Episode 21: The Skinny on Intermittent Fasting with Chantel Ray

Hey beautiful, it's Dr. Tabatha.

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Hi, I'm Dr. Tabatha, the Functional Gynecologist. I'm a board-certified OB-GYN and functional medicine physician. I've embraced the world of functional medicine and wellness through my own personal health journey, and I'm super excited to share my wisdom and unique perspective as it pertains to women's health. So if you're struggling with hormone imbalance, weight gain, period issues, anxiety, insomnia, you name it, Then you've come to the right place. I want to be your functional gynecologist. So welcome. Hi friends, I'm super excited for today. I'm interviewing Chantel Ray. She's the author of the Amazon bestseller Waste Away the Chantel Ray Way. And Fasting to Freedom. She also owns a multi-million dollar real estate business, so she's doing all kinds of stuff. After struggling with her weight and autoimmune disease for years, she began interviewing thousands of thin women for their eating and lifestyle tips. She used these interviews to develop her Chantel Ray Way. She's going to talk about this today, and I think you're really going to connect with what she has to say. Chantel has helped thousands of women around the world lose weight through her Chantel Ray way of intermittent fasting. She's also created multiple programs, tools, and free resources to guide readers through her revolutionary approach to weight loss. Her podcast and website serve as a beacon of hope to the many people who struggle with sustainable weight loss. So enjoy listening to our interview Today as she talks about the benefits of intermittent fasting, how to incorporate it into your life. And we also talk about her book, Fasting to Freedom, which is using fasting as a way of strengthening your faith, which I just think is a really beautiful way to serve God and to strengthen your own health and spirituality. So enjoy. Well, welcome, Chantal. Thanks for coming on.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah, I'm super excited to talk to you. You know, we just talked the other day when I was on your podcast, and so now I feel like we're becoming fast friends. This is awesome.

That's right.

It is awesome. And right before we came on, Chantal was making fun of me because I'm sitting in my closet today. So Yeah, I've had to change things up a little bit with this COVID-19. You know, I didn't want to cancel this, so I figured out, you know, let's make it work. And this is what I'm doing.

You made it happen, and I love it.

Yeah, you are one of those people. That's why I've been so impressed following you, watching your story. You are one of those people that just makes it happen no matter what the obstacles. You're my kind of girl.

So yeah.

I would love for you to share with my listeners, like, what took you down this path of health and wellness and, you know, got— how'd you get into intermittent fasting?

Yeah.

So I basically, you know, I've struggled with my weight my entire life and I had finally started deciding. I said, okay, well, if I really want to know what it takes to be thin, I'm going to interview people who've been naturally thin by eating what they want.

Mm-hmm.

And so, because I, I didn't want to have to count calories. I didn't want to have to, you know, do meal plans. I'm not really that kind of— I don't— I didn't want people saying, you can eat this, you can't have this, you know. And I was constantly on a yo-yo dieting plan. And so what I started doing is I started interviewing women, and I said, okay, have you been thin your whole life? And what did you do exactly? And the crazy part about it is none of those women ever told me they did intermittent fasting. But after I interviewed one after another, I'd be like, did you eat breakfast? And they'd be like, no. They'd be like, oh, I didn't start eating till about 12, or I didn't start eating till 2, or you see what I'm saying? But none of them were like, oh, I do intermittent fasting.

Right. It was just their life.

Yeah. They just basically ate 2 meals a day, you know? And so some of them might be like, well, maybe today I might eat breakfast and lunch, but I didn't eat dinner, you know, or, or sometimes I might just eat a really big lunch and then I'm done. I don't need anything else for the rest of the day. And so it was just about me. Literally, if you asked 20 of my friends, of my top friends right now, all of them would be like, how did you meet Shantelle? And they'd be like, well, she just randomly came up to me and was like, hey, can I ask you, like, what do you eat for breakfast? What do you eat for lunch? How do you stay so thin? You know?

I love that.

And I literally did that for every Then it finally clicked to me that these people were eating 2 meals or less a day, sometimes 1 meal, right?

Mm-hmm.

