#64 Gin Stephens' Guide to Intermittent Fasting for Healthier Journey

Episode Transcript
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Brian Wilson (00:12):
Welcome back to Enjoying Life OTR and Happy New
Year.
I'm Brian Wilson stepping infor Dino while he takes some
well-earned home time.
Now he left me some pretty bigshoes to fill, but I'm going to
give it my best shot Before wedive in.
I got got to tell you if youhaven't caught episode 48 yet,
do yourself a favor and give ita listen.
That's where I shared how Imanaged to lose 85 pounds while

(00:32):
still out here driving over theroad.
If I can do it, anyone can, andI'd love to share some
encouragement with you there.
I might add, I started it at 63years old, so you're never too
old to get healthy as we kickoff this year.
Boy, do we have a great showfor you today After the busyness
and, let's be honest, the foodoverload of the holiday season.

(00:54):
I don't know about you, but Idid put on a few pounds and I'm
ready to lose them.
Luckily, we've got just thething to kick off the new year
right Today.
We're thrilled no, I meanreally thrilled to welcome Jen
Stevens to the show.
Jen is a New York Timesbest-selling author and one of
the world's top experts onintermittent fasting.

(01:14):
Her books and podcasts are thegold standard for anyone looking
to transform their health andwell-being.
If you've ever been curiousabout fasting or need motivation
to start, buckle up.
Jen's wisdom will inspire youto rethink the way you approach
food and health.
And that's not all.
Be sure to stay tuned until thevery end, because we've got a
special treat for you.
Several OTR drivers, includingmyself, will be sharing how

(01:37):
intermittent fasting has workedfor us, even while navigating
life on the road.
Trust me, you don't want tomiss this.

Cindy Tunstall (01:46):
Welcome back to Enjoying Life.
Otr.
My name is Cindy Tunstall andI'm your host.
Today we have a fantasticepisode.
We are honored to get to haveJen Stevens on the show today.
She is a New York Times and anAmazon's bestseller.
She's an author, podcaster,influencer and she has changed
the world of intermittentfasting.
I personally am a big fan.

(02:06):
I've done so much of her,devoured her content and I'm
thrilled for you to meet her.

Gin Stephens (02:12):
Welcome to the show Jen.
Well, thank you so much forhaving me.
I'm really glad to be here.

Well before we jump into the ins and outs of
intermittent fasting.
I know that a lot of ouraudience are not familiar with
intermittent fasting and howthat could benefit us as
truckers.
But would you mind telling us alittle bit about your
background and how you gotinterested in intermittent
fasting and maybe say a littlebit about who you are and who
you aren't?

Absolutely.
I love the way you said thatwho I am and who I am not,
because that's really important.
Who am I?
I am a 55-year-old wife, motherof two adult sons, and my
background is elementaryeducation.
I was a teacher for 28 years,so I am very much a teacher.
I always knew I wanted to be ateacher, and you might think how

(02:59):
in the world is a teacherwriting and speaking about
intermittent fasting?
Well, it's because, like manypeople who are listening, I
struggled with my weight and Ihad a really hard time with it.
And you know I also have adoctorate and gifted education.
I'm a smart person, I'msuccessful at things, and so
when I was having such a hardtime with my weight and trying

(03:20):
different things and nothingwould work long term for decades
, I was so frustrated andthought how can I be so smart
and good at things andsuccessful in so many areas of
my life, but I cannot get ahandle on what my weight does?
You know, I was actually obese.
At one point I was 210 poundsand I'm 5'5", and so that put me

(03:40):
in the obese category, and so I, just out of desperation, kept
looking for answers and, thankgoodness, the answer that
finally stuck for me wasintermittent fasting, and I
started.
I dabbled in it for a while,from 2009 to 2014.
It didn't stick, but finally,in 2014, when I saw that number

(04:03):
210 and I knew that I had tochange.
That was the time that Istarted intermittent fasting for
the last time, and I never quit.
So you can see, it's been over10 years now since I started and
never stopped, and I went on tolose 80 pounds and I have kept
it off, even as I went throughmenopause.
And when you lose that kind ofweight after so long struggling,

(04:27):
you want to tell people aboutit, and that's really how it
started.
You know, I started tellingpeople about it that were near
me and then I started a Facebookgroup this was in 2015, you
know for people who were wantingto do intermittent fasting
where we could share togetherand work together as a community
, and it just built and builtfrom that, and so I realized

(04:49):
that the resources that were outthere about intermittent
fasting were written by doctorsor people who are scientists and
or, you know, by someone whomight be having a very specific
diet point of view that theywanted you to follow, and so
when people would ask me forhelp, you know where do I get
started?
What do I read?
What resources are there?

(05:10):
You know, I found myself saying, well, you could read this one
book, but ignore what they sayabout this.
Or this book has some goodstuff in it, but ignore the part
about this, because now we knowsomething else.
And so the teacher in me gotfrustrated at the lack of
resources.
So, like any good teacher, Icreated my own, and that was
when I wrote my first book in2016,.

(05:32):
Delay Don't Deny Living anIntermittent Fasting Lifestyle.
And I just put it out into theworld and there it went, and I
didn't know if anybody wouldread it.
I didn't know if people wouldsay why is a teacher writing a
book, this is so dumb, don'tlisten to her.
But people started buying itand they started reading it, and
they started living theintermittent fasting lifestyle

(05:52):
and they started following it.
And then they started tellingpeople about it.
And so, based on just word ofmouth of one person having
success and then telling thepeople in their life, the
message got multiplied.
And so that's, that's who I am.

Well, june, I love your books.
I love your books.
One of the things that I mostenjoyed about your book I read
Fast Feast Repeat, and I knowthat the Delay Don't Deny just
came out with a second edition,so I'm eager to get my hands on
that.
You know I do audiobooks, soI'll be getting that for sure.
But what I loved about yourbook is that you included the

(06:30):
science, but it wasn't so muchthat I couldn't grasp it.
You know it wasn't over my head,so I love the way that you did
that, and I also really lovethat you encourage people to
look at the resources themselvesif they want to dig in some
more.
So, and then also your attitudeabout you know, try what works
for you, tweak it until it's youknow, it gets easy, and so I
just love all of that coaching.
It was very inspiring and, ofcourse, the sprinkling of
testimonies of people whoselives have been changed.

(06:52):
My life has been changedbecause of it, so I'm a huge fan
and I'm really grateful for myaudience to get to know a little
bit more about this.

Thank you, and I really do think that pointing
people to the resources forthemselves if they want to learn
more is so important.
You know, as I said, I have adoctorate in gifted education,
so I had to write a dissertation.
I had to learn how to look at,you know, scientific journal
articles and in my, you know,dissertation work it was
educational journal articles.
But you're the same kind ofthing with health and and so

(07:24):
going to the articles themselves, you'd be able to see it for
yourself.
I think think is so importantand I've got all of that in the
reference section of fast feastrepeat so I people can learn as
much as they want.

Yeah, I love that.
Well, what is it aboutintermittent fasting that made a
difference for you?
Cause I know you describedbeing on that rollerco coaster
of dieting and gettingfrustrated that you can't make
it work, and I think that's verycommon for many of our
listeners, you know so.
I mean for myself as well.
So what is it aboutintermittent fasting that's
different than those other?
You know, diets, so to speak,or weight loss plans.

Well, there are so many ways I can go with this
answer because it's differentfor many, many reasons, multiple
reasons, but I'll see if I canput as many of them in here as I
can.
First of all, when I startedintermittent fasting you're
dabbling in it first and thencommitting to it in 2014, we
really didn't know.
No one was talking aboutanything other than, well,

(08:18):
intermittent fasting you'reeating within a period of time,
whether that's five hours, eighthours, four hours, whatever it
is.
Whatever form of intermittentfasting you're doing allows you
to eat fewer calories, so youlose weight.
That was the initial.
You know what everyone said.
Everything I read was like itallows you to eat fewer calories
, so you're losing weight, butit's easier to eat fewer
calories in your eating window,simply because you know you're

(08:42):
just not having to think aboutfood the rest of the day.
So you go through the day, youhave your eating window, you're
eating through your calories,you lose weight.
That was the whole idea.
We've heard all of our adultlives calories in, calories out.
It's just as simple as a mathformula.
You count your calories in, youtake your calories out with
exercise or just running yourbody functions.
It's a math problem, so it'ssimple.

(09:02):
A fifth grader could do it.
But for any of us who have evertried to live a low-calorie
diet, where we're starting inthe morning with a tiny little
breakfast, having our tinylittle snacks and our tiny
little lunch and we're trying toeat 1,200 calories over the
course of the whole waking day,we know that it is really
unpleasant to try to eat alow-calorie diet throughout the

(09:24):
day.
So in that regard, you canthink, okay, well, intermittent
fasting does make it easierbecause you're just in a smaller
period of time, you could eat a1,200-calorie meal and you feel
really, really satisfied.
So on the surface, it feelslike well, you know,
intermittent fasting does helpwith calories in, calories out.
Then I read the Obesity Code inthe spring of 2016.

(09:45):
It was written by Dr Jason Fung,and he is a nephrologist, which
is a kidney doctor, and in hiswork with patients, you know
they come to him with kidneyproblems.
But the underlying,foundational problem so common
for many of his patients is, ofcourse, you know, type 2
diabetes.
Many of them are diabetic, manyof them have metabolic syndrome
.
So many health problems that,of course, end up with kidney

(10:05):
disease is one of the pathsalong the way.
So he started really thinkinghow can I help my patients?
They need to lose weight, theyneed to get healthy, they need
to manage their diabetes, and hestarted using fasting with his
patients, and he wrote aboutsomething called insulin, which
everyone has heard of but a lotof people don't understand.

(10:28):
We think of insulin as well.
It's the thing that you use ifyou're diabetic.
If you have type 1 diabetes,you have to inject it every day
because your pancreas no longermakes it, and if you're type 2
diabetic, it starts with insulinresistance too much insulin but
then eventually with type 2diabetes.
If you don't manage it, youprobably will become insulin

(10:50):
dependent yourself.
So that's everybody what weknow about insulin.
But Jason Fung taught me thatinsulin is important for our
health, for all of us.
So he talked about he talked tome about the importance of
having low levels of insulin inyour body if you want to burn
your own fat, which, of course,is what we want to do.

(11:10):
If we want to lose weight, wewant to burn fat, so we have to
keep our insulin low while we'refasting in order to burn our
fat.
And so that was just a lightbulb moment for me, and so I
realized.
Well, fasting really isdifferent because if you're
eating that typical 1200 caloriediet throughout the day, where
you're having your diet soda andyour little snacks and whatever

(11:32):
, you're having constant insulinrelease throughout the day,
whereas when you're fasting andfasting clean which I can talk
more about and would love totalk more about in a few minutes
your body has lower levels ofinsulin and you're finally able
to tap into your fat stores.
So you're tapping into yourstored fat for fuel, just like
you want to, just like it'sstored there on your body.

