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Coming up on the get lean, eat, clean podcast.
1 (4s):
And then the other thing I think that makes a huge difference is what you eat during your eating window. So in the beginning, I think I remember this when you and I talked first in the beginning, I ate whatever and my whatever is home cooked food. It's real food. It's not, you know, but people, plenty of people do fast food in the beginning. But I do think that it really does matter what you put into your body, whether you choose to be plant-based, whether you choose to be carnivores or anything in between. I think it has to be real food. I think it has to be as high of quality of food as you can afford. I think it really matters, especially in this day and age with all this stuff you read about glyphosates and GMOs.
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And I do think that's not what our ancestors ate. Our bodies don't know what to do with that. Hello
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And welcome to the get clean, eat clean podcast. I'm Brian grin, and I'm here to give you actionable tips to get your body back to what it once was five, 10, even 15 years ago each week. I'll give you an in-depth interview with a health expert from around the world to cut through the fluff and get you long-term sustainable results. This week I interviewed former client Greta Speeback. She described how she turned her health around through fasting the value of a clean fast, and the importance of cooking for yourself. We discussed fasting for beginners alternate day fasting, what to do if you're struggling with your health and the problem with treating symptoms. This was a great interview with Rita. Her story will definitely help motivate you and get you going.
0 (1m 35s):
I'm really enjoyed working with her. And I know you'll find a ton of great tips from this. So enjoy the interview and thanks so much for listening. All right, welcome to the Gatling, eat clean podcast. My name is Brian grin and I have guests Rita Spievak on Rita is a former client of mine, and I just wanted to get her out of share her story. She could inspire some people and welcome to the show. Rita
1 (2m 1s):
You. Thank you. Happy to be here. Well, first I think I have to claim the honor of introducing you to fasting, right? I,
0 (2m 11s):
Yes. I have told people when I've gotten interviewed, if people ask me, they're like, how did you learn about and get into fasting? And I always bring up your story. So I figured it'd be perfect to have you on just to, so you can share your story with, you know, what got you into it and w you know, how it sort of led you down this path.
1 (2m 30s):
Yep. I was actually just thinking about this and when you and I plan to meet, and I was thinking about how it all started and, and it's fun because I have now come full circle. So I'll tell you the whole thing. Yeah. So initially I was in a period where I was really struggling with my health. I had had a large weight gain in a short amount of time. I was coming off of taking prescription diet pills, given to me by a doctor for the purpose of dieting had stopped taking them because I didn't like how they made me feel. And then within that, within a matter of months, I was up probably within about three months. I was up three months. I was up about 30 pounds.
1 (3m 11s):
And I knew, you know, beyond that I was having, now I know all the classic blood sugar issues, like super hungry, you know, hangry and dizziness and headaches and super low energy. And I had seen multiple doctors over a course of, you know, trying to figure this out. And the answer was usually, oh, you know, it's your age? You're in that time, I think I was 43, 44.
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When was the, what was the exact, do you remember this? This was 2015
1 (3m 46s):
And I was, I mean, I was just desperate and I was watching a local show here, windy city live, and they had Dr. Day on and she's a professor. I think she, she she's affiliated with the university of Illinois in Chicago and she was studying fasting. And she is the, I guess the, her focus of study was alternate day fasting, ADF, and her, if somebody is unfamiliar her, the way she ran her testing was she did, she had people do a 500 calorie day down day, and then the next day you just eat whatever. And so that sounded like a good idea. I tried it and it was miserable.
1 (4m 27s):
500 calorie days. I quit. I couldn't would I woke up starving every morning. I, I mean, I couldn't do it. And not only that. So then on the updates, I would just binge almost, I would be up a woman Unchained. And as a result, I ended up gaining weight, right. So I stopped. I, I just wasn't working. And I, you know, it was frustrating because why is it working for everybody else? She's got all these people in her study and it's working. It's not working for me anyway. I quit. And then I started looking into fasting more because by then I had found a holistic, I mean, I was seeing a holistic practitioner, but I had gone to see somebody who was specialized in thyroid. And she immediately looked at my labs, my numbers, she ran more extensive testing.
1 (5m 9s):
And she said, insulin resistance right away. And her recommendation was dietary changes. But in addition to that fasting, and so I started doing my own research, which I think is key for everybody. I had discovered multiple doctors who had been doing, who had written books, who had been fasting people for over 25 years with great success. Then I started doing my reading. I started joining Facebook groups where people were fasting and ultimately I ended up I, so I start, I understood that fasting is what I needed to be doing. And slowly, slowly, slowly, I started training my body for it.
