May 20, 2026 · 45 min · 20 segments
Andrea welcomes back metabolism scientist and women’s health educator Liz for part two of this conversation on fasting, hormones, metabolism, perimenopause, and why women’s health is far more nuanced…
[upbeat music]Okay, so from moving from there, I wanna talk about fasting a little bit, because fasting is one where there are situations where it's a fit, and there are situations where it's not a fit, and there are things to be aware of.
But I think it's one of those topics that people like to make it black or white and say, "If you do this, you're doomed," or, "If you don't do this, you're doomed." And I've learned at least in fitness there is very little that's actually black and white.
Those foundational pieces that we've talked about, they're decently black and white, you know, like, hey, you should exercise.
Hey, you should get enough food, you know? But this is one where I feel like there's variations, and they get kind of like construed with each other, and then people get lost.
And then before I know it, they're assuming because they're this age or they're a woman they should never fast, or because they're this they should always fast if they wanna lose fat or whatever.
So it's extreme, so I want you to break it down because it isn't black and white.
So I wanna give a little context here for the listeners is that, you know, in the science world there is, yes, fasting stuff, but there's also something called, like, time restricted eating.
Like narrowing your eating to just a limited window in the day and maybe basing that off, like, your circadian rhythm or even shifting it to, like, where you stop eating at night before bed versus, like, a lot of the fasting conversations that we're hearing online are, like, skipping breakfast is what it comes down to.
So I do wanna say there is, like, real research is doing real good work and validity on, like, circadian rhythm and its associating to eating, um, and all that stuff.
Now, I've never directly done that work, but the postdoc lab I did, they, like, did some of that work, so I got to learn a little secondhand around that.
I would not say I'm an expert in it, but I just wanna, like, say that, like, this isn't...
There's this, this idea online that everything's either BS or, like, you don't...
Like, there is some cool emerging data with fasting, like, or time restricted eating, for example, where if you stop eating at night, it might be more metabolically favorable, especially for people who have, like, insulin resistance or are Type 2 diabetic or struggle with those things.
And I do think there is validity to, like, especially in the Western culture, to not eating 20 hours out of the day, giving yourself time to rest and digest, you know, having breaks between meals, not having your blood sugar elevated or be co- chronically digesting stuff all of the time.
But also, like, there isn't this data that is like if you don't fast, you will die.
And especially for women, you get two conversations, and it's like, "Women need to fast for hormonal and metabolic health." And then there's, "If women fast, they're gonna destroy their hormones and metabolic health." And so, like [laughs] like, that's-
[upbeat music]Okay, so from moving from there, I wanna talk about fasting a little bit, because fasting is one where there are situations where it's a fit, and there are situations where it's not a fit, and there are things to be aware of.
But I think it's one of those topics that people like to make it black or white and say, "If you do this, you're doomed," or, "If you don't do this, you're doomed." And I've learned at least in fitness there is very little that's actually black and white.
Those foundational pieces that we've talked about, they're decently black and white, you know, like, hey, you should exercise.
Hey, you should get enough food, you know? But this is one where I feel like there's variations, and they get kind of like construed with each other, and then people get lost.
And then before I know it, they're assuming because they're this age or they're a woman they should never fast, or because they're this they should always fast if they wanna lose fat or whatever.
So it's extreme, so I want you to break it down because it isn't black and white.
So I wanna give a little context here for the listeners is that, you know, in the science world there is, yes, fasting stuff, but there's also something called, like, time restricted eating.
Like narrowing your eating to just a limited window in the day and maybe basing that off, like, your circadian rhythm or even shifting it to, like, where you stop eating at night before bed versus, like, a lot of the fasting conversations that we're hearing online are, like, skipping breakfast is what it comes down to.
So I do wanna say there is, like, real research is doing real good work and validity on, like, circadian rhythm and its associating to eating, um, and all that stuff.
Now, I've never directly done that work, but the postdoc lab I did, they, like, did some of that work, so I got to learn a little secondhand around that.
I would not say I'm an expert in it, but I just wanna, like, say that, like, this isn't...
There's this, this idea online that everything's either BS or, like, you don't...
Like, there is some cool emerging data with fasting, like, or time restricted eating, for example, where if you stop eating at night, it might be more metabolically favorable, especially for people who have, like, insulin resistance or are Type 2 diabetic or struggle with those things.
And I do think there is validity to, like, especially in the Western culture, to not eating 20 hours out of the day, giving yourself time to rest and digest, you know, having breaks between meals, not having your blood sugar elevated or be co- chronically digesting stuff all of the time.
But also, like, there isn't this data that is like if you don't fast, you will die.
And especially for women, you get two conversations, and it's like, "Women need to fast for hormonal and metabolic health." And then there's, "If women fast, they're gonna destroy their hormones and metabolic health." And so, like [laughs] like, that's-
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