Episode 126: Medication and Fasting, Food Noise, and More

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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 it's 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. Hi, everybody, we
are so glad you're here today. Welcome to this week's
episode of the Fast Feast Repeat Intermittent Fasting for Life Podcast.
How are you doing today's.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Sherry, I'm doing wonderful, meet I'm telling myself that, but
it's also.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Like cold and dreary and rainy. Yeah, I having a
sweater and my fur boots, my ugs yeah, yep, yeah,
I broke out the ugs.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
A couple of weeks ago, and I keep turning the
fireplace on, and then Air comes home from work and
he turns the air conditioner back on.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Oh gosh, I'm loving my fireplace in the mornings. Yeah. Yeah,
I reoriented the room. You haven't seen it since I
reoriented it now of the chairs towards the fireplace. You
knew that I did it, though, right? Did you know that?

Speaker 2 (01:29):
No?

Speaker 1 (01:29):
I didn't know. I reoriented that whole room. Someone who
I will not mention did not think that a TV
belonged over a fireplace. Oh did you put it over
the fireplace? Yeah? Oh great, So I had to do
it a certain way because okay, whatever. So we had
a table in front of the fireplace and the chairs
were facing totally away from the fireplace. You could even

(01:51):
see the fireplace. Well, it was weird, but the things
we do to accommodate other people. But now I just
can accommodate myself. So I had one morning I woke
up and I'm like, well, I need you to come
over here. We're going to move some heavy furniture. Buddy.
He came right over. It was like a Saturday, and
we put the table where the chairs had been, and

(02:13):
the TV is over the fireplace, and the chairs are
facing the fireplace, and it's like it always should have been.
The room is more open. You can see the fireplace
from inside you and you can see outside. Now I'm
looking outside. Yeah, it's so much nicer. But I can
literally see the fireplace. And guess what, I can lift
my head up high enough to look at the TV

(02:34):
over the fireplace. It doesn't give me a crook in
my neck or anything. My eyes didn't freeze that way.
I don't know what we thought was going to happen,
but I love it.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, for anybody who's wondering she has a car.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah, yeah, yep, with a fireplace with gas logs. It's
beautiful stone. I love it. But now I can look
at it anyway. So I'm enjoying that even though the
weather is colder. There's gotta be a bonus for that,
right right, yep?

Speaker 2 (03:03):
All right, So we have a weekly celebration from Feeling
Gray in Colorado. Hi, Jenni Sherry. I'm one of those
people who like to lurk and not really share. However,
after listening to episode ninety nine, I thought I would
share my celebration as well as my updated why. What
snagged my attention was the discussion regarding Raynauds. I showed

(03:25):
symptoms in my late thirties, and I was tested to
ensure it wasn't a symptom of a bigger underlying issue.
The great news is that it wasn't an underlying cause.
But the so so news is that I indeed suffer
from rainauds. Let me tell you as someone who used
to suffer occurrences on a daily basis, especially those freezing
cold blue hands on a ninety degree summer day, which

(03:48):
isn't fun to deal with but manageable. I didn't start
intermittent fasting until August of twenty twenty four, and that
was solely to lose weight. I am a five h
seven forty five year old female with a very small
friend needles to say, any additional fat is not easy
to hide. My highest weight was one hundred and sixty
five pounds, and while I know that it's still in

(04:08):
the green area of the Smart BMI, it was at
the top of the green I've managed to lose twenty
five pounds since August of last year, putting me smack
in the middle of the green zone on the Smart BMI.
But The reason for the celebration is in regards to
how I believe intermind fasting has greatly reduced my symptoms occurrences.

(04:29):
One of the biggest triggers for Reynod's is stress, and
stress comes in all different forms. While I do not
believe there's any research to support this, I wholeheartedly believe
that intermit fasting has reduced my body's physical stress, which
has led to the reduction of symptom occurrences. Thank you
both for all the work you put into this podcast,
and thank you to Jin for writing my gateway book,

(04:51):
Fast Feast Repeat. You both are changing lives.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
That is amazing.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
Love it, Linda, is amazing to hear health changes like that.
We do.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
All right, we have a question from Marianne's from Singer
Island in Florida. Higen and Cherry, you ladies are the best,
and I appreciate your dedication and guidance. I started IF
in twenty twenty one. I was two hundred and ten pounds.
I recently turned sixty two. I am five foot nine
and now one hundred and fifty pounds. I am a
fitness professional, including pilates. Recently, I was so sick that

(05:26):
I could hardly eat. I had three days in a
row of choking down a couple of teaspoons of yogurt
so I could take medicine. Even the thought of food
was nauseating. I think I spent a good week and
a half on less than six hundred calories a day.
As they say in the Devilwar's Prada, I was one
stomach bug away from my goal weight. Trying to make

(05:47):
light of a bad situation. I was one fifty five
when I got sick. Seriously, I'm finally eating and feeling better.
My concern is that I messed up my metabolism. I'm
doing okay, but under how it works when you can't
eat from illness. Right now, I'm focusing on nutrient dense foods.
I don't diet, but I do my Fitness Pal because

(06:08):
I'm a nerd and I like to see the nutrients
I consume. How do you determine how much to eat
when recovering so you can maintain a healthy lifestyle. Thankfully,
I'm staying the same, not gaining or losing, but my
main goal is to stay healthy and increase my energy.
I hope I gave you enough information, and I always
look forward to listening to you every week with gratitude.