1 (5m 52s):
Like anybody would do a marathon. So initially I literally could barely make it until one o'clock in the afternoon for my first meal. I'm someone who had eaten breakfast, traditional breakfast, my whole entire life. I woke up starving. So barely, barely white knuckling. Could I make it to about 12 o'clock one? O'clock I think I'm an anomaly because I read so much of people just jumping in and going straight to OMAD one meal a day. I do not exaggerate one bit to say that it took me one year to get to a place where I could do OMAD comfortably. And so that's probably my first advice to everybody and anybody who starting just go slow, listen to your body.
1 (6m 33s):
There's no, you know, there's no prize. It's not a contest. You will get to where you need to be. When you get there, it's much better getting there slowly than to get frustrated and to give up. So this has led me, and this is obviously every journey's individual. I'm not recommending this, but I did understand from the research that I had done that several of these doctors were having great successes, reversing, reversing, insulin resistance by a long-term water fast and by long-term. I mean, extended, right. I, I had designated a two week period for myself and it was super scary mentally.
1 (7m 13s):
I'd no idea if I can do it, but by then, I was very comfortable doing, oh man, I had even done as part of this marathon, like training, I had done multiple 36 hour fast, 48 hour fast. So I knew I needed to try it. I was working with my holistic practitioner during this fast, I had blood work done so that I could see where I was. And sure enough, my insulin had really gone down to optimal ranges after a two week fast. And so I knew from that point on that it was going to be my way of life. And I was doing, oh, man, pretty regularly and doing an extended water fast twice a year. I do want, and I still do to this day, I do one in the spring.
1 (7m 54s):
I do one in the fall. I only took a break during COVID because none of the experts knew how fasting was gonna impact people. People's bodies abilities to fight the virus. And so I decided not to take any chances I took, I took last year off completely. So this full circle moment is that after doing OMAD for a while, I felt myself stuck. I have to preface it by saying that I threw my scale away a long time ago. I have no idea how much I weigh. I do know by my clothes. So I know that I'm down quite a bit. And I use my clothes as a measure. I find that the scale is not accurate at all.
1 (8m 35s):
And reflecting my weight. I feel, you know, that the super frustrated, I know a lot of people feel motivated by the scale. It would just frustrate me because it feels like you're down a whole bunch. And then you get on the scale and it's like a pound and a half. And so I just realized, why do I need this? I don't need this. You know? So using blood work about every six months, I watched the markers there. So the numbers that are important to me are my A1C, my insulin, my fasting insulin, which I think most people don't even know what their fasting insulin number is because that's not a number that's tested on a regular basis. By most practitioners. I would find a doctor who does do that.
1 (9m 15s):
And so that's what I use as my gauge of my success of if I'm heading in the right direction, because that's what it is. It's about finding balance. And it's about heading in the right direction. There is no perfect number. There's no perfect way of eating. There's no perfect. You know, it's different for everybody. We're all super individual. And so this is how I've been doing it. So again, to come back to the full circle moment is probably, I would say three months ago, I had decided to do, to give ADF and try again, even though I alternate day. And you know, it's hard mentally in the beginning, because with once a day, you're sitting down like my, my meals dinner, that's my meal of choice.
1 (10m 0s):
Right. You're sitting down with a family. We also we're. We eat at home a lot. I cook a lot. I've always cooked a lot. So it was mentally just something scary for me to think that, oh, I'm going to go like entire days without eating, versus having a dinner. But the fact is it's working great. I'm having, I'm seeing a downward trend again. I mean, again, with my clothes, I've found ways to work around of the way I do it with a family. So I'll plan like I'll cook leftovers for the next day. So that the next day I don't necessarily have to cook a full meal. I can, I have foods that's prepared. And then I sit down, I sit down with them and I have tea, or I have bone broth because there is that 500 calorie allowance.
1 (10m 46s):
So you could stay under 500 and there's obviously you don't get the autophagy benefits as you would for fasting. But I realized that my priorities, sanity and sustainability, that's how I think that's how you know. So you found a good place for you is you don't feel like you're not looking at the clock. You're not feeling deprived. You're not feeling it. It feels sustainable. It feels easy. It feels, it just feels natural. And that is how so I'm doing EDF now. And that's how it's working for me. And I actually only do it. I fast from Sunday until Tuesday afternoon, IB feed on Tuesday. And then I fast from Tuesday to Thursday.