(11:53):
That's why it's there and itchanges the whole experience.
So fasting is so different fromthe typical low calorie diets
in that regard.
Another reason that fasting isjust so much easier has to do
with our willpower.
You know it's been.
You think about willpower aslike a bucket.
We have a limited amount ofwillpower for the day and if you

(12:16):
are constantly making fooddecisions all the time, like
should I go ahead and eat thatnow?
Should I have a snack, should Inot?
Every time you say, well, no,I'm going to wait, I'm not going
to have that now.
You know I'm eating mybreakfast, then I'll wait for
lunch for another couple hours,whatever, you're depleting your
willpower throughout the day.
But when you are living anintermittent fasting lifestyle
and let's say you know you'regoing to open your window at two

(12:38):
o'clock and then it's going tostay up until seven, you no
longer have to make any fooddecisions.
Am I going to have that snacknow?
The answer is no, because yourwindow is not open, you're
fasting, so it takes away thatdecision fatigue and having to
constantly rely on willpower.
You just don't have to thinkabout it.
My window's closed, I'm noteating yet, and then when my
window opens, then I'll eat.

And so that's another reason why intermittent
fasting is so much easier.
I love that because as drivers,we talk a lot about decision
fatigue on the show, because fordrivers, we're just bombarded
with you know so much all day.
We're just spent at the end ofthe day.
So this really will resonatewith our audience.
We're familiar with that termand we're all any way we can
reduce our decision fatigue.
But that's true.
I love not thinking about food.
I usually do a three to ninewindow and that works great for

(13:25):
me.
I'm like I don't have to thinkabout food.
It's just one less thing.
I just focus on the work.
One thing that was reallysurprising to me when I started
I was worried about my energylevel and I was like you know
cause I would start my.
I would want to eat later inthe day and I do black coffee.
So that was easy for me, andwe'll talk about clean fasting
in a minute.
But I was so shocked that Icould do physical hard labor.

(13:47):
Um, things that were veryintensive at the time when I was
starting.
I was doing touch freight, so Iwas physically moving pallets
in and out of my truck and I wasso shocked that I had the
energy to do that while I was onmy fasting time and it was just
I was like, oh my gosh, thiscould possibly work for me.
Yeah yeah, it was just shocking.
And then the clarity of thoughttoo.

(14:08):
I was super focused, which wasreally great for when I was
driving, and so I'm a big, bigfan Do you want me to explain to
your audience why we have thebetter energy during the fast.
Yeah, I'd love that.
And then I want to talk aboutwhat.
What makes a clean fast.
So, yes, please tell me aboutthat.
I want to hear it again, formyself.

Why is that working?
Yeah, well, it's so, you know,counterintuitive, because we've
been told all of our lives thatyou need to eat so you'll have
energy.
Right, you got to eat, soyou'll have the energy.
Keep your mind sharp.
But then we find, you know, weactually feel sluggish after we
eat and our energy dips a coupleof hours after we eat.
Then we have to fuel up again.
So it's, you know.

(14:48):
Think about your truck.

Gemma Ford (14:50):
I'm making a trucker analogy here.

What if you had to stop and fill up your truck
every five miles for gas?
You know you would stop, fillyour truck up again.
It could go for five miles.
Then you had to fill it upagain.
Then you had to fill it upagain.
Then you had.
You wouldn't get very far.
That would not be very good.
Same with our bodies.
If we're constantly fueling upevery hour with a snack, we

(15:13):
don't need to do that.
Your truck has a really big gastank, large fuel tank, and you
don't need to stop and fuel itup all the time.
You fuel it up, then you aredriving on that stored fuel.
Our bodies are like that too.
So when we are eating foodconstantly and snacking
throughout the day, it's likewe're stopping for fuel every

(15:35):
five miles.
But when we are fasting cleanour body, it might say, hey, you
know what, I'd like to have asnack.
You know my blood sugar isgetting a little low.
I'm used to eating snacks.
And then you're like, nope,nope, I'm fasting now.
So your body's like well, okay,fine, I'll turn to my stored
fuel.
And so first we burn theglycogen in our liver, we use

(15:56):
stored glycogen, which is like aglucose source in our muscles.
Then we turn to our stored fatand we've got plenty of stored
fuel on our body at all times.
Even someone who is in a normalweight and not overweight,
you've got plenty of stored fuelon your body so our bodies are
able to access it.
Because we're fasting clean.

(16:17):
So while your body is adaptingto clean fasting, you might have
some of that brain fog, youmight feel hangry.
Your body is not used totapping in to your stored fat
for fuel.
It doesn't really quite knowhow, because you haven't had a
reason to, because you'refueling up with your constant
snacks.
But once your body flips thatmetabolic switch and says, okay,
okay, I can, I can go to my fatstores now, then you know you

(16:42):
might be.
You wake up in the morning, youkeep fasting, or fasting clean.
You might have a little mildhunger wave and your body says
you know I could eat right now.
You could stop for some gas ifyou want to.
But you say, nope, there'splenty stored away.
And then everybody's like, fine, I'll use the, I'll use what's
stored away, and then the hungergoes away.
You have great energy becauseyou have plenty of fuel stored

(17:04):
on your body to fuel your bodythrough the day.

I was surprised when I started that those I
learned that you know, keepsnacks away from me, because
sometimes I was just eating whenI was bored, I wasn't even
really hungry.
So that taught me like tolisten to my body.
I'm really not starving rightnow.
I think I in the past I wouldgo, I need to eat.
I could feel a little rumblingin my tummy, but when I started
driving and I started thefasting I was like I would pat
myself on the tummy, I would goyou're going to be all right.

(17:29):
And I was reminding myselfphysically that you have plenty,
you're going to get through.
So it actually didn't, that'sright.
I was like you can do this.
And I was like, anyway, you'renot going to die here, you've
got plenty to get us throughtill three o'clock.
So it was surprising that itdidn't and it got easier, like
it.
I wouldn't even have to do thatfor very long.

(17:55):
How long is it before you thinkyou know somebody would make
the adjustment?
Where it gets to?
You know, where it doesn't feellike it's even a big
distraction to think about noteating.
When does it get easier?
What's the timeframe?

That is a great question and we're also very
different with our metabolichealth.
So somebody who has beenstruggling with obesity maybe
for decades and used to eating alot, maybe someone who has a
fatty liver, for example, a lotof people have fatty liver
disease from snacking, not fromalcohol.
These days it's just fromeating, and that's a real
problem in our society.
Someone who has a lot ofmetabolic issues, it may take

(18:29):
them longer because your body'sgoing to work on clearing out
that fatty liver first before itcan tap into the fat on your
thighs or wherever else it mightbe.
So you may have a lot moremetabolic healing.
For someone who is prettymetabolically healthy but just
ready to get started withfasting, the transition could
happen a lot more quickly.
We say 28 days.

(18:50):
I've got my book 28-Day FastStart, day by Day, which is
available on audiobook fortruckers who like to listen.
It has a reflection component,but you can just think about it
while you're driving and eachday there's a different lesson.
So 28 days is about um, maybean average amount of time, but
just keeping in mind that itcould be.

(19:12):
It could be less time or itcould be longer if you've got,
you know, more metabolic issuesthat your body has to work
through, because we all start ata different point of health.
You know, I think about it likegoing into the forest.
You know if you're, if you walkinto a forest and then you
decide I'm going to turn and goout of the forest, you have to
walk back the same distance thatyou came out.
So you know, if you're a longway into the forest, you've got

(19:35):
to walk back a long way.

Okay, that's a good analogy.
Okay, yeah, that's helpful.
Okay, well, I really like this.
So tell us a little bit about aclean fast and I'll tell you my
experience.
I had, um, I learned aboutintermittent fasting from my
older brother and he had I'dseen him in a while and he
dropped a bunch of weight.
I'm like, what are you doing?
You look great, he looks so fitand you know, and he goes.
I've been doing intermittentfasting and he told me he had

(19:58):
this six hour eating window andthen he didn't eat the rest of
the time.
And my first response was, ohmy Lord, I could not do that.
And I was like, but I couldn'tget over his he looks so great.
And he said, yeah, I'm eatingwhatever I want during that time
.
You know I'm not going crazy,but you know I could still, you
know, eat a good meal and itjust sustains me, and I just
have a little snack your book atthe time.
And I was like, and I would eat,um, I was already drinking

(20:20):
black coffee, so I that wasn'tbreaking my fast, but when I was
having that little craving, Ithink it was just a habit of
eating.
I wasn't starving, but I waslike, well, let me just pop in
some sugar-free gum, causethat'll help me get me through,
cause I just need to make ittill three o'clock.

(20:41):
I swear, jen, I would go to awhole pack of gum and I would be
and I would feel like I wasstarving, anyway.
Then, finally, somebody told meabout your book.
That's when I read um, fast,feast repeat, and I was like, oh
, so I learned about the cleanfast and what's it, what it
means to eat clean and have aclean, you know, fasting window.
So can you tell our audiencereally practically what that

(21:03):
means and why that sugar-freegum was sabotaging my efforts?

Yeah, and yet again it goes back to what we
all just believe, because we'vebeen told calories in, calories
out is all that matters.
So if you're just going fromthe thought of calories in is
all that matters, and I'm goingto fast, and you might think,
well, fasting just means you'renot eating solid food, and
obviously that's true.
But then we're like, well, zerocalories can't possibly make a

(21:28):
difference.
We've got diet sodas, we've gotwater enhancers, we've got the
sugar-free gum, we've gotsugar-free mints, all those
things that didn't exist, youknow, a hundred years ago, but
we've got them all now.
So we think, well, obviously ifI'm just not eating, that's
fasting.
Well, obviously, if I'm justnot eating, that's fasting.
Well, there's a lot more to itthan just calories, like I said
before, and I really learnedthat when I read the obesity

(21:49):
code.
And you know I talked beforeabout insulin and we want to
keep our insulin low.
And so there are three goals tothe clean fast and when you
understand the three fastinggoals, it helps, you know.
You know what would be aproblem and what wouldn't be.
The first goal is related toinsulin.
We want to keep our insulin lowand, as I said before, having

(22:11):
constant high levels of insulinkeeps us from burning fat.
Insulin is antilepilitic, whichmeans it works against fat
burning.
Lipolysis is fat burning.
So when your insulin is high,you're actually in storage mode,
because insulin is designed towork in our bodies.
We eat food and then our body,our pancreas, releases insulin
to help us store away the bloodsugar.
That's how it's supposed towork.

(22:33):
That's why diabetics have totake injections of insulin,
because your body can't workwithout insulin.
Insulin's important, but here'sa little sneaky thing about
insulin.
Our bodies release insulin inresponse to food, but also when
our brain thinks food is comingin, there's something called the
cephalic phase insulin response.

