September 23, 2025 • 23 mins
Episode #224
In this Turbo Talk, Coach Terri Lance explores three powerful mindset shifts that can make all the difference in your fasting and health journey.
Instead of treating fasting as a quick fix, Terri invites you to reframe it as part of a self-care practice, pair it with supportive lifestyle choices, and address the deeper relationship with food that often drives our health struggles.
She offers practical insights into:
- Why fasting alone isn’t enough
- How true self-care goes beyond indulgence
- How creating joy and fulfillment in your life can reduce the pull of emotional eating
✨ If you’re ready to move from simply “doing fasting” to truly transforming your health and well-being, this episode is for you.
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Summary Timestamps
00:00 Introduction: Why fasting isn’t a magic bullet
00:50 Mindset #1: This journey is about self-care, not self-punishment
05:30 Rethinking what real self-care looks like (beyond coffee treats and takeout)
12:00 Mindset #2: Fasting is powerful, but it needs support from lifestyle choices
18:30 Why focusing only on fasting can backfire
22:00 The role of nutrition, movement, and rest in amplifying fasting’s benefits
26:30 Mindset #3: Addressing your relationship with food
32:00 Why food has become our coping tool for stress, boredom, and lack of joy
36:00 Building joy, fulfillment, and creativity as alternatives to emotional eating
41:00 Closing reflections: Fasting as part of true life transformation
Disclaimer
This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. You should always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before doing any fasting, changing your diet, taking or adjusting any medication or supplements, or adopting any treatment for a health problem. The use of any other products or services purchased by you as a result of this podcast does not create a healthcare provider-patient relationship between you and any of the experts affiliated with this podcast. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
If you're looking at fasting as the only
change that you're going to do,
I'm sorry that you're probably not really
going to see the longer-term benefits
that you're seeking.
So I encourage you, as you
are looking at this powerful tool with
some magical qualities,
that you also think about what
(00:22):
other lifestyle factors do
I need to weave together
with this fasting to really support
it so that it can do its magic,
rather than relying
on it to kind of save you
from all of those other lifestyle
things that are harming you.
[music]
(00:49):
Welcome back to another episode of The
Fasting Method podcast.
This is Coach Terri Lance, and
this is a Turbo Talk
where I'm going to share with you three
mindset realities that I
think might help many of
us fare better in this
journey that we're in.
(01:10):
The first one is the
idea that this journey is actually
a self-care journey.
So often I hear people struggling
in how to navigate
losing weight, reversing
their health concerns, and all of the
goals that they come to us with
(01:32):
because they're used to facing
everything as a task that must
be accomplished, a goal that
they have to set, and
oftentimes ways that
they need to make themselves perform,
discipline themselves,
make it happen, achieve more, all
(01:52):
of those words.
And what I find is that the more people
are focusing on all of those, the
more they're getting away from the reality
that this journey is a self-care
journey.
The more you take care of yourself,
the more your body can do what it's
meant to do.
(02:13):
The more you take care of your emotional
needs, the better you will do.
The more you take care of your physical needs,
the better you will do.
The more you focus on good nutritional
care for yourself,
the better this journey will go.
The more you address your needs
(02:35):
while you're fasting, the better your
fast will go.
Unfortunately, so many of us
are not great at self-care.
We have some notions of what self-care
looks like, but, if you really dig
down, oftentimes the methods
of self-care that we're really focused on
(02:55):
are not actually caring for ourselves,
they're kind of Band-Aid approaches
to feeling better in the moment.
So if I were to ask you, what do
you do for self-care?
And you reply to me that
you take yourself to your favorite coffee shop
and you get a really nice treat
(03:15):
and a nice coffee drink,
flavor of the month, whatever it might be,
this isn't actually self-care.
This is self-indulgence, to
try to kind of bribe
yourself into feeling better
momentarily, briefly,
and then going right back to the reality
(03:36):
that things are hard.
You're busy.
You've got relationships,
and work, and other stressors
and things that make life more complicated
than just feeling good all the time.
Or if you tell me that your self-care
is getting together with your friends
and eating indulgently
(03:58):
whatever you want, drinking
as much as you want, and acting
however you want, again,
I'm going to have to differ with you.
I don't know that that's actually self-care.
Yes, it might be fun and, yes, it might
feel good (again, for a short time),
but most of us recognize (hopefully,
(04:20):
at whatever stage in life you are currently
occupying) that these
strategies actually leave us
less able to handle the stressors
in life.
