speaker-1: Welcome to You're Not Crazy. It's Perimenopause. If you're a woman over 40 and feeling more anxious, not sleeping well, or disconnected from your body, this podcast is for you. I'm your host, Jenny Smith, Functional Medicine Health Coach, here to help you understand what the heck is happening in Perimenopause. Each week, we're diving into real-life conversations about how our changing hormones impact anxiety, sleep, and stress. And I'll share simple strategies to help you feel normal again. So grab a cup of tea or beverage of choice, get comfy, and let's dive in. Welcome back to You're Not Crazy. It's Perimenopause. Today we have a special guest talking about metabolic health, fasting, and all kinds of other wonderful things. Heidi is here. Heidi Vance is a board certified health and wellness coach. and consumer technology leader with a passion for metabolic health and behavior change. After spending more than a decade leading marketing initiatives for technology companies in Silicon Valley, she made the pivot into health coaching to help people create meaningful, sustainable change in their own lives. Today, Heidi blends her backgrounds in health coaching and technology by leading marketing and partnerships at Zero Longevity Science. one of the leading fasting and metabolic health platforms. There, she helps connect millions of people with tools, education, and insights that support healthier lifestyles and long-term well-being. She is particularly passionate about how digital tools can empower people to better understand their bodies, build sustainable habits, and improve their long-term health. Welcome Heidi!

speaker-0: Thank you, Jenny. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for that intro.

speaker-1: Yes, I'm so happy you're here too. So Heidi and I connected through our coaching school together. So we met in health coaching school at Functional Medicine Coaching Academy. Heidi is awesome. I've learned so much from her. And just staying connected, I think what has it been? How long has it been since we completed the program? Three years, four years?

speaker-0: I think even more COVID, you know. Yeah. I think we were done in twenty twenty two. So

speaker-1: Four years? Yeah, I know. Life goes by so fast. But it's been great staying connected with you and seeing what you're up to when you're not traveling, you know, you're doing all these wonderful things. So why don't you go ahead and share a little bit more about what led you into health coaching?

speaker-0: Yeah, sure. It was actually not exactly something I planned on doing. ⁓ I was working in tech for, you know, 10 years, as you mentioned. I worked at companies like Uber and Lime and even AOL back in the day. ⁓ and I was leading marketing and partnerships for various initiatives there at those companies. And ⁓ I had always been really interested in health and passionate about health. As with a lot of people, I had my own health struggles. I was very sick for much of my later teenage years and into college and discovered that I had a pretty severe gluten intolerance. And that entirely changed my life. So all of my symptoms, once I discovered that, completely. disappeared and my quality of life just skyrocketed. And when I discovered that, I was like, wow, you know, I hadn't really thought about in my teens and twenties how important what you eat and what you put into your body actually is. And so it's always been in the back of my mind and something that I had talked to a lot of people about who were also discovering gluten allergies or dairy allergies or things that you know they were having trouble with. And so as I was going through, you know, my my typical career path, COVID hit. At you know, in 2020. And it was really brought to light for me how critical our health is and how important it was to me to help others live a healthier life. It was, you know, I kind of don't love the term a calling, but I really felt like it was time for me to shift out of sort of the fast-paced tech job and get into something that was more supportive of others and being able to do something that kind of challenged me in a different way. And so in the middle of the beginning of COVID, I quit my job and I decided to go back to school, which was kind of crazy ⁓ because we were in a you know pandemic. But it also was a perfect time. Everyone was working from home. I was able to go to school. ⁓ I actually went to Coach's Training Institute for CTI and got my certification as a co-active coach. Started doing career coaching. That was sort of my sweet spot at the at the time, having been in tech. And then ⁓ I went to FMCA and I met you, and that's where I went to get my health coaching certification. ⁓ and so For me, it was sort of that path. I wanted to be able to kind of collect these certifications so that I could do career coaching, health coaching, help people sort of holistically with their life. And ⁓ I loved it. You know, I did it for four years. ⁓ I loved coaching. I loved working with clients one-on-one. I loved building a private practice. I loved what I was learning, you know, I loved my individual growth. It was really interesting what you learn about yourself when you do a huge life. But you know, there was something after those years that really clicked within me, which is Kind of missed working in a little bit more of a fast-paced collaborative environment where you're scaling products and you're helping people on like a ⁓ bigger stage, I guess. And so I kind of got called back into doing more tech work. And so as you know, when when you and I were working together, I decided to leave and and go back into tech and see what that kind of pull was ⁓ was about. And after about a year of that, I Ended up connecting with Zero and joined their team as a consultant and I've been there ever since.

speaker-1: I love that. I love I love how our experiences cause you know, when you're little you're like, When I grow up, I wanna do this. But life there's just no controlling the outcome of what's gonna happen. And I wanna go back in time a little bit when you said that you discovered you had a severe gluten allergy or you said something like that. Like it was really bad that it caused all these health issues. How were you able to identify that? Did you go and see a special doctor? Because I feel like When you go to a doctor, they're not asking you, Well, what are you eating? What's your diet? I mean, any traditional doctor here in the United States typically doesn't ask what you're eating. So I'm curious, like, how did you identify that that's what was happening?

