How to Improve Your Health and Step Into Being the Best Woman You Can Be

Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Dave Asprey — founder of Bulletproof, bestselling author and long-time biohacker — about practical ways women can use fasting, movement, sleep, nutrition and simple biohacks to reclaim energy, improve metabolic health and feel more powerful in their bodies. This conversation is packed with science-backed ideas and real-world tools you can start using today, especially if you're navigating perimenopause or just want a simpler, higher-return approach to health.

Why fasting — and why now?

Dave framed fasting through the lens of return on investment: every health practice requires energy input, and the best practices give you back energy repeatedly. Fasting, when done intelligently, can be one of the highest-return strategies. It decreases time spent preparing food, improves metabolic flexibility and can increase day-to-day energy — not just cause short-term hunger.

Everything you do in life you invest some amount of energy and you gain or lose some amount of energy

as a result." — Dave Asprey

But fasting has to be taught and implemented in a way people will actually stick with. The biggest barriers are the emotional and physiological sensations of “hangry” or hypoglycemia that derail attempts. That’s why Dave’s approach focuses on teaching people how to fast without unnecessary suffering — and tailoring fasting strategies for women.

Fasting for women: why it needs to look different

Women are not miniature men. Hormonal cycles, perimenopause and menopause change how women respond to fasting and low-carbohydrate strategies. Dave and I discussed how rigid, “bro” fasting rules (daily 20+ hour fasts or extreme keto) often backfire for women — causing poor sleep, lost hair, cycle disruptions and energy crashes.

Key practical points for women:

• Be flexible: 14–16 hour fasts, 3 days a week, may be better than daily long fasts.

• Respect cycle timing: the 5–7 days before your period may be a time to ease back on fasting.

• Use intuition: if a planned long fast makes you feel awful, shorten it. An 18-hour fast is still progress.

• Avoid rigidity: variety and kindness to your body win long-term compliance.

Practical fasting "tools" that make fasting doable

Dave outlines three progressive tools to make fasting realistic and productive — from mild to stronger — that still preserve the metabolic benefits of fasting (low insulin, low mTOR):

1) Caffeine (clean coffee or matcha)

A modest amount of caffeine (e.g., 1–2 small cups of clean coffee or matcha) increases ketone production and helps suppress hunger hormones (ghrelin and CCK), making the fast easier. If coffee gives you jitters, try cleaner coffee or matcha.

2) Fat + MCT (Bulletproof coffee style)

Adding grass-fed butter (small amount) and a C8 MCT oil to coffee substantially raises ketones and quiets hunger — allowing many people to fast without distraction. If you tolerate MCT poorly, start with a teaspoon and increase slowly. The fats help provide substrate for mitochondria and can restore mental clarity during the fast.

3) Prebiotic soluble fiber

Soluble prebiotic fibers (like acacia gum, hydrolyzed guar gum, larch arabinogalactan) feed beneficial gut bacteria and increase short-chain fatty acids (butyrate) — which can modestly raise ketones and stabilize gut function. Adding a measured prebiotic fiber during a fast can blunt hunger, improve regularity and reduce die-off symptoms.

Other useful tools

• Activated charcoal:

  helps bind and remove toxins released during fasting/autophagy (avoid near medications).

• Raw honey hack:

  1–3 teaspoons of raw (not heated) honey can restore liver glycogen quickly if you wake up at 3–4 AM with blood-sugar-related wakefulness. It preferentially refills the liver so it feeds the brain first and usually won’t derail a fast when used sparingly.

Sleep, circadian rhythm and blood sugar

Sleep is foundational. Poor sleep disrupts blood sugar regulation, increases cravings, and undermines fasting.

Simple strategies include:

• Block evening blue light (blue-blocking glasses or true darks) to improve melatonin.

• Eat earlier when possible to improve sleep and next-day metabolic responses.

• Consider a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) like Levels to see real-time blood sugar responses — this feedback can be transformative for learning which foods spike you and which don’t.

Movement: less can be more (REHIT and slope-of-the-curve biology)

Dave introduced two key concepts to rethink exercise:

Slope-of-the-curve biology

Rather than long, grueling workouts, the body strongly responds to brief, high-quality signals taken to the edge of homeostasis — followed quickly by recovery. In other words: give a sharp stimulus, then calm and recover fast. This pattern prompts adaptation without wasting time or energy.