1 (11m 28s):
So I don't do the, the full scale would be to fast Thursday to Saturday. But typically Fridays, I end up just having that one meal a day. So I go, I have my VP down Thursday. And then on Friday, I just have the one meal a day, one meal a day on Saturday and Sundays without a schedule. And again, I can't stress this enough. This is what works for me. Everybody has to find their way of doing it has to understand. I think that things change as you're fasting something. One way that you start may not be what you're going to end up doing later. I do think there are some non-negotiables and that's the clean fast, right? You have to, because for two reasons, I mean, it makes it much easier for your body.
1 (12m 11s):
If then the clean fast, I think a lot of your listeners probably already know clean fast means plain coffee, plain tea, not flavored, not fruit green or black, plain seltzer, no flavors of any kind, plain water and no, you know, no fiber, no supplements. I will take my vitamin B and D, but I don't take, I want to make sure it's not anything with fiber. There's no other, you know, all my supplements, I'll usually in my eating window. And then the other thing I think that makes a huge difference is what you eat during your eating window. So in the beginning, I think I remember this when you and I talked first in the beginning, I ate whatever and my whatever is home cooked food.
1 (12m 57s):
It's real food. It's not, you know, but people, plenty of people do fast food in the beginning. But I do think that it really does matter what you put into your body, whether you choose to be plant-based, whether you choose to be carnivores or anything in between, I think it has to be real food. I think it has to be as high of quality of food as you can afford. I think it really matters, especially in this day and age with all this stuff you read about glyphosates and GMOs. And I do think that's not what our ancestors ate. Our bodies don't know what to do with that. I, so, so that's what we stick to. And then on top of that, I learned too that, you know, I'm Eastern European. So what my Eastern European ancestors ate may be very different than someone else's ancestors, ancestors from India ate, or somebody else's from Greece ate.
1 (13m 45s):
Right? I never, my diet didn't include olive oil. My body doesn't, you know, I never had olive oil until we came to the United States when I was 11 years old. You know, that's not what I grew up on. I grew up on butter. I grew up on animal fat. So I tend to eat ancestrally. You know, I eat a lot of cold water fish. That's, that's what I eat. I eat sardines. I eat a lot of eggs. I eat duck. I, you know, beef. This is what I grew up on. This is what my ancestors grew up on. Somebody else might find that not a diet that works with them, you know? So, and then I think the other aspect is how do you know it's working? Let's say for some people, maybe the scale. I mean, for me, it's things like, you know, elimination is super important.
1 (14m 29s):
I think that's across the board. Like, are you having a bowel movement at least once a day, if you're not, that's indicative of a disbalance, you know, are there, do you have headaches? Do you have a lot of energy? Are you able to sleep? I mean, these are all universal things that are gauges of health that are much better gauges than what your scale number is or what your BMI is, which is worthless. And so I can't accentuate enough that every person will have their journey and every person needs to listen to their body and see how they feel. And you know, it doesn't matter what the experts are saying. If you feel like crap, you know, what's, what's the point of that?
0 (15m 13s):
No, I was going to say, thank you for sharing that. Yeah. And you brought up a lot of good points. One is the fact that you've adjusted your schedule as you've felt need be right. Like you said, you hit a plateau, you were doing one meal a day, you hit a plateau and you wanted to try go back full circle and try alternate day and on your, on your, when you say alternate day. So that's one day of fasting one day of, of eating pretty much.
1 (15m 42s):
Yes, I find. Yeah. So the way just a sample schedule, we'll start with Sunday. So Sunday, you know, let's say I'll have dinner on Sunday. Then I have either nothing on Monday and obviously water, a lot of, you know, hydrating or if I feel, and I, I think fasting has really helped me tune into my body. There are days where on a Monday afternoon, I feel I need something. So typically that's something for me is an avocado, a small avocado. So that's within, that's under 500 calories or, you know, a cup of bone broth depending on the season also, or maybe I'll have an egg, something that's, it works better for me. If it's a pure protein kind of a thing, that's got a nice amount of bad.
1 (16m 25s):
I'm under the 500 calories. And then that's it. I go to sleep the next day. Oh, I work out fasted. I mean, this does not impede life at all. Just the opposite. I think those of you, those who are listening, who are long time or experienced, fasters just understand how much energy you have. So I do on alternating days, I'll have a hard, like low spin workout in the morning or weight training. I mean, it's not, it's not like just so I take it easy on those days. Those days are full on. I don't feel depleted. I don't feel cause you know, we fuel from the night before typically. So then I'm Tuesday. Usually even though this isn't what Dr. Faraday says at all, people eat all day long or people eat according to their schedule.
