5 Days to a Healthier You: Fasting, Menopause, and Diets for Midlife Women With Renee Fitton

Dawn Damon: All right, beautiful, brave hearts. Wonderful to see you as always.

Today, my guest is a visionary at the forefront of the intersection between nutrition, healthcare, and education. With a robust background in health science and a master of science degree, my guest has become a trailblazer in promoting health and wellness through innovative nutritional approaches. I can't wait to talk about that. She is currently serving as the director of education and healthcare sales at ProLon, and my guest plays a pivotal role in shaping the education and the sales strategy of the organization. And with a deep understanding of nutritional science, coupled with her commitment to evidence based practices, she is seen as a trusted authority. Please welcome to the Bravehearted Woman, my guest today, Renee Fitton.

Hey, Renee!

Renee Fitton: Hello, hello! Thank you so much for having me. It is such a pleasure to be here. And I really hope that in today's chat, we can just really uncover a lot of myths when it comes to nutrition, especially in middle age, and some new tools that can really help us thrive.

Dawn Damon: I'm looking forward to that because I know this is going to be a big surprise to everybody, but I actually am mid-age and so I'm always looking forward to that. I don't believe that we have to gain weight, that we have to have all of these things forever, but we certainly start in that transition where our bodies feel differently and our hormones feel differently. Does fasting work? Does it not work? And really a woman is going through this transition. Well, we call it the change of life because it really is. So yeah, I'm eager to unpack that too. So tell me a little bit about yourself and how did you get involved in this area.

Renee Fitton: Absolutely. Well, I mean, it started a long time ago when I thought I wanted to be a medical practitioner more, you know, the standard doctor that you see in an emergency room is what I had seen for myself. Then, I decided to go on a medical mission. I went to South Africa. I went to Nicaragua. Every time we went out there, we put on big backpacks of medication and lots of it. As we got out there, you know, we would see people that didn't really have a lot of access to these things and never once did we mention lifestyle changes and nutrition changes and ways that they could improve their health without all of these. And I thought to myself, there's got to be a better way.

So I got back and I started looking into all of these lifestyle changes and nutrition really hit home for me. So fast forward a little while, I got my master's degree at USC where Dr. Walter Longo actually founded the program and Dr. Walter Longo is an incredible leader in longevity research and healthy aging and has done decades of research in this space. And is actually now recognized as, you know, by times as one of the top health impact leaders in the world today. I am so very, very grateful to have learned there. And from that really just took off in trying to sink my teeth into every strategy that was available out there to really support healthy aging, and more importantly, help us live healthier. I'm not just living longer.

Dawn Damon: Yes. Thank you for saying that, because you know what? That's exactly true. I do hear that we're living longer and that we have the medical science now to keep the physical body alive, but I don't want to stay alive for a long time if I'm not healthy. And so you're kind of talking about the intersection here between nutrition and a healthy life. Tell us, what did you discover about nutrition during that process?

Renee Fitton: Oh my gosh. I mean, the world of nutrition is immense. So it just with this question, we could talk for hours and hours, but I think what I really want to touch on it today is one of the, in my opinion, easiest and fastest ways to make a really impactful change, and that is fasting and fasting mimicking. This is a strategy that you can incorporate into your year plan just a few times a year, just a handful of days each time that makes a huge impact in our health and longevity. So that's probably the major one I want to touch on today, but I mean, there are so many things that we can do across the spectrum of lifestyle change that can impact our health and longevity.

Dawn Damon: Yes. So you've piqued our interest. So let's talk about that. You're calling it a fasting-mimicking diet. So to speak, fasting-mimicking diet, what is that exactly?

Renee Fitton: So fasting mimicking diets are a way to get all of the incredible benefits of fasting, of which there are many, and we can touch on that too. But I think now in today's world, where we hear about fasting all of the time, we kind of start to get the hint. Fasting could be quite good for us. It's because it's tapping into this evolutionary benefit. We didn't always have food around. Our bodies actually had to learn to thrive during periods when there wasn't food and so they did.

So we really want to tap into that. How can we get all of these incredible benefits of water-only fasting? Without actually having to do water-only fasting, which can have safety issues. It can have, um, you know, do we want to, do we really feel like going with only water for several days? We have the discipline to do that exactly. So what is the solution here? And with decades of research, Dr. Walter Longo and teams of researchers across the globe. Now we're talking about 18 prestigious universities. There have now been over 30 clinical trials have started to uncover how we can do this with food and that's what the fasting-mimicking diet is. It's the ability to get the benefits of water only fasting, but with food and you can do it in five days.

Dawn Damon: Oh, so you have to give us a little bit of the how-to. I'm sure that we can figure out or find you more information on it, but what would a day of the fasting-mimicking diet look like?

