Fast Like a Girl: A Woman's Guide to Using the Healing Power of Fasting to Burn Fat, Boost Energy,and Balance Hormones

by Mindy Pelz

You get a dose of oxytocin from hugging, talking with your best friend, laughing, petting your dog, holding a baby saying, “I love you,” being in a state of gratitude, snuggling, sex, masturbation, meditation, yoga, massage, and deep, meaningful conversations with people.

Estrogen thrives when insulin is low. Estrogen and insulin have a beautiful dance they do together.

high insulin and little estrogen production leading to impaired ovulation.

two influences on progesterone make fasts of all lengths a terrible option the week before your cycle.

There are two key times to alter your fasts: when your hormone levels peak at ovulation and the week before your period starts. Remember, when your sex hormones are at their highest—ovulation and the week before your period—your fasts should be shorter. When your hormone levels are low—when your cycle first starts and post ovulation—your fasts can be longer. You will see how this all plays out with the Fasting Cycle in Chapter 8.

Unfortunately, counting calories does nothing for our hormonal health. The list of ingredients, on the other hand, greatly impacts your hormones.

Estrogen thrives when you keep glucose and insulin low.

Once your period starts and your body ramps up your estrogen levels, leaning in to a low-carbohydrate diet through your ovulation can give estrogen a chance to shine.

This healthy cholesterol is so crucial for estrogen that your miraculous body will change your cholesterol levels throughout your menstrual cycle, elevating your HDLs at the moments in your cycle that you need more estrogen.

When we fast, we stimulate the autophagy pathway. When we eat, we stimulate mTOR.

building muscle there are three specific amino acids to focus on: leucine, isoleucine, and valine.

Plant-based proteins that give you leucine are pumpkin seeds, navy beans, and tofu.

It takes 30 grams of protein at one meal to trigger mTOR and build your muscles stronger.

“Loneliness kills. It’s as powerful as smoking or alcoholism.”

For most, your ketones will be low in the morning, possibly measuring at .2 mmol/L (millimoles per liter). You are in ketosis if you are over .5 mmol/L.

Well, it turns out that your gut microbes have a direct connection to your liver via your portal vein.2 When in a fasted state, these microbes will send a signal to the liver to switch over to the fat-burning energy system. If these microbes are missing, then that signal may never get to the liver, making it difficult for you to stay in a fasted state. I see this a lot in women who have been on multiple rounds of antibiotics and have lost much of their microbial diversity. They will struggle to get into ketosis because these missing microbes aren’t sending signals to the liver to switch over.

Bone broth has glycine in it and can heal a leaky gut.

Try elevating your mood with another tool other than food and see if the hunger goes away.

you ingest sodium when insulin

is lower, it won’t contribute to high blood pressure.

You want your blood sugar to be between 70 and 90 milligrams per deciliter (4.0–5.0 millimoles per liter) and your ketones over .5 mmol/L. You

you choose to use a ketone reader, you’ll know you are in ketosis when the reader says .5 mmol/L

first it can be miraculous. But if you don’t vary your fasts, your body may stop adapting.