(06:28):
Mary Anne.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
Well, first of all, you said that you just had
three days where you were just kind of choking down
yogurt to take medicine, and then it looks like you
were kind of concerned that might have messed up your metabolism.
And our metabolisms are not that fragile. You're not going
to do serious damage to your metabolism after three days

(06:52):
of light eating.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
And well, she did say she thinks she spent a
week and a half on less than six hundred calories
a day. Three days all she could eat was yogurt
like a couple of tea spoons. But she's still she said,
a week and a half on less than six hundred
calories a day. Okay, Well, so it lingered around, But
I do still agree with what you're saying.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yes, as long as once you return to fasting normally
and eating a normal eating window. First of all, your
body's pretty smart if I and I know this for
a fact, I often chronically under eat on the weekends
at work, just because my work is busy, and it's
the way it works out. By Monday and Tuesday, i'm

(07:34):
usually rabinous and I tend to eat a lot more
in my eating window. Yesterday, I had a downish day
on Sunday. I thought I would do an uppish day yesterday,
and that turned into eight and a half hours because
my body was just like, you need to eat your
It wanted nutrition, and so I just kept feeding it

(07:55):
until I was satisfied. And so I would bet that
your body naturally asked you for more food after you
were sick, and that you just naturally ate more in
your eating window, if that ever happens in the future
where you just have a long period of time where
you think you accidentally restricted, do a week of like

(08:18):
downish uppish.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
Like do a week of like a.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
One hour full window, just eat fully in one hour,
close your window, and then the next day do a
two meal really full uppish day. And it doesn't have
to be anything more complicated. Do that, Do that for
a week, you're going to send the signal to your
body that all is well, illness is over, food is incoming.

(08:43):
And I don't think you're going to see any negative
benefits from that at all. So yeah, it's one of
those things that use your intuition. And I know after
years of dieting. Sometimes we have lost our innate intuition
on what to do for our our bodies are how
much to eat? But if you just lean into your
body's hunger and society signals and really trust them, then

(09:07):
I don't think you can go wrong.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Do you have anything else? I think I think that's it.
I mean, you're right, and I know we've said over
and over again, if you have a down day, follow
it with an up day. And if it was five
hundred calories or six hundred calories or low amount, have
an upday because if you don't, you'll damage your metabolism.
But honestly, metabolisms don't damage quickly. It's what you're doing

(09:30):
over a long period of time. So if someone we're
doing like down day, not an upday, down day, not
an upday, down day not an upday, Like it doesn't
happen immediately, but eventually your body's like, okay, not enough
coming in. We got to slow it down. And so
being sick. I also think our bodies are wise enough
to know when it's using resources on getting better. I

(09:52):
would like to think that a body would recognize, oh,
we're in healing mode right now. Okay now we're better,
and then your appetitle pick back up. I think when
we have no appetite, that's we should. Our body is
telling us not to eat. Like I've told this story
on the podcast, probably this one, but I know intermitting
fasting stories. My son's cat Pepper for a little bit

(10:13):
in twenty twenty, they lived with us, and at one
point Pepper stopped eating. He just laid around on the floor.
He looked really sick, and I tried to get in
to eat, and he wouldn't eat for like two days.
Pepper didn't eat. We're like, what's wrong with Pepper? Eventually
Pepper started eating again. He was fasting because his body
was like, we're not eating. I can only imagine what
that cat had gotten into. He's a miss, but now

(10:36):
he's like fat and happy, and so his body said fast.
So when you couldn't eat for that week and a half,
just like Pepper heard the signal not to eat, you
heard it right, And so I would just trust what
your body told you.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yeah, And if you think about it too, if you're
really that sick and you're just kind of laying around
letting your body heal, you're sleeping like your body doesn't
need as much energy intake because you're not expending as
much energy. And so yeah, I think at all balances
out our bodies are very smart. And I mean, now,
if you were sick and you were like undergoing some

(11:14):
sort of treatment God forbid, and you just were like
where you couldn't eat for several months at a time,
then that's right.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
The answer might be different. But a brief.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
Illness that you know comes and goes within a week
to ten days is just a different story, all right,
So we have another question for Megan and Michigan, Hijen
and Sherry. Thank you for all you have done and
continued to do to help others be the best versions
of themselves. I stumbled upon IF in February of twenty
twenty five, and I devoured the FFR book and podcast.

(11:49):
I was surprised how easy it was to clean fast
and get into a consistent nineteen five routine. I started
at two hundred and twenty four pounds and I am
now under two hundred. I am five and six and
forty six years old, so I know I have a
ways to go. It was easy for me to follow
while I was teaching, but summer break was way more
difficult with inconsistent schedules, parties, vacations. I've maintained by weight

(12:14):
loss since it in the school year, but I did
not go on to lose anymore. I'm okay with that
because I know that once I get into a routine,
I'll be better about party foods, alcohol consumption, and getting
in the nutritious foods, and eventually I may switch to
an ADF protocol as well.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Can we talk about this before we get to the
rest of her Yeah, I get it because I was
a teacher too, right, and I know the struggle of
it is so easy to follow while teaching. I was sure.
Did you see that article that I shared from Harvard yesterday?
It was about intermittent fasting either doing some research on
intermittent fasting, about how great it is, and there's someone
there who's like working on the research like that. It

(12:54):
was like an interview piece about her that's doing the research.
But she said something that made me like laugh so hard.
She's like, and fasting may not be right for everyone,
like teachers, because you don't have time, Like what, Actually,
intermittent fasting is the best for teachers because we don't
have to eat at school, and even Megan was like,
it was easy to do intermitten fasting while I was teaching. Yeah, anyway,