1 (17m 6s):
I just find that it works for me to two meals a day on my reefy days. And it is just a tidy. It is to, you know, again, high, the highest nutrition that you could possibly do some days. I don't feel like having a lot of greens some days. I feel like, like the other day I had on my reefy day, I had a plateful of beef liver with, with bacon. I mean, you know, with a little green onion chopped on top, it was delicious. It was satisfying. It was just
0 (17m 35s):
Right. You're having nutrient dense foods. Yeah.
1 (17m 38s):
I can't stress that enough. I think you have to sooner or later, and I think with fasting, that's the beauty of fasting. It tunes you into that. You begin to crave those foods. You begin to want that. And sometimes now I'll have something and it doesn't even have to be like a quote unquote, bad food, which is another thing that I would love to talk about. I feel there are no bad foods, even if it's something that's not in the type of food that I put from the other day I had, I bought some figs just in fresh figs. I eat two of them and I could feel my body having a reaction. First of all, I'm slightly allergic to them. So right away that tingling. So I knew within an addition to that, I just didn't feel good.
1 (18m 19s):
I felt like my heart was racing. I mean, that's a classic histamine reaction, right? They say, if your pulse goes up more than 30 beats and I didn't measure it, but that's how, you know, a food doesn't agree with you. And I think fasting really hones you into that where you don't need to listen to anybody else's philosophy or theory. Your body's going to tell you what's working and what's not working. So I had a couple of figs and I just knew that wasn't good. And then for dinner, I think we had BLTs that night. And again, you know, am I using wonder bread? No, I have, you know, I, I, I have a high quality sourdough that's made with an ancestral flour from a place in the city of publicans sells beautiful bread.
1 (19m 1s):
They're respectful. I, I did my research. I know that they use a farm that uses regenerative practices. I mean, I think it all matters, you know? So high, high quality bacon from a farmer, same thing with, oh, homemade Mayo. And that's it. That was dinner. And the other thing too, with fasting, at least for me, this, I cannot stress enough. It has freed me from the diet mentality. It's freed me. I will never, again. And this isn't to say that this is across the board or somebody else should listen to me and do this. But for me, I will never again, weigh my food. I will never count calories. I will never keep apps that tell me how much I eat. It's just not for me.
1 (19m 41s):
I spent way too long of my life doing exactly that fasting, liberates you from all that your body tells you, you know? And then sometimes I, I don't know if you ever listened to Dr. Paul check, he has a really wonderful podcast. And he says, and at first, when I heard this, I thought this is so silly. He says, sometimes you can sit quietly and ask your higher self. If whatever you're about to eat is, or whatever you're wanting to is, is what your body needs. And you know, like I tell you, when I have a plate of liver, that's, that's my higher self telling me that's what I need to eat. You know? So, and then if I feel like having a cookie, obviously I don't need to ask my higher self, but I also don't feel guilt about that at all.
1 (20m 23s):
I don't feel guilt about any of the food I eat. I make choices based on, I already know if it's, is it gonna make me feel good or is it going to make me feel unwell and bad? Whether it's mentally bad? Cause you know, sometimes you, what was it? I hadn't made French toast. Cause the girls asked for it and I had a piece of it. And literally within 20 minutes I felt like I had the worst hangover and I hadn't had any alcohol. I, it was that, you know, and I don't want to feel that way. So why do I need to guilt has nothing to do with it. But my physical feeling has everything to do with it. So I don't want to feel that way anymore. Right. The stuff that makes me feel that way. And I eat the stuff that fills me with energy fills me, you know, with, with vibrant health.
1 (21m 6s):
I mean, that's, I'm after that, that's, that's my goal. Yeah.
0 (21m 11s):
That's great. And you bring up, like, you hear it a lot in the health industry, but like intuitive eating and, and sort of, and when you fast and you abstain from food and you get used to being in tune, like with like your hunger hormones, you understand what works for you and what doesn't. And like you said it for a while, you were doing one meal a day, last thing you want to do for that one meal is have it be a bunch of junk because it's going to just going to make the fast, that much harder to
1 (21m 38s):
Exactly. Or if I do have quote unquote junk, and I've been doing this for years after I read the first Michael Pollan book, you know, I'm an award's dilemma. I'm going to make the junk, right? Like, let's say, I want, you're going to make it right. I'm going to make it whatever it is. I'm going to make the fried chicken so that I know what kind of chicken I'm using. The oil that I'm using is the kind of oil I want to be consuming. Not some terrible seed oil. And that leads me. I wanted to talk about that too. You know, like you said, intuitive eating is such a buzz word. It's such a discussion, but so many of the experts are not saying the most obvious thing. You can not eat intuitively. If the food that you're consuming is engineered made and cooked to make you eat more food, you know, the Dorito effect, how are you supposed to be intuitive when your body is your body signals are literally being, not just scrambled, but they're being recalibrated to the opposite to make you eat more.