Depending on how much they ate that day. They were eating when they were hungry. They were stopping when they were full, and they weren't in bondage to food. That's what I wanted. That's my first book. I wrote my first book called Waste Away. That just literally is all the principles that they taught me in that book. So I love that.

I love not being in bondage to food because, yeah, I— food used to talk to me, you know. I couldn't have it in the same building or same room because I wouldn't stop thinking about it. And so it does feel like it has a hold on you. And I love that you figured out the patterns that these women were following and you put it into a book. How long did it take you to actually incorporate that into your own life?

Well, once I started saying, okay, I'm gonna start— because intermittent fasting is one piece of the puzzle. So I have about 10 or 12 different principles in the book that I say everyone basically said these same 10 things, right?

Mm-hmm.

But intermittent fasting is just such a huge piece of that puzzle, and it really gave me freedom to be able to lose over 30 pounds and be able to keep it off.

That's awesome.

So that's really kind of one of the, the big golden nuggets of it, but it's not the only piece. You know, I've seen people who have lost maybe 20, 30 pounds on intermittent fasting, and then they're in a rut and they're stuck because they're not doing the other 9 principles that are super important in weight loss.

Right. And that's where your coaching comes in, right? You do coaching online, is that right?

Yeah, we have some— we do coaching online. We just meet with people via Skype or, you know, anything else. And we also do it as far as we have other coaches. So you could— someone could be a coach if they wanted to, as long as they read the book Waste Away and they agreed with, you know, the principles that are in there and were able to kind of— we have a program that takes people to going It's, it's, we kind of make it like from couch to 5K, you know, it's like, you know, you sitting on the couch, you're not doing anything, and then you can all of a sudden run a 5K. So we have like a plan that walks you through that, that goes, okay, you know, maybe we start with a 10-hour eating window and then move to an 8-hour eating window. And then, then it's not just the eating windows, it's also just all the other principles that, um, you need to do to lose weight.

That's awesome. And so when women go through this program, they get rid of that bondage to food. They figure out to know when they're hungry and when they're satisfied.

Yeah, so one of the biggest things that is— that I talk about is this deprivation cycle, right? And so I am so adamant on people not feeling deprived because they've soon as you feel deprived, what happens is you have this terrible cycle. So you restrict the food, then you strive to avoid what you've been, quote, deemed bad food, right? And then all of a sudden you give in to that said restricted item, right? Then you have all this guilt and shame, and then you go, oh my gosh, now I'm gonna, you know, repeat this cycle. And then it's just this horrible cycle of Of deprivation. Yeah.

So, and it's such a psychological game. So many women just get so down on themselves and they get into this all-or-none mentality, like, oh, I effed that up, I guess I'm gonna just give up now. So I love that you're fixing, you know, you're dealing with that aspect.

Yeah. And the thing is, is that deprivation of restrictive diets Yes. And so it's just a constant thing that if you just literally say to yourself, like, I'm never going on a diet again. I'm not going to deprive myself of this, deprive myself of that. I'm just going to choose foods that fuel my body, that I feel great on, but I don't deprive myself. So like, in my house right now, it's so much healthier. So funny and I'm telling you at least 7 out of 10 people who come to my house, I have this huge table that's in our dining room like it's huge. It's probably, I don't know, at least 10 feet.

Uh-huh.

And I love to have snacks out for people and so I have all these different snacks and they're all like organic but they're not all super, super healthy. They're all organic but I mean some of them might have cane sugar or regular sugar, you know. But there's tons of different snacks. And everyone always asks, they're like, don't you just lose your mind when you go by this table? Like, you have this table that has like the most amazing snacks. And I'm like, no, I don't lose my mind when I go across there because I already know when I'm physically hungry, I can have any of those snacks I want.

Yeah.

I have a few bites of it, and when I'm done, I just move on. But because I'm not, I'm not in bondage to that food, it could sit there, you know, forever. One of the stories I tell in my book was I had this assistant that I had probably, I don't know, 15 years ago at my work, and she was a thin eater. She was just always one of those, you know, she naturally just didn't gain weight and was always thin. And one day she was there and she bought one of those You know those old-fashioned 6-pack of donuts that you can get like at 7-Eleven?

