Laura Laire [00:00:00] Welcome to the Married 2 Marketing podcast, where our lifelong love affair with marketing is second only to our commitment to each other.
Todd Laire [00:00:06] I'm Todd Laire, CEO and Co-Founder of LAIRE Digital.
Laura Laire [00:00:10] And I'm Laura Laire, VP of Creative Strategy, co-founder of LAIRE digital and Todd's better half.
Todd Laire [00:00:15] Together, we found success in business and in life by combining our talents, entrepreneurial spirit and creativity.
Laura Laire [00:00:21] Whether you're a marketing newbie or a seasoned pro, Married 2 Marketing is a podcast that will have you flexing your creative muscles, pushing boundaries, and thinking outside the box.
Todd Laire [00:00:30] Our mission? To equip you with knowledge, tools and strategies that will skyrocket your brand success. Let's dive in.
Laura Laire [00:00:39] Hi and welcome to the latest episode of the Married 2 Marketing podcast. And today we're going to talk about fasting. This is a follow up to our last episode where we talked a little bit about human performance, and we really wanted to have a follow up series on some of the things that we have done over the years to improve our health, which in turn improves our business right Todd?
Todd Laire [00:01:03] That's right. I'm a huge fan of fasting.
Laura Laire [00:01:07] Not initially, I don't.
Todd Laire [00:01:09] Oh, I'm also a huge fan of eating more of a fan of eating than fasting, but I do love fasting.
Laura Laire [00:01:15] Yeah, we we started fasting, um, about a month before I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Um, unknowingly, um, and I, I think we were both pretty excited about it because we knew it would help, uh, lose weight. But what what do you think about fasting? What was your first experience with it?
Todd Laire [00:01:33] I'm going to be hungry all the time, and it's going to be unbearable. And, uh, I don't know how I will survive.
Laura Laire [00:01:41] Right?
Todd Laire [00:01:42] That's what I thought about it initially. Anyway.
Laura Laire [00:01:45] Um, I remember, uh, we started fasting as part of a weight loss program, and we started with intermittent fasting. And there's a couple different types of fasting. Um, one being intermittent. So this is where you're fasting either in a, um, an eating window every day or uh, a couple of days a week. Um, it it really works just as well if you do this five days a week, um, rather than seven. So if you want to take weekends off, um, we do this generally every day though. Um, but there's intermittent fasting and then there's a water fast like a 3 to 5 day fast. And we're going to talk about both of those today. Um. We've always fasted. Humans have always fasted. Animals have always fasted. It's part of what we do. And that's pretty much why they say you break fast in the morning and eat breakfast, which is one of Todd's favorite parts of the day. Like when you get to break fast, or as my as my kids call it 'breftest' when they were when they were little tiny things. Um, it's definitely something that when you first start, it's hard initially. Like, what do you think about fasting when you first started fasting, what was your impression first couple of days? If you remember, since it's been a couple of years.
Todd Laire [00:03:03] Uh, I think just the discipline of not eating when I wanted to, you know, like eating when in the first 30 minutes of waking up. But being more intentional about the time, uh, at the time we were doing, um, time restricted fasting. So eating within an eight hour window. Um, and so that was, I think, you know, 11 to 7 was, which was the, the window that we chose. So, you know, at 8:00, let's say 730, 8:00, like, okay, this is usually when I would eat or, you know, sometimes, sometimes not. And um, and so then kind of waiting, I remember now like I'm on Saturday, I didn't eat until five. It just worked out better that I didn't eat and I wasn't necessarily hunger had the hunger pains. Um, and but we've been fasting for years now, so, um, so that that's what's changed. But in the beginning, it's just getting yourself in the habit of being disciplined about, um, not only when, but also why. Uh, and at the time, obviously we had fitness goals that were tied to it. Um, but but really just focusing in on the win and then not losing sight of the why.