speaker-0: ⁓ my gosh, Jenny, it was a journey. It was six years. And I was a You know, I was a child essentially. I was sixteen when I started getting sick. ⁓ I felt awful almost every day of the week. Stomach aches, headaches, I was exhausted, I had extreme fatigue. And I was a teenager and you know, going into college and I was just drinking coffee and I I literally I was on a liquid diet a lot of the time because I just didn't know what was making me feel so terrible. And part of the problem, you know, I love our medical doctors, but our medical system could use a lot of work. ⁓ you know, w they really did try to treat the symptoms and treat the problem. ⁓ they also, you know, were kind of convinced that maybe it was because of recent travel I'd done or they had all these different answers for why I was feeling this way. None of them were correct. And you're right, none of them were saying, you know, Hey, what are you putting in your body? What kind of foods are you eating? I'll tell you a funny anecdote from that. The first doctor that told me it might be wheat or gluten ⁓ told me to go off of it for 30 days and see what happened. Sort of an elimination diet, right? I was so ⁓ I don't want to say dumb. I will say I I was not aware of health and nutrition back then. I was like 20 years old, that I was like, ⁓ great. I'll go to the deli and just get my sandwiches on white bread instead of wheat bread. And so I did. ⁓ so I had a lot of learning to do. and I will say, once I did actually do it right, and I did it for 30 days, the transformation was in incredible. Within the first three days, my symptoms were essentially eliminated. Within the first week I felt amazing. And I I do credit this doctor for thinking of that. You know, this was in two thousand six. So I think gluten was becoming more, you know, known about at that time. It was a little bit more of a thing. And so she was the first one to really say, just give it a shot and see what happens. I felt amazing. I went and ate gluten after that. Obviously got really sick. And after that happened, I never looked back. I'm like, this is it. I'm done. You know, I'm never gonna eat gluten again. Definitely shed some tears because gluten-free food at that time was pretty darn awful. You didn't have the options you have today. but I learned, I've learned a lot about what it actually meant to be gluten-free, what it meant to think about what you're eating, to look at ingredients. It really changed my whole perspective as a college student, you know, living on Domino's pizza.

speaker-1: So Yeah. And that's a really hard age and time to make those diet changes because of the influence on our peers and and to be different than what other people are eating, where it's so common to have dominoes and cheez-its and ⁓ you know, quick foods when you're in college. But for you, you were able to identify like this food really makes me sick. And if I want to feel well, then I have to make these changes. And that's ultimately what happens with a lot of people. It's like, how bad is it that we're willing to make those changes? Cause some people do really well off gluten, but they're not willing to give it up. You know, like I I've talked and worked with a lot of men who are like, I love my beer and you're not gonna take that away from me. So I'm willing to have all these gas symptoms or whatever else they're dealing with. So it's a matter of kind of like weighing the pros and cons with you were just not feeling good at all. And as a teenager, somebody who's young, like to feel bad, it must take a lot, like to like it's clearly impacting you that much that that you're able to make that change for the better. So really cool. Thank you so much for sharing that.

speaker-0: Yeah, absolutely.

speaker-1: Yeah, so we're gonna spend some time. You know, I I say a lot in the podcast that, you know, we're not medical professionals, but we are behavior change agents. Like I've heard that's that saying before, like we help people make the behavior changes that they wanna make that's difficult to make. And so I I wanna spend some time talking about that and also talking a little bit about Zero, because Zero is has a personal story behind it too. ⁓ so If you're willing to share a little bit about how Zero got started and how you might be connected with the person who started it.

speaker-0: Yeah, I left that part out of my story, didn't I? Yeah, absolutely. So zero

speaker-1: Story.

speaker-0: It's No, absolutely. It's a great story. Zero was started in 2018. My husband is the CEO and founder. That's how I got connected to Zero ⁓ this past year. So I've really been on the front lines of watching Zero grow ⁓ since 2018 and you know, watching him run the company and all through its transitions and various phases. And so I'll just say, you know, in terms of us working together, we didn't think we ever would do this. But when it came to a point of like my background in health coaching and my interest in metabolic health and my love of what zero does for people, plus my tech and you know. partnerships and marketing background. Last year we were like, huh, this would really make sense if you wanted to come in and, you know, work with the team and and be a part of this. And so it's been amazing working together. It's a wonderful team. We have an awesome, awesome group of people. But I'll tell you a little bit, you know, going back, which I think you're alluding to is why Mike started Zero and got into fasting initially. So it takes us back to 2014. ⁓ He was diagnosed with stage four Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He at the time, you know, was working with a phenomenal team of doctors at Stanford Hospital. And and he talks about this story in various podcasts and things. ⁓ if anyone's interested in kind of diving deeper, but I'll give you sort of the the highlights of it. He was working with a fantastic medical team, and the the the thing he'll always say is he credits them. For his ultimate remission. ⁓ However, at that time, he was also investigating ways that he could take control and kind of take his health into his own hands as well. You can imagine getting a diagnosis like that in your 40s, you know, very unexpected and life altering and just a real mind F, which I won't swear on your podcast, but it really shifted how he was thinking about life and his future and sort of his health. And so he started doing some research and found the work of Dr. Volter Longo, who was looking at fasting and its impact on cancer. And this was way back, you know, 2014. So it hadn't really been studied in humans. It was very new. Mike did a lot of reading and research on it, and he was just like, you know what? It can't hurt. You know, I'm just gonna try fasting for five days around my chemo treatments. He had six. Sorry, those are our dogs.

speaker-1: We love dogs on this podcast, so no worries.

speaker-0: Good. ⁓ good. Yeah, they're they have a lot to say about this. so he had six chemo treatments. He fasted for five days, water fasts, two days before the day of and two days after his chemo treatments. The amazing thing about that is, and whether or not you want to credit you know anything to fasting, we'll have no idea, but he was cancer free after two rounds of chemo. ⁓ they did do the full six rounds. They did do a lot of other things to make sure that the cancer didn't come back. But it really made him realize the power of fasting and also being able to feel in control while he was going through this treatment that felt so out of his hands. So with that and with that research and knowledge, he decided after he was fully in remission, he had sold his previous company. He was looking for his next thing, that really helping people learn about fasting and get into the practice of fasting was something that he wanted to do. And so zero is what we have today.

