Fasting Space

Do you ever
declutter a room and then you feel an instant sense of relief?

It's like you can finally breathe again.

Breathe easier. There's a lightness.

The type of thing we're going for,
you know that a clean environment, it can settle the mind.

It can lower stress,
create the space for what actually matters for our very life.

But that all as good as it is, it's just the external world.

Now imagine our internal environment so much of the time.

Don't you feel this way?

We're walking around with clutter inside here.

It might be mental clutter.

There might be physical clutter in the cells of our body.

That's where we're going to get into with a fasting space.

If we do not take the time to clean up the house,
then clutter can accumulate.

If we don't give the space to the cell

to do its own cleaning processes,

the garbage stacks up the extra stuff

it can build up,
and then we can feel that as a heaviness in the body.

Today we're going to take a look at fasting

as minimalism in the body and take minimalism in the house.

It's like, not that we don't need things,

but let's only have the things that really bring value.

Creates an environment.

The flow of peace helps us to practice contentment.

Man, these are things we need in the body to write.

Take the broom and the dustpan to the cell and the mind.

Get a refreshing effect.

You feel that way.

We said yesterday
some people agreed to get into that fasting space.

You find mental clarity.

You find rejuvenation.

This is fasting as a wellness practice.

Need to totally transform the cultural perspective.

I say of our entire society, let's think big today I'm psyched up,

totally transformed from a consumption culture
into a contentment culture.

Fasting can help us do that.

Minimalism can help us do that.

We've we've been.

Do you think it's fair to say we live in a maximalist culture?

Everything more.

Everything bigger, everything better?

It's very hard to be content that way.

Fasting can teach us wisdom.

Fasting shows us many times less is more.

Minimalism shows us less is more.

Right?

Well, you get some expert interior designer
who's really got an eye for it.

I say, what if we just removed this, you know,
so I can set of buying another thing?

What if we took one away all of a sudden?

What we've brought into this space.

More openness.

This is so beautiful in the body.

Openness, lightness.

Less is more.

It can be true in the living room, can be true inside
the body as well, can be true in our diet.

You know, I like to say every diet tells you what to eat,
but never when to stop.

And one of the big life hacks,

I think, for the metabolism, for

wellness, is just to realize it's okay to stop.

It's okay to have space.

I can't tell you how many times I have interact with patients

who are told by very thoughtful and well-meaning

doctors, nutritionists, dietitians.

You know, you listen to your medical team.

No medical advice here. Educational perspective.

Okay, but I hear so many people say I can't do fasting.

It said, it's going to hurt me,
you know, going to hurt bad for the body.

Basically saying it is bad for everyone. No one should ever do it.

Because if the body runs short of precious fuel, like,

well, bad things going to happen, well,

how is this working as a paradigm?

The the no space paradigm,
if we call that the never fasting paradigm,

the constant consumption era, right.

Like we'll look
look at we're just drowning in metabolic dysfunction.

It's like we're trying to lose weight
without ever giving space to the body, without food coming in.

It does not make any sense.

You know, to me, anyway, lose weight by continuing to eat

all of the time can work some of the time.

If we are eating the very healthiest foods,
and if we are highly, highly active

and and working out at a very consistent and high level.

And if someone can do that, I don't have any problem with that.

But look, look at society.

You know, it's like people having a very hard time doing that.

And it's understandable.

You have to do a lot of work.

And we have so many demands on our time and our pressure.

So we say minimalism as a concept, showing us,
I think less is more.

Instead of trying to burn ourselves through

huge amounts of consumption, open up some space.

Now the pressure is off.

See, that inspires me to take a deep breath.

Everything about the process
that I'm bringing to you, taking pressure off,

opening space, bringing rejuvenation and space for wellness.

Making small, simple decisions that create win

wins less to do and more success,

more power, less stress.

Everything good. This is how we build.

Cycles of flourishing can start small

and can compound over time into a lifestyle and a process
that is just a flow.

Okay, we talk about I do health as an investment.

If we take in traditional investing concepts of compounding.

All right, then we can really start to see, okay,
we're investing in ourselves.

We're putting in hard work like right,
especially early on like a young person.

