How To Improve Your Health And Step Into Being The Best Woman You Can Be | Dave Asprey

I invited Dave Asprey—founder of Bulletproof, a three-time New York Times bestselling author, and a leading voice in biohacking—because his work on fasting, metabolic flexibility, and “smarter not harder” approaches to health is exactly what many women need right now. In our conversation we dove into practical, science-based strategies you can use immediately: fasting done in ways that actually work, short high-impact exercise, cellular hacks, and the foundational nutrients most people miss.

The Big Idea: Smarter Not Harder

Dave’s central theme is efficient biology. Instead of simply doing more—more workouts, more restrictions, more willpower—learn to get the highest return on your energy investment. He reframes the question: what actions give you measurable improvements in time, energy, and resilience with the least unnecessary suffering?

Everything you do in life you invest some amount of energy and you gain or lose some amount of energy." — Dave Asprey

Fasting: Why, When, and How to Make It Work (Especially for Women)

Fasting is one of the highest-ROI interventions for weight, metabolic health, and mental clarity, but most people fail because they hit hypoglycemia, hangry feelings, or fatigue and give up. Dave emphasizes that fasting must be done in ways that preserve metabolic stability and minimize unnecessary suffering.

Key principles for women

• Be flexible. Women’s hormones fluctuate (perimenopause and menopause are especially sensitive periods). A rigid, daily long fast may backfire. Reduce fasting frequency or length around your cycle or during rough weeks.

• Variety beats rigidity. Change fasting windows, use shorter fasts some days, longer others, and listen to your intuition.

• Spiritual and mental benefits matter. Fasting can open awareness and improve focus when it’s done with intention and the right context.

Simple rules to increase fasting success

• Start where you are—don’t attempt extreme fasts before you have metabolic flexibility.

• Aim for metabolic stability (low insulin, controlled mTOR) rather than calorie obsession.

• Use supportive tools (below) to make fasts tolerable and productive.

Fasting Tools That Help (Practical, Evidence-Informed)

Dave describes three tiers of “tools” that preserve metabolic fasting signals while easing hunger and maintaining function.

Tier 1 — Caffeine

Black coffee or matcha can increase ketones and blunt hunger hormones (ghrelin, CCK). For some people, poor coffee tolerance comes from contaminants—seek clean coffee or try matcha.

Tier 2 — Fat-first beverage (Bulletproof coffee concept)

A small amount of grass-fed butter plus a C8 MCT oil (medium-chain triglyceride) blended into coffee can substantially raise ketones and quiet hunger without raising insulin or mTOR. Start small (e.g., 1 teaspoon MCT) and increase slowly. For many, this creates a "hunger-free" morning and better cognitive performance.

Tier 3 — Prebiotic soluble fiber

Low-dose soluble prebiotic fibers (acacia gum, hydrolyzed guar gum, larch arabinogalactan) feed beneficial gut bacteria and increase butyrate production, which supports ketone levels and bowel regularity. Mixing a prebiotic scoop into a fat-rich coffee gives fullness and suppresses cravings while preserving fasting benefits.

Other helpful strategies

• Activated charcoal during a fast can bind toxins released during autophagy and reduce die-off symptoms—use carefully and not with time-critical medications.

• Raw honey (a teaspoon or two) can be used strategically at night to prevent a cortisol-driven wake-up from hypoglycemia; it preferentially refills liver glycogen and feeds the brain without derailing metabolic goals.

• If you experience gut/fungal issues, introduce MCT cautiously (it can have antifungal effects and cause die-off symptoms).

Exercise Smarter: Reduced Exertion High Intensity (REHIT) & Slope of the Curve Biology

More time at the gym is not always better. Dave describes “slope of the curve biology”: get the precise high-quality signal that forces adaptation, then recover rapidly. That’s how the body decides to improve. REHIT—very short, all-out efforts (20–30 seconds) followed by calm recovery—can deliver greater cardiovascular and metabolic benefit in minutes per week versus hours of steady-state exercise.

• Example: Two 20-second sprints within a 7-minute session on an AI-driven bike can outperform a 45-minute spin class for VO2max improvements.

• Follow the hard effort with an immediate, deep recovery (lay down, slow breathing) to signal safety and enable adaptation.

• Short bursts preserve joints and reduce injury risk—especially important for women concerned about long-term joint health.

Pick One Goal and Prioritize

Dave recommends identifying the single most important outcome you want (muscle, cardiovascular fitness, brain performance, energy, or stress/anxiety) and prioritize actions that give the best return for that goal. Trying to chase incompatible goals simultaneously (e.g., marathon training and maximal muscle gain) wastes time and energy.

Cellular and Breathwork Hacks

Improving mitochondrial function and cellular resilience is central. Brief hypoxic exposures—intentionally lowering oxygen for short pulses—followed by rapid recovery are powerful hormetic signals. Breathwork (Wim Hof, techniques described by James Nestor) can safely create these hypoxic/hypercapnic states, drive adaptation, and improve metabolic outcomes.

Foundations: Minerals and Fat‑Soluble Vitamins (DAKE)

Before chasing exotic supplements, secure the boring basics. Dave highlights three foundational supplements that reliably move the needle:

1. Multiminerals (electrolytes + trace minerals). Many foods and soils are mineral-depleted; deficiency sabotages energy, mood, sleep, and resilience.

2. Trace minerals (iodine, selenium, etc.). Phytic acid in grains/seeds can bind minerals; supplementation or mineral-rich foods matter.

3. Vitamin D combined with A, K, and E (DAKE). These fat‑soluble nutrients work together to direct mineral deposition and immune function. Avoid supplementing D alone long-term without co-factors.

In short: get your minerals and DAKE right, then the other hacks work far better.

Use Feedback: Continuous Glucose Monitors and Sleep Trackers

Real-time feedback accelerates learning. A continuous glucose monitor (CGM) like Levels gives actionable data: you can see how a meal, a dressing with seed oils, or a late-night snack impacts your glucose the next day. Sleep tracking (e.g., Oura) shows whether your interventions are improving restorative sleep. Data reduces guessing and shame.

Trauma, Nervous-System Regulation, and Neurofeedback

Biochemistry and technology matter—but unresolved trauma keeps many people in a chronic “on” state with frequent notifications and anxiety. Dave and I discussed the importance of nervous-system work: EMDR, neurofeedback, intentional meditation, and structured protocols (e.g., the 40 Years of Zen approach) can shorten the timeline to more accessible, reliable states of focus, calm, and connection.

Practical Starter Plan (What to Do Tomorrow)

If you want a simple, realistic place to begin, Dave’s distilled recommendations are extremely doable:

• Walk daily (even 15–20 minutes) and get morning light.

• Prioritize sleep: darken the room, use blue‑blocking strategies in the evening, track sleep quality.

• Skip a meal occasionally—practice intermittent fasting with flexibility around your cycle.

• Do one short high-intensity micro-workout or REHIT session once or twice a week (20–60 seconds max effort, with full recovery).

• If you’re trying fasting, consider supportive options: clean caffeine, a small fat-based morning beverage with C8 MCT and a little grass‑fed butter, or a prebiotic fiber mix to blunt hunger.

• Fix the foundations: multimineral supplement + DAKE (D + A + K + E).

For more information, watch this youtube video:

Next steps and resources:

Dave is teaching a free guided course and community kickoff at fastthisway.com which walks people through a two-week plan, practical fasting exercises, and guided meditative fasts.

If you’re curious about continuous glucose monitoring, the Levels app/device is a practical way to start self-experimentation—it's one of the most valuable tools for biofeedback.