Welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Today we're going to talk about something that's actually came up on a recent meet and greet and I'm a hundred percent not going to get into this person's story because I am really about, we don't tell stories of people that don't consent, but the theme remains, which is that if you have either binge eating disorder or binge eating tendencies, and I'll talk a little bit about kind of the profile of who I'm talking about.
That I definitely do not recommend intermittent fasting and I want to kind of get into several reasons for this and go over this. I want to give a big disclaimer here and just sort of reiterate. I am a physician. I'm likely not your physician. Some of you listening are my patients. Hello, in which case talk to me in the clinic. But again, these are some of my general thoughts of things that I see.
And I find that the reason we have this podcast in particular is that there's not enough out there where we talk realistic, realistic.
Sort of meeting this medical behind the scenes of what no one's seeing and then you see all this diet culture and all of it's getting all muddied online with social media and I try to cut through some of that with just sharing some of what I see from a physiologic standpoint or sort of how it negatively impacts either mental health or you achieving your results or just all of it.
So, A lot of people are trying to work on their health and you're seeing out there all these different versions of doing it.
So, you know, you've seen recently in the past few years, this concept of time restricted eating, which is called intermittent fasting, this concept of that you, Delay when you eat so maybe you don't eat first thing in the morning and you decide all right at noon I'm gonna start eating and so you're eating window is from noon to 6 p. m And you just eat during that and then after that You're not eating or some people even go whole days without eating and I am NOT a big fan of it in general again
I There is a lot of research in this area. You can really find evidence to support whatever you are wanting. But I want to speak specifically today to how I see it backfire, typically with patients that have either diagnosed binge eating disorder or binge eating tendencies. So remember with eating, it's really a spectrum. So yes, we have these diagnostic criteria that say, okay, if you meet dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, you meet these criteria.
Okay. Diagnose binge eating disorder, but then there are people in fact, I think I fit in this category where no, I don't have binge eating disorder but I think there are these times when I would just really love to overeat and feel full and there's There's something driving it at that moment. We could call that more emotional eating.
There's different names for all of this There's a right there's a name for all of it The point remains that if you are someone that at times really wants to eat larger quantities of food and you might have an all or nothing side of you where you go from I have to be perfectly eating and then I want to eat all the things Intermittent fasting is not going to be your friend. Now, some of you feel that it is because you say, well, I have more energy when I do it.
So when you intermittent fast, a few things are happening. And again, I'm not an expert in intermittent fasting, but obviously I've done some reading and know a little bit. So the thing about intermittent fasting is that whenever you are ketosis and there's a mental clarity that comes with that. Also, if you fast over a certain level of time, there can be some increase in growth hormone and that can be quite energy producing. And so there are people that love that feeling.
And if that works for you and then you don't have where, let's say that you're fasting majority of the day and then your eating window opens up at night and you're not binging during that time, meaning you're not eating massive amounts of food and feeling out of control and all these things are happening. If you're able to then just have that meal at night, no drama and you're getting in the protein and all the things you need. Amazing. That's not what's happening for majority of you though.
Okay. And you're going to know this because you're not achieving your results. It's been years. The same things that worked before no longer work. Like you were really into the science of it and you were all like up the bum of someone that was saying how amazing this was and it doesn't work for you anymore. And I want to point out a few reasons why and realize that maybe if it did work for you and now it's not, it's okay to change. So I want to go through a few points here today.
So when you're doing this intermittent fasting and then having these eating windows, a lot of time it perpetuates in binge eating, what I call the binge restrict cycle. When I say binging, you're eating a lot of food all at once. And then if you actually have binge eating disorder, you feel highly out of control during that time, you might actually still be hurting. You're still eating. The whole time we're saying, why am I doing this? Like you can't, you're in a fog state almost.
And then a big hallmark of binge eating disorder is that afterward there's just a high level of shame. And I can't believe I did that. And like the negative self talk is just through the roof. Not everybody actually fits that criteria, right? Some people overeat and they're like, Oh, well it is what it is. And you move on. So you have that time happen, and then if you immediately that next period you go into quote unquote a fasting window.
Now it can be a form of restriction and then I don't eat again until the next night and I'm like, Oh, it's okay because I ate all that. But now I'm not eating for this big period of time and you just repeat it again and again and again. Maybe you have a day or two where it doesn't happen. You're like, great, I'm in control. And then the same thing happens. It's like groundhog day again and again and again, same things happening. It's perpetuating this binge restrict cycle.
One of the biggest things that I work on when people have binge eating disorder, it's creating balance throughout the day for them. It's having balanced meals spaced out so that their blood sugars can stay stable. Someone literally said to me here recently, no, I don't binge during the day. It's just at night. I'm saying, yeah, it's because the rest of the day you're not eating.