Laura Laire [00:04:18] Well, I mean why fast I think is the the great question. And of course, like Todd said, losing weight is a great reason to fast. We generally as humans, we just eat too much and we eat in too long of a window. I mean, some would say you actually don't have to change what you eat, but you want to change when you eat. And, uh, the, the biggest reason we've continued fasting because we're both at a healthy weight. Neither one of us needs to lose weight. We did initially, uh, lose weight. Uh, I lost 13 pounds. I think the first four weeks when we started. I think you lost 20. Maybe. Unfortunately, guys lose weight a lot faster than women. Uh, we did do some other things. Like low carbohydrate. Um, no sugar in coffee, no sugar at all, as a matter of fact. And, um, it's been, you know, since June of 2021, and I've stayed on a sugar free diet, refined sugar free. I have added back in some coconut sugar and honey now and again, but I've stayed at an ideal weight, much of that due to, uh, very little processed foods, you know, very little sugar. I don't do any processed sugar. Um, but also fasting. I think that this is there's a great documentary, uh, called fasting, uh, that you can watch on Gaia, um, for free. If you're a member on Gaia, you can watch it, um, and buy it. It's a fantastic video. I think it's highly motivating when you learn that you can reverse disease with time restricted eating by giving yourself a window. And I'm talking, you know, glucose, A1C, cholesterol, blood pressure. There's just a ton of things that you can reverse. But let's talk about feeling good. Like if you're going to run a business, if you want to be a highly productive, professional human being in your life, I mean, for Todd and I, we we want to feel good. We work out because we want to feel good, like we want to feel mentally good. We want to feel physically good. And fasting and working out are two of those things that we've added into our regimen, so that we're much more of a high performer in our life. Now. We both have windows, uh, that we tend to eat. And, Todd, what's your preferred eating window?
Todd Laire [00:06:32] Uh, typically 11 to 7 or 12 to 8.
Laura Laire [00:06:37] Um, and I would tell you, uh, based on my nutritionist and based on studies, the earlier you eat, the better. I mean, it's definitely at least an 11 hour window, so that's like, you know, 7 to 6 if you're going to consume, if you're drinking juices and other things to give yourself time to do that. But 11 hours is kind of the minimum there. So, uh, you want to you really want to be done with food by seven. So having dinner around six or earlier is best. And, uh, according to my nutrition, for health reasons, you really don't want to eat six what happens when you consume food before you go to bed? It's converted to fat and you just don't burn off those calories. And it increases your blood sugar because not only do you go to sleep, but your organs go to sleep. So your pancreas goes to sleep. You're not moving, you're not burning calories. And what your body needs to do when it goes to sleep is actually heal. So if you're not sleeping. Um, and you're digesting instead? Well, I guess you could sleep, but digesting food really interrupts the sleep pattern. But if you're digesting food, which takes a lot of energy, your body is not healing. And this is important because this is when we're healing all the things. This is when our body's on a search and destroy mission for cancer cell. This is, uh, when our body's cleaning up our blood. You know, it just takes a lot of energy, um, for food. So there's a lot of people who have a larger eating window, and Todd and I definitely do that. Like, an athlete may have a 16 to 8 eating window, meaning they don't eat for 16 hours. Um, and they only eat at an eight hour window. Uh, my neighbor actually only eats it. I believe it's a three hour window. It's super, super short, um, eating window. And he literally eats three meals during that time. Um, but I think it's something that you learn how to do, and you get rid of a lot of cravings. Like, what do you think the first. You know, I don't know, first couple of weeks. Todd, what do you think was the hardest thing about starting fasting?
Todd Laire [00:08:44] Um, just, uh, just like I said earlier, just being intentional, uh, about when and what I was eating, you know, and, um, not eating all the time, and, you know. Oh, it's past seven. So, uh, time to stop eating clean, to stay out of the fridge. Stay away. Um, you know the cereal? Yeah.
Laura Laire [00:09:07] The cereal.
Todd Laire [00:09:09] Put it down.
Laura Laire [00:09:13] It's Todd's favorite at night. Sneak-A-Roni.
Todd Laire [00:09:14] One of many sneak-a-ronis, actually.
