Intermittent Fasting & Burnout
Skipping breakfast works at first. But a few years later, women may have increased weight, dysregulated cortisol and/or blood sugar. At first it works because an acute stressor gives you a burst of energy and suppresses your appetite. But that’s not what happens with chronic stress. Busy, high-achieving women are running on stress hormones already. Chronic stress is going to make your blood sugar go up, its going to make you tired and eventually your intermittent fasting or skipping breakfast is going to backfire. That’s exactly what happened for me. I was a huge fan of intermittent fasting when I tried it late 2020 - early 2021 and used it successfully to lose my covid 15 pounds. But I plateaued in 2022 and when I pushed my body harder it rebelled. And, even though I did not want to admit it at the time, I got burned out.
Aside: did you know that burnout is not a medical diagnosis?
Hmm. When I saw a functional practitioner and received the lab tests back on my hormone analysis showing that I had Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Dysfunction, or HPA-Axis Dysfunction. My practitioner said, “basically, you’re burned out.”
I was thrilled to know what was wrong. Because when you know what’s wrong, you can do something to fix it. And so far everything I had been doing - and I had been researching for months, probably a year, and trying different lifestyle and diet interventions because I’m a smart person and I can figure things out. Well, from my internet research, there was something referred to as “adrenal fatigue,” which experts poo poo as not real, but I was pretty sure that was what I had. It was coined by a functional practitioner to come up with a name for what he was seeing in many of his clients. And, no, it is not a medical diagnosis. But the concept is real, and in the world of functional diagnostics (testing how your body is functioning in comparison to optimal levels), my results said HPA-Axis Dysfunction, which is pretty much what the internet was trying to tell me.
It was a huge relief to finally have a term for why I felt zapped of energy all day long. What used to work wasn’t working and I was at my wit's end. Getting the results of that hormone and stress analysis was a game-changer for me, and gave me an action plan for what I could introduce to my lifestyle (sunlight, managing blue light, grounding, walking, supportive supplements, and nourishing diet) in addition to my other health-related daily habits. It took me a few months of trying, to really get consistent and make the changes into habits. After about 6 months, I didn’t need the energy-boosting supplements anymore because my hormones were getting back into balance with my Circadian cycle. Testing, not guessing, was the key to my turnaround.
That's why I started a certification to become a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner (FDN-P), so that I could help other people who know that something is off, but who have been to the doctor and hear that they are "normal." Maybe normal for an unhealthy population, but you don't have to settle for that. As an FDN-P, I'll be able to help clients order their own lab tests so they can get to the bottom of how their body is functioning, and know what to pay attention to, to move toward more optimal functioning. You can get back to feeling good again, with the right information.