1 (22m 31s):
So again, I'm going to have, you know, if I want to have corn chips or even like a Dorito type thing I'm going to, I am going to go out there. I am going to get an organic tortilla. I am going to frighten in the oil of my choice and sprinkling with, with a clean seasoning. And I'm going to, yeah, it's not the same, but you know what, when you've been fasting and your taste buds are to be calibrated, it's satisfying, it's delicious. And the other stuff tastes like, Ooh, you know, I don't want to eat it. So it's just such a beautiful, beautiful way to live. You know, it really is. I appreciate my food so much more. I,
0 (23m 9s):
And you know, cooking for yourself as such, I would say if there's one big tip to take is like, when you start cooking for yourself and understanding that like the, even just the little things like, like having, making your own catch-up right. Like just the little things that you put on your food, it can go a long way when you know, what's coming where it's coming from and where it's sore.
1 (23m 30s):
Right, right. And it, and it's more pleasurable. It's more, it's almost like it's an act of love towards yourself. It's an act of honoring your body. It's an act of just, just pulling it all together, kind of, you know, putting your, your mouth where your is or vice versa, whatever the thing is, you're, you're showing your body in every way that you're there to raise yourself to a higher level on. And I think fasting is an integral part of that. And you know, I wanted to jump to one thing that there's a lot of talk of women shouldn't fast. But I think that the biggest that's just like the intuitive eating the missing piece from that puzzle.
1 (24m 11s):
Fasting does not mean starvation. Fasting does not mean it doesn't mean scarcity because you are, or at least if you're doing it right, you should be consuming all the calories. Your body needs just in a different space of time. And you're not digesting constantly, which is so it, it, it inhibits the other functions. I don't know if you know, I didn't know this until I learned about fasting. I didn't know that while you're digesting so much of the body's energy goes towards that. And it neglect other parts. I mean like people think about people say, oh, you need food for fuel. Of course you do. But think about what happens after Thanksgiving dinner, everyone's on the couch.
1 (24m 51s):
No, one's running marathons, right? Because they, Justin is a really intense process and your body focuses on digesting and neglecting other things. And if the way I used to eat, but even before, and this is, I've always been part of the diet culture, diet minded, you know, the six meals a day, six meals a day. You're literally never not digesting. It's not, it's not how we came up evolutionarily. It's not, nobody ate six times a day. That's marketing. So there are people out there. Of course, elite athletes. That's how they eat. That's fine for them. I'm not even anywhere close to an elite athlete.
1 (25m 31s):
I never will get, you know, I'm, I am just an average woman and it's, it's really freed me mentally, physically, emotionally, I will never eat differently. I will never eat. Yes. Okay. People ask, well, what do you do on vacation, sir, if we're somewhere on vacation and there's an amazing, you know, there's a crepe station and it's the breakfast and I want it I'll eat it. I think twice I will eat it all, enjoy it. I'll move on. But that's an exception now. That's not a, that's not how I want to eat. Right. Well, the other day, Boris and I, and my husband walked over to a bakery downtown of the town where we live and we got croissants and coffee and we, you know, but at the same time we walked, it was a, almost a seven mile around her block.
1 (26m 16s):
And it wasn't because I need to earn my food or, but it just, I knew that if I had croissants and I walked after, I would physically feel better. You know, it would rebalance my blood sugar. So everything I do now is geared towards that. It's not. And you know, it's just like they say, magic happens. You, you do go down and wait, you do feel better. You feel healthier. You know, I can do more at the gym. I, it, it it's miraculous, honestly, I think should be fasting.
0 (26m 46s):
What would you say? What would you tell someone who's maybe struggling and almost like where you were back, you know, 7, 6, 7 years ago. What would you tell someone,
1 (26m 59s):
Obviously be patient and listen to your body? I think we, we are not taught that we're taught to. Okay. Like you have a headache, let's take a pill to make the headache go away. Will you have a headache for reason, your body's telling you something, you know, maybe keep a diary, see what it is. If you have the headache, if you're shaky, I was so hungry and so shaky. And you got, you know, you're dizzy. We'll think about what did you eat the night before? Just like you said, it's harder to fast when you're eating lower quality foods. So keep a food diary, see if there's a pattern. And I guarantee there's a pattern. Definitely just go slow, listen to your body. You think of how you feel when you eat certain things. And then with the fasting, just go little by little.
