Episode 127 | Sugar Spiral: How I Used a 3-Day Fast to Get Back on Track

[00:00:00] Dr. Katie Deming: Hello everyone and welcome back to The Born to Heal podcast. I'm Dr. Katie Deming, your host, and on today's episode I wanna talk about why I use short fasts to get back on track with eating. And this is gonna go into a personal story of really what I've just gone through myself, which I know many of you experience yourself, but is.[00:00:26] Dr. Katie Deming: I got off track with [00:00:30] my eating and the way that I eat over the holidays, and I used a three day fast to get myself back on track. And so I wanna talk about this, how I personally use short, fast to get back on track with eating, and especially after periods where I've been drifted or where I've drifted into sugar.

[00:00:52] Dr. Katie Deming: So. This isn't medical advice and this is not a prescription for everyone, but I wanna explain really how I [00:01:00] lead myself and how I use short, fast between 24 and 72 hours. So one to three day fast to lead myself in my own wellness. And I'm sharing it because I know many of you struggle with the same thing, especially after events or trips or holidays or whatever.

[00:01:21] Dr. Katie Deming: It doesn't even have to be the holidays. It literally can be anything that gets us off track. I think this is something that everyone [00:01:30] experiences and so I wanna share my experience and also what do I do? Like how do I get myself back on track? So first I wanna start that. I have a history of a sugar addiction, and when I say addiction, I mean that sugar isn't neutral for me.

[00:01:47] Dr. Katie Deming: It flips a switch and I can be eating beautifully anti-inflammatory, grounded, intentional eating, and once sugar enters the picture, it changes my thinking. It [00:02:00] changes my physiology. And my cravings become louder, my deci, my decision making gets harder and my self trust starts to erode, and that's literally just from bringing sugar into my system.

[00:02:17] Dr. Katie Deming: And that doesn't make me weak. It means that my nervous system and my brain respond very strongly to sugar. And this is true for many people, sugar is really like a poison. [00:02:30] If you are one of those people where you can have a treat and then it doesn't lead to, you know, eat you eating more, or you getting into behaviors that you know don't serve you from a food standpoint, then great.

[00:02:44] Dr. Katie Deming: But if you struggle at all with sugar, I think that this story is gonna resonate. And I think the things that I'm gonna share are gonna be a little different than maybe the things that you've heard. In terms of other ways to curb your sugar addiction. So the story for this is that when I traveled to see [00:03:00] my family for Thanksgiving, I made a conscious choice to eat some sugar.

[00:03:04] Dr. Katie Deming: So I was out with my kids and we were going to movies and we were just doing fun things together. And I was like, what's the harm in having Red Vines while I'm at the movie theater? Right? So we saw Wicked Too, and I had Red Vines and that was kind of the start for me and I. Knew going into it that it might open the door to more cravings.

[00:03:24] Dr. Katie Deming: And I actually did okay for a few days. So I had that. I had a few other things while I was at [00:03:30] Thanksgiving. I didn't eat like the pie and ice cream, like those are usually my things that for Thanksgiving I would get into. But I was like, I don't even want it. 'cause I'd been eating so well that it wasn't like I was wanting sugar, but I ate a few things while I was on vacation.

[00:03:45] Dr. Katie Deming: Then when I came back home, I did okay for a few days and then someone gave me a seas candy advent calendar, and I'm a big sucker for seas, candy nuts, and chooses milk chocolate. Those are [00:04:00] my jam and I love them. So I was really excited about this Advent calendar. It was so cute. And then it was like, oh, what's the harm?

[00:04:07] Dr. Katie Deming: Like one little piece of candy a day. It's fine. Right? And I'm already kind of off play. Like I had, you know, had some candy over Thanksgiving. It hadn't been a big deal. I was eating better again when I came home, and so I was having one piece of seizes candy each day with this admin calendar. I can't do that.

[00:04:28] Dr. Katie Deming: 'cause for me, [00:04:30] candy isn't just a treat. It is basically unlocks this change for me. It is an addiction and it is this way for most people. And so that one piece of candy per day quickly turned into more cravings, more negotiating. And eventually the familiar story of, I'll get back on track after New Year's.

[00:04:49] Dr. Katie Deming: How many people does this sound familiar for? Right? Many of you, I'm sure it's like, okay, from Thanksgiving to New Year's, it's just like a free for all. And then afterwards I'll get back on track and that's [00:05:00] basically what ended up happening. And that was not my intentional at all with Thanksgiving. I was like, I'm gonna have a few treats this weekend 'cause I'm on vacation with my family.

