play in fasting has to do with protein restriction and without.

[00:51:29] Protein restriction, certain cellular machinery that say would normally get switched off on a ProLon or normally gets switched off in a water. Only fast. Doesn't get switched off if it's say caloric reduced, but high protein we have. Cause we have all, we have different nutrient sensors in our system. And one of the macronutrients that that has to do with some of these longevity, biochemical changes is protein.

[00:52:00] [00:51:59] So okay. Looking at it through that lens, and if you want this planet to do a, Hey, I'm going to do a 500 calorie per day, you know, cow, um, fast, but all you're eating is hard boiled eggs. Mm. It will probably have some benefits for you. In an arena of wallet, you've calorically restricted, you've done a, B and C, but from maybe some of the autophagy, maybe some of the, you know, longevity benefits that you think you are getting, you might not actually be getting because the protein sensors, uh, sensations is too high.

[00:52:42] Right. And so there is, there is some minor issue there. And the other piece of that, we don't know where that threshold is. We just know that it's generally kind of low. So being cognizant of some of those variables, that's a little bit of like a deeper dive and how to, if you're looking to play with these things, I think the [00:53:00] first and most important part is let's start dipping your toe, become accustomed with what happens or is like, and know that it will come and it will go, hunger is a reflex, right?

[00:53:09] It's kind of like the reflex to pee when your bladder's got something in it, you get that sense of like, oh, I got to pee. Well, if you just don't, it'll go away. Especially when you're busy, hunger is similar in that respect where you can be hungry and you can go like. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, just go the way.

[00:53:28] And then it will come back and remind you, uh, as you got to experience. And as I said, like later on that hunger actually seems to go away. And most of it is because I have plenty of, I've plenty of fuel on me to eat. I, you can't, this is audio, you can't see this, I'm grabbing a small amount of abdominal adipose tissue.

[00:53:49] Um, but there's fuel it's there, right? It was 176 pounds of me, you know, to, to eat. Right. Um, [00:54:00] and some of that I want gone cause it's garbage. And so, you know, in that instance, that's an aspect of why hunger disappeared. So, um, yeah, I think that's good to know. You know, for, for people to know. And I love the analogy of P and, and with the bladder, because I can think of very few times where I was actually needed to go to the bathroom to the point of like, feeling like I was going to explode and same thing with hunger.

[00:54:23] It's like very few times of being the point where I'm literally like, I'm so hungry, I'm going to die. Like some people think when they get even the slightest when Janet, because usually when I distract myself or, and that's where plan your plan, your schedule, make sure you're you have activities in there that aren't just sitting around in the kitchen, checking the cupboard, seeing, making sure all the food still in there, like make sure you're doing things right.

[00:54:45] You know, I checked my, I checked those couple of workdays full of, you know, I'd love to hear what your kind of, uh, you know, advices for someone leading up to, to a fast like this for me, it's I make sure I, I, my day stacked with coaching calls and different calls and appointments, and I'm working, I'm [00:55:00] seeing people in our PT biz and working on the business, like putting, doing those things that I've been putting, putting off, and then having things with Flint, like taking long walks with Lindsay, going, going to the beach.

[00:55:10] Reading more or doing these things that are stimulating my mind so that I'm not just sitting there thinking about food and it makes it a whole, whole lot easier, but I'd love to hear from you on some of these, maybe, you know, let's, you know, with, with some time left, like what's kind of the run-up to, to a fast like this that you would recommend kind of that run-up period or have some good ideas because I've, I've heard of some good and bad ways to do it.

[00:55:34] And then same thing breaking the fast of some maybe good and not so good ways to do that. I know there's not a right or wrong, but maybe some general recommendations leading up to it and then coming out of it. Well, I mean, I can certainly tell you about leading up to it because I'm leading up to it right now.

[00:55:50] So, uh, like I said, I haven't fasted in a year and just like this last few weeks, I've kind of gotten to this place where like I can do it. [00:56:00] Uh, not only can I do I've actually, I want to, I, I, I miss it. I miss, uh, um, just the opportunity, the challenge and, and. Of doing it. So I'm in that lead up right now. Um, that is a purposeful shift to a lower carbohydrate existence.

