It is amazing to see how far we have come since Jason and I started IDM back in 2012. Major news outlets like CNN and Times magazine are talking about fasting almost every day. I hear young, healthy people talking about the benefits of fasting as I’m walking down the street. All of this new-found popularity hasn’t come without any scrutiny from the public.

Every day I am tagged in a threat on social media where someone is questioning the safety and benefits of fasting. I am never bothered by a scientific debate about fasting.  As a scientist, it is always important to question everything. I always tell my patients that my goal is for them to fast because they understand why they are fasting and how it is benefiting them. I never want someone to fast on a Monday because Megan said they should. You should not be fasting because Megan Ramos and Jason Fung say fasting is beneficial for you. You should be fasting because you have read our blog posts and watched our lectures, and you think the science behind it makes sense for you.
What bothers me about some of these threads I am tagged in is when they just trash fasting without giving any explanation why. That is not what science is about. And if you think about it, this is how we got into this whole giant nutritional mess in the first place with the whole ‘let us trash dietary fat with no good scientific evidence to back it up’ approach.
Many of the attacks I see on fasting have to do with women. Social media is plagued by posts saying fasting is dangerous for women or it does not work for women. I will often search the authors of these posts to see what their experience on the subject compared to mine. Most of the time my search turns out nothing. This people have little or no experience working with women who are fasting in the first place.

I have worked in a clinical setting helping thousands of women of all ages fast for almost a decade now. I am a woman who has fasted consistently for over eight years. I have not seen anything but the amazing impact fasting, and time restricted eating protocols have on women at any stage of their lives.
Is fasting a different experience for women than it is for men? Yes, it is. Do our end results differ? No, not really. Women just take slightly different routes to get the same place. In this new email series, I will start to unravel and debunk all the myths about women and fasting. I will also share from my experience what women in all the different stages of life should expect when they start fasting, and what has worked best with the thousands of ladies I have worked with over the last decade.
It is time to set the record straight.

• Megan Ramos, IDM Program Director

By The Fasting Method

For many health reasons, losing weight is important. It can improve your blood sugars, blood pressure and metabolic health, lowering your risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer. But it’s not easy. That’s where we can help.