FASTING & the RESET that will jumpstart your HEALTH

The Why 

Women can recruit and burn more fat during a fast. That’s right. The same goes for men, however, I’m speaking to ALL you women who feel like you are absolutely stuck when it comes to dieting and exercise and seem to simply NOT lose any body fat and need the extra boost to get the results you have been looking for. 

Fasting is something that has been practiced for ages. From religious beliefs to medical practices, there is something to say about how fasting is ultimately good for your mind and body scientifically. The term, “intermittent fasting”, is a topic that has been trending over the past few years in the health and fitness industry, and people are often trying it and getting mixed results based on the effects it has had on their bodies. The important thing to understand about fasting is that you have to properly prepare and break your fast. This is something most people do NOT do because they simply go with the trend and do it, and then, in the END, don’t get the results they are looking for.

So first, if you are looking to try fasting, ask yourself WHY! Why are you going to try “fasting” and what goals are you looking to accomplish during your fast?

Facts

Intermittent fasting, and fasting in general, resets the body on a cellular level.  Our cells are our body’s superpower, as I like to call it. This superpower needs to be used carefully so that it actually works. I don’t want to make this complicated, so I’m going to break down some facts about fasting and make it simple and to the point for you to understand.

As I mentioned, women can burn more fat by fasting. This is because ketones are released in the bloodstream allowing your body to use the fat as energy rather than glycogen. The blood sugar levels in the body are balanced during a fast, therefore you become a fat-burning machine. Now, before you get too excited, you need to understand that breaking your fast properly will ensure how well your body burns fat, and don’t worry, I’ll get into what you should break your fast with later on.

Feeling stressed? Stress allows women to burn MORE fat from adrenaline than men. Crazy right? You may hear how stress and the stress hormone cortisol can often prevent women from burning fat, well fasting can CHANGE that instantly. Fasting can reset this hormone and the power of the fast can trigger your body to burn fat more rapidly because you are stressed. Cortisol and estrogen can have retention when stressed, so this will fix itself during a fast. Leptin levels need to be low prior to a fast in order for this to happen. So again, preparing for a fast is super important. 

Women have more body fat than men because of various genetic makeups and how the women’s body is made. Women’s muscles have small fibers of fat in them, so women actually use fat “easier” than men. I bet you never really thought of that, am I right? Women often believe men burn fat faster than they do, which can happen, but this is not the actual case if you understand how to burn fat properly and use the “superpower” of fasting to stay healthy and ultimately get your body to be a fat-burning machine.

Fasting also helps the immune system stem cells. Remember I mentioned how fasting resets the body on a cellular level, so new cells that are being generated during a fast, are killing off the bad cells that can compromise our immune systems. While you are fasted, your body is in autophagy. Autophagy is your body’s recycling system which again gets cells stronger and gets rid of bad cells. Crazy right? These are scientific facts that are super important to really understand before deciding to bring fasting into your lifestyle.

Types of Fasting

So how should you fast and what are the different types of fasting? A great question that I’m sure you are all thinking about. First, let’s discuss the term “intermittent.” You want to make sure you use fasting as a “superpower,” therefore, you need to intermittently use fasting in your lifestyle. Doing this every day should vary, meaning the lengths of your fast may not necessarily be the same every day or week.

There are three types of “Intermittent” Fasting windows:

1. 12/12 – 12 hours of fasting and 12 hours of eating. This is a great start and the ultimate result with this type of fast will help get your gut healthy and control the food you consume better in a proper eating window. 
2. 16/8 – 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating.  This now will reset the gut bio, your cognitive function will start to improve, you will have lower inflammation, lower blood pressure, better blood sugar control and now start to tap into burning body fat more rapidly.
3. 20/4 – 20 hours of fasting and 4 hours of eating. Fasting for 20 hours puts your body in a deeper state of ketosis. This is the ultimate “healing” window of the body and is often looked at as therapeutic rejuvenation.

