MRP Q and A with Dipa - Fasting [Oct 4, 2024]

Afternoon everyone. Welcome, welcome. Can you all hear me? Hey, can you hear my music? Yeah. Okay, good.

Awesome.

Well, hope you're all having a lovely Friday. And as we're tuning in, why don't we all share something that we're grateful for in the chat? Let me know what you're grateful for in the chat. Elizabeth says sunshine. Awesome. Thanks for sharing, Elizabeth. He says fresh air and sunshine. Sunny day today. Yeah, I think we're all grateful for the sun today. Jennifer says her husband. Awesome. Thanks for sharing, Jennifer. And if you can be on camera, I'd love to see your beautiful faces. Welcome Elizabeth. Welcome Denise. Denise looks like she's walking and on the meeting. Nice. A way to multitask. That's Beth's here. Hello Beth. Hello, Nancy. Hello, Jennifer. I see, I see Michelle. I see Sail, Sonali, Sangita, Pony, Ava. Okay. Nancy says simple truths that support healthy lives. Okay, thanks for sharing. Okay, we'll just wait another minute or so and then do a little bit of just mindful breathing. Those of you tuning in, let me know what you're grateful for in the chat. Welcome jane. Welcome back. Beth is getting started on her load days tomorrow. Okay, congratulations. Getting started. D says getting started on loading days next weekend. Thanksgiving would be a good weekend. Yes, Canadian Thanksgiving next weekend. So yeah, that, that is a great time to start. Okay, so. Thank you everyone for sharing. So before we get started into today's Q and A, I am going to just do a little bit of mindful breathing with you all. I feel that this is something that we all kind of need to have, you know, a day to day practice. I feel like, you know, there's lots of benefits to it as I've discussed before. Just helps us be more responsive rather than reactive. Helps us make better choices, helps us shift more into the parasympathetic state which is where all the healing and repair occurs. So lots and lots of benefits which is why we always take just a short little moment, doesn't have to be long to recenter ourselves, to reground ourselves so that we can be fully present. So I'll play a little bit of music and I think for today we can do, we'll do a. Let's see here, let's see which breathing pattern I'm going to do today. We'll do a six, seven, eight breathing pattern. So that's going to be. Or actually not six. We'll do the four, seven, eight breathing pattern. So that's going to be breathing in for four seconds, holding our breath for seven seconds and then exhaling for eight. Okay. So once again, breathing for four, holding for seven, Exhaling for eight. Okay. And I'll kind of guide you through this and a great app that you may want to download. It's called I Breathe. And the nice thing about this app is that I'm going to let more people into the waiting room here. Okay. The nice thing about this app is that you can put, you know, intervals. So, for example, like, we're doing 4, 7, 8. So I'm going to set this app to the inhale for four seconds, hold for seven, and then exhale for eight. And no end, hold. Okay. And you can put in the number of cycles you want to do. And basically it prompts you to breathe at that cadence. Okay, so we're going to do a few cycles here. We'll do about 10 cycles. And if you put in 10 cycles, it tells you that's three minutes and 10 seconds. Right? So not long at all. But the benefits are, you know, way more than that, three minutes, Right. So if you. If you're able to, I invite you to sit in a comfortable spot and just start to become more aware of your breathing pattern and start to pay attention to your inhales and exhales, specifically through your nose. And try to relax your shoulders, relax your jaw, relax your forehead. These are places where we carry a lot of tension. Put your feet on the ground, really feel this moment being grounded, being present. And we're going to start with our breathing pattern now. So we'll start with the inhale through the nose, and you're going to hold. And you'll exhale. Inhale.

Hold.

And exhale through the nose slowly. Inhale.

Hold.

Exhale, Inhale.

Hold.

Exhale, Inhale, hold. Exhale, Inhale.

Hold.

Exhale. Inhale.

Hold.

Exhale, Inhale, hold. Exhale, Inhale, hold. Exhale, Inhale.

Hold.

Exhale. Last one. Inhale.

Hold.

Exhale. And you can come back to your normal breath. Open your eyes. Whenever you're ready, can put your camera back on. And let me know in the chat how you feel. So some of the benefits of this type of breathing practice. So as you notice, the exhale was longer. So when we extend the exhale, we get more into that parasympathetic rest and digest state. Okay. It helps reduce anxiety. It helps with sleep. This type of breathing pattern can also help manage cravings. It also helps to reduce our anger response.

Okay.