speaker-1: I love, love, love that story because it's so personal and it's ⁓ like a mission that is near and dear to his heart. And I remember it I was lying in bed one night watching Netflix and I saw his story and then you pop on the screen and I was like, What? So I text I text you, Heidi, and I was like I think I just saw you and your husband on a Netflix documentary about fasting. I it was the coolest thing to see somebody you know kind of caught off guard and and ⁓ he was sharing his story on there. What was the name of that documentary?

speaker-0: Well, they called it ⁓ unwell. They were supposed to call it well, but it ended up being sort of an interesting series of various topics they were covering, of which fasting was one. And it it was really good. I really enjoyed what they did and they took different angles on those various topics and different angles on fasting. You know, they they they interviewed different people and Mike was one of the stories. So ⁓ yeah, that that was a really funny time because we did get a few texts from people. We didn't really tell anyone, it was we didn't know what it you know, if we were really gonna be shown much or how it was gonna go and all of a sudden it came out and we were getting texts from people like, ⁓ my god, you're on Netflix

speaker-1: I know, that's so cool. So yeah, if anyone wants to see that story, it's in that documentary. I'm not sure if it's still on Netflix, but ⁓ I got a lot of great information from that documentary. ⁓

speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mike is really good at telling his story, so ⁓ far better than I am, so

speaker-1: Well, thank you for sharing his story. I think it's ⁓ very powerful and it just goes to show that we're a team when it comes to our health and our healing journey, that it's not just being told what to do by doctors, but take an initiative to investigate what is the right treatment for you or what is the right path for you to consider. And he took a chance and decided, well, it's you know, what can it hurt? I'm gonna do this. And fasting is not easy. And especially when he's going through treatments and he's not feeling well. So it just goes to show how strong he is. And and being somebody who has gone through that, it makes him the perfect spokesperson for fasting for other people and to be able to share the benefits and what he's learned to others with the Zero Fasting app, which is such a cool app too. And we'll we'll talk about that in a minute as well. ⁓ but going back to the ladies who are listening. And talking about metabolic health, what is metabolic health in like its simplest terms? I I know people have heard it, but like what does that mean? And why should

speaker-0: I know. You know, and so many people don't actually really know or understand it or ha know how to measure it. ⁓ but it's essentially how well your body is able to use and store and regulate energy. It's so much of how your body operates day to day. And I will say the most important thing that I say about metabolic health is that it's not a set thing. You're not like diagnosed as metabolically unhealthy and you don't have any power over that because the markers you look at for metabolic health are all very much within your control. be it through behavior change, medication if needed, there's a lot of different avenues you have to make changes to your metabolic health. So you you know, if you get some sort of diagnosis where you're metabolically unhealthy, that should actually be slightly empowering because you have a way to get yourself into metabolic health. The things that the doctors will look at for measuring metabolic health are your fasting glucose, your A1C, blood sugar, ⁓ trig triglycerides, HDL cholesterol. your blood pressure and your waist circumference. So those are the things that really can indicate if you're metabolically healthy or unhealthy. And if three or three or more of these are out of range, you are considered metabolically unhealthy. Now All of that said, the reason I'm really passionate about this side of health is because metabolic health really indicates your risk for disease, specifically type 2 diabetes and heart disease, which are two things that are close to my heart and my family, and things that I feel are very preventable and reversible through a lot of different options that you have at your fingertips. So the other thing I'll say is that for women over 40, in particular in your audience, Those markers might start to be changing. Even if you've had blood tests in your 30s and you suddenly get into your 40s and perimenopause and menopause and everything is changing, you might get some blood work back and go, ⁓ my gosh, like, you know, my triglycerides have never been like this or my blood pressure's never been high. you know, things can shift as we age. The main thing I don't want people to feel is fear around metabolic health, to feel like Okay, this is an opportunity. Now I can really think about my plan, the actions I want to take for this, what my next blood test is gonna look like, and how I'm gonna get myself on track and in a better place to avoid disease in the future.

speaker-1: Hm. Yeah. And you mentioned heart disease. Type two diabetes, heart disease, those are very common ones, especially here in the US. And heart disease, I believe, is the number one killer of women. And Oftentimes it's silent. They don't know that they have anything going on unless they're seeing a provider that's doing kind of like the the deeper dive with all the lab work and the tests. So, you know, for those of you who are listening and are curious, like what Heidi had mentioned, is being able to talk to your doctor about those tests that she just mentioned as far as, you know, the triglycerides, not just not just total cholesterol, because that doesn't really give us any information. We have to look at these other markers that contribute to the risk of ⁓ heart disease and you know blood sugar A one C to determine where you are as far as on the progression to type two diabetes or kind of where you're at there. And then you mentioned something else to waist circumference, which is a big pain point for a lot of us, myself included, going into menopause, it's like, wait, I didn't used to have this and and Now it's there and it's contributing to more risk for disease. And so oftentimes like doctors will s say, and I'm I'm gonna tell you something. I have a doctor recently who said something about GLP ones and he was talking to me about it and he said, What is let's let's determine your BMI and my BMI was not high enough to justify the cost of getting insurance to cover GLP ones. And I'm like, BMI That BMI shouldn't even be but that's what they're still using as a risk factor for disease when it really should be all these other things like you mentioned. If you have the three out of the five, then you are at risk for chronic diseases that can cause serious harm. And so that is pretty frustrating. And I'm sure women listening to this are like But my BMI is high and I don't know, you know, and my husband, according to h his height and weight, his BMI is off the charts. It says he's obese and he's if you saw a picture of my husband, you'd be like, What? He's not. So yeah, I don't know if you want to say anything about that.