Oh yeah.

And she put them on her desk and she bought them the first day. It sat on her desk the whole time. Then the second day, it sat on her desk the whole day. And then the third day, she had a doctor's appointment and she was like, I'm not gonna be in the next day. So that third day, I was thinking to myself, I can't— I've been wanting— it was powdered donuts. I've been wanting those donuts and I couldn't believe that she just had them sitting on her desk that whole time. The first day, then the second day. And so finally I was like, oh, she won't mind if I eat 3 of them. So I ate 3 of them. Then like 5 minutes later, I ate the whole bag. And then I ended up going to Wawa and getting her a replacement of it. But it always blew my mind because I was thinking the exact same thing. How could she be so disciplined to have those 6-pack of donuts there and not be tempted to eat it? So funny how everyone always asks me about all the snacks that I have on mine. And when it just goes back to like, we have a huge bar in our house like that has alcohol up the wazoo. I mean, any kind of alcohol, premium shelf, everything you could imagine. And I probably drink twice a year. I'm not a big drinker. I, I like to eat my calories. I don't like to drink them. So I just— I've never been a big drinker. I'll have it a couple times, just never been a thing for me. But again, when you don't have that magnetic force to be like, I have to have it, you know, I can have any of that alcohol anytime I want it. I just choose not to have it.

Yeah.

So it's the same thing with that. That snack tray is like, I love having that feeling that I can have whatever I want as long as I do it in moderation. I'm eating a couple bites. I'm not going out of control. And I try to get the healthiest version of whatever that is. So if it's a granola bar, I'm going to pick an organic one that has very few ingredients, that's clean, and, you know, but it still satisfies me.

Yeah, I love that freedom from food. That is fabulous. I think so many lessons to be learned there. So that's definitely a great benefit of intermittent fasting. What are some other benefits that you've found?

So for me, the biggest thing, and one of the things that people say right now, is that they are saying that intermittent fasting is— they should be calling it time-restricted eating. I don't know if you've heard people say that with the time-restricted eating.

Yeah.

But they say that time-restricted eating is where it's only— when it's a form of fasting where the time of the day is limited or compressed, meaning they eat in a 6 6-hour window or an 8-hour window. They say intermittent fasting is anything more than 24 hours. What I say is that intermittent fasting— we've all been using that term intermittent fasting as the same as time-restricted eating. You can't just now all of a sudden say, okay, if it's a 6-hour window, an 8-hour eating window, it's time-restricted eating. More than 24 hours, it's intermittent fasting. I'll just clarify that.

Right.

When I talk about intermittent fasting, I am talking about just eating in a maybe a 6-hour window or an 8-hour window. So, okay.

Yeah, that's a good clarification for sure.

Yeah. And, you know, it takes a little bit of time to adjust to intermittent fasting. And so the biggest thing is, is that you want to get to the point where you are more fat adapted. And what that means is your body is now using fat for fuel instead of sugar for fuel. And my favorite analogy that I say is that if you have money in your pocket, let's say you have $100 and you go to the store and there's— you want to buy a little purse for $80. Well, you wouldn't go to the bank to go get the money because you already have $100 in your bank, your pocket right now. So the same thing happens when it comes to burning fat. If you already have sugar in your, in your stores, then your body's not gonna go to burning its fat because it already has glucose able to be used.

Exactly.

And so the analogy is the cash in your pocket is like the glucose, and then the fat is like the money you have stored in your bank.

Mm-hmm. I love that.

So you wanna be in a fat— being fat adapted is a metabolic state where your body has been in ketosis long enough that you've kind of transitioned to what your body uses for fuel. So, you know, if all I'm used to is burning carbs and sugar for all my energy, then once you start fasting and you're not constantly getting those carbs and sugar, your body has to find a new source of fuel, which is fat. And so that's basically what it means to get your body fat adapted or getting used to intermittent fasting. And people say that it really takes like Some people it takes a week, some people take a day, and it just really depends on how much weight you have to lose and how used to your body is to grabbing sugar or carbs for fuel instead of for fat.