Or if you haven't been a saver,
you say, I'm just going to start saving a little bit.

You say, oh, is this moving?

The needle, you know, is like, oh, I have 20 bucks now.

And I didn't before, you know, you can feel down about it.

You take the first steps on a health path.

You say a journey of a thousand miles.

Even to think about it can feel overwhelming.

But you see the concept minimalism. Less is more.

You start investing.

This is the type of thing that can build.

This is how you build a lifestyle and a process of health
over time

that can open up into something greater than even
we set out to do.

Set out on a path. This is what I really love.

Set on a path just to lose some weight
and end up finding peace and contentment as well.

That's the type of bonus that I want.

How are you doing on this process? Really nice to have you here.

Say hi in the chat.

So good to be with you today.

Is minimalism a concept that you like?

Have you tried to bring it into life?

Like just into maybe the living room,
the kitchen, these sorts of things.

I think finding spaces in our house, in our life

where we can practice these things,
how create a better environment,

but then also use it as a metaphor

for what's happening in the body in a fasting space.

This is what I think is very powerful.

So I'm going to go through a process, clean the living room,

put the books away, put this stuff that's accumulated okay.

But in your mind while you're doing it, thinking, okay, fasting

space, maybe you're actually fasting don't have to be.

But if you're opening up a fasting space,
do some fasting during the cleaning.

And then just think about the mirror

between mind and body.

Environment and body. Right.

We're trying to create the environment that supports our success.

If you're trying to do something difficult,
if you're trying to dial in,

really focus and think like,
where is the type of space you want to do it?

You know, it's like in a cluttered space.

So much going on is like
everything is like a distraction in and of itself

or a very simplified space, everything in its place.

I go the latter for sure.

So here in this session, I'm going to bring some minimalist

thinking and minimalist principles to us to guide our thoughts.

The first one that I want to highlight,
have you ever used this the one year rule?

If you've gone through a one year cycle

and you've got stuff in your house never touched it,

it's like you should at least ask the question like,
do I need this in my life?

Maybe it's some keepsakes, maybe it's old photos.

You know, stuff like that can get a pass, right?

But we got something else. Do you know the classic thing?

You watch the things. Do we really need three pasta strainers?

We only ever used one.

They're stacked up in the cupboards
and it's taking up space or something like this.

So one year rule as minimalism for our life.

Very positive.

Now what if we bring that into the body?

What if we think about the cell and the cells experience?

Think our kitchen can be like a cell.

It's accumulated gadgets and things. Okay.

And we say, you know, this space,
it isn't quite as functional as we want

because it's like we got to look through all this stuff
to find something, okay?

The cell can have that same sort of experience.

Cells can get bogged down and dysfunctional because of accumulated

proteins, dysfunctional organelles.

Okay.

The organelle, the little cellular machines
that actually do the work of running our metabolism and body.

And these things degrade over time.

And they need to be replaced and rebuilt, recycled, rejuvenated.

And the space where the body does
that is actually in a fasting space.

Sometimes as I run into people and say,

oh, a nutritionist, for example, have many conversations with say,
oh, fasting is terrible

because it helps people
or it keeps people from getting enough protein.

Okay.

It's like you really got to load up protein in meals.

Now I'm very big on getting people.

Protein is wonderful.

I'm on everybody strong. I really do really strong.

Fasting makes you strong.

I got that great talk we did on some papers.

Fasting can make you strong in mind and body.

The thing that people are missing
and the thing that research, to my knowledge,

has really not explored all the studies

on days for macros and even vitamins.

Everything is are not done in people who are fasting, okay?

And there is not an appreciation of the incredible cellular

recycling process that happens in the body
that is activated by fasting.

When when we have dysfunctional protein,
the body doesn't just excrete it, you know,

it doesn't just get rid of it, it breaks the thing back down

into amino acids, and it can rebuild new proteins out of it.

Like, this is just so radically cool.

I think, you know, I'm kind of a medical geek.

I nerd out about these things. But I mean, isn't it amazing?

I think I just sit here as a doctor
and I'm seeing patients, patients, patients.

I'm thinking, I want to give you this effect.