And if you felt like eight seconds was too long, you can always shorten it. So you can do half of that. Right. So you could do Two second inhale, hold for about three and a half, and then exhale for about four. It can also help with, you know, once you get more parasympathetic, that's going to help with reducing blood pressure, you know, for a lot of people, improving heart and lung function. So these type of breathing patterns are very beneficial. Okay, So I invite you all to incorporate something like this on a daily basis or whenever you're feeling stressed or overwhelmed. Just try to take a few conscious breaths and just see how your mood shifts. Right? People are saying they feel more grounded, more centered, very calm, calmer, more relaxed. Okay? So it just takes literally a few minutes. Right? And look, look how much your state has shift. It shifted in that three minutes that we did that for. Okay, so today we're going to do a few things. Number one, I wanted to talk a little bit about the benefits of fasting. I know for many of you, obviously in the release phase, for some of you it's your first time fasting, and for some of you, it's something that you may have been doing prior to this program or that you've tried in the past, and some of you are finished with the program and still doing some level of fasting. So I wanted to talk a little bit about fasting and some of the benefits, and then we'll definitely get into some Q and A because I know there's quite a few of you on the call today as well. So I want to make sure we get your questions answered as well. So let me share my screen here. Okay. Can everyone see my screen? Okay, awesome. So I'm going to talk a little bit about the benefits of fasting. And, you know, these are essentially reasons why we incorporate it into this program. So first of all, one of the main reasons why we incorporate fasting into this program is because it really helps with detoxification. Okay. When we fast, it helps remove toxins, helps with the mobilization of toxins. And we, you know, usually will excrete these toxins through sweat, urine and stool. So in conjunction with this program, you're more than welcome, if you have access to it, to sit in a sauna. Okay. Sauna can further help detoxify. And one of the things that happens on this program is, of course, we lose a lot of fat. And typically a lot of toxins are stored in fat. Right. So we want a way to eliminate these toxins. And so this is why we have you increase your water intake. So while you're on the release phase, we recommend at least a minimum of a Hundred ounces. We all want to make sure you're having a daily bowel movement and if possible, like I said, you know, being able to get in an environment where you can sweat. Okay. We also include the Reishi mushroom coffee tea, and some of you may have chosen the capsules, which additionally supports detoxification and the spray also helps support detox as well. Okay. So that's why for some of you, when you start the program, the first few days of, of the program, you know, after the loading days, you might experience maybe some headache or some fatigue. And this is known as a Herxheimer reaction, which is a detox reaction. The other one of the main benefits of fasting is a process called autophagy. So autophag basically means self eating. So this is when your body digests its own damaged cells and it's essentially a clean out process. Okay. And this is where your body recycles parts of cells that you no longer need. Okay. It also destroys foreign invaders like bacteria, viruses or pathogens. And it's really useful for preventing cancer because we don't want those damaged cells to become damaged even further and, you know, turn into a malignant cell. We want to get rid of these cells. And so fasting really helps with getting rid of these damaged cells. It's also great for any type of brain or new neurodegenerative disease like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, as well.

Okay.

Of course, you know, it's great for weight loss. So fasting really allows your body to access its own fat stores and really helps with reducing visceral fat, which is the fat around the abdomen. So on this program, because we don't include added fats, you know, you're not cooking with oils on the release phase. You're not eating nuts and seeds and avocados. You know, your caloric intake might not be what it normally is, but when you liberate your body's own fat stores as a source of energy, then that contributes to the overall caloric intake, so to speak. Okay. So fasting helps with reducing insulin levels, helps raise our metabolic rate. Right. So sometimes people might say, well, if I'm not eating a lot, isn't my metabolic rate going to slow down? And no, the opposite is true. Fasting actually raises your metabolic rate and it helps you to train your body to burn fat. Right. Because stored fat is essentially a way for us to access, access that fat as a source of energy. Okay. And of course, you know, the fasting that we're doing on the release phase is a 16 8, fast. And so on this type of fast, you are not going to lose muscle mass, okay? It's going to help preserve muscle mass for the most part. Okay. Another benefit of fasting is reducing insulin resistance. So for many of you who, when you first started this program, you may have, you know, a lot of stored some of your weight in that belly region. And usually that's an indication of insulin resistance, which is the precursor eventually to developing diabetes. Right? When someone goes to their doctor's office and they get a diagnosis of diabetes, that didn't happen overnight, right? It was years and years and years of blood sugar dysregulation and hypoglycemia and insulin resistance that was occurring over a period of time before they actually got the diagnosis of diabetes. So fasting helps to lower insulin and lower blood glucose levels and lowering this strategy. So fasting is one of the most powerful strategies that we know of to lower insulin, okay? And as I said, insulin is the precursor to diabetes, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and many other chronic diseases. So we really want to lower that insulin level. Okay? So this is why a lot of people will continue with fasting even after the release phase. So, you know, just a little more on this topic of insulin resistance. High insulin levels and insulin resistance is more serious than elevated blood glucose, right? It's the next phase to eventually, like I said, developing diabetes and to lower insulin, lose insulin and glucose. You know, one of the key strategies is fasting in addition to lowering carb intake. And it's not that all carbs are bad, right? That's definitely not the case. But we really, as you know, as you can see, on the release phase, we're eliminating a lot of those refined carbohydrates, right? The breads, the pastas, the cereals, Those are what we're removing from the diet because those type of carbohydrates are what contribute to insulin resistance. And overall insulin resistance, you know, is, like I said, it's going to result in weight gain, fat storage, specifically around the abdomen, and desensitization of the insulin resistance receptor, okay? And so what happens on the program, on the release phase is especially the first little while when insulin goes down, that can create a lot of salt wasting. So this is why we recommend adding a pinch of sea salt into your water and on your food as well, because it replenishes those salt stores. So if you're on the release phase and you're feeling perhaps maybe a little dizzy, it's probably because you need to replenish More of those salt stores that you're losing so rapidly because your insulin levels are going down. Okay? So make sure you're adding a little bit of sea salt or having some form of electrolyte while you're on this program. And if you're unsure, you know of if you have a pre existing electrolyte that you like. If you're not sure if you can use it, you can always email myself or Annalisa.