Right. Yeah, when I talk to my patients about it, if they've been eating 3 or 4 snacks a day, I have to get them off the snacking before I can even start to tighten up their window because they won't be able to handle it. Their body has totally adapted to that. Totally forgotten how to tap into their fat stores, but it's amazing when you do get to that point and then you become metabolically flexible. How you can eat when you need to, and then if like for me when I go on trips, I fly, I don't want to eat. I don't want to eat in the airports and you know that type of stuff. That's the perfect time to have metabolic flexibility and just burn your fat for fuel. So I love it. I think it's a great tool.

And I really have gotten to the point where now I'm a flexible intermittent faster. And what that means is, is that flexible— it's basically exactly what it sounds like, right? That flexible intermittent fasting is approach to fasting that's not tightly restricted as some of the other approaches to intermittent fasting. Meaning someone might say, okay, well, I eat in a 6-hour window. I start at 12:05.

Mm-hmm.

I need to end at 6:05. You know, where I do an 8-hour window, I have to start at 1 o'clock and I've got to eat at exactly 9 o'clock. So it's basically where you say, hey, sometimes I might have, you know, breakfast and lunch, and then sometimes I might have lunch and dinner, and sometimes it might be a 5-hour window. Sometimes I might only eat 1 meal a day. I'm listening to what my Mm-hmm. Is calling me to eat for that day. I'm not eating more than I need, I'm not, I'm just eating exactly what it's craving, and so it's just very flexible. I'm not counting the hours and going, you know, one of the things I've seen people do that drives me crazy is that they'll be like, okay, I'm gonna eat in a 6-hour window, I'm gonna start at 12, and then at 6 o'clock they'll just, or like 5:30, they'll just start eating everything but the kitchen sink because their eating window's over at 6 o'clock. And now they're just like overeating because they're worried that their eating window's closing. And I'm like, really?

Yeah, that's not doing you any favors.

That's not the right way to go, guys.

How long have you been doing the flexible fasting?

You know, when I first started, I was a little bit more rigid. But what, what is funny is that your, your body will get used to eating at like around the same time. So my eating window is Pretty much from 12 to 6 every day.

Mm-hmm.

And the reason is, is because— and it— but it's still flexible. Like, I— it may be 12:30, it might be 1 o'clock, it might be 11:45, it might be 11 o'clock. It's just I literally listen to my body and I go— my stomach will growl. I don't— do not eat my first meal of the day until my stomach— I've actually physically heard it growl, because then I know I have gotten it to complete empty and I'm truly hungry. I'm not eating for any other reason than true hunger.

Mm-hmm.

And so that's one thing that I absolutely always do. So, but I would say in the beginning I was a lot more rigid. Um, but now I'm just, you know, I just kinda look at my day. It's funny 'cause in the last week I've been eating earlier, maybe like 10:30. I've been starting to eat. I've just been getting hungrier. And so one of the girls I work with, Heather, was like, you're starting to eat earlier. What's going on with you? So it's like, people know I've been on such a routine, but again, I think it's the way to go. That's, that's the way to true freedom is like just listening to your body.

Yeah, definitely. Because sometimes you're expending more energy, right? Sometimes your workouts change up. Sometimes you're more physically active or less physically active. Sometimes you're sick, you know, so Those metabolic needs change. And I think if you can get your body to be able to get to that flexible point, it's just amazing.

And if you do the flexible fasting right, it actually will force your body to dip into its own fat stores more. And, and you'll actually lose weight more because what happens is, is kind of like what I said before. But if I just really wait and I wait until I'm really hungry and then sometimes I might even wait a little bit more than that to make sure I'm just definitely physically hungry before I eat and then I even— let's say it's 5 o'clock and I know my window is going to close at 6. I might say, I'm just— I'm not hungry right now. I'm not— just because my eating window is going to close at 6. I'm not doing— I'm not playing that game. I'm just— it might be at 6:30. I might go, okay, I'm actually hungry again to now eat. I'm going to eat at 6:30. Or I might just decide I'm just not going to eat dinner tonight. Like, and then that means if I didn't eat dinner the night before, then that's why the next day I might be hungrier at 10 o'clock instead of 12 o'clock because I didn't eat dinner.

