Episode 119: Dealing With Criticism, Gallbladder Issues, and More

Welcome to this week’s episode of Fast. Feast. Repeat. Intermittent Fasting for Life, with Gin Stephens and Sheri Bullock.

To make a submission for the podcast, go to fastfeastrepeat.com/submit.  We are a community-driven podcast, and we look forward to sharing your questions, success stories, non-scale victories, IF tweaks, motivational quotes (and more!) on each episode of the podcast. 

Resources used in today’s episode: 

For one on one troubleshooting and coaching contact [e-mail] 

Impact of Long-Term Fasting on Skeletal Muscle: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcsm.13773 

https://www.fastfeastrepeat.com/sheri.html  

https://crunchi.com/?als=SheriBullock 

Want to learn more about BiOptimizer’s Magnesium Breakthrough? Visit www.bioptimizers.com/fastfeastrepeat and use code FFR15 to save 15% off any order. 

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Visit ginstephens.com/community to join us. An annual membership costs just over a dollar a week when you do the math.  If you aren’t ready to fully commit for a year, join for a month and you can cancel at any time. If you know you’ll want to stay forever, we also have a lifetime membership option available.  

IF is free. You don’t need to join our community to fast. But if you’re looking for support from a community of like-minded IFers, we are here for you at  ginstephens.com/community. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Fast Feast Repeat Intermittent Fasting for Life. I'm
Jen Stevens, author of the New York Times bestseller Fast
Feast Repeat.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
And I'm Sherry Bullock, longtime intermittent faster and health and
wellness advocate. Please keep in mind that this podcast is
for educational and motivational purposes only and is not intended
to provide medical or diagnostic advice. Jen and I are
not doctors, so make sure to check with your trusted
healthcare professionals before making changes, especially when it comes to

(00:30):
any medical treatments or medications.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Whether you're new to intermittent fasting or an experienced intermittent faster,
tune in each week to get inspired, to learn, and
to have some fun along the way.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Hi, everybody, we are so glad you're here today.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Welcome to this week's episode of the Fast Feast Repeat,
Intermittent Fasting for Life Podcast.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
How are you doing today, Sherry? I am doing wonderful.
How are you well? I'm doing fun.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
I do want to update the world on what's going
on in my life. Okay, and now is as good
a time as any. I went ahead and shared in
the community last week. I'm sure you saw it. Y'all
know i'd shared on this podcast this spring that Chad
and I were going to live separately but see each
other a lot. Well, we are now getting divorced. Sure
you already know that. So the plan did not work

(01:19):
out as I had optimistically hoped that it would. So
this is one of those things it's hard to update.
But Chad just can't disappear, I guess without me mentioning it,
because he's been mentioned in the podcast episode since I
started with my very first one.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
So right, right, Well, I know that you have worked
hard to try to make him happy and also still
have joy in.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Your life and try not to get emotional. It's hard
to know, I'm so hard to talk about, right, yeah, yeah,
And you know here's the thing.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Nobody goes into marriage looking to get divorced, right, And
I think everybody works their hardest to try to hold
a marriage together. And I have known you since twenty eighteen.
I know you've been working hard at your marriage since then.
And fortunately it takes two parties to make a good marriage,

(02:16):
and one person can't.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
Do all the work.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Well, that's true, and you've been very helpful in the
whole process, and I have really good friends, good family,
close family, and close friends, and it's been helpful. So anyway,
that's my update. And so yeah, you know, I'm such
an optimist. I always think things are going to work out.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
I know, I know, you know.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, I've told you all along. You know when you'll
know when it's time, you know. And the funny thing
is it wasn't even you that made this decision exactly right.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah, we're still hanging in there. And look, I was like,
this is going to work. We can get together.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
We can have you know when or not with the
day to day challenges, you know, we we can have
fun together, we can enjoy our time together.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
But he realized that is not what he wanted. So
I had hard August love you just yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
I mean, listen, even when you know in your heart
it's the best thing for you, it's the healthiest thing
for you. In my case, it was leaving an abusive marriage.
It's still as hard emotionally to let that go, to
let go of the life that you thought you were
going to have, and you do more in that loss,
even when in your heart you know that it's going

(03:34):
to be okay, and that's you know, your joy is
going to expand because of this. It's still hard and
you still have to hard and you still have to
greet the loss of what you thought your life was
going to be. But you know, I think you're doing great.
You always come out on top, and I think you're
going to come out on top this time too.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
And well, thank you, we love you, oh thank you.
All right, Well, enough sad news.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Let's be exactly. I'm like, all right, deep' read you breath.
I never have to announce it again though, right, all.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Right, So our celebration this week is from Relieved in Pennsylvania.
Relieved wrote, Hello, everyone, I just wanted to share an
eye of victory regarding an unsupportive spouse. I've been married
for thirteen years, so I still consider that quote young
in marriage, so just keep that in mind. I'm not
trying to give marriage advice. I just want to share

(04:26):
my experience and hopefully some encouragement. Okay, well maybe a
little bit of marriage advice lol. I started fasting in
November of twenty twenty three. I have never needed to
lose much weight, but I decided that I wanted to
get rid of my extra ten pounds as well as
just to improve my overall health. I found IF through
a friend, and I was all in. I bought Fast

(04:46):
Feast Repeat and the twenty eight day Fast Start book,
and I was excited to get going. One challenge I
didn't expect was having a husband who was critical of
what I was trying to do. For background, he was
a bodybuilder when I met him, when he wasn't at work,
he was at the gym. He was almost two hundred
pounds of pure muscle on his five foot seven frame,
and he was ripped. He got there by working his

(05:09):
butt off, eating boiled chicken and raw eggs, drinking protein shakes,
and by taking supplements. He now realizes how unhealthy that was.
He cut out the supplements and the excessive weight lifting.
He eats a well balanced diet and is very healthy
at a reasonable muscle weight. Unfortunately, though, he was still
very much in the mindset of eat less, move more.