[00:56:20] So that was breakfast. This morning was for scrambled eggs and three pieces of bacon that I didn't eat until almost I came over here. So that would have been about like two o'clock. Um, and a couple of cups of coffee. I'll have dinner whenever we wrap up. And I will keep it low carbohydrate. Uh, I may got, I got pork in the slow cooker right now, so it'll be that.

[00:56:44] And it probably some cabbage and veggies and that'll, that'll be dinner and we'll call it that. Um, so, and I'm going to try to maintain that through, and only because I'd like this to be successful, the higher, the higher carbs that I go in eating [00:57:00] it generally, the just refer the first couple of days are so just like I said, I'm going to keep carbohydrates low.

[00:57:07] I'm going to eat. So like I'll consume food all the way up until, you know, Sunday dinner time. And then Monday hit the ground running, which is going to be Memorial day. And apparently I have a barbecue that needed to attend. So this this'll be fun. Uh, you know, Hey, I haven't been at it in a year. Here we go, people socializing.

[00:57:26] He knows that the knee part of that is a lot of the folks I socialize with. They know that I'm a weirdo. And so it's not really going to be that, that, uh, shocking to them to be like, no, thanks. I'll take a bubbly water. I'm good. And they're going to look at me like, you're fascinating. Right? I'm like, I am, I am.

[00:57:46] So, um, do similar things the way I structure my day is, um, I, I definitely work. Um, sometimes I will actually cap my days a little bit earlier. [00:58:00] Um, I tend to want to sleep more, not because of, um, I need to sleep more just because the more time I spend asleep, the less time I spend a week. Yeah. The less time I spend awake, hungry, um, on that front, um, I, you know, all, I haven't decided yet if I'm going to do coffee or not on this one, I haven't decided yet it might be, uh, we'll see.

[00:58:26] Uh, I don't, I try not to, I, I plan a little bit, but I kinda wait to see like what I'm feeling like. Um, so maybe I'll, I'll, I'll send you a message on whether or not I end up doing, continue to do my coffee or not. Um, but that one, especially if I'm not like, I'm like, okay. I told them, I told my Fasten group, I'm going to, we're going to do a fastest week.

[00:58:51] And I was like, oh, okay. Let's okay. If we got to do it, I'll be like, you know, like, I'm just going to have a couple of cup of coffee every morning. Suppress the appetite. It's great. Uh, [00:59:00] might have, you know, a small one in noon-ish as well, just to kind of cruise through the afternoon and there's pros and cons to that.

[00:59:09] But, um, it depends on what I'm trying to get out of it. Right. And this one, I'm just wanting to get another one on the books, you know? Um, so it's going to be, you know, my normal work schedule. Um, when I get home, I love cooking. And so actually we'll cook. Um, a lot of times what I'll do then is I'll cook for my partner and, um, make her dinner.

[00:59:33] And sometimes what I will do that week is then actually make foods that freeze really well. So, because I love to cook, it's just something I really enjoy doing. It takes time. And in fact, sometimes I will take more time and look, if I put my finger in a chili and tasted like, that's not breaking my fast, I'm not sure, like get over it.

[00:59:52] Like if, if like you're restricting that, get, get out of here, you're not doing it for the right reasons. Right. Uh, [01:00:00] sustainability. Right. I got tasted chilly. You got to make sure there's enough salt in it, you know, not too spicy. Um, So it's not a big deal. If I have a little, you know, I have a little taste of that, that, that doesn't throw me off.

[01:00:10] So I do things that I love to do. Right. And so that is like playing games, like playing with the dog, walked the dog. Um, Play in the garden. Um, sometimes I'll dip my toes or sit on the edge of the hot tub. I'm not a big proponent of going into hot tubs did though. Sometimes it could be nice because I actually do get a little cold.

[01:00:33] I don't know if you've got that experience when you were, did your fast, but your, your, your, your thyroid down-regulates a little bit, and you become a little chilly. I tend to have all multiple hot showers during that week, even in the summertime to warm up, you just have to be just careful, uh, you know, fluid dynamics, staying hydrated.

[01:00:51] Uh, if you're going to spend a lot of time in here, which I don't recommend, like being in a hot tub for a very long period of time, but I do [01:01:00] recognize that it gets a little chilly, right? So lots of showers usually during the week, um, we play a lot of board games in inevitably. I just try to fill it with things that are fun and enjoyable for me.

