The FastingWell Podcast

Intermittent fasting and extended fasting are both easier when you eat the right kind of food beforehand. It prepares your body and helps you get a smooth start, and ultimately makes it easier to get all the way through your fast. Today I’ll explain what types of food I recommend eating before a short fast (like daily time-restricted eating), or a long fast (such as 24 hours or more). 

My YouTube video on this topic:  https://youtu.be/XN6FQILUK44

Full show notes and resources:  https://fastingwell.com/episode27/

A low carb diet can have a bunch of health benefits, but a lot of people aren't sure what to eat. To fix that, today I’ll share a variety of low carb food options you can mix and match on a ketogenic diet. I’ll share my personal approach to keto along with 3 specific meal combos that are highly versatile. I’ll also share some cooking tips to help you create easy and delicious keto meals (without using a bunch of processed ingredients)! Hope it helps!

47 Quick & Easy Keto Food Options:  https://fastingwell.com/quick-easy-keto-foods/

Full show notes and resources:   https://fastingwell.com/episode26/

The ketogenic diet has gotten really trendy in recent years, but most people who do it are just focused on weight loss. Today I'll explain why there's a lot more to keto than that, including several health benefits you can get by eating low carb high fat (LCHF). I’ll also cover how to get started with keto, and tips to be successful from the beginning with a low carb diet. This is basically keto for a total beginner.

Easy Fasting Guide (includes a section on low-carb):  https://fastingwell.com/get-my-easy-fasting-guide/

Blog post on keto for beginners:  https://fastingwell.com/ketogenic-diet-101/

Full show notes and resources:  https://fastingwell.com/episode25/

Dr. Nadia Pateguana joins me for a far-ranging conversation about women and fasting.  We cover common misconceptions, what health benefits women can expect from fasting, realistic weight loss expectations, improving body composition, tips for success, how to have the right mindset, your relationship with food, and other topics. We also cover polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), how it relates to fasting, and success stories Nadia has seen. 

YouTube version:  https://youtu.be/sZxRq0CROhQ 

Full show notes and resources:  https://fastingwell.com/episode24/   

Many people are confused about dietary fat because we hear mixed messages from the media and the medical community. Does fat make you fat? Does saturated fat cause heart disease? Is there such a thing as healthy fats? Which are the best types of fat for your health, and which are the worst? What about cholesterol tests? Today I'll answer all those questions and more, and clear up a lot of the myths and misunderstandings around dietary fat. I believe having a clear understanding of fat will better prepare you to optimize your nutrition and to effectively incorporate fasting into your lifestyle.

Full show notes and resources:  https://fastingwell.com/episode23/

Alzheimer's is a devastating illness, and getting more and more common. Until recently, it was considered irreversible, but that’s starting to change. In this episode I’ll explain how fasting and a low-carb diet fit into Alzheimer’s treatment or prevention, and the type of results you could expect to see. This is based on a program developed by Dr. Dale Bredesen, a neurologist who’s been researching Alzheimer’s for several years. Dr. Bredesen and his team have been successful at preventing Alzheimer's, reversing early cases, and even seeing noticeable improvement in advanced cases. Nutrition is at the foundation of their program. With that in mind, I’ll explain the two main underlying causes of Alzheimer's (in most cases), and how fasting and ketosis are effective ways of treating both causes. I’ll also summarize Dr. Bredesen’s “KetoFlex 12-3” protocol. If you have early Alzheimer’s, or you’re just trying to prevent it, I think this will give you some useful tools!

Blog version:  https://fastingwell.com/ketoflex-fasting-alzheimers/

Full show notes and resources:  https://fastingwell.com/episode22/

If you've ever gone on a diet to lose weight, you’ve heard you should eat fewer calories.  Today I'll explain why counting calories is a BAD idea, at least for most people.  It has various harmful effects, including a slower metabolism, muscle loss, and yo-yo dieting.  I’ll also explain exactly what you should do instead of counting calories:  Focus on the TYPE of food you're eating, and the TIMING (i.e. when and how often you eat).  If you get those two variables dialed in, typically everything else will fall into place.

Full show notes and resources:  https://fastingwell.com/episode21/

I often tell people they need extra salt when they're fasting, but sometimes they ignore this advice. It’s understandable, because we’ve all been conditioned to fear salt (aka sodium). Today I’ll explain why getting enough salt / sodium is one of the biggest keys to make fasting smoother and easier, and why it can prevent various potential side effects. I’ll also explain how to get extra salt, and how much to use. Then I'll cover two more electrolytes that can be beneficial when you’re fasting (potassium and magnesium), including how they work, why they’re important, and how to get them.

Download my Dirty Fasting Cheat Sheet here:  http://fastingwell.com/dirty

Full show notes and resources:  https://fastingwell.com/episode20/

Wondering what you can drink when you’re fasting? I’ll share several options, including 3 categories:  Drinks that make fasting more difficult and should be avoided, drinks that are fairly neutral (or slightly beneficial), and drinks that make fasting easier. I'll also share some personal experience about drinks I’ve used over the years during fasts. Lastly, I’ll share some criteria you can use to decide if any drink is okay to use while you're fasting.

Download my Dirty Fasting Cheat Sheet here:  http://fastingwell.com/dirty

Full show notes and resources here:  https://fastingwell.com/episode19

Dr. Ben Bikman heads the Diabetes Research Center at BYU, and literally wrote the book on insulin. His book, “Why We Get Sick”, explains the health impacts of having too much insulin, and what you can do about it.

In this interview, we discuss how insulin resistance has become insanely common, and how it drives many modern health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, dementia / Alzheimer's, polycystic ovary syndrome, and more. Dr. Bikman explains how to know if you have too much insulin, even without a blood test.  He also shares practical tips about the most impactful things you can do to improve your metabolic health, including specific nutritional advice (his “4 Pillars”), stress management, sleep, and exercise.

YouTube version here:  https://youtu.be/idXljqNpskA

Full show notes and resources here:  https://fastingwell.com/episode18/