They say that timing is everything in life. Some say that timing is everything when it comes to eating, too, especially if you're using food as medicine. I'm talking about intermittent fasting. It can hold some pretty compelling potential. People credit it for improving gut health, reducing inflammation, enhancing brain health, and regulating the immune system, and so much more. But is it practical with your lifestyle?

So if you are ready to reclaim your body, mind, and life from multiple sclerosis, welcome to my MS podcast. I'm your host, Alene Brennan. Hello, and welcome, my friend. I hope you are having a fabulous start to your Wednesday or whatever day you're tuning into this podcast. Today we're diving into a topic that was prompted by a conversation this week in a group program that I'm running. It's a six-week program, and this week I'm teaching on how to create your own nutrition protocol. And you're not starting with like a complete blank slate. You may be taking the Wahls Protocol, for example, and choosing the level that works best for you.

didn't know a lot about it, so I thought it would be an interesting topic to bring here on the podcast. And as with many of our topics, it's really hard to consolidate a big topic into one episode. But as I was planning out this episode, what seemed to be most helpful to share are the answers to these four questions. One, what exactly is intermittent fasting? Two, how can it help with multiple sclerosis? Three, what are the potential side effects of fasting? And four, what are some beginner steps to get started? Now, again, it's a lot in one episode, but I'm going to do my best. So here we go. Let's jump in. First, what exactly is intermittent fasting? I think in the most basic and simple terms, it's about having a period of your day when you're eating and a period of time when you're fasting. It's referred to as your eating window, the hours in which you eat versus your fasting window, the hours in which you're fasting or not eating. And the amount of time that you're fasting can vary.

And at first it might be a little challenging or uncomfortable to cut out some like the nighttime snacking, but the rest of the hours you're basically sleeping and then you're getting up and getting ready for the day. So there's a lot that kind of distracts you. I mean, sleeping most of it will certainly be a good distraction, but you're not having to go through long hours where you're awake and not able to eat. Others may choose a longer fasting window of like 16 hours, or some people do just like one meal a day. Other times people can do up to like a 72 hour fast. You know, the longer you go, the more guidance and support that you need from a professional. But a 14 hour fast, like that's a pretty manageable one. Or even if you were to cut it down to a 12 hour fast, you know, like, what's your starting point? Where are you at right now?

Wahls Protocol book. If you don't have it, it's a great book to have as a resource. It might not be one that you read cover to cover. There is a lot of dense information in there. But Dr. Wahls released a revised copy of it in March of 2020. So you can grab it on Amazon. It's a good book to have. And in there, specifically on the chapter where she's talking about Wahls Paleo Plus, which is basically level three of the protocol, she talks a lot about fasting.

Your digestive system gets a much needed rest. And during that time, your body can focus its energy on cellular repair and maintenance, cleaning up some dead cells and detoxifying waste more efficiently. So your body is repairing, it's cleaning up and it's detoxifying a lot more efficiently because it's not having to allocate so much energy to our digestion.

Because your body, specifically your mitochondria, really like the state of ketosis, which is kind of like the natural state that your body starts to transition into when you have longer fasts or longer periods of time-restricted feeding. So level three isn't like a hardcore level of ketosis. It's kind of like just, I think she calls it like a low level or like a light ketosis. How does she phrase it? A light ketosis.

Not eat. So Dr. Wahls actually came on this podcast here. I interviewed her season two, episode six. If you haven't checked it out yet, definitely go take a listen to it because we talk a lot about different ways to make the protocol more approachable for people because it can be really intimidating. So, I really wanted to make sure that as I was talking with her, that we had that conversation of how can you make this a little bit more approachable?

Removing gluten and dairy from my diet, that's a hard no. Well, from a nutrition perspective, that's challenging because they do compromise gut health so much and there's so much benefit to removing them from your diet. I have seen so many people doubt the benefits of removing them from their diet and then they do it and they're like, why was I so resistant to this? Why was I so reluctant to do this?

