I have so much to say about not only this book but this whole way of life. This book (and it’s predecessor, Delay, Don’t Deny, and also the associated podcast The Intermittent Fasting Podcast hosted by Gin Stephens and Melanie Avalon, author of What, When, Wine) has been instrumental in helping me to learn to listen to my body. It tells me what it needs! Who knew?!
I started following an intermittent fasting lifestyle several years ago, having become fascinated by the topic following a BBC documentary by Dr Michael Mosley somewhere around 2013. The health benefits seemed obvious, and research has proven them over and over again across the intervening years – not just on rodent studies but increasingly on human studies as well. It is hard to ignore the cascade of benefits reaped from simply giving your body a break from digestion for some hours of the day, and I immediately wanted in.
2021 has been about learning which foods upset my body so I have been following an elmination-reintroduction diet for most of the year, and found that my fasting schedule had to be adjusted to cope with the interesting new hunger that resulted from the change in diet. Maybe something to do with a change in gut microbiome, or maybe simply a psychological change as all of my comfort foods went out of the window, but either way I found I had to fast for less hours than the twenty per day which was my comfort zone before. Now, at long last, I have found the primary offending culprit to my digestion (it’s cow’s milk! Cheese! I grieve!) and it’s time to rein in the loose eating window and recover some of that whole-body peace I associate with the daily fast.
In this book, Gin explains all the reasons for fasting and all the different ways it can fit into your life to make you the healthiest version of yourself. It’s not just about losing your muffin top. There are so many other health benefits to fasting – clarity of thought, easing up of digestive issues (and highlighting them, too – that’s how I knew it was a food I was eating which was making me uncomfortable, and not just my own lifelong system), reduction in achy joints and other inflammations – all the systems of the body which have not had a chance to heal themselves can get the chance when your body is fasting from digestion. I’m not going to go into all the details – that’s what the book is for – but I will list some links below of the other fasting-related books I recommend, and wish you all the very best on your own journey to health.
