fasting Archives – Wild Lyons Wellness

Toxic advice in the holistic health space

Whew. I am exhausted just writing all that.

The more and more I work with women I see one common thing. Everyone is so damn stressed about what they should be doing for their health.

Thanks to social media and everyone needing to share their two cents. Health has never been more confusing.

Keep in mind that what influencers or practitioners share online is usually only 1/100th of the story or education behind a certain topic. Everything is nuance. We need to start looking at it through that lens.

One thing I know for sure is the alternative health space is ever changing.

Someone will debunk that same study you based your entire diet and life on.

There will always be ex vegans, ex intermittent fasters, ex carnivores, ex keto’ers’, ex vegetarians….

But you know what never goes out of style or needs to be debunked? Eating REAL traditional food. Nobody, not one person will say they are recovering from eliminating processed man man garbage and switching to eating real traditional food. Not a single person.

The biggest problem is education. A lot of the things we see online we question or partake in only because we don’t quite understand how our bodies work. Your best and most powerful superpower is learning how your body works, the food you are consuming, where it comes from and being your own health advocate.

If we all understood how our bodies worked and knew how to tune in we would not need to outsource our health. Once you understand how your body works and what it actually feels like to be nourished there is no looking back, you sniff the bullshit from a mile away.

Be aware, be intentional, health is not unattainable even tho it seems that way.

What does health mean to you?

I can assure it it’s not about obsessing over every little symptom and thing that might be causing said symptom and the next supplement or gadget that will help. Once you realize the healing journey is never over and your body will continue to show symptoms because shocking, YOU ARE ALIVE! Things start to make a lot more sense.

You will never biohack, supplement, fast, restrict food, avoid chemicals like the plague, breathe, meditate, cleanse your way back to health.

Ready to join a community of like-minded women ending the war on their bodies and breaking free from diet culture? Ready to finally balance your hormones, understand your body, and become your own health advocate? Ready for unfiltered and uncensored wellness talks? Then you’re in the right place! Click here to learn more + enroll.

A self-paced program designed to help you overcome your uncomfortable digestive symptoms without restrictive diets and stressful protocols so you can enjoy food again and live a happier, healthier life. Click here to learn more + enroll.

Before taking a food sensitivity test try this…

Time + time again I have clients come to me with a lot of digestive distress, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, headaches, brain fog, fatigue, skin issues, acne + other various digestive related symptoms.

One of the most common questions I get is, “do you think I need to take a food sensitivity test?” + my answer is pretty much always no.

Food sensitivity tests are absolutely useless unless you are addressing the root of the sensitivity. It’s not the foods fault. It’s your F’d up digestion + sluggish metabolism.

In my opinion, food sensitivity tests just lead to restriction + food fear.

The same pattern always occurs, you run a food sensitivity test + find out you are highly sensitive to dairy (or another food). This then causes you to eliminate the dairy FOREVER because you are too afraid to add it back in. You start using dairy alternatives like nut milks, skipping meals for relief, + restricting foods because your digestion is so wack you can only find relief if you just don’t eat. I know, this cycle all too well, I’ve been there, I was once so afraid of food I ate the same 5 foods for 2 years straight.

What does restricting, skipping meals/ fasting, starving yourself for the sake of your digestion, + swapping superior foods out for inferior alternatives, have in common?

Stress + nutrient depletion.

Like I mentioned before, in times of stress your blood gets diverted away from your digestive system + stress hormones are released since your bodies main concern is survival.

Stressed out body = poor digestion + absorption of nutrients.

You are left in a worse place than before and your metabolism has only gotten more + more sluggish. Sure, maybe you feel better initially eliminating these foods but this is only a bandaid, the root cause is your sluggish metabolism. What do you need to support your metabolism? Lots + lots of nutrients.

Digestion requires a lot of energy + nutrients to do it’s job.

The last thing we need to be doing is skipping meals, eliminating foods + especially replacing them with anti-metabolic foods like nut milks.

Before taking a food sensitivity test + restricting food work on increasing your metabolic rate.

But First, Breakfast

Alright all you matcha drinking, coffee demonizing influencers. I am sure at one point you have been told that coffee is bad for you.

And at another point were told to drink your coffee with some nutrient-void nut juice or black on an empty stomach to boost metabolism.

The controversy about coffee is wild and one of the most frequently asked questions I get.

“Can I drink coffee? Is it good for me?”

I don’t know. Can you?

Well I am happy to report, coffee is good for you. If done right.