(13:15):
I just thought that was funny.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
And I imagine as a teacher when you're you know,
that's one of the reasons I wanted to be a
teacher so I could have summers off. Like literally, that
was that was it. I was like, what better job
than I have every summer off. Yeah, but I imagine
how it does feel a little bit like a big
party vacation.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
Well it is. And so I remember my first summer, right,
so easy during the school year, so easy. When I
got on the routine, I didn't eat till I got home.
I was more productive at school. I worked or visited
with people during my lunch break, depending on what I
wanted to do that day. But I didn't eat till
I got home. But that summer, that first summer, it
actually was challenging. And I can remember that was when

(13:53):
I had Cal make the app for me, the window app.
And know he made the window app for me in
twenty sixteen, as like I really would just want to
track my window, make this app for me, and especially
over the summer, right, so I had to stick to
my daily five hour eating window, and I needed the
accountability to do it. But what I would do is

(14:14):
I would run my errands or get out of the
house during the time when I would be tempted that
early noon, whatever it might be, the time when I
might start thinking I don't have anything else to do,
I'm as well eat. I would run errands or find
something to do or stay busy. And that really helped me,
because I say, Saturday is not a special occasion because
it happens every week. Summer is not a special occasion

(14:37):
because it happens every year, right, So you do not
want to get into the free for all summer. I'll
get back to it when fall starts, because eventually you're
going to retire, which Sherry, that is the best thing
about teaching teacher retirement. And so I'm at home every

(14:57):
day now and I have to have the strategies to
deal with it. So do not let that happen to
you next summer. Promise me now, Megan, that next summer
you are not going to have the summer slide. You
are going to continue to stick to your internet and
fasting routine, and don't let that happen again. All right,
and you mentioned that I wouldn't switch to an ADF

(15:17):
protocol because we know what happened. We know that it
was summer and you had parties, vacations. That's why you're
maintaining inconsistent schedules summer. So you don't need to go
all the way to the nuclear option. You just need
to tighten things back up again. All right, you want
to go to the rest of it.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yep. So then she says, my next question is about medicine.
Sometimes I take ib yourprofen or tile and all during
my fasting. Is this okay? I know that I shouldn't
take a gummy form of supplements or medicines because they
have sugar in it. Also, I recently got put on
birth control pill. I was thinking I'd take it every
night before bed. However, that is when I'm fasting. So

(15:59):
what are your thought on pills like ibuprofen, melatonin, clraiton,
and birth control during the fasted state?

Speaker 1 (16:05):
All right? The very first thing you need to do
is make sure that whatever you're taking is safe to
take on an empty stomach. Ibuprofen is not. It is
not safe to take on an empty stomach. It can
cause damage to your stomach lining, So you do not
want to take ibuprofen during the fast. For that reason,
if I have to take something, I'll take a tile

(16:27):
at all. I try not to take anything. I very
rarely have to take anything at all. But now if
I've already eaten, the very rare situation that I have,
like a bad headache, I'm coming down with something whatever,
and I've already eaten, I'll take an advil, but are
an ibuprofen, but only I have already got food in
my stomach, So be careful with that birth control pill,
no problem. Allergy medicines shouldn't be a big deal. Melotonin

(16:50):
depends on what form it's in. You're right that we
don't want to take anything gummy. Why are all the
medicines gummy, Sherry? Why? I don't know why.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Maybe for compliance, I don't know. Maybe people take their
gummies because it's like a wet having.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
A little candy tree. We don't need that. We're grown
up people. I know what I did. No, she didn't.
She did mention gummies. But there are so many gummies
that it's hard to avoid them, is right. The point
they have creatine gummies? Now, why why are you taking
a creating gummy, have a better piece of candy. If
you want some candy, just eat that pizza candy, have

(17:25):
a little I don't know wordser's original. Just I'm gonna
have some candy now because I like, I'm sorry, I'm
back on my soap box with that. But it's tricky
because there are so many gummy supplements. But I would
never ever choose a gummy supplement, first of all, just
because I have that opinion about gummies, right, But anyway,
that's just me. Yeah, did you have anything to ask? Well?
I did want to throw a few things in.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Recently they have said that if you are just taking
ibuprofen randomly and you don't have a history of ulcers
or anything like that, you can take them.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
I'm still not going to I know they've always said.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
It, tael, I mean drugs not too calm, don't do
a health line. They all say that it's okay. Health
line says you might consider pairing it with an acid
just to help your stomach lining. But anyways, they say
if it's a low dose random thing, it should be
okay to take it on a ran ibyproof and tears

(18:22):
my stomach up. Even with food, I don't take it.
So anyways, I wanted to say a couple things though.
That fourth week of your birth control, which is the
placebo week, that is.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
A sugar pill, so literally sugar. Yeah, you don't have
to take it.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
I mean, if you're a person that you've got to
do it, because if you've got to do it every day,
you're gonna forget it. Then I would just whatever, but
take it out of the pack and throw it in
the toilet exactly. You do not have to take it
in your mouth. Yeah, yeah, that fourth week, the placebo pill,
it is a sugar pill. You don't have to take it.
It is there simply for compliance.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Unless you're taking the one that you don't stop. Like there.
I know there's some pills that you just take them
mind stop and don't have a period.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Well, and sometimes doctors will have you just skip that week.
People who don't want to have a period, you can
just go into your next pack and then you don't
have a period.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Or even as a period there even is like some
kind like my friend did that.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
Anyway, I did want to bring that up and then clariton.
So a lot of people don't know antihistamines. They affect
rellin in your body, and they can increase hunger, which
can increase food cravings and overeating. Somebody in the community
recently said the only nient change as she started taking

(19:38):
an anta histamine every day and she noticed she started
putting on some weight. I do take either zeer Tech
or Clariton before bed probably half the year. It'spran fall,
and I choose to take mine during at nighttime before
bed because I don't experience excess hunter from it. The