speaker-0: Yes, please. This topic just really enrages me. And look, again, I support our medical Physicians, you know, staff, like I understand that they have to have a number to use, right? You have to have some sort of marker. There are millions of people, you know, that they're trying to figure out who gets what at what time and when and what means you're healthy and unhealthy. And I get it, it's hard. However, BMI was invented in the 1830s to measure populations and not individuals. And so the fact that we make individual decisions based off of BMI is just crazy to me. It's not Nonsense. I think the main thing that people have to remember is exactly what you said. You know, muscle is denser than fat. So if you have muscle, your BMI can tell you you're overweight or obese when you're actually quite healthy. So the things to look at and you know, when you hear your BMI is X, Y, and Z, I think it also can send people into a spiral. You know, it can make people go, ⁓ my God, like I'm overweight or I'm obese, or it gives them a label that I think is just actually kind of dangerous for people, their mental health, their motivation, their feeling about their bodies. The thing that I would recommend for people is to look at the bigger picture and to talk to your doctor and make sure your doctor's not just using BMI, you know, as your only basis for getting medication or not, or if you're healthy or not, or you know, etc. ⁓ you know, look at those metabolic markers. Do the blood work. Find out where you actually stand from a metabolic standpoint, your waist circumference, it is something to measure, you know, that is something to look at and see, you know, again. On a trajectory. Is it going up? Is it going down? Where are you in that sort of spectrum? Your energy levels, your physical abilities. You can even get a DEXA scan. They're quite easy to get. Not usually covered by insurance, although you can check me on that. Maybe they are now. But I think they're a couple hundred bucks. I mean, you you can go and get an actual full kind of body composition reading, ⁓ which is far more accurate than a BMI. There's just a lot of ways to get more information about your health than this one number that tends to, you know, rule them all for so many things right now. Huh.

speaker-1: Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the DEXA scan. ⁓ I actually have an order for one and I need to get my butt in there and get it done.

speaker-0: Yes you do. ⁓ I'm glad to hear that.

speaker-1: So I'll let you know if my if like insurance covers it. ⁓ my doctor, I think because of my age, it's more to see my bone health and making sure that I'm not like I guess to monitor that and see the progression of ⁓ 'cause as we get older we are at more risk for bone loss. That's why it is so important to make sure that we have muscle in our body to protect our bones. ⁓ so it's I know that when I had looked into it last year, I think it was like ninety five dollars. Some places were charging that. Here in the US, I know I have a lot of international listeners too. So I'm not sure where you're located, but it would be good to look into that and research that to see if that's something that you can get done. ⁓ because it also looks at doesn't it also check out like the visceral fat around your organs too? That's exactly Which is Mm, which is what is dangerous. So it's not actually, you know, the fat. Like it can be you have to look at what the fat is doing. Is it smothering your organs and suppressing them so that they're not working properly? So those are things to consider and those are ways to ⁓ just evaluate your health. Because I think it's so many women are stepping on the scale and they're like, ⁓ my gosh, I'm so you know, and it's not that's just one piece of it and I I just don't like the scale. Like I don't w I just We need to just toss it out. Just

speaker-0: We need to toss it out.

speaker-1: Yeah. And I love how you said, how do you feel? How are your energy levels? How is your mobility? Are you able to bend over and tie your shoes? Are you able to get up off the couch without having to like really use your arms to support you up? Can you get up from sitting off the floor? Like those are all the things that we want to kind of make sure that's still working because as we get older, ⁓ you know, those things start to slow down. And so That's right.

speaker-0: That's right. ⁓ Yeah. ⁓ the the one thing I'll say is you have to be your own advocate on this stuff, ⁓ in a lot of ways and make sure you sort of understand what the DEXA scan is gonna give you and make sure you're getting the right DEXA scan. There are some different ones out there. But I do think that getting more information and not just going at face value on BMI or scale, you know, those things are really misleading. ⁓ and really looking at these other factors in our life are just so, so important.

speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. So with fasting, what do you think? So fasting, I think there's a lot of mixed feelings about fasting. I I hear it from a lot of people. They think it's ⁓ starving themselves or, you know, it's not it's kind of woo-woo. Like what do you what do you think is the reason people misunderstand fasting? Like what do you think is like the missing link with that? Because clearly There's a lot of research that shows that it helps so much with improving health and it worked for your husband and so what do you think is the reason for that?

speaker-0: Yeah, so fasting is a it can be a really triggering and polarizing topic in health, especially for people who haven't really read up much on it or really understood kind of what it is. I'll tell you there's something recently that I've seen that really enrages me. Not quite like BMI, but you know close. There's sort of this theme going around of like fasting, I'm intermittent fasting because I forgot to eat or I'm too busy to eat. That is not intermittent fasting. That is not a healthy way to go about it. And I think there's a a lot of misconceptions about what fasting is is just sort of, well, I'm not eating. I'm too busy. It's a free diet, you know, whatever people want to say, and I'm seeing this on social media, literally people are saying this and calling it intermittent fasting. And I'm like, no, this is not what it is. The differentiator here is the intentionality. When you're intermittent fasting, you're doing it in an intentional way. You are determining your fasting window, meaning the time that you're not going to have Any calories. That can be a 12-hour window. It can be a 16-hour window. It can be any hour that you choose during the day. And then you're choosing your eating window. So when that's over, you say, okay, if I'm doing a 16-hour fast, I have an eight-hour eating window. And you're also being intentional about what you're eating during during your eating window. So you know, ideally you're getting enough protein. You're making sure that you're getting enough of your nutrients, you're getting enough carbs, fat. whatever you know foods that you like to eat and that make you feel nourished and your body feels good, that's what you want to focus on in your eating window. ⁓ but it's the intentionality piece that I think is really misunderstood about fasting, where people throw it around And again, kind of like that dangerous way where they're conflating these things of like, ⁓ I just forgot to eat, so therefore I'm doing a fast. No, you really need to be intentional, think about your fasting window, hydrate, make sure you're getting electrolytes, understand hopefully what's happening a bit in your body, you know, you're giving your gut a chance to rest. ⁓ you have so many other benefits that are happening within that fasting window that you just want to make sure when you're talking about fasting that that intentionality is there.

speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And and just forgetting to eat and calling it fasting, but you might have had Kramer in your coffee that morning and you did not fast. Like anything that that triggers insulin is going to break your fast. ⁓ so with zero, because I know that it's it's a tool that I've used, I've I love how user friendly it is. My husband is a big faster. He loves it. He talks all the time about like how much it it's helped him and he practices it weekly. He actually's done like three day fast and he's like, it's all in your head, you know, you can do it. And so, like I always tell him, I said, It's harder for us women sometimes. We have to like work up to it. You know, we don't recommend anyone jump into like a three day fast, but he used apps before. And so he really likes having the tracker, like having a tracker to be able to to say, okay, I'm gonna stop eating at this point. And zero does that, right? Like it tells you like does it tell you when you're in like when you say you do the twelve, sixteen, eighteen hours? So I always recommend if you've never fasted before, start with twelve, which you can do overnight. And then as you progress, like if you just stretch it out a little bit, just see how you feel. And on the app, does it does it show like what's happening? During that time, like are they in like fat burning mode and

speaker-0: About it. If you have the plus if you have the plus product, so that's the most important because our plus product gives a lot more education and features around your fasting window and your fueling window as well. But yes, and the timer, you know, zero started essentially as a timer. You know, we didn't even have a login or any kind of, you know, storage of data. It was just like you're just timing. And the idea was again that intentionality. Rather than just forgetting to eat or I'm gonna have my black coffee and I'll eat eventually. It was like this. is an actual timer that tells you when you're done fasting based on what your intention was. And if you want to keep going, you can, of course. But ⁓ the timer really provides structure for people. Also we hear from people they love when the timer you know goes green. It's like it goes from like ticking around and then suddenly goes green and they're like it's done and they're so excited you know they're they're finished or fast. It feels like a celebration, you know, of accomplishing that. And so this goes into the behavior change piece that I love so much, which, you know, tools like this are so helpful when you're trying to start a new habit or trying to change a behavior because you're able to actually have a structure around it and not just kind of tell yourself you're doing something. You're actually seeing the data in real time. And I think that's really powerful for people who are trying to make a change.

speaker-1: Change. Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure. I know that I love it. Like I have my aura ring and I'm always tracking my sleep and I'm always trying to get like the best score. And it motivates me. And and people are motivated by trackers, by being able to see progress. And the Zero app does a really great job of that visual. And something else that you said that was r super important about intentionality with fasting is ⁓ Going so many hours with that food is does not permit you to go and have a free for all and have pizza and burgers and you know, chocolate milkshake. Like, well, I fasted, so that's okay. And if you are not intentional about the food that you're eating when you break your fast, it's going to backfire and it's really not gonna give you the benefit ⁓ I mean, there's still gonna be benefits to it, but not in the way that you're wanting or hoping. So you wanna make sure you are intentional about what you're eating. And yes. With with the Zero app, do you guys I know you have the protein logger now, which is really cool to be able to to track your protein. I love that feature so much because that's one of the things that's like, well I I think I got enough protein. And until you're tracking it and being able to see like, ⁓ I I didn't get nearly enough. I need to add more to meet my my goal for the day. So that's really cool that you have that feature with the Zero app. And that's a new newer feature, right?

speaker-0: Yeah, it is. And protein is Such a big ⁓ well, it's all the rage right now, as you know. It's very trendy. Everyone's talking about protein, but it also is based in science, right? We we need to get protein, our body's built on protein, and most people don't get enough. ⁓ even if you're not fasting, you know, it's really hard to get enough protein. the you know, the the US dietary guidelines recently changed to increase the amount of protein people should get per day, which is very exciting. But really, what what we tend to say, ⁓ and I'll even quote our Chief medical officer just to kind of give this guidance, ⁓ Dr. Naomi Perella, she will say that you should really be getting between 0.7 and 1 gram per pound of body weight per day. So, you know, if you're 150 pounds, that means about 105 to 150 grams of protein per day. That's not easy necessarily for anyone, right? And the tracking piece really comes into play because all here people, even is coaching, people will tell me what they ate and they're thinking, well, I had two eggs this morning. I got plenty of protein. I'm like, that's about 10 to 12 grams of protein. You know, that's not gonna do it. And so what I've always encouraged people to do is to track even for just a week, just to give yourself the data to understand we think we're getting enough. You know, I even go through this too, where I'll think I'm getting enough of something. I think I'll I'm hydrating enough. I'm getting enough protein. But then you track it and you're like, ⁓ wow, I'm really underdoing it. And so with zero, what we've done, and I'll get back to sort of the the fasting piece, what becomes challenging is when you're in a shorter eating window. You know, you're in a six hour, eight hour, 10-hour eating window, it's even harder to reach those goals if you're eating two meals a day, even meal a day. So what we started to do for for our users is to provide meal tracking. And what we do is you can take a picture of your food. It's super cool because it's like it feels like magic. You take a picture and then it'll tell you what's on your plate. How much protein is on your plate as well as the protein composition of your plate. So sort of like the percentage of protein to the other macros you have. And then it tracks your protein score throughout the day so that when you have a goal of how much protein you want to hit, it helps you understand if you're actually getting close to that goal or if you're still far off, you know, as you're kind of going through your eating window. So it's really, really helpful and informational for people to understand where they are. And again, a little celebratory. You know, you sort of like track your protein and you're hitting, you're about to hit your goal and like you have that last piece of chip. chicken or whatever it is and it's like, you know, yay, I did it. And so it's a it's a really great tool for fasters in particular who struggle with, you know, really getting that protein in the shorter eating window.