(05:32):
I'm not saying that wouldn't have helped me, but doing
it his way was not sustainable for me, and there
is nothing wrong with trying IF. But oh, did he
strongly disagree. This was a very hard time for me.
We were going through some trials in our marriage and
I was already thinking we would end up divorced. Tack
this on and it made it worse. We would frequently
get into full blown arguments about fasting as well as

(05:54):
other things. Now, keep in mind, he was going through
his own internal trials and unhappiness, and now he was
just taking it out on me. Unfortunately that happens in marriage.
At the time, it feels like a very timely question.
How very strange that you brought that earlier. Exactly the

(06:15):
time though, I was not sure if things would get better,
but I did not want to quit if because of him.
In the meantime, I came up with a few ways
to cope short term, and if things didn't get better,
then maybe he was not the type of man I
wanted to be with anymore. When he would ask me
if I wanted breakfast, I would say, oh, thank you
so much, but my coffee really filled me up. I
think I'll wait until lunch. I wouldn't do this every time.

(06:37):
I sort of had to feel him out, and many
days I would break my fast very early just to
keep the peace. I didn't not fast those days. I
just had a much longer eating window than I wanted.
If nothing else, I kept my mindset on my goal
and called it a long eating window. I gave up
on trying to explain if to him he had already

(06:57):
made up his mind that this was not going to work.
When we would get into an argument, I would try
and say that I was doing this for me. It's
just something I want to try, and I want to
make sure I try it long enough to really know
how it works for me. And in the meantime, I
just asked that he support me, even though he disagrees.
I would try and sneak in longer fasts when we
would be busy or he was working. I don't really

(07:19):
encourage lying, and if you have to lie, that's a
really bad sign. But I was in survival mode. Some
days I would flat out lie, saying, yep, I already ate,
and I would say, in my head, my body is
eating right now, it's eating fat stores, so it's really
just a little white lie. It's unfortunate. But I would
not be able to rely on him for any comfort.
I couldn't say, may and my head hurts, or I

(07:41):
feel a little sick to my stomach, because everything was
the fault of intermittent fasting. I would share my ailments
with a friend instead, and finally I would share with
him when I felt great, and I would let the
evidence speak for itself. I'm five foot four thirty seven
and I was one hundred and thirty nine when I started.
I was in a healthy weight range when I started,
so when I dropped nine pounds and started looking lean,

(08:03):
he really noticed. It took a good nine to twelve months,
but I am so happy to report that his willingness
to accept IF has drastically improved, as well as the
other issues we were having in our marriage. When he
shows me support in IF, I make sure I take
a moment to say, Honey, I really appreciate you being
willing to support.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
Me doing this.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
I say thank you every time he shows one iota
of support. Now, instead of him snapping to me, are
you going to eat today? With this day, he says,
I'm making myself an omelet?

Speaker 3 (08:32):
Would you like one?

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Or are you fasting? It took a while, but the
disdain slowly went away, and now it's just an honest question.
Sometimes I will take him up on it and let
him make me an omelet, and then, of course I
rave about how delicious it is. But most of the
time I say no. Thank you, honey, I'm feeling pretty
good right now. Thank you so much for asking me.
Find a fasting friend. If your spouse's like mine was,

(08:56):
join the community. If you don't have a fasting friend,
find your support for your bad days. We've been married
for thirteen years now, and this past year I learned that, sadly,
there are times in your marriage where you will have
to be strong for you with no support from your spouse,
and they may even try to drag you down. But
like hitting a plateau and if you might just need
to give it time. If nothing gets better, make some tweaks.

(09:18):
Marriage is a partnership, and I believe that you or
your spouse's help meet. But when it comes to your health,
you are number one. And if they won't help or
even support you, just keep going on. I wasn't going
to lose out on the possible help benefits of IF
because of my husband's grouchiness. Sometimes we walk together, sometimes
he carries me, sometimes I carry him, and sometimes you

(09:40):
have to carry yourself. But hopefully just for a little bit,
you can do it. Love you all, and really I
have so many thoughts about this. I do too, I
have so many thoughts about this. I'm going first bad
that her husband has gotten to a point where he's
accepting of this right. But I also just want to

(10:02):
say from me and my perspective on I've learned through
a not so great marriage and then a really good marriage.
And I'm not saying my husband and I are perfect
and that we always understand each other. There are some
days he's grouchy about my fasting. There's days he's grouchy
about me eating healthy. But I think the number one

(10:22):
thing is that you always have to have strong boundaries
and when something is good for you, it doesn't necessarily
matter whether your spouse or your significant other is on
board with it, because it's not their body, and it's
not their life. It's your body, it's your life, and
it's not our job to always make our spouse happy.