Longer Fasts 

24-36 hour fasts can be SUPER POWERFUL. Please reach out to me directly to discuss this in further detail. This is recommended once a month and needs to be properly monitored.

Preparing for a Fast

Before you start to introduce fasting into your lifestyle, you need to properly establish a healthy, balanced diet that matches your goals. Consulting a certified nutritionist (me) will allow you to understand all the nutrients your body needs to be healthy. From there we can establish what your last meal of the day should be in order for your fast to work properly and effectively. To start, remember when I discussed leptin levels? Prior to your fast, you want to keep your carbohydrate intake LOW.

What I can consume DURING my Fasting window

Stick to this 100% during your fast or the FAST will FAIL.

1. Water
2. Himalayan sea salt
3. Lemon (in water)
4. Apple cider vinegar
5. Black coffee
6. Black or Green tea

THAT’S ALL FOLKS. Any and EVERYTHING else will BREAK your fast and mess with the entire scientific superpower of making you a fat-burning machine. Plain and simple.

Breaking the Fast

Follow these guidelines VERY carefully or this will throw your entire fast out the window. First, adding Himalayan sea salt to your water will balance out the pH in your body and get your blood system healthy. You want to break your fast with something easily digestible and get your insides working effectively as you just RESET your body, remember! Absolutely NO GLUTEN. This is bad on the thyroid and will spike your blood sugar levels which you worked so hard to reset. This will also take you out of the fat-burning zone that you are now in. Bone broth, bone broth protein is the best thing to break your fast with. 60-90 minutes after you break your fast you can incorporate vegetables and proteins.  Basically have a meal. Fats support estrogen and women need a good amount of Vitamin D (eggs), zinc, and iodine POST fasting.  Then your next meal after that can be a balance of protein, carbs, and fats. Again, being on a proper macronutrient breakdown with a certified professional will help you understand this better.

7 Day Reset

The 7-Day Reset is perfect when you want to do something good for yourself, reconnect with your sense of well-being, or get a jump start on a new health or wellness journey that includes fasting. It’s the simplest and quickest way to experience some of the most transformative nutrition products available to maximize your health. Following a straightforward schedule for 7 days can help you find it easier to sleep better, manage stress, fight cravings, and cleanse your body safely.  

Your wellness routine consists of Shake Days and Cleanse Days.  Days 1-3 and 5-7 of your Reset are Shake Days and are designed to make optimal nutrition simple. On Shake Days, you replace two typical meals with an IsaLean Shake and enjoy a 400-600 calorie third meal. Add a daily Adaptogen Elixir to support your body’s ability to adapt to stress, along with one or two healthy snacks, and your Shake Day is complete.  

Day 4 of your Reset is your Cleanse Day. A Cleanse Day is our clinically supported method of intermittent fasting that’s designed to help you feel nourished and energized while supporting your body’s natural process of cleansing and renewal. There are no laxatives or diuretics involved. If you’ve never tried fasting before or have struggled with other styles of intermittent fasting, you’ll be surprised at how easy it can be to get started with Cleanse Days. 

This will 100% activate your ultimate “superpower” of burning fat and transforming your body on a cellular level that will create lasting health benefits. To start your 7 Day Reset, CLICK HERE!

In Conclusion

I hope this gave you clear answers to intermittent fasting and fasting as a whole. It’s so important to fully understand something before you try it and whether or not it fits your lifestyle. At the end of the day, any “diet” can work, and many “diets” have various benefits. However, whether or NOT they work for you is number one. Fasting may or may not be for you, but if it is something you have always wanted to try, then I want you to make sure you understand the science behind it and go from there. There is so much information on the internet, social media, youtube, etc. that we can get so confused and even follow trends that really don’t work for us and our needs. Establish your goals and needs and create a lifestyle that is sustainable, and in the end, you will succeed.

Here’s to women being fat-burning machines and using our “Super Power” to look and feel our best from the inside out! 

Xoxo, Melina