So the whole day you're not getting any protein, all these things are not happening, and then at night it's just the whole cycle gets going for you. So sometimes we actually start to crack the problem in the morning, at lunch, when we get to dinner. We don't just focus on at night. We've lost the battle at that point. Actually, it's already over. If you have binge eating disorder, And I'm in the clinic. Here are some things I typically think about. I think about creating that balance.
So balanced meals, typically I'll say, look, three times a day, can you get that protein? Can we do the veggies? Can we incorporate these carbohydrates that you love? Right? Instead of saying these are these, you know, it's like forbidden to have a brownie. Can we literally start to put half a brownie with that lunch? Can we literally bring these things in, take them away as a forbidden thing?
The best thing that's ever going to happen to some of you is just going to be to have cookies every day. I mean that. Yeah, you're hearing it here first. That's not the thing that's destroying you. We're having a real moment here. It's the fact that you are so inhibited by it. You have no normalized relationship with it that you can't fathom just eating half the cookie and moving on with your life. You are not normalizing having it part of that.
So I work on balance both in what's on the plate and in timing. And with time, seeing if that can help to break some of the binge restrict cycle. The goal is not zero. The goal is less often, and the goal is that you have a plan for what to do afterward, because a lot of you have no aftercare plan for when you have a binge, and that is the thing that's killing you because it's perpetuating the cycle more and more.
The more that you are staying steeped in that shame, by the way, that's the hallmark of eating disorders, that you're really hidden in, this is such a problem, I can't work through it, like you're, you're so in that, that you can't actually And have that creative solution for the next steps. You're also very married to it's a me problem and not just, okay, this is funny, it's going on. How can we work through this? So we really wanna work on breaking this binge restrict cycle.
The most loving thing you can do after a binge potentially the next day is to just go ahead and have your normal breakfast. To not sit there and think, well, now I should really cut everything back and, and things like that. It would be to maintain a normal rhythm for yourself. The other thing that is occurring is that some of you are doing this intermittent fasting and you're doing lots of exercise and the trouble is.
That when you're breaking a lot of muscle down with exercise, we really do need that nutrition, particularly the protein, but also the carbs. I mean, we need that nutrition to help build up that amazing muscle again, even if it's just to maintain the muscle. And so again, you're, this is something that Allie Novitski actually talks a lot in her program about. She has lots of athletes in there and people will be running marathons and doing lots of weight training and doing all these things.
And if they're not getting the timing of their nutrition, right, They're, they're, they're losing more than the rest of us as far as muscle. So this is very interesting. It's not strategic. It's not loving. If you, I'm going to sing this song loud.
If you are going to take the time to do a bunch of strength training, to do a bunch of exercise and you're not going to appropriately do nutrition, why, why your body, it's like your car is on empty and you're just like, no, I'm going to hit the gas and it's just, nothing's happening. You need the nutrition if you're going to be doing all that amazing movement, right? More so than anyone.
So that's the other problem that happens is that you're sitting there fasting, but you're still doing a lot of exercise. Okay. The other thing that, and we talked about, I'm not going to come back to this kind of the all or nothing. A lot of the time it's, interesting the slope that I see people go down is first they're doing an intermittent fast where it's a 16, eight. So they're fasting for 16 hours. They're eating in an eight hour window.
And then progressively they're seeing that's not working. So then they're like, you know what? One day on one day off and they keep increasing it. And it's like, what's the answer that you're just going to not be eating at some point? I'm laughing, but it's just, it becomes a slippery slope. Then they're so out of control the days when they are eating.
And I think it's because I really, I do see a lot of patients at the intersection where there is potentially that starting of disordered eating or maybe it already exists. And so again, I see that if you're noticing this all or nothing, unless your body is just feels amazing with this and you have the results that you want and it's all working out, then this is not a strategy for you. Okay. The last thing that I really see is with women's cycles.
So if you're still at a period in life where you're getting, I'm just going to assume a monthly cycle, but again, you know, every woman's different. The challenge is, if you really follow with many intermittent fasting experts, they're going to recommend a different strategy the two weeks after your period. That is typically when you've got tons of energy, you can fast, you can do all the things versus the two weeks before your period. This is when progesterone really starts to increase.
And this is when you're tired, you're sluggish, you want more carbs. That's not the fasting time. That's the feast time. And so typically, If you actually want to go down this rabbit hole, you're probably going to want to find yourself someone that understands these hormonal differences at different times of the month. Now, some people are really good intuitively at seeing this.
So for me, for example, like, and I'll just give myself as a first example, but not that, not that it should be extrapolated to everyone, because I am an N of one, right? And remember, we don't. We don't do this anecdotal thing, but for me, I will notice the two weeks after my period, like take it or leave it with chocolate. It's just like, ah, you know, we can do all the things. I've got all the creative energy in the business. I can do all the things.
