Pelz introduces her two made up food programs, called ketobiotic foods and hormone feasting foods (as if eating isn’t already confusing for the type of person who would buy this type of book, let’s go ahead and invent another couple diets). One of the questions I get asked most frequently is, “how long should I fast?” Well, that depends on what health benefits you are hoping to achieve. The longer you fast, the more the benefits add up. Finally, the concept of linking a fasting cycle with your hormonal cycle, to my research, doesn’t seem to exist anywhere outside of this book. I love the food recommendation for helping the healing process, from ketobiotic days, hormone feasting days and gut reset days etc. To name a few. No stone has been left unturned. There is also recipes to get you started. This book had a lot of great information, not just about fasting, but about how the body works. If you are serious about this book, I would recommend buying it. I read a library book and then ended up purchasing my own copy by the end because there are many recipes in it that I want to try and lots of detailed info. I will reference again in the future.

Stress from work or family is difficult to manage but I kept thinking about another stressor which is more manageable: caffeine. It causes a release of both adrenaline and noradrenaline leading to a "fight-or-flight" response which lowers the level of hormone DHEA since they are both produced in the adrenals and have an inverse relationship. Lower DHEA leads to lower progesterone which leads to the complications I mentioned above.In essence, fasting isn’t a cookie-cutter solution—it’s a flexible strategy that can be adapted to suit any lifestyle. The key to successful fasting lies in comprehending how it impacts your body and interacts with your hormone levels, providing you with a launching pad to customize a schedule and diet that aligns with your needs. The next few chapters describe clients who have had great results from adjusting their fasting windows and approaches to their menstrual cycle, and a large part of the chapter explains the rises and falls of key hormones women experience during this time. Autophagy Fasting. Naomi Whittel in her book Glow 15 talks about autophagy fasting. Autophagy fasting entails 16-18 hours of fasting (this is considered the “sweet spot”). There are some additional key principles here you’ll want to follow. When you break your fast, you’ll break it with healthy fats. This helps keep your blood sugar stable and curbs hunger, allowing you to go another 3-4 hours without eating. You’ll keep carbs under 50g and protein under 20g (animal or plant). Naomi Whittel also recommends eating carbs later in the day. Autophagy fasting is great for a lot of people, here is more information on what it is and why you should try it.

When your goal is to burn fat, the best food to break your fast with might surprise you—it’s fat! Yes, you read that right. Good fats can help stabilize blood sugar and typically don’t disrupt the fasting state, allowing your body to continue burning body fat. In fact, consuming fat after fasting doesn’t technically break your fast; it allows you to extend your fasting period. Some good sources of fat include avocados, bone broth, any type of nut or nut butter, and olives. Final Summary and Review Her private coaching group, The Reset Academy, teaches women how to sync fasting with their hormones. Pelz has high-profile clients and has worked with Olympic athletes, actors, CEOs, and countless patients.The fasting cycle section of the book starts by saying that when you time your fasts properly you will “starve off disease”. This is certainly one way to market a fasting cycle protocol. At day 12 – 14, estrogen production is at its peak. It is best not to fast. If you must fast, maintain 13-15hours fasting. On day 21 – 28, progesterone production is at its peak. The side effect of fasting in this timeline includes anxiety and shut down all other hormones in a woman’s body. What’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear the word “fasting?” Is it an ascetic monk, giving up all but the barest sustenance? Is it going without food for days on end? Is it starving yourself? This book also includes more than 50 recipes based on the two food plans—ketobiotic and hormone feasting—she created to best support women’s hormones. And, it has recipes specifically created to break a fast such as her Coconut Cacao Chia Pudding. On the flip side, hormone feasting is predominantly designed to support progesterone production. This is crucial during the manifestation and nurture phases when your hormone levels are at their peak. The nutritional split for this style of eating is no more than 150 grams of carbs, a maximum of 50 grams of protein, and as many healthy fats as you like.

Famine (>8 hours without food) switches our energy into ketogenic, fat-burning cycle which gives us clarity of mind, calm and energy that were important to hunt the next meal. If our ancestors got weak and tired when there was no food around...well, we wouldn't be around. Nature optimized for periods when food was scarce and that's what we need to create today with fasting. Dr. Mindy Pelz is a well-known holistic health expert who educates women about their bodies. She teaches her “5-Step Approach” to empower people to use fasting, diet variation, detoxing, stress management, and lifestyle changes to achieve optimal health and slow down aging. There is a “small study of 15 women with PCOS” mentioned in here, which I was both happy and disappointed to see. Happy that a study was included (although not cited), but disappointed that Pelz seems to think a study with 15 participants over a short period of time would tell us anything useful or conclusive about anything. Maybe she should get a refresher on what high quality evidence means for her next book. Fast Like a Girl PART 2 hour fast: The more you fast, the more it forces your body to burn glucose, insulin, and toxins that are stored in fat. I always say that it is better to have fat around your muscles than around your organs and this length of fast will force your body to burn stored glucose and insulin. 36-48 hour fasts is where to start to see fat loss, anti-aging, and an increase in dopamine.Get a blood reader like the Keto Mojo for this step, and learn how to measure your blood sugar and ketones . You’ll take a reading right after you wake up and a second reading right before you eat your first meal. What you want to see is that blood sugar is decreasing and ketones are increasing. If this isn’t happening, you’ll want to try increasing your fasting window and also taking a closer look at your macros. Anybody who wants to be healthier, to learn about benefits of fasting and to try it in an easy way. I borrowed this book from my wife and not only did it teach me about fasting but also about hormonal changes women go through during their period.

Lastly, the manifestation phase coincides with a surge in testosterone production. Given the limited research on female testosterone levels and fasting, Pelz recommends, based on male studies and her clinical observations, that fasts during this phase should not exceed 15 hours a day. Fasting has its challenges despite the numerous benefits it offers our health. Do you know that these challenges affect men and women differently? Some evidence suggests that women might be more susceptible to the negative effects of fasting. Mind you; no one is saying women are fragile – and all other whatnots. Fast Like a Girl is a must-have-guide for resetting your hormones, ageing beautifully and looking and feeling fantastic. But even more importantly, following Dr. Mindy’s guidance can have a profound impact on generations to come because fasting is the ultimate detox. Buy a copy for your daughters and granddaughters, teach them to Fast Like a Girl and help put an end to this epidemic of hormone imbalances, infertility and – ultimately – on the chronic illnesses in our children. – Donna Gates M Ed, ABAAHP, internationally bestselling author and founder of The Body Ecology Diet Maybe advising women to reduce the amount of caffeine they drink during this important progesterone-production stage would help them to not have missed cycles and troubles with sleep. I've sent my suggestions to the author.The last 15% of the book was recipes, the glossary, and the index of cited sources, so I definitely skimmed that part. None of those recipes appealed to me in the slightest, gonna go ahead and pass. But overall, a good read to expand your knowledge on the benefits of fasting and the proper way to do it. Focus is on building hormones. Oestrogen is low so we need to build it throughdiet. Keep glucose low by eating low-carb/ sugar. So you’re ready to start, the question now becomes, how do you begin fasting ? STEP 1: CREATE A FASTING WINDOW