(10:45):
And I don't I mean, I don't feel like you
should lie. I don't feel like you should hide that
you're fasting. This is a decision you made, and you
are a person with autonomy. You get to make that
choice and you get to protect your fast And I mean,
it's really none of their business how you choose to

(11:06):
live and eat and when you choose to eat. It's
just not and I feel really passionately about that. And man,
I love that she made it work and that she
figured out what she needed to do. But at the
same time, this is where boundaries just come in and
you just say, I'm not having this discussion with you.
This is what I'm choosing to do, and I would
like your support. If you cannot give me your support,

(11:27):
please be quiet. Yeah, I mean I feel so sometimes
in marriage. I don't mean for this to be a
marriage counseling session, but sometimes in marriage we give up pieces.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
Of ourselves without realizing that we're doing it, and that
hits home right there. Yeah. Yeah, And then over time
you start giving up little pieces of yourself and you
stop being true to yourself. And trust me, I did
this and it happened really little bits over time, until
I didn't know who I was anymore. And so I

(11:59):
just encourage you to know yourself, be true to yourself.
If you're struggle with boundaries, start working on how to
have healthy boundaries, read some books about it. And when
you make a decision, that's that's your decision. If it's
not affecting anybody else, that's you. It's all you you
get to choose. That's I'm like, go off my soapbox. Now,

(12:22):
I think that's really good advice.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
And I would like to broaden this discussion to even
be like friends and other family members because mom.

Speaker 3 (12:29):
To day and the mom you know.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
Today in the community, we had somebody who came in
with a challenge that she's got a friend and her
friend is telling her that fasting is bad for your
blood sugar and you're gonna I don't even know what
the friend's problem was. And also the friend said, you
should only lose one pound per month if you're losing weight.
He right, I'm like, well, you know, I do think

(12:52):
one pound per month. It could be a pace if
you don't have much to lose, but that's the only
healthy rate of loss. No, no, So I just I
wanted to point out that we have all sorts of
people in our ear about what we're doing who chime
in with opinions, and we will never please everybody, right,

(13:12):
So we have to do what makes us feel our
best and what's best for our health, and whether that's
your spouse, your significant other, your friend, your sister. I'm
a big fan of saying, look, I would love to
discuss this with you after you peruse these resources fully
that I have consumed, like, read this book, not just

(13:33):
I'm going to tell you in five minutes why it's good.
Read this entire book, fast feast, repeat from cover to cover,
and when you're done reading the entire book, let's talk
about it. And until then, let's don't talk about it,
and we'll just agree to disagree. I think being able
to agree to disagree in any relationship is a sign
of a healthy relationship. And you know, not to beat

(13:55):
a dead horse about my own situation, but that was
one thing we could not do. So if you're unable
to agree to disagree, then it may be time to
have some counseling. I don't know, but the boundaries I
think are really important. Yeah, well, and you know that's
the advice I actually gave you. That person's community was,
you know, give them your copy of the book and

(14:15):
say I would like to read this, and when you
finish reading it, let's have a discussion about it. And
maybe your friends is but I don't want to say, fine,
you do not have to read it, but then this
subject is closed. Right, It's not your job to convince
your friends with words. I've written a book about it.
They can read the book, they can go read doctor
Mark Madson's book, they can look at resources that are

(14:36):
out there from people who are knowledgeable about intermittent fasting.
They don't have to take your word for it, nor
should you feel like you have to defend it yourself
or know all the answers well.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
And a great question to ask is like, I think
a lot of this comes from concern, right, Sometimes when
people see you losing weight and they hear what you're
doing and it sounds hard or awful to them, immediately
going to just bad talk it right because they're seeing
you have success, but they're like, I can't do that,

(15:08):
and they are feeling like maybe kind of left behind,
maybe that you're making these great strides and you're losing weight,
but whatever you're doing sounds alarming to them. And they
immediately was like, oh, that's not good for you, you
shouldn't do that. But it's really because they don't want
to do that that sounds alarming to them. And when

(15:31):
people really start giving you their opinions on it and
you start asking them why, it's a lot of I
don't think or I heard, but they haven't read the
science behind it. They don't understand what happens when you
clean fast and you're you know, metabolically, you.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
Know, adapted to use fat for fuel.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
It's like trainer's telling you you have to eat before
you work out or you won't have the energy to
work out. Instead of burning fat, you'll burn up your muscles. Well,
they don't understand and that when you're a fat adapted person,
you have endless fuel sources. Your body has no reason
to go try to break down muscles, which is complicated
process to give you energy. You have all this energy

(16:12):
on your body, and so you know, it's just a
lot of misunderstanding and lack of knowledge. But again, it's
not your job to educate them.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Right and they may even send you YouTube videos or
Instagram reels or articles with alarming headlines like we've talked
about on this podcast before, where someone is criticizing and
ormitten fasting and saying something about it that is not
what you think to be true, and that can be
hard to deal with as well, you know, when they're

(16:40):
sending you all this negative stuff. But there are a
lot of people out there who do not understand the
clean fast difference. And the research and that things just
keep getting repeated and repeated and repeated that aren't true.
So you know, if you're feeling better and you're losing
fat and you're able to build muscle and you're doing well,
trust that, you know, Cherry. We saw this week someone

(17:03):
shared a study in the community about fasting and muscle.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
Uh huh.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
I just saw that like last week, and I started
to read it and got called away. I think I
was at work and I got hauled away and I
never went back to read it. But from when I read,
I was like, this is great information. There are people
out there.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
Like there are legit people going on legit podcasts who
are saying women, especially you can't do intermittent fasting and
work out will eat up all your muscle. And this
study was a study and we're not recommending that you
do this because it was a fourteen day fast.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
Did you see that I did it. They fasted for
fourteen days.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Now, if your body's going to eat up your muscle,
you would think it would happen by fourteen days.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
Well it didn't.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
And the article or the study talked about how, oh,
the body has a mechanism in place for preserving your
muscle and using other stored fuel like fat, which we
know to be true.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
And that's the clean fast difference. And your body knows
how to flip that metal ball switch. So please do
not fast for fourteen days. We do not want you
to do that. But know that our bodies are amazing.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
We are meant to be metabolically flexible, and so anybody
who tells you we're not doesn't really quite understand.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, And I actually just wrote a note to myself.
I'm going to go get a link for that study
that was shared in the community. I'll drop it in
show notes for any of you curious about that. Yeah,
so you know, dealing with criticism, that's a big Yeah.
Whether it's your spouse or a friend or someone sending
you articles, you do not have to engage about it, right,

(18:35):
And I just have one last thing to say. When
you are confident in your decision and you have done
the background education on it, and you know what you're doing,
and you know what's happening in your body, and when
you respond confidently, I understand what you're saying.