speaker-1: Yeah, and I hear that a lot from women when I do mention fasting and I I talk to them about fasting being a really great tool for metabolic health and focusing on blood sugar balance and things like that. Is I'm worried to fast because I don't I won't be able to get enough protein in. So are you able to talk about like how women are able to do that? Or like I know the chief medical officer at fasting, does she ever talk about like that, especially women who are trying to get the the protein in for muscle ⁓ sustaining muscle and building muscle is that's the challenge there is getting the protein if you have like a shorter eating window.

speaker-0: Mm-hmm. It is. And it really does again come down to intentionality and measuring. And so the number one tip that we give everyone is to start Every meal with protein if you can. So whenever you break your fast, if it's at noon, if it's at two, whenever you're having your first meal, make sure that you're loading up on protein. I aim to get like 30 to 40 grams of protein in my first meal every day. One thing that I do that's been really helpful is I sort of have the same mix of everything that I eat. I don't find it boring because I love all of it and I love protein. It's actually really interesting. This kind of tip is very additive for people because it's not trying to take something away. You're not saying, ⁓ don't Eat this, don't eat this. It's like, yes, eat more of this. Find things that you like that are protein dense and make sure you have them on hand, you know, at your house or on the go. Meal prepping, of course, is always a really good tip for us coaches that we love to give to clients. You know, things like meat sticks are really great. I love like tuna fish in you know, small amounts. Be careful of mercury, get the right kind, but like that's pretty high protein. ⁓ I do love eggs, I love Greek yogurt, I do turkey bacon. ⁓ there's a lot of different things that you can put into the mix that are really good and that you can get excited about that are very protein dense. The hardest thing is often when you're busy, right? So figuring out what your right mix is, maybe your three to four go-tos that are super protein dense and having those as, you know, your rotation. And then once you hit the 30 to 40 grams, I mean, it's still a lot to get. to maybe the 105 to 150, but at least you're starting your, you know, your your eating window in a really good spot. And if you need to do more, do more.

speaker-1: Yeah. And it's also progression, right? It's not like go out tomorrow and get a hundred and five grams of protein if you're not used to getting it. Like work your way up to it and start with one meal first, focusing on protein, or focusing on breakfast, getting enough protein during breakfast. And also just noticing when you are hitting that thirty, forty grams, how do you feel? Like do you feel satiated? Are you dealing with any kind of cravings? How is your mental clarity? Like when you get enough protein, it's wild how things change for you in such a good way. That is why it's such a buzz. That is why protein is such a a buzzword, you know, because it's like you said, there's so much science rooted in it and how it supports our body.

speaker-0: Yeah. There really is and and and it keeps you full. I mean, it's true. That's the other thing, especially if you're on a weight loss journey, eating protein first before reaching for the croissant or the whatever you have in the morning for breakfast or used to having. If you have those eggs, you have the turkey bacon, you have the Greek yogurt, you're probably not gonna want, you know, the baked goods or the or the heavy, you know, more of the the carb heavy meals. And so that's something to really test with yourself to your point. You know, try it and see. And then see how you feel and notice when you're hungry again. Yeah. And so that's, you know, it's also the same and I don't want to get too far off track with this, but you mentioned GLP ones. This is a similar thing that, you know, people who are G on GLP on ones. that they have obviously less food noise, they're not eating as much food, they have less caloric intake. It can be very similar to fasting in that protein has to become a priority. So when you are eating, when you are hungry, if you're on a GLP1, you have to make sure you're also getting enough protein and starting with protein. So just as an aside, it's something that we talk about a lot as well.

speaker-1: Well. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because GLP Ones is it's it's out there and so many people are taking them to better their health, to lose weight, to calm the food noise. And that is one of the things I hear all the time is women aren't hungry, so they're not eating as much. So it's a really a big challenge to get their protein in and just really focusing on the importance of the balanced diet and whether or not I mean you don't most people probably don't want to be on a GLP one for the rest of their life. So they have to get into the habit, the behavior change of focusing on a balanced plate, starting with protein, fiber, all the things, so that when eventually you get off the medication, you're able to sustain the weight loss, keep your muscle, build muscle and feel good. naturally. So I'm glad that you brought that up because it is it's a common concern for so many people. I hear it all the time. Like I I'm not hungry, so I'm not eating enough protein.

speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. That's it is so true. And and to your point about fasting too, just because you fasted or because you're on a GLP one, you don't want sort of your eating your meal time to be a free-for-all. You wanna make sure that you are being intentional about what you're putting into your body when you are eating. you're eating overall less calories. And so you wanna be really careful and again intentional about what those calories are. You know, I I think GLP ones are incredible. I think they're an incredible tool. And they are life-changing for so many people. I think about a lot of the clients that I had worked with in the past. This was kind of the pre-GLP one craze that would have benefited so much from potentially, you know, trying this and seeing if there if there could be a jump start in their health and weight loss journey using a GLP one. It's obviously a very personal decision, of course. But ⁓ I think for those who choose to do it or are interested in it, it can be super powerful. The main thing is that. It is not a replacement, you know, for other healthy behaviors. You know, you still need to exercise, you need to get good sleep, you need to eat nutritious food, you need to get enough protein. But what it provides is an opportunity to build those habits that support the long-term health because you're quieting that food noise. I've talked to a lot of people who are on GLP1s and they just say, yeah, like the cravings and the food noise just goes away, you know? Yeah. What an opportunity to kind of really think and be intentional about what to put on your plate if you're not craving the cookies or the fast food, et cetera, things that you know people might have before. You have to shift your mindset and and really get yourself set up for if you do want to get off a GLP one, what are you going to do to maintain and sustain that weight and your health and going Forward long term, what are sort of the things you can do while you're on it to set yourself up for success when you do, you know, take that off-ramp.

speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And also finding a provider that is going to talk to you about the importance of healthy habits, not just taking the medication, giving you the medication, but really, really holding you accountable to changing those behaviors, to making sure that you are prioritizing the healthy plate and moving your body and sleeping well, like all the things that we know we need to be doing. And maybe we don't make time for it. The GLP ones are a great addition to working alongside those behavior changes. Hundred percent. Mm-hmm.

speaker-0: And I also would say a plug for health coaches, it's a great opportunity to work with a health coach because you wanna you wanna use that time to build those habits. And health coaches are, you know, behavior change change agents and experts and and they're perfect to couple with a GLP one. So just a plug for for health coaches.

speaker-1: Thank you. And we've been there. Like like you you shared how you had to get off gluten and how challenging that was. You know, I've had my own health challenges. So we've been there. We know we know how it difficult it can be and we're on the other side of it. And so I think that's helpful to work with somebody who gets it and can empathize with how hard it can be to make those changes, especially depending on your situation. you know, who's in your home, what habits are already like around you, your social circle. There's so many things that impact your health, not just what you're doing, but who you're surrounding yourself with too. And so, you know, we can certainly work with you to to help you make those changes. I'm sitting here curious and I'm sure others might be curious too, but are you able to share like your

speaker-0: Yeah. Absolutely.

speaker-1: fasting journey? Like was it easy for you to start? Were you like hesitant at first? Were you like fasting? You know, how how has that like evolved for you and kind of where you're at now with intermittent fasting, if you don't mind sharing?

speaker-0: Yeah, I know I'm happy to. ⁓ so what I would say is I'm in a really good rhythm of waiting until about eleven o'clock before I have my first meal. It's usually eleven or noon. Today it was twelve because I I did have a few meetings. ⁓ and, you know, not forgetting to eat, but I knew that's when I would eat. And so I The way that I always encourage people to go about it is to start small. You know, when you say fasting, I think people, again, going back to sort of some of the misconceptions about it, they assume it's long, right? It has to be 24 hours or 36 hours or a five-day fast. Like, no, it absolutely does not. Intermittent fasting, ⁓ you know, time restricted feeding, whatever you want to call it, it's the eating window and the feet in the in the fasting window that you're working within. So a 12 hour fast. To your point, your gentle fast, right, is a great place to start. And so, you know, when I started doing it and also had some friends do it, you start slow and then you suddenly realize, okay, you know, at twelve hours is nothing. I'm not even that hungry yet, so I'm gonna wait to 13. And then you can kind of give yourself That extra hour, and then suddenly maybe it's 14. And then you know what? You might find out that that's your sweet spot. You might find out that 14 hours or 12 hours or 16 hours is sort of where you don't want to go any further. Or you start to experiment, you know, with more. And it all depends on your goals, right? It all depends on what you're trying to accomplish. For me, I'm really trying to accomplish just gut rest and digestive rest in my body. Giving my body a chance to sort of regroup. And so I don't do it for weight loss. I do it mainly for sort of my own health within my body and how my energy feels in the morning. I feel when I started fasting that ⁓ I really reduced my crashes. So I used to crash in the afternoon. We all know this, right? Like classic. I know that what I was eating for breakfast probably wasn't always the best. I was working, you know. before I started fasting, I was working really hard and running through the kitchen of my office and like grabbing whatever I could. I wasn't really again being intentional, wasn't thinking about my mornings. And I'd have these crashes and be like, why do I feel so tired and and you know, not great in the afternoon? And then you start fasting and you realize when you have your first meal and you do load it with protein and you do think about what you're putting into your body and you're actually really excited about it. You're not just doing it as an afterthought. You're like, yes, I can't wait for this first meal. It changes how you think about food, how your body responds in the afternoon, you know, even how you sleep, right? Because you're gonna stop eating several hours before you go to bed if you're gonna do, you know, a a maybe a 14 or 16 hour fast. So for me, it's had a really big impact in that way. And I always encourage people to think about their goal. What are you trying to accomplish? that will change the way that you approach a fast. And two, to start small. It does not ha I don't recommend going straight to a 16, even though that can sound yeah easy. It it can be a lot harder than you think. So start with a 12 and then move from there.

speaker-1: Okay. Yeah, I love that. ⁓ starting small because it can feel so overwhelming when you're thinking about all the things that you've been told to do and just what is the one thing that you can do today? Make it a habit. So like for me, when I first started intermittent fasting, I did twelve and then I extended to thirteen and fourteen. And so sixteen is my sweet spot. And recently I've actually been reversing it so I'll eat when I wake up. probably about two or three hours after I wake up. And then I cut off my my eating window at the end of like earlier at night. So I'll have dinner at like four, four thirty. We can do that 'cause my kids are never home. So my husband's like really happy to eat early with me. And I love it. Eating earlier, I'm a I swear I sleep so much better when I have an early dinner. My heart rate is really low. I get the best restorative sleep. And so again, like I track it with my aura ring. I I know what feels good for my body. And it's just kind of like experimenting. Find out what works for you. So like all these years I did it this way where I didn't have, you know, I didn't break my fast for sixteen hours and didn't have lunch or or waited to have lunch for my first meal. And now it's the opposite where I'm eating earlier and cutting and and stop eating way earlier before, you know, five o'clock at night. So it's been it's been really cool for me.