Okay.

Or messages in the practice Better app fasting also helps to improve sleep, so it gives your circadian rhythm a chance to normalize. And we really suggest trying to have your last meal three hours before bedtime. And this is because we don't want your energy requirements focused on digestion. We want your energy requirements to be focused on getting you into a deep and restful sleep. So even after this program is done, you really want to make sure that you're not eating three hours before bedtime. Okay? And a lot of the newer research is actually showing that eating earlier because our bodies are more insulin sensitive earlier on in the day is more beneficial. I know that's hard for some of us when we work and we have families, we want to have dinner with our families, right? It's the one meal that we can all eat together. But if possible, especially once this program is done, play around with earlier eating windows. Right? Perhaps you eat your first meal, maybe nine or 10, and you finish by about, you know, four or five, right? Try to play around with that and see how that works for you and how you feel. Especially as we move into the fall and winter, you're probably noticing the days are getting shorter. And so you really want to also make a more conscious effort to try to eat before the sun goes down. Okay? Because once again, after you know, your body is more insulin sensitive earlier on in the day, fasting also improves gut health, right? This is why on the program, many people experience an improvement in their gut health, right? So many people experience an improvement in bloating and indigestion and even things like constipation or diarrhea because. Or loose bowels, because fasting really helps with modifying the gut bacteria so that a lot of that bad bacteria that might be overgrown, which is what may be contributing to some of the digestive issues, start to die off. Okay? So 80% of your immune system actually lives in your gut. So when your microbiome is disrupted, it's going to also impair immune function, which is why fasting also improves immune function. Okay? So your microbiome is largely Influenced by not only what you eat, but when you eat and also by stress. Okay. So when we give our body that time to heal and repair, specifically our gut, then it's going to support us in all areas of our health. Okay. So fasting helps to reset your gut. Microbiome helps reduce leaky gut as well. Okay. Fasting also optimizes brain function, so it improves mood, it improves memory, it triggers the regeneration of new neurons. So one of the main takeaways that a lot of people experience once the program is done is that they have no more brain fog. Okay. So mental clarity improves, you're probably going to feel more sharper, and it also lowers the risk of age related cognitive decline. So Alzheimer's, you know, if you just google it, it's also known as type 3 diabetes. Okay. There's been a huge correlation between diabetes and the increased risk of Alzheimer's when you have diabetes or increased blood sugars. So, of course, when we fast, we're improving insulin, we're improving blood sugars, and that in turn is going to optimize brain function once again. When you stop eating three hours before bedtime, it allows your brain to properly detoxify, right? So if you eat too close to bedtime and then you fall asleep in the morning, you might notice that you have more brain fog. Right? Whereas when you have that three hour window, then you're going to feel like your brain is functioning at a much higher level. Fasting also optimizes cardiovascular function, specifically because of the fact that it helps decrease visceral fat, which is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Also, fasting improves energy. So another benefit that results from this program is people have more energy, right? So when we fast, we burn more fat, which gives our body access to an unlimited energy store. And this allows us to feel more energetic. Okay. So digesting food is a very metabolically expensive process. A lot of energy has to go into digesting our food. Specifically when we digest, when we eat food that might not be so healthy for us. So when we fast, we free up some all that energy to be used for other tasks. Okay. Fasting also helps with stem cells production. Okay. So stem cell production is going to occur with longer periods of fasts. And this is something that you're welcome to experiment with after you're finished with the program. Is perhaps you want to try maybe a 24 hour fast or a 48 hour fast. Right. I wouldn't recommend doing this every, you know, every day or every week. But a 48 hour fast, for example, for some People, they'll do it quarterly, specifically when the seasons are changing. Okay, so I just did one, not last week, but the week before. I did about how many days was it? It was close to 48 hours. Okay. So when we fast for longer periods of time, it's going to help stem cell production and stem cells help to maintain and repair our tissues, can also help with maintaining the lining of our gut and healing leaky gut as well. Okay. So essentially to slow down aging, we recommend some level of fasting. Right. Even after the program is done, some people will continue to do the 16, eight on a daily basis. Some people may do the 16, eight, three to four times a week and then eat breakfast maybe two or three times out of the week. For women who are still cycling, you know, there is some research where.

It.