1 (27m 41s):
Don't think that you need to jump in to OMAD just push back. You know, if you're, if you're used to eating three meals a day and you have your breakfast at seven, then push it back till eight, the next day, push it back by 15 minute increments. I mean, just go slow and understand that for most people. Good things don't happen overnight. You do have to commit. You do have to decide. That's what you want. Clean up your food at the same time, as much as possible. And it has to, it has to become natural. So it's almost like that catch 22. Once you begin to take these little baby steps, it will become more natural. So that's how you know, you're in a good place, but don't, don't, don't lose hope.
1 (28m 26s):
Don't lose. I mean, here's the thing I do think fasting is for everyone and by everyone, I mean, adults, not children. So there's no reason. There's no reason anyone should ever be like, well, I can't do it because I'm this, anybody can do it. It just might take you a little bit longer. So here, you know, I mean, it took me a year. It never, and I would read all the different stories on the different Facebook groups and people would say, oh my God, I just jumped in. And, and they're a part of me. That's I guess the other part don't compare your journey to anybody. Else's it doesn't matter. It's not relevant. What someone else is experiencing. You don't know what else they're experiencing. You don't know. You just don't know. It doesn't matter. So just persevere, persist and be gentle and listen to your body.
1 (29m 8s):
And your body will tell you, you know, experiment for some people experiments, see how you feel. I think they say two weeks. Right? So if you don't see an improvement in two weeks, it's time to change things up. So I would say, you know, maybe somebody might want to try plant based for two weeks or at least close to it and see how they feel, if that makes their fasting easier and just play around with it. Yeah.
0 (29m 30s):
And you mentioned blood work that you've done. Did you recommend that for someone getting into cause of like thyroid and things like that?
1 (29m 39s):
I don't even know. What's like a thousand percent. A thousand percent. Yes, yes. Yes. I, you know, I think cause you know, I have fully hitched my wagon to the holistic train because I feel that ELPAC, I don't feel, I know I've talked to doctors, I've talked to allopathic practitioners and I've had a doctor who's known me for over 20 years. Say to me, we treat symptoms, let's go over your symptoms. And I say, I don't have symptoms. I want to run this blood work so that I wouldn't be able to direct my health before I get six. She said, we don't do that. I understand. It's not her fault. She's got to feel codes.
1 (30m 20s):
Right? She's got to fill out an order sheet. She's got to come up with codes. If she doesn't have codes to put in there, she can't, her hands are tied. So you see practitioners, whether it's a chiropractor, I mean, there's different, there's an osteopath to do this. Their blood work is much more thorough and it's much more it's intended to keep you well versus treating symptoms. You know? So in principle, I just don't agree with the whole symptom treating. So for sure, if you need to, you know, I would recommend getting a practitioner who can guide you on your journey. I mean, like for example, I had, I I'd always gotten cold sores, right? Like just like your regular cold sores, but in the last, like over, over the COVID year.
1 (31m 5s):
And then even before they just had gotten worse, they were more frequent. They were worse than that. And I had done my own research. I mean, again, I can't stress that enough, just research read for yourself. And I realized what a lot of the written stuff was saying is that people who are prone to these things and not just cold sores, like eczema, that is an indication of what's going on within your body. And it's almost like, you know how, like in the summer in July you can't have a snow storm because our environment isn't going to support a snow storm. And if there is a snow storm, it's literally going to be melting within five minutes. It's not going to stick around. I had a snowstorm going on, which meant that I had the environment that was supporting the snow storm. So I had asked for blood work and I had read that a lot of people who experienced frequent cold sores, there are parasites in the system, either pairs or it's mold exposure, parasites are super common.
1 (31m 57s):
Anybody who eats sushi, anybody who's traveled to countries, you know, Mexico, anywhere where in Mexico, I would never come home. I would, I should say I would. I would always come home with a, with a severe stomachache that took me two weeks to recover. So it wouldn't be such a surprising thing. So the blood work certainly showed that I had elevated numbers, indicative of parasites. And so I did a parasite cleanse and guess what? No cold sores. And then I experienced like, I felt much better after I finished the cleanse. So how would you know this on your own? How would you know this? You could guess, but it's the blood work that confirms it. So, yes, I can't stress that enough. Find someone find a practitioner who will work with you, who knows these numbers, who understands that?
