The Mel Robbins Podcast

How to Lose Weight, Boost Energy, & Live Longer with Intermittent Fasting | Mel Robbins Podcast

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. — In this episode, renowned #holistichealth expert and intermittent fasting devotee Dr. Mindy Pelz (@DrMindyPelz is here to explain the 101 of #fasting for better health. You’ll learn the empowering science behind why it works and how it can help you achieve so many #health goals. Dr. Mindy is fascinated by our body’s ability to "heal itself" and how fasting protocols can activate some remarkable results based on extensive research studies. If you’re tired of diets that leave you feeling like sh*t, health improvements that cost money, or just hate feeling out of control of your body, this is the one zero-cost tool that could have a significant impact on your health. Dr. Mindy is on a mission to help people understand and harness their healing abilities through fasting. And today, she’s told all the Olympic athletes, Academy Award-winning actors, and Silicon Valley CEOs that she works with to step aside because she’s got an appointment with someone more important: you. This episode is a guide to 6 recommended and researched fasting protocols. You’ll learn about each one and how they unleash your body’s natural ability to heal itself, reset the gut, and even get rid of damaged cells in the body. Dr. Mindy breaks it all down with significant research, stories, and shocking statistics. She’ll teach you: - What fasting even is and why it’s different from a "diet" - The 6 different fasting protocols and their researched-backed benefits - The 3 easiest ways to start fasting at any point - What the two energy systems in your body are and how fasting helps you tap into both - What is biologically happening when you follow a fasting protocol? - What Keto really stands for and why the term "Keto-friendly" can’t be trusted - The 9 cellular healing benefits of fasting and how it can help cure disease - The fasting protocol that will help you lose belly fat (for good) I can’t wait for you to learn from Dr. Mindy about this free tool that may just be what you’ve been looking for. Get ready to feel empowered. Xo, Mel IMPORTANT: This podcast discusses fasting, and its advice may not be suitable for anyone with an eating disorder. If you have an existing health condition, are pregnant or nursing, or are taking medication, always consult your healthcare practitioner before going for prolonged periods without eating. In this episode: 00:00 Intro 05:09 According to the research, what does fasting do? 08:31 Our bodies have two energy systems, but we only use one. 13:52 What is autophagy and why should I care? 18:10 The surprising places most of the fasting research comes from. 21:36 Science recommends intermittent fasting as a first line of treatment. 24:18 This is why fasting is NOT a dieting trend. 28:42 Got cravings? This is where they come from and how you can control them. 34:21 Fasting is not for pregnant and nursing women, or people with eating disorders. 36:39 What about my coffee? 37:15 Describing the 6 different types of fasting. 48:19 When your body makes a ketone, it also makes the calming GABA hormone. 56:17 How do intestinal stem cells make a difference to your health? 1:00:20 Feeling anxious? Give this type of intermittent fasting a try. — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@melrobbins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

Mel RobbinshostDr. Mindy Pelzguest

Sep 18, 20231h 9mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Intermittent Fasting: Free, Science-Backed Tool To Heal And Reboot Health

Mel Robbins interviews fasting expert Dr. Mindy Pelz about intermittent fasting as a zero-cost, research-backed health protocol distinct from dieting. They explain how the body has two energy systems—sugar-burning and fat-burning—and how timing when you eat (not what you eat) triggers powerful healing mechanisms. Dr. Pelz outlines six core fasting lengths, each linked to specific benefits like fat loss, reduced inflammation, better brain function, improved gut health, and immune system renewal. The episode positions fasting as an accessible tool for metabolic health, aging, mood, and especially women’s hormone challenges, with cautions for pregnancy, breastfeeding, and eating disorders.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Focus on when you eat, not just what you eat.

Fasting protocols are not diets; instead of restricting specific foods or calories, they compress eating into defined windows, allowing extended periods where the body can heal, repair, and switch into fat-burning mode.

Use metabolic switching to tap into your fat-burning energy system.

Your body is designed to alternate between burning glucose (from food) and fat (stored), but constant eating locks you in sugar-burning mode; fasting for 8–12+ hours lets you switch into fat-burning and produce ketones that fuel the brain and reduce hunger.

Start with a simple 12–16 hour intermittent fast as a lifestyle baseline.

Stopping food at night and delaying your first meal into late morning (e.g., 9 pm to 9–12 pm) can reduce inflammation, increase growth hormone, support fat loss, and sharpen focus—and is sustainable as a daily “fasting lifestyle.”

Match fasting length to the specific benefit you want.

Roughly 12–16 hours supports fat-burning and anti-aging, 17 hours triggers autophagy (cellular cleanup and cancer-protective effects), 24 hours resets the gut with intestinal stem cells, 36 hours targets stored belly fat, 48 hours helps reset dopamine and mood, and 72+ hours can regenerate immune cells.

Fasting can help curb cravings and food addiction over time.

By stabilizing blood sugar, producing ketones (which turn off hunger hormones), and reshaping the gut microbiome, fasting can reduce incessant hunger and junk-food cravings even before you change what you’re eating.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Fasting is a healing state you put your body in that you can only get to by avoiding food for a certain period of time.

— Dr. Mindy Pelz

It’s in the absence of food the body heals.

— Dr. Mindy Pelz

We have two different ways that we can propel our body… and we’re stuck in one of them.

— Dr. Mindy Pelz

The only person that wins when they fast is the human that does it.

— Dr. Mindy Pelz

Our bodies are brilliant. Let’s start with a healing mechanism that already exists and teach women how to dip in and out and metabolically switch to help their hormonal challenges.

— Dr. Mindy Pelz

Difference between intermittent fasting and traditional dietingBody’s two energy systems: sugar-burning vs. fat-burning (metabolic switching)Scientific evidence and medical endorsements for fasting (e.g., NEJM, autophagy research)Six main fasting windows and their specific physiological benefitsEffects of fasting on weight loss, belly fat, brain function, mood, and agingSafety considerations and who should or shouldn’t fast without medical supervisionPractical starting points and lifestyle integration of a fasting protocol

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