Where can coffee drinking go wrong tho?

Coffee is only supportive AFTER a meal. On an empty stomach it will elicit a harmful stress response that then cause a blood sugar shit show and impacts your adrenals, hormones, metabolism and digestion.

Let’s take a look at how this plays out.

You have naturally fasted all night for 10-12 hours.

At this point your body needs fuel. I hear all you fasters. Yes, it does. You are not better than anyone for being able to skip breakfast. Give it some time girlfriend 😉

Fasting in and of itself is stressful and causes your adrenals to pump out stress hormones and cortisol. Your body thinks it’s in a famine, it is scrambling for resources to keep you alive the longer you wait to eat. A drop in blood sugar is the absolute biggest stressor on the body hands down.

Let’s add more fuel to the fire eh?

You now have that morning coffee on an empty stomach. Caffeine also causes cortisol to rise. You are now in a chronic stressed out cortisol risen state, depleting your body of minerals contributing to further stress on your system.

This is when the cascade of effects begin, your blood sugar is impacted, your adrenals are working over-time, your body can’t make hormones and your digestion can’t function because they are not priorities when trying to survive, and your metabolism is wrecked.

You have now set yourself up to be riding the blood sugar rollercoaster all day.

Eating a balanced meal prior to coffee will put out the stressful blood sugar fire and allow your body to view coffee as helpful rather than harmful.

Next time someone hands you a coffee first thing you know better and can now confidently say, “But first, breakfast.”

The Health Benefits Of Sugar

Alright ladies. Let’s set this straight. Sugar is not evil. Back in the 1950’s sugar was being blamed for all types of disease including cancer, heart disease, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Interestingly enough this was around the time that saturated fats were being demonized and vegetable oils were being promoted. How is that sugar, the primary fuel source for our body could be the culprit of these metabolic disease when our metabolism relies on it? Fishy huh? It was never sugar all along but PUFAs. Once looking deeper and understanding the bodies response to stress the conclusion is that sugar is actually pro-metabolic, pro-thyroid, anti-stress, hormone balancing, anti-aging, liver and digestive supporting. Especially in today’s overly stressed world. Our physiology as women requires sugar and carbohydrates without out it our bodies as a whole will suffer. Stop refusing to give your body it’s PRIMARY FUEL SOURCE because you heard keto, a sugar detox or low carb works, works for what may I ask? Some weight loss? Until it doesn’t. Check in with your health markers (temps, pulses, periods, digestion, moods) and no i’m not talking about the temporary high/ denial you get from eating low carb and having your jeans fit a little better. Repeat after me. You are not a sugar addict. You are depriving your body of the very thing it needs to survive, consuming the wrong sugars, not combing meals appropriately or timing them well. Swipe right to learn more. 👉🏻

Friends Don’t Let Friends Go Low Carb

Tis the season for sugar detoxes, low carb diets, whole 30’s, paleo, keto, carnivore, intermittent fasting and everything in between. You’re having a hard time losing weight, you notice carbs don’t make me feel well or you have some symptoms you are trying to fix so hey why not do a reset! Maybe you try low carb, dabble with fasting or go hardcore keto or carnivore. You only want to reset your body and do it for a few months until a few months turns into a year because you try to come off said diet and you are gaining weight like a MOFO because you are more insulin resistant than ever before. Here’s the deal. These diets are not quick fixes and come with consequences. You are only getting temporary relief from a problem that needs to be dealt with. The problem that needed to be dealt with? Your bodies inability to use glucose (sugar) as fuel in the first place due to an under functioning metabolism from mineral deficiencies, stress, under-eating, and under-nourishing your body. Our bodies, our cells prefer to run on glucose and it will do anything it can to make that happen. If you take glucose away this causes your stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline to rise and use its backup system to turn non-carbohydrate sources into glucose, this is a system that should only be used during a famine. Burning fatty acids instead of glucose causes insulin resistance. Sure you may have initial weight loss but that weight loss is actually the shedding of super important minerals like magnesium, sodium and potassium, water and muscle. Muscle requires a lot of fuel and energy. You end up with lowered muscle mass and more fat than you had started with. On top of that your metabolism is destroyed, your hormones suck, your thyroid and adrenals suffer from all the stress and you end up more mineral deficient than you were before, the minerals you needed in the first place that was preventing you from being able to use glucose appropriately. Nourish your body with real food.These diets are destroying you mentally and physically. The next time you want to jump on that low carb bandwagon address what got you there in the first place. Check yo’self before yo’ wreck yo’self