I consider that feeling our greatest comes after we study to listen to our bodies—and one factor I’ve personally noticed through the years is that I’m my most vibrant once I cycle out and in of intermittent fasting. Once I’m in step with a rhythm that works for me, I’ve regular power, better digestion, and I discover it simpler to keep up my weight with out stressing over each chew.
However right here’s the important thing: I’m not inflexible a couple of fasting schedule. If I get up actually hungry, I eat. If it’s the week before my period, I skip fasting fully. Intermittent fasting, for me, is about listening to my physique and tapping into that instinct—not “forcing” something.
My present method is usually impressed by Dr. Mindy Pelz’s e book, Fast Like a Girl. Her analysis is all about how ladies can quick in a approach that helps our hormones, reasonably than working in opposition to them. I loosely sync my fasting habits with my menstrual cycle: throughout a lot of the month, I normally observe a 16:8 quick (an 8-hour consuming window, so between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., for instance). Through the luteal part (the week earlier than my interval), I don’t quick in any respect. Throughout my follicular part, I prefer to experiment with a barely longer quick, when my power naturally feels increased.
This versatile method has been such a game-changer for me. But it surely’s not simply anecdotal expertise—there’s actual science behind why intermittent fasting can assist ladies’s well being, increase longevity, scale back irritation, and produce an entire host of different well being advantages.
To assist us dig into the analysis, Lauren Zielinski, MSN, CNM, a licensed nurse, midwife, and girls’s well being skilled shares sensible recommendation to method intermittent fasting in a grounded, supportive approach.
Lauren Zielinski, MSN, CNM
Lauren Zielinski is a licensed nurse-midwife with over 11 years of expertise in ladies’s well being and start. She studied drugs at The College of Colorado-Denver with a concentrate on neighborhood well being and start middle work.
The Science Behind Intermittent Fasting
“There’s an abundance of analysis behind intermittent fasting,” Lauren shares. “And whereas it can result in weight reduction, the advantages run a lot deeper. Analysis has proven its capability to “clear cells,” enhance longevity, and reduce the chance of widespread illnesses like diabetes and coronary heart illness. Intermittent fasting retains your DNA and cells wholesome, and might decelerate the growing older course of. I’d argue that it’s the closest factor to the fountain of youth.”
Lauren explains that intermittent fasting isn’t a fad—it’s been studied at main analysis establishments together with USC’s Longevity Institute and Harvard College. Research hyperlink it to improved metabolic well being, lowered irritation, higher brain function, and elevated longevity.
How Fasting Truly Works within the Physique
On a traditional day, your physique makes use of glucose from meals for power. However whenever you quick, it shifts from burning sugar to burning saved fats—a course of referred to as metabolic switching (a time period coined by Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Mark Mattson, Ph.D.).
This change doesn’t simply assist with fats loss. It triggers a cascade of mobile advantages. As fasting continues, glycogen shops deplete, and your physique enters ketogenesis—releasing ketones into the bloodstream. These ketones:
- Improve the physique’s defenses in opposition to oxidative stress
- Assist take away or restore broken cells
- Enhance blood sugar regulation
- Enhance stress resistance and scale back irritation
Much more fascinating: ketones stimulate the discharge of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic issue), a molecule that strengthens neurons and neural connections, supporting reminiscence and cognitive well being.
“Consider fasting as a mini ‘spring cleansing’ in your physique,” Lauren says. “You’re giving your system a break from fixed digestion, which permits your cells to restore and regenerate.”
The Distinctive Issues of Intermittent Fasting for Ladies
Whereas intermittent fasting can profit practically everybody, ladies’s hormones make it particularly vital to method it with flexibility. Lauren emphasizes: “Ladies are usually not simply smaller males. Our hormonal fluctuations all through the month imply that fasting can really feel wonderful at sure occasions and depleting at others.”
Right here’s a simplified information based mostly on what each analysis and many ladies (together with myself) have skilled:
- Follicular part (Day 1–14): Estrogen is rising, power is increased. That is usually one of the best time to strive longer fasts (14–16 hours).
- Ovulation: Proceed reasonable fasting if it feels good, however take heed to your physique.
- Luteal part (the week earlier than your interval): Cortisol is extra delicate, and your physique might have extra nourishment. This can be a nice time to ease off fasting or skip it altogether.
- Menstrual part: Many ladies really feel higher with mild fasting or none in any respect throughout their interval.
This cyclical method is what’s labored greatest for me. It’s additionally what Mindy Pelz and lots of hormone specialists advocate: honor your cycle, reasonably than pushing by it.
The Lengthy-Time period Advantages of Intermittent Fasting
A 2019 New England Journal of Drugs overview of fasting analysis discovered vital, wide-ranging advantages, together with:
- Cognitive perform: Improved reminiscence and psychological readability
- Coronary heart well being: Higher blood strain, ldl cholesterol, and resting coronary heart price
- Metabolic well being: Improved insulin sensitivity and lowered danger of Sort 2 diabetes
- Bodily efficiency: Enhanced endurance and lean muscle preservation
- Longevity: Improved mobile restore mechanisms that will gradual growing older
For me, these advantages present up as sustained power, higher digestion, and feeling extra in tune with my physique’s cues.
Learn how to Begin Intermittent Fasting Gently
If you happen to’d like to present fasting a strive, right here’s Lauren’s aware method:
- Start with 12 hours between dinner and breakfast.
- After every week or two, prolong to 14–16 hours if it feels good.
- Keep hydrated—water, black espresso, and natural teas are your greatest associates.
- Give attention to nutrient-dense meals throughout your consuming window to assist hormones and blood sugar stability.
- Give your physique 3–4 weeks to adapt. “It’s regular to really feel drained or irritable at first,” Lauren says. “That normally passes as your metabolism adjusts.”
And maybe most significantly: it doesn’t must be all or nothing. If you happen to get up hungry, eat. In case your physique wants extra gas throughout sure phases of your cycle, hear.
When to Keep away from Intermittent Fasting
Whereas intermittent fasting could be helpful, it’s not proper for everybody. Lauren advises in opposition to fasting in case you:
- Are underneath 18
- Are pregnant or breastfeeding
- Have a historical past of consuming problems
- Have diabetes or different blood sugar problems
All the time test with a healthcare supplier earlier than making main adjustments to your consuming routine—particularly when you’ve got underlying situations.
Meals Freedom, Not Restriction
For me, intermittent fasting isn’t about restriction. It’s about discovering a rhythm that helps my power, temper, and hormones—and being versatile when my physique wants one thing totally different.
Lauren sums it up completely:
“When completed thoughtfully, intermittent fasting could be a highly effective software to assist ladies’s well being, however the secret’s flexibility. Our hormones are dynamic, and our method to fasting ought to be, too.”
References & Sources:
- Pelz, M. Quick Like a Lady (2022)
- Mattson MP et al. “Intermittent Fasting and Human Metabolic Well being.” New England Journal of Drugs, 2019.
- Nationwide Institute of Well being. “Ketogenesis and Mobile Stress Response.”
- USC Longevity Institute; Harvard Medical College research on metabolic switching.
This submit was final up to date on October 24, 2025, to incorporate new insights.