They leave us with a hangover.
They leave us feeling bloated and
tired. They leave us with brain fog.
They leave us not remembering what
(04:42):
happened last night.
These aren't actually ways that help
us tackle the things in our lives
that are complicated, get through
them, feel good in our skin.
So if you take a moment to really focus
on what I've shared (that this journey
is actually a journey of self-care),
(05:03):
I invite you to look at how
is it that you're taking care of yourself?
What are the things you do each day that
go into this category of
self-care?
Do you get up at the last moment and
throw down two cups of coffee as quickly
as you can so that you can get where
you need to be, feeling discombobulated
(05:25):
and rushed?
Is that self-care?
Do you find that you often are
running short on time and effort, so,
when it comes time to have a meal, you
have to quickly pull something together,
oftentimes from an app, or,
if you work in an office, in
the cafeteria or that section of
(05:47):
work that is filled with all kinds
of problematic foods?
Is that self-care, or would
self-care mean you took the time to
prepare something, or plan something
that fits your eating approach,
that gives you the proper nutrition that you
need, that doesn't overtax
(06:08):
your body, that doesn't overtax your
insulin and other responses in
your body and other hormones?
Would you answer that you take care of
yourself by going out to restaurants
and sparing yourself from having to cook?
Does this actually lead to feeling
well?
Does it provide you the nutrition you need
(06:29):
without all of the compounding factors
that you don't need?
Does it help your wallet?
Is it actually self-care
or is it a coping mechanism
for just navigating being too busy
and having too many things on your plate
all at once?
Sleep.
(06:50):
If I were to ask you about your self-care when
it comes to sleep.
Does it involve drinking
caffeine all day and then trying
to take something at night to slow your
brain down?
Or does self-care related to
sleep mean really looking at sleep
hygiene and making sure that your environment
(07:12):
is appropriate for you?
Making sure that you have
all that you need to set yourself up
for a good night's sleep?
Maybe doing some meditation or
some other strategies?
Does it mean planning your day and your
evening so that you have time
to wind down and be
(07:33):
in a relaxed state at an
appropriate bedtime so that sleep
works well for you?
These are some questions I encourage
you to think about, as far as are
you actually taking care of yourself
or are you trying to put kind of Band-Aids
on places where
you, your mind, and your body
(07:56):
need more care, but you don't
know where to get it, you don't know how to
provide it for yourself, or
you don't feel like you have the luxury
to achieve those things.
Remember that this journey is a journey
of self-care. [music]
[promotion] Are you new to fasting and just
(08:16):
aren't sure how to get started?
Or have you been working on fasting for
a while now and keep running into
obstacles?
We have coaches at TFM that can help
you through this journey.
We can help you learn the necessary skills,
support you, help you create
your plans, and tweak them when
(08:37):
things need to be changed.
We offer health coaching and
accountability coaching, depending on
what you need.
Some of our coaches offer one-on-one
coaching where each session is specifically
focused on you and what you're working
on to achieve your goals.
We also offer small-group coaching.
(08:59):
This option allows you to get the support
with several other clients, who are also
working on the things that you're working on.
Either way, you get the specific
help that you are looking for to help
you make your fasting a successful
journey. Whether you're working on weight
loss, improving your health,
(09:21):
increasing your longevity,
you can achieve that in working with one
of our TFM coaches.
All you have to do is sign up for
a FREE intake session to
get to meet with a coach and see
if coaching is the right thing for you.
[music]
The second mindset reality that I want
(09:42):
to focus on is something
that I hear often in Community
meetings at TFM.
I hear this from clients
and I see this in the Facebook group as
well.
Many people come to
learn about fasting, and
they embrace it as a very powerful,
(10:04):
almost magical tool.
And I think for many of us, it does
feel very powerful and almost
magical, in that it helps
us to achieve things that were not
actually achievable in the past, or
at least not in a sustainable way.
The problem is that, oftentimes,
people have learned about fasting
(10:27):
in isolation.
It's almost like a weight-loss medication.
Back in the day, it was certain pill
combinations that people would take to
lose weight.
Currently, we hear a lot of talk about
people taking weight-loss
medications by injection.
The reality is those things don't
(10:49):
work in isolation, or at
least not in a healthy way.
If you are taking a weight-loss medication,
you probably already know that it
also takes other changes.