(22:54):
Cephalic refers to your brain,a brain-based insulin response.
When you're chewing gum thathas a sweetness to it, when
you're drinking a diet soda thattastes sweet.
When you're putting waterenhancers in your water that
tastes like fruit, when you'reputting lemon in your water,
when you're having thatsugar-free mint, putting that

(23:14):
splash of cream in your coffee,the brain says I know what this
is, this is sweet.
And your brain relates that tolike sugary things, because all
throughout history, when you hada food taste in your mouth, you
were getting in some kind ofsugar coming in right, and so
your body prepares for thatsugar that's coming in by
putting a little insulin out foryou.

(23:36):
So by having that gum or thatdiet soda or that water enhancer
or the lemon in your water,your pancreas pumps out some
insulin in response to it, eventhough it's got zero calories.
So that cephalic phase insulinresponse.
I was like, wow, that explains,because I was not fasting clean
.
I was fasting but I wasn'tfasting clean.

(23:57):
I was having diet sodas, I waschewing gum all the time, I was
drinking flavored water and Iwas white knuckling it every day
.

That's exactly how I would describe it.
I'm like, okay, you can do it.
You could do it.
It's supposed to get easier.

You know, I was motivated because I was losing
weight, but it was hard and itfelt awful.
And so after I read the obesitycode, I was like, all right,
I'm going to do it.
I took the stevia out of mycoffee, I took the cinnamon out,
I took all of it out, all theflavors, all the gum, everything
, and I started fasting clean.
And, oh my gosh, it was so mucheasier.

(24:34):
I couldn't believe it.
So that's fasting goal oneAvoid anything that has a food
flavor, sweetness, anything likethat.
That is going to make yourbrain think that food is coming
in.
So fasting goal number two iswe would like to tap into stored
fat for fuel.
Well, in order to tap intostored fat, we should not be
putting in any source ofcalories.
And so sometimes people mightsay well, you know, I heard

(24:55):
something about something calledbulletproof coffee and they
said it doesn't break a fast,it's got butter in it, it's got
you know whatever coconut oil,and that's great because it's
going to give you mental clarity.
Well, you know, maybe you'llhave some mental clarity from
all that fat you're putting inyour coffee, but you're not
going to tap into your storedfat for fuel.
So we want to tap into ourstored fat and use the energy

(25:16):
that's already on hand, so youdo not want to put anything in
your coffee or your tea that isgoing to be a source of fuel for
your body.
You want to clear the fat outof your fatty liver.
You want to clear the glycogenout of your liver.
You want to burn your ownstored fat.
So don't put in anything thatyour body could use as fuel
while you're fasting.
And then the third fasting goalhas to do with something called

(25:37):
autophagy, and we want to haveincreased autophagy while we're
fasting.
And you know what in the worldis autophagy?
And it's something that I'dnever heard of until 2016.
And in 2016, the Naval Prize inMedicine was awarded to a
researcher who was researchingautophagy, which is our body's
cellular housekeeping.
Basically, it's like our body'srecycling and upcycling process

(26:01):
.
You've got some old cellularjunk sitting around, some junky
proteins that are no longerneeded.
Your body cleans it up, and youknow we have to have our bodies
able to clean things up, buteating all the time halts
autophagy.
Eating protein halts autophagy.
So we want to have increasedautophagy during the fasting

(26:22):
time.
Our body can have that cellularhouse cleaning time, and so we
avoid ingesting anything thathas protein, like bone broth,
for example.
There are people who say oh, Ijust do a bone broth fast.
Well, that's not fasting,because you're taking in protein
.

Okay, and just so we're clear, you're just
saying, when you're doing thefasting, not to eliminate
protein during your eatingwindow, oh gosh, yeah, okay I.
To eliminate protein duringyour eating window.
Oh gosh, yeah, okay.
I just want to clarify we'retalking about the clean fast,
okay, okay, got it, we'refasting.

Okay, thank you.
All of these things are forduring the fast, Okay okay.
The food flavor.
We don't want the source offuel, we don't want the protein
during the fast.
Okay, so we want those threefasting goals.
If you are fasting you want to.
Number one keep insulin low.
Number two don't put anysources of fuel.
Number three don't have anyprotein during the fast.

(27:09):
When your eating window opens,you're going to have insulin
response and that's normal andexpected and you want it.
When your eating window opens,you're going to put in fuel or
you're going to have protein,but just during the fast you
want to fast clean.
So what can you have, right?
Right, it's really so easy.
You can have plain water and Iknow a lot of people listening
are probably used to puttingsomething in your water for

(27:31):
flavor.
We've gotten to the point nowthat people say, oh, I hate the
taste of plain water and we gotto retrain our taste buds to not
be looking for flavor sensationall the time.
Um, so plain water, plainsparkling water, with no flavors
.
That can be hard to find.
I know if you're stopping at thetruck, stop, you look and you
want to grab something and youlook at the flavor, or you look

(27:53):
at the sparkling water sectionat all, like lemon, lime,
whatever.
You can't have any of that,just stick to the plain, if you
can find it.
And then you want to stick toblack coffee and plain tea, and
this is another problem I thinkthat you're going to find with
your trucker community that'sstopping at truck stops.
You can probably find blackcoffee that's hot, no problem at

(28:16):
all.
But you may want to reach intothe refrigerated section and
grab some kind of cold brewcoffee or some kind of bottled
tea, and that is where you'regoing to need to read
ingredients brew coffee or somekind of bottled tea.
And that is where you're goingto need to read ingredients,
because the only ingredients onyour tea and coffee should be
tea and water or coffee andwater.
And they like to put in a lotof sneaky things like citric

(28:36):
acid, which adds a tangy lemonyflavor.
You might not even realize that, but it's that tangy flavor
from the citric acid, or thecoffee might have natural
flavors added, which is going tomake your brain think food is
coming in.
So you've got to read thoselabels.
Make sure it's just coffee andwater, that's it.

(28:58):
Tea and water, that's it.
So that's it.
Black coffee, plain tea, plainwater, unflavored sparkling
water, and that's really prettymuch all you should be putting
in your mouth during the fast.

Okay, I love this.
Very practical, very doable, um, you know, and also at truck
stops there's a hot water thing,so people want tea rather than
coffee.
They can get.
It's really easy to get hotwater there and brew your own
tea back in the truck, so that'sa good option for drivers and
can.

I pop in there real quick that it needs to be
real tea and not all thoseherbal teas Like I used to drink
before I learned about theClean Fast.
I used to drink apple cinnamonherbal tea.
You don't want that.
Anything that's got a sweetnessor a fruit food flavor, ignore
it.
Just get your regular Lipton,plain old orange Pico tea, which

(29:41):
now sounds even more confusingbecause orange Pico sounds like
it's orange flavor, but that'sjust a grade of tea.
So if your confusing becauseorange Pico sounds like it's
orange flavor, but that's just agrade of tea.
So if your tea says orange Picotea, it's fine.

Oh good, I didn't know that.
That's good to know.
And the other thing at thetruck stop there's lots of
coffee flavors.
So what about a pumpkin spiceor a hazelnut pecan?
What about those?
Could those work or that's aproblem?

I'm so glad you asked, because of course no,
those are all going to befood-like flavors.
You want to avoid any kind offlavored anything because your
brain is going to be like, ooh,pumpkin, spice, yummy.
And our brains have not adaptedto the modern world where these
are artificially flavored, zerocalorie things.
So you just want your coffee totaste like coffee, just plain

(30:23):
old coffee.
And for anybody who's listening, this is.
But I hate black coffee.
I can't do that.
I promise you can.
When I read the obesity code andrealized I was going to have to
cut out my vanilla cream,stevia and I was going to have
to cut out my cinnamon and mycoffee that made it delicious.
I was, I was mad.
I'm like well, I can't, I can'tdrink it black, so I'm just
going to have to give up coffeecompletely.
And so, like for two days Ididn't drink any coffee.

(30:46):
And then I realized I missed it, Like I missed having my hot
coffee, just the ritual, thesmell of the coffee in the
morning.
I really enjoyed having it.
So I'm like okay, maybe I canstart to like black.
I don't know.
I didn't think I could, but Ijust started drinking it and it
tasted so bad I was like mad andI was like this gross.

(31:08):
But a funny thing happened thatyou know, after less than a
week my taste buds had adaptedto it and our taste buds turn
over, like the taste buds youhave today are not the same ones
you're going to have in a weekor two weeks.
Our taste buds adapt to whatwe're putting in and so you will
adapt to that bitter flavorprofile.

(31:29):
And now that is how I prefercoffee.
Like I'm drinking some rightnow while we're talking.
And the old me who drank what Iwould call a hot milkshake you
know it was.
You know those lattes or evenwhatever those are hot
milkshakes and I loved them andI had lattes all the time, all
day long, before fasting, and Iwould never have guessed that

(31:52):
I'd be drinking black coffeebecause that was a weirdo thing
to drink.
But now that is what I prefer.
And can I say badass on yourshow?
You sure can.
And you know it just feelsbadass to just you go to a
coffee shop and everybody'sordering their frappuccino with
whip or whatever and I'm likejust black, I just want it black
.
Like do you need room for cream?

(32:12):
I'm like nope.

It's funny the response you get.
I have that same experience too.
They're like of course you're atruck driver and you drink
black coffee.
What else would I expect fromyou?
I'm like what, it's good, youget used to it.
Okay, I had a similarexperience giving up creamer in
my coffee and I had the sameexperience.
I was also angry and I was likeI don't think I could do this.
This is the best part of mymorning and but it did shift.

(32:35):
One thing that helped me is Iwould not make my coffee quite
as strong when I went back forthe beginning.
Now I can drink it a little bitstronger because I enjoy that
coffee flavor, but I added alittle bit of hot water.
You know, when I was at a truckstop I would just add a little
bit of hot water because I wasused to adding creamer.
So that really strong, strongcoffee was great.

(32:56):
But when I was transitioning,that was something that really
helped me just to lighten up thebrew just a little bit and
wasn't quite so bitter.

Now I'm bring it on yeah, that is a great tip.
As much creamer or cream as youput in, add an equal amount of
water instead.
I've actually heard peoplesuggest that and that it worked
for them because your mouth isused to that, but then you can
gradually increase the strength.
Now I drink a cuban roast right.
It's really really strong androbust.

Well, this is so great and it's so helpful.
Now, you know, with drivers,you know our nutrition, you know
we have a, you know we're,we're busy and we're.
Our work hours are very longbut we're not moving.
We're usually just driving formost of the day, so not lots of
physical um.
We don't have a lot of time forphysical activity and working
out.
And then the other problem thatwe face is when we get to a

(33:46):
truck stop, or you know, somepeople are cooking in their
truck, which is great, but a lotof people.
There's days you just don'thave time to do that.
You got to grab a quick lunchand so you're running into the
truck stop to grab some.
The food choices aren't alwaysso great.
Is intermittent fasting goingto work when their nutritional
choices are not as great?
I mean, talk to me a little bitabout the quality of the food

(34:07):
that we're taking in during oureating window and how we
transition to making changes.

