Hello and welcome to the Intermittent Fasting Gems with Jen Podcast.

I'm your host Jen, a middle-aged Michigan mama, wife, and teacher who

in 2021 stumbled upon this crazy cool thing called intermittent fasting.

And before I knew it.

I've lost 46 pounds in four months and gained an incredible lifestyle

filled with complete food freedom.

If you're hungry for unique, no nonsense fasting tips that actually

work, you're in the right place.

So whether you're walking the dog, folding that last load of laundry or cruising to

your nine to five, let's start fasting.

Our way to freedom together

hey there, fabulous fasting friends.

I am back with part two of intermittent fasting ABCs.

If you are a new listener, welcome and if you've been hanging with

me for a while, welcome back.

Okay.

If you.

Didn't catch the first part of this two part series.

Head back to my last episode number 38, titled Part one, intermittent Fasting

ABCs, where I covered letters A through M.

Listen to that real quick and then come right back here and join us.

Alright, today we are diving into the second half of the alphabet

and covering letters N through Z. Of our intermittent fasting ABCs.

Ready set.

Here we go.

Letter N is definitely for nutrition.

Eating good nutritious foods is super important when you're doing intermittent

fasting because it helps your body get all the vitamins and energy it

needs during the times you're eating.

And since you're only eating in smaller windows of time, you wanna

make sure that every single bite counts and fuels your body well.

Nutritious foods like fruits and veggies and lean proteins and healthy

fats keep you feeling full for longer.

They support your energy levels, preserve muscle mass, and help

your body stay strong and healthy.

While you fast plus eating well makes it easier to stick to your fasting plan

and eventually reach your health goals.

Now, since intermittent fasting is not a diet and it's more about when you eat

instead of what you eat, you absolutely have more flexibility and you absolutely.

Um, and I, I really, really do believe should allow yourself to have your

favorite, not so healthy treats.

Once in a while in moderation.

It's, it's all about balance.

So if you really want to find long lasting success though with intermittent

fasting, you need to prioritize nutrition and move away from thinking,

I can eat whatever I want as long as it fits into my eating window.

A lot of us start out that way, myself included.

But nutrition, uh, is the way to go.

If you want over 150, super easy, high protein, low carb, intermittent

fasting recipes for free, you can just head to my website.

So what if with jen.com?

Hit the recipes tab at the top and you'll find healthy lunch and dinner recipes,

fat burning smoothie recipes, side dishes, and a whole bunch more metabolism

boosting recipes that will help you reach your intermittent fasting health

and weight loss goals in no time at all, link will be in the show notes below.

Moving on to letter o and O stands for O Mad or One Meal a Day.

And if you know about my success story with intermittent fasting,

you already know that I love.

Oma, and I will shout it from the rooftops because it is my preferred

intermittent fasting schedule, and it's definitely become one of the most popular

fasting methods in recent years as well.

So Oma generally.

Involves fasting all day, then eating one large meal a day and possibly a few

snacks, um, and maybe a healthy dessert within about a one to four hour period.

This shorter eating period naturally creates a calorie deficit and it allows

your body to tap into stored body fat for energy, helping you lose weight.

Many people find great success with Omad, especially when it comes to weight loss,

and I believe it is because it's a routine that pushes past that 18 hour fasting

mark, uh, where studies have shown that.

Fat burning really starts to rev up.

I have a few blog posts and videos about OMA and how to do it.

I have a seven day OMA meal plan.

If you wanna learn more about it, I'll drop those links in the show notes below.

I also plan to do a few different podcast episodes dedicated

to just omad in the future.

But for now, it's good to know that O stands for oma and it's a.

Definite fasting option that you might want to look into a bit further.

Alright, we are on letter P and P is for physical activity,

physical exercise or activity.

And intermittent fasting can be a very powerful duo when it comes to,

uh, achieving your health, wellness, and weight loss goals, engaging

in regular physical activity.

Compliments the benefits of intermittent fasting by enhancing

fat loss, improving metabolic health and promoting overall fitness.

Staying active and exercising helps your body burn fat and stay strong.

Um, moving your body, whether it's walking or stretching or working out.

Boost your energy and it keeps your muscles healthy.

Plus exercise can help you feel better.

It can improve your mood and make your fasting journey easier by

again, keeping your metabolism active and your mind focused.

Q is for quenching, quenching your thirst.

That is so staying properly hydrated is so, so, so, so important.

When practicing intermittent fasting water plays a crucial role in so many of

our bodily functions, including digestion and metabolism and cellular health.

During fasting periods when you're not consuming food, maintaining adequate

hydration becomes even more vital.

Drinking water and other clean beverage options like unflavored green and black.

Tea and plain sparkling mineral water can help curb hunger, support

energy levels, and prevent potential feelings of dizziness or fatigue that

definitely may arise during fasting.