You know, if I could give you a cellular recycling effect
in a prescription, I would write it all day long.

But the way to do that is to practice fasting.

It's a gift you have to give yourself.

That's why I'm doing this.

This is basically the way that I have come up with to do it.

If I could hand it to you, I would do it.

But since it's something that we have to do,
we can do it together.

And fasting space, that's the whole thought.

So one year rule, you know the cell is going to employ that.

That's what I'm saying. And this is what I want.

We can think in our life. We've got one year rule.

Haven't touched the thing, maybe send it to goodwill,
maybe give it to a friend, maybe sell it or something.

You know what I mean? Cells going to do that.

We give the cell the space cell is going to say one year

rule, you know, and however it does it as a concept.

It's going to say let's pass that on. We don't need this anymore.

Let's recycle it.

These amino acids, it can be used by the cell.

Maybe another cell needs it. You know we share.

And so I, I love that effect.

One year rule for the cell.

We don't get to control the actual cell.

But there's 4030 40 trillion of them.

So thank goodness they they operate on their own little protocols.

Bless them.

Bless them with some open space I say,
and they will clear out the excess.

I was thinking about this parallel.

We said it already a little bit. Right.

If you want to focus,
you want a clear mind, clean the space right?

Help to lower the distractions less to think about

cleaning out that space internally.

One of the big things that does is helping to reduce inflammation.

We did the talk in the past on inflammation.

Probably should do more.

Trying to cleanse the system less clutter.

Like do you ever have it where it's like there's stuff
and it's like you're bumping into things,

do bang into something, even on an accident
because you're trying to get through.

It's like, oh, there's so much stuff. We got to pick stuff up.

I think this is kind of an analogy
that we can think about in the cell sound.

Bumping into things internally is like when things are not clear,
get cluttered.

So do you struggle with inflammation?

Can you feel it? Do you feel achy?

Do you have a inflammation going on in any kind?

Minimalism.

Just like we can remove the obstruction.

Reviewed papers okay.

Reduce inflammation.

This is part of the autophagy process.

Clearing out what doesn't serve us,

getting rid of the junk,
the things that's accumulating is so beautiful.

I think about it this way.

An analogy I used. I did a minimalism talk over a year ago.

I thought I'd do another one just because the concept I think is

so good is like a your car, right?

If you got a car, it means maintenance, right?

So we think of our body like a high performance vehicle.

And I say we're trying to put the premium fuel only for the car.

That would be like eating
only the highest quality of food for our body.

If somebody invested, you know, huge money in some luxury vehicle,

you say, well, I'm going to at least
put the high quality gas into it or something, right?

It's like, isn't our body more valuable than any luxury car?

Right. That's what I say. So.

Shouldn't we put premium fuel?

Only if we're going to buy anything premium in our life.

Shouldn't it be the things that go into our actual body
and form a part of us?

Okay, absolutely.

I think it should minimalist getting to that place,

because it's like minimalism in a life concept doesn't mean own
nothing, right?

It means high quality.

And that the things that we have,
the things that are bringing meaning and purpose, right.

And then we get rid of everything else
that we don't need to open up space

so that everything else can be maximized as much as possible.

This is what we want in our body fasting,
helping us to do that, right?

It's like we want the highest quality things,
but nothing else that doesn't serve us.

Now, if we're thinking about this luxury vehicle, right?

Or any vehicle honestly, okay, it's got times
when it's driving, times when it is serving us.

Right. But it can't drive all the time, right?

It needs maintenance. You got to go get an oil change.

You got to change the tires.

You got to do these things.
What if the check engine light comes on?

You got to go deal with that.

Need some downtime operations, right.

Get into the shop, do some maintenance.

This is like the body, right?

And we can see it within a day as far as we're active.

And then we rest. Okay.

So that's a cycle there.

The same thing in the bigger picture.

We have eating and fasting. Eating and fasting.

When we take the car to the dealership,
that's like running the autophagy processes.

It's like, let's clear everything out.

Let's reset the system.

You know, new,
all new fluid levels like get everything ship shaped.

Don't we want to bring something like that into the body?

It's like, oh, I can see it.