(19:59):
few times where I haven't taken it and I wake
up the next day and I'm sneezing my head off
and my eyes are itchy, and I take one, then
I am almost instantly hungry.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
Interesting.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
Yes, So if you're a Clariton zero tech allegra hay
fever type person like me, just take it at bedtime
because I don't think you're going to experience that side
effect from it.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
Very interesting. Yeah, I haven't taken anything like that long
term thanks to fact I wish.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
I wish I could say my allergies are gone.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
But all right now it's time for our segment called
What's Your Why. Most of us have weight loss in
mind and that is a great reason to start, but
I genuinely believe when your why is deeper than weight
loss alone, you're more likely to find long term success
and view intromittent fasting as a lifestyle.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
This week, we have a wife from Jessica in Illinois.
Jessica said, I want to be healthy and have energy.
I want to be able to put my clothes on
and not have a guilty meltdown because they don't fit.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
I want to have I know that's me. I get
that one. I was just thinking about myself.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
Been there when you try on three pairs of pants
and you're like, eh, not those either. I want to
have confidence in myself and prove that I can be
consistent and accomplish a goal that is difficult. And I
love that one.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
So yeah, it's true. And if you've never fasted before
and you're starting off, it is going to be difficult.
And even when you've been doing it for a long time,
there might be days when it's difficult.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
You know.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
I talked last week about when I'm sitting there with
my friends and they're having breakfast at the hotel and
I had black coffee. I've been fasting for song that
actually believe it or not. It was not difficult. It
was nothing. It was literally nothing. But if I'd only
been a year or two in it would have been difficult.
I'm not at the point where I was like, do
I want to eat eggs and feel like that? No? Right,

(21:48):
So it was not difficult, very easy choice, but you
know it's there will be difficult moments. The more difficult
part was when I was hungry at ten thirty after
the party and I wanted to eat.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yeah. And you know, I've often said that when we
become intermittent fasters, like it changes so much in our
lives beyond food. And one of the things I think
is that when she said I want to have confidence
in myself and prove that I could be consistent, what
I feel like when you tackle this one thing of
not letting food control you, not constantly feeling down on

(22:22):
yourself because your weight or because a diet doesn't work,
because let me tell you, diets are demoralizing.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
Oh yeah, And so.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
It's like, finally when you find something and the weight
is coming off and it's consistent and you're maintaining weight
loss and it's something you can do every day, that
is so empowering, and you start to gain confidence, not
just like self confidence, but just like the confidence that
you can tackle hard things. You're like, oh my gosh,
that was the hardest thing in my life. It consumes
so much of my energy. And now you're ready to

(22:52):
tackle other things that maybe you have put on the
back burner because you just didn't feel like you could
do it, or you were too distracted by your weight
or whatever. And that confidence just continues to build and grow.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
Exactly. I believe that so much. We've seen it so
many times, Sherry. We've seen it in the community, and
people have things that come out of this that they
never expected.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
You know.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
I also think the ability to accomplish a goal or
do something difficult, then't you realize it carries over into
all aspects of your life. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
Did you see Michelle's post yesterday in the community about
how years ago she would go into all these big
meetings at work and I did all day session and
she said she would slink in and she would just
sit back in the corner.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
And she saw it this morning. That's what it be.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
For a second, Yeah, Okay, I saw it last night. Yeah,
And that she would never put herself out there, she
wouldn't talk. She always felt like she was being judged
by her weight, by just her sex, and that she
never felt like she could have a voice, and that
in the five years I think five years that she's
been in Manfasting, that she said she had one of

(24:01):
these big annual sessions or whatever this week and she
noticed that she was speaking up and she was offering
opinions and stuff, and that she has just found this
confidence and this like she no longer goes and sits
in the corner and tries to hide that she's putting
herself out there.

Speaker 1 (24:21):
Yeah, and I love that so much. That was a
great post. And those are the things we don't expect. Yep.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
All right, so we have a question from Tina in
Oklahoma City. Tina wrote, I know I'm supposed to follow
a down day with an update, and I know this
is going to sound odd, but why can't I follow
an upday with a down day instead? Sometimes an update
will present itself out of the blue, so I feel
as if I should follow that day with a down

(24:47):
day to balance it out and then continue with my
four to five hour windows the next day. I'm still
letting my body know it's not starving by having the
upday in advance. I'm just curious. Thank you, Love you both.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
Well, think about that for a minute. If you have
a down day, that's when your body's going to be like, oh,
there's not enough coming in on the down day, and
so the next day you have the up day for
the metabolic boost. Right. We don't have the metaballet boost
ahead of time, we have it afterwards.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
So yeah, and I kind of want to clear up.
I think there's like this kind of misconception to that.
You hear all the time. People are like, oh, fasting
is so hard on your body, and your body doesn't
get the message that food is coming, and that's why
you should start your day with breakfast so your body
doesn't have a stress response all day and stuff like that.

(25:37):
But when you're fast and clean and you're eating in
a four to five hour window like you do every
single day, your body doesn't think it's starving ever, right,
And so when you just have a more full up day,
you're not sending your body any specific message.

