081. “For me, less sugar and fasting are forms of self-care": Michelle

When Michelle was in her 30s, she got gestational diabetes when she was pregnant with her second child. She had to change her diet and she felt restricted, so after she had the baby and was told that she could eat "normally" again, she went bonkers! She would buy dozens of candy bars, eat them, and hide the wrappers. She felt so ashamed.At 5 feet 3 inches Michelle reached 200lbs. She felt heavy, physically and mentally. She felt lost. She had pain and flare-ups in her neck and back, migraines... it was hard. And she says that the sugar and processed foods she was consuming made every day more difficult.Michelle was never allowed sugar as a child by her "health nut" mother (her words), so she felt deprived. She feels today that it's a difficult balancing act between feelings of deprivation and dependency.When her youngest child was about 2.5, Michelle was using calorie cutting and exercise to lose weight, but it wasn't really working. After her wellness appointment with her doctor, she made a decision to do something different.She overheard somebody talking about intermittent fasting (IF). It sounded crazy to her! But then she did some research about it and discovered Gin Stephen's books. On January 24, 2020, Michelle started intermittent fasting. She started with a 14-hour fasting time, which was amazing because she'd been used to snacking all the time. After about 3 months, she was clean fasting 18 hours a day. In this episode, Michelle tells how her life and her health were transformed by IF.  Now Michelle enjoys non-food ways to practice self-care, including intermittent fasting.Find Michelle's Facebook group here.Find Michelle's "Fast and Fabulous" podcast here.Download Netta's list of Top 10 books about sugar, gut health, and intermittent fasting.Plus check out my sponsor, Medicine with Heart, which is an international functional medicine clinic specializing in difficult chronic cases of hormone imbalance, Lyme disease, mold illness and digestive dysfunction. Sign up for a consultation with their team to see if they can help reverse your disease! You can find more about them at medicinewithheart.com.Functional Medicine International Clinic: https://medicinewithheart.com/ Functional Medicine Online Certification: mindbodyfunctionalmedicine.comFor step-by-step guidance toward freedom from cravings, get your copy of my new book: "Break Free from Sugar Cravings". Available on Amazon now!For free resources, Do the Cravings Quiz and take the first step to get rid of your cravings! Download your 5 tips HERE to discover how you can get rid of cravings... even when you feel tired or stressed.To rate and review this podcast:scroll down in your podcast player on your phone and click on the stars. To leave a review, scroll down a little more and click on "Write a Review". Once you’ve finished, select “Send” or “Save” in the top-right corner. If you’ve never left a podcast review before, enter a nickname. Your nickname will be displayed on your review.After selecting a nickname, tap OK. Your review may not be immediately visible, but it should be posted soon. Thank you! - NettaDisclaimer: Information provided by Life After Sugar is not designed to and does not provide medical advice, professional diagnosis, opinion, treatment or services to you or to any other individual. This is general information for educational purposes only. The information provided ...