In the Wahls protocol, but there are also lots of ways that you can customize it to you and your lifestyle, your taste buds, your budget, your schedule, all of the different things. So that's one of the things that I love doing both in my private coaching practice, but then also in the program that I created as well. So now I do need to add two important notes here. First, not everybody is a good candidate for fasting. And I'm going to talk more about that in the next question. But second, the biggest mistake that I see people make with fasting is that they think that it's just about skipping meals, and then they can eat whatever they want during the

or you are currently doing intermittent fasting, creating balanced meals during your eating windows, specifically having some healthy fats and quality protein at each meal or snack is gonna be really important for you because that is what will encourage more stable blood sugar levels throughout the day and night, which helps to reduce cravings, create more stable energy, improve quality of sleep, and much, much more. So this isn't just about skipping breakfast.

More intentionally during intermittent fasting, that you are getting those good nutrient-dense foods in during your eating window. So again, it's not just about skipping breakfast or skipping dinner and then having like a free-for-all for the rest of the day. Um, the other thing kind of going back to what I just earlier mentioned, um, this potential side effects of fasting, because it is not for everybody. Intermittent fasting is not ideal for you. If you are pregnant, trying to conceive or breastfeeding, it's also not ideal for you. If you're underweight, fasting can often encourage weight loss. So if that's not appropriate for you, you likely need a different approach. I've had several clients who have started on Wahls level three and lost too much weight.

And then, of course, it's not ideal for somebody who has diabetes or any uncontrolled blood sugar level issues. You would need to work more closely with a health professional to understand how to best keep your blood sugar levels in an appropriate range. This is why I'm constantly saying there's no one diet that works for everyone. What is healing for one person may be triggering or even harmful to another. The key is finding what works best for you.

Like from a family perspective, I could still have breakfast and dinner with the family and lunch, of course, as well. But I think those bookend meals were the ones that were most important from like, again, the family perspective. I wanted to be at the table with them. So that was one that felt really appropriate for me. And then it also felt relatively doable because as I looked at it, the only thing that was really preventing me from just naturally following that was some nighttime snacking.

Ago. Now I know everyone listening to this podcast is at different stages of their journey. So you may be at those initial stages of like, no, I still need and want and cling to those evening snacks. Or you may be on an opposite end of the spectrum, like, I kind of do it occasionally, but it's just like out of random habit. I could easily forego that. So I started paying attention to my hunger levels when I was trying to reach for a snack in the evening. And I would ask myself, like, am I legitimately hungry?

And then, you know, I had to take that next step of addressing like, why am I eating now? Is it for a craving? Is it out of boredom? Is it out of habit? And I needed to address that root issue. And that's another big area that I work on with my clients, helping them to get to the root of their cravings so they don't feel like they need a mountain of willpower to fend off their cravings. So anyway, that kind of felt like the first baby step of saying,

Now, if I was legitimately hungry, then I would think back on dinner and my meals throughout the day. Did I not get enough? Um, did I have a lighter dinner tonight than last night? Like maybe I wasn't hungry last night, but I'm legitimately hungry tonight. And then I think back and I'm like, oh yeah, dinner was kind of a little light. I could have used a little bit more. So that's something that I really started to get a better understanding of the amount of food that was appropriate for me. And then also asking, were they balanced meals? In other words, did I have enough protein and healthy fats in each meal or snack that I had throughout the day?

And then also I would ask myself, did I get enough water throughout my day? What was my water intake like today? Was I really thirsty and not even hungry at all? But this really just helped me to make the adjustments that I needed throughout the day so that my fasting window was easier. So when we have this like idea of doing some intermittent fasting, we can kind of like

breakfast. You are essentially breaking your fast with breakfast, hence its name, but you want to do so with some good nutrient-dense foods and foods that will support stable energy throughout the day. If you need recommendations on that, I have an article over on my blog post, 17 Wahls Protocol Breakfast Ideas. So, you can go check that out as well. Now, I am curious to know, how do you feel about fasting?

Requested topics to feature here on this podcast. So, cast your vote, send me the topics and the questions and the things that you want to learn on this podcast. I can't wait to hear from you. Well, my friend, we've reached the end of this episode. Pick one lesson from today's discussion and put it into action now. It's time to reclaim your body, mind and life from multiple sclerosis. And for more resources, events and programs, head over to AleneBrennan. com. See you on the next episode of my MS Podcast.