You know, once again, it depends on you and what you feel best with. Right. But sometimes for women who are still cycling, you may not want to fast specifically the second half of your cycle. So that's known as the luteal phase. So after your period's done, you know, that's when you might incorporate some fasting. And then once you're in that second phase or even the week before, you may decide to have three meals. And a fast, you know, is still considered a fast if you fast for 13 hours, which is something that we can do every day. Right? So it might not be the 16 hours, but if you, let's say you had your dinner at 6:00pm, you might not have your breakfast until 8 or 9 the next day, right? That's still a fast. That's 12 to 13 hours. Okay. So at least at a minimum, even if you are going to incorporate a third meal, I would recommend incorporating a 12 to 13 hour fast. Okay, so any questions about what I just spoke about or anything else? I know there were some comments that came into the chat. Hey, someone is asking, does Dandy blend work as a coffee substitute? Yes, you can certainly use Dandy blend as a coffee substitute. If feeling hungry, can you use exogenous ketone iq? So typically I will recommend not using ketones while on this program. If you're feeling hungry, a few things that I would recommend, number one is drink some water or a cup of herbal tea. Usually the first sign of hunger is dehydration. So for many people, they're not really hungry, they're probably dehydrated. So make sure that you have a glass of water. If you still feel hungry after that glass of water, try to really figure out if it's an actual Physical hunger or if it's an emotional hunger. Right. Sometimes we're used to, like, just picking up things and snacking throughout the day. Right. It could be a habitual pattern that you need to break. And then if you absolutely feel like it's a true physical hunger, then you can snack on free veggies. Okay. But once again, I always recommend going through that, you know, those steps first before reaching for the free veggies. Right. Drink the water, really sit down and try to think, is it, you know, emotional or habit that you have? And if, if not, then you can have the free veggies. And then the other question one was, is LMNT an acceptable electrolyte? Yes. You can use that as an elect. Acceptable electrolyte while you're on the release phase. Okay. So Charlene is saying how much salt is okay to eat during the release phase. So obviously, you know, you want to salt your taste, right? So for some of us, we're more salt sensitive. And then in terms of adding the salt to the water, I usually recommend about a quarter teaspoon for every 500 milliliters. Okay. Elizabeth is asking about the mushroom soup fast. Okay. Yeah. So Sachin a few weeks ago did a five day fast. And, you know, I don't know if any of you have heard of Prolon. Maybe you have, but if you haven't, Prolon is a five day, it's called a fasting mimicking diet. So on Prolon, so this is separate from this program, but Prolon is a kit that you can purchase and it has prepackaged food and it's, you know, organized into day one, day two, day three, day four, day five. And it's basically in terms of caloric intake, it provides you with a minimum amount of calories that you still get the benefits of fasting and stem cell production. Okay. So it's not like a water fast or, you know, where you're not eating anything. And so the mushroom soup fast that Sachin did was kind of similar to that Prolon fast type of idea where you're eating a very minimal amount of calories, probably no more than 200 calories a day. So he was having. There's an enoki mushroom soup that I make, which is basically just enoki mushrooms. It's some miso paste. You can put green onion, you can put cilantro in it. And basically he was drinking about, I would say, three cups of that a day. So, you know, he was mostly just having it at dinner. He wasn't really having any lunch. And then he would drink one to two cups of a beverage called Cacao Calm, which has some powerful adaptogens in it. So some. I think it has reishi mushroom in it. It has. I can put the link for the Cacao Calm in the chat, but he was having about two to three cups of that as well in addition to the inoki mushrooms soup. So he did that for about five days. Yeah, so exactly. Elizabeth saying is it's the prolon is like powdered, like freeze dried, whereas something like what Satchin did is like fresh food. Right. So definitely more appetizing, I would say. Okay, I know there's a few hands up, so let me get to those questions. Michelle, you can go ahead and unmute.

Thank you for that.

Deep ahead. Just a couple quick questions. I was just looking at my chart because I'm starting the loading phase next weekend. I was going to do it this weekend, but I want to give myself time just to read up everything when I'm seeing for the fruit I was seeing. Not allowed. I know the dates is just a bit off, but I'm seeing it for five months. I do have pear once a week. I know I'll probably have to just cut that out at the beginning, but am I not eating pear for a whole five months?

Let me just pull up my guide here. So you'll see that there are certain fruits that have the asterisk. So like peach for example here, pears. So the reason why those ones have asterisks on them is because of course, May to October is when they're in season. Right. Oh, and May to October because they're in season, they typically have a higher sugar content but that's when they taste good. Right.

So.

So that's, that's why, you know, if you did have a peach after October 15th, it's probably not going to taste as good because it's not as sweet. Right. So that's the reason why those have asterisks on them. So if you had like, you know, if you're doing this program between May and October 15th and you decided to have like a pair, you know, once or twice out of the six weeks, I don't think it's like the biggest deal in the world. So.

Okay, excellent. And it works out because we're almost up to October 15th when I start anyway.

Yes, exactly.

Perfect.

And then the other thing I want to ask is with the sprays, probably because I haven't started yet, but I'm looking at how many sprays for how many days. I suppose I reckon that bottle does last, right? Okay. Because I know I'm seeing like five sprays three times a day. So I'm thinking, okay, that's 15 sprays in a day. And I'm multiplying that. So that is enough to last.

Yes.

Yeah. Yep. It's gonna last you up until day 42. And then after day 42, you stop it.

Okay. Perfect. Perfect.

And I had it. Okay. I had a third quick question, but I just.

Of course. Totally.

I don't know how I actually forgot that.

I'll go. Sorry.

I'll go to the next person. I'll lower my hand, and when I remember, I'll just put my hands.

Sorry about that.

No worries at all. No worries. Okay. Dr. Lisa Lewis, go ahead and unmute.

Hi. Hi.

How are you?

Good.

Good. So I came home from mind share.

Yep.

Two days in, I got sick.

Okay.