Right.

So again, it's just super flexible.

Yeah, I love that. Do you have any, quote, side effects from this that you would say aren't so pleasant or that you had to get over?

Yeah, I think for me, just because I've been doing it for so long, um, but the side effects, one of the biggest ones is really when I do extended fasting. Not really that much anymore, especially like maybe if I do one meal a day. But sometimes I get cold when I'm fasting, and that's a big side effect, is that if you're, if you're constantly cold, that's not something to get really like alarmed at. But people don't realize when you're eating food and you're digesting food, it takes your body a lot of— it takes a lot of work to digest all that food.

Yeah.

So if you think about it, your body creates heat when it's digesting food. So on a fast day when you're eating less, you're not getting that kind of heating from eating that food. And so, you know, your body's also really good at protecting your vital organs, which means that if you're not eating as much, it might sense and prioritize them. So Your extremities, like your hand and feet, might get cold. But the good news is, is that your body actually burns calories maintaining a stable temperature. So if you, let's say, are colder, that means you're burning more calories. So you don't need to, like, freak out. I mean, I would put on some socks, put on some gloves, jump around. You know, if it's hot outside, go for a walk. One of the best tips that I have seen so many thin eaters do is that when they are cold— I mean, I'm sorry, when they are— they think they might be hungry or they need something to do or they need a snack, they have a cup of hot herbal tea.

Yeah, that's what I do.

They just have— that's like, that's like their go-to. Instead of eating food, they're having no calories. It kind of warms them up. It gives them that kind of the idea of like putting something to their mouth, but they're not eating anything. And so that cup of hot tea is a really, really great thing to do.

Yeah, I love that. I think that's great advice. I just think it's awesome that you're sharing this with people and so that other people can benefit from this. And what I love even more is that it's faith-based. So Are you comfortable talking about your faith-based journey in all of this and how that's played a role?

Yeah, I would love to. So if you look in the Bible, the Bible talks about fasting over 70 times in the Bible, right? And so, you know, one of the things that I talk about in my other books— so my, my first book that I wrote was Waste Away, and that's really just about You know, fasting and all the thin eater principles. But then the second book is really about my journey to fast for spiritual reasons. And I believe that that is a huge deal. There's more reasons than just weight loss to fast.

Mm-hmm.

And so that's really about extended fasting. So it's called Fasting to Freedom: The Gift of Fasting, because Fasting is such a gift, and no one really likes to think of it as a gift because they're like, what? That is not a gift. That's torture, right? That's what they think. And it's like, once you get to the place where you go, this is amazing. And I talk about in Fasting to Freedom that there's different reasons why people fasted in the Bible. So one of them was because they had like a nagging sin, right? And that if you have a nagging sin in your life, which would be if you're listening to this and overeating is an issue, then that would be a reason to fast, to kind of say, God, I really want you to come into my life and take this out of my life. You want to basically taste victory over a nagging area of sin in your life. And sometimes maybe you just feel like you don't have God's provision. I mean, right now I know people are losing their jobs, they are, you know, struggling, that would be a great reason to fast. You know, if you are overcoming difficult times and you need to receive a breakthrough when you're feeling stuck, that's another great reason to fast. So, you know, I think that what happens is— my favorite analogy of fasting is scuba diving. So I live in Virginia Beach and our water here is brown.

Mm-hmm.

We still want you to come visit us. We'd love you to come. But I'm gonna let you know right now, we don't have blue water.

Mmm.

It's not like gorgeous like Cancun and Cabo. It's just not like that. And so when you stand over our water, you can't see the color of the fish or the coral or any of that. The only way to see it is if you put scuba gear on and you go underneath. And as soon as you put those glasses on, all of a sudden you can see the color of the fish and the coral and all of that. And that's what fasting does. It basically is a— helps you to hear God's small whisper to help guide you to make decisions. So I don't ever make a big decision without fasting. Like, if I'm deciding if I'm going to do this or do that, I will go on an extended fast. And you will just see God work in such an amazing way when you're doing a fast. So that's really what Fasting to Freedom is about.

