How to Use Feasting to Your Metabolic Advantage

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the excitement and results of fasting that we forget about the need to feast and enjoy the nourishing benefits of food! So today I’m here to remind you that feasting is just as important to the fasting lifestyle as your fast days, and that food can be healing to your health, just like fasting can. 

Feasting Tip #1:

Use Feast-famine cycling

The first thing that you must realize is that your body was designed for feast-famine cycles. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors were expert fasters, indulging in feasts when food was plentiful, then facing long periods of fasting in between. With this in mind, it makes sense that our bodies  are designed and adapted to feast and famine cycles. What I want you to avoid is repetitive fasting, especially the same fasting hours and style. You can accomplish this by mastering how to go in and out of a fasting and feasting state. The holidays are a great time to practice this!

Feasting Tip #2:

Fast around your largest meals and gatherings

Figure out what your largest meals or gatherings will be and plan your feasting around those meals. To give you an idea of what this looks like, here is how I plan to fast around the upcoming holidays. On Thanksgiving, I will be doing one meal a day (OMAD fasting), breaking my fast with a delicious family meal. 

The next day, I plan to fast for about 17 hours, aka autophagy fasting, so I can partake in leftovers. During the holidays, I love leaning into autophagy fasting around the holidays, which helps clean up the cells and clear out cellular inflammation and dysfunction that can happen as a result of eating some of the “not so healthy” foods we’re not typically used to eating.

On Christmas morning, I’ll plan to have a large breakfast brunch, which is a meal I’m not typically used to, but I’ll be using that as my one meal of the day (OMAD), then fasting the rest of the day. 

Feasting Tip #3:

Quality of ingredients matter

There is so much coming out right now about how chemicals are linked to obesity and so many health conditions. Be mindful of the ingredients you are using for cooking. 

Here are some of my go-to high quality foods: 

  • Sunrise Flours is made from ancient grains processed in a way that keeps gluten down, so even people with gluten sensitivities can do well with this flour. 
  • The oils you use matter and should be a top priority. Try to use olive oil for salads, but avoid cooking with olive oil. 
  • Primal Kitchen Salad Dressings are our typical weekday go-to. Use code PELZ for 10% off. Better cooking oils are ghee, ghee oil, raw butter from Organic Pastures, tallow and lard. 
  • And of course you probably know how much I love Andreas Seed Oils for balancing and supporting hormones. I use the 5 Seed Oil. Use code PELZ for discount.
  • For grass fed, free range poultry and more we love Crowd Cow and Grassland Beef
  • Kettle & Fire for amazing, nourishing bone broths without additives. 
  • Dry Farm Wines is the only wine I will drink. Not kidding. Dry Farm Wines are all natural and additive and mold free, lab tested for purity, low sugar and sulfates, curated from small family farms around the world. Try your first bottle for a penny with our link. 
  • Gerolsteiner mineral water is my favorite for adding minerals back into your body, especially when fasting. I like mine with a splash of lemon.
  • Redmond sea salt is what I use in my home, because it is a natural, unrefined sea salt with a complete blend of essential minerals. Use code PELZ for 15% off.

Feasting Tip #4:

Fasting heals, but so does food

Food can either support or distract from your health efforts, so why not eat foods that will contribute to your wellness? Some of the season foods I love right now are winter squashes. This is great for perimenopause and menopausal women, as well as supporting testosterone. Potatoes are great for building progesterone and feeding and expanding the diversity of your microbiome. 

Pomegranates is an amazing food for stimulating autophagy. If you’re looking for an amazing pomegranate recipe, try my Pomegranate Salsa

Also, make sure you’re leaning into the good fats, which will help nourish the brain and stabilize blood sugar. 

Feasting Tip #5:

Practice slow food

What is slow food? Slow food means being conscious of what you eat and how you eat. The slow food movement emerged as a counterpoint to fast food. Both in terms of the quality of the food, but also in the speed at which we devour meals. 

While we know that eating processed foods will lead to poor health, research also shows that eating too fast may lead to weight gain. People who eat quickly gain more weight on average than people who eat slowly! Why? The brain needs time to process how the body consumes food. It can take up to 20 minutes for the brain to process signals of fullness, letting you know you’ve had enough. 

Also did you know that when you smell food cooking, your body begins to create the digestive enzymes necessary to properly break down food? More reason to help in the kitchen! 

Finally, gathering around the table with family and friends helps boost oxytocin, which sits at the top of the hormonal hierarchy

Here’s how to you practice slow food:

  • Eat clean. That means organic and natural
  • Buy local, ideally directly from local growers
  • Choose quality seasonal foods, grown with care
  • Try growing your own herbs or produce
  • Make food prep an integral part of the meal
  • Slow down to chew and savor the taste of food
  • Turn off the TV, put away phones and focus on being present with those around you, or yourself
2024-01-26T15:06:41+00:00Health|

One Comment

  1. Mary Slanker April 12, 2022 at 8:25 am - Reply

    Thank you so much for sharing such amazing and informative tips. This would be helpful.

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