Blog Marathon - February 2023 - Day 15 - Fast like a girl written by Mindy Pelz - Book Review

Intermittent fasting and I have been thick friends since 2017.

It's a lifestyle where I have cut down the meals to either one or two a day. In that meal, I try to have all the components—like carbs, good fats, and proteins—in one sitting, spanning an hour. I also indulge in a piece of cake or chocolate sometimes.

Don't worry, I have read a lot about it from different people who have been practicing it, and I have chosen this lifestyle for myself, which is convenient and easy and has huge benefits. I can sleep better, I have lost a lot of fat over my body, I fit into clothes sized M and S sometimes, I have immense energy at the end of the day, and I am extremely happy and cheerful on most of the days. My blood count is excellent, and I am hale and healthy. I work out regularly, and with the help of this lifestyle, I want to age gracefully without getting affected by lifestyle diseases.

As we all know, science is always evolving, and so is nutrition and the research done on it. I have been following Mindy Pelz on YouTube for a while now. She is a strong advocate of fasting, but she stresses the fact that women should fast differently. Women have menstrual cycles, and hormones have a strong effect on this cycle and on life in general. So she advises timing the fasts according to the days in the cycle. I was pleasantly surprised at her advocacy and then could relate to the energy spurts and dips according to the days in the monthly cycle. She published a book in December 2022, and I immediately got a copy for myself to do a self-study about it.

The book is written in a very simple language. There's nothing too scientific or outlandish that a layperson like me wouldn't understand. She constantly stresses the fact that a woman's physiology is different and she needs to be approached and treated differently, unlike her male counterparts. She has divided the book into three different parts.

In the first part, she explains the science behind why women should try a different approach. She has also gone into great detail about the advantages of fasting. She has also explained "metabolic switching," when the body starts using the fat reserves as fuel for running the body. And in the last chapter of this part, she goes on to explain in detail what exactly happens on specific days of the monthly cycle to your body. She talks about the different hormones that rule a woman's mind and body. It's not a wonder anymore why it's difficult for women to lose weight. We are different; we have different hormones, and we need to take this really seriously.

In the second part, she explains how to time the fasting with the monthly cycles and the foods that support the different hormones throughout the cycle. In the third part, she gives a 30-day fasting reset for beginners and also gives tips on how to break a fast and a few hacks that make fasting easier. At the end, she has also given a few recipes that are excellent sources for building a strong body and a strong mind.

Overall, I loved reading this book, and I preferred a physical copy to a Kindle one because I like to read it multiple times, take notes, and underline the most important guidelines. I would recommend this book to every woman who wants to start this journey into the wonderful world of intermittent fasting, as well as to seasoned women fasters who would surely benefit from this new research and input.

Drop me a line or two if you have read it already or would like to take it up in the future. I would be happy to connect with you and go along on this journey with you.