Next up is my favorite letter of the intermittent fasting ABCs,

and it is R, which stands for.

Real results.

OMG intermittent fasting really, really, really works.

Um, the journey of intermittent fasting really does hold the promise

and the exciting hope of achieving real weight loss and health results

that can be truly transformative and downright life changing.

It has been so life changing for me and uh, the results have been huge

beyond the weight loss and visible changes, intermittent fasting can

lead to improved metabolic health, stabilized blood sugar levels, and

reduced risk factors for chronic diseases and conditions like diabetes.

Increased energy, decreased body inflammation, better skin, less

headaches, and mental clarity are all real results too.

That can definitely happen when somebody chooses to embrace an if f lifestyle.

If you wanna be inspired by real people who have achieved real results with

intermittent fasting, just go back and listen to prior episodes of this podcast,

including how Mary lost a hundred pounds with intermittent fasting and how Mark

lost his belly fat at 60 some years old.

And Amy lost, um, not only weight, but she improved her heart health

and how Danielle combined keto and omad fasting together to get.

Incredible results.

All of their stories are so inspiring and they'll get you so excited

about what intermittent fasting can do for you and your life.

S is for sustainability.

This may seem like a boring one, but it's just so important.

I mean, really, really important.

What good is having success with a diet if it doesn't last and it can't be sustained.

And that is why most diets fail because they cannot be sustained long-term.

Intermittent fasting is different because it presents a sustainable

and a practical approach to weight loss that is very, very.

Different from traditional diets.

It's simple and it's easy to fit into your daily life without feeling like

it's a big diet or it's a strict plan, and instead of cutting out certain

foods or counting every calorie.

You just have to focus on when you eat, which makes it less stressful

and easier to stick with long term.

Many people find that once they get used to, uh, the fasting schedule,

it just feels natural for them and helps 'em stay healthy without

feeling hungry all the time.

Or having to give up their favorite foods, and that's why intermittent fasting can be

a very smart, lasting way to improve your health and reach your weight loss goals.

Alright, moving on to t. T is for tracking.

Tracking your intermittent fasting journey is super helpful because it lets

you see how you're doing and it keeps you motivated when you track things like

your fasting hours, your meals, water intake, weight loss, inches lost and.

Overall how you feel you can spot what's working as well as what's not working

and what you might need to change.

It also helps keep you accountable towards your goals.

It helps you stay on track, especially on tough days.

It makes it easier to reach your goals because you're paying

attention to your progress.

Plus tracking can show you, um, how far you've come, which feels really

good and keeps you going strong.

I highly recommend finding an intermittent fasting tracking app

that you can use on your phone.

I have used a few over the last few years.

Since starting my fasting journey, I've used lightly and I've used the

Life app, which I absolutely loved.

But as most of you know, the Life app has been discontinued.

So for the last several months, I have found, um, a new fasting

app that I've been using.

I've been using Easy, fast, which is free, and I highly recommend it.

It's very similar to the Life app.

I really like it.

I'll leave the link.

To that app in the show notes if you want to check it out.

Also, if you're a paper pencil person like me, kind of old school, um,

and if you're a member of my So what if with Jen intermittent fasting

Facebook support group, you can.

Easily find my monthly fasting accountability tracking calendar.

Just go to the files tab in that Facebook group and uh, you

can find the PDF right there.

U is for unflavored.

Okay, you're probably like, that is a weird one, but it's really not,

and it's something really important when it comes to fasting, clean, and

getting the best results possible.

During your fasting window, you wanna be sure to stick to the four best

clean drinks only, including black, coffee, water, plain sparkling,

minter, water, and unflavored.

Tea when you're doing intermittent fasting, it's best not to have anything

with flavor like sweet drinks or flavored gum during your fasting hours because

even a little taste can trick your body into thinking it's time to eat.

This can cause your body to release insulin, which might stop fat burning

and take you out of the fasted state that helps with weight loss and.

Health benefits.

Sticking to plain water, black coffee, or unsweetened tea during

your fasting window helps your body stay in that fat burning mode, and

it helps you to get the best results from your intermittent fasting plan.

So save the flavors for your eating window time and.

During your fasting time, just keep it plain and unflavored.

Alright, moving on to letter V. Another one of my favorites that I will probably

never shut up about and V stands for vinegar as in apple cider vinegar.

Drinking a little apple cider vinegar or a CV every day while

practicing intermittent fasting can offer a ton of potential benefits.

A CV has been linked to improved digestion and insulin sensitivity, which aligns well

with the metabolic advantages of fasting.

It may help regulate blood sugar levels and enhance the body's

ability to use glucose efficiently.

A CV helps fight against feelings of hunger.

It promotes a sense of fullness.

Making it easier to stick to your fasting goals.

And if you've been listening to this podcast for a while and you're still

not breaking your fast with my simple seven ingredient fat burning a CV

drink, what are you waiting for?