[01:01:14] I actually would prefer to say, go shoot some baskets versus going for a long walk. I feel like there's something about fast Twitch fibers working better than slow Twitch fibers during my fast, like I could go and lift weights easier, and you're looking at me like Derek, you very rarely lift and you're not wrong.

[01:01:38] Um, but I've done it. And I actually find that easier than say, like going for like a three mile walk it's it feels like I'm walking through mud sometimes just cause it's like, oh my gosh. Okay. I mean, I know it's useful, but I actually would prefer more kind of intense, purposeful exercise for myself than just the, the stroll around.

[01:02:00] [01:01:59] It seems to work better with my muscles. Um, so I will probably go shoot some hoops, um, uh, out in the neighborhood, you know, and, and do that. But that's, you know, that's it, otherwise it's just a regular normal week that, uh, show up, do our job. Um, I have very rarely ever had it impact me during the Workday to a degree that I was like, ah, I can't, I can't hang.

[01:02:30] And most people resonate with that. Like when they got to go to work, when they got to show up, they show up, um, has to do with stress hormone. I think it just has to do with responsibility. You know, you know, at least in our field, like we have people that are coming to, you know, it's not like we're entering data into a, you know, a computer that I might, that might drive me bonkers.

[01:02:50] Right. But like, we're, you know, purposefully engaging with people. We need to be there. And engaged. And I think that might actually be helpful if I had a job in which I [01:03:00] could be maybe less engaged. I might be less engaged. And so, um, maybe that's a blessing in disguise right there, but, um, it's going to be a pretty typical week, just sprinkled with some stuff for fun, you know?

[01:03:11] Um, when you come out of the fast, it's a cheeseburgers and fries and 100%. Yeah, look, look, I've, I've found outside to that. I know I broke my, so with all sorts of different stuff, um, all sorts of different stuff. Um, And I don't have a personal perceived like, oh, this was, this was like, I'm not, I'm not bragging.

[01:03:36] I've literally broken a fast with like ice cream before I've broken a fast with alcohol before I don't recommend pills too. Okay. Um, one thing you will learn about me and, you know, we've done our second podcast is I'm not, we're not hearing a soap box saying. Where are these perfect specimens, right?

[01:03:55] We're just, we're human beings existing on this planet, trying to do it in a [01:04:00] sustainable way, knowing that, like, we also want to engage in the world and yeah. Ended up fast on like someone's birthday. I've ended up and it's like, this isn't the best, but let's see how it goes. Try it out. And what I gained from that, it's an experience.

[01:04:15] Oh, opportunity to learn. Right. I don't see that as bad or good. I don't recommend it. Right. Um, usually I end up breaking my fast with more easily digestible food. So usually I'll do like some sauteed veggies and I'll do like an egg or, um, some chicken or sometimes some eat some fish because they are easier to digest proteins and some.

[01:04:39] Cooked vegetables generally don't have a huge hunger coming out of it. So it's just usually a little bit, and that's the piece. I really try to modulate whatever it is. It's a little bit of it. I've done steak, I've done pork, I've done soup. I usually, I do often do a soup. Um, cause it's something that I've usually made during that week.

[01:05:00] [01:04:59] Right? I probably won't jump into Chile. Um, I love chili though. Big fan. So, and you know, there are going to be people who are sticklers about the way in which they have reintroduced food and, and I respect their reasons for that. I try to keep it generally from the advice standpoint, easier to digest, um, cooked and then begin to like build out into raw, heavier, more kind of richer meats, et cetera, just in the next.

[01:05:34] Day usually. So the first day I try to take it easy. The next one will probably slide very close right back into my routine diet, but also, you know, we, we don't have awful baseline diets, right. We're not cruising in and out and, you know, eating burritos and tacos all the time, you know, we're eating pretty good food.

[01:05:56] So yeah, that's back to that. Assuming the, uh, You know, [01:06:00] where, where the baseline is to start again. I guess the lesson throughout is why, why are you doing it to, if it's purely from a cork thing, are you using as a little, you know, there's not the wrong, use it as a little bit of like, Hey, I need to get back on track with eating a fast it'll kind of reboot the system.

[01:06:15] And then you have this new transition opportunity to on the other side of that, be like, okay, this is I'm going to get back to falling this way, eating more of my whole foods, my own process stuff, my avoiding the fast food, doing those things too, because you'll feel better too coming out of it. So use it as a transition time to maybe you need it.