Speaker 3 (18:54):
I hear you.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
But I have done a lot of studying on this,
and I am very content. I am very assured that
this is what's best for me in my long term health,
and this is what I'm going to do. I encourage
you to learn more about it, and I can give
you some resources when you're ready, when you're a confident,
and you respond confidently, and you let them know you've

(19:16):
done your background research and that you're educated on this.
Most people are not going to go into a debate
with you, yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Or they're not going to read a book. If you say,
if you read the book, we can talk about it more.
I'd love to dig into some of these studies with you.
They're not going to do that, and if they do,
then you can debate it with them. That would be awesome.
I love debating things of people who are well educated
about it.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
Right.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
So now we have a question from a listener. This
is from Jeanette from Australia. She said, I have been
fat adapted for years. I don't struggle with the morning
fast at all.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
Usually.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
However, after a recent respiratory illness, with a few days
on pregnazone and now on I don't know what this
other one is.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Brio oh is that a lift of It's an inhaler okay.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
Also steroid, yes, okay, she said, I am ravenous from
waking till I break my fast. What could be happening?
I am only ten days into the new inhaler and
struggling to fast. Any ideas why, Yes, we do have
lots of ideas, and we know what it is, Janette,
one hundred percent know what it is.

Speaker 3 (20:17):
Go ahead, Jerry.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
So this there's a lot of inhaled steroid inhalers that
are used for people with asthma with restrictive airwaid disease COPD.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
So you are basically.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
Putting in your mouth this device and you're inhaling like
a powdered a very fine powdered steroid. And we know
that when you take steroids it contributes to higher blood sugar,
and higher blood sugar relates to higher insulin and all
this is going to translate to more hunger. So my
suggestion would be it's a once a day thing. Try

(20:57):
changing the time of day that you use. It should
be used at the same time of day, either morning
or at night, but try switching it and see, like,
if you're currently taking in the morning and you're feeling
really hungry all day, try taking it at night. See
if that like initial like spike you're getting in your

(21:20):
blood sugar and your you know, you're hunger and everything.
Maybe it happens more while you're sleeping and while you're
in the fasted, stay already burning through what you've eaten
that day and see if that helps. If you're taking
in the evening, just maybe try taking it as you're
opening your window. Because every drug has a half life,

(21:43):
so you know it comes up at peaks and then.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
It starts to decay, to dilute whatever.

Speaker 2 (21:50):
You want to call it in your body. So if
you can get it to where it's at its like
least potent during your last few hours of the fast,
it might help you.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
Steroids are just known with increased hunger in general. For
whatever reason someone's taking any any form of steroid, we
just hear that all the time, increased hunger. And they're
also connected to weight gain, So something to keep in
mind there as well. And I noticed that you said
you just had a respiratory illness and so now you're
using this medication.

Speaker 3 (22:20):
I wonder if it's it's not going to be something
that you need long term.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
Maybe you don't, so you know, talk to your doctor
about is this going to be something you need forever
or is this just short term?

Speaker 3 (22:32):
And then you know you could expect to get back
to feeling normal again.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
Right, yeah, all right, So our next question is from
Lauri and Nebraska, and Lauria wants to know can I
do intermittent fasting while using a GLP one medication.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
Yes, you know you can, absolutely. Here's where you need
to be cautious.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
I guess you know when you're using a GLB one medication,
it's going to affect your appetite, right, And I know
that different people have different levels of the medication or
different effects on their appetite.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
And if you're finding that you're.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
Eating like a tiny, tiny, little amount of food while
you're using your GLP one medication, that's not going to
be good for your metabolism long term. So what you
don't want to do is eat even less and less
and less, and now you're barely eating at all. So
you know, my advice would be, if you're using the
GLP one medication for the purpose of weight loss and

(23:30):
you want to be an intermittent faster, I would talk
to your doctor about discontinuing the medication and focusing on
natural appetite control from the clean fast and then nourishing
your body well during your eating window rather than relying
on the medication, just because you know, if you're using
a GLP one long term for weight loss, you're going

(23:53):
to be ending up with some metabolic consequences down the road.
And you know, we've talked about these before on the podcast, so.