Yep.
So let's think about you know,the truck stop food and not
fasting versus fasting.
So just contrast how you mightbe living right now not as an
intermittent faster for peoplewho are listening the way you're
eating right now, if you're notmaking great nutritional
choices but you're eating allday, you're having issues
related to eating all day thatare impacting your health
negatively.

(34:35):
If all you do is shrink downthe amount of time that you're
eating to give your body thattime for insulin to be low, for
you to tap into your fat stores,for your body to have that
autophagy where you're doing thecellular housekeeping, you just
eat the same foods you wereeating, but in a smaller period
of time.
That is going to give positivehealth benefits to you.
So just making that one changewill help.

(34:58):
Now, over time, a funny thinghappens for most of us.
When I first startedintermittent fasting, I was
eating the standard Americandiet.
Like I said, I was 210 pounds.
I was really going through aphase where I was sick of
dieting because I had triedeverything and giving up foods
didn't work.
Nothing that I had done, nodiet worked or was sustainable.
So I'm like I am never going todo that again.

(35:20):
I just can't.
That's why intermittent fastingwas so appealing, because,
literally, you just eat withinyour window and that's all you
have to do.
And so I just continued to eatthe standard American diet and I
lost my first 55 pounds, eatingjust the same exact way that I
was.
And then, you know, I wanted tospeed things up a little bit,
and I'd read a book that talkedabout not eating processed foods

(35:40):
.
So I gave that a try.
So I gave that a try, and loand behold, when I was eating
real food, not only was it moresatisfying, but I started to
lose weight more quickly In myeating window.
I was eating nothing but realfood and I wasn't counting fat,
I wasn't restricting butter, Iwas putting lots of butter and
sour cream on a baked potato andhaving beans with cheese.
And you know I was eatingplenty of food.

(36:01):
But I started to lose weightmore quickly.
So for me, intermittent fastingplus real food just accelerated
what was going on.
But, like I said, the first 55pounds I just continued to eat
the way I had always eaten.
But once I started eatingbetter foods and again I started
eating the better foods becauseI wanted my weight loss to pick

(36:24):
up I started craving betterfoods.
So the better foods I ate, thebetter foods I wanted to eat.
So if I were at a truck stop, Iwould look for the freshest
things that were there.
I would skip the chips you knowthere are a lot of snacky foods
like that but I would look for,like you know, the boiled eggs
and the cheese and the um.
And they have the little wrapsmaybe you know, like turkey and

(36:47):
cheese with lettuce on a wrap orsomething like that.
And okay, you can have somechips with that if you want to.
But I would center the mealaround the freshest food that
you can find.
And you know, notice, I didn'tsay you have to eat the salads.
Right, if you love salads, eatthe salads.
But salads just don't satisfyme the same way.
That like a, a wrap would, orsomething like that, or a

(37:11):
burrito, you know.
Think about something that'sgoing to really fill you up and
be satisfying, but have realfood in the center of it, like
the beans and the cheese and thechicken and you know, whatever
it is that's going to make youfeel satisfied and your body's
going to recognize that as realfood.

I want to talk about the 28 days and kind of
walk us through a little bit ofthat process.
But, um, cause I'm I'minterested.
As you're talking, I'm thinking, should we be thinking about
how much we're eating then?
And so why don't you just,rather than answer that question
but that's rolling around inthe back of my head as you're
talking like should we bethinking about calories or no?
Um, I know we're not supposedto do it, so I tried to break
that habit.

(37:44):
But tell us about practicallyin that first month.
So somebody's been eating,snacking all day and having a
snack before bed and we'reeating creamer in the coffee and
eating a big lunch.
We've just been snacking,snacking, snacking as we drive.
Give us how to get started andthen we'll have more resources
available for everybody at theend.
Um, can you kind of give us anoverview about what that first

(38:07):
month is going to look like?

Yep, and I really do think that 28 day fast start,
day by day the audio book isgoing to be such a good resource
for your your drivers, tolisten to their driving Cause
every day.
There's like just a little bitsomething to listen to and at
the beginning it walks youthrough choosing how you want to
begin.
You know there's like a littlequiz that you can take and you
can just take it mentally asyou're listening to the book and

(38:33):
you decide what approach youwant to follow, and then it just
walks you through every day.
You have like okay, this is theapproach I'm following for
today and you just stick to it.
And every day there's a lessonthat goes along with what you're
doing that day, and then timefor you to reflect on the day
and how it went, and you don'thave to guess.
You know how long should I faston day one, because you're

(38:54):
choosing it in the book andyou're going to.
You know when to adapt and whento adjust.
That's all in there and you'rejust going to respond to what
feels good to you.
Also, every day there is aninspirational spotlight from a
successful intermittent faster.
That came on the IntermittentFasting Stories podcast and I've
now recorded over 440 episodes.
So there is a lot.
Y'all can listen toinspirational stories and but

(39:18):
every day there's thatinspirational spotlight where
that person who was on thepodcast is like here's how my
life has been since the podcast.
And then it tells you whatpodcast episode they were, so
you can go listen to theiroriginal story too on that day.
So you can listen to the dailyinspirational spotlight and then
go and listen to their wholepodcast episode to know more

(39:40):
about them.
So there's lots and lots thatyou can listen to and really,
just like you saw your brotherbeing successful, just like I
talked about at the beginning,it's word of mouth, it's people
telling people.
That is how this movementstarted and how it grows and
continues.
You know, I had people say to mein like a health and wellness
community I was part of.
How did you do it?
I'm like I didn't do anything.

(40:01):
I just put some information outthere and the people share it
because it's good informationand people know truth when they
hear it, and so I didn't have todo anything.
People just told each otherabout it and that's why this is
so powerful so you can listen tothe stories of others and let
them share their success withyou and then you'll be empowered
to try it for yourself.

(40:21):
So that's really what 28 dayfast start, day by day, will do
for you.
And I talk about some of themost common pitfalls along the
way, like overeating at thebeginning and why that might
happen, like you talked aboutjust before.
You asked that question aboutcalories and what can we eat and
is it too much, and should wecount them.
Well, when your body isadapting during that first 28

(40:42):
days, you're not well-fueledduring the fast yet Because,
remember how I said, your bodyhas to learn how to tap into
your stored fuel and becauseyour body isn't good at that yet
, because you're still learninghow to do that for the 28 days,
or however long it takes yourbody, when you open your window,
you might be starving becauseyour body has just not really

(41:02):
had a good tapping into fuel yet.
So you overeat at first toovercompensate for that.
But once your body flips thatswitch, once your body's like,
okay, okay, I've got the storedfuel, I'm going to use that.
Suddenly your window opens.
You've got your food ready, youstart eating it.
You're no longer just shovingit in, you're no longer feeling

(41:22):
like you need to overeat and wecall that appetite correction.
Shoving it in, you're no longerfeeling like you need to
overeat, and we call thatappetite correction.
And it's when your bodyrecognizes that there's plenty
of fuel.
You've got the stored fuel.
You've been using that duringthe fast now because you're
adapted and you don't need toeat as much during your eating
window.
And you'll be eating and you'llget through your meal and you
will still have food left over,a meal that you would have

(41:44):
finished before.
And suddenly your body's likeokay, I'm full.
You're like what?
How could I be full?
I'm not finished yet, butyou'll.
You'll suddenly start tuningback into those hunger and
satiety signals when your body'shad enough.
And that's why you don't haveto count the single calorie.
I guarantee if I had to countcalories or count carbs or count
fat for this to work, I wouldhave quit a long time ago.

Yeah, that's a part for me.
I'm like I couldn't do it.
I'm like I'm not disciplinedenough to do that.
I've got so many things on mymind, I do not want to be
thinking about how many caloriesin this apple.

No, and also you can't know.
That's the funny part, you knowwhen I would do those calorie
counting diets in the past,before intermittent fasting, and
I would try so hard.
You know, if you're trying tocount calories it's really hard.
You look at an apple and youhave no idea.
You know, like one medium apple.
Well, I don't know, is this amedium apple?
I have no idea.
So instead you're like well, Icould get this a hundred calorie
pack of Graham crackers.

(42:38):
I know that's a hundred becauseit says it on the label.
So I'm not going to eat thismystery apple that I don't
really know what's in it.
I'm going to eat this packagedfood instead.
And so counting caloriesactually steers you towards the
crap, because it's easy to countthe crap because it's on the
label, whereas I don't know howmany calories are in these
grapes that I'm eating.
But you know what?

(42:59):
It doesn't matter, because mybody recognizes those grapes as
nutritious food versus the 100calorie snack pack of graham
crackers.
My body's like what was that?
That wasn't it Send?

something else down.
Well, I love that you talkabout this transition that
happens in your body, because Iremember that for me and I was
like how is it possible that Iam feeling satisfied eating this
little tiny lunch when I justwent 18 hours without food?
Yeah, and it's incredible, andit's so.
It feels so good.
I'm like, oh my gosh, I felt Ifelt free, honestly, like I had

(43:32):
been like constantly thinkingabout food and snacking and
trying to um manage all thecravings that my body was having
during the day.
I felt I finally had felt likeI made a switch over to like
like I was in control of whatwas happening with my body and I
was, I was being good to mybody and I was like it was such
a great feeling even before thepounds started coming off.

(43:54):
So it was just such a greatfeeling and I still enjoy that
very much.

Well, how much, how much weight have you lost?

Can you share that?
Yeah, I've only.
I've only lost about 10 pounds,10, 15 pounds.
But and I stopped fasting for awhile I'm looking forward to
doing I'm going to do a 28 daystart again to get back to it.
But, um, I didn't have, Iwasn't, you know, really big,
but, um, I was mainly justconcerned cause I was eating
really yucky foods and um, andyou know, my energy was not
great and um, you know, justconstantly craving sweet things.

(44:23):
So it was more a concern about,um, just the junk I was eating
and I didn't know I needed tostop that cycle of the cravings
and um, so that was more of theappeal for me than the weight
loss and I put on a few pounds.
So I want to, I want to getback to it for that reason.
But, um, but I just love theway that my body feels when I'm
I'm fasting, and the sharpnessof my brain, the clarity of

(44:45):
thought and then the sustainedenergy.
I have days that I, like Iusually would start my fast at,
my eating window would open atthree o'clock, and I've had days
where I was, you know, maybedoing a delivery at that time or
, you know, having to dosomething with the truck and
where I wasn't able to stop andhave a meal and I ended up
eating at six o'clock and Ithought how could I?