[01:06:34] Maybe that's your kind of trigger. If you will, of your setting back at reboot, back into, into the way that you want to beat, you know, the way you want to be working out or doing some of those things. Did I frame that is because one of the, one of the pieces of elongated fast it's been shown to exist is an increase in stem cell production.

[01:06:52] So there's this piece. So we improve cellular efficiency and we seemingly produce pump out more. [01:07:00] Regenerative capacity. So when you're going to break that fast, consider breaking it with food, that's going to kind of be neutral nutritionally dense to take advantage of, of, you know, a bathing of new regenerative material in your system.

[01:07:17] Right? So, you know, maybe, uh, you know, a deep dish pizza or whatever, it may be probably next to impossible to get here in California. Um, isn't the best choice, you know, maybe, you know, the, you know, dirty fries or, you know, Carnegie, Sada, nachos are not like the best option for that. Like knowing what's happening.

[01:07:42] Take advantage of that, you know, of what's marinating in your right now. And, um, but I mean, you hit on this point of, of these periods of. Triggering that like reboot, I got to get back, right? This is why we have like our, our, [01:08:00] our clinic Facebook group, or we call it the revive, your health group. It originally started around fasting solely was a group to kind of connect.

[01:08:09] Everybody was like, oh, if you want a fast, I'm going to do some here and there. I'll let you know what I'm doing. It, come join me. And it's evolved a little bit more into not just fasting, but like what habit dropped that you want to get back into that, you know, you felt better doing. And a prompt for me in our clinic is a time to do it, whatever it may be, whether that was getting on the Peloton or, you know, doing your normal pushups, sit up, pull up routine, or whether that was, you know, taking the dogs out or whether it was getting your fasting back.

[01:08:46] Right. Um, It served a greater utility in that more of like a kick in the butt than it really has been like solely fasting. And I think the name of the group, the revive, your health, just to remember to bring that [01:09:00] back and, um, you know, the example that I just shared in there of, of not fasting for a year, right.

[01:09:08] Is it's like what that's for. I know it's good. I believe in it though. I don't need to believe in it. It is good. That's a, that's, that's pretty objective. Um, but I just couldn't do it. It's time to revive it. Yeah. It's good. And for fretting and listening and where we've already stayed, this is not overly overly medical, just because we happen to both be in the medical field, be smart with it, consult someone.

[01:09:38] But the, uh, like when, when should you, you know, for people that are excited about it, are there times based on your one-year experience that you shouldn't specific. Yeah, there's specific populations. I'm sure that that, uh, probably would do better without fasting, but even like certain seasons of life, we talked about stress.

[01:09:55] Is that like where where's the line on that? And I know we could have a whole separate podcast [01:10:00] on stress in general and how to, how to find that balance between good stress and bad stress. But what other things would you say in terms of probably not a good time to jump into a longer, fast, and maybe stick with the time restricted feeding or, or 24 hour or something like that?

[01:10:14] I mean, there's the, you know, there's the absolute contrary indications, right? So pregnant people were not encouraged that right. Uh, breastfeeding would not encourage it. Um, Typically, it's not something I would recommend for kids unless they're sick. Yeah. I mean like, well, yeah, unless like they, they list the flew flu, and then they don't eat for a day.

[01:10:39] Like that's not that big a deal, as long as you're drinking fluids, uh, see a doctor. But, um, I mean, I'll put it like a little asterix that, because I mean, I saw fatty liver disease in like a 14 year old and a third and a 13 year old. And you're like, well, shucks, that actually might not [01:11:00] be a terrible, um, that may not be a terrible intervention for them.

[01:11:03] Right. But that's, there's like really nuance there. And that definitely is very, um, like a, a medical decision that, that one needs to make from like the more gray area of like, when should I, like, w would it be what to be. I'm concerned about, or maybe what to be cognizant of when, when you're attempting this.

[01:11:26] And for me, it was like, it requires you to show up. It requires it's a stressor it's designed to be, I mean, we've talked about this before and things like saunas and cold plunges, like these are, these are stressors that we purposefully are putting ourselves under because we know we'll end them. Right.

[01:11:43] We'll get out of the sauna. We'll get out of the heat. We'll get out of the cold plunge, the cold shower. Um, we'll get out of the fast, but it doesn't mean it's free, right? It is a stressor. It is, it does take up space on the plate. Um, and so with [01:12:00] that, um, if you're bursting at the seams, maybe it's not the best time here, but the other part of that is, well, try in the worst case scenario, if you're feeling like it's over, you just eat.

