Fasting Q&A with Dr Jason Fung: New 5-Day Fasting Reset, Bitter Greens, Body Set Weight, Kidney Damage, and More
Release Date: 08/19/2025
Fasting Q&A: Hormones, Insulin, and Staying Consistent When Motivation Fades
The Fasting Method Podcast
A grounded Q&A episode focused on what actually keeps you consistent when motivation fades. Episode #241 🎙️ Motivation is powerful at the start — but it never lasts. What matters is what you build underneath it. Megan Ramos answers listener questions on hormones, insulin resistance, PMS, PCOS, perimenopause, ADHD, and the mental side of fasting. She explains why biology matters more than willpower and why well-built habits — not motivation — are what carry you forward long term. 👉 What you’ll learn: How insulin resistance affects hormones and cycle-related symptoms Why...
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The Gap Between Knowing and Doing
The Fasting Method Podcast
Many people already know what to do for their health — and still struggle to follow through consistently. 🎙️In this bonus episode, Dr. Terri Lance explores the gap between knowing and doing, and why that gap has nothing to do with laziness, discipline, or willpower. This conversation looks at how stress, long-standing habits, self-talk, identity, and the nervous system influence our ability to live what we already know — especially when life gets busy, emotional, or unpredictable. Rather than collecting more information or trying harder, real change often comes from learning how to...
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The Hunger Code: Understanding Hunger Beyond Willpower
The Fasting Method Podcast
A deeper look at hunger — and why overeating is not a willpower problem. Episode #240 🎙️ What if the real issue isn’t overeating — but over-hunger? In this episode, Megan Ramos and Dr. Terri Lance are joined by Dr. Jason Fung to unpack the ideas behind The Hunger Code and why focusing on calories alone misses the real drivers of eating behaviour. Together, they explore how hunger is regulated by hormones, how emotional and conditioned hunger influence our choices, and why so many people feel “broken” when the problem was never willpower to begin with. This conversation reframes...
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No More Compensating: How to Start the New Year Without Regret
The Fasting Method Podcast
A practical, mindset-focused conversation about starting the new year without punishment, panic, or regret. Episode #239 🎙️ What if the biggest mistake we make in January is starting from regret — and trying to “make up for” the holidays with extreme fasting? Megan Ramos and Dr. Terri Lance unpack why compensatory fasting and compensatory eating don’t work, how regret undermines consistency, and why every decision is simply your next decision forward. Drawing on years of coaching experience, they outline how to ease back into fasting after the holidays, put weight gain into...
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Fasting Foundations: Why the Basics Still Matter
The Fasting Method Podcast
A clear, practical conversation about why the fundamentals of fasting matter at every stage of the journey. Episode #238 🎙️ You don’t need intensity to make progress — you need the right foundation. Terri and Bethany revisit the core skills that support every fasting protocol, from TRE to therapeutic fasting, and explain why going “back to basics” is often the exact way forward. Through analogies, real client examples, and grounded coaching, this episode helps you understand how to build (and rebuild) your fasting framework with confidence. 👉 What you'll learn: Why foundations...
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One Week Won’t Ruin Your Journey
The Fasting Method Podcast
A grounded, compassionate conversation to help you stay steady during the chaotic in-between week of the holidays. Episode #237 🎙️ This strange, stretchy week between Christmas and New Year’s can feel like everything is falling apart — but it doesn’t have to. Terri and Megan share practical, mindset-supportive strategies to help you stay steady, release all-or-nothing thinking, and reconnect with the foundational skills that keep you moving forward. 👉 What you'll learn: Why one meal, one day, or one week cannot ruin your journey How to recognise and break the “smash the other...
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Letting Go of Perfection: How Alicia Learned to Work With Her Body
The Fasting Method Podcast
A heartfelt conversation on self-trust, mindset shifts, and healing without pressure. Episode #236 🎙️ What if the real breakthrough isn’t in doing more, but in finally slowing down enough to listen to your body? In this warm and encouraging conversation, Coach Amy sits down with TFM Community member Alicia Peters, whose journey through perimenopause, weight gain, and frustration eventually led her to profound mindset change. Alicia opens up about releasing comparison, embracing TRE as her foundation, and learning to work with — not against — her body’s signals. 👉 What you'll...