Laura Laire [00:09:19] Well. And what happens when you're eating cereal? It is something that you know when you don't feel like cooking. You know, it's getting late. I'm hungry because I've been exercising. I've been working out. And eating cereal is one of those things. It's just easy to eat, but it's a carb and your body is not going to be able to break that down while you're sleeping. Um, your body's not going to heal when you're digesting food and when you go to sleep. If you haven't been eating what your body does, is it it goes into autophagy. Um, when you when you have a longer fasting window. So if I've got a 11 hour window or a 16 hour window, this is when we start to break down whatever isn't necessary for energy, like damaged mitochondria. Um, if you think about fasting longer term, like a day, you know, a water fast, let's say we're going to do a 3 to 5 day water fast. Day three. This gets really hardcore. Um, the autophagy and cellular eating breaks down all of the damaged mitochondria. Anything that your body doesn't need, it starts to clean house. So not only do we do intermittent fasting, but we've done longer term fast. Uh, the first time I did a fast, I did it with, um, I did a three day water fast. I built the third day. Um, I was really struggling. And generally it's the second or third day for most people. Sometimes it's the third or fourth day for some. But if you're really having a hard time doing anything or getting out of bed, then what you need to do is rest. Um, and it's for myself, I just drink a lot of herbal teas, um, that have no caffeine. Drink a lot of water because the hunger pains will go away. Don't you agree, Todd? Like the first. The first time we started fasting. Intermittent fasting. You're going to be hungry because your body is used to eating. It doesn't mean that you actually are. Your body's like, oh, it's time. It's time. We usually eat around 7:00, so let's go ahead and eat. But it actually passes if you continue drinking water. Todd, uh, usually drinks black coffee during that time, which doesn't break a fast. I drink, uh, jasmine green tea, uh, in the morning, if my stomach's growling, I just grab some water. Um, and you just keep drinking and it goes away.
Todd Laire [00:11:39] One thing I thought of to somebody shared, um, hunger pains. It's actually your body and your system processing food and nutrients and, um, still digesting, you know, and so I think psychologically, for me, I stopped looking at hunger pangs as, like, pain, but more so, like my body is processing, um, you know, still processing food nutrients in my system, so that's good. Uh, and now I hardly ever notice any hunger pains at all. Um, because I think I need that psychological shift to know that hunger pains are a good thing. Um, in a way. Like, if you're starving and you can't think about anything other than that. I have a long flight and then got into town and had some, uh, stuff wherever I was traveling, where I was traveling, um, I was definitely hungry. Like, it wasn't hunger pains. It was like, no, I need sustenance now. Much different than the occasional, like, oh, my stomach growled. I must be hungry. I should go eat something. No, actually, you're processing stuff and that's really, really good. So.
Laura Laire [00:12:49] Well, here's the thing about your body. It's amazing. And if you have a lot of excess fat, or if you're overweight or if you have, um, any type of visceral fat around the stomach area, which can be very, very dangerous, your body will use that for fuel. So your you know, a lot of times we're hungry because our body's like, it's time to eat. But if we have excess fat, we actually don't need to eat because that's fuel that your body will use when you're not eating. So autophagy is what happens when you're not eating. It goes into those fat cells and it burns fat cells to give you energy. So again you're not going to starve to death if you have any excess pounds or any fat on your body. Your body will use that as fuel. It's it's really smart. And it will continue to burn that to give your body energy. And um, so that's autophagy or cellular eating. It will also use that for energy. Um, it's like an internal house cleaning. Um, anytime you do a fast it doesn't matter if it's intermittent fasting or, um, if you're if it's a longer, fast 16 hours, your body can go into that. But generally in the second or third day is when you go into ketosis or your body starts to produce ketones, and that's when it's burning fat to give you energy. So are you going to lose weight on intermittent fasting? Absolutely. Are you going to lose weight on a 3 to 5 day water fast? Absolutely. Um, about a pound a day generally. But you will gain some of that back once you start re-feeding the body. Um, if you think of your, your body like a, uh, cabin. I just got back from snowboarding. He was telling me it was, like, negative, uh, seven, you