So I'm trying to figure out what I should do, like, how I. How do you handle getting a bit of a cold? Because it was like freezing on the plane and it was just. And I knew, and I could tell. I was like, oh, this is not gonna be good. So I sheltered in place for like two days, and it still got me yesterday, so.

Oh, man. Okay. So Dr. Lisa and I were at a conference last week, so I met her in person. So it was really nice to meet her in person. And basically what I would recommend is fasting because it does help with, you know, strengthening the immune system. And then, you know, just in implementing perhaps some supplements, so. And some foods that are high in. High in vitamin C and zinc. So incorporating some of those things will maybe help you get over it a little quicker.

Okay.

Getting some.

I did start a. I have a product called AV Immune that has a bunch of antivirals and all of that, but I just didn't know. And. And I'm just sucking down vitamin C. I just. I'm just adding it to my water to powdered seed. It's buffered powder. Vitamin C is pretty pure and clean.

Yep.

And I do feel between yesterday and today or last night, today I feel a lot better.

Yes. And really prioritizing sleep.

Okay. Yeah. Well, that's that. I was up all night blowing my nose and dealing with the post nasal drip, so. So I was like, oh, God, I'm not getting any sleep.

But.

So I guess the other question is, once I get over this, how do I then jump back into the maintenance? Like, do I just dive back in or do I have to, like. So you're saying fast and then kind of Ease back in. Do I do something more like a release or how do I kind of. How do I. How do I manage sliding back in to maintenance?

Yeah. So, I mean, do you have an appetite? Like, are you eating much or. Sometimes I know when people, you know.

Yesterday I only had one meal. I didn't feel. I didn't feel like eating. I just drank, drank, drank, drank a lot of water and.

Okay.

And took my supplements.

Yeah. So I would say, you know, once you. You're starting to feel better, just ease your way back up to two meals and just kind of, you know, get back on. On track with the program.

Okay. So I can just kind of go right back to where I left off as opposed to kind of going back to release for a few days and then.

Okay, exactly. Yeah. Yep. And then. I know. I don't know if you were considering another round, but once it's been four weeks. Yes. Then you can go into another release phase round.

Okay. Yeah, I did want to do one more round at least, I think.

Yep. Yeah. Okay.

And so don't worry about. Because I do have a cough herbal cough syrup. Like, is it Chinese herbal?

That would be fine. Yeah.

If you find that.

But it has honey in it. Is that a heart?

I mean, that should be fine.

It's just a lozenge. It's. And I only do it. I only do it if my throat gets too. Too scratchy, so.

Exactly. The other thing you could do is. I know they sell it at Target now, but there's beekeepers. Is the beekeepers natural? They have a throat spray. It's a propolis throat spray that can. Let me. Because you said lozenge. It just made me think of it. But let me pull up my screen here. So here they have a cough syrup. They have a throat spray. So these are some great products that you can use as well to help.

Perfect. Thank you so much.

You're very welcome. Okay. Sonali, Sonali, go ahead and unmute. Hi. How are you?

I'm good. I'm. I'm three weeks ish in and feeling great.

Good.

Energy is up and. Yeah, things are going well. I will say. Okay. On the fasting. Okay. Keep it so real. I have to make lunch every day for my goddamn kids every morning. And I make them the most delicious things. Okay. They're having Mac and cheese. They're having bagel pizzas. Sometimes I take a bite. Okay. I know, I know. Okay.

It's not right.

But, like, sometimes I take a freaking bite because it looks so good. And this is pre. Planned and maybe one or two times on plan whatevs. But my question is, is like, if my goal is mostly weight loss and banding, I'm not really having issues with mental fog, but I'm trying to get my weight under control now to prevent future issues. And so if my primary goal is weight loss, how bad are these bites that I'm taking at 8:30am?

Okay, so great question. So when it comes to fasting, you know, there's, there's mixed data out there. Okay. So there's some data that suggests that if you eat or if you consume something that's less than 65 calories, I don't know where that number came from, but less than 65 calories, it won't necessarily break your fast. And then there's some data that suggests that like anything that activates the digestive system is going to break your fast. So I would suggest that while you're on the release phase, try your best not to because it's just going to be a good test for you to control your impulses.

Yeah, that's a problem, right?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah. Okay. And it's not that you can't, you know, I talk to people about these things like in terms of like, okay, they're on the release phase, or like, okay, what about like, what can I never have? Like pizza? And it's, you know, what I always tell people is what's going to ensure your long term results is consistency, right? So it's not about perfection. So once you're done with the release phase, if you want to have pizza, have the pizza, right? But don't have it every single day, right. Or every single week, right? So 80 to 90% of the time you want to make good choices. And then that 10 to 20% of the time you may have something that's off plan and you can always make those foods healthier, right? So what I'll say is like, for example, if you do decide to have pizza, how can you perhaps have more vegetables, right? Or maybe you might choose a keto cauliflower crust, which by the way is really good, depending on where you get it from, right? So you have that crust instead of the regular crust, right. You add more vegetables to it. You have a huge salad before you eat the pizza so you don't end up eating five or six slices and you might only have one or two, right? So there's a lot of different ways that we can still enjoy certain foods without feeling deprived, without having the scale go up like, you know, three, four pounds or Five pounds, whatever.

And.