It takes more movement, more
focusing on building lean
mass and protecting your muscle.
(11:10):
It takes being active.
It takes making good choices
about your nutrition because
those medications on their own can't fix
it. And folks, neither
can fasting.
Fasting is a powerful,
powerful tool, but
if we are not willing to look
(11:31):
at the other areas in our lives
that kind of intertwine with fasting,
we're putting too much pressure on this
powerful tool and expecting it to
be the magical fix.
And it can't do that.
I've watched some people who are unwilling
to look at what they eat and
(11:52):
when they eat, don't really care
what impact that has on insulin,
don't really care what impact that has
on their liver, on their brain,
on their other organs and other systems.
They're just going for the food that tastes
good, or is provided
at work, or by others
(12:12):
without really looking at what does it
do for them and for their health
and longevity.
Then they jump into a fast,
which is definitely going to be harder to
do when our food is off track
and not supportive of our goals,
but what I see is that sometimes they do
end up losing some weight initially,
(12:35):
but they don't necessarily get the health
benefits of fasting.
They don't see their blood-sugar
markers really improving.
They don't see the fatty liver being
addressed.
They don't see a greater
sense of clarity of mind
in decision making; they have a lot of brain
(12:55):
fog.
And sometimes, unfortunately, when people
are struggling with this, the way that they
make sense of it is that
maybe fasting isn't so good after
all.
Maybe this is another kind
of myth I've heard, and it just doesn't
really ring true.
I think what they're really highlighting is
(13:17):
that fasting alone cannot save
us from habits
and choices that cause
health problems, that cause
the high insulin, that cause
fatty liver.
Certainly, it can help reverse
these things if we're also
pairing it with the other behaviors:
(13:39):
a lot of healthy movement for the body
utilizing our big muscles
and using our glucose
in our bodies, and helping our
pancreas to have good insulin
balance and have good insulin
sensitivity in our body.
In these ways, fasting gets
(14:01):
to shine, it gets to do
its somewhat magical work,
and it can feel surprising
how much of a game changer can
be.
But if you're looking at fasting as the
only change that you're going to do,
I'm sorry that you're probably not really
(14:22):
going to see the longer-term benefits
that you're seeking.
So I encourage you, as you
are looking at this powerful tool with
some magical qualities,
that you also think about what
other lifestyle factors do
I need to weave together
with this fasting to really support
(14:43):
it so that it can do its magic,
rather than relying
on it to kind of save you
from all of those other lifestyle
things that are harming you.
The third mindset reality that I want
to talk about is that, for most of us,
going from the last one that I just discussed,
(15:05):
although learning how to fast
and doing it so
that the power of fasting can
work its magic on our body.
We also have to be looking at
the underlying behaviors
and habits that initially
built up our insulin
(15:25):
resistance, our body's
difficulty with releasing weight
or managing weight well,
our challenge of losing body
fat, our maybe
limits and mobility, our joint pain,
all of these health concerns, maybe our
glucose concerns,
(15:46):
some fatty liver concerns.
And underneath all of that really
lies our relationship with
food.
And some of you know that I talk often about,
again, not just leaning on fasting,
but really looking at what
are we doing in our relationship with food.
(16:06):
How can we address this
as a primary change
to the long-term nature of what we're
going to do for our health and
our weight management, or weight loss?
Some people say, "Well, Terry, I'd rather
just do a three-day fast
, three or four times a month, or a five-day
(16:27):
fast. I'll just do this big fasting
effort and this will take care of everything."
But the reality is fasting
is not whatever caused
us to get to the complex places that
we are in our health and our weight, that
it's actually more (for most of us)
many years of a problematic
(16:49):
relationship with food.
The foods that we have been taught to use
as coping mechanisms, as
our emotional management system,
as our form of entertainment,
our form of social connection
with others.
This relationship really
(17:09):
is what underlies
what leads to our insulin
resistance, our weight gain,
and our difficulty losing weight.
So what's the solution?
Besides learning how to fast and
changing our relationship with food,
how can we do this?
Now, obviously this is something I focus
(17:31):
on a lot at TFM and here
in our podcast.
I think one of the key features that
many of us bypass and
forget to look at
is why is it that we're moving
toward a problematic interaction
with food?
Why has it become our
(17:52):
go-to best friend,
our confidant, our
self-soothing strategy?