speaker-0: Yeah. It's such a good point. It is, there is no one size fits all. And you have to experiment. And the other thing to mention is, you know, we've talked about is that everyone is different. And also, in particular, women, as you go through your cycle throughout the month, you might find that some days are more challenging than others, depending on where you are, right? And so there are different, ⁓ and especially going through perimenopause or many pop menopause, you might find that your body is reacting differently, and maybe you need to shift to your eating window or shift something in you know what you're doing. Maybe you do shorter or shift your time. There's so many levers to play with in the fasting space that if something isn't working or feeling like it's really a grind, you don't have to push through it. You can do something different. You can change and really listen to your body and understand what it is you need and and make that change.

speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And not fasting's not it's not ideal for everyone. And especially I've talked about this before. Anyone who has like a history of eating disorders, you want to tread with caution with fasting. You want to talk to a professional first because it can trigger old behaviors and feelings and emotions. And so there are people that it's not ideal for. So you always want to check with your ⁓ doctor provider first before you start a routine. But for the most part, fasting is a great tool for So many people.

speaker-0: Yes. Thank you for saying that. That's a really critical piece. Talk to a medical professional. And if you do have a history of eating disorders or any kind of medical, you know, history, it's something that's really important because again, you know, you need to make sure you're doing what's best for your own individual health, not based on what you're reading on Instagram or social media or even hearing on podcasts that are, you know, very well informed and well intentioned. But be sure to again be your own advocate, learn about this, know if it's right for you, talk to your medical professional. professional, make sure you're doing it doing it right.

speaker-1: Yeah, yeah. All right. Is there anything else, any last words for our listeners that you want to leave them with before we wrap up?

speaker-0: Yeah, you know, the one thing I wanted to say sort of on the behavior change piece, and especially for anyone who's facing something that feels overwhelming or they're getting a lot of inputs. I just mentioned social media, which I have a few times in this discussion. There are so many things out there telling you what to do and how to live. The main thing I would say from sort of a coach approach standpoint is To really think about your why and what you're trying to accomplish for yourself and what your goal is and where you wanna be in five, 10, 20 years, or even in three months. You know, think about why you're making these changes. What's important to you? Is it that you wanna run around with your kids? Do you wanna take your dog on a hike? Do you wanna be around when you're 95 picking up grandkids or bringing your groceries up and down the stairs? What is your your longer term motivation and why. And keep that really front and center for yourself. And then also don't let perfect be the enemy of good. I see this a lot and I'm sure you do too, where and you talked about this also in one of your previous podcasts about the Enneagram, perfectionism really can stall people out and create a lot of paralysis around making change. Even if you don't have time for a 30-minute workout or Oops, I grabbed the sugary snack on my way out the door. Now the whole day has fallen apart. You know, no, this is this is really an opportunity to to think about what you want to do next. So if you can't do the 30-minute workout, do 20 scu 20 squats in your kitchen while you're cooking. Yeah, it's one of my favorite things to do. Yeah. It's like I I didn't have time today, so I am gonna do some squats here. You know, I'm gonna do a couple laps around my living room, like just get movement and and call it a win. You know, at least you're doing something to get your body moving. ⁓ you know, if you eat that sugary snack, don't throw the whole day away. You know, think about what you want for your next meal. Start it with something different. So don't let perfect be the enemy of good and make sure you keep your why front and center so that you don't get caught up in a lot of the noise that is out there ⁓ today.

speaker-1: Yeah. Such a good point. And I like how you said the squats because I think I just heard something recently that doing like if you work at a desk like, you know, we do, standing up and doing squats is supposed to be just as beneficial as going for like a, you know, five minute walk or something like that. Just getting yes the body moving and like releasing that stagnant energy, you know. So it's such a good point. And I love how you said to not focus on perfect and just be, you know, happy with good. Just be appreciative and and know that you have achieved something that you set out to do and if you mess up or you didn't actually, you know, do what you intended to do, it's like it's just put it behind you and then and do the next thing. So it's so important. I think that's so important. And our vision for why we do something, it's with everything. And if we don't have a clear vision, it's gonna get lost and then we're gonna kind of fall back to old patterns and old behaviors because we don't have that at the forefront. So You know, maybe having something at your desk like what is your why? Or, you know, on your refrigerator or your pantry or wherever it is that you can see it all the time, or even the screensaver on your phone, what is your why? Like every time you pick up your phone, you see it and that's like your focus. So yeah, I think that's so so helpful. So well, thank you so much, Heidi, for all your words of wisdom and everything that you shared with us. And how can people access the The zero fasting app, do they just go to the app store?

speaker-0: Yeah, go to the app store, download it there. Also zerolongevity.com. We have a blog as well with a lot of great information. And we have social media channels that I encourage you to follow. Dr. Naomi, who is wonderful, is our chief medical officer, and she does a lot of great content on our Instagram, TikTok, Facebook. We're everywhere. So I encourage you to follow us there for, you know, really science-backed, science-based content on fasting, protein, all the things we talked about today. ⁓ It's a really great resource.

speaker-1: Okay. Yeah, and I'll link those in the show notes too, so they can they can access that, the website, the app, the social media platforms. And where can people find you?

speaker-0: Where can they find me? Well, I am I'm on Instagram, I'm on LinkedIn. Feel free to connect, reach out. ⁓ you know, I would love to have any conversations or answer any questions. If you can't tell, I love talking about this stuff. This is really my passion. ⁓ and so I'm always more than happy to to chat with anyone. I always love to hear people's stories too.

speaker-1: Yeah, your passion it your passion shows through for sure. And that's why we're such good friends because we, you know, share that same passion about t talking about health for for hours and spreading the word and helping helping people achie achieve their goal of what healthy means to them too. So

speaker-0: Yes, that's exactly right. I love it. Thank you, Jen.

speaker-1: All right, ladies, thank you so much for listening. And if you like this episode and don't want to miss the next one, go ahead and hit subscribe and I will see you next week. Bye for now.