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Welcome to Chasing Eden Natural Health, God's Way, the podcast
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where we uncover the beautiful simplicity of how God designed
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our bodies to heal, thrive, and renew naturally. I'm your host,
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Carolyn Thompson, and today we're diving into one of the
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most powerful, misunderstood and transformative tools for health that's been
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quietly built into human biology from the very beginning, intermittent fasting. Now,
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before you picture starvation or endless hunger, let's clear something up.
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Fasting isn't a diet. It's a rhythm. It's the divine
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pause button on constant consumption, the biological sabbath your body
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was designed to take. For thousands of years, humans didn't
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eat from sunrise to bedtime. They ate when food was available.
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They worked, they moved and rested, and their bodies responded
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by cleaning, renewing, and regenerating. But in today's world, where
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the fridge is open twenty four seven and coffee shops
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line every corner, most people never experience that natural rhythm,
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and as a result, our bodies rarely get to clean house.
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So today we're going to talk about how intermittent fasting works,
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the different methods and the amazing science behind it, from
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weight loss and antianging atophagy, the miraculous process where your
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body literally eats its own garbage to make new healthy cells.
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We will hear insights from doctor Eric Berg, doctor Josh Axe,
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doctor Barbara O'Neill, human biologist Gary Breca, and a few
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others who've made fasting a foundation of true health, and
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by the end you'll see why fasting isn't just about food,
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it's about freedom. Let's start with a little perspective. Fasting
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isn't new, it's ancient. Every major religion, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam,
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and Buddhism, has fasting woven into its traditions. In the Bible,
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fasting appears over seventy times. It was seen as a
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way to draw closer to God, to cleanse the soul,
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and to reset your spirit. But what ancient people didn't
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realize was that fasting was also quietly cleansing the body.
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Or maybe they did realize it, who knows. Doctor Barbara
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O'Neill often says God designed us to heal when we
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stop interfering, and that's exactly what fasting does. It removes interference,
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It gives the body a rest from digestion so it
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can finally turn inward and repair. Our ancestors practiced this naturally.
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They didn't really have to think about it. They didn't
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eat every three hours. There were no midnight snacks. They
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lived in cycles feast and fast, work and rest. That
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natural rhythm is what kept their insulin low, inflammation down,
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and energy stable. You know, this makes me think of
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the Little House on the Prairie book series, because when
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I homeschooled my children in the nineties and the early
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two thousands, we went through several of the Little on
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the Prairie books and one of the things that really
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stood out to me and still stands out, is the
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fact that they were only able to eat what they
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had and Pa would run out and he would hunt,
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and he may or may not be successful. He may
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bring home something really big, like a big deer or
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a hog or something, or maybe he, you know, only
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brought back something small. I can't even think of what
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he might have brought back, like, I don't know, but
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maybe not much meat. And they would oftentimes they'd have
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to salt the meat and store it so they'd only
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get to eat just a little bit of it, and
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then they'd have to put it away for times when
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they would need it, and they'd have to ration the meat,
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and then they would they would be canning things during
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the summer for the winter so that they would have
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things to eat. They would store grains and different things.
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So nowadays we live in a different world where we
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can have pretty much anything we want around the clock,
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so our bodies, oftentimes, if we're not mindfully doing it,
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they don't have that opportunity to rest and also to
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cycle different types of foods within the season. Right now,
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we can go to the store and we can buy
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strawberries out of season and watermelon, and we can buy
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things frozen that we wouldn't normally be able to eat
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in the dead of winter. So with that in mind,
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we haven't really been able to allow our bodies to
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go with the natural rhythm of nature like it has
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in the past. These modern day conveniences they feel great,
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and it's nice to be able to run to the
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grocery store and purchase things that we wouldn't be able
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to have when it's snowing outside, a summer fruit, you know,
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like a pineapple or something. So with that in mind,
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today we've broken that rhythm and The average American eats
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between fourteen and sixteen hours a day, meaning we're constantly digesting,
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constantly storing, and rarely cleaning. And that's where intermittent fasting
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comes in. It helps us return to that original design.
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If you've been on social media and you're subscribed to
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accounts that deal with health and diet, I'm sure you've
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already watched somebody talk about intermittent fasting. Everyone's got the
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way that they want to recommend that you do it.
