190 The Science of Fasting & How to Use It for Sharper Thinking | Dr Tom Buckley

When did you last actually let yourself feel hungry? Not the "due for a snack" kind. Properly, deliberately hungry, on purpose. If you can't remember, you're not alone. Now imagine using that discomfort as a lever instead of avoiding it.Every reflexive snack, every meeting that runs straight into the next, every bite you take before your body even asks for it keeps you running on one setting. You never give your body the signal to switch fuel sources, sharpen your focus, or clean house at a cellular level. The fog, the afternoon slump, the stubborn weight that won't shift: that's the bill for never stopping.Dr Tom Buckley has spent more than 22 years reading the bloodwork of Performance Intelligence's executive clients, translating what's happening inside hundreds of high performers into how they eat, train, and lead. He's back on the podcast to explain what fasting actually does inside your body, why the meal you were told never to skip has a cereal company to thank for that reputation, and how two nights a week without dinner might be the highest-leverage habit in your week.You could keep running on constant fuel and wonder why your energy never settles. Or you could learn to use hunger as a lever instead of an enemy.03:35 The fat that's easiest to shift, and where it sits 05:41 Ghrelin, leptin and the people who never feel full 09:03 Three fuels, one easy habit: why carbohydrate wins by default 10:27 Metabolic flexibility: the skill Western living has trained out of us 16:08 The story that's driven Dr Tom for 35 years 21:47 What fasting switches off first 22:47 Ketones: the fuel that skips the insulin queue 25:13 Fasting and the new GLP-1 drugs are chasing the same biology 27:33 The shortcut risk: trading discipline for a jab 28:17 What decades of fasting research actually agree on 31:16 The benefits nobody puts on the label 33:21 Andrew's own Tuesday and Thursday fast, and why it finally clicked 36:01 The worst thing we do as humans, and the second worst thing 41:20 Autophagy: the cellular housekeeping everyone's talking about 44:22 Marvellous mitochondria, and why the name always gets a rerecord 45:00 The 18:6 protocol Dr Tom and Andrew actually live by 46:37 Why 6pm to midday captures most of the benefit 48:49 The client who fasted every day and undid his own progress 50:06 Why Dr Tom says don't pull this lever before your late 30s 51:39 David Sinclair's one-meal-a-day experiment 53:06 The 24-hour fast Dr Tom takes on international flights 54:50 Why women need a different rulebook entirely 58:29 Dirty fasting and dirty keto: the shortcut that costs you later 60:47 Dr Tom's cliff notes for the time-poor listenerWatch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/iiDAwpx78yoThe resource Dr Tom referenced for women's fasting protocols: Fast Like a Girl by Dr Mindy Pelz: https://fastlikeagirl.com/You can find Dr Tom at his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-buckley-06a76b98/Listen to Dr Tom and Andrew talk GLP-1s: https://performanceintelligence.com/the-science-of-ozempic-and-what-happens-after-you-stop-dr-tom-buckley/