Speaker 2 (24:00):
Right now, if you're using them for diabetes and you've
been taking it long term, it just depends on which
medication you're using and what your doses. You know, a
lot of times when people take it long term, and
especially if it's some of the older ones, they don't
have as strong as digestive effects and they are still

(24:21):
able to eat, you know, relatively normal. It's when you
get into the higher doses that it really starts to affect,
you know, really affect your ability to eat a lot. So,
I mean, just depending on why you're using it. But
like I think, if you're already on it and you're
trying to decide can you use if you know, can
you pull if AT up a toolbox and add it

(24:43):
to your you know, weight loss health plan, then yes,
I think during the fast start would be a great
time to work with your practitioner to start decreasing your medication.
And I just recently learned that this medication stays in
your system for twenty days. Wow, like ortal elimination is

(25:07):
twenty days. So even if you decrease your medication, wean
yourself off of it, by the time you're off of it,
you should be fat adapted. And then let if do
the work that the GLP one was doing for.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
It and real food, real food in your window, high
quality food makes such a difference. And you know, I
wanted to talk about that for a minute, because you know,
I've not been having my best eating during this whole
challenge of Chad moving away and learning to cook for
one and not having the energy to really do it
and just relying more on convenience things and not wanting

(25:46):
to make a whole meal from scratch just for me.
And I was like, you know, finally, I'm like I've
had enough of that. But appetite correction comes so yes
from the clean fast, but also from the food that
you're choosing yesterday, you know, I'm back, and then making
the meal kits for myself figuring out you know, eat
some one day had some of the next day, you know,
having leftovers that sort of thing. But I had such

(26:08):
a good, high quality window yesterday with food that I
made a meal that I prepared, and the appetite correction
is so different than when you're eating something that's more convenient,
more ultra processed. So if you're struggling with appetite correction,
whether you're on medication or not, food quality makes such
a difference. So I just wanted to put that reminder

(26:29):
out there. And I also appreciate sure that you said,
you know, why are you on the GLP you want?
Like when I said, are you doing it for weight loss?
That's totally different than if you're on a dose for
diabetes management, and you definitely have different dosages and considerations
depending on why you're doing it. But the clean fast
plus high quality food is also amazing for regulating blood
sugar in the long run.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
So right, that's the other thing I was to say,
even if you're on it for diabetes, once you start fasting,
you may find that your blood sugar is really well
controlled where you can start decreasing the dose to the
GLP one and you know you could potentially get off
of it. We have people reverse their diabetes, their type
two diabetes all the time, and they're able to get

(27:12):
off of their medications. So you know, you could use
if with the goal of I'm going to reverse my
diabetes and no longer need to use injections to help
control my blood sugar.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
I was just talking to Fred Share. You know Fred,
he was a very early Intermittent Fasting Stories guest and
he was a moderator and are delayed on Deny group,
and so I had him on an interview for YouTube,
just catching up, and he reminded me that when he
started intermittent fasting.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
First of all, this is cardiologist. He suggested it to him.
He'd had lots and lots of hard issues. He got
two pacemakers. Yeah, but his.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
Cardiologist is the one who said you got to start
intermittent fasting.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
And he was also a type two diabetic. And this
is years ago.

Speaker 1 (27:54):
I guess he started in twenty eighteen with intermittent fasting.
He was off of his insulin in six months. It's
not fabulous and he has not needed it ever since.
He has been off of his insulin for diabetes since
twenty eighteen. And so just fasting intermittent fasting, So I

(28:15):
would just encourage everybody. Our bodies are amazing. We can
do this in a way to work with our body
naturally with intermittent fasting plus choosing high quality of foods.
And you know, I'm going to be talking more and
more about foods as time goes on. I've got a
new project that I'm working on because I do know
that food quality remains a struggle for a lot of people.

(28:36):
So my new project that I'm working on is about,
you know, nailing your food choices, whether you're an intermittent
faster or not, because I think it's time for us
to really you know, the awareness is out there. We
know about ultra processed foods, we know about what works
off for our body. I reminded myself of it over
the summer when I was we're not always going to
be perfect, even me, but food is such a powerful

(28:58):
lever to pull absolutely yep. So now I have time
for our segment called What's Your Why. Most of us
have weight loss in mind when we start intermittent fasting,
which is a great reason to begin, but there is
so much more to what intermittent fasting could do for
us beyond weight loss. I genuinely believe that when your
why is deeper than weight loss alone, you're more likely

(29:18):
to find long term success and view intermittent fasting as
a lifestyle like getting off of all of your insulin
in six months?

Speaker 3 (29:25):
Right, amazing?

Speaker 2 (29:27):
Yes, all right, So this week we have a wife
from Teresa. Teresa wrote, when I started intermittent fasting, my
why was weight loss and better health. I was completely
trapped in a body that I couldn't move around in
without difficulty, and a mind that was afraid of everything.
I was on the edge of the cliff of an
increasing number of health issues. After three years of fasting,

(29:48):
I've realized that my why has evolved so much.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
Now.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
My why is to be able to live life to
the absolute fullest without fear, without over analyzing every single scenario.
Will I fit in that chair, that seat, that ride.
Will I be able to walk that far? Will I
be able to get up the stairs, up the hill,
off the floor? Well I have a medical episode if
I over exert myself, and.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
On and on and on.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
My why is that I can live a vibrant and
colorful life, full of joy and full of love, including
unconditional love for myself and my miraculous body. I want
my life to be an absolute yes. I can do
every single thing that I desire. I have more energy,
more confidence, and more inner strength than at any other
time in my adult life. I just turned fifty seven,

(30:35):
and God willing, I hope I have many more years ahead.
I want to live the rest of my life feeling
strong and ready for the next adventure. That really makes
me think. You guys have heard me talk about my
mom has started and how great she's doing. I was
back home about a year ago, it was about thirteen
months ago, and I took my dad. My dad and

(30:57):
I went to a baseball game. You can't say and
see the key any Royals, And before I went, was like, Hey,
I'd like to catch a Royals game.

Speaker 3 (31:03):
Do you want to go?