know, super, super cold. And if he got stuck out there, stuck in a cabin and he had to keep the fire burning, um, he's going to look around, you know, just like your body is going to look around and go, okay, what is not necessary around here that I can burn? I mean, I'm not going to burn my food, and I'm not going to burn my clothes that are keeping me warm. I might put on five layers of clothes and look around, you know, maybe the kitchen cabinets, maybe, uh, the legs off of chairs, maybe a table after that. I'm not going to take the walls, burn the walls down that are keeping me safe. So it's going to look around and find whatever isn't necessary and burn that for energy. Fat is going to be one of the first things to go, but it's also going to go into the mitochondria, break cells down and use anything it can. It's a internal housekeeper that goes and cleans things up. Um, uh, there's an analogy that you have to stop the traffic to fix the road as well. So if you have any type of problems in the digestive track, uh, anything from the mouth to the south. Right. So irritable bowel colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, anything that's going on digestive, including reflux and any of those issues, a lot of that can be healed by fasting because if you're not same thing with blood sugar. If you're not consuming food, there's no sugar going into your body, then it's going to normalize. You're going to allow your body time to heal. So your body is a scavenger. It will look for fuel if there is no fuel source. So, um, it's not gonna affect your metabolism. People worry like, you know, is my metabolism going to slow down if I start fasting, I think your metabolism gets better. Like, you get rid of a lot of the problems you've had. Like, don't you think one of the first things to go was cravings when we started fasting?
Todd Laire [00:16:30] I do, yeah.
Laura Laire [00:16:32] Yep. So. So let's talk about the the the multi-day fast. So intermittent fasting. Um there's a lot out there about that. We both utilize intermittent fasting now for several years. Um, a lot of my friends and family that I shared fasting with have had a lot of success. It's actually easier to have a smaller window, and it's built into our genetics. Like, you know, people would go on a hunt for for several days. Um, there wouldn't be any food. Sometimes there would be famine. It was it wasn't like it is now where there's food available all the time. 100% of the time, we always have food. That doesn't mean that we should be eating all of the time. So if we want to do a longer fast and the. And the reason for doing a longer fast is, first of all, to lose weight, to break habits, to heal anything that needs to be heal. A lot of diseases can be reversed through fasting. Um, I think the first day's doable. Todd has done several, uh, 24 hour fast. And, uh, one of the things that I always recommended, um, you know, because I also do a lot of 24 hour fast and then longer term ones is to eat at night before, you know, 5 or 6:00 and then don't eat again until the next day at 5 or 6:00. And, um, how was that for you when you started doing 24 hour fast?
Todd Laire [00:17:53] Uh, the first one was tough, I think, but, uh, you know, I was motivated. I went to a, uh, family function. Um, there was over the weekend, and we just ate all the things, and it was, you know, and I knew going in, it was just going to be that. And so I was really motivated coming out of that to not eat and let give myself and give my body time to process all of that. And so I had a long, all day road trip, and I chose as soon as I woke up, I was just going to fast that entire day. Um, and I drank water. And for the most part, other than stopping and getting my son Chick-Fil-A and having to smell it. Uh, I did pretty good. It was it was it was, um, you know, it was good. It wasn't foreign to me. I'd been fasting, intermittent fasting for probably a year up until that point. So making that jump, uh, wasn't too difficult. And so then, uh, going to bed was interesting because I was like, going to bed with an empty stomach. And I'm so conditioned, like all of us, to not go to bed with an empty stomach. But I've been camping in the middle of somewhere where there wasn't anything to eat, and I did go to bed hungry, and I survived. Um, and so the next day I, you know, actually waited until probably 10 or 11, uh, to eat or maybe like 9 or 10 to eat. And that was my first time eating, actually, in more than 24 hours was almost like a 36 hour fast. Uh, but, you know, at the time, I felt clear, uh, I felt light. I did have energy. Um, not like energy. You would think, like, oh, I get energy after I eat. I like not eating. Gave me kind of a different feeling of of energy. Um, and then I ate and, um, you know, proceeded with my day. And so, uh, that that was like my first real experience of an extended multi-day, more or less pass.