It really does work and helps speed up results.

I'll leave the recipe in the show notes for you again below.

Moving on to letter w and w is for the exciting.

Weight loss that can be achieved when you adopt an intermittent fasting lifestyle.

But how you might be asking how exactly does intermittent fasting help you lose

weight, and why does it work so well?

Alright, so an intermittent fasting plan helps with weight loss by controlling

when you eat, when you give your body specific times to eat and fast.

It's like flipping a switch that tells it to burn fat for energy.

When you eat, your body gets energy from the food it has just taken in.

It uses this energy for all of your daily activities like walking and talking.

But when you fast or abstain from calories, I. Especially when you do

it for an extended period of time, your body no longer has fresh food

to use for energy, so it has no other choice other than to start tapping

into your stored fat for fuel.

This my fasting friends.

This is when the real weight loss party gets started.

Additionally, intermittent fasting helps control our hunger hormones,

so when you fast, these hormones calm down and you don't feel as hungry.

And this is incredible because it makes it easier to eat fewer calories

overall while still feeling fantastic.

Alright, X is next, and I'm not gonna lie, this one was a tough one to come up with

and I had to do a little extra research, but X is for Xeno and I'd never heard of.

Autophagy or xsi before I started intermittent fasting in 2021.

So Xeno and I did check the Google pronunciation, so I. Think

I'm saying this word correctly, but if not, please forgive me.

Um, Xeno FAI is a special type of autophagy, which was letter A

of our intermittent fasting ABCs.

Um, it's where your cells target and break down foreign invaders like

bacteria, viruses, or other pathogens that get inside your body while.

Autophagy is your body's way of cleaning up and recycling its own

damaged parts to keep cells healthy.

Um, Xeno is more like your cell's defense system, and it's using the same recycling

process to get rid of harmful outsiders instead of just cleaning it up inside.

Intermittent fasting is known to boost autophagy in general, which means

it may also help your body activate Xeno Fasi, giving your immune system

extra support to fight off infections and keep you healthy while you fast.

Alright, so there's your mini science lesson for the day from an

elementary teacher, so take that as you will why is for youthfulness?

That's why so many people say, if you wanna look and feel 10 or 15 years

younger, just do intermittent fasting.

And that's because practicing intermittent fasting is often linked

to feeling and looking more youthful because it helps your body repair

itself and get rid of old damaged cells.

When you fast, you experience autophagy, um, and it truly can help your skin,

your energy, and your overall health.

So many people who do intermittent fasting say they notice clearer skin, more energy,

um, and a much brighter overall mood.

All things that help us to look and feel younger and more refreshed.

And finally we have reached the last letter of the alphabet.

Z and Z stands for zest for life.

Intermittent fasting can truly offer a renewed zest for life by revitalizing both

your physical and your mental wellbeing.

And who wouldn't wanna live a life filled with increased energy levels, improved

mental clarity, better mood, and.

Less flab.

The cycle of fasting and eating aligns with our body's natural

rhythms and it just promotes a sense of balance and vitality.

And when we have more energy, better mental clarity and a genuine zest

for life, we are naturally inspired to engage in more daily activities

and hobbies and social interactions, which can most definitely lead us

to living our absolute best lives.

Right now we have completed the second half of our intermittent fasting ABCs.

Let's recap quickly.

N is for nutrition.

O is for Oma.

P is for the importance of physical activity.

Q is for quenching your thirst with clean drinks.

R is for all of the real people who can absolutely get real

results with intermittent fasting.

S is for sustainability because we can absolutely do this if F thing for life.

T is for tracking your journey.

U is for unflavored, V is for vinegar, as in apple cider vinegar.

W is for the wonderful weight loss.

X is for xeno, FAI y is for youthfulness, and Z is for the zest for life that

intermittent fasting can bring to you.

And now I know my ABCs won't You come and fest with me.

I'm not a singer, but I do hope that you have a blessed and a beautiful day.

Thanks for listening, everybody.

Hey, thank you so much for choosing to spend part of your day listening

to this episode of the Intermittent Fasting Gems with Jen podcast.

If you think these tips could help a friend or a family member, please

consider sharing this episode with them.

And if you really enjoyed the show, taking a minute or two

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Would be so appreciated.

Tune in for new 15 to 25 minute episodes released on the 10th,

20th, and 30th of each month.

Episodes will feature solo shows filled with if F hacks that

have worked for me, as well as episodes where I get to chat with.

Fun folks of all ages who've experienced incredible success

with intermittent fasting.

If you have questions or want more unique intermittent fasting health and

weight loss tips, tricks and recipes, please visit my website and blog at.

So what if with jen.com?

Finally, we'd love to welcome you into our free intermittent.

Fasting Facebook support group.

So what if with Jen?

Find all of these links in the show notes below.

And as always, I hope you spend your day loving without fear and

laughing until your cheeks hurt.