[00:05:08] Dr. Katie Deming: I'm not gonna worry about it. When I get back, I'll get back on track and I did, but because I had opened that door and then I started to have just this one candy each day, it literally just snowballed and all of a sudden I was like a wreck eating. And the truth is, it's funny because I have people who work closely me and they're like, when you say that you're eating [00:05:30] terribly, it's not really terribly because I know better than that and I do eat pretty well.

[00:05:34] Dr. Katie Deming: But for me to have carbs, gluten bread. Sugar, flour, all those things is not normal. And I just let go and was like, okay, I'm just gonna let myself eat whatever. And then after the holidays, I'll get back on, on track. And so, this is a pattern, and I wanna say this clearly, clearly for you, this wasn't a lack of discipline.

[00:05:59] Dr. Katie Deming: I'm [00:06:00] very disciplined in the way that I eat and the way that I live my life. This was information. I could feel the cravings, not hunger, were driving my choices, and I knew almost immediately that I needed a reset, that I had basically unlocked this nervous system dysregulation and that I was gonna need a reset to get myself back on track.

[00:06:25] Dr. Katie Deming: But I chose to wait until after Christmas and New Year's just because it was like, okay, well if I get back [00:06:30] on track now, it was like, you know, two weeks for work for before Christmas. I knew then I was probably gonna have some sweets during the holidays and I was just like, let's just, you know, let it be.

[00:06:40] Dr. Katie Deming: And because I knew there might be more room for more food outside my normal structure during that time. It wasn't avoidance that I decided to have my reset after the holidays. It was intentional. I was like, okay, I'm just gonna do this for the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas and New [00:07:00] Year's, and then get back on track after that.

[00:07:03] Dr. Katie Deming: And so I think that, you know, some people can do moderation with sugar. But I'm not one of them. And for me, sugar isn't a treat. It's a switch. And once that switch is on, eating becomes much harder for me. Not because I don't know what to eat, I do know what to eat, and this is what I teach actually. So I teach fasting, but part of fasting is then how do you feed your body [00:07:30] after a fast in a way that is healing and anti-inflammatory.

[00:07:34] Dr. Katie Deming: Because my body and brain were no longer operating from clarity, they started operating from cravings. And that's really what happened is that I got, you know, I flipped the switch. I no longer was doing the things that I knew I should do for my body because I was being led by the cravings and. One of the things that I want [00:08:00] to talk about is why is eating actually harder than fasting?

[00:08:05] Dr. Katie Deming: And this may be a weird thing, you're like, why are you going from all of a sudden from eating to fasting? But this is one of the most important things that I wanna share in this episode, is that when I'm off track with eating, fasting is actually easier than eating. I hear this story from my pastors all the time.

[00:08:23] Dr. Katie Deming: Eating requires constant decisions. What should I eat? Is this inflammatory [00:08:30] for my body? Is this okay right now? Should I just have a little? When cravings are active, those decisions are exhausting, and what I love about fasting is that fasting removes the negotiation. I don't have to decide what to eat. I already know I'm not eating.

[00:08:49] Dr. Katie Deming: And that simplicity is incredibly calming for my nervous system. So. why? This doesn't mean that I'm avoiding food. I wanna be really clear about something. [00:09:00] Choosing to fast isn't about avoiding nourishment. It's about creating a clean reset. It's about giving my system a break from the constant stimulation.

[00:09:11] Dr. Katie Deming: It's about stepping out of decision fatigue, and it's about restoring clarity. So my regular fasting practice is. You know, basically part of my life now, and this is why I include fasting regularly in my life, I usually do a 24 to 36 hour [00:09:30] fast every week. On those days, I also take a break from my supplements just to give my body a pause, and also, frankly, the supplements get tiring.

[00:09:38] Dr. Katie Deming: I think a lot of my listeners will resonate with that, especially if you're healing. The supplements can just be a lot, and so for me, one day a week, I just pause all of that. And I don't take my supplements and I don't have to eat. I don't have to worry about it. And for me, fasting creates space. It brings me back into my body to re, and [00:10:00] it restores trust.

[00:10:01] Dr. Katie Deming: So for me, fasting, because the becomes this way for me, if I realize that I've flipped the switch, I've gotten out of my routine, and for you it may not be sugar, right? For me it's sugar, but for you, it may be something else that gets you off track. Fasting is a way to just clear the slate and create space, and it can be really powerful.

