Intermittent Fasting Transformation
The 45-Day Program for Women to Lose Stubborn Weight, Improve Hormonal Health, and Slow Aging
By Cynthia Thurlow
Overview 📝
An Intermittent Fasting (IF) book geared towards women, but as a man, I learned a great deal as well. There are lots of health sciences information that apply to both sexes in here. And since males and females possess the same assortment of hormones, including estrogen and testosterone, albeit in different amounts, most of the book—menstrual and menopause conversations aside—was applicable to males as well. For instance, the author talks about testosterone in this book with women in mind, but she then mentions 6 natural ways to improve testosterone expression in the body! How relevant is that to a man? Very. Hormonal health aside, the author also goes into detail about diet changes and IF configurations.
Most Satiating Points 🍓
1. Hormones are vital to every single function in your body. You cannot live without them being properly balanced.
2. The hormonal orchestra has three conductors leading the performance: insulin, cortisol, and oxytocin. Any symptoms of hormonal imbalance you experience as you get older can often be traced back to these three. Each of these three hormones is crucial to the function of every other hormone in the body. When you get them in optimum balance, with the help of intermittent fasting, you can enjoy optimum health.
3. Intermittent fasting activates certain key hormones in the body, many of which increase “lipolysis” (fat-burning), enhance your metabolic flexibility (the ability to use fuel appropriately), help prevent your body from storing fat, and have many other positive effects on weight control and health.
4. To increase testosterone naturally: 1) Exercise, especially with strength training and HIIT; 2) Increase your protein intake; 3) Manage stress effectively; 4) Obtain an adequate intake of vitamin D through sunshine, food, and supplementation; 5) Get quality sleep; 6) Supplement with adaptogens—dietary supplements that help balance hormones, support immune function, and assist the body in recovering from both short-term and long-term stress.
5. Triglycerides are drawn like a magnet to visceral fat because we have forty times more cortisol receptors there than in the fat just under our skin—subcutaneous fat—fat that you can pinch between two fingers. The quantity of cortisol receptors also explains the phenomenon of “cortisol belly”—fat around the waistline that develops as a result of too much stress.
6. The command center for our hormones is the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, or HPA, for short. The HPA regulates temperature, hunger, digestion, immunity, mood, libido, and energy. It also plays a huge role in governing our reactions to stress, either physical or mental. The hypothalamus and the pituitary gland are situated in the brain. The hypothalamus specifically controls hunger, fatigue, sleep, and body temperature, and it secretes many different hormones. It partners with the pituitary gland, which communicates with the adrenals, thyroid, ovaries, testes, and other glands. The pituitary secretes hormones that impact metabolism, growth, sexual development, reproduction, blood pressure, and more.
Other Morsels 🥦
1. There are two types of fat tissue in your body: brown fat and white fat. Brown fat burns energy because it is plentiful in mitochondria, the powerhouses of our cells. White fat stores energy. Brown fat is uncommon in adult humans. It’s generally what makes up that cute “baby fat” in infants. We can turn our white fat into brown, though. Intermittent fasting can help make this happen.
2. When your body starts producing ketones in a sufficient amount, your brain functions better and your mental clarity and performance will improve. Your brain loves to run on ketones!
3. Fasting is a “hormetic stressor”—a beneficial type of stress that creates a reaction in the cells to better prepare your body for stronger stressors in the future.
4. Staying hydrated while fasting (and while feeding) is absolutely critical. Every cell in your body needs water, and every metabolic process uses it. You must consistently hydrate, because there is no backup storage in the body for water like there is for food.
The Meh 🤢
1. I leaned a lot in this book. The author spoke about numerous scientific information especially as it pertains to hormonal health that I’ve never read in any other health sciences book, let alone an IF specific one. Why is this in the “meh” category? BECAUSE I’M A GUY!!! Tailoring a book’s title only to women was a bad call. There are so many factoids in this book that apply to both/all genders that it made me wonder numerous times why it was marketed only to women.
2. The narrator of the audiobook was one inflection level away from talking like a robot. It was such a high degree of a monotone that I wasn’t so sure it was a human speaking at times.
3. I doubt the author expected male readers to catch things like “Progesterone is a female hormone” when in fact it’s made in males as well to a lesser degree, but I would’ve loved to hear descriptions of hormones from a gender-neutral perspective, especially since males and females have the same types of hormones!
4. The author bemoans processed and refined foods and supplements, encouraging consuming whole foods for essential vitamins and nutrients, which I whole heartedly agree with. But then she talks up things like MCT oil, a refined supplement. And taking supplements during a fast. Huh???
5. Juice fast? High fat fast? Protein fast? I’m no doctor but I’m pretty sure you can’t call those fasts.
6. Some more bemoaning on the OMAD fast felt kind of contrived, as if she was only introducing how excruciatingly difficult it is to follow only for her to prescribe something that she has presumably branded herself: a 30:16 plan. Now I support changing up one’s fast and eating windows, as it seems like anytime you keep your body guessing, there are more rewards to reap from it. But a 30-hour fast is longer than an OMAD fast, right?
Final Thoughts 🤔
There were several key things I learned in this book, such as the concept of “Cortisol Belly” and the need for a mind-body routine, the importance of hydration (especially when I perceive that I’m getting “hunger” pangs, and drinking a glass of water dissipates it, so maybe it was a “thirst pang”), and how to increase testosterone naturally. While I didn’t mesh with all her recommendations, such as in the supplements department, I felt that she was by and large very informative.
4 stars ⭐️