Speaker 1 (25:53):
Really, well, it don't have the metabolic boost of overeating, right, right.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
But it's not like your body went, oh look I
got extra fuel to day. I'm not starving because your
body didn't think it was starving.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
You're saying on the preview the previous day.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
Right, So on that like day that just presented itself
and you decided to have a big, long eating fest day,
your body it wasn't like, oh hooray, she fed me today,
because your body wasn't waiting for that, right.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
But after like.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Your your body, right, your body's primed for that upday.
It's wanting that nutrition and whatever. So yeah, I mean,
if you want to do a down day after a
really full eating day, great, but then have another update.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
Right exactly, Always follow a down day with an up day,
and that sets the research on ADF down up down up.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Or let me just thir it out here like this,
Your truck along in a four to five hour window
and then all of a sudden, one day you have
brunch and you have dinner and you have an eight
and nine hour window.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
You don't have to do anything the next day, you
don't have to have a down day, but just go
back into your regular four to five hour window. Right.
And I actually thought that while you were reading it,
and I didn't say it, that the thought that you
must do a down day after an accidental update. That's
a little bit almost like revenge fasting. Oh I accidentally
ate too much. I need a down date. No, right,

(27:23):
I would never do a fast in a way to
quote makeup for something if it's because you don't feel
good and you're like, oh, I just don't feel like eating.
I ate too much, like I've been on a cruise
ship and I need a longer fast. Okay, that's different
as long as it's not like feeling like you're making up.
If you're like, I'm going to fast longer because it
feels good and I need to deplete my glicogen, that's fine, right, right.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Or I mean, if you're a person and you just
know that every weekend your foods are more indulgent because
you are going out to eat more, or you're having
more tailgating food and not as much healthy food, and
you're having extra drinks on the weekends or whatever, and
if you go into the weekend like, yeah, I know

(28:08):
that my weekends are a little more full, and I
don't want that to negatively impact my weight loss. So
I'm gonna have my full weekends and on Mondays, I'm
going to do down days to deplete that glycogen and
set my body up for a good fasting week.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
And then Tuesday would be up.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
Right, and then you're gonna have an upday on Tuesday,
and then you would go back to your windows Wednesday
through Sunday. And a lot of people employ that strategy
in the community. That's why they participate in meal list Mondays.
They know that their weekends are a little more abundant,
a little more indulgent, and so there's no guilt involved.
They have a plan. Their strategy is, Yeah, I'm gonna
fuel a little bit more. I'm going to indulge a

(28:48):
little bit more on the weekends, and then I'm going
to do a mealis Monday to reset myself and feel
good going into the week, make sure I'm shifting into
fat burning. And they have their full up day on Tuesday.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
And the only difference is what your mindset is. If
you're doing it as a punishment because you feel guilty,
that's revenge fasting, and so mindset matters, and the way
the reason you're doing something matters. We don't want to
get caught in that diet culture mentality right ever again, Oh,
I've got to make up for it. I had a
cheat day. First of I get cheat day out of

(29:20):
your vocabulary to I hate those words cheat.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
Yea.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
There was a book several years ago they talked about
you know, oh, if you slip up and you eat
an entire large pizza, no big deal, Just do a
thirty six hour I.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
Said, fast as long as you can. It was a
fasting book. I'm not going to say which one. It
was not one that I recommend, but if you accidentally
eat a large peacha, just fast as long as you
can to make up for it. I'm like, whoa, that
is terrible advice, right, that's revenge fasting. Yeah, we picked
up on that when we read that book. Yeah. Yeah,
you have to read them all to know if you
were going to recommend itm or not. All right. So

(29:56):
this was sent in by Rose in Portland. Hello and Sherry.
I've been following your podcast for a while now, but
I'm not sure if this question has been addressed. It
probably has, by the way, Rose, but we don't mind.
By the way, Tina's question that she said was an
odd question. We have heard that before a lot of times,
but we always like to answer your question, even if
it's been answered before.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
We have heard some really odd questions.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
There's only one that I won't say, it's not safe
for mixed company or children in the car. We got
that every now and then in the fasting Facebook grooves.
You'll have to use your imagination. But we've heard them all. Really,
we have heard them all. Literally, if someone asked a
question I've never heard before, I'm like flabbergasted. I'm like,
oh my god, I've never heard this one before anyway,

(30:40):
But my school teacher training prepared me for this. Because
literally I heard the same question forty two times in
one hours. I'm used to it does not bother me
to answer the same question again. All right, so she said.
When I heard the term food noise several years ago,
I immediately felt it was an answer to how I've

(31:01):
been feeling most of my life. I started I have
ten weeks ago to help with weight gain, and though
it's the best thing for me when it comes to
my eating schedule, energy, and losing fat, the food noise
is still very loud. I fast between eighteen and twenty
hours a day, depending on my schedule. I think of
food all the time, regardless of whether I'm hungry or not,

(31:23):
I think about my next meal, what I will eat tomorrow,
what I will make over the weekend, what to buy
at the grocery store, and which restaurants I'm interested in.
I often fantasize about baking, thinking about what I will
cook for the next holiday, and so on. If I'm
not busy, food is on my mind. I first started

(31:44):
fasting in twenty nineteen, and I kept in eighteen to
twenty hour day fasting schedule to eighteen to twenty hours
of fasting a day for five years without stopping. I
never skipped a day, and my fast were clean water
and black coffee. I lost the thirty pounds. Was five
foot six at one sixty five at the beginning and
dropped thirty within the first four months. When I first

(32:06):
started fasting, I felt my emotions more intensely. I realized
I was no longer eating away my fears, sadness, anxiety, excitement, joy,
and anger. I stopped snacking and stopped eating between my
one to two meals. Unfortunately, the food noise never waned.
My feelings in week one were the same in week

(32:27):
two hundred. I still thought about food twenty four to seven,
but persisted because I was enjoying the weight loss by
year four. In the spring of twenty twenty three, I
started getting more casual with my fasts. I started drinking
flavored sparkling water during my fasting period and eating more
during my eating window. My previous job had me in