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Everyone has the one that works the best, and they
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might tell you don't eat in the morning, wait until
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three o'clock in the afternoon, or only eat one meal
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a day, you know, only eat one hour in that
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twenty four hours, or start eating early in the morning
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and stop eating by three. You can eat three meals
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a day, or two meals or one meal. There's all
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these different ways to do it. I personally think it's
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more of a personalized thing. I don't think a man
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is going to be intermittent fasting necessarily the same way
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that a woman would intermittent fast Depending on our hormones,
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depending on our age, depending on our lifestyle. We have
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to take all of these things into consideration. So what
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actually happens when you skip breakfast or go sixteen hours
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without eating. Doctor Eric Berg, one of the leading educators
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on intermittent fasting, explains it like this. After about twelve
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hours of fasting, your insulin levels start to drop, and
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that's when the magic happens. Insulin is a storage hormone.
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It tells your body to hold on to fat. When
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insulin is constantly high from snacking sugar and processed foods,
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your body never burns fat for fuel. It stays in
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storage mode. But when insulin drops, your body's which is
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energy sources and it starts burning fat for fuel. That's
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called ketosis. Doctor Berg also explains that during fasting, another
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process kicks in called atophagy, which literally means self eating.
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It's not as gross as it sounds. It's one of
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the most vital and protective mechanisms in your body. Atophagy
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is your body's cleanup crew. It finds damaged cells, leftover
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proteins and toxins and breaks them down to be recycled
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into new healthy material. Think of it like spring cleaning
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for your cells. Japanese scientist doctor Yoshi Noori Osumi actually
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won the Nobel Prize in twenty sixteen for discovering how
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autophagy works, showing that fasting activates this cellular recycling process,
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reducing inflammation, extending your lifespan, and preventing disease. Doctor Josh
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Acts calls it quote the body's self repair mode unquote,
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explaining that fasting triggers stem cell production and helps regenerate
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the immune system. And human biologist Gary Bricca says fasting
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as quote the biological factory reset. He said, when we fast,
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we're not starving, we're healing. So fasting isn't just about
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losing weight. It's about giving your body the time and
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quiet it needs to do what God designed it to
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do to heal itself. There is really no single right
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way too fast, and that's the beauty of it. It's flexible, personal,
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and you can fit it into your lifestyle. So let's
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go over some of the most common methods. There's the
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twelve twelve fast. Now, this is the easiest and most natural.
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You fast for twelve hours and you eat within a
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twelve hour window. For example, you stop eating at seven
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pm and you have breakfast at seven am. This gives
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your digestive system a daily rest. Then there's the sixteen
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eight fast, and this is the one that I typically
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like to do, the most popular method. You fast for
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sixteen hours and you eat within an eight hour window,
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so from eleven to seven. Doctor Berg often recommends this
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approach because it allows fat burning and autophagy to activate
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without feeling overly restrictive. So if you only eat between
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eleven am and seven pm, there's your eight hour eating window.
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Not too bad. There is also the eighteen six and
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the twenty four fast. This is the Warrior method, and
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I've also done this. This is for more advanced fasters.
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You eat one or two meals in a small window,
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maybe just dinner, and fast for the rest of the day.
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This can supercharge atophagy and energy production. Then there's the
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five two fast. This method involves eating normally five days
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a week and then lightly around five or six hundred
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calories on two non consecutive days. Doctor Axe often recommends
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this for people easing into fasting without daily commitment. Now,
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this particular method, the twenty four hour fast. They call
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it the oh mad omad one meal a day. Many people,
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including Gary Breka, use this once or twice a week.
