Fasting

For females

Intermittent-fasting, or time-restricted eating, has been a huge topic in the media for a while. The idea is that you refrain from eating for a certain amount of hours and consume all of your daily energy within a restricted period of time 🕰️. For example, a common ratio is fasting for 16 hours and eating only within the other 8 hours in a 24 hour cycle. This is one of many possible time-restricted eating patterns people follow. You’ve probably heard about a wealth of potential health benefits such as weight loss📉, increased focus 🧠, improved sleep 💤, reduced blood sugar levels ✅, etc. Unfortunately, like with most (health) data, this can be the case for men but not necessarily women. Let’s unpack what does and does not work for the female body.

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How fasting can be harmful for women

• 😫 Provokes stress response

• 🎢 Disrupts hormonal patterns

• 🐌 Slows metabolism

• 🔻Nutrient deficiencies

• 🍽️ Disordered eating

The female body is not simply a smaller version of the male body. It is fundamentally different in its composition and processes. For the purposes of this topic the main point to understand is that the female body conserves more fat and protein than the male body (hence our increased levels of body fat). This is for good reason: reproduction 👶🏻. When the female body’s energy needs are not being met it becomes stressed. We’ve spoken here before about the wide-spread negative health consequences of stress. Most recently, we explored how skipping or delaying breakfast can be a huge source of stress for the female body. In short, increased stress can lead to PMS and perimenopausal symptoms 😫, infertility 🥚, accelerated aging (and early onset menopause) ⏩, blood sugar imbalance 🎢, disrupted sleep 🥱, etc. In summation, when female energy demands are not met our thyroid (which regulates hormones) slows down, leading to hormonal imbalances and increased body fat.

When fasting can be helpful