1 (32m 40s):
For example, cholesterol, my cholesterol is high by allopathic standards, but my practitioner knew that the reason my cholesterol was high is because I had inflammation that was tied into this. And it wasn't an indication of, oh, stop eating eggs and red meat, you know, which is, which is usually cholesterol comes from, you know, seed oils and stuff like that. In my case, it was coming from other inflammation markers in my body. And stir enough, once that overall inflammation went down, cholesterol started going down. I mean, it's not like, so a allopathic practitioner would just give you status to take for cholesterol without asking what's going on in the whole body.
1 (33m 22s):
You know? So cholesterol is there to protect us. It's not there. Right? Yeah. Cholesterol
0 (33m 28s):
Is a good thing. A good thing, even though you're like you mentioned you're and I'm the same way I have a higher cholesterol number, but it's it's context related. If you have inflammation behind that, then, then there's an issue. But if you're not, if you don't have like, what's called C-reactive proteins or inflammation, inflammatory markers, then having just, just that number, high cholesterol, total cholesterol doesn't really mean that much.
1 (33m 52s):
Exactly. So there's so many outdated principles in allopathic medicine that I just don't find it helpful anymore. So I've stopped. I, we, we see a holistic practitioner where we have seen real wellness. I mean, that's, they're there to support wellness. They're there not to treat necessarily sick people as a primary focus. They're there to treat well people and keep people well. So yes, yes, yes, yes. Blood work for sure. There's plenty of information out there. What the key numbers are. Like I said, I think the two biggest numbers that are helpful, fasting insulin, most people, most doctors, most Western doctors don't test for fasting insulin. Most people don't know what their fasting insulin is and your A1C.
1 (34m 34s):
I mean, those are, you know, and then, and then you get deeper into the inflammatory markers and you get there's other, you know, other numbers that I definitely am not expert enough to speak to, but how would you know, on your own? How would you know this? There's no way. Right,
0 (34m 48s):
Right. Yeah. No, that's great. And what would you say the, the biggest thing that you learned about yourself during this whole journey?
1 (34m 58s):
It's just, it sounds so cliche, but your body knows your body knows that your body can heal itself. Your body has all the answers you just got to get out of. It's out of the way of healing and the best way to do that is by fasting, by giving your body some time to recover, but you have all the answers. And I think the other aspect too, is I trust myself. Now I trust myself more than like, if you think about it, how can a doctor know more about you than you? You know, they sure they see to fill that. I learned also that numbers like even fasting insulin and blood sugar. That's just a moment in time. So if you would've come in two hours later in the day, or if you would have had something to eat, that's different than you had the day before your numbers can be completely different.
1 (35m 47s):
How can a decision be based on that? You know, I know how I feel. I know how you know, I know how my normal energy is. I know how I feel when I'm off. So when I come into the doctor and I say, this is what's going on, I'm the expert. I'm the biggest expert at me. They can just either confirm or guide you, but you don't know. So that's what I've learned. I've learned to trust myself. I've learned that my body is amazing and knowing what to do and that's it. And I'm just here to help it along and support it. And that's it. That's my, that's my, that's my true north right now.
0 (36m 24s):
Yeah. And you know, sometimes I think people run into unsupportive people. I always tell you want to be around people who will support you. Did you get any like maybe negative people or people that maybe told you not to do this when you were going through it?
1 (36m 42s):
So many people, but you know, I have to say, this is a, this is a great little tip for anybody who's starting fasting. You can't, it becomes unavoidable at a certain point where you will be with people and you will be not eating because it's either your down day or whatever it is, or it's not your window. And people start up like, what, what are you doing? The one thing that works great is my doctor is having me do this. And it works on the older folks on the parents to them. The word of the doctor is long or you'll, you know, you'll have some friends who will say, well, what kind of a quack are you seeing? And you just shrug your shoulders. You don't have to, you don't have to know. Yes or people say once, once there is weight loss, and once you begin, your body begins to transform people, ask them, what are you doing?
1 (37m 29s):
And then you say fasting, and then right away, there's like a, like a storm of that's crazy. You can't do that. You're making yourself sick. And oh my God, I could never do that. And usually what people are saying is about them, not about you and you know what you don't have to, you don't have to argue. You don't have to prove anything to anybody. You can just, again, shrug your shoulders and say, well, my doctor is having you try this and I really trust him or that's it. And you don't have to, you know, so yes, I certainly have had my share of negative people, but in my experience and just in my lifetime, the biggest, like my biggest negative voice was always my own. Like, you can't do this, it's not working. So for me, once I overcame my own negative voice, I didn't care what anybody else was saying.