And I think if we really dig down,
some of us will recognize it's
because we haven't created
a lot of space in our lives
for joy, for satisfaction,
(18:12):
or contentment.
We have focused so much on
survival.
We have focused a lot on
achieving, being more, earning
more, doing more.
We haven't really given
ourselves that space
to fill our lives with things
(18:34):
that are meaningful, things
that bring us
a calm and a sense of
fulfillment.
And therefore, where do we
turn for that fulfillment?
It's so easy to turn to a problematic
food, to briefly feel fulfilled,
(18:55):
as a way of substituting for the
lack of fulfillment that we
have learned to allow for ourselves with
having hobbies that are enriching,
having relationships that
fill us with joy and connection,
having time to rest, having
time to reset
(19:15):
and nourish ourselves and our
needs, our curiosity,
our intellect, our creativity.
So what I really want to invite you to
consider is, is
it possible for me to struggle less
in this relationship
with food, this building
(19:36):
in of my fasting muscle
and figuring out my fasting plan
if I also take time
to really look at where in my
life can I create space
for joy, for satisfaction,
and contentment?
Fulfillment in relationships,
(19:58):
in my work, in my hobbies,
in creativity, in
nature?
What things can bring me
that positive
feeling so that I am
less likely to need to
rely on food to be
that kind of stop-gap filler
(20:21):
when I'm bored, when I'm exhausted,
when I'm down, when I'm scared?
What if I worked on fulfilling
my needs with something other
than turning to food.
So these three mindset realities
are certainly ones that I focus
(20:42):
on a lot at TFM.
I hear so many of our members and
our clients working on these
areas of mindset improvement
and struggling with them.
So again, what I invite
you to do is spend
time kind of poring over
each of these.
(21:02):
See how they fit for you,
see how they are working for you or not
working for you, and what can you
do to change them?
How can you create more focus
on self-care rather
than dieting,
punishing yourself,
making your body behave?
(21:25):
How can you focus on self-care?
How can you look at fasting
as a powerful tool
with some magical qualities
that needs a well-rounded approach.
It can not carry you alone.
It needs you to focus on what
(21:45):
nutritional inputs you put into your body,
what other self-care
things you provide as far as movement,
relaxation, rest,
sleep, nourishment.
And lastly, are there other
areas in your life that
if you spent more time developing
(22:07):
and supporting positively,
could you kind of extricate yourself
from a problematic relationship
with food because your life
feels more fulfilling?
You have more joy.
You laugh more.
You find meaning in things in your life,
not turning to food to
(22:29):
fill these needs.
I appreciate you listening in to my Turbo
Talk. I know these are kind of
complicated or maybe heavy topics
to really allow yourself to think about,
but I think, for many of us, we find
in this process, if we
truly want to transform
(22:50):
our lives versus
just lose some weight or fix
some health concerns, if we want to truly
transform, these three mindset
realities are really the
basis of so much of that work.
So we will be back next week
with another episode of The Fasting Method
(23:10):
podcast, and look forward to connecting
with you
then. [music]
If you're looking at fasting as the only
change that you're going to do,
I'm sorry that you're probably not really
going to see the longer-term benefits
that you're seeking.
So I encourage you, as you
are looking at this powerful tool with
some magical qualities,
that you also think about what
(00:22):
other lifestyle factors do
I need to weave together
with this fasting to really support
it so that it can do its magic,
rather than relying
on it to kind of save you
from all of those other lifestyle
things that are harming you.
[music]
(00:49):
Welcome back to another episode of The
Fasting Method podcast.
This is Coach Terri Lance, and
this is a Turbo Talk
where I'm going to share with you three
mindset realities that I
think might help many of
us fare better in this
journey that we're in.
(01:10):
The first one is the
idea that this journey is actually
a self-care journey.
So often I hear people struggling
in how to navigate
losing weight, reversing
their health concerns, and all of the
goals that they come to us with
(01:32):
because they're used to facing
everything as a task that must
be accomplished, a goal that
they have to set, and
oftentimes ways that
they need to make themselves perform,
discipline themselves,
make it happen, achieve more, all
(01:52):
of those words.
And what I find is that the more people
are focusing on all of those, the
more they're getting away from the reality
that this journey is a self-care
journey.
The more you take care of yourself,
the more your body can do what it's
meant to do.
(02:13):
The more you take care of your emotional
needs, the better you will do.