[01:12:18] It's okay. Right. That that's, that's where we have to like, get out of this, like, oh, I don't do it for whatever. Like I failed you. No, you didn't. You just did a shorter, fast than you may be intended. Great. Try again tomorrow, the next week. It's like, it's cool. They're like it. And I think when you can start to break down that barrier of like this isn't failure, this is gaining experience in, in how your body is responding and reacting in context.

[01:12:56] Right. I tell everybody that, like, if you, if you're not feeling [01:13:00] well and you're just like, not sure if you can like, just like hang in there, eat and guess what? Even if you wake up the next morning, you're like, I want to keep going. Okay, great. So you did a dramatically caloric restricted fast instead of a water.

[01:13:19] Guess what? You're still getting like 99% of those benefits don't hold me to that number. Right. But like, you're still getting dramatic improvements and you're learning about all this context of fasting and what to expect and to, to then report it to maybe the person your organization, Hey, this happened, how do I navigate this differently in the future?

[01:13:42] Right? Like it's, there's only things to learn about yourself in an experience like this, with the right kind of guidance on that front. So, um, Yeah, that's kinda how I feel about that. Yeah, it's good. And I, I, I just love the, the over action thing on that of it's [01:14:00] it's try it, you know, try to, there's so many different variations of it.

[01:14:03] Start with time restricted feeding and have that, you know, you have those different tools as you do it sometimes, you know, go 24, whether that's intentional or unintentionally, if you don't have the options around that are good. There's, there's so many ways to, to kind of dabble into it. But, uh, you know, speaking from.

[01:14:19] Experience from both of us. It's something that we've seen a lot of benefit from the people I know that have done it have seen a lot of benefit from, uh, it's a great way for the business, the business owners out there to get some super productive time. If you're, if you're a need to do some writing or some, some deep work, like that's, that's one of my, my best times to do it.

[01:14:38] And, uh, so there's, there's so many benefits physically, mentally, and, and you can just, you prove yourself that, you know, there's the psychological thing too. If you do something hard and we talk a lot about doing hard things that are out of your comfort zone, and this is another way to do that for those that are, uh, You know that it's good to expose yourself to those different stresses in those things, not just physically, but showing yourself that, [01:15:00] Hey, I can, I can do this.

[01:15:01] I can set out to this thing that I said, oh, I would never, whenever you find yourself saying like, oh, I would never do that. Or I could never do that. It's probably a good idea to maybe lean into that a little more and see what, uh, what the reason is behind, behind that and, and try. Yeah. Yeah. I'll I'll I'll oh, I'll let us kind of wrap this up at I'll.

[01:15:18] I'll make a one little comment. Um, I'm not really one that is like the kind of guy who pushes herself to traumatically hard. I mean, I know you know this, right. Um, I'm always about this throttle of this. Do I really want to do that? Uh, I was doing like a riddle. Game with this, um, my partner and her family last night over dinner.

[01:15:42] And I just don't like riddles. I don't. Cause I just, like, I just don't care enough to, for the answer. It's like, uh, this is just like, I don't want like the escape room stuff. Like, I'm just not interested in it. It's just like that to me is like you, like, there are some people that are sick. I'll stick to the, [01:16:00] I won't get it.

[01:16:01] No, I'm good. Like, I just don't want to do that. Right. This is an arena in which. To me like Dustin does it. Isn't like, like that same kind of pushing. I, I can, I, I kinda just do it and it doesn't seem that, um, you know, when I'm pushing it at that means it's like, well, am I pushing the seven days I'm pushing the eight days, not like, oh, am I going to be able to get past 24?

[01:16:23] It's just, everyone's a little different, right? Like where are you? What's comfortable. What's not comfortable where you see like, is putting more effort here going to be beneficial or not. This one is neat because we have this kind of slew of data to suggest there's almost universal improvement across multiple functionings.

[01:16:44] And so being a mobile of multiple systems and to be able to learn how to engage in it, I think worthwhile. And if that's scary alone with someone who's done it, um, you know, helped [01:17:00] coach people through implementing this stuff. Obviously we have, we have these conversations, um, but I do this with my patients.