Laura Laire [00:19:44] Well, I think it's easier to start with 24 hours than it is to start with three days. Um, what's funny is every time I've decided to, you know, I just thought I was going too fast for 24 hours, and then I felt pretty good. So I'm like, well, let's just keep going. Both times Todd was out of town. I probably wasn't the best idea having, uh, two kids at home, but definitely weekends are going to make it a lot easier. Uh, I like to start on a Friday, so if I feel the worst on Saturday and Sunday, then I'm at home. And you really don't need to do anything you don't want to work out. You, uh, really don't want to drink? Yeah. You want to rest, and and you don't want to drink a bunch of caffeine. This is the time to stop drinking coffee. If you've if you're drinking coffee and you're concerned about the the headaches, drinking some green tea can help with that. Um, but we've also done the detox where, uh, Todd's gotten off coffee, and, boy, does it give you a killer headache if you are used to drinking coffee. Um, so the first thing is, really, it's doable. If you're going to do a multi-day fast, the first day is really doable. I would start with 24 hours and see how you do. If you're busy working, it's really actually pretty easy. Um, sometimes it's almost like a vacation, like, because I don't have to make food. I don't have to take time to eat. You know, you just. I just keep drinking, um, water. You can have water with lemon. You can have an herbal tea. Um, you can have a half a teaspoon of, um, powder, like an omelet powder or something like that in, um, 8 or 16oz of water. It's not enough calories to actually break the fast. So you can have liquids, clear water. Um, you can even use tap water. Obviously filtered is better, but, uh, this doesn't cost anything. It does not cost anything to fast. And if you're busy, like I said, it is it is easy. But I would plan it so that you can lay around on the two harder days. Um, you want to be drinking, uh, a half a gallon to a whole gallon of water, depending upon your body size. Um, being clear is a great idea. So that's like 64 to 128oz. Um, and the first day, your body's going to use up all the sugar that you've been consuming. So, like Todd said, when we had a big family, um, outing, eat a lot of food. I don't know if that's the best idea for fasting. It's kind of good to lower meat and and carbohydrate and sugar production before you start fasting. But sometimes it's motivating when you're like, I eat enough on Thanksgiving that I don't need to eat for three days, but it's going to be harder on you to eat a lot and then stop than it is to start lowering the amount of food you're consuming and eating more salads and raw food to then stop eating. If you're hungry and you're going to be drink water, uh, that's all you need to do is drink water. You don't have to have herbal teas or other things on hand. You really just need water. Um, second day, um, you're probably going to be hungry and you may or may not feel okay. Generally, the second day people start feeling pretty bad because your body is on. You know, they call it starvation, but you're actually not starving. Like I said, if you have any fat on your body, uh, your body's going to use it. So day one, it's going to use the sugar. Uh, day two, it's going to start looking for other things, uh, to burn day three, which for me is always the worst day, is when you really move up into that emergency backup fuel where your body switches its fuel source from sugar, which is its preferred fuel source, into, uh, ketosis or fat burning. So if you really want to lose weight, man, day three is when your body kicks it into high gear and starts burning all of that fat, and it's going to go straight for the fat in the midsection. Um, it's going to go for the visceral fat. So if you want to get the waistline trim down, you're not going to starve to death. If you have stored fat. This is really important to think about when you're thinking, because it's really an emotional roller coaster. When you're fasting to tell yourself you don't need to eat, you're fine, even though your stomach's growling and you and you want to eat. For me, it's always been difficult to feed my kids. Like Todd said, I've also been in a, um, a five day fast and and for whatever reason, we don't get Chick-Fil-A that much or for whatever reason, you know, it. It was just something we needed to do. And I'm in the car with my kid eating Chick-fil-A, and it's difficult when you haven't eaten in three days to to smell it. But again, if your motivation is that you want to lose weight or you want to heal your body, it's pretty easy to overcome those kinds of things. Don't you agree?
Todd Laire [00:24:15] I do yeah, yeah. And again, the goals you write, like whatever the goals, I think people being sick and tired of being sick and tired and having really strong weight loss goals, you know, like they've maybe even hit a point where they've tried other things and failed. And they know some of it was the system, but also it was their discipline. And they get to a point now, I think a lot of people who start fasting and, and. Make it part of their lifestyle. Like pick it up seamlessly. You know, like especially intermittent fasting is not that hard. And I used to be somebody that it.