[00:10:28] Dr. Katie Deming: So I wanna talk about [00:10:30] how fasting makes me feel like, you know, a lot of people, I think when you're not an experienced fast, you're like, that just sounds terrible because I feel like I'm gonna be starving. But when I'm fasting. I actually feel more connected to myself. More embodied, more spacious. I'm not disconnected.

[00:10:51] Dr. Katie Deming: I'm more present with what's going on and fasting for me. Restores trust within my body much faster [00:11:00] than trying to force myself to eat perfectly when cravings are loud. So what I wanna talk about is how did I use a fast to reset myself, to get myself back on track with the things I teach every day and I know to do, and I do live my life most of the time in this way.

[00:11:19] Dr. Katie Deming: So after New Year's, I chose to do a three day fast as a reset, and I wanna share what that looked like for me. By the end of day one, I felt emotionally more stable, [00:11:30] and after about 24 hours, the food noise really quieted, and by day two, I felt mentally clearer and in my cravings were significantly reduced.

[00:11:44] Dr. Katie Deming: And then by day three, I felt clear emotionally and mentally and really started to notice that I wasn't going after the same foods. I wasn't thinking about the same foods like, oh, you know, what about salt and [00:12:00] straw? Like I live in Oregon and salt and straws and amazing ice cream place. And that would be my like one treat that I would maybe like be like, okay, that's a splurge.

[00:12:07] Dr. Katie Deming: And It's basically like a danger zone for me, but like my favorite danger zone. And so I would find myself that by day two that was starting to quiet and then by day three I'm like, I don't want salt and straw. I'm gonna feel terrible if I eat salt and straw. And so I often feel hungry on day three 'cause I know that the fast is coming to end and I'm getting ready for my last feel [00:12:30] and my last, or my meal to break the fast.

[00:12:33] Dr. Katie Deming: and so. You would think actually that your cravings would be worse at this point, but like by the time I get to day three and I'm starting to feel a little bit hungry, I am really not craving the same foods anymore. I'm craving the foods that are gonna nourish me. So I'm like, I'm wanting good proteins and I'm wanting good fats, and I find that this three day.

[00:12:57] Dr. Katie Deming: Just gives me enough space and [00:13:00] enough clarity and quiets the cravings enough that I then want to make good choices. And the good news is that clarity stays. And when I started Refeeding. At the end of day three, I was able to stick to my plan easily, and actually I'm going to do another episode where I talk about how do I eat and like what is my eating plan like right now, I'm being really disciplined with myself of, or structured, I would [00:13:30] say.

[00:13:30] Dr. Katie Deming: Structured with the way that I'm eating just to make sure I really get the foundation because I know for myself, when I do something like this, I need to be really structured for about a month to get myself to the point where I really don't want anything anymore. But the first three days of doing a fast coming into this is really beneficial.

[00:13:50] Dr. Katie Deming: So on a future episode, I'm gonna share how I eat, what does it look like when I'm getting back on track with the food? You know, this is an important [00:14:00] point of like when you fast, right? So the fast creates this space fast creates clarity, it clears out the emotions, it clears out some of the cravings. I get clear on really how I wanna feel in my body, and I start to feel so much less inflamed.

[00:14:17] Dr. Katie Deming: I can see it actually in my face. So for me, it's funny, it's like my under eye area is. A clear sign when I have either sugar or [00:14:30] gluten, I basically will have lines under my eyes. I will look 10 years older after having sugar. And after three days of fasting, I'm like, my skin looks clear. I don't have any joint pain.

[00:14:42] Dr. Katie Deming: I don't have any like aches or pains in my body. And it's funny, actually this happened over Thanksgiving. My kids were joking, you know, they were, teasing me because. I had eaten sugar and I don't normally eat sugar, right on that trip and my left knee. My left knee [00:15:00] will start hurting like immediately.

[00:15:01] Dr. Katie Deming: So it's funny, we went to this, we went to the movie, we saw it wicked. I had Red Vines, and when we walked out of that theater, I was almost limping. My left knee was hurting me so much. I've become so sensitive to it because I don't eat it than when I have sugar. My body really tells me. And so my kids were joking, they called it mama's Mom's Sugar knee.

[00:15:26] Dr. Katie Deming: And um, they think it's like ridiculous, but it's a real thing. Like if [00:15:30] you get yourself clear and you're not eating inflammatory foods, when you bring them in, your body's gonna notice it. And so for me, at the end of these three days of fasting, like my. Body felt so much better. You know, not only did I have the emotional clarity and the mental clarity and more trust and connection with myself in a decrease of cravings, but my body just felt better.

