What finally helped me heal my gut
The missing puzzle piece that resolved years of food sensitivities and digestive issues
Why fasting can give the gut a powerful healing boost - and why women needs to do it differently than men | Photo from Dean Drobot on Shutterstock
Introduction: A silent epidemic
Over the last few months of training to become a nutritional therapist (NTP) and sharing my progress with friends, I’ve gotten a reaction I never expected.
Each time I jokingly tell friends I’m taking on nutrition practice clients if anyone needs some help, the answer has been a resounding YES. Various friends have opened up about dealing with problems from bloating and indigestion to brain fog and chronic inflammatory reactions. Most have been given labels such as candida overgrowth, SIBO, IBS, or gluten-intolerant without a clear understanding of how they got there or how to truly heal.
It was the first time I realized that the vast majority of people around me - mostly women from 26 to 40 - are silently struggling with digestive issues. In fact, a study from 2018 reveals that an astounding number of Americans, about two-thirds- are living with digestive issues and likely are unaware how to heal them. Most are in a holding pattern of frustration or dejection, which I know very well.
After learning to heal my own imbalanced gut and food sensitivities over the past five years, I understand the vicious cycle of digestive problems.
Gut dysbiosis - whether from antibiotics, toxins, or poor diet - tends to lead to a damaged gut lining or “leaky gut” over time. A leaky gut allows partially digested food proteins and toxins to cross into the bloodstream, often triggering food sensitivities, infections, chronic inflammation, and further damage. Since a damaged gut also struggles to fully digest and absorb nutrients- including those needed for its own repair - every system in the body suffers.
Up until a few months ago, I experienced all the symptoms of a leaky gut, living with a dozen food sensitivities and a constant lingering discomfort. As I sat at my doctor’s office reviewing the results of a latest food sensitivity test, I asked directly, “I can avoid these foods for a few months, but this isn’t sustainable. Tell me how to heal my gut.”
In response, he recommended a practice that has helped me far more than any other in healing my gut and giving me back the joy of eating: fasting.
Fast Like a Girl
After speaking with my doctor, I picked up the book “Fast Like a Girl” by Dr. Mindy Pelz, which outlines a water fasting protocol designed specifically for women.
The brilliance of fasting is that even the practice of intermittent fasting - restricting the daily window of eating (e.g. to 6-8 hours) - brings benefits. After about eight hours without food, the body switches into its ketogenic, or fat-burning, system. In this state, it begins to repair itself through increased DNA repair, antioxidant defenses, and autophagy, which is the body’s process for clearing older and damaged cells.
The benefits are so dramatic that a 2019 review of 85 articles on fasting done by the New England Journal of Medicine declared that intermittent fasting should be the first line of treatment for obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer.
For those who go beyond intermittent fasting, the benefits grow with time:
After 24 hours, a burst of stem cells is released into the gut that begins to heal its inner lining. After 72 hours, stem cells are regenerated and released into the gut, the immune response begins to re-balance, and neurotransmitters such as dopamine are reset, providing a mental health boost.
As I’ve come to appreciate, fasting is simple, it removes the guess-work around what foods do and don’t trigger inflammation, and for those who are financially strained after hopping from doctor to doctor, it’s free.
But the greatest insight I gained from “Fast like a girl” is understanding how women need to fast differently from men - and why that’s so critical to overall success.
Why Women Need to Fast Differently
While men’s hormones cycle every 24 hours, women’s menstrual cycles last from ~28 to 35 days and during that time, certain hormones are highly sensitive to the effects of fasting.
Take the example of progesterone: If a woman fasts towards the end of her cycle when her body is making progesterone, the cortisol released through fasting will disrupt progesterone, potentially causing anxiety, hair loss, and a disrupted cycle.
But on the other hand, if a woman fasts during the early days of her cycle when her body is creating estrogen, the low levels of glucose and insulin her bloodstream will support estrogen production since estrogen and insulin are usually antagonistic. If she further transitions out of the fast to a diet rich in healthy fats and probiotics, she will not only reap the benefits of fasting but optimize her hormones and overall health.
To see the results for myself, I began tracking my cycle and aligned it with Dr. Pelz’ 30-Day Fasting Reset to see what it could do for my gut. Here’s what I found.
My Gut After the 30-Day Fasting Reset
Dr. Pelz’ 30-Day Fasting Reset is a 30 day program that aligns with a women’s menstrual cycle to introduce her body to the benefits of fasting. It divides the menstrual into four phases - Power, Manifestation, Power 2, and Nurture - each with its own food recommendations to support hormonal health outside the fasting window. The fasting reset mostly relies on intermittent fasts of various lengths (13-17 hrs) with periods of longer fasting (24-72 hrs) during the power phases.
Getting started with the fasting reset was surprisingly easy: I simply took a few extra minutes to plan my day and restrict my eating window to a shorter period (e.g. 12 pm-6 pm). I was still able to enjoy a morning tea and coffee - no milk or sugar added - as I looked forward to *lunch. By the time I arrived at the 24 hour fast, I was able to keep myself busy and focus on the benefits to my gut.
Within a few days, I noticed positive changes:
My hunger signals reset: I was hungry at each meal but also clearly aware of when I was full. I no longer felt bloated or overly full after eating.
My senses - especially smell - sharpened. On bike rides, I was much more alert to everything around me.
The inflammation in my joints died down significantly within a few days, especially in my hands.
After 4-5 days, the white coating on my tongue disappeared.
My digestion dramatically improved. I ate meals without bloating or discomfort. I also noticed that my lower belly relaxed and I could breathe more easily into it.
After the end of my first 30-day fasting reset, my gut feels the best it has in five years. As I’ve slowly begun to reintroduce foods into my diet, they still cause some redness in my joints but not the strong flare-ups and pain they once did. To continue the process, I’m preparing for another fasting reset, this one including two 72-hour fasts.
But beyond better gut health, Dr. Pelz’ fasting program has given me something far bigger: a more conscious relationship with my body and my hormones. Tracking my cycle has made me much more conscious of how much my hormones impact my energy and mood - and how I can support them better through lifestyle changes. From the 30-day fasting reset, I’m not only gaining a healthier gut, but a closer relationship with my body I can maintain for life.
*To support overall gut healing and digestion, I also took digestive enzymes and probiotics before meals.
