There are few books that have radically changed my life. When I come across one, I want to tell everyone about it. Magically, the universe aligns and gives me plenty of opportunities. It seems that everywhere I turn, women are talking about fasting. I am compelled to share about this book, Fast Like a Girl!
This isn’t just any book about fasting for women. It is truly both groundbreaking and mind blowing with seemingly all the best things to know about fasting plus even more. Dr. Mindy Pelz goes into great detail about what fasting does for our bodies, our minds, and our spirits.
In Fast Like a Girl, Dr. Pelz breaks down several pertinent topics. She goes into the why. She believes that fad diets, poor food choices, spiking cortisol surges, exposure to toxic foods, and one size fits all approaches are the main culprits of our ill health.
Dr. Pelz highlights the positive effects of fasting in general. Fasting can increase: ketones, mitochondrial stress resistance, antioxidant defenses, autophagy, and DNA repair. Meanwhile it also decreases: glycogen, insulin, mTOR, and protein synthesis. Maybe you are like me and you wonder… BUT WHAT DO THESE WORDS EVEN MEAN?? In simplistic language she easily describes these concepts which have been difficult for me personally to digest, until now.
Take a pause right here and ground yourself because I am about to lay down an extensive list of positive effects. Ok, here we go and you might need to read this next paragraph twice…
The effects of fasting are nothing short of miraculous. They include: cold prevention, balances hormones, detoxes, improves brain function and cognition, gut reset, fat burning, dopamine reset, lowers anxiety, healing from use of antibiotics, tackling SIBO, offsetting issues related to use of birth control, overcoming weight loss resistance, immune system reset, improves the microbiome, reduces cholesterol, releases stored sugar, lowers anxiety, eases chronic conditions, prevents chronic disease, healing from musculoskeletal injuries, slows the aging process, and reduces the occurrence of cancer. WHEW! That is quite an astounding list of positive effects! You want those positive effects right sisters? Are you ready to fast now?
Who knew that a simple thing like NOT eating could do so much? There is certainly more to know than simply abstaining from food, however.
Dr. Pelz describes the details for 6 different lengths of fasts and what each of them do. The most profound thing about this book, and why it is titled Fast Like a Girl is because her specialty is fasting according to women’s hormone cycles. She includes specific instructions with a handy chart that describe how long to fast during the different phases of the menstrual cycle and why we need to fast differently than men. For women like me who no longer bleed, this won’t apply as much. The fact remains that the wisdom in this book is extraordinarily valuable for all females.
Dr. Pelz offers so much wisdom to take in within the first 76 pages of Fast Like a Girl and she doesn’t stop there. She then goes on to offer extremely valuable support for building a fasting lifestyle so that we can experience success at something that is probably challenging for most Western women. She shares what to pay attention to when choosing foods to eat, especially in support of your hormones. There are charts to easily convey how the fasting cycle works. She includes how best to break a fast (pizza is not part of it. Trust me on this one, I know from experience). She describes hacks that make fasting effortless. Wait, WHAT?? It’s true, they’re right there in the book and they work. There are great recipes in the back too!
Don’t get me wrong. Fasting can feel like you are literally dying. After reading this book a month ago, I did my first 3 day water fast. I am not new to detoxing. I have done some kind of cleanse every 6 months since 1993, except for when I was pregnant and nursing. I thought I could throw down on a water fast like a champ. Girl, was I wrong! On my third and last night, I woke up at about 2am to go pee for the 1,000th time in 3 days. I got up out of bed and thought I was going to pass out, so woozy. I felt worse than awful, the sensation in my gut is completely indescribable. I staggered to the fridge and grabbed a handful of almonds (which is a hack according to Dr. Pelez) drank some more water and went back to bed feeling much better. I did it ya’ll! And I will do it again and again. In fact I just completed a 36 hr fast yesterday and I plan to do 24-36 hrs every week. My husband and I are doing intermittent fasting, 12-17 hrs, daily. It feels amazing and my body is happy with me!
Ready to Fast Like a Girl? Grab the book here: https://www.drmindypelz.com/
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