Speaker 2 (31:04):
Do you a mom want to go? And my dad said, oh,
I would love to go, But I don't think your
mom can do it. I don't think she can walk
from the parking lot into the stadium. I don't think
she can walk up to you know, the seats. That's
too much walking. I don't think she can do that.
So if you want to go, that's fine, I'll stay home. Well,
then my mom found out why. I was talking to

(31:25):
my dad and she said, no, you guys go, but
we had to leave her at home, and that made.

Speaker 3 (31:28):
Me really sad.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
Well, my son just moved to Arizona, right outside of Surprise,
where Mackinsey Rails do spring training, and he lives a
couple of minutes from their training facility and stadium, and
he sent me some pictures of it, and I sent
it to my parents and my mom said, I think
we need to take a spring break trip to Arizona
so that we can go to spring training and.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
Watch the games. That is a drastic change.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
Wow. I mean she's going from walking like three minutes
a day to forty minutes a day and she's only
been fasting since May. So if you think you can't
do it, yes you can. Just like start fasting, start small.
If you can only walk to the ind of your driveway,
walk to the end of your driveway, you will be

(32:14):
so surprised at how quickly your endurance changes, your inflammation
dials down, and you have the energy and the want
to move your body more. It's just outstanding. I can't
even I'm so happy for her, I.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
Know that, and that is something to just be very
proud of knowing that you've been able to help your mom. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
All right, So we have a question, and this is
from Natalie and new Brunswick. She said, high ladies, I
have what I think is a fairly unique situation. The
background to my fasting history is that I started really
committing to intermint fasting after having my second daughter, and
reading Fast Feast Repeat listening to the podcast has helped
clarify and motivate me. I have lost approximately twenty five

(32:57):
pounds and I am back to my high school weight,
which is an amazing feeling.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
I am six feet.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
Tall with a very classic Swedish heavier build, and I
currently weigh one hundred and ninety five pounds. I've always
had a focus on clean, whole food and low carb eating,
but definitely ate too much during my last pregnancy. My
first question and fairly defeating situation I am in is
that since losing weight and or doing intermitt and fasting,
I have developed gallbladder sludge. I finally went to my

(33:28):
doctor as the instant bloating, nausea and pain in my
back was getting worse after any meal and debilitating after
a twenty hour fast and affecting my quality of life.
I fully expected my ultrashround to show gallstones, but there
was nothing. My blood work did show a sharp increase
in two of my liver enzymes, which I think convinced
my doctor. I reluctantly told them that I did intermittent fasting,

(33:51):
and he told me that it is not healthy and
you can guess the regular advice he gave me. That's okay,
doctors are human and only know what they know. But
I am so sad at the thought of giving up
intermittent fasting because it has changed my life. It has
helped to start heal my food noise and has helped
me to lose weight.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
I never thought I could. Have you ever heard of this?

Speaker 2 (34:11):
My second question is I was always very proud of
how low my A and C was and anywhere from
five point zero to five point two. With my success
in intermint fasting, I let myself indulge more during my
eating window, such as sweets, ice cream, homemade treats, now,
my A and C has jumped up to five point nine.
I think I know the answer, But is my A

(34:32):
and C higher because of what I'm eating? It seems
funny because I've lost weight, but my labs have declined, all.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
Right, So I'm going to answer the second part first, Natalie,
And yes, if you had been eating in a different
way and now you've added sweets, ice cream and treats
and your A and C has gone up, that is
a sign that it is not working for you as well.
So food quality does matter, and ae C really does
show what hower bodies reacting to what we're eating. So

(35:01):
it seems like to me that what you're eating is
not working as well for your body. So let's talk
about gallbladder issues. And I want to remind everybody we
are not doctors. We're not giving you medical advice, and
we never want to tell you to disregard your doctor's advice.
But I can share this information with you, and I'm
just going to read something directly from a search. It

(35:23):
says weight loss can increase the risk by altering bile
composition and reducing gall bladder contractions, leading to symptoms like
upper right abnominal pain, nausea, and indigestion. The increased cholesterol
from fat mobilization, along with decreased gallbladder stimulation from your
reduced CLOrk intake, can promote gall stoneformation or gallbladder dysfunction.

(35:47):
And I have bad news about what they recommend, and
that is eating less fat.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
You know, if you're having.

Speaker 1 (35:52):
Trouble with your gallbladder, weight loss is a big reason
this can happen. And you know that's regardless of what
style of weight loss you're doing. By the way, we
know this from just in general, when we lose weight,
we have a tendency not you know everybody, but weight
loss is a risk factor for gallbladder issues. And also
being overweight is a risk factor for gallbladder issues, as

(36:15):
is also being over forty and being a woman, And
there are lots and lots of things that lead to
gallbladder issues. And so I guess the best advice would
be never gain weight and never need to lose weight.
But because we're human, I've certainly needed to lose weight.
I've certainly gained weight, I've certainly lost weight, and so
you know that advice, of course, is a bit tongue

(36:36):
in cheap, because we can't go back and not have
that happen. So you may find that you need to
focus on lower fat intake, but also not so much
sugar retreats. And you might think, well, how in the
world can those two things go together. Well, Lean proteins, vegetables,

(36:57):
real food, high fiber, those are all things that can
really really help. And you know, definitely talk to your
doctor about this. But I don't want you to think
that you can't do intermittent fasting because you've had gallbladder issues.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
And I would like to.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
Encourage anyone to listen to a recent YouTube that I
did catching up with a different guest, Mary lou Reese,
her study of one. She has been doing intermittent fasting
for years and again this YouTube is a catch up
on my YouTube channel, and she told the story in
her catch up interview with me that she used to
have terrible gallbladder problems but when she started intermittent fasting,