(32:48):
a constant state of stress and anxiety. There were some
layoffs in my group, and I had to pick up
the slack. I transitioned from a hybrid schedule to working
in the office five days a week. Remote and hybrid
schedules worked better for me when it came to managing
my chronic illness. I was also looking for a new job.
By late twenty twenty three, I was laid off without
a new job in the works. Between the stress of

(33:09):
being unemployed despite doing my best to find another job,
a bad weather event in January that damaged our home,
and so on, I decided to drop the IF and
quote eat normally again, counting calories. I was gaining weight,
so I felt that IF was no longer working for me.
And of course I will pop in here and just
say that's because she stopped fast and clean and so

(33:31):
we do not recommend that if you're not going to fast,
stop fasting but don't stop fasting clean and think you're
still fasting right, because you're not. So I just wanted
to pop that out there, she said. Over the last year,
I've gained so much that I could no longer wear
many of my clothes. I was not where I started
in early nineteen, but I'm sure I would have gotten
there if I kept it up. Going back to today,

(33:53):
I'm thankful I've found if again. But the food noise
is this something I and other people just have to
power through. Do you hear about this from other people
who fast? What do you think? Sherry?

Speaker 2 (34:05):
Well, I mean, I have a few questions in that
saysially fast eight to twenty hours day. I don't know
what her eating windows are right, and that can make
a difference. She also says that she works at desk
nine to ten hours a day.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
Yeah, I didn't read. There are some more stats I
didn't read.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
Yep. So, and she's also now dealing with stress of
job hunting again and her food anxiety is ramped up again.
So I do think that there is a component to
stress and food for a lot of people. Through our lives,
we have been conditioned that food solves everything. If you're sick,

(34:47):
somebody tries to feed you. If you're sad, somebody tries
to give you food to cheer you up. Right, if
you break up with somebody and your heart broken, what
do you see I mean is propagated in media. Get
a pine of ice cream.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
That's what I eat away your troubles. Like, right, I
did do that, right.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
Because food does promote those feel good chemicals in your
brain that do lift you up while you're eating them,
but it is very short lived, which leads you to
now looking for that next thing to get those feel
good chemicals back in your brain. So food noise, that

(35:29):
word has really come up a lot since a lot
of people started using the GLP ones for weight loss.
And one of the first thing people said is it
eliminates the food noise. And there's been so much research
on this, and I recently saw an article that said
some people just don't have as much GLP one in
their body as other people, and these are people who

(35:52):
tend to have a lot of food noise. And one
of the questions that was posed, and basically I went
on to say, like more research is needed is is
do these people not have as much GLP one naturally?
In their body because of diet and exercise history and
obesity history. Because the more history of obesity and body

(36:16):
fat that can dial down the GLP one production. And
so the question is do people genetically just prone to
not have as much or is it something that happens
over the years through behavioral changes and body changes. Now,
what they do know is food noise is a form
of intrusive thoughts, and so the suggestion is to focus

(36:41):
on eliminating ultra processed foods. Concentrate on eating a balanced
diet with plenty of fiber and lean protein. To eat
very intentionally. So when you are eating, make sure you
are immersed in the eating experience, and that means no distractions.
You are tuned into eating the taste, the textures, the sensation,
the everything about it. Exercise, daily practice, stress management, prioritize sleep.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
So these things.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
Can actually increase your own GLP one production in your body.
And then some of the things I say to do
is when you are thinking about foods, to actually use
that time to productive to meal prep and plan your
next meals. By the way, you know in advance what
your next meal is going to be. And then if

(37:30):
those things don't help, to really consider therapy because usually
there's a component of some other mental illness such as
some OCD like untreated anxiety, or even just people who
have issues with like long term stress, and like some
PTSD type thing tend to have a lot of food noise.

(37:53):
And then one thing I just wanted to kind of
talk about too is untreated ADHD, especially and women they
know can make food noise more prevalent. And so if
that you think that applies to you in any form,
I would say, get screened and make sure that that's
not something that you're struggling with. So I found a

(38:14):
really intriguing book that had great reviews, and so I
shared a linked show notes for you, And I really
just found this while I was researching on like psychology
today about food noise and stuff. And this book is
called Food Story Rewrite the Way You Eat, Think, and Live,
and it's sort of a journal learning type experience workbook book.

(38:38):
And I put link in show notes for you, so
if you want to check it out, you can.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
And I just wanted to add all that was great,
I just helping the food noise to go away. But
I want to put one more thing in perspective because
you mentioned it never went away all the years that
you were drinking ormitten fasting, and you're still having it. Now,
let's put it in perspective just a little bit, and
let's say that you were just always going to have
that food noise. Maybe now we hear from a lot

(39:03):
of people that the food noise goes away, like for
me it has and for me, thank goodness, the food
noise has gone away with fasting. If my window is closed,
it's closed, and I'm not constantly thinking about should I
go eat, should I go eat? Should I go eat?
But even if you are, even if you are not
like me, and you still have the question should I

(39:24):
go eat? No, my windows closed? Should I go eat? No,
my windows closed. So even if you have the food noise,
the boundary of your eating window is going to protect
you in a way that you didn't have before intermittent fasting.
Does that make sense, Sherry? So I hope that you
can find a way to make the food noise go away,
because I know that it's hard, But you know what

(39:44):
else was hard when you had the food noise and
you ate every time you had it. That was even harder.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Or having food noise and trying to follow a calorie.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
Yeah, that was the worst. Yeah, that's the worst of all.
I would rather be fast and clean, hear the food
noise and have to remind myself I was fasting, then
be on a low calorie diet hear the food noise
and have to white knuckle it because I'm starving. Yeah,
and I too.