And then the two weeks before my period, I better not overbook myself. Because I'm tired. I want a nap. I don't want to do all the things. And it's interesting to think that some people, they'll continue to push the same fasting periods during these different times. And if you really work with someone that's into women's health, and that potentially recommends this as a strategy, they're not going to recommend the same stuff your whole cycle.
They're going to vary it maybe the week or the two weeks before your period. And so I bring this up because there is so much nuance here. There is so much nuance and people seem to think that, well, they hear one thing and then that's fact, that's reality. They're not willing to let go of it.
My thought process is always going to be this, be willing to change it up as often as you need to, to keep figuring out what works, to keep getting yourself results, to be willing to change things up at different stages in your life. I, I tell you the cliff that every woman falls off is during perimenopause and menopause. What worked before doesn't work anymore. And they're just shocked by this.
Many of them that have an ectomorph body type, meaning on the naturally thin side, they're saying, you know, I suddenly gained 20 pounds with menopause. I'm not doing anything differently. And they, they, they're just shocked that different strategies are going to need to be employed in And the reality is we just have a very different body as we go forward in life. Different things are occurring, whether it's, are we having kids? Is it menopause? Is it a grief? What does that do to us?
There are many things that are occurring. So the thing I want to leave you with today is, I'm not going to sit here and say, oh, you know, never do this if you have that. I'm giving you general thoughts of what I see in the clinic and what I hear from people. I need you to really have an open mind when you think about for yourself what you're doing. Is it working or not? Do I like how I'm feeling? Do I like the direction I'm going? Is this sustainable for me?
Does this feel good or does it feel hot and cold and hot and cold? This emotional up and down and up and down. It's not. So I need you to check in and if things are not working out, how can you not make it a personal problem and just make it, hey, what could a different strategy be? And again, not overcorrecting too much either. So it's really interesting. I'm going to come back to an example here from a coaching call recently.
If you're someone who has been tracking your food all the time, And now you want to work more toward an intuitive approach, more where you're just sort of like seeing how food feels in your body. And, you know, you're kind of, you have built out habits of getting enough protein. You don't have to suddenly go to never tracking. You could go, Maybe 2 3 days tracking, 2 3 days not. Come back, check. Alright, am I okay? And then not. You can space it out.
I'm really a fan of 1 2 3 days a month, tracking, making sure you're getting enough protein, and then being about your merry way. I actually don't do a lot of tracking in the clinic. Again, I come back to a lot of my patients have a very, Disordered history, and I don't find that people can track long term. So again, can we use it as a bumper rail system? Can we just, I'm roughly on track, and then maybe we don't do that. And, but it doesn't have to be all or nothing.
You don't have to 100 percent abandon something that's helped you. As you're learning other techniques, you could have a little bit more flexibility and fluidity with it. And so with all of this, Everybody is going to be into different things, use different strategies, eat differently, feel differently. Remember, there's testing that can tell if you have that morning fasting gene or not. So some of you are going to feel great. I know we've talked about intermittent fasting before on the podcast.
Some of you feel great with it. And you, yeah, you're like, Matea, no, I always feel amazing doing this. It's because you have the genetics for it. And so if someone's trying to force it on themselves that doesn't have that, Then they're getting into this binge or strict cycle. So I hope that this message was clear today. If you ever have questions, remember we have that fan mail option. I love hearing from you.
It's right in the show notes and you remember that if you want to hear back from us, you do need to provide an email or some way for us to get ahold of you because there's no, respond option for us. But I do like to bring those questions into the, to the Q& A calls. I do want to remind you if you're someone that is either newly on a GLP 1 or just really looking to optimize yourself on a GLP 1, I have that mini course, five mistakes that people make when starting a GLP 1.
And I go through a lot of protein and fiber and body composition, how to Assess that on your own. We have a monthly live Q& A call. Before that, we, the week before we send out an email that says, Hey, do you have questions? You know, you know, just, you know, pop it here. And then I sort of go through one after another those and those replays go out to you. So that's a really good resource as well.
If you So, if you are on this path and you're like, ah, I'm trying to intermittent fast but here's what's happening, I can give you thoughts on that call. And often times if you're live I can even ask you to give me some follow ups. So, you know, if there's things that I don't know, every so often I'll actually email the person. I'll email the person before the call and I'll say, hey, you know, you asked X, Y, Z but then tell me about you know, this or that.
You left out a detail so I can kind of follow up with you. So that's a good mini course to get into. You have several months of those live Q& A calls, and that's another opportunity if you feel like you want to ask me questions more in depth. All right, I'm going to leave it here. Have an amazing rest of the week. Check in with your bodies. That's your assignment right now. One second. How am I feeling? What do I need? What are the two things today that I can do to support myself?
Check in, and I hope you have a great rest of the week.