(45:05):
It's possible that I went.
I've even had a day when I went24 hours and I was like I
wasn't doing it on purpose, justthe scheduling was just working
out and I wasn't even just feltlike I was dying.
I was starting to have somesymptoms like okay, like I'm,
I'm hungry.
Now it's starting to feel alittle bit like I need to eat.

(45:28):
But it really was shocking tome that that could happen and
I'm like I don't do that often,but when it happened I was like
wait a minute, what is happeningwith my body?
So just really exciting.

Yeah, our bodies are amazingly capable when we
get out of the way and let themdo what they need to do in the
background.
And the fact that you feel somuch better after your body
adapts, you know, know,illustrates that our bodies are
meant to to be metabolicallyflexible.
Because you think about, youknow, ancient man back there and
two thousand years ago, orthree thousand, however many,
how many thousands of years ago,there wasn't a place to stop

(45:59):
and get some food real quick,couldn't have a little snack,
you know.
So they had to be able to huntand gather and stay mentally
sharp and have the energy to doit.
So our bodies are designed tobe able to flip that switch and
be justified, because ifeverybody got real weak, if they
weren't eating all the time, wewould not have survived as a
species, if you think about it.

Right.
So when you say, when you'restarting the 28 day, fast fast,
and I'm going to get that onaudiobook and listen to it when
I do my restart, so when I'mdoing that period, would you say
that it's important to have ahard schedule for your eating
window or should there be timeswhere I'm like so in the
beginning, it's very importantto be disciplined, I think so

(46:42):
that's the most important timeand that's why I have the plans
in there for you to follow,because you know, every day
during the fast start, you knowlike maybe you start off with
the in the middle approach.

That's probably the one I would suggest for you.
I mean, although you might beable to do the bandaid off
approach, where really, at thebeginning, all you're doing is
you're just skipping breakfastand pushing back and you're
going to open at lunch.
Right, you're just shrinking it.
Maybe at the beginning youstart with an eight-hour eating
window, you're just skippingbreakfast and then you're having
lunch and dinner.
But you really do need to stickto it because your body has to

(47:18):
do some physical changes inorder for you to become adapted
and if you're too loosey-goosey,you're just extending the
period of time that it takes.
You know I mentioned that Idabbled in intermittent fasting
from 2009 to 2014.
Of course, one of the problemswas I wasn't fasting clean, but
also, like I said, I wasdabbling.
I might would try to do itMonday through Thursday, but

(47:40):
then Friday we had, you know,sweet treat day at work, and so
I'm like, well, I'm going to eatthese muffins because they're
here and they're free, and thenSaturday I didn't fast.
Sunday I didn't fast.
And so then Monday I'm like,all right, I'm going to try
again.
I just was stuck in the hardpart over and over.
My body never adapted.
Because I was never adapted.
I was like, well, this isn'tworking.
Well, it didn't work because Iwas not really doing it.

(48:03):
And so when you give yourselfthe discipline to say, okay, I'm
going to follow this for 28days and I know that it's going
to have some challenging momentsand I'm going to have to say no
to some stuff, but I'm reallyteaching my body how to do
something and it will feelbetter.
On the other side, you justhave to keep in mind that you've
got to get through thatadjustment period and the more

(48:25):
flexible you are, the harderit's going to get to adjust.

Okay, so it's just taking longer for your body
to get in the habit of.
Okay, I like that, that'shelpful, so just press through.
You got to just do it.
Well, and I was, when I washaving those cravings I was like
, am I bored?
And I had, I moved food out forway out of reach from the, you
know, when I was driving.
So that was helpful and I wouldhave times where I'm like, am I
really hungry right now or am Ijust bored and I would go, I

(48:49):
would call a friend.
I'm like I'm like gettinghyper-focused on wanting to eat
right now and I'm not evenreally hungry, but I just can't
seem to stop thinking about it.
So can we just talk for a fewminutes?
And then those those timeswould fade, where it would be a
little bit easier.
So it got to be, um, where itwasn't such a preoccupation.
During the fasting I wasn'tconstantly thinking about, you

(49:11):
know, denying myself Exactly.
So very encouraging, veryhelpful.
Well, okay, you told us aboutyou have two podcasts, so I want
you to tell our audience aboutthose, Cause I know that they're
going to want to follow you.
So tell us about those and thentell us about the books that
you've written and how they're alittle bit different because
you've written a lot Well.

I have.
I've written a lot, all right.
So I've mentioned intermittentfasting stories before and that
is a podcast where I talk tointermittent fasters who share
their stories and they're allover the place as far as the
different stories go A lot ofdifferent age groups, different
reasons for fasting.
I interviewed someone yesterdaywho never needed to lose weight

(49:51):
.
She was a healthy weight, verylean, but wanted to prevent
weight gain and she went throughmenopause all the way to
stories where people lost 140pounds with intermittent fasting
and that sort of thing.
So everything on either extremeand in the middle.
I also have a podcast calledFast Feast Repeat Intermittent
Fasting for Life and that'snamed after my book Fast Feast

(50:13):
Repeat, and I have a co-host onthat one.
Her name is Sherry Bullock andshe and I became friends through
my intermittent fastingFacebook group, which I no
longer have.
I'm no longer on Facebook, butwe met and she joined my
Facebook group have.
I'm no longer on Facebook, butwe met and she joined my
Facebook group and now we'rereally good friends and she's
been doing intermittent fastingfor a long time herself and so
on that podcast.
We're very much a communitydriven podcast, so we rely on

(50:36):
submissions from listeners.
We share a weekly celebration.
Each week we answer listenerquestions, we share book
recommendations and otherresource recommendations.
We have our tweak of the weekwhere someone shares what
they're doing to helpintermittent fasting work for
them and in their lifestyle, andwe also leave listeners with an
inspirational quote or story atthe end.

(50:59):
So we really love doing thatpodcast and I think that your
truck driving audience willenjoy listening to it as well.
I love working with Sherry.
She's very sensible, of course.
I think I'm pretty sensible toobut I love your show.

I think it's a great show.
I highly recommend it.
So it's a lot of fun.
You guys have a good rapporttogether and I really love
hearing the stories from peoplethat are making it work.
It's just, it's just like, yes,that could be, could be me.
You know, I'm doing it, I'm onmy path and we're all so
different.

That's the thing that keeps coming out, really.
Whichever podcast you'relistening to, you know the
lifestyle that works for me JenStevens might not be what works
for you and the way that I haveto adapt it to work for me, and
the foods that work for me, andthe whole idea from beginning to

(51:52):
end.
Every book I've ever written,every resource I put out, never
forget.
My roots are elementary schoolteacher, and so my life mission
is to empower people to learnhow to do things for themselves
that work for them.
Whether it was teaching math toa third grader, to teaching
intermittent fasting to a70-year-old, you know you have
the power to learn from whatyou're doing and adapt and

(52:13):
adjust and make it work for you,whether it's long division or
finding your ideal fastingwindow.
And so in my books, the firstone I wrote was Delay.
Don't Deny, I wrote that in 2016and self-published it, and I
have just revised that one, solook for the one.
If you're looking for apaperback, it's on Amazon only.

(52:34):
The e-book is availableeverywhere, but you want to make
sure you find the one.
That's the second edition,published in August of 2024.
The second edition is updatedand it has more up-to-date stuff
.
Like I don't talk about theclean fast in the first edition,
because we weren't using thatterminology yet oh, I see, okay,
yeah yeah, so, and the successstories have been updated as

(52:56):
well.
It's like the success stories inthe first edition.
They um I'm so grateful thatpeople shared them, but it was
before I had written any of mybooks or had a podcast.
So some of the success storiesin that first edition there were
just people who were doingfasting, and so a lot of the
things that they did may not bewhat I would recommend now
looking back.

(53:17):
So that's why it was soimportant to get updated success
stories and the second editionof Delayed On Tonight.
The success stories in the backare my favorite part.
They are just so inspiring.
So for someone who's just goingto listen, I would recommend
Fast Feast Repeat.
That is my New York Timesbestseller.
It came out in 2020.
And Fast Feast Repeat will giveyou lots to listen to and it

(53:40):
teaches you from start to finish.
It's really the comprehensiveGod which it says in the
subtitle and it has you knowquestions you might not even
think to ask yet, and it's alsoone that you can come back to.
You know, after you've beenliving the lifestyle for maybe
six months, listen to it againand you will hear things
differently because you now haveexperience living it, you're
like, oh, now it makes moresense.

(54:02):
So the first time you listen toit you're not going to catch
everything that you'll catch thesecond time.

Yeah, that was my experience with that book.
I've listened to it severaltimes and each time I'm like, oh
, that's why it explains what'shappening in my body.
It's very encouraging becauseI'm like this is working.
These are the signs that it'sworking.

The longer you've done it, the more sense the book
will make Really, yeah, sohelpful.
The longer you've done it, themore sense the book will make.
Yeah, really, you're like okay,now I really understand what
she said there.
I flipped it.
Yeah, that's good.
28-day fast start, day by day,is a great resource for anyone
who's starting, or if you'regetting back started again, like
you, cindy, and you've beenkind of away for a while and you
want a little refresher.

(54:41):
Okay, so it's the guide tostarting or restarting your
intermittent fasting lifestyle,so it sticks, and the whole way
through.
I really want to focus peopleon having a powerful why,
because I say this every singleweek on the Fast Feast Repeat
podcast but when your why isdeeper than weight loss alone,
you are more likely to considerintermittent fasting to be a

(55:03):
lifestyle.
If I had just gotten to my goalweight in 2015 and like, all
right, I'm done withintermittent fasting, I would
have gained all the weight back,of course, if I'd stopped
intermittent fasting, but Iwould have missed out on so many
health benefits Like, forexample, I haven't needed
allergy medication since 2016.
I used to have terribleallergies and I don't anymore,

(55:27):
and I'm 55 years old now and Ifeel stronger than I did when I
was in my thirties and I feellike, you know, the increased
autophagy is going to keep mehealthy.
I haven't been to the doctorfor an illness since, I guess,
2016 or 2015.
I can't even remember it wasearly in my fasting journey the
last time I had a sick doctorvisit.

I mean I haven't been in an antibiotic.

That's great, I mean it's just.
My immune system is working somuch better Because think about
it you have time for your bodyto attack what it needs to
attack.
Digestion takes a lot ofresources and so it's just
really changed everything.
So when you're understandingwhy you're fasting beyond just
the weight loss then you reallyjust don't want to quit.

(56:07):
I have a book also calledCleanish when someone's ready
for a deeper dive and it's not afasting book, although fasting
is in it when you're ready toclean up your food choices and
maybe the products you put onyour body, like your lotion and
your skin care and your shampooand your deodorant, because,
turns out, those things domatter.
We want to keep our toxic loadlow.