Renee Fitton: Okay, so a company called ProLon, one of which that I work with, so I have to give that little signal there, but it's actually quite simple. In fact, a company by the name of Prolon that I work for has made it It's even easier than ever in that they have created a program that gives you everything you need for the five days.

So, every single day comes with a box with your breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, everything included. What does that look like? Well, the morning usually starts with a nut-based bar. Then from there, you get soups for lunch and dinner, you get snacks like olives and crackers, and even at the end of the day, you get a little chocolate crisp. So, I mean, it is a full day of meals, and it is completely seamless. You don't have to think about anything, you don't have to cook anything, you don't have to buy anything else. So, really makes it easy to follow the program without thinking about anything.

Dawn Damon: Beautiful and so some of those things that those benefits that we get from fasting. Could you name a few of those benefits because maybe some don't recognize that is an important thing for us to be doing?

Renee Fitton: Absolutely. I think for me, there are six major pieces that I like to consider. The first one is cellular rejuvenation. So cellular rejuvenation is the ability for our cells to actually clean themselves out from the inside, like an internal doctor or an internal vacuum cleaner, and get rid of all of this junk that accumulates over time. It's bound to happen as we get older and as we age ourselves, just start to accumulate some stuff that no longer works as well, and just needs to be flushed out. If we don't take the time to do that cleanup, then it will just accumulate and it makes it a lot harder for our cells to function the way that they were designed to. So the only way that our bodies have the ability to really turn on this cleanup crew is through a process called autophagy, which is essentially the cellular cleanup. This is only turned on when we fast for at least three days. So now this really starts to bring up the importance of these longer-term fasts.

So even these daily fasts aren't going to necessarily get you there. So this cellular cleanup and this deep cellular cleanup that we only see with prolonged fasts is one of those important things. That one's a little bit, I think tougher to get a hold of in terms of a grasp for most people, but one that I think everybody can appreciate is weight loss. But not just any weight loss. It is weight loss with muscle protection. Now, especially as we age, muscle is critical and unfortunately, a lot of diets out there right now are tapping into our muscle stores.

So when we look for nutrition solutions, we have to find ones that protect our muscles and not. Is very feasible with prolonged fasting as well. So that has been shown time and time again. Then not to mention that the weight loss that we're seeing is in the right places. It's in our trunk fat, which is our belly fat, the type of fat that is the most dangerous and usually the ones that we're really hoping to get rid of to have visceral fat there. Yes. Then the visceral fat, that's the stuff around your organs and that's really the most dangerous stuff. So both of those are being tapped into more specifically with fasting than especially other programs out there.

So weight loss, cellular cleanup, now longevity, biological age. This is the age of our cells, as opposed to just the age on our birth certificate. We want to try and hack that age on our birth certificate and actually have ourselves and our bodies behave younger than that. It's possible. So we've actually done studies with fasting, mimicking diets that have shown that just three to five-day cycles done over a three month period reduced your biological age by two and a half years. So that's critical. Yeah. So, I mean, when we talk about longevity, I mean, this is what we're talking about. We're talking about being able to be younger than our age. When we look at fasting is really one of the most incredible ways to do that.

Now, another, of course, important thing to consider is our metabolic health. As we get older, our metabolic health tends to deteriorate. So when I talk about metabolic health, I'm talking about our cholesterol numbers, our triglycerides, our blood pressure, and all of those things that the doctor is checking. And fasting taps into all of that too. We have tons of studies on how fasting impacts our metabolic health. Then I also want to touch on skin health.

A recent study just came out showing that the fasting-mimicking diet for just five days. So that's a single round. Has improved your skin health, hydration, and texture, in just five days. And even fine lines, actually, that was another one, and fine lines, I think we're all looking to swipe away. And if you can do a little bit in five days, I think that is something we want to hold on to.

Dawn Damon: Those are incredible benefits. I mean, I can't imagine that anyone would deny the fact that having some of those benefits from fasting would be so powerful for our lives, especially that, you know, we would talk about aging. If we're sloughing off those cells that are no longer useful to us, we're revitalizing, we're losing weight, we're turning the clock back, right?

Renee Fitton: Exactly.

Dawn Damon: Now, for women, We talked about menopause at the top. And so how does fasting specifically help women? Is there a difference between the benefits for men and

Renee Fitton: women?

Absolutely and I'm a big proponent of personalized nutrition and making sure that we consider our differences and gender is one of those differences. So, we absolutely need to tap into that. Then our age, and where we are at in our spectrum of aging absolutely taps into that. So yes, there are unique considerations for women who are entering menopause or in menopause. Some of these considerations include that as we transition into menopause, we also start seeing, you know, decreases and declines in our insulin sensitivity. So this is our ability to manage blood sugar and ability to avoid type 2 diabetes. And unfortunately, that's going to get harder as we transition into this phase of life.