We need our time to do.

Maintenance mode on the cellular structure,

because the cellular structure,
all the cells of the body is the body.

Such a beautiful thing to realize.

Take the body to the shop that's opening up the fasting space.

No blow for it and not like that's not like the car.

You don't have to pay the service center, okay?

You actually save money. Open up some fasting space.

I was going to have this meal. Save a little money.

Get the get the car in the shop, as they say.

Love that.

One of the big things as it's coming to me.

Minimalism.

Is just limiting the number of decisions that we have to make.

You know, we live in an age of stuff, I would say. And.

Whether it's within our house,
whether it's things we want to buy, whether it's food itself.

Okay.

As we take minimalism into a food space,
then we're just really interfacing these things.

There's 50 different types of cereal.

It's like, what types of cereal do I buy?

I say, well, look,
if we're turning a really dial in on a healthy thing,

a cereal, a very highly processed thing, how about zero, right?

We just let's wipe that one off the table.

So here is a minimalist concept
where we're trying to protect that mental space okay.

If there is decision fatigue, if we're overwhelmed by these things

when we simplify things okay.

Simplification.

Greatly underrated.

We're in a society that values everything
complex and complexity has its place, right?

But sometimes the best path forward simplify.

Zero a much easier number to work with and comprehend

than any other number is like just take it off the table.

Less decisions to make.

Okay, when we have to cook three gourmet gourmet meals a day,
we say, well, that can feel overwhelming.

So, so much shopping and planning and cooking and cleaning
and eating and things

as soon as taking up my whole day,
there's like a huge percentage of it.

All of a sudden it's like, no, you know what? I'm good.

I just brewed up some beautiful tea
or I have a coffee and we carry on.

It's like, whoa.

Like, we are simplifying so many things.

This is like,
this is really when we are looking at minimalism in diet.

Like,
now we're merging these two worlds between external and internal.

Simplifying our diet means less trips to the grocery store,
less things to buy,

less organization happening, a cleaner fridge
like everything, easier to organize.

Okay, that's taking the pressure off externally.

And then it's facilitating what's happening
internally in the body.

Taking the pressure off, moving towards simplicity.

Insofar as it makes life better, that it makes it easier

to get everything done and have,

you know, some open space to process the thoughts.

Part of what happens in that space?

Many synergistic things happening. Okay.

Just the simple fact of opening the space
and not eating is freeing up resources in the body.

It's like what happens in a room
when we have less stuff in it, more space for life.

Okay, what happens in the body when we're not eating all the time?

All of a sudden there's more space.

The digestion is very energy intensive process.

The staff that I've seen is that as much as 30% of the energy

that we get from food actually just powers the digestive process.

We think body does so much work for us.

All of a sudden we take a break from that GI system can shut down.

Like now there's energy available for other things.

That's part of the mental clarity that you can get from fasting.

It's just the fact that we're not diverting the resources off
to the GI system for a while.

All the energy of the body available for other things.

Are there specific minimalist concepts that you like?

I'd love to hear.

I'm hitting my favorite minimalist concepts for you

and are the ones that you like.

I'd love to hear it.

Or are there specific spaces where clutter bothers you the most?

That would be something to think about this day.

What is?

What is the space where clutter bothers you the most in the house?

And that would be something to reflect on.

Maybe a first step in moving towards something.

Just take one step to say if you're struggling

in a health space, can we tackle the environment?

This is a big thing we've talked about.

How do we build the environment for our success?

We're looking for clarity, right?

And we're looking for a path that is moving us forward.

Maybe the place to start externally shaping up the environment,

bringing clarity and simplicity to the environment,

using that as a metaphor, as a crutch,

as a bridge to help us get into that space.

Marie is here.

Kitchen counter clutter.

Absolutely. Like that is a tough one.

Especially interfacing.

Say, is it harder to focus on food and the healthy food
and what's happening?

Stuff's everywhere. It's not bringing peace to the mind.

A key place to dial in on.

Thank you for sharing.

I think about, you know, to me, healthy food,
probably the best investment that we can make.

Like I said, premium fuel only.

I look at food.

I want everyone to have a healthy relationship with food,
I want food.