That is so beautiful, and I completely agree with you. You know, there's physiological reasons Why fasting makes us have mental clarity. You know, ketones burn cleaner as a fuel than sugar does. But I just love the connections to your faith. I just think it's so powerful when you can give that up, give that over to God, and he just opens up a whole new world, right? So—

Yeah, and the thing is, I talk about different kinds of fasting. So like in the beginning, like The one thing is, is that, that I'm really passionate about is the word fast means not to eat. So you can't say, I'm gonna fast from Facebook. You can say, I'm gonna abstain from Facebook.

Right.

You can say, I'm gonna abstain from watching movies, or I'm gonna abstain from this or that. But to fast means literally not to eat, that sort of thing. And so That is a big, you know, big thing that I talk about in that book.

That's fabulous. And you have done, um, things through your church, is that right?

Yeah, I mean, I've spoken at different churches. I go around and speak at different women's conferences just about fasting and stuff like that. So I love doing that. I used to be a children's— before I When I was younger, I was actually a children's pastor and a youth pastor before that. So I've done tons of work in the church. But I will tell you, I grew up from the time I started going to church. My mom started taking us to church when I was 12 years old. And between the time I was 12 and about the age of 30, even though I went to church all those years, I never heard one sermon on fasting. I never even knew what fasting was.

Until finally I went to this church and they talked about it. But there's so many pastors that are overweight and they're heavy, and they just don't preach any sermons on fasting because they don't want to do it. And so they don't want people looking at them going, "Well, when are we going to do a fast?" So they just don't talk about it. So I didn't even hear about fasting until I was much older. Yeah, I would say the only time I hear about it is during Lent, you know, which is right now. And I think just this whole being sequestered. With COVID-19 is such a good reminder that, you know what, why don't we give things over to God? Why don't we listen to what the universe is saying, like, hey, it's time for a break, it's time to reevaluate our lives and our situation? And I think starting with something as simple as time-restricted eating is a way to gain some wins so that you feel in control and feel like you can make some changes. Wouldn't you say that that is empowering to women?

I totally do. And, you know, one of my favorite verses in the Bible is in Chronicles. It's in 2 Chronicles, and it says, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I'll forgive their sin and heal their land. And I think if there's any one passage right now that our entire country needs to hear is this verse right here. We all need to humble ourselves. We need— everyone should be praying right now that's saying, God, please come back into our country and heal our people with everything going on.

Yeah, amen.

I love that.

Oh my gosh. Well, you have so much wisdom to share. I really appreciate you coming on to The Functional Gynecologist. Because women need to hear this.

Yeah, and I will say one more thing since you are a functional gynecologist, is that my periods before I started doing intermittent fasting were all over the place, absolutely all over the place. And so I never knew when my period was, you know, up from down. And for whatever reason, as soon as I started intermittent fasting, It literally regulated my hormones, which regulated my periods. And now I am as regular, you know, I mean, sometimes I might be, you know, 28 days, some days 29, sometimes 30, but I still— don't you feel like that's still a very regular period?

Yeah, that's very regular. And I'm so glad that you brought that up because you, when you get off that sugar insulin yo-yo diet situation, yeah, your periods, they balance out. Your sex hormones aren't Struggling to be produced and balanced. So that is a great benefit of fasting.

Yeah, because when your hormones can't communicate with the ovaries, that's when you run the risk of irregular periods and then infertility, you know, poor bone health. I know I've seen women left and right on my show, and I get letters in and say, I want to thank you so much For teaching me how to do intermittent fasting, because as soon as I did, I then got pregnant. They didn't have to do, you know, all these in vitro and hormones and all kinds of other stuff. They literally started doing intermittent fasting and boom, they started getting pregnant. So I could give you story after story of that. Yeah, as well.

Yeah, that's why it's like my number one recommendation in the office is get off the snacking roller coaster, start tightening up your eating window. It makes such a huge difference. Because honestly, our periods are just a vital sign. They're just telling us what's going on in our body. And if they're heavy or irregular or not happening at all, that's like ding, ding, ding, you need to get control of your cortisol and your sugar and your insulin. So that's great.

