The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting and Womens Health | Cynthia Thurlow

"If we're looking at our menstrual cycle as a whole, there's optimal times in our menstrual cycle to push our bodies. And then there are times in our menstrual cycle where we want to still be physically active, but it's not the time to be, you know, doing CrossFit, or doing a long endurance race, doing really intense HIIT...

If we're on synthetic oral contraceptives for 10, 15, 20 years, we're keeping our bodies in a very low estrogen state with these synthetic hormones. We're missing out on peak bone mass, peak muscle mass years. ... I'm seeing women that are osteopenic before they even go into menopause.

Things like adverse childhood events... People that have high scores as a child are at greater risk for autoimmune conditions, they're at a greater risk for weight loss resistance, they're at a a greater risk for persistent behaviors. And it could show up as alcohol addiction...

I think about the PCOS patients, so polycystic ovarian syndrome, which is actually the most common endocrine disorder here in the United States ... It's more often than not a degree of insulin resistance and inflammation at the basis. Also, oxidative stress.

About 25% of women with PCOS are thin phenotype, which means thin women can also have PCOS. You don't necessarily have to be obese, and this is why it's so under-diagnosed.

Where are you in your lifestyle? So, are you in your peak fertile years? And if you're a competitive athlete, I would say, no, I don't want you fasting.

It's not at all uncommon to see women in their early 40s... They may not be ovulating every month; they may ovulate twice in a month. What I always say about perimenopause is that it's predictably unpredictable.

We have to help educate women that irrespective of where you are in that perimenopausal journey, you may still be able to conceive a child.