Make them better choices. Okay. So that's what we want to learn to do, right? Is the consistency over time, progress over perfection, and making healthier choices.

It's all the things like we know intuitively are the right things for us. But when you're making craft dinner at 8:00am hey, listen, something just happens.

Okay?

So I think it's that impulse control that you said. It's like I. I desire to be healthy. I have to remind myself and instead of like running around the kitchen doing this, that like if I'm gonna take a bite, I should intentionally take a bite and see.

Exactly.

Versus like shoving the bite in, throwing the plate into the sink or whatever. Second question, thank you. Is, what is an adaptogen and is this something I should not be taking while I'm working? Because it sounds sketchy.

So adaptogens are basically any type of herb or supplement that is going to help support your body, your nervous system. So for example, like the reishi, coffee or tea or capsules, whichever one you guys chose, Reishi is a very powerful adaptogen. So it really helps your body or your nervous system shift. Shift more into the parasympathetic state. So it helps support the parasympathetic state so that you're not as much in fight orf flight.

Okay, so it's nothing. It's. It's not what I was thinking. Okay. When you said mushrooms, I got confused. Okay. Got it, got it.

No, it's not those kind of mushrooms.

Got it, got it.

Okay.

Yeah.

Thank you.

You're very welcome.

I had a thought about her cooking the dinner.

Yep.

Do you have to cook it in the morning? Can you cook it in the evening? And so that it's more like during the times where you might not full or, you know, be satisfied.

I can certainly try that. It's.

Yeah.

In the night I'm dealing with dinner and giving them a bloody bath and getting them to bed. And so it's also just the time in my life where it's. It young kids makes it. They're not even that young, but it makes it difficult. But you're right. Maybe I can do a little bit of pre work the night before.

And.

Maybe I could also just make it.

Easier on you because if you're doing like all of that, then you get your mornings to be able.

Yeah. And I should give them better choices too. Like maybe also like maybe don't give them all the good stuff.

Gotta eat.

Yeah. So like even like some of the proteins that you make for your dinner, you Know, really just perhaps making more of that and having that, you know, as a part of their meals. Right. So then you're kind of including more nutrient dense foods into their meals.

Yeah, yeah, it's. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, so Michelle, go ahead and unmute. Thank you.

I now remembered what I was gonna ask.

Okay. Yeah, no worries.

It's with the water. Are you, are we allowed drink carbonated water? Like you know, like say San Pellegrino?

Yes. Yes.

Perfect.

Okay.

Yep.

Excellent.

Thank you.

You're welcome. Becca, go ahead and unmute.

Hi, Deepa. Yeah, I'm a little embarrassed to tell you this, but I want to, I do want to get a solution for it, so. Been in post maintenance for a little while, like couple months.

Okay.

And so I'm Indian ancestry as well. So what I've noticed is that my. I did keep on a little weight. Well seven pounds. And, and I, well, I keep a food journal and it seems like. Well, I know it's has to do with whenever my son comes into town, he's in the military, we cook a lot of Indian food and I'm. It's not deep fried or anything, but it is rice and curry. Lot of, a lot of rice, a lot of curry. Like biryani and. Oh my God. I don't, I, I do eat more quantity wise, so I don't know if I can avoid. I will try really hard about portion control, but for some reason biryani just makes me go crazy. I, I don't have a full stop. I don't know if there's something weird about that, like I don't feel full, I don't feel satisfied. So I'll just keep eating until I have a satiation. That's part of the problem. But the question, I really want to know. And I have gone back to doing the diet that I did with you guys with on the, the reset and that's helping. But then I'm kind of stalled. So I'm like 2 or 3 pounds above where I landed when they got off of the, the reset. So I don't know if you have any suggestions on both ends, like why am I not satiated with the biryani and rice? What should I be doing there? And then on the other end, like how do I get off Those last few £3 without having to go back on the reset formally?

Okay, so it's all carbs, Right. You're not nourishing your body with any fiber or protein, so of course you're not going to feel full. Right. So you want to make it in there.

It has, it does have meat in there.

So probably not enough, Right. It's probably primarily rice. Right. So what's really going to make you full? Like, one of the main rules that I always try to live by is fiber first. Right. Because the fiber from fruit, from vegetables.

Is.

You know, it's very fibrous, right. So it's really going to satiate you and keep you full. And then you probably need to have more protein, right? So going back to the principles of the release phase, right? Where every meal you want to try to have at least 4 ounces of protein, at least 4 to 6 ounces. You know, in, in maintenance, we kind of, in terms of the vegetables, we, we don't delineate between free and non free. We kind of just say have like six ounces at least. Right. Or even using the plate formula. Right. Half your plate and veggies, quarter protein. And then your biryani should only be a quarter of your plate. That should not be the meal, right? So going back to those principles, right? And then in terms of the 2 or 3 pounds, I don't know if you've ever tried like a 24 to 48 hour fast, but something like that might be helpful for you to try. I would say if you haven't done 48, start with 24 first and then, you know, maybe a few weeks after you might try a 48.

