Dr. Mindy Pelz is on a mission to start a women’s health revolution by empowering women
worldwide to harness their bodies’ healing abilities through fasting, stress management, and
lifestyle changes to balance hormones and live optimally. She joined me on the podcast to
give you her best advice on questions every woman is asking, and I’m so excited to share
some highlights with you here!
Be sure to give the entire episode a listen at the link below. I learned so much from our
conversation, and I know you will, too!
So, let’s talk about birth control
I was on and off the pill for close to 10 years, and now I’m dealing with its consequences and
impact on my health and hormones. At the time, I had no idea what I was doing to my body. I
just believed the doctor when he suggested the birth control pill could help my acne, and that
was that. In my opinion, the best thing about social media is that it’s making us so much
more informed and educated about what we’re putting in our bodies and leading us to really
take our time to make informed decisions, especially around topics that generally don’t have
much information surrounding them — like birth control.
I asked Dr. Mindy what she thought about birth control and what she recommended — here’s
what she had to say:
“When it comes to the copper IUD, the long-term consequences are so much less than the pill
because it manipulates your natural hormones, and your body never finds its normal cycle.
Right now, there’s no perfect birth control, but the aftermath of the birth control pill is greater
than any other version we have out there.”
Dr. Mindy’s Take On Best Birth Control: Copper IUD
There are tons of other natural options for birth control as well, so be sure to look into those if it’s
something you feel confident committing to. I personally love to use my Oura ring and pair it to
the Natural Cycles app so that I know when my most fertile days are based on my temperature and where I am in my cycle!
What time should I be working out?
I get asked this question quite often, and to be honest, I don’t think there’s a particularly
correct answer here, especially if you have a busy schedule and are barely trying to adapt a
workout routine. Getting your workout in whenever you can has so many benefits, and I
completely understand not everyone has the luxury of creating their own schedule. If you are
dialed into your routine, though, and are looking to optimize the time you’re working out
based on your hormone health, here’s what Dr. Mindy has to say about it:
“Within about 90 minutes of waking, your cortisol peaks. The highest cortisol peak we’ll ever
see is within 90 minutes of waking up. So, the best time to go to the gym is 90 minutes after
you wake up. For women trying to lose weight, when we see these cortisol spikes, use it to your
advantage. Use it because otherwise your body will store it in your tissues and turn it into fat.”
How to Fast Like a Girl
I’ve always been so intrigued by fasting and have heard of its many health benefits, but
whenever I try it, I feel absolutely awful. My husband Greg often fasts and loves how he feels,
but I’ve never had the same experience. I asked Dr. Mindy to explain why that might be, and
her shocking response made so much sense.
“For women, we have to cycle in and out of fasting. We cannot fast all the time, every single
day, the same way your husband can, like men can,” Dr. Mindy says.
“When we’re fasting, the cells detox, the dopamine system reboots, and your whole immune
system has the potential to reboot. So, this is the most phenomenal healing system inside us,
and it’s free.
From day 1 to day 10 of your cycle, start by going into a longer fast. Like a 13-15 hour fast. That
means no food, but you can drink water, black tea, and coffee. The fast can also be
integrated into your sleeping window so you can use your 8ish hours of sleep every night to
your advantage.
Now, on day 11, you’re moving into ovulation. So, I like to keep women under 13 hours during
ovulation, roughly day 11-15.
When you come out of ovulation, you’ll have another dip where your hormones go low. So,
from day 16 to day 19, I would encourage you to throw in a longer fast around the 17-hour
mark, where we’re getting rid of some of the toxins that have accumulated in your body. Now,
I’m picking that part of the cycle to eliminate some toxic estrogen your body makes during
ovulation.
I realize this is a four or five-day window. You could do 13 to 15 hours most of those days, but
one of them, I want you to go above 17.
Then, from day 20ish to 28, you will want to avoid fasting altogether so you don’t deplete your
hormones before you start your next cycle.”
Dr. Mindy and I dive deeper into fasting and its many benefits, plus what foods to eat during
each phase, so be sure to check out our entire episode wherever you listen to podcasts.
Dr. Mindy’s parting advice?
“For starters, stop shaming yourself. Stop guilting yourself. Stop telling yourself horrible things.
We live in a patriarchal world, and I don’t mean this as a rallying feminist cry. I mean this as
we must start to demand that we do health in a woman’s way. This is why I named my
platform and protocol Fast Like a Girl.
We have to learn how to do all things according to our bodies. So learn your hormones, get to
know them, and then understand the lifestyle you need to match it to that, and you will never
fall out of love with your body again.”
You can find Dr. Mindy’s book, Fast Like A Girl, anywhere books are sold or visit her website,
fastlikeagirl.com, for more information about her. Tune in to our episode together for an
even deeper dive into all things hormones, fasting, and more!