Yes. Very positive.

I think, you know, if we look into a very difficult space,

like an eating disorder, for example, of some kind,

say a dysfunctional relationship with food.

What healthy relationship with food?

And look at our culture.

Our culture has taken food
from something that has been the most natural

thing, and it's turned it into a consumer good.

It's made it into something synthetic.

We have things in our culture.

This is a new human experience.

Over the course of history, no matter how poor someone was.

If you are fortunate enough to get food,
you just know that you can trust it.

You know what I mean?

It didn't come from a factory.

There were no crazy
chemicals, could never be genetically modified.

You just know
this is something that the Earth has provided for me, you know?

Can be very difficult.

Extra difficult. Now, how do we have a relationship with food?

We're trying to build a healthy relationship with food
when it's like, can we even trust it?

We got to ask a lot of questions.

Can I trust this food?

Is this thing that looks like a food really a food?

You know, I think we need a broader

or maybe a broader, narrower definition of food.

You know, food people would say, well, it's just something

that's edible that gives you calories so the body can function.

It's just like it's
just like something like we're like a steam engine in the analogy.

And we're just shoveling coal into the furnace.

Like we just shovel stuff in there.

Doesn't matter. It's just going to burn it up anyway.

That is a poor analogy for

or a poor way to define a food, because what

we are experiencing in this health moment

is that consuming certain things that we think of

as food like actually is harmful to the body.

So a a food like a true food, in my view,

something natural that came from the earth in a natural way,

that gives yes, energy and calories to the body,

but also promotes health,
you know, doesn't give you diseases while consuming it.

We want to build relationships like that with food

that is the healthy and nourishing process.

When we look at it on that level, a phrase that I like to use,

are we eating in order to live or are we living to eat?

You know, if we are using food by chasing an experience

or a feeling
that we're using food as a drug to cope with a deeper issue?

That's why I do sessions, deeper issues,
trying to dive into the emotional space.

Eating is a wonderful thing to do is how we connect
with friends and family, and it is so healthy and good.

But minimalism showing us a mirror from the culture,

say consumption culture, not serving society in the same way

that processed foods, fast foods, foods

that are unhealthy and hurting the body are bad for the body,
right?

Minimalism can help society
by saying we need to stop focusing on quantity

and appearances.

Start focusing on function.

Beautiful practice
to bring into the body with food not focused on quantity,

not just trying to get some ultra taste experience.

To give dopamine to help us cover over things.

Build a deep, meaningful, satisfying relationship.

Eating in order to stay alive like meaning, bringing

the building blocks of health into our body
so our health can flourish.

To me, that's the parallel where minimalism
in the external minimalism in the body

helping us to refine the core beautiful foods

and experiences that help the body to thrive and flourish.

Cleaned out my pantry.

Now I am in a very selective about what I buy.

This is 100% beautiful thing, I love that.

If you buy a thing, the probability that you ate
it just went way up.

So win the battle at the grocery store.

That's what I like to see clean out the pantry.

That's the other sort of thing.

I love that cleaning out a pantry.

Hard to do, especially if there's food in there.

You know who wants to be wasteful.

And so sometimes it's if there's something that is unhealthy,
people say,

well, I don't want to waste it, can't really throw it away.

I'll just eat through this stuff and then it won't go to waste.

All right.

And this is a tricky thing
because sometimes you get in a mindset to make a change.

You've got the minimalist bug.

You say, I'm going to really dial in and clear out
everything that isn't really serving me.

But we can get delayed by that type of thinking.

And if we've made a decision, something isn't for me.

It should go, but then we don't do it.

Then we can get stuck in cycles of complacency,
so it can be very therapeutic.

I say, do you need permission?

I say all the permission in the world

to let go of something, throw it away, or, you know,

you see, could donate it if it's something really bad,
like maybe don't donate it to somebody else either.

You know, somebody who, you know, I've spent time

working at a food pantry

and, you know,
I just think a lot of people donating a lot of cookies,

I see a lot of people in a very difficult place
loading up a thing full of cookies.

And I'm just thinking of, like, like, is this really helping?

You know, is it really helping?