You might want to take out the air freshener
out of your truck for example, Iknow I tell people that I'm
like it's not great for you tobe breathing that in that little
bitty space.

It really isn't and we're used to it because we
grow up using our scented.
My stepmother used Gaindetergent and so my sister's
like laundry isn't clean unlessit smells like Gain and I'm like
, well, actually clean has noscent.
Yeah, Really clean.
So sometimes you're ready forthat.
But, like when I try to ridewith my sister in her car, she's

(57:00):
got the air freshener hangingdown.
It gives me a headache.
And so she doesn't get aheadache because her body's used
to it.
But I'm like, what is thatdoing?
You shouldn't even know.
Anyhow, that's my littlesoapbox there on clean-ish.
But you know, notice the ish atthe end of it.
You know I just make thechanges where I can and I'm not,
you know, crazy about it.

(57:21):
You know I'm not going to be atsomebody's house refusing to
eat something because I don'tknow what's in it.
You know I'm clean-ish.
I make good choices, the bestthat I can.
In the situation I wouldtotally eat at a truck stop and
have a wrap and some boiled eggs, and you know I would.
I would have that with noproblem.
I'm making the best choice forwhere I am.

Yeah, I really like that.
I like that we talk aboutbecoming healthier truckers.
So we're not looking forperfection, because that's just
always a pass-fail thing and youfeel like crap all the time
about that.
It makes you crazy.
Yeah, it does make you crazy.
I'm not going to go that way.
Yeah.

What's in this wrap, I don't care.
It's the healthiest choicethat's available to me and
that's what I'm going to pick.
I can make it an organicchicken and an organic wrap, but
I'm not going to obsess over itif I'm out in public.
Last night I had a hot dog withchili and trivia with my
friends and fries.

You're not feeling too bad this morning.
That's great.
I love it.
Well, Jen, thank you so muchfor coming on the show.
I'm so grateful for your time.
Do you have anything else thatyou want to share with our
audience before we wrap up?

Any parting words I would just like to share that
you can do it, you know.
If you're thinking well, Ican't do it because I can't
drink black coffee, yes, you can.
Or if you're thinking well, Ican't do it because I have
hypoglycemia, well, the reasonyou have hypoglycemia is because
you're on that blood sugarroller coaster and you need to
teach your body to find the fuelthat's already there.
You can do it, and just you canget out of your own way and let

(58:48):
your body do what it's meant todo.
So I just want everybody toknow that you absolutely can,
and it's never too late.

Well, thank you so much.
We're going to be tuning intoyour podcast.
I know our listeners are goingto tune in and get your books
and it's so encouraging hearingthose stories over and over.
So I just want to thank you foryour time and thank you for
making these resources availablein a way that we can understand
and grasp and make these applyto our life and our lifestyle as
truckers.
So thank you so much, jen.

(59:17):
I'm so grateful for you.

Well, you are so very welcome.

Brian Wilson (59:25):
Howdy folks, it's Brian Wilson here, your stand-in
roadie and guide on the side.
Just a quick heads up thisconversation is meant to spark
some great ideas, not serve asmedical advice.
So be sure to check in withyour doctor before trying
anything new because, let's faceit, your doc knows you better
than a podcast ever could.
So stay smart, stay healthy andlet's get it.

(59:46):
Your doc knows you better thana podcast ever could.
So stay smart, stay healthy andlet's get back to today's show.

Lamar Myart (59:52):
Okay, cool.
Yeah, my name is Lamar.
I'm a driver trainer.
I've been driving for aboutfour years now.
I've been training for aboutthree, so I started training
kind of early in my career.
I'm dedicated with basicallyKraft Heinz, so the company I
run with.
I don't go into Californiaanymore, I don't go into New

(01:00:13):
York City anymore and I don't gointo Wyoming.
So I was like, yeah, I can takethat route, I'll definitely
take that.
So I basically run from likeGeorgia to New York, to Texas,
ohio, in the Midwest and theEast Coast.
So that's basically my run,drive a T680KW and yeah, so I've

(01:00:38):
got a student with me now andkeep a student for about three
weeks and then they go toanother trainer for the rest of
their training time.
So because I'm dedicated anddon't go into California, they
have to go to another trainerthat takes them into the
mountains of California.
But my fasting journey kind ofstarted when I was a Christian

(01:00:58):
minister, a preacher.
I started preaching when I wasyoung.
I was a young, 18-year-oldpreacher and you know fasting is
part of the Christian beliefand you know fasting if you can.
The belief behind fasting is ifyou can control what you put in
your mouth, if you can controlwhat you put in your body, you
can control other aspects ofyour life.

(01:01:20):
You know so, if you havecontrol over how you eat, you
have control over other areas ofyour life.
So that's the way I look at it.
So as I got older, you know, Ijust fell off of it and I got
out of it and years later Iended up being a pre-diabetic to
type 1 diabetic.

(01:01:40):
My A1C was basically 11.
And the doc said, well, look,you basically, uh, in order to
drive this truck, man, he waslike I don't, you know you, at
this level you should be oninsulin.
And I was like, nah, man, justhe said, well, look, you got to
do something.
So they put me on a three monthDOT, uh, instead of a year.

(01:02:01):
So I went back to fasting and Ilooked at it and so I started
doing the window and I did it inthree months and my A1C went
down to six, 6.5.
My um average fasting bloodmeasurement was like about, you
know, 100 to 125, which is for atype one diabetic.

(01:02:24):
They consider that controlled.
So I noticed a big difference.
I noticed a difference in mymood, my vision and stuff was
getting blurry and stuff.
So I was getting kind of scaredabout it and so I started back
fasting again and I noticed abig difference.
So I stuck with it.
But you know, again I go throughthings and you know you kind of

(01:02:46):
struggle on the road, like yousaid.
You fall off and you getfrustrated, you say, forget it,
I'm just going to eat whatever,drink whatever.
Then you know the symptoms andeverything come back.
You know we spend years aschildren just eating carbs and
eating sugar and that's where alot of our health issues come
from.
As we get older.
Especially a truck driver, youknow you're sitting all day and

(01:03:09):
so I just started cooking and Ihave an exercise routine.
I try to show my students how Iexercise.
So my fasting consists of I tryto start eating at like noon and
then I give myself about sixhours, you know.
So within that six hours I'lleat and if I want a snack, you

(01:03:32):
know I'll try to just do trailmix, I'll do just almonds,
because snacking is almost likesmoking cigarettes.
You know people smoke, but onereason why they smoke is because
it's a habit.
You know the habit of lightingthe cigarette, the habit of
putting it to your mouth.
It becomes a routine, andthat's the same way.
Eating chips and everything is.

(01:03:52):
It's not really that you'rehungry, it's that you have that
routine.
So you want to get something,you want to put it in your mouth
and you have that routine.
So my routine now is, when I dosmack out snack, I'll use
unsalted peanuts uh, coconutflakes uh, unsweetened coconut

(01:04:14):
flakes, with the peanuts andeverything, just to add a slight
little bit of sugar, but notsweetened coconut.
So that's what I do.
And then the rest of the day Ijust fast.
And if I do get hungry, you knowI like again, I'll just eat
some almonds or something likethat, something very fibrous, um
, eat fruits, you know thingslike that.
So that's basically what Iconsist of.
I consist of eating one mealand then sometimes my schedule

(01:04:37):
depends on what happens.
I may switch the time scheduleso it's not always noon to, like
, you know, six hours latersometimes I may stop at five
o'clock or six o'clock and thenI'll do it.
But also what I try to do, Itry not to eat anything after
seven o'clock.
So when I sleep or when I'msleeping, you know I want to

(01:04:58):
sleep on an empty stomach.
So you know, I want my body tonot have to worry about
digestion a lot of times whenI'm sleeping, because one of the
things that I've also learnedis that, you know, there's a lot
of energy that goes intodigesting and breaking down food
.
So, and that's basically whatI've learned in my study, so

(01:05:20):
that's what I try to do.
I try to exercise, I try toexercise, I do some deep
breathing, you know, I do somemeditation, and stretching,
again, is real important because, you know, I'm 50 now and
people think that I look like,you know, like you're 50, man,
you look like you're 30.
You know, I'm like no, yeah,I'm 50.
So it definitely helps a lot.
And I get some of these 20 yearold students.

(01:05:42):
They get in and out the truck.
They're like oh, you know, theyuse like the old man grunt
getting in and out of the truck.
You know, and I'm like, man,you too young to sound like,
sound like a grandpa getting outof a chair.
But yeah, that's my fasting, myfasting, and again I try to do
12 or eight hours where I'll eatand again I'll cook.
And the one thing about hungeryou know, a lot of times we eat,

(01:06:02):
you know we're hungry and we'llkeep eating, and then, you know
our body triggers us to becontinually be hungry.
So what I do is after you eatabout 15 minutes or so after you
eat something, the hunger tendsto go away, because it takes
about 15 to 20 minutes for yourbrain to process that you've

(01:06:23):
eaten and for your brain toprocess that you know you
satiate it.
So if we don't give ourselvesthat 15 to 20 minutes, you know
may still be hungry, so thenwe'll eat something else.
But then you know that triggersthe brain again.
So once you give your braintime to say, oh, okay, I'm
eating and I'm I'm okay, now youknow your brain will be

(01:06:46):
satisfied.
So it's kind of a balancebetween your gut and it's a
balance between your brain.
But uh, yeah, that's basicallyhow I like to fast.
I do it in the window and, uh,it definitely.
I definitely see the difference.
Uh, I did lose my highestweight.
Uh was like about two 60,.
You know this was years ago andright now I'm at about one.

(01:07:09):
I fluctuate between one 85 toabout one 90.
So I'm about the same size Iwas when I was in the uh ninth
grade in high school.
I wore the same size andeverything.
So the one reason why fastingis important is just, you know
it gives your body time to heal.
It gives your body time to healyour organs.
It gives your body time to healthings inside of you.