Laura Laire [00:24:52] Can be the first week. I don't think we remember, but it but it is the first week, don't you think. We I mean, we were pretty tortured the first week, but we got over it.
Todd Laire [00:25:03] Yeah. And I remember my uncle saying once, like when I wake up, like I got to have something in my stomach. And I used to think that too. Um, without any influence. Like, I just thought, like, that's. I can't start my day, I can't focus, I can't concentrate, um. And now. Yeah, I don't know, being mid 40s, uh, you know, it's different. Like, I actually have more concentration and focus, like not eating, uh, and focusing on, you know, high impact, high concentration type work first and then switching and focusing on being, you know, and my physical body and eating and nourishing myself. Um, you know, it's just, I don't know, I just have a totally different outlook on it now and found a way that works for me. And I think that's important for everybody is to find, uh, an eating window or find a fasting modality that works for them and be open to trying a few different ways and a few different windows or whatever. Um, until they do. And, and that's, that's similar to our journey. But absolutely, the first couple of days, um, in the first week are tough and like, very tough with just about every endeavor that's new as well.
Laura Laire [00:26:15] Yeah. There's one thing Todd and I have noticed is the the later we wait to eat and we can really go until 12 or 1:00 very easily to eat sometimes too. But what happens is we end up eating too late. And what's more important is that you stop eating like your last meals at six, like you're you're not eating past seven like as a heart stop because you need your body to regenerate while you're sleeping. You need your body. Like if you're eating late, you are so headed straight for blood sugar issues. I mean, it's just it's a given. And so that's the the one thing that you may have to push your, your eating window back so that you're eating earlier. It's much better to eat like a king in the morning and to eat like a popper at night, then vice versa, because you want to have time to break that down. So as the years have gone by, I've realized I really need to eat by 9:00. Otherwise lunch is like 3 or 4. And then, you know, if sometimes we don't even eat, but two times a day we don't eat three meals a day. But both of us are very physically active. I do, um, uh, strength yoga every day. Todd's doing cardio and strength like, we're we're both exercising. We do need to consume food. So it's not necessarily about the quantity is about the timing. And getting it in earlier, uh, is easier for me to get to that. Um, not eating past six window and seven at the absolute very latest. Um, most people have never done this in their life, a multi-day fast, but we're actually we're meant to, um, it's not only, uh, survival, but this is how our body protects and regenerates the immune system. So if there's anything wrong with your immune system system, if it's not in top shape, um, then you're you're not going to win the war, if you will. And it's kind of like, um, if you think of yourself as getting old and tired and broken and not working, you know, the mitochondria and everything inside the cells not working properly, you wouldn't want to send the elderly to win a war for you. And that's what's happening. When you don't do a multi-day fast, it's really recommended to do a 3 to 5 day fast twice a year. Um, for all people, it's really, really good for the body. And if you've got anything, any type of diagnosis, um, or condition or label that's been put on you with high blood pressure or cardiovascular issues or or pre-diabetic or anything like that, you can reverse so many of these things. Uh, and it's proven scientifically with studies just by giving your body time to regenerate all of these cells. Because when you're when you're when you're fasting, when all of these elderly cells die, it triggers, uh, stem cell activation. So that creates all these healthy and new and young immune cells that are now going to be able to fight this battle for you. So day three is when all of this is happening, and this is why you feel so bad generally on day three. Some people it's day for so between day two and four. But usually it's day three. Um, and for me it's, it's when you need to lay down. It's when you need to lay down and watch a movie. And I won't lie, um, I, I've definitely had to have some distraction with Netflix. I go to bed way earlier. I'm like, let me get in the bathtub. Um, I have taken walk. Like, you don't want to exercise, really, but you can the first day. You can do anything you normally do on the first day. Um, but you don't want to be sore on day two, like, you don't want to do anything. So, um, so much activity that you're really sore on the second day. So you think