Okay. Okay. No, I'm used to doing fasting. I haven't done it since the whole metabolic reset. I've even done as long as seven days. But I, I don't know if this is just a me problem because of being postmenopausal, but I kind of look back at my history of doing fasting for like the last five, six years, and I'm like, is this actually making me gain weight? Because I gained 20 pounds in probably the last two or three years. And the only thing I was really doing differently was the fasting. And. But I do long fasts. I mean, I'm talking about three days, four days, all the way up to seven days. So maybe I need to have, I don't know, I just can't. Go ahead.

I mean, give it a try, right? Like, I doubt that it was the fasting. It's probably other things like stress and maybe, you know, poor sleep, like a lot of other factors that could have contributed to that weight gain.

Okay, I'll give it a try. I'll do it again. Thank you.

No worries. Okay, Nisha, you can go ahead and Unmute.

Hi. Sorry it was late. I usually have a 12 o' clock work meeting. But anyway, I feel the pain. I feel the pain regarding making lunches in the morning. Like, I'm so used to snacking on the grilled cheese crusts that they should be eating anyway. But it. I'm thankful my husband's around to keep me in check and support me with making lunches. But I do feel that that struggle with not snacking on, on the kids food or even making food for the family, which is not as exciting as some of the food that I'm eating is, is also a struggle. But for me, today is family pizza day and I'm on day five of release and I'm really dreading it. And it's really. I don't know, I'm just like feeling really sad about it. I don't know if this is a normal reaction or not, but I do, I feel sad. I'm not participating in, in the, in the pizza day today. And I get it and I understand.

The.

The benefits of not scarfing down three or four slices of pizza, but I just feel like I'm feeling left out.

Thank you. I appreciate you sharing and being vulnerable. I think it's important for us, right? Like, it's not always going to be all rainbows and sunshine, right? There's going to be periods of time throughout the six weeks where you feel that way and it's normal to feel that way. And what I would say to you is a few things is, number one, it's not permanent, so it's something that you're going to temporarily avoid for a period of time. Number two is just try to go back to your why. Right? Like, why are you doing this program? Right. What are the reasons you're doing it? Try to just reflect on that. Number three is something that can be helpful sometimes in terms of sticking to the fasting window in the morning when you're prepping lunches and things like that. There's an app called Zero. Make sure I have it right. Yeah, so it's called, It's called Zero and it's a fasting app. And what it does is like after you finish your dinner, you can just. I don't know why all my apps, like, it's so annoying. It's like find me out. But anyways times your fast. Okay. So it just kind of will give you that like, visual, like, okay, I'm at like, you know, X amount of hours to just kind of help you stay on track. Right. I think sometimes if we have that visual that like, countdown of like, oh, wow, it's been 13 hours, it's been 14 hours. It can help me stay on track. And then another thing, like, similar to what, you know, we were, we were talking to Sonali about is, you know, the reason, one of the key benefits of this program is to kind of get your whole family to start shifting the way you think about food. Right. And so eventually, like, especially when you have younger kids is how can we make their meals more healthier? Right. You might not start with taking away things, but adding things. Right. Like how can you add more vegetables to their lunch or more fruits or, you know, healthier proteins. Right. So kind of shifting the way the whole family thinks about food. Because after this program's done, right, the goal isn't for you to go back to those type of behaviors. It's to maintain your results. Right. And I think it's easier when the whole family's on board.

Yeah, I agree.

Starting to think about those things. And then like I said, like, if you guys have a pizza night, right, like once you're off the release phase, it's how can you make it healthier? Right. How can you add some things that are going to perhaps reduce how much you eat? And you know, make like for example, what we do sometimes with pizza night is I'll make this crust and it's really easy to make. It's like not hard at all. It's. It's from a brand called Simple Mills and it's like a almond flour based crust.

Okay.

So you know, it's no grains in it. Me pull it up here. Okay. So let's, it's right here, this one here. So almond flour baking mix, pizza dough. So it has almond flour, arrow root, flax meal, cauliflower baking soda, organic oregano, cream of tartar, organic garlic. So very clean ingredients. So this is what, this is what we'll, we'll make when I make pizza at home.

Right.

Okay.

So I'm not really making the pizza, but that's. Yeah, but I'm sure, like you said, like, there's, there's options out there.

Exactly.

So, yeah, Fridays, Friday is my date and not cook.

Yeah. So there's, you know, other options. Like I said, cauliflower crust, like lots of things that you can modify, perhaps.

Perfect.

Thank you. And one more thing. Going out. So I will be going out for dinner next week.

Okay.

And so there's two questions. How do I eat? And number two is my fasting window because it's gonna be a late dinner. And I doubt I will be able to eat before 8:00'. Clock.

Okay. So, yeah, you know, during the six weeks, for most people, it's, you know, gonna be a time where there's at least one or two social occasions. So send me the name of the restaurant. I'll take a look at the menu. But, like, we want you to navigate that whole progress over perfection, Right. Where it doesn't have to be all or none. Right. So you might not be able to eat at the perfect time and stick to your window that one day. And you may not be able to make choices that are exactly aligned with the release phase. But, you know, perhaps you choose something that's, you know, we recommend choosing something similar to the release phase. Right. Like protein, some vegetables, maybe asking the server for some fruit. So trying to stay as close to the release phase as possible for that one occasion.

Okay, that's helpful.

Yep. Just. Yeah. Message me the name of it and I'll take a look at the menu for you as well.

