The Essential Guide to Intermittent Fasting for Women: Balance Your Hormones to Lose Weight, Lower Stress, and Optimize Health

Set new boundaries so you can incorporate foods you enjoy: you might have ice cream two or three times a year—and when you do, make sure it’s the best, most delicious, and most enjoyable experience. Try, too, to stop thinking of these foods as rewards. Like other food, they are fuel and not a reward.

Eat more natural fats and proteins A 16/8 fast most days might be the best way to support your nutritional needs and make sure you eat enough . As you become more active, you may become hungrier. I don’t recommend eating more frequently throughout the day. Instead, I suggest eating more fats and more proteins. Adding 20 to 30 grams of fat and prote

As I explained in Chapter 10, I think of these longer fasts as part of my annual maintenance program; they’re a seasonal cleaning to get rid of junk in my body. For example, the steak I eat at a restaurant might not be as high quality as what I would prepare at home, and it might cause some inflammation in my body. Or it might be dressed in a sauce

Most of my clients like to follow a whole food diet with a 14-, 16-, or 18-hour break between their meals every day. This time-restricted eating isn’t therapeutic intermittent fasting, but it does minimize the number of times a day that insulin is introduced to the body, which is good for maintenance. I recommend making these breaks intermittent, m

For the first two months of fasting, most women report delayed menstrual cycles. And many still have the cramping, bloating, cravings, and irritability that they’ve always had. The good news is that these symptoms don’t get worse before they get better, despite all the hormonal changes that are occurring. Don’t fast when your body or life isn’t coo

Fasting is not an excuse to eat poorly. During nonfasting days, stick to a nutritious diet low in sugars and refined carbohydrates for best results. Remember your healing mindset: you are healing and rebuilding. Choose nourishing foods.

Give your body a month to adjust. Your body needs time to get used to fasting. The first few fasts may be difficult, so be prepared. Don’t get discouraged because fasting will get easier.

Ride the waves. Remember that hunger comes in waves; it’s not continuous. Hunger does not keep going up and up until you eat. It peaks and then comes down. When you’re hungry, think to yourself, I’m not hungry, I’m thirsty. Drink a glass of water or a cup of plain coffee or tea. That small action will help you move on.

Therapeutic fasts have two criteria: they must be at least 24 hours, and they must be intermittent. Consistent and intermittent fasts of 24 hours or more reverse illness for women with hormonal imbalances. And in my clinical experience, longer fasts also help reverse metabolic illnesses, such as PCOS, and help with weight loss over 15 pounds.