Yeah, because basically like the function of the hypothalamus and the pituitary glands are— they're so Influenced by our nutrition and our metabolism. And anytime you have disruption where you're just constantly, like you said, snack, snack— listen, this is what my family used to sing to me all the time. You know that song, All I Do Is Win, Win, Win No Matter What? You know that song?

Yeah.

I— they would sing to me, All I Do Is Snack, Snack, Snack No Matter What, because I was the Biggest snacker. I just, I didn't even love to eat big meals. I just like to snack, snack, snack. And now I just, I eat one meal or I eat 2 meals and that's the end of the story. It's so easy.

Oh yeah.

And now with everyone trying to save money, I mean, if you're trying to save money, this is the way to do it. You're thinking about food less and saving money. It's like win-win-win all the way around.

Exactly. You don't have to go to the grocery store constantly. You don't have to try and think of meals to prepare. You know, it— I just find it so freeing. You know, another thing for women's health, what I find works really well for perimenopausal symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats is intermittent fasting. Do you see that a lot with your clients?

Yes, that's another good one, is that they feel like all of those symptoms have either gotten less, way less, or have gone away altogether. And we've seen different people back and forth have said— some people said, I still have it, but it's just not as much, and some completely gone away from fasting. And it really depends on what they're also eating in that eating window, because if they're filling their bodies with complete junk, you know, that's— you know, I'm a big proponent of not depriving your body, but I also put supremely great foods in my body.

Yeah, I think that's a really important point, is like, when you do eat, it needs to be clean, it needs to be healthy, and nourishing because otherwise you won't be able to sustain this. This is where you'll rebound and gain the weight and all of that. So it's not a ticket to go eat, you know, Ho Hos all day long.

So yeah, and the thing is, like, like, you could not pay me literally to eat a Twinkie or a Ho Ho in my mouth. Now, could I— could you pay me to eat a A gluten-free brownie that is homemade. I'd eat that all day long.

Yeah.

And so it's just a matter of figuring out what you like and just finding the— like, whatever you're craving, finding the best version of that that's not going to be— because I have a whole section in my book and I call it Chemical City. What is so important to me is that I'm not putting all these crazy chemicals in my body, but that doesn't mean I'm depriving myself at all. I'm just like, if I want a brownie, I'm gonna eat a brownie. It'll just be a not a chemical-filled one.

Yeah, and that's probably another reason your periods got better because you're not filling yourself without those xenoestrogens and those chemicals. So super important to eat clean. Definitely. Wow, you've just been a wealth of knowledge. I love this so much. Tell my listeners where they can find you and follow you.

If they go to chantelrayway.com, that is the best place to find me. I also can be found on Facebook, and we have a great Facebook group all about intermittent fasting that you can click on to be a part of. And we've also done something that's really, really special. It's called the Fasting Reset Summit. If they go to fastingresetsummit.com, and we have the most amazing people Talking about— it's like over 40 experts talking about— Dr. Mercola is on there, JJ Virgin, Dr. Will Cole, Cynthia Thurlow. I mean, yeah, great people, just the greatest lineup. And it's just— it really answers so many questions about everything you could possibly want to know about intermittent fasting as well.

Yeah, that's a great summit. Everybody should definitely check that out. I will put a link to that in my show notes because It's so good. Well, thank you so much for your time today. It's been really awesome talking to you. I really appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

All right, take care.

Bye.

Bye. All right, friends, I hope you enjoyed that episode. She's a wealth of knowledge when it comes to intermittent fasting, so definitely check out her at ChantelRayway.com. And don't forget to check out the link in my show notes for the Fasting Reset Summit. You're going to get so much great information from all of the amazing experts that have put that together. So please hit the subscribe button to the Functional Gynecologist podcast. Keep following me. Send me your questions so I can shout you out on my question of the week on Fridays and review me I want to know what you're thinking. Let me know how I can help serve you better. I do this for you, ladies.

Now go out and have an amazing week and kick some butt.