1 (38m 13s):
And, and people should understand that too. And, and a lot of people are well-meaning and I am guilty of that before where I would like tell my friends were already natural or, you know, Boris has always practice intermittent fasting, inadvertently hidden, never even breakfast. His, his body told him what to do. And so I would be the one like, well, you have to breakfast. It's the most important meal. It's terrible. I wish I could take all that back by the time I came into that, I really just didn't care what anybody else had to say. I knew I trusted my research. I trusted it just, I felt like this was the right thing. And it was, and so I would say, I would advise anybody who is having negative experiences for people around them.
1 (38m 58s):
Just tune them out, send them out. A lot of times people don't know what they themselves need, let alone what you need. You know? So, and then I think most people are well-meaning. I think most people want their help. I think most people don't want to criticize you and if they are it's because of whatever they're going through. So yeah, just tune that out.
0 (39m 18s):
Wow. Well, this was really good. Rita. I think you gave a beautiful summary of what you've gone through and how it sort of come full circle. Well, yeah, I mean, is there anything else you want to touch on? We hit on a lot of tips and things for people to start out. And like you said, everyone's journey is going to be a little bit different, but most importantly, just listen to your body and, and, you know, do your own research and be your own best, best, I guess your best friend through this whole thing, you know?
1 (39m 50s):
Sure. The other thing, I think the another key point is that, you know, it's not all or nothing. So for example, let's say there's a day where for somebody starting out, like you just can't, you can't, you feel you have to eat, well, guess what? It's not like the week is not ruined tomorrow. Start over, just start over. Just set yourself a goal of maybe 15 minutes longer than you went the day before, start over. It's not ruined. It's not, you know, just persist and know that every day. I mean, it's like anything else that requires effort training, you will get stronger. You will get better. You will be able to do it and you will have off days. And there's no reason to beat yourself up over it. There's no one keeping a scorecard.
1 (40m 30s):
There's still cries given. Yeah. Just, just do your best the next day. And just understand that yes, commitment is required. Dedication is required, but it is so worth it it's so it is such a beautiful in it's free. It's free. I mean, coming from a person, I think you and I have talked about this before. I had tried every diet known to man. I think the only thing I didn't do is that HCG hormone thing. It just because it was too expensive, I would have done it. I wouldn't have completely honest. I, you know, I had, I had taken Adderall prescription Adderall for, for weight loss and, and didn't think that there was anything wrong with that. Just the opposite.
1 (41m 10s):
I thought it was amazing. Like what a great shortcut, you know? So I had done it all. I had done all the food plans, the Jenny Craig, the ideal pro I mean like you name it and this is free and this is just like, it's a miracle. I think, I think it's a miracle. So just people just need to understand that they have what it takes. It may take somebody a little bit longer. It may take somebody, a few quote, unquote failures, which they're not failures, but everybody can do this.
0 (41m 38s):
Yeah. Yeah. And like you said, you know, find someone to help you with that journey too, whether it's a coach, you know, or like you said, like, you know, a holistic physician, it helps to have someone on your side through the whole journey or someone else they're going to do it too. You know, a friend who's starting up fasting as well.
1 (41m 58s):
Yeah, it does. And I'm happy. I mean, if any of your, if anybody who's listening needs to talk and needs some encouragement, please send them my way. I'm happy because I mean, I really do feel, in fact it's hard for me, you know, I try to not to preach about it. I try not to. I try for this not to be the only thing I talk about because I am so passionate. I do think it's such a great thing. And so I'm thrilled to talk about it. I'm thrilled to hold somebody's hand through this. I'm happy to help. And it's great.
0 (42m 31s):
Well, thank you, Rita. This was great. And I'll definitely, we'll put a, we'll put some info in the show notes. People can reach out if they want to just ask questions. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. Thank you so much. My pleasure. Hey, get lean, eat clean nation. Are you a man between the ages of 40 and 60 years old looking to lose inches around your waist have significantly more energy throughout the day and gain muscle all while minimizing the risk of injuries? Well, I'm looking for three to five people to work one-on-one with in my fat burner blueprint signature program, which I've developed by utilizing my 15 years experience in the health and fitness space.
0 (43m 12s):
This program is designed specifically for those committed, to making serious progress towards their health goals. Over the next six months, we will focus on sleep stress, nutrition, meal, timing, and building lean muscle. If this sounds like a fit for you, email me@brianatbriangrin.com with the subject line blueprint. That's brian@briangrin.com with the subject line blueprint. Thanks for listening to the get lean eat clean podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine. And I appreciate that. Check out the show notes@briangrin.com for everything that was mentioned in this episode, feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member.
0 (43m 60s):
That's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again, and have a great day.
