This Rich Roll podcast features Dr. Mindy Peltz, a fasting expert and women's health advocate. The conversation centers on women's hormonal health, the impact of modern life, and how fasting can be a powerful tool for healing and empowerment. Dr. Peltz emphasizes understanding the body's natural rhythms and using fasting strategically to improve metabolic health and hormonal balance.
The Hormonal Hierarchy: Dr. Peltz explains a hormonal hierarchy where insulin significantly impacts estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Insulin resistance disrupts this balance, leading to various health issues. Cortisol and oxytocin also play crucial roles in this hierarchy.
Fasting and Women's Cycles: Fasting is particularly beneficial during the first three weeks of a woman's menstrual cycle to enhance insulin sensitivity. However, fasting is not recommended in the week before menstruation due to progesterone's need for glucose.
Metabolic Switching: The body switches between a "sugar-burning" and "fat-burning" metabolic system. Fasting helps shift the body into fat burning, promoting weight loss and other health benefits.
Women's Health Empowerment: The overarching theme is empowering women to take control of their health by understanding their bodies and using tools like fasting, rather than relying solely on external interventions. Menopause is presented as a time of empowerment and self-discovery.
The Importance of Lifestyle: The podcast stresses the importance of a holistic approach to health, encompassing diet, stress management, sleep, and mindful living, with fasting as one component of a broader strategy.
Dr. Peltz primarily focuses on time-restricted eating and intermittent fasting. In her book Fast Like a Girl, she outlines six different fasting lengths (from 17 to 72 hours). She advocates for a "fasting lifestyle" where women choose from these lengths daily, considering their menstrual cycle phase and activity levels. Shorter fasts (15-17 hours) are suggested for autophagy and gut health, while longer fasts (36-72 hours) are for more significant metabolic resets, but less frequently. She emphasizes using fasting as a tool, not a rigid rule, and tailoring it to individual needs and circumstances, avoiding fasting during the week before menstruation.
Dr. Peltz advocates for considering Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) alongside lifestyle changes, not as a standalone solution. She notes that while HRT addresses the decline in estrogen during perimenopause and menopause, it doesn't account for the broader biological and neurochemical shifts occurring in a woman's body. She suggests that incorporating fasting and a focus on ketosis can be beneficial in conjunction with HRT to improve mental clarity, manage weight, and support the body's transition. The overall message is that HRT might be part of a solution, but it should be combined with a tailored lifestyle that supports the body's natural changes.