(01:07:33):
It gives your body time to rest.
And the thing about hunger whatwe don't really realize is that
there's nothing wrong, in myopinion, with feeling hungry.
There's nothing wrong with yourstomach growling.
That's basically your bodyprocessing.
Your body always makes noiseand that's what people don't

(01:07:54):
realize.
Your stomach is always makingnoise, but when you're full of
food you don't hear it becausethe food muffles it.
So you know to hear yourstomach growl sometimes it's
okay.
You know to be empty sometimesit's all right.
And you know, I don't know aboutpeople's spiritual belief, but

(01:08:14):
the way I look at the creator ofGod, the way God designed us,
god designed us so that we putsome food in, we store some fat,
and so our body uses that fatand our body uses those stored
minerals and stuff.
So our body is actuallydesigned to not always eat
what's in our gut, but I believeour body is designed to eat the

(01:08:37):
fat that we store.
It's designed to eat theminerals that we store.
So when you fast, you may behungry but your body's like,
well, okay, let me tap into thefat supply, let me tap into the
stuff, and then, with your bodyconsuming that stuff, different
issues or different thingsthat's in your body, your body

(01:08:58):
consumes that too, so different.
You know types of bacteria,viruses all that stuff is
considered food to the body.
So you know, if we'reconstantly full, the body is
constantly relying on thatsource.
And what's in our gut instead ofI think it's called compunction
, if I'm not mistaken but yourbody looks to your own fat, your

(01:09:21):
body looks to your own muscles,your body looks to your own,
you know, things that are movingwithin your body is food.
So you give your body a chanceto just start kind of consuming
itself, which is the way we'reactually designed.
You know, we're actuallydesigned to for the body to
consume some of itself, andthat's another reason why

(01:09:43):
fasting, I think, is important.
It gives your body a chance toactually clean house a little
better, you know.
So I do notice a difference.
My mood is better, you know.
My headaches and stuff go away.
My vision is better, I feellighter.

Gemma Ford (01:10:08):
Hi everybody, I'm Gemma Ford and I am an OTR
driver with the mega company forgoing on six years.
I team drive and I drive all 48states Kind of getting into.
Well, I've been intermittentfasting for our since July of
2023, I got a little healthscare, um, and at that time I
started driving in 2019 and, um,I weighed 140, 145.

(01:10:35):
Well, fast forward to July of2023, I now weighed 180 pounds.
I am 5'3 on my license but youknow, probably 5'2 now and at
the time I only ate.
I was thinking I'm doing greatbecause I'm eating once a day,
you know, truck stop food.

(01:10:55):
Yes, didn't know, I didn't havea rhythm, didn't know.
I just wanted to work and getexperience and be safe.
So, forward to 2023, I failedmy dot physical.
My the doctor said theycouldn't give me a dot, clear me
dot wise.
I need to see a cardiologistbecause I had an irregular

(01:11:17):
rhythm.
So I go to see a cardiologistand sure enough, it's an
irregular rhythm.
So I go to see a cardiologistand sure enough, it's an
irregular rhythm.
Four months, a whole bunch oftests and I said, well, you know
what I got?
To take some weight off.
So I did start exercising, Idid look into keto and tried to.
I did that for a strict moment,but a friend of mine told me

(01:11:42):
about, uh, intermittent fasting,and so did my daughter.
So I thought, okay, I'm notgoing to do.
You're crazy, I need to eat.
I'm hungry, you know.
Um, I didn't think I would beable to sustain the energy to
drive an 11 hour shift and but Isaid I'm going to try it.
Let's see what happens.
Um, and now let's fast forwardto now.

(01:12:06):
Um, I weigh 137 pounds.
Um, my heart condition per se?
Um was cleared.
There was nothing.
It was an irregular rhythm thatpossibly could have been born
with.
But he said I was fine, clearedme.
I have a dark card, medicalcard, and I feel great.

(01:12:26):
I intermittent fast.
Now I don't eat or drinkanything except for water after
8 pm.
Now, mind you, I drive shiftsbecause I'm a team driver, so I
drive from 12 noon to 12midnight.
Um so I don't eat anything ordrink anything except for water,
um after 8 PM, and when I getup in the morning I do have a

(01:12:52):
nice strong black coffee.
I break my fast anywhere, umfrom 2 PM pm.
So it honestly just if I'm nothungry at 2 o'clock I don't
break my fast.
Or if I'm at a shipper and I'mdropping and hooking, I don't
break my fast.

(01:13:12):
Sometimes if I'm just driving,I break it at 2.
I found, besides the weight loss, which I'm very pleasantly
happy about and surprised thatit came off the way it came off,
I love how I feel.
I get a good night's rest.
I don't wake up, you know,groggy and tired.

(01:13:34):
It doesn't take me long to fallasleep.
I, pretty much after I get done, you know, getting ready for
bed and stuff, fall asleep aboutone, 32 o'clock in the morning.
I get up at eight, 30, nineo'clock in the morning, start my
day, um, but I have lots ofenergy, um, and I don't get the
brain fog I don't get.

(01:13:55):
Of course you get tired afteran 11 hour shift, but I don't.
It's not tired, it's just likeI'm just ready for this to be
over with Um and I have a a kneeissue.
So, um, I wear a knee brace.
I have found in the last sixmonths I don't have to wear my
knee brace.
Now I will wear it if I knowI'm going to go, you know, walk

(01:14:19):
three miles, um, but as far asjust getting out of the truck to
pre-trip it, I used to not beable to wear my knee brace.
It's not cured or anything likethat.
It just doesn't hurt as bad.
Maybe the weight, the swellingBecause of intermittent fasting.
Me personally feel that that'smade a huge effect, because I

(01:14:41):
also know when I go home I treatmyself a little bit, I'm not as
strict about it.
Um, I, joe, I enjoy moreunhealthy carbs and, um, at the
end of that week of home timeI'm dragging, I'm like you got
to be, I feel, just blah, mybody, my, my, my feet are

(01:15:02):
swelling, my hands are swelling,my knee is more achy, um, and I
just don't have the energy.
And then I so I realized, waita minute, what's going on, you
know, and I realized you knowit's.
It has a lot to do with how Iused to be and, um, with my
choices.
And then, because I don'texcuse me, um, because I did

(01:15:30):
kind of treat, I call it treat,not cheat, because treat makes
me feel, our cheat makes me feelguilty.
Um, I treat myself when I getback on the road.
I do a hard fast.
I'll do a hard 34, 48-hour fastto get back into the rhythm and
just basically just do my cupof coffee and my water.

(01:15:52):
And I strict.
When I fast, I don't chew gum,I don't take a breath, man or
nothing like that, it's justwater and a straight black
coffee, um, and it keeps me, youknow.
And then when I break my fast, Ibreak it with, you know, better
good choices.
I don't go get a hamburger, youknow, I go and eat my some

(01:16:15):
avocados or, you know um, fruit,and then I have my actual meal,
um, which is carb restricted,but I do throw carbs in there,
but it is carb restricted, um,cause I love pastas and I I love
rice and noodles, and so I keepthat out of there and I make
better choices, um, but I havefound for me personally, not

(01:16:38):
just the weight loss, becauseI've lost it, you know, I I've,
you know I'm good, you know, andI exercise, um and get in as
many steps as I can a day, umpark in the back of a truck stop
to walk all the way to thefront um shipper, look for an
empty trailer.
I walk it instead of drive it,um, to get my steps in.

(01:17:00):
But I can say, for me,intermittent fasting has so many
more benefits than just weightloss, so that's why I keep doing
it.
It's all the other healthy, umbenefits that I get from it.
I I don't feel like I'm, youknow, losing my mind at 56 cause
I don't have the brain fog.
So, um, yeah, it's worked forme and um, I, at this point I

(01:17:27):
mean, keep doing it.
I've brought it up with myother daughter who just had a
child and, uh, you know,mentioned it to her.
To, you know, look into it,look into it.
It definitely, besides theweight loss, it definitely has
other great healthy benefits.

Brian Wilson (01:17:47):
Hey, this is Brian Wilson.
I'm an owner-operator out ofMichigan.
Up here I run General Freight,reefer Freight with a company
out of Kalamazoo called AllSeasons Express company out of
Kalamazoo called All SeasonsExpress.
But at any rate, my fastingjourney started, oh gosh, I
guess probably a year ago.
I used to go for hours on endwithout eating and didn't

(01:18:12):
realize there was a name for it.
And then I was doing somereading.
I, I'm uh, uh, I've been, I'vebeen on a uh, uh, three year, uh
, weight loss journey.
Uh, I lost 85 pounds in about11 months cause I just got tired
of being fat and couldn't bendover and pull my boots on or tie
my tennis shoes or anythinglike that.

(01:18:33):
So I just I got tired of beingfat and tired.
So I started doing somethingabout it and started exercising.
Watching what I was eating madeit a real colorful diet.
But then I started this.
I get busy at home and Iwouldn't eat for 10, 12 hours,
you know well, during the day itwould be, you know, six or
eight hours.
But and I just then I would goinside and eat dinner or

(01:18:56):
whatever.
And I didn't realize there wasa name for it until I started
doing some reading about thisfasting, intermittent fasting,
and I got to looking at it.
So, hell, that's what I've beendoing all along.
Well, I, I, I, like I said, Igot through, I lost 85 pounds
and I kind of slacked off alittle bit on some of the things

(01:19:17):
and fast forward another twoyears and I put about what I put
, once I have, about 25 poundsback on.
I was down to 170 and I gotback up to 195 and I was mad.
I was mad at myself.
It was nobody else's fault butme, because I was eating, stupid
.
I wasn't doing this, this, whatI come to find out, is called

(01:19:40):
fasting, and so I started doingthat again.
But drinking and I've, eversince I started my weight loss
journey, I drank a ton of waterand I started doing that and I
realized that drinking waterkeeps me full.
Well, I would.

(01:20:00):
When I first started doing this,this, I kind of shied away from
this fasting, because they'resaying, for you know, 14 to 18
hours, and I went how the hellcan anybody go that long without
eating?
Well, because eight of it,you're probably sleeping.
Well then, I've got thinkingabout it and this is what I've
been doing all along.
So I started doing this onpurpose, not eating and drinking

(01:20:20):
tons and tons of water.
Every time I feel a hunger paincoming on, I just grab a bottle
of water and I drink that andthe hunger pains are gone.
I feel I have more energy, Ihave more stamina when it comes
to working out and everything.
When I've been doing this andit's just.

(01:20:41):
It's really neat because nowI've dropped back down to 180
pounds.
I went to 195.
Since I started fasting andkeeping track of it and really
watching what I was doing, I'velost another 15 pounds.
My schedule is really screwed upbecause, as we all know, we're
truck drivers and we don't havea real set schedule.
So I try to fast until at leastthree o'clock in the afternoon.

(01:21:04):
Uh, that usually gives me from,you know, five, six o'clock in
the morning until three, whileduring my waking hours then I'll
eat a lot of salads, a lot ofvegetables, uh, uh, cucumbers,
celery.
Uh, many, many peppers, manybell peppers and stuff like that
, and then I'll eat one goodmeal at the end of my day.

(01:21:26):
Sometimes that's seven o'clockat night, sometimes it's nine or
10 o'clock at night.
As, like I just said, you know,we're truck drivers, we don't
have a set schedule, but itreally works for me.
I've lost that 15 pounds again.
I've lost that 15 pounds again.
Keeping it off, I feel reallygood about it and I don't.
I guess I don't go much for thischeat day stuff, but I

(01:21:49):
occasionally I'll have one everyonce in a while, but I'm still
getting at least a 12 hour fastin.
When I do that, then my caloriecount might be a little high,
but you know, I, I, I usually, Iusually find that this, this
fasting is, is the way to go.
As far as for weight loss andmaintenance, um, I've kept this
off now for quite a while.