Speaker 2 (40:11):
I like, I guess people might describe food noise differently
because I know, like when I'm on my down day,
I sit there and think about what I'm going to
eat on my.

Speaker 1 (40:22):
Update, and that's not a bad thing. I plan it out.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
I'm like, tomorrow's an up day, I'm gonna have three meals,
what sounds good, And I start planning in advance to
make sure that I can hit like what I'm really craving,
what I really want. And I don't think I mean,
I think we're conditioned to think about food and we
can't get away from it. It's everywhere. It's on commercials,
it's on billboards, it's everywhere you look as food. Right,

(40:47):
So I think it's okay that we're inundated with food,
as long as it's not so overwhelmingly distracting to life
or it's causing you to be a stressed.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Right, Like, I'm already planned, but I'm going to eat today.
I thought about it, I know what it's gonna be.
I'm excited about it. I don't think of that as
food noise. To me, the food noise was the constant
questioning of should I eat now? Should I not eat now?
Should I eat now? Like the craving, like wanting to eat,
wanting to eat, wanting to eat. Right. So, if you're
just thinking about food all day in a way that is, oh,
I'm gonna eat later and it's gonna be good, that's okay.

(41:23):
I don't think that's bad. But if you're struggling to
not eat because of food noise, that's a different story.
So I guess that's the way I was thinking about
it that way. But if it's just a nice anticipation
of your meal coming up, I don't think that's a
bad thing, right, Yeah. Like I do all my planning
in the fasted state, and I enjoy it. In fact,

(41:44):
I enjoy planning, like when I'm deciding what I'm gonna
get from my meal kit, I do all of that
in the fasted state because I'm like, ooh, what sounds
good after I've already eaten. I'm like, yeah, not does
that make sense? If I tried to pick my meals
but ilready had a good dinner, I'd be like, none
of this sounds good. I'm already full, right right. Yeah,

(42:05):
So now that's made me really think about.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
It sometimes too. And she said she sits at a
desk for nine to ten days. Listen, I'm not a
person that likes to be pinned to one place, and
I need constant stimulation. That's my ADHD brain. So I know,
back before I was a faster, I would be working
or whatever and I'd be like, I'm bored whatever, And
that's when I would go wander back to the lounge

(42:27):
and see what there was back there to eat or whatever.
And a lot of times we use food just for distraction, right,
and so find something else to do. When you're like
sitting at your desk and you start thinking about food
and you're like, oh, I wish I could eat, but
my windowsn't I even go. Just go take a five
minute walk around your office and stop and talk to
people or something. Just change up what you're doing, Get

(42:48):
out of that, get out of your desk. If you
can and do something else that feels good besides eating.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
And remember, even if you weren't fasting, that would still
be there, right, But I really do I think that
the fasting gives you that boundary and that structure. The
fasting is a tool. If you never lose the food noise,
now at least you've got a tool to help keep
your eating in a window. So just a way to
think about it. So before we get to our tweak

(43:16):
of the week, I want to take a minute to
tell you about my books. I will always be a teacher,
and it makes me very happy to have a wide
variety of resources for you. No matter where you are
in your intermittent fasting journey, you're going to want to
start with Delay Don't Deny, which I think is the
best quick introduction to intermittent fasting out there. The second

(43:37):
edition was updated in twenty twenty four and it's available
in paperback and hardback only on Amazon, and you can
get it in ebook or audiobook format wherever you normally
find your ebooks and audiobooks. The new edition was updated
with a comprehensive ADF chapter, So anybody who's thinking about
ADF definitely don't use the first edition of DDD for

(43:59):
that and also Fast East Repeat. We've changed recommendations since then,
so Delayed on Deny's second edition is where you need
to go for the ADF chapter. The Clean Fast is
in there. There's updates throughout the whole book. And my
favorite part of Delay Don't Deny is the success stories,
which are all from inspirational members of the Delay Don't
Deny online community. So if you want to dig into

(44:22):
the concepts from Delay Don't Deny, either on your own
or if you want to do a book study group
with a friend or group of friends. And by the way,
this episode is coming out at the end of November
Thanksgiving week, so you know you might have some family
and friends who are like, I really need to get
it together for the new year. I think doing a

(44:44):
book study with Delayed don Deny would be a great
thing to do with a group of friends. So the
book study companion workbook is called Delay Don't Deny Digging Deeper,
and it's very school teachery. Remember I'm a school teacher,
and you'll you'll enjoy reflecting on how to apply the
concepts into your life. Like you read a chapter and
then there's something you do. We all know reading a

(45:07):
book is one thing, but applying it is something else.
And so Delay Don't Deny Digging Deeper was designed by
a school teacher to help you apply the concepts me
by the way, I'm to school teacher to help you
apply the concepts from Delay Don't Deny in a meaningful way. Now,
on the flip side, maybe you're somebody who used twenty

(45:27):
eight day Fast Start day by day and you loved
the journaling component and you like to have that reflection
time every day. Or if you want a way to
keep track of things such as your daily fasts, you're
eating window, your daily weights, your weekly averaging, goal setting,
non scale victories. There's a food and exercise journal and
more than you need the Delay Don't Deny Life Journal.

