Book SummaryFast Like a Girl, by Mindy Pelz

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Fast Like a Girl

Fasting has gained popularity for offering a myriad of health benefits: It can improve your immune system, help you lose or maintain a healthy weight, and enhance your mental clarity.

In Fast Like a Girl, best-selling author, YouTuber, and holistic health expert Mindy Pelz suggests that many women fail to benefit from fasting because they don't understand how hormonal cycles impact their bodies. This lack of understanding often leads them to mistime fasts, resulting in hormonal imbalances and uncomfortable symptoms. Pelz argues that aligning fasting schedules with hormonal cycles can help women overcome these challenges and maximize the benefits of fasting.

Mindy Pelz is a chiropractor, speaker, and fasting expert. She is also the author of The Menopause Reset, The Reset Factor, and _[The Reset Factor...

Fast Like a Girl Summary Part 1: Why Fasting Is Good for Your Health

In this first part of the guide, we'll cover Pelz's insights on the health benefits of fasting—which involves consuming only water or zero-calorie drinks such as black tea or coffee for at least eight continuous hours. We'll explain how your body processes energy from the food you consume, why typical diets deplete your health, and how regularly fasting from food restores your health.

(Shortform note: Throughout the guide, the terms “food,” “eat,” or “consume,” include the consumption of calorific drinks such as juice, milk, and alcohol.)

How Your Body Processes Energy

Pelz explains that your body converts what you eat into energy in two ways: It either burns sugar in your bloodstream to produce glucose or it burns your fat stores to produce glucose for energy plus ketones as a byproduct. Ketones can serve as an alternative energy source when glucose levels are low.

When you consume food, your blood sugar level increases and your body converts this sugar into glucose for energy. To keep your blood sugar level stable, your body releases [restricted term], a hormone that exports glucose to your cells and stores the rest in your muscles and liver as an energy...

Fast Like a Girl Summary Part 2: How to Maximize Fasting Benefits

We've just discussed how fasting enhances overall health. While fasting doesn't seem complicated—it's just a matter of not eating for a certain amount of time—Pelz offers a couple of tips for maximizing the benefits of fasting: Incorporate different-length fasts into your routine and pay attention to the foods you eat when you're not fasting. Let's explore these two tips in detail.

(Shortform note: Pelz recommends that you consult a medical professional before adopting a fasting routine. She also suggests that you not fast if you're pregnant and limit your fasting duration to 13 hours if you're breastfeeding. Johns Hopkins Medicine adds to this advice, suggesting that the following people shouldn't attempt intermittent fasting: anyone under the age of 18, people with type 1 diabetes who take [restricted term], and those with a history of eating disorders. If you do intend to practice intermittent fasting, they recommend that you stay hydrated by drinking water or other zero-calorie drinks (such as black tea or coffee) during your fasting periods.)

Tip...

Fast Like a Girl Summary Part 3: What Women Can Do to Maximize Fasting Benefits

We've just covered how to practice and benefit from fasting. Now, let's narrow our focus to how women can further enhance their fasting experience. Why focus on women specifically? Pelz says that, unlike men, women experience monthly and menopausal hormonal cycles that significantly impact how fasting affects them. (Shortform note: Asprey (Fast This Way) suggests that fasting impacts women differently because their bodies are designed to support reproduction—they're more sensitive to dietary changes because a lack of food or nutrients could endanger a potential child.)

In this final part of the guide, we'll first explain why women need to pay more attention to their fasting and eating habits. Then, we'll explore Pelz's advice for tailoring a fasting schedule that aligns with your hormonal cycle.

Mistimed Fasting Creates Hormonal Imbalance

Pelz explains that a woman's hormonal cycle spans the time from the onset of menstruation (the first day of bleeding)...

Shortform Exercise: Plan Your Fasting Routine

According to Pelz, fasting can provide a host of health benefits. In this exercise, reflect on your goals and plan your fasting routine.

Reflect on what you aim to achieve by fasting and identify your main goal. (For example, you might want to lose weight, build muscle, or balance your gut microbiomes.)