Hey hey hey, Ishes!
I remember sitting in my functional doctor’s office.
She had just given me the diagnosis that rocked my world.
I thought adrenal fatigue and maybe some trace mineral deficiencies or something.
Give me some supplements and send me on my way.
And, let's be honest. That is more than a traditional doctor would do anyway, right?
I know. Because I had been to many over the years. Hearing things like “postpartum can really mess with your hormones, that’s why you are so tired” and “well you just quit nursing and that can be hard on the body, that’s why you’re so tired.” Or “well the transition from one to two kids is hard physically and emotionally.” Or my favorite, “postpartum depression is hard. Let me write you a prescription.”
You guys…
I wasn’t depressed, I was effing TIRED. And, I was tired of being tired. I was tired of knowing something was going on with my body and no one would take me seriously. At one point, my doctor even told me, I was simply taking on too much and I needed to slow down.
I mean, maybe it’s just me, but hi, I have ish to do and that’s not a real damn answer. Lots of people have more on their plates than I do and they feel fine. I DIDN’T. Every day, I felt run down. My body hurt. Getting out of bed was the worst.
The thing with traditional doctors is this…if the tests don’t give them an answer, then they don’t give you an answer.
I was tested for EVERYTHING. Autoimmune disorders, thyroid issues, lyme disease, you name it.
That lead me to a functional doctor who was willing to listen.
Bloodwork was drawn, muscle testing was done.
Chronic Lyme disease.
Chronic effing Lyme disease.
It’s not curable. I don’t care what you’ve read. You can put it into remission, but it forever remains in your body, waiting on a flare.
One of the most misunderstood diseases of our time and worse than that, it is THE BIGGEST EPIDEMIC OF OUR TIME.
But wait, did I say I was tested for Lyme disease?
Yep.
Sure did.
Yes, I was.
NEGATIVE.
Did you know the Western Blot is about 50% accurate, I could have flipped a coin and saved myself a blood draw. And if your bite happened more than a week ago? High chance it will show negative. Leaving you feeling awful with exactly zero answers.
My Lyme tangent is a blog for another day.
Now, you may be wondering what all of this has to do with fasting.
Well, as I was sitting there, she began to talk about supplements, AIP (autoimmune protocol) paleo and fasting.
Stating that I would need to start intermittent fasting.
Skip breakfast? Ok, but what about workout days?
To which she replied “might be hard for the first few days but you push through and your body adjusts. Your body learns to adapt.”
Ok, fine. I can skip breakfast but doesn’t that go again basically everything we have ever been taught? Yep. Sure does. Over the last 20-30 years the biggest propaganda pushed in the weight loss world is “eat less, move more” aka calories in vs calories out.
Shockingly enough, the obesity rate in the US has more than doubled in the last 20-30 years. No, listen. I get it there are a million things that could cause such things. But, there is a lot of research out there that determines that it isn’t as simple as calories in vs calories out.
I could go on all day about how the food industry has caused health issues and how they push snacks all day to keep your metabolism up. But, frankly it would be an endless rant 😉
Here is what I will tell you. You naturally fast for 10-12 hours at night when you’re sleeping.
Intermittent fasting is just stretching that out. It takes about 12 hours for all insulin and such to be out of your system so that you can burn fat. So, imagine instead of just burning insulin, that by stretching that window, you can very literally start burning fat, Your own fat!!!
I know you have doubts and concerns, I did too. Then, I did a little research. Listened to a few podcasts, watched a few videos and now am reading several books.
Fasting works.
Fasting is effective.
Fasting is safe.
Fasting does not lower your metabolism.
Fasting does not put you into starvation mode.
Fasting does not cause your body to feed on its own muscle mass. Not unless you are living with under 4% body fat. My guess is you aren’t since elite athletes range around 8%.
Let me tell you what fasting DOES instead.
Fasting does a number of things, including:
- Improving mental clarity and focus
- Lowering blood sugar levels
- increases weight loss and body fat loss
- Increases energy
- Lowers cholesterol
- Reverses the aging process
- Decreases inflammation
- Extends life with anti-aging benefits.
Don’t just take my word for it. Pick up a book! I listened to “Delay Don’t Deny” by Gen Stephens in 2 days and it is an incredible source of info. If you want more scientific details, pick up “The Complete Guide to Fasting” or “The Obesity Code” both by Dr Jason Fung. Or, if podcasting is more your thing, check out The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast, episode #1178 with Dr Rhonda Patrick.
If you are interested in getting started on your own intermittent fasting journey, check out this blog with my beginner tips and tricks and the things I wish I had known when getting started.
Keep embracing the ish, friends!
Amber