of this fasting time as a vacation. You don't have to exercise. You don't have to prepare food. It's free. You just need water. It's all that, all that you need. So it really, truly begins. And so this is something that I did. I was working with a doctor who specializes in GI when I had, uh, colitis. And I, for whatever reason, just got colitis out of the blue when I was given a medication, which is where we think it came from. Um, after having cryo ablation, I received a medication. And next thing you know, I have colitis, and, um, I'm suffering with this for, I don't know, six months, but it was brutal, brutal, brutal. And, um, I read a book, um, that I can't remember what the name of the book is. Uh, Healthy Gut, Health You, Doctor Ruscio. Um, I believe that's the name of it, but he had recommended a bone broth detox, and so I did that for five days. So I drank nothing but bone broth for five days. And then, uh, went on a supplement holiday for seven days, like, no, no supplements whatsoever as well. Just to let the digestive system rest, don't have to digest anything, don't have to to do anything. And I did a few other things, but within five weeks it was gone. Like colitis was completely gone. So if you think about if you got something that's going wrong, your body is when you're in this 3 to 5 day fast day three, your body's really get to work. And when you feel really, really bad on day three is when you really want to keep going. Because, you know, this is when I'm healing is four and five. Those are the days when I'm really healing. And for me, I'm really, really tired. You need to lay around in bed, watch some Netflix and chill. Um, don't need to workout or get a lot done. So again, starting on a Thursday or Friday so you have Saturday and Sunday to rest is really important. Day four and five you start feeling much better. And and most people will say they feel really, really good. Um, the first couple of days can get emotional. I mean it gets. It can get real, real fast. On a fast, you can get emotional, because a lot of these things that are buried in your fat cells stress old damage. Cells are dying to become fuel for the for the new ones. And a lot can come up. It's a mental journey, right, Todd? I mean, the conversation that is going on in your head when you're like, I'm hungry and you're like, but we're not going to eat. I'm hungry, but we're not eating. Like, you know, what do you do to overcome that?
Todd Laire [00:32:18] Yeah. And again, stay focused on on the goal. And, um, you know, there's stories too, about people that, uh, you know, fasted for a long time to, like, get rid of a headache or get rid of, uh, you know, a knee pain or whatever, and, you know, to a week or two of them not eating. And then the pain went away, and then they were able to resume their, their routine. Um, so, you know, it just it I think it really depends on, on the goals, you know, like, for me, like, uh, maintaining, creating and sustaining energy is of the utmost important for me. Um, and it affects just about everything that I do. So, um, so that that's a goal of mine, you know, and that that keeps me, um, on point. That keeps me on task.
Laura Laire [00:33:09] I mean, like Todd was saying, we've especially in that documentary on fasting, you'll see people who had a headache for, I don't know if it's like 14 or 15 years. Um, she had a headache that never stopped, ever, ever. And, uh, she did some longer fast, which were medically supervised. If you're going to do something longer than five days, you definitely should be under medical supervision, like a facility like True North or, um, there's a couple of facilities that you can do this, but, uh, she did a 40 day fast. And actually, I think it took 240 day fast. And then she's never had a headache since. And this was, uh, since 2010, after 15 years of having a nonstop headache. The reason it affects so many places in your body. Like I held my gut. There's people who who heal so many different things. Their blood sugar completely reverses. Pre-diabetic, completely goes away is because it's not just, uh, immune cells that are regenerated during fasting. It's all your cells, like every single one of them. So the the people ask a lot about, uh, water fasting versus juice fasting. Um, juice is great, but you're not going to get into that autophagy. Um, you'll give your body a lot of nutrition and you'll rest it from digesting, but you're not going to be getting that cellular, um, the stem cell activation in the cell regeneration that you get on just water. Um, can you take supplements during a fast. Yes. If you're on pharmaceuticals, you need to talk to your doctor. Um, generally, based on my experience with, um, working with Doctor Ruscio for healing colitis, I really try to, you know, not do supplements. It's only 3 to 5 days. You know, it's not going to be