[01:17:07] If they want to, to say like, you're killing me, we'll stay in touch. Let me know when you're starting so that like, we can get a little, you know, feedback on that. Aaron. And I mean, one of my goals, I would love to build a, you know, a program around where like, Hey, let's get together, let's do this. Like, I'll hang out with you.

[01:17:23] We can go for a walk. We can go do these things. We can learn. We can take a load off. We can have some fun we can play, you know, and then go to bed early and run it back the next day. So that you're here, we're here. You're safe. Everybody's safe. Your blood. Pressure's good. You know, blood tests are good. And you can execute one of these monitored and successful.

[01:17:44] And then you're like, oh, I learned, I learned how to do it. Yeah. Finding someone you trust and celebrate the wins along the way too. You don't have to take the perfection out of it. Take the details out of it and have, have fun with those. Probably the biggest things. Speaking of fun, man, I had a blast on this one.

[01:17:59] I love, [01:18:00] uh, love chatting up with you. Where can I, where can people link up with you? Any, uh, I fastened resource. I know you mentioned the YouTube series. I know you mentioned your Facebook group, any other resources or things you have available? Yeah. So YouTube, uh, is our doc Derek channel. Uh, you'll find a thing series.

[01:18:18] You'll also find it at our clinic, which is revive your health, uh, revive naturopathic medicine on YouTube as well of reviving that med is our tag. There. We have channels for both of them. Um, Our fasting group is through our Dr Derek site on Facebook. So if you like our page at doc Derek, you'll find our revive, your health group asked to join.

[01:18:40] We ask you a couple of questions. Anyone can join. We just want you to be interested in, in, you know, reviving a component of your health, whether that's fasting, um, or otherwise. Um, and if any of this stuff like tickled you enough to say like, Hey, I want to do it. But like this podcast wasn't enough to, for me [01:19:00] to dip my toe in.

[01:19:01] Um, let me suggest a book for you. And the book is the complete guide to fasting by Jason Fung. He's an nephrologist up in Canada. Great book, good framework. Um, Or call our clinic, right? Yeah. And you can, you can visit us online and there's appointment requests. We do like free 15 minute consults with people when they're like, well, is you, are you the right person for me for what I'm trying to accomplish?

[01:19:25] And what does that look like? That's what we established in that call. Like, yes I am, or I'm not. And here's how we would go about doing that so that you kind of know, like, all right, if you're going to come, you're going to spend some time, some money, some resources entertaining this, that you kind of know what you're going to get before you're getting there.

[01:19:41] I think that's valuable. So, yeah. Um, and I'd love working with people who are interested in fascinating, especially like, like. The first ones. They're really, they're really fun for me because you start to get this like, oh, I can do this. So, yeah. Yeah. And, uh, take, take a Derrick up on that. I, [01:20:00] uh, you guys know how, uh, particularly I am about my health and who I trusted with and, uh, he's the one overseeing my health, overseeing Lindsey's health, uh, for kind of just our, you know, who we go to for our, our primary, uh, primary med guy and someone, someone we trust.

[01:20:14] So if you don't take the, uh, the random guy on the podcast, we're important. Take, uh, take my word on it to, uh, to reach out to them, uh, set up, uh, I've learned a lot and been super helpful to have someone, uh, to be able to walk along that health journey and continue to do so. So Derek man, I appreciate it.

[01:20:29] Thanks for, thanks for coming on. And you guys can expect to hear another one backup. Should we got a lot of things to talk about? So appreciate it, Derek. Yep. Thank you.

[01:20:38]Thanks for listening today, guys, unbelieving that even if you apply one thing from today's show, you're taking one step closer to living as the man you were made to be meaningful change doesn't happen overnight. So keep showing up and keep consistent every single day until good things start to happen.

[01:20:55] If you haven't already taken 60 seconds to write a review on whatever platform you're listening on, [01:21:00] goes a long way in growing this podcast and reaching other men, just like you, that are hungry for more in their life. Do you have any questions on today's show feedback or content you want to see more of shoot me a text.

[01:21:12] Yeah, text me (760) 477-4361 at (760) 477-4361. Let me know that you're listening to it. And so I can personally thank you for your support of myself and the show. That's it for today, guys, it's time to raise your standard for yourself. Stop settling for just getting by, go all in on your passions in the Lightroom made for a lot of you guys and talk to you soon.

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