Cynthia Thurlow is a nurse practitioner, CEO and founder of the Everyday Wellness Project, and an international speaker with over 10 million views for her second TEDx talk. She has over 20 years of experience in health and wellness, she’s a globally recognized expert in intermittent fasting and nutritional health, and she’s been featured on ABC, FOX5, KTLA, CW, Medium, Entrepreneur, and The Megyn Kelly Show. She’s also listed in Yahoo Finance as one of the “21 Founders Changing the Way We Do Business” and she hosts the Everyday Wellness podcast, which is considered one of "21 Podcasts To Expand Your Mind in 2021” by Business Insider.    Her mission is to educate women on the benefits of intermittent fasting and overall holistic health and wellness, so they feel empowered to live their most optimal lives.   In this episode, Cynthia dives into everything you need to know about intermittent fasting, including the hormones that benefit from it, why it’s so helpful for improving health, the common myths that come up with fasting and why they’re not true, and more.   She also shares what you can do if you’re just starting out, how to adjust based on how you’re feeling, how to use carbs strategically around your workout, and what women should know about fasting.    Here’s a peek inside what Cynthia and Chris Irvin chat about: 00:00 Introduction to the Keto Answers podcast   00:29 Introduction to this episode’s guest, Cynthia Thurlow 02:08 Cynthia’s new book, the results of a recent study that came out, and looking at fasting from an evolutionary lens 06:49 Why are there recommendations that say women shouldn’t fast? Is that true? 13:17 Isn’t fasting bad for your thyroid? 18:48 Other benefits women can experience from fasting 23:35 Doesn’t fasting wreck your metabolism? 27:36 Does fasting stress the body and increase the production of stress hormones like cortisol? 31:41 How does intermittent fasting relate to exercise? Is fasted cardio better? 38:41 What about sleep and intermittent fasting? Does it improve sleep or hurt it? 42:29 How does fasting affect melatonin production? 46:23 How should someone break their fast?  51:32 How does intermittent fasting impact hunger hormones? 57:38 What do you recommend for someone who is just starting out on their health journey or they’re getting back in the swing of things after taking some time off? 1:00:44 Cynthia shares more about her book, how she came about writing it, and what she hopes it does for people 1:04:08 How long it took Cynthia to write her book 1:06:40 What Cynthia’s writing routine looked like   Resources mentioned in this episode: Cynthia Thurlow’s website Cynthia Thurlow’s Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube channel Cynthia’s book, Intermittent Fasting Transformation Cynthia’s podcast