What Women Need to Know About Metabolic Flexibility with Cynthia Thurlow
Jan 1, 2024
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Cynthia Thurlow, an expert in metabolic flexibility and fasting, joins Dr. Mindy Pelz to discuss weight gain, metabolic flexibility, strength training for women, reasons for weight gain around the abdomen, and the impact of fasting on mental health. They also touch on the lack of conversation around women and fasting, the importance of personalized nutrition, and the effects of combining fasting with hormone release in women.
Fasting can be a powerful tool for women to address weight gain, improve brain function, and prevent conditions like Alzheimer's and dementia.
Women's health has been overlooked in research and healthcare, emphasizing the need to educate and empower women about their bodies and hormonal changes.
Maintaining muscle mass through strength training is crucial for promoting insulin sensitivity and combating weight gain in women.
Deep dives
The Importance of Fasting for Women's Health
Fasting can be a powerful tool for women to overcome hormonal imbalances and achieve optimal health. By teaching women how to fast and utilize it as a tool, fasting can help address weight gain, improve brain function, and prevent conditions like Alzheimer's and dementia. Fasting can also promote insulin sensitivity and metabolic flexibility by reducing meal frequency and allowing the body to repair and heal. Prioritizing sleep and maintaining muscle mass are also crucial for achieving desired health outcomes.
The Need for Women-Specific Approaches to Health
Women have unique physiological needs that require tailored approaches to health. The patriarchal influence combined with research bias towards men has resulted in women's health being overlooked. It is crucial to educate and empower women about their bodies, hormonal changes, and the importance of lifestyle medicine. By starting conversations early, women can understand and navigate the challenges they may face throughout their lives, ultimately promoting better health outcomes.
The Impact of Muscle Mass and Blood Sugar on Weight Gain
Maintaining muscle mass is essential for metabolic health and weight management in women. With age, women tend to lose muscle mass, resulting in slower metabolism and insulin resistance. Building and maintaining muscle mass through strength training is key to promoting insulin sensitivity. Additionally, monitoring blood sugar levels, recognizing the impact of stress, sleep quality, and food choices are vital elements for combating weight gain and achieving metabolic health.
The importance of understanding the menstrual cycle for fitness and nutrition
Understanding the menstrual cycle and its hormonal fluctuations can help optimize fitness and nutrition strategies for women. During the estrogen-dominant phase of the cycle, women tend to be more insulin sensitive and can handle higher-intensity exercise. In contrast, the second half of the menstrual cycle may require adjustments in response to variations in blood sugar, food, and sleep. Women should listen to their bodies and experiment with different approaches to find what works best for them in terms of exercise intensity, nutrition choices, and carbohydrate intake.
The significance of fasting for brain health and hormone regulation
Fasting plays a crucial role in promoting cognitive function, neurobehavioral health, and hormone regulation. It helps lower sugar levels, increase ketone production, and upregulate GABA, a calming neurotransmitter. Fasting also helps reset dopamine receptor sites, which can benefit anxiety and mental health. Long-term fasting as a lifestyle can positively impact brain health and hormone balance, but it's important to become fat-adapted and personalize fasting habits to individual needs. Fasting should be integrated with other lifestyle factors, such as reducing exposure to toxins and finding balance with social media use, to optimize overall well-being.
This special New Year’s Day rerelease episode is all about weight gain, the nuance of autophagy, and fasting as a tool to heal your body and brain with Cynthia Thurlow. Dr. Mindy and Cynthia cover how your habits can save your life, how metabolic flexibility is the key to more muscle and less fat, strength training for women: why you need to lift more weights, why you need to stop weighing yourself every single day, the reasons women are gaining weight around their abdomen, and how building a fasting lifestyle will change your mental health
To view full show notes, more information on our guests, resources mentioned in the episode, discount codes, transcripts, and more, visit https://drmindypelz.com/ep216.
Cynthia is a nurse practitioner, CEO, and founder of the Everyday Wellness Project, and international speaker, with over 10 million views for her second TEDx talk (Intermittent Fasting: Transformational Technique). With over 20 years of experience in health and wellness, Cynthia is a globally recognized expert in intermittent fasting and nutritional health and has been featured on ABC, FOX5, KTLA, CW, Medium, Entrepreneur, and The Megyn Kelly Show.