With fasting, we can tap into that. We can tackle that. We can improve insulin sensitivity. This again has been shown time and time again. So, especially in this period of life where we start having some of these challenges, this can be especially helpful. Not to mention, we oftentimes see weight start to creep up. It can be caused by a number of reasons. The changes in hormones that are happening during this time, including the changes in insulin sensitivity, and all of these things are really starting to pile in all at once. We can use fasting to tap into so many of these different things all at once. We're really able to start pushing back against the weight gain, pushing back against those changes in insulin sensitivity and those metabolic changes that are happening.

Dawn Damon: That's really, really interesting. So you mentioned again that you. are with a company called ProLon. Now, is this something that you guys have put together for anyone that wants to go? How do they get the products? How do women find out more about this? If they say, Hey, you know what? I want to do that five-day fast.

Renee Fitton: Absolutely. I would urge anybody to go investigate it and do their own research. Go to prolonlife.com and just go explore. We keep all of our science there. I mentioned those 30-plus clinical trials. It's worth taking a peek. Our team has done our job to also make some blogs and some information so that if you don't feel like reading all of the paper, you can go read the blogs. They're way more interesting and fun to read. So I would just absolutely urge anyone to go take a peek and you can also find the 5-day program there.

Not to mention, we also have other products there that could be great for women entering menopause or in menopause, including our new L-protein, a first-of-its-kind protein beverage that supports muscle maintenance while also supporting healthy aging. Nothing of its kind has been created today. And especially with a lot of talk around protein today. I think it is an incredible product that any woman going through and entering menopause or in menopause today should be getting their hands on.

Dawn Damon: Yeah, I like that you said that because protein is really important. Earlier you mentioned that there are a lot of diets out there and we want to lose weight. Many women, they're like, this is my goal, but if we don't do it correctly, we're not losing the right kind of fat. As you mentioned, we're losing muscle. What's the danger of a midlife woman losing muscle?

Renee Fitton: I mean, our muscles are so much more than just there to make us look big and buff. They also are associated with our immunity and our flexibility. All of these things that may not seem obvious at first are actually quite tied to our muscular health.

Now, I think a very important thing to keep in mind is that our muscle is a very metabolically active tissue. Now, what that means is it uses a lot of energy. It actually helps us use a lot of the calories that we consume, and it needs a lot of those calories. So when we lose that muscle and we don't have it anymore, we actually don't use as many of the calories that we consume, and that can then be transitioned into fat. So when we lose muscle, we also are more likely to gain weight and not the kind that we want. It's going to be that fat storage. And so that is really, really critical to consider when we look at the difference between muscle In the rest of our tissues.

Dawn Damon: Yes and so that spring back, I'm losing weight, but I gain it all back. And actually I'm gaining more fat because I've lost some muscle. So I tell my audience, my bravehearted women all the time, continue to move your body, continue to have that weight resistance, build that muscle. And if you're able to have 70 to 90 ounces of protein a day, that's a lot of protein, but our bodies are calling for that when we get into this place of menopause. What can you say, am I close?

Renee Fitton: I think you're definitely hitting the nail on the head there. We recommend about 0.8 grams per kilogram, which is kind of the basic recommendation. Some people will need more.

As we age, we do need more. So these are all things to keep in mind as we make and strategize our nutrition. So everybody should work with a nutrition professional or a medical professional that looks at your nutrition. Very important to make those specific recommendations because maybe you're super athletic. You might need more, you know, as we get to the age of 60 to 65. Okay. We do need more. We need to bump that up even more. So all of these things adjust those recommendations.

Personalization is key and making sure that we're getting enough, but also not too much, and of the right kinds. I mean, there's just so many questions to keep in mind there. So I would just. Say, you know, get that personalized guidance, make sure you're getting enough, not too much because too much also can be problematic. It can lead to excessive growth and excessive growth can lead to increased risk of cancer and things like that. So, you know, we really do want to find ourselves in this really happy medium where we're getting enough, but not too much.

Dawn Damon: Yes, so good.

Okay, so all of this information and somebody listening might say, so this is why I get so confused because, okay, where do I start? What do I do? What's my baby step? Because we are in a day and age where we do have information overload and sometimes, like, just break it down and give me one step, two steps, or three steps. What would you recommend for someone listening?

Renee Fitton: What's the first step? So I would say, I mean, for me doing a 5-day fasting mimicking program, I mean, I think anybody can say I've got five days to give. And when I think about one thing that I can do to make a change, I want that change to be significant.