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Mindset, Hunger Management, and the Tools That Make Fasting Easier
The Fasting Method Podcast
How mindset, hunger management, and practical tools can make fasting easier and more sustainable. Episode #235 🎙️ Building healthy habits and a strong mindset is far more important than relying on willpower. If fasting feels like a battle of will, you’ve already lost. In this episode, Jason, Megan, and Terri talk about why mindset and hunger management shape your long-term success far more than “perfect” fasting. They explore how simple tools can help you stay consistent, reduce overwhelm, and make fasting feel more doable rather than more difficult. You’ll hear why hunger isn’t...
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You Can Do Hard Things (Even at Social Events)
The Fasting Method Podcast
How to handle social events, FOMO, and food without losing your fasting momentum. Episode #234 🎙️ December can feel like a non-stop swirl of social events, food traditions, and pressure to be “fun” around food. In this special Bitesize bundle, Terri revisits three powerful conversations on FOMO, boundaries, and doing hard things — especially when everyone around you is eating. This is your reminder that you can enjoy connection and honour your fasting and food choices. In this episode, Terri brings together three classic Bitesize teachings that always land especially well during the...
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Keeping a Hand on the Wagon
The Fasting Method Podcast
A story of calm confidence, healing, and letting go of perfection. Episode #233 What happens when you stop chasing perfection and start trusting your body? In this heartfelt conversation, Audrey shares with Coach Lisa how she moved from fear and confusion to calm confidence by embracing nourishment, community, and self-compassion. Audrey’s journey reminds us that fasting isn’t just about hours — it’s about listening to your body, releasing perfectionism, and keeping “a hand on the wagon,” even when life gets messy. What you'll learn: Why fasting alone wasn’t enough for Audrey...
info_outlineEpisode #219
In this Fasting Q&A episode, hosted by Coach Lisa Chance, Dr. Jason Fung answers questions from the TFM Community:
- I realize the relationship between bitters, incretins, and autophagy is more complex than a direct cause-and-effect relationship. The incretin response doesn’t directly “promote” autophagy - it primarily regulates blood sugar and satiety. Autophagy is mainly triggered by nutrient scarcity and low insulin levels, not by bitter compounds themselves. Can you weigh-in on using bitter greens during this reset? [16:07]
- I have had some success lowering weight a couple times using fasting and time restricted eating but the weight creeps back up after a while even with doing TRE. What's nice is that I can get it to go back down again with discipline. I'm wondering what scientific evidence exists that your body set weight can successfully be reset for the long term as mine holds for a while but then wants to creep up and if there's a foolproof method to resetting your body set weight? [19:26]
- Your kidney patients who are T2D and close to needing dialysis, but are skinny, I’m assuming they need to fast for about a year to reverse the kidney damage, but how do they do it with so little fat mass? [26:56]
- I know that vitamin D is fat soluble and best taken with a meal. I’ve also heard that all supplements are better absorbed when taken with a meal. Is this true? What timeframe is considered “with a meal”? Is it before, during or after the meal? Is vitamin D a stimulant and can disrupt sleep so best taken in the morning? [30:32]
- How do you rate the risk of new gallstones formation if a patient already has one or more when it comes to fasting protocols? [33:46]
Links:
Dr. Fung’s YouTube video, 5 Ways to Naturally Boost the Ozempic Effect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le3Ifc7D5Vk&t=2s
Gallstones discussed on TFM Podcast #171
Please note that you need to be a member of the TFM Community to submit questions to the Q&A webinars with Dr. Fung but you can submit questions to our regular Q&A episodes here: https://bit.ly/TFMPodcastQs
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Summary Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:49 Introducing TFM’s new 5-Day Fasting Reset
16:07 Bitter greens
19:26 Body set weight
26:56 Reversing kidney disease possible?
30:32 Timing of taking fat-soluble vitamins
30:32 Gallstones
Disclaimer
This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. You should always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before doing any fasting, changing your diet, taking or adjusting any medication or supplements, or adopting any treatment for a health problem. The use of any other products or services purchased by you as a result of this podcast does not create a healthcare provider-patient relationship between you and any of the experts affiliated with this podcast. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.