But listen, look at the life of the cookie.

This is what I want to say.

Cookie is in the pantry
and I say it's going to leave the house one way or the other.

You can throw it in the trash, or you can consume it
and it's going to get turned in a waste.

Either way, it's going to go out through a pipe
or out through a can.

Okay.

And the only difference as far as the cookie is
whether it's contributing to giving you diabetes or not, you know,

is it raising your blood sugar and giving you more simple carbs,
or is it not doing that?

And if you reach a decision where you see a know what?

I'm I'm tired of this process of insulin resistance
and blood sugar and weight and things.

Then you don't have to feel bad
about throwing a cookie in the garbage.

That's what you're not wasting anything
if you see what I'm saying.

Even if someone made the thing for you. Okay.

They don't have to know.

And you can have great gratitude in your heart.

Someone made me this delicious thing,
and I have immense gratitude for them.

And let them know how much you value them.

But you don't have to let some bad food damage the body.

A big minimalist principle that I love.

Probably do a whole session on it

is, you know, when we have cleaned out the house,

when we have decreased the number of things
that we even have to manage, you know,

if there's less things on the shelves, it's less things to dust,
you know, this sort of thing.

If it's less knickknacks and things

in the kitchen, it's less that we have to clean and organizes,
simplify everything.

This is showing us fasting space like less meals

that we have to do is just more time that we have.

Minimalism in the external environment can save us time.

Less to clean, less to do, less to buy.

What do you do with that time?

Same thing in the fasting space.

What do you do with the extra time?

How minimalism is freeing up resources everywhere.

Do you have time to do deep work

like the deep emotional work like giving your space self space?

Say, normally I'm getting up and having breakfast
and I would prepare all the things.

I would at least get the bowl, get the cereal, pour the thing.

Eat the stuff, wash the dish, put it in the thing.

You know, it's like maybe you free up ten minutes.

Say it was something simple,
like maybe that's ten minutes in your day where you say,

I can actually start the practice of journaling,
which is the most powerful wellness practice.

Maybe you split it up five minutes now of this extra time,

or I can open up some open mental space, a meditation space,

and then write about what comes in,
and then you can expand that, you know, or you got a busy day.

This is where I use fasting the most.

I've got a busy day.

I've got so much to do and I am fired up.

You know, sometimes the energy really flowing.

Some days I'm not feeling it.

But if I am like really crunched and I open up that fasting

space breakfast, open up fasting space lunch.

It's like huge amount of resources I didn't have to expend

that I can use for something that is valuable to me.

Loving the minimalist thinking.

I really do love it.

moving from the idea of consuming into simply being,

I think, minimalist for body and mind, giving us permission,
the opportunity,

trying to find that flow state, moving into a space is okay

to be don't have to keep consuming all the time.

I think this is where I wanted to start winding it
up, that it's okay

simply to be finding that joy.

We did that in the last couple sessions this week.

Finding contentment within ourselves, stopping looking externally

for joy, finding joy present here,

these sort of concepts, giving us the permission
to do that, to sit in that space.

So I want to leave you with a little challenge at the end here.

I say

find one place of clutter in the home.

Doesn't have to be a whole room. Could be a single drawer.

If it is your top space, like you say.

Oh, this is a place where I like clutter the least.

Is it there?

I say, make a commitment today.

Clean up one little place in the environment.

Do one little thing.

Maybe identify one object in your environment
that you don't really need

that you could move on from, and then use that process

as a mirror to understand what is happening in the body.

When you give the body space,
or that we're creating space in room in the body

so that life and health can flourish,

especially if you could recycle it or repurpose it,
because that is what the cell is going to do in our body.

It's going to take the old and make it new.

If you do do that, let me know.

What is your little cleaning project in the house today?

Throw it in the comments and then use that process.

Are you opening up a fasting space?

See that the cell is doing that helping things to flourish?

More space in all of our life is a beautiful thing.

As we move toward health and healing,
burn up that stuff in the body that isn't serving us.

That's what happens when we open up some fasting space.

Really nice to share these thoughts with you.

I hope you're doing great!

I hope you have benefit from this thinking.

Have a great day everybody!