So, you know, there's a lot of things that you can change, but there's not a lot of things that you can change that are going to have a really quick impact and a significant impact right away. And that's what I think a 5-day fasting mimicking program can do. And the beauty is you only have to do it three times a year. So we're doing this every four months or so.

I think that's super manageable and if that's gonna improve our biological age It's gonna improve our metabolic health. It's gonna improve our cellular health. It's gonna improve our weight. It's gonna protect our muscles. I mean I don't even think I have enough fingers to get out all of the things that this program can do this to me is the easiest solution. Plus, ProLon packages it up in an easy-to-go box. You don't really have to do much more thinking than that. I don't think it gets much easier than that. So, in short, that's my answer.

Dawn Damon: You know, I'm about that. I need fast. I need convenience. I need it to be effective. And so, you know, you sold me, I'm going to try it. But before we go, if somebody says, yeah, okay. All right, you've given me my first step. That's good.

Hey, brave hearts. How about we do a 5-day fasting challenge together? That would be awesome. DM me and we'll look into that. But. What's the prep for that? I'm sure that it's all explained, but would you go on a retreat to do that? Would you make it like, I'll just do body, soul, and spirit, get my journal, be with God fast, or do you go, you know what? No, just keep going with your life.

Renee Fitton: That's a great question. So the program was specifically designed to not require all of this prep work. You know, there are fasting water-only fasting programs where you have to go to retreat and they have to be there with you because they got to coach you through that and they got to make sure you're doing it safely. But once we start adding food to our fasting programs, we take a lot of that risk away. We take a lot of the need to do all of this prep work out of the equation. So it does make it a lot easier.

Now, that being said, do I recommend that people go in just completely headstrong right away? No, I would say take at least 24 hours. Just get ready to dive into this fast. Don't resist the urge to have all the food in sight the day before your fast. Sometimes you're like, okay I'm gonna fast tomorrow and I'm gonna be fasting for five days. So I'm just gonna make sure I get as much food now as I can and that can actually make it harder come day one So just making sure that you transition and you ease into it is really important really a valuable tool to making it a great fast.

Now, another thing is, and I love that you brought up the group fast idea, have somebody to do it with. Just prepare with a friend, prepare with a group, even just being on WhatsApp with somebody else, who's doing it or whatever, with somebody who's doing it with you will make it so much better.

Then last but not least is to stay busy. So a lot of people think, Oh, I'm going to be fasting. I'm going to be exhausted. I'm not going to do anything else. I would urge you to plan a busy work week. Make sure you have lots of stuff going on. You know, if you've been holding off on spring cleaning and getting out, you know, cleaning out your junk drawers, this is the time to do it. Do it all and whatever it might be. Stay busy. To just keep yourself distracted, because if you're going to be sitting on the couch, then you are inevitably going to be thinking to yourself, man, maybe I should just go to the fridge and go grab that snack out of there. So just staying busy goes a very long way.

Dawn Damon: Wonderful. Thank you so very much.

Listen, Bravehearts, you know that we talk a lot about embracing where we are, but not acquiescing. We talk a lot about reinventing and living our best life and having that belief that God's greatness is still in store for us and that there is so much more for us to do, but we don't want to show up old and weak and decrepit. Isn't this a way that you can love yourself? Isn't this a way that you can invest in yourself, turn back the hands of the clock a little bit, but also love your body, nurture and nourish your body?

Thank you so much, Renee, for being here. I appreciate it greatly. We love listening and learning all of these great things. So where can people find more? How can they get a hold of this information? Where do they want to go?

Renee Fitton: Great question. Please do come find more information, come check us out at prolonlife.com. We're also on Instagram at @prolon. You can also come to connect with me on Instagram at @fittonnutrition, and we will answer all questions that you might have there.

Dawn Damon: Wonderful. Thank you again. This has been just a joy and I'll let you know how our fasting group goes.

Renee Fitton: Fantastic. Looking forward to it. I hope I see you there. I'll be in there too.

Dawn Damon: Beautiful. Thank you so much for being here today. This was a great, great program.

Hey, if you love this today, make sure that you share it with someone. There are other women, make your own group. I challenge you, to get your five-day fast prepared and get ready to roll.

This is Dawn Damon, your BraveHeart mentor. I'm going to leave you like I always do. But first, don't forget, hop over to the braveheartedwoman.com. There, I have a free gift for you. Ignite Your Confidence & Soar with Self-Esteem. It's my free ebook. I want you to have it. You have to have confidence while you get ready to do this five-day fast.

All right, everybody, we're going to say this, find your brave and live your vision!