The more you take care of your physical needs,
the better you will do.
The more you focus on good nutritional
care for yourself,
the better this journey will go.
The more you address your needs
(02:35):
while you're fasting, the better your
fast will go.
Unfortunately, so many of us
are not great at self-care.
We have some notions of what self-care
looks like, but, if you really dig
down, oftentimes the methods
of self-care that we're really focused on
(02:55):
are not actually caring for ourselves,
they're kind of Band-Aid approaches
to feeling better in the moment.
So if I were to ask you, what do
you do for self-care?
And you reply to me that
you take yourself to your favorite coffee shop
and you get a really nice treat
(03:15):
and a nice coffee drink,
flavor of the month, whatever it might be,
this isn't actually self-care.
This is self-indulgence, to
try to kind of bribe
yourself into feeling better
momentarily, briefly,
and then going right back to the reality
(03:36):
that things are hard.
You're busy.
You've got relationships,
and work, and other stressors
and things that make life more complicated
than just feeling good all the time.
Or if you tell me that your self-care
is getting together with your friends
and eating indulgently
(03:58):
whatever you want, drinking
as much as you want, and acting
however you want, again,
I'm going to have to differ with you.
I don't know that that's actually self-care.
Yes, it might be fun and, yes, it might
feel good (again, for a short time),
but most of us recognize (hopefully,
(04:20):
at whatever stage in life you are currently
occupying) that these
strategies actually leave us
less able to handle the stressors
in life.
They leave us with a hangover.
They leave us feeling bloated and
tired. They leave us with brain fog.
They leave us not remembering what
(04:42):
happened last night.
These aren't actually ways that help
us tackle the things in our lives
that are complicated, get through
them, feel good in our skin.
So if you take a moment to really focus
on what I've shared (that this journey
is actually a journey of self-care),
(05:03):
I invite you to look at how
is it that you're taking care of yourself?
What are the things you do each day that
go into this category of
self-care?
Do you get up at the last moment and
throw down two cups of coffee as quickly
as you can so that you can get where
you need to be, feeling discombobulated
(05:25):
and rushed?
Is that self-care?
Do you find that you often are
running short on time and effort, so,
when it comes time to have a meal, you
have to quickly pull something together,
oftentimes from an app, or,
if you work in an office, in
the cafeteria or that section of
(05:47):
work that is filled with all kinds
of problematic foods?
Is that self-care, or would
self-care mean you took the time to
prepare something, or plan something
that fits your eating approach,
that gives you the proper nutrition that you
need, that doesn't overtax
(06:08):
your body, that doesn't overtax your
insulin and other responses in
your body and other hormones?
Would you answer that you take care of
yourself by going out to restaurants
and sparing yourself from having to cook?
Does this actually lead to feeling
well?
Does it provide you the nutrition you need
(06:29):
without all of the compounding factors
that you don't need?
Does it help your wallet?
Is it actually self-care
or is it a coping mechanism
for just navigating being too busy
and having too many things on your plate
all at once?
Sleep.
(06:50):
If I were to ask you about your self-care when
it comes to sleep.
Does it involve drinking
caffeine all day and then trying
to take something at night to slow your
brain down?
Or does self-care related to
sleep mean really looking at sleep
hygiene and making sure that your environment
(07:12):
is appropriate for you?
Making sure that you have
all that you need to set yourself up
for a good night's sleep?
Maybe doing some meditation or
some other strategies?
Does it mean planning your day and your
evening so that you have time
to wind down and be
(07:33):
in a relaxed state at an
appropriate bedtime so that sleep
works well for you?
These are some questions I encourage
you to think about, as far as are
you actually taking care of yourself
or are you trying to put kind of Band-Aids
on places where
you, your mind, and your body
(07:56):
need more care, but you don't
know where to get it, you don't know how to
provide it for yourself, or
you don't feel like you have the luxury
to achieve those things.
Remember that this journey is a journey
of self-care. [music]
[promotion] Are you new to fasting and just
(08:16):
aren't sure how to get started?
Or have you been working on fasting for
a while now and keep running into
obstacles?
We have coaches at TFM that can help
you through this journey.
We can help you learn the necessary skills,
support you, help you create
your plans, and tweak them when
(08:37):
things need to be changed.
We offer health coaching and
accountability coaching, depending on
what you need.
Some of our coaches offer one-on-one
coaching where each session is specifically
focused on you and what you're working
on to achieve your goals.
