Dr. Stacy Sims

If I were to use the buzzwords of fasting, I would say you do your 12-hour overnight fast. That's what you do for fasting. But when we look at it from a hormonal response, reducing stress, improving body composition, brain health, all the things that people want with fasting, for women, we need to eat within a half an hour of waking up because we have a cortisol peak and we need to drop that peak.

If I were to use the buzzwords of fasting, I would say you do your 12-hour overnight fast. That's what you do for fasting. But when we look at it from a hormonal response, reducing stress, improving body composition, brain health, all the things that people want with fasting, for women, we need to eat within a half an hour of waking up because we have a cortisol peak and we need to drop that peak.

If I were to use the buzzwords of fasting, I would say you do your 12-hour overnight fast. That's what you do for fasting. But when we look at it from a hormonal response, reducing stress, improving body composition, brain health, all the things that people want with fasting, for women, we need to eat within a half an hour of waking up because we have a cortisol peak and we need to drop that peak.

We also see from circadian research that fueling throughout the day improves sleep, but it also improves the feedback for increasing lean mass development and dropping body fat. So when we have a big hole of no food and what happens for the most part is women will start a fast and they'll try to hold their fast till noon and then they end up working out fasted.

We also see from circadian research that fueling throughout the day improves sleep, but it also improves the feedback for increasing lean mass development and dropping body fat. So when we have a big hole of no food and what happens for the most part is women will start a fast and they'll try to hold their fast till noon and then they end up working out fasted.

We also see from circadian research that fueling throughout the day improves sleep, but it also improves the feedback for increasing lean mass development and dropping body fat. So when we have a big hole of no food and what happens for the most part is women will start a fast and they'll try to hold their fast till noon and then they end up working out fasted.

And the brain, especially the hypothalamus, is like, what's happening here? There's no fuel for this exercise. I'm going to start breaking down lean mass because I need some amino acids for some fuel. And I can't support really metabolically active tissue when there's no fuel coming in.

And the brain, especially the hypothalamus, is like, what's happening here? There's no fuel for this exercise. I'm going to start breaking down lean mass because I need some amino acids for some fuel. And I can't support really metabolically active tissue when there's no fuel coming in.

And the brain, especially the hypothalamus, is like, what's happening here? There's no fuel for this exercise. I'm going to start breaking down lean mass because I need some amino acids for some fuel. And I can't support really metabolically active tissue when there's no fuel coming in.

So when we start looking at what's the best way to counter the body comp changes that are happening in perimenopause... train smart, eat. Eat during the day. Stop eating after dinner so you don't have nighttime snacks and making sure that two to three hours before you go to bed was your last meal so that you can get into a deep, reparative sleep.

So when we start looking at what's the best way to counter the body comp changes that are happening in perimenopause... train smart, eat. Eat during the day. Stop eating after dinner so you don't have nighttime snacks and making sure that two to three hours before you go to bed was your last meal so that you can get into a deep, reparative sleep.

So when we start looking at what's the best way to counter the body comp changes that are happening in perimenopause... train smart, eat. Eat during the day. Stop eating after dinner so you don't have nighttime snacks and making sure that two to three hours before you go to bed was your last meal so that you can get into a deep, reparative sleep.

And I know sleep is fleeting for lots of people in perimenopause. So we need to work on the sleep hygiene and maybe it's adding supplements like apigenin and L-theanine. Maybe it's cycling progesterone to help with sleep so that you do get into that deep parasympathetic activation so that your body knows that it can change body comp.

And I know sleep is fleeting for lots of people in perimenopause. So we need to work on the sleep hygiene and maybe it's adding supplements like apigenin and L-theanine. Maybe it's cycling progesterone to help with sleep so that you do get into that deep parasympathetic activation so that your body knows that it can change body comp.

And I know sleep is fleeting for lots of people in perimenopause. So we need to work on the sleep hygiene and maybe it's adding supplements like apigenin and L-theanine. Maybe it's cycling progesterone to help with sleep so that you do get into that deep parasympathetic activation so that your body knows that it can change body comp.

Because you cannot create change without enough calories and without good sleep.

Because you cannot create change without enough calories and without good sleep.

Because you cannot create change without enough calories and without good sleep.

Absolutely. And from a physiological perspective, women have two areas in the hypothalamus that is very sensitive to nutrient density. The two areas are the arc areas, and we have what we call cispeptin neurons that get expressed. When we don't have enough food coming in, we don't have all those pepton neurons being expressed. So we have a hit on our entire endocrine system.

Absolutely. And from a physiological perspective, women have two areas in the hypothalamus that is very sensitive to nutrient density. The two areas are the arc areas, and we have what we call cispeptin neurons that get expressed. When we don't have enough food coming in, we don't have all those pepton neurons being expressed. So we have a hit on our entire endocrine system.