(37:34):
it all went away. And so you know, your own
study of one does definitely matter. And it's very clear
that you have had these problems due to your weight loss.
But as you get to the point where you're maintaining
instead of continuing to lose weight, you're finding a maintenance
intermittent fasting protocol, working on your food choices, food quality
a little bit, you may find that the gallbladder symptoms

(37:57):
settle down. Now you've got gallbleer or issues, sharing you've
had them from way before, so you talk about it
a little bit more.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
I'm just I had my moot right. I've never had
anything with my gallbladder.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
So I had my daughter when I was eighteen, and
I had trouble all through my pregnancy with chest pain
and nausea, pain between my shoulder blades, and it was
always worse after eating, like usually a fatty meal, like
if I had taco salad or went to olive Garden

(38:29):
or something.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
I would have these episodes.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
And I didn't realize. I was not in healthcare at eighteen,
didn't realize what was going on. They kept studying me
trying to see if I had blood clots in my lungs.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
I did not.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
But then when my daughter was three weeks old, I
had a really bad attack. Went to the er, and
as soon as they found out I'd had a baby,
they said, oh, it's your gallbladder. They didn't even image
it back in nineteen ninety two, they just took me
in and took my gallbladder out, and the doctor who
did it said my gallbladder was so rotten he could
all m'st not get it.

Speaker 3 (39:00):
At yet.

Speaker 2 (39:01):
So anyway, it's gallbladder disease can come about just from hormones,
from unbalanced hormones, like they know, estrogen dominance can cause
gallbladder disease, and having just had a baby is something
that triggers gallbatter disease. But you know, if you try

(39:22):
not to eat high fat meals, When you eat a
high fat meal, your body has to really push out bile.
And if your gallbladder's not working great and it can't
push out in a bial for that high fat meal
to help digest that high fat meal that you ate,
it's when you start getting the spasms in your gall butter.
So that's where like focusing on fiber low sugar is

(39:45):
another thing they say, don't eat a lot of sugary foods,
just you know, really like a Mediterranean diet, low fat diet,
high fiber, lean proteins, lower processed sugars and processed carbs.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
You're going to help you.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
And unfortunate if they've truly given you, you know, a
diagnosis of you know, billiary dyskinesia. Really the only cure
for it if you cannot modify your issue with diet
is usually to have your gallbladder removed, but definitely tried
diet first for sure. Diet helps balance your hormones too,

(40:22):
which will help well.

Speaker 1 (40:23):
That Matt explains what women over forty as we're going
through in the perimenopausal transition.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
Things just our bodies change. Mm hmm, yep, all right.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
We have a question from Sue in Essex. She says,
I am enjoying fasting and find it easy to fit
into my lifestyle. I started fasting in April and I
initially lost about five to seven kilograms and I'm now
in the mid range of healthy on smart BMI hooray.
Celebrating with Sue, she said, I'm about five foot seven
and I weigh around seventy five kilograms. I'm nearly fifty

(40:53):
three in perimenopausal taking HRT. I'm also taking liquid levothyroxine.

Speaker 3 (40:59):
Did I say that right? Cherry, Okay?

Speaker 1 (41:02):
And my question is about this. I need to take
it on an empty stomach and without coffee, but the
oral solution contains citric acid and glycerol, which I think
breaks my fast. I try to do a five hour
window two to seven, but I take the med when
I wake up in the morning, and I take my
HRT before bed with magnesium.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
Do you have any advice. I drink one or two
cups of coffee every morning and was wondering if I
should take the thyroxine before I break my fast instead,
but not sure if it will be less effective after coffee.
I did take the tablet form before I started fasting
earlier this year, but I ended up having a rash,
so they put me on the oral solution. I have
subclinical hypothyroidism, and I wonder if this has also caused

(41:42):
the plateau. I'm not too worried about this, but would
like to shift a little more. I also have joint
pain from arthritis and hip dysplasia, so I regularly do
drink training and I have a good diet. I'm vegetarian,
mostly plants and unprocessed.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
Thank you for your advice. I love listening to you
both and your positive energy. We love bringing you positive energy.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
Well. I have some thoughts on that. I did some
research actually on this because I wasn't as familiar with
the oral live with thyroxine.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
The liquid yeah, the liquid, yeah, liquid. Sorry, They're all oral,
so when you take a pill, it takes time for
it to dissolve and for your body to uptake that medication,
and so you know, there's pretty tight parameters on when
you can have anything to eat or drink fatty after

(42:32):
taking it. But what they're finding is that the oral
is absorbed much more quickly, so it can be taken
closer to high fat meals without the absorption being affected.
So the amount of time that you have to like
fast after taking it before eating is lessened. They say

(42:55):
you should wait thirty to sixty minutes after taking it
before eating. Now, something that I looked into was like
if a person was to work night shift and they
were to wake up every afternoon at three pm, the
recommendation would be for them to take it upon waking.
They tell people to take upon waking because most people
start eating after they wake up. So my suggestion to

(43:17):
you would be to just wait and take it before
you open your window, So allow like sixty minutes before
you eat food and just take it.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
Then.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
Yes, it may make you hungry during that last hour,
but then you're not having as much disruption to your fast,
and I think it'll help you. The one caveat is
when adjusting the timing of your thyroid medicine, whether you're
a person who's moving it from morning to bedtime or