We also offer small-group coaching.
(08:59):
This option allows you to get the support
with several other clients, who are also
working on the things that you're working on.
Either way, you get the specific
help that you are looking for to help
you make your fasting a successful
journey. Whether you're working on weight
loss, improving your health,
(09:21):
increasing your longevity,
you can achieve that in working with one
of our TFM coaches.
All you have to do is sign up for
a FREE intake session to
get to meet with a coach and see
if coaching is the right thing for you.
[music]
The second mindset reality that I want
(09:42):
to focus on is something
that I hear often in Community
meetings at TFM.
I hear this from clients
and I see this in the Facebook group as
well.
Many people come to
learn about fasting, and
they embrace it as a very powerful,
(10:04):
almost magical tool.
And I think for many of us, it does
feel very powerful and almost
magical, in that it helps
us to achieve things that were not
actually achievable in the past, or
at least not in a sustainable way.
The problem is that, oftentimes,
people have learned about fasting
(10:27):
in isolation.
It's almost like a weight-loss medication.
Back in the day, it was certain pill
combinations that people would take to
lose weight.
Currently, we hear a lot of talk about
people taking weight-loss
medications by injection.
The reality is those things don't
(10:49):
work in isolation, or at
least not in a healthy way.
If you are taking a weight-loss medication,
you probably already know that it
also takes other changes.
It takes more movement, more
focusing on building lean
mass and protecting your muscle.
(11:10):
It takes being active.
It takes making good choices
about your nutrition because
those medications on their own can't fix
it. And folks, neither
can fasting.
Fasting is a powerful,
powerful tool, but
if we are not willing to look
(11:31):
at the other areas in our lives
that kind of intertwine with fasting,
we're putting too much pressure on this
powerful tool and expecting it to
be the magical fix.
And it can't do that.
I've watched some people who are unwilling
to look at what they eat and
(11:52):
when they eat, don't really care
what impact that has on insulin,
don't really care what impact that has
on their liver, on their brain,
on their other organs and other systems.
They're just going for the food that tastes
good, or is provided
at work, or by others
(12:12):
without really looking at what does it
do for them and for their health
and longevity.
Then they jump into a fast,
which is definitely going to be harder to
do when our food is off track
and not supportive of our goals,
but what I see is that sometimes they do
end up losing some weight initially,
(12:35):
but they don't necessarily get the health
benefits of fasting.
They don't see their blood-sugar
markers really improving.
They don't see the fatty liver being
addressed.
They don't see a greater
sense of clarity of mind
in decision making; they have a lot of brain
(12:55):
fog.
And sometimes, unfortunately, when people
are struggling with this, the way that they
make sense of it is that
maybe fasting isn't so good after
all.
Maybe this is another kind
of myth I've heard, and it just doesn't
really ring true.
I think what they're really highlighting is
(13:17):
that fasting alone cannot save
us from habits
and choices that cause
health problems, that cause
the high insulin, that cause
fatty liver.
Certainly, it can help reverse
these things if we're also
pairing it with the other behaviors:
(13:39):
a lot of healthy movement for the body
utilizing our big muscles
and using our glucose
in our bodies, and helping our
pancreas to have good insulin
balance and have good insulin
sensitivity in our body.
In these ways, fasting gets
(14:01):
to shine, it gets to do
its somewhat magical work,
and it can feel surprising
how much of a game changer can
be.
But if you're looking at fasting as the
only change that you're going to do,
I'm sorry that you're probably not really
(14:22):
going to see the longer-term benefits
that you're seeking.
So I encourage you, as you
are looking at this powerful tool with
some magical qualities,
that you also think about what
other lifestyle factors do
I need to weave together
with this fasting to really support
(14:43):
it so that it can do its magic,
rather than relying
on it to kind of save you
from all of those other lifestyle
things that are harming you.
The third mindset reality that I want
to talk about is that, for most of us,
going from the last one that I just discussed,
(15:05):
although learning how to fast
and doing it so
that the power of fasting can
work its magic on our body.
We also have to be looking at
the underlying behaviors
and habits that initially
built up our insulin
(15:25):
resistance, our body's
difficulty with releasing weight
or managing weight well,
our challenge of losing body
fat, our maybe
limits and mobility, our joint pain,
all of these health concerns, maybe our
glucose concerns,
(15:46):
some fatty liver concerns.
