Intermittent Fasting – My Story

Full disclosure: I am neither a doctor nor an expert.  I’m merely someone who researched IF (Intermittent Fasting) online, gave it a shot, and had incredible success.

If you are interested in intermittent fasting, you should first consult with a physician to make sure it is safe for you.

Intermittent fasting has been the magical wand I’ve been looking for all my life. Not exactly Bing and you’re thin, but definitely a tool that, for me, really works.  

Why?

I think it’s the ease. Once you learn how to use it, it’s incredibly life-friendly.

• Exercise is great, but it works without it
• Minimal tracking or planning required
• No depriving yourself of your favorite foods
• Flexible with your social calendar

My venture began with a trip to my doctor. A forced trip as they were holding my blood-pressure prescription hostage. I feared my test results. Having let my diet go to trash, I knew I was in for a reckoning.

As the ugly truth was about to hit the charts anyway, I decided I may as well throw all my ailments on the table.  

• Suspected sleep apnea: not sleeping, waking up gasping
• Psoriasis on both hands and feet. I’d had it for years, spent fortunes on multiple treatments—steroids, light treatment, coal tar. I’d been slathering on lotion and living my life wearing protective vinyl gloves on my hands and plastic wrap around my feet. Still, I was plagued with red, swollen, thick skin that scaled, cracked and split. Painful. Debilitating. Manicures and pedicures were out of the question. (I’m sure you feel my pain.)
• Chronic Inflammation causing joint pain, weakness, dry eyes, mild depression, and brain fog. These were all separate complaints. I didn’t realize at the time that they were all related. (Psoriasis, I have sense learned, is also related to chronic inflammation. But considering the torment it put me through, I’m giving it its own headline.)

The picture wasn’t pretty, but I soon found out it could get worse and it did—lab results were in:

Let’s just say I was a walking, talking, perfect storm. 

It was a get real moment. I know, because my doctor basically said, “This is a get real moment.” Then she told me to lose the soda, start exercising, and change my eating habits. I was handed one new prescription and a printout on the Mediterranean Diet. They scheduled me in for another forced meeting in six months for follow-up testing. If my numbers hadn’t improved, more prescriptions and likely more tests would follow.

Was I motivated? Yes.

I canceled soda cold-stop. I haven’t had my drink of choice in over a year. I still miss it, but I realize how much damage it was doing. Water and unsweetened tea are now my staples.

While researching the Mediterranean Diet, I somehow landed on intermittent fasting. There were dozens of stories about doctor visits just like mine. Dozens of people who had taken action and turned their lives around. I wanted to be one of them, but starve myself?  That just didn’t sound like me…

I kept reading. The science made perfect sense, and it’s really very exciting. With a simple life change (no pills, no drinks, no pushing your body beyond reasonable limits), people were losing weight, decreasing inflammation, improving blood pressure, cholesterol, insulin resistance, and mental clarity. People were changing their lives.  

I had to at least give it a try. True, there were a few bumps getting started. Figuring out how to best incorporate it into my schedule was one hurdle. But once I worked out the perfect eating window for me, it only kept getting easier and easier.

Six months later, I’m sitting in my doctor’s office waiting on results, hopeful that I’ve at least improved some of my numbers. I know I’ve greatly improved my life.

• Thirty-five pounds lighter
  • All signs of sleep apnea—gone
  • Hands and feet COMPLETELY CLEAR of Psoriasis. Yes, that’s right, completely clear—without gloves, plastic, or steroids. A major life change all on its own.
  • Joint pain, dry eyes, weakness, depression, brain fog—all gone.
  • A new found energy and appreciation for life as a whole

I’m fairly confident at least some of my numbers have improved and boy have they ever. There’s even a very good chance I’ll be getting off my blood pressure meds in the not so distant future.

I’ve made huge strides, but I’m still a work-in-progress.  Since that appointment, I’ve lost twenty more pounds.