(43:48):
whatever they do say after about six to eight weeks
to go ahead and have your labs redrawn, just to
make sure that the time of day is not affecting
how your body absorbs it, and that you're still.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
At a dose that works for you. Yep. I love
that you know all these things. All right. Well, if
I don't know them, I do some research.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
Awesome, all right, Before we get to the tweak of
the week, I just want to talk to you inn
about what I'm doing and what I'm loving doing, and
that is helping intermittten fasters like you who are either
maybe in a plateau or you're just really struggling with
mindset or nutrition. How to eat, how to best eat,

(44:31):
how to achieve satiety in your window. These are all
things I've been helping people with and every time I
meet with a faster number one, it's so inspiring to
me how much people want to find success with inter
fasting and how they are almost afraid to trust their

(44:52):
own intuition, is what I'm finding. Like, people often know
maybe what's holding them back, or sometimes they don't like
sometimes people don't understand why when they open their window,
they just can't stop eating. But usually within a few
minutes I can figure it out. And so if you're
a person and you're struggling and you're struggling to find
the tide in your window, or if you're in a

(45:13):
plateau and you're not seeing weight loss, or you're hungry
during your fast all the time, contact me. I would
love to sit and talk with you. I offer thirty
forty five minutes and sixty minute sessions. I also have
a monthly program where we talk weekly and you can
text me daily and I am loving doing it so much,

(45:34):
and I have had so much fun meeting y'all and
working with you, and I love to see the changes.
People are emailing me back and saying, oh my gosh,
you know I was stuck. I haven't lost weight in
four months, and in this last week I lost one
point five pounds. And so sometimes just having a person
to bounce some ideas off of can be so helpful,

(45:56):
and we can work through whatever you're struggling with and
get you back to where you're losing weight, feeling good,
the faster easy, and you're achieving appetite correction in your window.
So if that sounds like something you need, reach out
to me at Sherry at fast Feast Repeat dot com.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
And again my name is s h e R I.
Very simple, five letters s h r I at Fast
Feast Repeat dot com. I love that so much.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
And you know, this makes me think back to being
a school teacher and that we all need different support
for things.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
You know, there's the kid in the classroom, you just
hand them something. They do it right, They just need
the book. They're good.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
Some people need, you know, more of like the community approach,
but some people need one on one. You know, we
would send our kids out for some one oh one
on one with the interventionist who was skilled. And that's
what you're providing. People need different levels of support and
I love that you've got this added tool for people.

Speaker 3 (46:53):
Yeah. I've been thinking.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
About doing it for a long time, but I had
a really busy summer and I was like, Okay, I've
got to get through the summer before I can log
into doing this for people.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
I've been so happy. I love it. I look forward
to every day that I sit down and talk with people.
Love it. So now it's time for our tweak of
the week. You know I always say tweak it till
it's easy.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
But the tweak that works for me might not be
the one that works for you, And that's why it's
super helpful to hear how other intermitten fasters are making
intermittent fasting work for them. This is from Gizelle from Ohio.
She said, I have been doing intermittent fasting for two years.
My weight loss is slow, but my health benefits outshine
the rate of loss. Not to mention the peace of

(47:32):
mind around food. Many days I would beat myself up
when the scale is up or not moving, or when
I'm not happy with my food choices, or life gets
in the way of whatever good plan I had for
the day.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
I decided to set three daily goals.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
One fast number two walk ten thousand steps, Number three
eat fruit and veg cheese. At the end of the day,
I check those goals off my list and feel good.
The next morning, at the scale is not my friend,
remind myself that I met my goals, I write down
the number, and I move on. So my tweak is
to set daily goals, with fasting being one of them,

(48:08):
and a couple of others that benefit you and are
easy to accomplish. Check them off your list. Every night
and recommend in the morning. This takes the focus on
what is going right and helps you celebrate what you
accomplished in your day. And Gazelle, I actually do that.
My goal every day is I have physical activity in there,
and it's on my calendar, Like I put things in

(48:29):
my calendar that I have to do, like.

Speaker 3 (48:31):
On Tuesday, record two episodes for Sherry and whatever is
going on that day. But physical activity is the one
I have. And you know I could do it could
be anything for me, and I just make sure I
do something every day. So I love that.

Speaker 2 (48:45):
I love that too, all right, So we are going
to leave you with an inspiration now quote or it's
actually just a motivational message from Michelle. She said, during
my walk today, I saw a neighbor out gardening and
it got me thinking about seeds and our fasting journeys.
Fasting is basically gardening, but without the dirt and with

(49:07):
some hunger pains. We plant seeds every time we start
a fast, throw seeds when we share our winds or blips,
some sprout, some compost. We nurture seeds by sticking to
our routine without losing our minds, and finally we eat
seeds when all that patience pays off in energy, focus
and maybe even bragging rights at lunch. And let's not

(49:30):
forget the weeds, those pesky cravings we have to pluck
along the way. Happy gardening peeps love that.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
Thanks so much for listening today. We would love to
have you join us in the Delayed on Tonight community,
where you can interact with both me and Sherry plus
the most supportive bunch of intermittent fasters you'll find anywhere.
Go to Jenstevens dot com slash community to join us.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast to your favorite
podcast app, and if you haven't already, please leave us
a five star review that helps new listeners find the
show and we really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (50:07):
We are a community driven podcast, so to submit your
success stories, your questions, your favorite tweak it till It's
Easy moments, or anything else you want us to share
on the podcast, go to Fast Feast Repeat dot com
slash submit and then listen each week to see if
we share your submission or answer your question until next week.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Thanks for listening