a big deal if you're on something, uh, some type of pharmaceutical drug, some of them you can still continue to take during it fast. Just make sure you talk to your, uh, your doctor about that. Um, one thing that I do, uh, during fasting or I think is a great idea is a water enema because your bowel movement is going to slow down a bit, and during fasting, because when you eat, it stimulates peristalsis to keep things moving. So a water enema is great to help to clear out toxic waste. Um, and so is walking and, um. You know, it's movement that it helps to create. It's not something that you have to do, but it definitely is helpful if you're trying to to heal your body. Um, whether it's irritable bowel colitis, inflammatory bowel disorder, A1C issues, sugar, cardiovascular energy, brain fog, I mean it's endless. What a longer fast like a 3 to 5 day fast, um, will do for you. But intermittent fasting just by itself is amazing. Um, we've seen a lot of great results from fasting. Um, a couple things that I've learned is to sprinkle a little bit of salt in the water so that you don't get dehydrated. I think that's probably the biggest problem is dehydration. You got to make sure you drink enough water to clear everything out. And then when you go to to break your fast, it's best not to go straight to a big salad because your body has not been digesting. It's kind of like getting a colonic and then eating a salad right after. It's a little much on your digestive, uh, system. So eating things that are easier to digest, um, like cooked vegetables or potatoes or rice or, um, something like that is easier to digest to, to kind of break the fast. But um, like Todd was saying, we, we really added fasting not only to lose weight, but, you know, we're both close to 50. I'll be 50 in a year. And I want to feel good. I want to have energy to run my business. I want to be a great example for my team and the people that I'm around. We really promote wellness at LAIRE and, um, for our team, and I think it has an effect on everybody when you feel good, um, and when you're able to see great results like weight loss and, um, and heal diseases. I mean, for me, it was really powerful to, to watch colitis just absolutely disappear. Um, I mean, it came, came on and hung around for a while until I learned that fasting was really one of the best ways to to start healing that again. I did a few other things. So, um, message us if you want to learn a little bit more, you can listen to the podcast. Before this. I talk a little bit about that. So to wrap up, you actually don't have to change what you eat. You have to change when you eat. I mean, uh, there's a lot of studies. There's studies in mice on treadmills. And I love how they, they, uh, they test this to see, like, does it work the same if they have food, access to food 24 hours a day, you know, two days a week. So, you know, like, going nuts on the weekend, like you can eat anytime you want on two days on Saturday and Sunday, but your, uh, intermittent fasting five days of the week, you still get the same results. So it's it's a lifestyle change. It's one that Todd and I have seen a lot of great benefit from, energy wise, weight wise, we're both at a, uh, perfectly normal, healthy weight now. Like, neither one of us really is trying to to lose weight. And we've maintained our weight through fasting and through, uh, not eating a lot of processed foods. Um, but I think time restricted eating is more effective than medication for a majority of issues that people are, um, are suffering for. So. I think you can reverse these things. And we wanted to share a little bit of our experience on fasting and kind of cheer you on, you know, on your journey as well.
Todd Laire [00:38:43] Give it a try, try, try it one day and see how it goes.
Laura Laire [00:38:47] Yeah. Try 24 hours first.
Todd Laire [00:38:49] Yeah. There you go.
Laura Laire [00:38:51] And then maybe Todd will share his experience. Uh, I know he's eager to do a 5 day fast pretty soon, so we'll we'll come back on and and share, uh, his experience. Happy fasting.
Todd Laire [00:39:05] Good luck.
Laura Laire [00:39:07] Bye bye.
Todd Laire [00:39:08] All right.
Laura Laire [00:39:09] That's a wrap on this week's episode of the Married 2 Marketing podcast. I'm your host, Laura, along with my husband and partner, Todd. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review our podcasts. Your feedback fuels our passion and keeps the marketing fire burning bright.
Todd Laire [00:39:22] And if you're hungry for more marketing magic, be sure to visit our website. Married2Marketing.com. We've got a treasure trove of additional resources, episode transcripts, and Mind-blowing bonus content.
Laura Laire [00:39:34] We'll be back next week with another engaging episode. Until then, be creative. Get strategic and never go to bed angry.