And underneath all of that really
lies our relationship with
food.
And some of you know that I talk often about,
again, not just leaning on fasting,
but really looking at what
are we doing in our relationship with food.
(16:06):
How can we address this
as a primary change
to the long-term nature of what we're
going to do for our health and
our weight management, or weight loss?
Some people say, "Well, Terry, I'd rather
just do a three-day fast
, three or four times a month, or a five-day
(16:27):
fast. I'll just do this big fasting
effort and this will take care of everything."
But the reality is fasting
is not whatever caused
us to get to the complex places that
we are in our health and our weight, that
it's actually more (for most of us)
many years of a problematic
(16:49):
relationship with food.
The foods that we have been taught to use
as coping mechanisms, as
our emotional management system,
as our form of entertainment,
our form of social connection
with others.
This relationship really
(17:09):
is what underlies
what leads to our insulin
resistance, our weight gain,
and our difficulty losing weight.
So what's the solution?
Besides learning how to fast and
changing our relationship with food,
how can we do this?
Now, obviously this is something I focus
(17:31):
on a lot at TFM and here
in our podcast.
I think one of the key features that
many of us bypass and
forget to look at
is why is it that we're moving
toward a problematic interaction
with food?
Why has it become our
(17:52):
go-to best friend,
our confidant, our
self-soothing strategy?
And I think if we really dig down,
some of us will recognize it's
because we haven't created
a lot of space in our lives
for joy, for satisfaction,
(18:12):
or contentment.
We have focused so much on
survival.
We have focused a lot on
achieving, being more, earning
more, doing more.
We haven't really given
ourselves that space
to fill our lives with things
(18:34):
that are meaningful, things
that bring us
a calm and a sense of
fulfillment.
And therefore, where do we
turn for that fulfillment?
It's so easy to turn to a problematic
food, to briefly feel fulfilled,
(18:55):
as a way of substituting for the
lack of fulfillment that we
have learned to allow for ourselves with
having hobbies that are enriching,
having relationships that
fill us with joy and connection,
having time to rest, having
time to reset
(19:15):
and nourish ourselves and our
needs, our curiosity,
our intellect, our creativity.
So what I really want to invite you to
consider is, is
it possible for me to struggle less
in this relationship
with food, this building
(19:36):
in of my fasting muscle
and figuring out my fasting plan
if I also take time
to really look at where in my
life can I create space
for joy, for satisfaction,
and contentment?
Fulfillment in relationships,
(19:58):
in my work, in my hobbies,
in creativity, in
nature?
What things can bring me
that positive
feeling so that I am
less likely to need to
rely on food to be
that kind of stop-gap filler
(20:21):
when I'm bored, when I'm exhausted,
when I'm down, when I'm scared?
What if I worked on fulfilling
my needs with something other
than turning to food.
So these three mindset realities
are certainly ones that I focus
(20:42):
on a lot at TFM.
I hear so many of our members and
our clients working on these
areas of mindset improvement
and struggling with them.
So again, what I invite
you to do is spend
time kind of poring over
each of these.
(21:02):
See how they fit for you,
see how they are working for you or not
working for you, and what can you
do to change them?
How can you create more focus
on self-care rather
than dieting,
punishing yourself,
making your body behave?
(21:25):
How can you focus on self-care?
How can you look at fasting
as a powerful tool
with some magical qualities
that needs a well-rounded approach.
It can not carry you alone.
It needs you to focus on what
(21:45):
nutritional inputs you put into your body,
what other self-care
things you provide as far as movement,
relaxation, rest,
sleep, nourishment.
And lastly, are there other
areas in your life that
if you spent more time developing
(22:07):
and supporting positively,
could you kind of extricate yourself
from a problematic relationship
with food because your life
feels more fulfilling?
You have more joy.
You laugh more.
You find meaning in things in your life,
not turning to food to
(22:29):
fill these needs.
I appreciate you listening in to my Turbo
Talk. I know these are kind of
complicated or maybe heavy topics
to really allow yourself to think about,
but I think, for many of us, we find
in this process, if we
truly want to transform
(22:50):
our lives versus
just lose some weight or fix
some health concerns, if we want to truly
transform, these three mindset
realities are really the
basis of so much of that work.
So we will be back next week
with another episode of The Fasting Method
(23:10):
podcast, and look forward to connecting
with you
then. [music]
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