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It's a full twenty four hour reset that gives your
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digestive system complete rest. Doctor Barbara O'Neill reminds us that
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fasting doesn't mean deprivation, its restoration. The key is hydration, water,
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herbal teas, and mineral rich broths, which can help your
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body stay balanced during longer fasts. So let's look beyond
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the bathroom scale for a minute, because fasting's most powerful
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effects have little to do with calories. As fasting triggers atophagy,
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your body removes old cell parts, misfolded proteins, and even
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precancerous cells. Doctor Berg calls it cellular housekeeping. Chronic inflammation
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is at the root of nearly every modern disease, from
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arthritis to Alzheimer's. Fasting lowers inflammatory cytokines, letting your immune
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system rest and repair. Dave Asprey, the founder of Bulletproof
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and author of Fast This Way, says fasting increases brain
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derived neurotrophic factor or b d NF for short, which
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protects and grows neurons. Many people report mental sharpness and
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creativity after the first few days of fasting cycles, and
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you would be surprised if you start doing this how
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much clarity you have and how much brain fog you
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had that you didn't even realize you had, because you
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get used to living with a certain way and you
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start adjusting to the brain fog and the low energy, thinking, well,
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this is just the way it is, and either I'm
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getting older, or maybe I'm just not sleeping enough, or
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maybe my diet's not good or I'm not drinking enough.
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But whatever the reason, I don't have a lot of
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clarity and focus without realizing that just simply applying a
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fast to your regime could dramatically increase your mental sharpness
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and your energy level. Doctor Josh Ax explains that fasting
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mimics the effects of calorie restriction, the most studied longevity
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intervention in history. When your body spends less time digesting,
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it spends more time repairing, slowing down, aging from the
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inside out. Now, I do want to point out that
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it's well known that if you eat late in the evening,
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you're interrupting your sleep cycle. And oftentimes people report having
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nightmares after late night snacks, and they don't even they
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don't realize it. They'll eat late at night and then
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they'll wake up with a night terror, and then they
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wake up the next day confused what had happened without
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realizing that they ate late at night and the brain
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can't fully shut down because the digestion is taking place
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in the stomach, or it's trying to take place in
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the stomach, And that's a whole other area. If you study,
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that might creep you out because you're going to increase
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your parasite load. If you eat late at night, you
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are not going to be able to effectively digest what's
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in your stomach. And that is something well for another podcast.
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So let's talk about blood sugar and insulin balance. For
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those dealing with insulin resistance or type two diabetes, intermittent
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fasting can help reset insulin sensitivity. As doctor Berg puts it, quote,
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fasting fixes the root cause, not just the symptom. And finally,
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fasting brings focus not just physical but virtual. Many Christians
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describe fasting as an amplifier of prayer and gratitude. When
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the body quiets, the spirit listens. Doctor O'Neill calls it
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quote a chance for the body and soul to detox
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together unquote. Now, of course, fasting comes with its share
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of myths and a few mistakes beginners often make. So
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let's clear some of this sup myth number one, fasting
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slosure metabolism. I believed this for years. I believed this,
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but actually short term fasting boost metabolism by releasing nora epinephrine,
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which helps your body use stored fat for energy. Then
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there's myth number two, you'll lose muscle. Well, I believed
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that one. Also. Doctor Ax explains that the body is
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smarter than that. In a fast, it's date growth hormone
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increases up to five hundred percent, protecting lean muscle and
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encouraging fat burning. Instead. Myth number three you need breakfast
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to start your metabolism. Gary Breca says breakfast is quote
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the most over marketed meal in human history unquote. When
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you delay eating, your body stays in fat burning mode longer,
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and your energy levels actually stabilize. So that brings us
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to myth number four. Fasting is just for weight loss,
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it's not. Doctor Barbara O'Neill says fasting is like quote
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pressing reset on every cell in your body unquote. Weight
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loss is just the side effect of deeper healing. If
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you break your fast with sugar or process carbs, you'll
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undo the benefits. Well, I'm really guilty of that one.
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Doctor Berg recommends breaking your fast with vegetables, healthy fats,
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and protein like avocado, eggs or a salad. Here's another
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mistake during a fast, not drinking enough water. Fasting increases detoxification,
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which means your body needs water to flush out toxins.
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So add sea salt or electrolytes to stay balanced, and
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definitely definitely do that because you could end up with
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leg cramps, or you could get dizzy, or God forbid,
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you could pass out. So another mistake people make is
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overdoing it too fast. Start slow, begin with twelve hours
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and then fourteen and then sixteen. Your body adapts beautifully
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when you honor its pace. So you can't talk about
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fasting on chasing Eden without talking about the spiritual side.
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In Matthew six sixteen, Jesus said, when you fast, you