REHIT (Reduced Exertion High-Intensity Training)

Short, intense efforts — for example, two 20–30 second all-out sprints within a 7–10 minute session, followed by full recovery — can improve VO2 max and cardiovascular fitness far more efficiently than long steady-state cardio. For most people, doing this 2–3 times per week is enough and is kinder to joints than long, repetitive sessions.

Cellular hacks: breath, hypoxia, red light and more

You can "exercise" cells directly. Brief, controlled hypoxic exposures (low-oxygen bursts) followed by recovery provoke mitochondrial resilience. Breathwork (Wim Hof-style or other methods highlighted by researchers like James Nestor) can produce similar effects. At the same time, recovery tools such as red/near-infrared light and guided relaxation amplify the benefit.

Supplements that matter (start here)

Instead of chasing every trendy nootropic, Dave suggests prioritizing the foundational supplements that help everything else work:

• Multimineral supplements:

  many people are mineral-deficient; minerals affect energy, mood and resilience.

• Trace minerals:

  modern food systems, seed oils, and phytic acid in plants reduce trace-mineral availability.

• Vitamin D + A + K + E (the fat-soluble set Dave calls "D-A-K-E"):

  these guide where calcium and other minerals are deposited and support immune and metabolic function.

Investing in minerals and proper fat-soluble vitamins often yields bigger gains than exotic pills.

Food realities: dairy, chicken, seed oils and food quality

Dave and I dug into food hierarchy and quality. A few important takeaways:

• Not all animal proteins or dairy are equal — A1 vs A2 casein matters for tolerance; raw, grass-fed and properly sourced foods are better tolerated for many people.

• Chicken tends to form more advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) during cooking versus other meats; think of meat quality and cooking methods.

• Seed oils and ultra-processed foods are major drivers of cravings, inflammation and metabolic dysfunction.

Trauma, meditation and neurofeedback

Physical interventions only go so far if emotional and neurological patterns keep triggering stress. Dave emphasized that unresolved trauma creates persistent “notifications” in the nervous system that derail metabolism, sleep, focus and relationships.

Tools for addressing this layer include focused meditation practices, EMDR, breathwork and neurofeedback. Dave’s work with 40 Years of Zen (neurofeedback-based approaches) illustrates that targeted brain-training can accelerate access to states that usually take years to reach with meditation alone.

You won't access your states of high performance or states of divine love if you're out of your minerals and vitamins — and if you're traumatized it's hard to get there." — paraphrase of Dave Asprey

How to get started: a simple, high-ROI plan

If you're ready to try a quieter, smarter approach, here’s a beginner-friendly roadmap that aligns with the principles we discussed:

1. Sleep better: block evening blue light, eat dinner earlier and prioritize 7–9 hours.

2. Try intermittent fasting with kindness: aim for 14–16 hours a few days per week; honor cycle-related needs.

3. Use a small fasting tool: black coffee, or coffee with a teaspoon of butter + a teaspoon of C8 MCT oil; try adding soluble prebiotic fiber if digestion is an issue.

4. Move efficiently: two short, intense efforts per week (REHIT-style) + daily walking.

5. Prioritize minerals and vitamin D + A + K + E; consider a CGM for personalized feedback if you want rapid learning.

6. Address trauma and stress: simple breathwork, guided meditation, or seeking targeted therapy/neurofeedback to quiet persistent notifications.

Final thoughts

This conversation reinforced something important: you don't need to suffer to get results. A smarter, kinder approach — one that accounts for hormones, cycle timing, sleep, minerals and efficient movement — will often get you further and faster than daily grit and relentless deprivation.

If you take one idea away: be precise, not perfect. Pick one high-impact goal (sleep better, regain energy, improve brain function, lose a modest amount of weight or reduce stress), apply a few of these high-ROI tools consistently, and iterate from there. Your body is responsive; the trick is to give it the right signals and then recover well so those signals translate into real, lasting change.

— Cynthia Thurlow, NP

For more information, watch this youtube video:

Resources and next steps

If you'd like to learn directly from Dave, he offers teaching resources and guided programs (for example, FastThisWay.com) that walk you through practical fasting strategies with daily exercises and community support.

For personalized blood-sugar feedback, CGMs (like those integrated with the Levels app) are an excellent tool for learning what works for your body.