(45:50):
It's designed to last you six months and it's a
great place to keep track of what you're doing, what's
working in your overall progress. And sometimes people ask what's
the difference between the two, and I really think the
difference is in the title Delayed on Deny Digging Deeper.
You're going to dig deeper into the book Delay Don't
Deny Life Journal. You're journaling your life. Let the title

(46:10):
tell you what it does. So both Delayed don Deny
Digging Deeper and the Delay Don't Deny Life Journal are
available in paperback form only on Amazon, and Digging Deeper
is also available as an ebook. But if you do
decide to do delight on Deny Digging Deeper, it's a
companion you also have to have Delayed on Deny. You
read it, then you dig deeper, and now it's time

(46:34):
for our tweak of the week. I always say, tweak
it till it's easy. But the tweak that works for
me might not be the one that works for you.
And that is why it is so helpful to hear
how other intermittent fasters are making intermittent fasting work for them.
Michelle from Virginia says, I have two mindset tweaks. Number one,

(46:56):
never let yourself say you can't do it. You can't
fasten a window, and that's because we fast every day.
This helped me to avoid feeling overwhelmed or thinking I
was off the wagon if I had a longer than
planned eating window tomorrow is another way to do better.
I do want to unpack that for just a second, Sherry,

(47:17):
It's true. The worst thing you can ever tell yourself
is well, I didn't fast today, And I think a
lot of people do that. They'll have all day where
they start eating early and they say, well, I didn't
fast today, And as Michelle just reminded us, you did.
You fasted from the time you stopped eating until the
time you started eating again. You fast every day. Even

(47:37):
the people who are not intermittent fasters fast every day, right,
so you fast every day. Literally every person in the
world is technically an intermittent faster when you think about it.
In fact, we should start telling people that intermittent fasting
is bad for you, but will you do it? That's true.
We should start saying that every human does intermittent fasting.
Why I don't not buy my husband he just has

(47:58):
a longer window sleeping for some of the time.

Speaker 2 (48:01):
Sherry, Well, he takes a doctor pepper to bed with him, Jim,
does he wake up and drink it? Yes, and his
store and he wakes up in the middle of the night
and snacks in the middle of the night.

Speaker 1 (48:10):
Well, if you sleep without eating or drinking, like almost
everybody except Eric.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
I'm ashamed to say it, but yes, my husband eats
and drinks throughout the night.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
Well, unless you are eric eating and drinking throughout the night,
you are fasting every day. Anyway, I'm like flabbergasted here,
I'm gonna have to read her second twig, But I
don't know if I can keep going. As soon as
you come back from vacation, start back on your protocol
the next day. I have successfully convinced my brain we
ate that way because we were in another city or

(48:42):
county or not at home. At home, the eating window
is X hours out of the day, and we are
sticking to it. Love it, And I would of course
encourage you to also stick to a window while you're away.
Maybe it's a little longer I do that. Of course,
it depends on the length of my trip. I learned
on an eight day trip. Longer not needed. I'm going

(49:04):
to San Francisco in a couple of weeks. I will
probably eat two meals a day in San Francisco lunch, dinner.
Not gonna worry about it. I'm only gonna be there
for three days.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
So and you know what, I think trips people up
more than anything on vacation.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
What is that creamy coffee? Oh? Yeah, I would never
even dream of starting with creamy coffee first thing in
the morning.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
Ever, again that when you start talking about people who
get off drilled, they're like, well, I was on vacation,
I had to creamy cof I it's a vacation. I
would start the day with a creamy coffee.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
Yeah, well, you're right, and that now, I.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
Mean, if you're starting your morning with creamy coffee and
then you're having dinner at seven pm, now you're doing
eleven twelve hour eating windows for a week, yep, and
it's going to be hard as heck when you get back.

Speaker 1 (49:49):
Yeah, it's I mean, yeah, but I do agree with Michelle.
As soon as you get back, get right back on
what you normally do. When I get back from San Francisco,
I'm not going to revenge fast. I'm not going to
fast extra draw, but I'm going to go right back
to my normal window as if the vacation didn't. Probably
going to be hard. I will probably need a little
nap for a couple of days. I won't be as

(50:09):
mentally clear. Yep. All right.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
Well, we love to leave listeners with inspirational motivational quotes,
and this week we have a quote from Lyndy in
Adelaide Australia. I heard a great phrase today from the
Zoe podcast. It was it's not the calories in your food,
it's the food in your calories. It was from doctor
Andrew Jenkinson, a world leading bariatric surgeon. He was discussing

(50:35):
why many people struggle with weight gain, why diets don't work,
and what we can do differently. He spoke positively about
what they termed time restricted eating and using an eating window.
But I particularly loved that simple phrase that I wrote
at the beginning, it's not the calories in your food,
it's the food in your calories. It really resonated with

(50:56):
me as when I opened my window to eat. It's
the what, the quality and the usefulness it will be
from my body and my health. I thought others in
our community might find this helpful as a useful mantra
when the old eat less, move more phrase is offered.
Although moving as a wonderful part of our health journey
and has earned a great place in our lives and

(51:16):
omitting fasting and the food in my calories got me
right through my breast cancer treatment and two years later
on the other side of it, I am back to
good health and happiness. Thank you all for your support.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
I love that. That really was an excellent episode. We
talked about it two episodes ago in episode one twenty four,
and I had that big aha moment about leptin resistance
and insolent levels that I talked about in that episode.
But that was really a good one, highly highly recommended
and wait set point, So many good stuff in that episode,

(51:49):
Doctor Andrew Jenkinsoni, But he's right, it's the food in
your calories, meaning most people who are struggling are overfed
and undernourished. Right, there's no food in your calories, just
empty calories. We've all heard the phrase empty calories. We
need to put the food back into the calories and
nourish our bodies with food, not that ultra processed stuff

(52:13):
that's everywhere. 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 (52:32):
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 (52:43):
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 in each week to see if we share your
submission or answer your question.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
Until next week. Thanks for listening.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

The Burden

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Episode 126: Medication and Fasting, Food Noise, and More

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

The Burden

All Episodes

Episode 126: Medication and Fasting, Food Noise, and More

Stuff You Should Know