[00:15:52] Dr. Katie Deming: And I was, you know, excited to work out. And that's another thing that when I'm eating sugar, I tend to not wanna work out as much. And all of [00:16:00] these things kind of compound. So at the end of three days, I was feeling really good in my body. And when you start to eat again. It is really important to choose the foods that you bring in intentionally, especially if you're using a fast for like a reset, that is equally important.

[00:16:20] Dr. Katie Deming: What food you bring in is equally important as the fast itself, and I always talk about this with refeeding for longer fast, that refeeding is. I think it's [00:16:30] everything actually with the fast is the refeeding, but even in these shorter fasts, I am very intentional about, I do how I do my refeeding and I plan my refeeding and what I'm going to eat before I start the three day fast because I wanted to be intentional about how I ate afterwards.

[00:16:53] Dr. Katie Deming: So I went directly back into a structured anti-inflammatory way of eating and. [00:17:00] That structure actually feels really liberating. So this week, you know, I fasted, last Friday through Monday and then I had dinner Monday and I've been eating all this week and I've been eating two meals a day. I've been eating my dinner much earlier because I just feel better actually when I do that.

[00:17:20] Dr. Katie Deming: But I've been very structured this week in how I eat and I basically planned my meals. Out ahead before the fast. So I'm like, okay, when I start [00:17:30] eating again, these are the foods that I'm gonna have in the house. These are the foods that we're gonna cook. This is what I'm gonna have for my meals. So then when I came back, I didn't have to think about any of that.

[00:17:40] Dr. Katie Deming: And so the structure for me feels liberating, not restrictive because it's supporting me. I don't reenter eating from willpower, I reenter from clarity. And I think this is one thing that I hear a lot from my [00:18:00] faster and then my community and also listeners, is that, you know, how, how do I think about food?

[00:18:08] Dr. Katie Deming: Because especially many of the people that I work with have cancer or healing cancer, and. They feel like the, you know, eating a certain way feels very restrictive. And then like, oh, I, I have to worry that if I ate like this little thing at an event or whatever, or if I ate outside my eating window, that's gonna be [00:18:30] the thing that causes my cancer to come back.

[00:18:32] Dr. Katie Deming: And I'm always like. Actually, like thinking that way about your food is probably the worst thing that you can do. It's maybe even worse than the food, eating the wrong food. I'd rather have you, if you're going to eat food that's not on your, you know, program that's outside of the feeding hours or whatever it is for you, that feels like, like a break from your, healing eating plan is.

[00:18:56] Dr. Katie Deming: If you're gonna do it, just enjoy it and just like, you know, [00:19:00] really be present with enjoying that food. Don't beat yourself up over it. But one of the things that my, community was asking me about this, this week on a call that like, how do we manage this feeling of like. If I do one thing, I'm like sabotaging my healing or whatever it is, and, and I said to them this exact thing that I'm sharing on this episode, and that is that it's really more about creating structure.

[00:19:26] Dr. Katie Deming: So that you can be disciplined most of the time, but you're not using [00:19:30] willpower to do it. So for me, that means I plan my meals, I make as much of it as it can ahead so that I'm not making, having to decide what to eat on that particular day. And like for me, I do meat stock and I do, you know, long cultured yogurt or staples that I always have.

[00:19:47] Dr. Katie Deming: So once a week we make sure that a batch of that is made so that I have it for the week and really. Having. Structure is freeing because then [00:20:00] you're not having to make decisions. I find the, the problems around food, at least for me and for a lot of the people that I serve, it's the decisions. It's the getting hungry and then eating when you're hungry, because then you make bad decisions.

[00:20:14] Dr. Katie Deming: And if you plan out how you're going to eat and you have structure there, it frees you up. And then. You know, if you consciously choose to eat something that's off your plan, it's fine because you made that choice. It wasn't like you were starving [00:20:30] and then so you just grabbed a, you know, bar or something.

[00:20:32] Dr. Katie Deming: That is not something that you would normally eat. And so. You know, I think that this is something really to think about for you is that when you are resetting and then coming out of a fast is really being intentional about planning out the food so that you're not having to use willpower or making a lot of decisions.

[00:20:55] Dr. Katie Deming: You've done that part before and you're like, okay, these are the things that I'm gonna eat [00:21:00] for that first week when I'm coming back. So. Hopefully that like resonates for people in thinking about, you know, what is it that I can do to set myself up for success if I do fall off the wagon and, you know, end up eating things that I know are not, what my body wants, like how can I reset it?