Okay, we'll do.

Okay.

Thank you.

You're welcome. I know Ava had her hand up. Did you want to still ask a question? Okay.

Thank you. I just. I had a quick one. I. And I appreciate what you said earlier because it triggered some things that I think I might be missing. I'm starting at about week four, and now I'm almost to the end of week five. I started feeling really hungry again in. My energy was tanking and all that great feeling I had for the first three weeks of, like, more energy. I felt my depression was gone. That's been kind of coming back. And I. I will definitely. I think I. My sleep has kind of fallen apart recently because I've had a series of high stress events that I feel much more equipped to deal with now, thankfully. But it's still.

It's.

I think it's messed up my sleep a bit. And I need to work on more water intake for sure. But I was wondering if there's anything else sort of that comes up at this period. Any advice that you have for getting through it.

Yeah. So I would say for a lot of people, you know, making sure you're eating enough of the free vegetables.

So.

You know, making sure you're getting lots of free vegetables. Number two, making sure you're getting the water intake. The sleep. Sleep is a very important component because if we get less than seven hours of sleep, it's going to dysregulate our hunger and appetite hormones. So a hormone called ghrelin is going to increase and ghrelin is our hunger hormone. So no matter how much we eat, we're still going to feel hungry. And leptin decreases, which is our satiety hormone. So no matter, once again, how much we eat, we're not going to feel satiated. So really trying to aim for that minimum seven hours of sleep. And then also it's completely normal for emotions to come up during this program. Right. So once again, going back to that whole like is it an emotional hunger or is it a true physical hunger? And there's a few things that we've posted in the Facebook group about this specifically so I can tag you in it because it is something that I think, you know, I feel is important to address because, you know, we don't want to fall back into old patterns.

For sure. Thank you.

Yeah, no worries. So I would say, you know, up the free vegetables, drink lots of water, get a lot of sleep, you know, think about some things that might be like triggering some of those emotions. Like whether it's, you know, stress, personal things that are coming up. Even people. Right. Sometimes it's people that can, can trigger us too. Right. There's a great book called Dodging Emotional. What is it? Dodging energy vampires by Dr. Christiane Northrup. So great book to look into as well. Okay, Dr. Lisa, go ahead and unmute.

Mine was just a quick question around can. When you said to fast, can I drink, drink bone broth as opposed to drinking water or is it, I would say water fast?

I would say like if you're doing a more extended fast, like a 4:48.

Like if I wanted to do.

Okay, yeah, so I would say just regular broth because bone broth probably has a lot of fat in it.

My, my, mine is zero fat.

Okay.

Yeah.

So that would be fine.

Yeah, yeah. I made sure that I got a brand that had zero fat in it.

Okay. Yep. So that one would be fine then.

Okay, perfect.

Thank you. No worries. Jennifer, go ahead and unmute.

Hi. Hi.

Sorry.

Just a very quick question and actually one comment. Nisha, I put a note to you in the chat about how you might try and make a cauliflower crust yourself so you can enjoy pizza night. Because I feel you on missing out on stuff with your family.

So.

But Deepa, you mentioned Cacao calm and I was it up. And is that something that we can have in the release phase, like as a beverage?

No, because it does have a, it does have a coconut creamer in it, but you can definitely have it on maintenance. It's actually a really, really nice beverage. It Looks delicious. It looks. It is delicious. It is absolutely delicious. So yeah, you can definitely have it when you're on maintenance.

Got it.

Cool. You look great, by the way. Oh, thank you. Yeah.

17 pounds.

How many?

17.

Wow.

Congratulations. Three weeks. I can, I can see it.

Thank you.

17 pounds. It's definitely slowed this week. I think the most amazing thing is that literally almost everything that you said was going to happen has happened like on schedule.

So that, that what to expect, what.

To expect in each week.

It's like, well, this week I'm gonna plateau and this week I'm gonna be constipated and this week I'm gonna be. It's like all those things have happened. So I have a friend at work and she was like, I don't care what they say, just do whatever they say. Just whatever they say.

Just do whatever.

That's what I'm trying to do.

Okay. Yeah.

Great. I'm so happy for you. Awesome.

Yeah, me too.

Okay, so I know we went a few minutes over. We had so many of you on today, so thank you so much for being here. Thank you for joining. Any other questions, Questions, comments, anything anyone wants to share? Hey, Deepa. Sangeeta. Hi, Sangeeta. Hi. That was excellent. Again, I love these lunch hour chats, so thank you.

I put in the chat group just around. Is there any way we can incorporate bananas back in after maintenance phase?

I just wondered. Bananas? Yes. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think once again, it's seeing how your body specifically responds. Right. So if you want to have a banana as your fruit, see how you feel with it. Right. See if you feel, have any digestive issues or, you know, you typically, you know, we recommend having the fruit after your meal because it helps decrease the blood sugar spike from the fruit. So see how you feel, take your weight the next day and, and see if it had any impact on that. Okay, super.

Thank you so much.

You're very welcome. Okay, anything else before we go? No, going once, twice. Okay. Well, I guess we'll see you all next Friday. Hope to see you all there.

Bye.

Thank you.

Hi, everyone. You're welcome.