(01:22:10):
I'm going to, I'm going to domy damnedest to, to, to keep
doing it, but, uh, I really, Ireally enjoy it.
Uh, it makes me, like I said, alot more energy, uh, which I've
been told I don't need that,but I get it.
Um, and I don't, uh, I don't,uh, I don't find myself worrying
about being hungry.
It's okay to be a little hungry, it's not going to kill you.

(01:22:31):
So a bottle of water takes somehunger pangs away and gets me
to thinking of something otherthan food, and I usually go,
like I said, I usually gobetween 14 to 18 hours on my
fast.
That's probably about intensitymy name is marie.

Marie Ward (01:22:50):
I have been driving otr for about nine years now, um
, currently, I am working for acontractor and we haul for FedEx
, so I am, uh, sometimes I'mdriving single 53s.
Um, most of the time, though, Iam driving double pot trailers,
so there's a lot of workoutwith that.

(01:23:12):
Um.
So I started, um, just uh, youknow, when I, before I started
driving a truck, you know I wasat home with my kids, and um,
just uh, you know, when I,before I started driving a truck
, you know I was at home with mykids, and, um, what I would
call my, my pivotal rock bottommoment was I went to a concert
with my oldest son.
He was he's, he's, he wasplaying in the orchestra, and so

(01:23:35):
, after the concert, we took apicture together, and I just
remember looking at the pictureafterwards and thinking, oh, I
just, I can't believe that's howbad I've let myself go.
Um, I was horrified by what Ilook like.
Um, just very, very puffy, very, very big.
I just, yeah, it's not how Ipictured myself.
Um, when I thought of myselfand, uh, I kind of decided at

(01:24:00):
that point that you, I needed, Ineeded to do something, and
yeah, I've been, you know, donethe yo-yo dieting.
Of course, over the years youlose 20, 30 pounds and then you
think, oh, okay, well, I can goback to it.
And you gain the weight back.
And well, you go on those dietsthat you know, okay, you can't
eat carbs or you can't eat this,you can't eat that.
You know it was cutting out anentire food group and, of course

(01:24:22):
, as soon as you cut out a foodgroup, that's the only thing you
want to eat.
So, um, yeah, I started kind oftaking bad things out, you know
not eating.
You know taking out the snacks,the treats and, um, focusing
more on eating healthy food andfocusing more on eating healthy
food.
About three months after thatpoint I had decided that I

(01:24:46):
needed to.
I wanted to stop being a schoolbus driver and I wanted to get
out and drive OTR.
And I went to school and once Iactually got into a truck, it

(01:25:07):
kind of just gelled.
At that point I really didn'teven realize what I was doing
was intermittent fasting.
It was just I'm not a breakfasteater.
I don't like to eat breakfast.
I find that when I do eatbreakfast, I'm hungrier much
sooner and I'm much hungrierthan if I didn't eat breakfast.
So my routine kind of became andstayed where I would get up and

(01:25:29):
maybe have coffee, um, have,have tea and drink water, and I
would save my first meal of theday for when I would take my 30,
30 minute break, my first mealof the day for when I took my 30
minute break, and then I woulddrive my last three, four hours,
cause like I typically drive,almost to the end of my eight
before I take my break, and I'dhave my second meal and I'd go

(01:25:52):
to bed and a combination of justeating the right kinds of foods
and what I came to learn wasintermittent fasting.
I found that the weight justkind of it came off.
It was.
It was slow but it did come offand it was.
And it's actually somethingthat I can keep doing.

(01:26:13):
I don't have to, you know, keeptrack of what I'm eating, keep
track of this, keep track ofwhat I'm eating, keep track of
this, keep track of that.
In the end I lost aboutprobably about 100 pounds total

(01:26:35):
and it's something I've actuallymaintained it for close to from
the time I got to my goal tonow.
It's been about seven yearstime I got to my goal to now
it's been about seven years.
So I find intermittent fastingis definitely how I maintain it,
because it's it's, it's it's arhythm that works for me.
So, in I had my, my ex-husbandactually pointed out that oh,

(01:26:57):
you're doing intermittentfasting and I said, oh, I don't
even know what that is, um.
So that's when I did kind ofstarted looking at it, doing
research on it and, uh, so if Icould, if I could point out or
say exactly what it is I do, itwould be the um.
I believe it's the uh, 18, sixum.

(01:27:17):
Typically, everything I eat,all my calories, are consumed
during a six hour window.
Um, I would say, if I had toguess, um, I probably consumed
between 15 to 1800 calories aday, um, and then I stop and I

(01:27:39):
don't eat again until my, mybreak the next day.
So I, I eat.
It's usually um.
I'm going to say when I have ameal, when I have my first meal
a day, it's it's going to besomething like oatmeal, um, or
you know, during the winter it'sgoing to be oatmeal with um,
maybe a little maple syrup in it, maybe some nuts, maybe some
some raisins or some somecraisins or something typical

(01:28:02):
like that.
Um, during the summer it'susually going to be um the um,
greek Greek, um Greek yogurtwith some fresh fruits and maybe
a little granola sprinkled ontop of it.
And I'll have that when I takemy 30 minute break and take my
dogs out for a walk and thenI'll finish my drive day.

(01:28:22):
And when it's time for dinner,it's going to be something that
usually we cook on the truck.
My husband and I are on thetruck now and we, uh, we cook,
um.
I try to avoid heavy foodbecause I don't like to go to
bed with heavy food on.
Um, we use the instant pot, weuse an air fryer, uh, we do

(01:28:45):
soups, um, chilies, um, a littlebit of pasta every now and then
.
Like I said, you know, I don'tlike to cut out certain groups
because, um, yeah, that's.
You know.
That's when you start cravingthat group and um group, and I
love pasta and I love bread.
I just try to keep it down to aminimum.
When I wake up in the morning,typically I'm usually up

(01:29:11):
pre-tripped and driving withinhalf an hour of waking up.
And I used to drink coffee Iactually used to do energy
drinks and I do not do thoseanymore because they just don't
make me feel good, but I'lldrink my black tea and then I've
got my big mug of ice water andI'm drinking that until I take

(01:29:34):
my break and then I start mysix-hour clock.
I don't really time it, time it, but I always take my breaks
late and I eat my dinner as soonas I'm parked.
So it does fall in with the sixhours, probably closer to five.

(01:29:56):
But then once I eat I don'tusually eat again until I'm
going for my next meal the nextday.
But I guess that's it.
I do know, when I don't keep tomy fasting, if I eat something

(01:30:16):
in the morning, I'm sluggish therest of the day.
Um, and I usually spend if Ilike.
Let's say I'll wake up and sayI'm gonna have oatmeal when I
first wake up this morning andI'll have that, and instead of
being able to make it to my 30minute break, to when I'm gonna

(01:30:37):
have my first real meal, um, I'mstarving the entire time and
thinking I can't wait to stop.
I can't wait to stop, um, butwhen I wake up, I have my tea,
have my water and I'm not havingthat first meal until until I
stop.
I don't, I don't get the, Idon't get the hunger, um, it's,

(01:30:57):
uh.
It's usually really easy for meto to my break and think, oh
hey, it's break time, I get tohave my oatmeal, but other than
that, that's about what I do.
It's pretty easy to sneak inthere.
We usually go shopping once aweek when we're on our reset.

(01:31:18):
We're in the hub in CedarRapids, iowa, and we actually
live in Georgia, so going homeis something we only do every
two to three months, but I findthat it's not that difficult to
maintain this on the truck.
I've never had difficultieswith it.

(01:31:39):
I've never had difficultieswith it.
I will tell you that my, myyoungest son, he is, uh, he's he
, well, he's 20, he's 20 yearsold and he was, he's always been
overweight.
He's a, he's always been a bigboy, very big boy, um, and he
was.
He's about six foot three andup until about two years ago he

(01:32:04):
was six foot three and heweighed over 300 pounds and he
and I had talked about, about.
You know.
He said I just can't stand it,I need to do something.
And he and I talked aboutintermittent fasting and I said
you know what I know you're, Iknow what your dad says, I know
he's against it and I know thathe's going to give you grief

(01:32:36):
over it.
I said but look into it, andmaybe look at that and you know
what?
He's still six foot three, sohe's very muscular.
But he looked into it and hesaid you know what, mom, you're
right, it is something.
And he says I want to try it.
And he did, and he lost aconsiderable amount of weight.
He still maintains it and so Imean it's not just works for me,

(01:32:58):
it's inspired him and it worksfor him.

Brian Wilson (01:33:03):
What a phenomenal episode.
A big thank you to Jen Stevensfor sharing her expertise and to
our incredible OTR drivers forsharing their real world
strategies for intermittentfasting.
Now here are your key takeawaysfrom today's show.
Intermittent fasting is morethan a diet.
It's a lifestyle that cansupercharge your energy, focus

(01:33:26):
and well-being.
Clean fasting is key.
Say goodbye to zero-caloriesweeteners that could be
sabotaging your progress.
It's all about consistency, andsmall changes can lead to big
results.
Many start fasting to loseweight but keep going because of

(01:33:48):
other benefits.
For more on fasting, be sure tocheck out jen's podcast and
books.
They're perfect companions forthose long hauls.
You'll find them online or ass,so there's no excuse not to
dive in Now.
Before you go, mark yourcalendars for our next episode
dropping on the 15th.

(01:34:09):
We've got a guest who'sdiscovered some powerful ways to
eliminate chronic pain for hisclients, and he's going to share
how you can tackle thosenagging shoulder, neck and lower
back aches and don't I knowabout the lower back aches, so
I'm going to check this one out.
Whether you're a professionaldriver or just someone dealing
with chronic pain, it's anepisode you don't want to miss.

(01:34:31):
If you found value in today'sshow, the best way to show your
appreciation is to share it withothers.
Spread the word and help uskeep bringing you these great
episodes.
Until next time.
This is Brian Wilson signingoff.
Stay safe, stay inspired andkeep enjoying Life.
Otr.

"Victory" song for E (01:34:53):
Resilience drives us through the night.
Each mile we pass a story totell Healthy living and doing it
well.
Victory's won.
Pushing through, findingstrength in all we do On our own

(01:35:17):
.
We're standing tall, enjoyinglife, otr, through it all,
through it all, through it all,through being a horse Resilient
and you Sharing our victory,shining through, enjoying life,

(01:35:41):
holding on.
This is for you.
Victory's won.
We're pushing through, fightingstrength in all we do On our

(01:36:02):
own.
We're standing tall, enjoyinglife all day long, through it
all, through it all, yeah,through it all, holding our
hearts with resilience in view.
Set our victory signing through.

(01:36:23):
Enjoying life on sea.
All this is for you.

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