[00:21:21] Dr. Katie Deming: So I love using the fast in this way. And then I love having really intentional refeeding so that. I'm [00:21:30] set up for success when I start eating again. And it's not from this place of like, you did something bad and you're, you know, you, it's like I'm reprimanding myself. I'm creating structure for a healthy life that I want to live. So the next thing, what I wanna talk about is cravings. So when cravings show up after a fast, this happens and sometimes. If I notice sugar cravings come up after fast, I don't take it personally. I [00:22:00] understand that it's, it's not like a weakness of me that these cravings are coming back. It's, it's actually often the microbes in my gut that are asking for sugar, and you may not know this, but a lot of sugar cravings actually come from microbes in your gut, and many of us have.

[00:22:20] Dr. Katie Deming: A lot of microbes that are not great for us that are causing sugar cravings. And so instead of arguing with the craving, when that comes up, I respond [00:22:30] to it and doing something as simple as drinking a little bit of sauerkraut juice, just the juice from sauerkraut. Usually resolves it really quickly, so there's no drama, no shame.

[00:22:43] Dr. Katie Deming: It's like information. I'm like, okay, there's a craving. I know this is not coming from my brain. Now let me take a little bit of sauerkraut juice and see if I can get it to go away. And if that doesn't do it, then I'll go for a walk and give myself a distraction, for 30 minutes. And then by then I'm like, [00:23:00] totally fine.

[00:23:01] Dr. Katie Deming: So that's one of the things that when I, when it comes up again, I don't go like, oh gosh, it's still there and I'm, you know, failure and this is like, I'm doomed or whatever. It's like, no, okay, this is likely just a craving from my gut microbiome. I'm gonna try some sauerkraut juice. If that doesn't do it, then I'm gonna go and take a walk and distract myself and get moving.

[00:23:20] Dr. Katie Deming: And by the time I'm done with that, I'm like, I definitely am over the craving. So I wanna be clear that this approach isn't for everyone. Fasting isn't [00:23:30] appropriate in every season of life. Like, for example, women who are pregnant and breastfeeding, you know, doing lots of fasting is not a great idea. And the context matters like your history, your stress levels, your hormones, your nerve nervous system, all of that matters when you're thinking about fasting as a tool.

[00:23:48] Dr. Katie Deming: but. It, it is a tool, right? So like any tool, it matters when and how it's used. And so you wanna use discernment and I would not recommend [00:24:00] Jumping in with a three day fast, I think that you wanna do a 24 hour fast. Make sure you do that. Then you can do a 48 hour fast. I have a free guide on, doing a 24 hour fast, and we'll link that in the episode here so that you can do that.

[00:24:14] Dr. Katie Deming: but I would start with a 24 hour fast first and work your way up. So discernment is essential as you're starting to think about fasting. And also we lead, um, me and my team lead three day fast once a month and we will be launching a three [00:24:30] day fast coming up. And so what we'll do is we will link.

[00:24:33] Dr. Katie Deming: The, sign up to join the wait list for that three day fast in the show notes so you can see, okay, when is our next date? When is that coming up? So if you want to do a three day fast, you can join us and that's $99. So we'll link that in there as well. So, but if you're interested in doing a three day fast with you, with us.

[00:24:53] Dr. Katie Deming: Definitely go ahead and get that 24 hour guide so that you could do a 24 hour fast before. Build up your confidence and then [00:25:00] be ready when we're gonna do the next three day fast. So for me, you know, another thing that I wanna share is that fasting isn't just physical, it's mental, emotional, and spiritual, and it's a discipline and also a remembering.

[00:25:18] Dr. Katie Deming: So fasting helps me remember who I am when I'm not being driven by cravings, and it brings me back into authority with my body. So this whole [00:25:30] thing, eating and everything, it isn't about being perfect, it's about being honest. And if you're exhausted by food cravings, if you feel like cravings are running the show, if structure feels supportive rather than restrictive, restrictive for you, then it might be worth getting curious about what kind of reset would actually serve you and.

[00:25:52] Dr. Katie Deming: Sometimes the most compassionate thing we can do isn't trying harder. It's choosing a reset that gives us our [00:26:00] clarity back. So. I hope this has been helpful for you. For me, you know, fasting has become such a powerful tool. I just love it. Like I feel really good when I'm fasting now, and so I hope that this is helpful for you.

[00:26:14] Dr. Katie Deming: If you found value in this episode, Please, please, please leave a review, share this podcast episode or YouTube video with someone that you know that could benefit from it. The way that I can reach more people is by you sharing and [00:26:30] also, putting reviews out to say how this podcast is impacting you.

[00:26:35] Dr. Katie Deming: So thank you so much and I will see you next week. Take care.