3.5 stars

I have been following the intermittent fasting style of eating for about 5 years now. So when I saw this book up on NetGalley, I snapped it up. I am always looking for new or nuanced ideas about diet and eating to help optimize your body system.

Reading the blurb on the book, I expected to read about a new approach to fasting with an emphasis on listening to your body's natural cues to signal a more natural start/stop to the approach or something very similar. What I got was a blend of the general intermittent fasting styles blended with a keto diet. While this is not anything new or groundbreaking, it may be a good approach for some. So, mileage may vary. I personally don't do well with a high fat/very low carb diet. Plus, I personally have my own educated thoughts on the diet that has nothing to do with this book, so I will omit them.

Intuitive Fasting does provide a quiz that evaluates for addiction to sugar, carbs, insulin irregularities/resistance that may help to discern if you might benefit from this approach. So that can be a useful tool.

Like I said before, I have followed an intermittent fasting syle of eating for many years now. I really like it and find benefits with regulating my eating, keeping from night binging, and it has positively helped regulate my hormones and helped with my gut issues. I just personally don't blend well with Keto. But, I am typically a special case. I think many may appreciate and might benefit from this book.

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Overall, I really liked this book. The author's writing is engaging and I love that he brings things down scientifically along with interesting studies. I don't necessarily agree with all of his assertions, as he speaks of some medical conditions I have and my body does not react how he claims it should using certain eating patterns of certain foods. Therefore, I think the benefits are overstated and unfortunately, what works for one, doesn't necessarily work well for another. However, he does say that everyone needs to adjust according to their body. Some of his plan I can utilize while other parts do not benefit my health, so it is important for the reader to be mindful and realize they will need to find what works for their own body.

While the recipes sound good, there are no pictures, so there is zero chance I would get around to actually making them. This is a bummer since nearly half of the book is recipes from carefully planned meal plans that the author compiled. I have zero motivation to make things that I can't see beforehand.

There is some helpful info to be gleaned and I did find it to be an enjoyable book.

Informative book on using an intermittent fasting plan as a four week reset. Includes many recipes and lots of information for the reader.

A flexible program that embraces an individual approach with science based insight. A great beginner's guide to fasting.

Eat Like the Rich: Don’t
Don’t eat and then when you do eat, eat what Dr. Will Cole says is his latest book, Intuitive Fasting: The Flexible Four-Week Intermittent Fasting Plan to Recharge Your Metabolism and Renew Your Health, in a nutshell. Oddly, he has nothing to say about the fake cheese included in many of his recipes--which take up the second half of the book. It’s just weird when he lists the herbs you can use (dill? duh!) but doesn’t discuss the vegan dairy products he includes. And I guess you can use good oils in your coffee which don’t break your fast? I’m a stickler for rules and his are a bit confusing. Plus, Cole just seems to not enjoy food at all. He says at the end of the book, “When you learn to love feeling great more than you want to eat the food that will diminish how you feel, that’s food peace.” That’s actually just sad. A little handmade pizza feels pretty damn good.

Gwyneth Paltrow has very little to say in the introduction so although he’s been on the Goop Men podcast, GP doesn’t come across as enthusiastic as the cover of this book would lead you to believe. I’ve never been someone who eats breakfast first thing in the morning, but I’ve been experimenting with waiting even longer before consuming anything other than coffee (with non-dairy sugar-free milk) since reading this book--not sure if my health is renewed but it’s been slightly interesting to change it up in these long cold days of February.

Wendy Ward
http://wendyrward.tumblr.com

Intuitive Fasting: The Flexible Four-Week Intermittent Fasting Plan to Recharge Your Metabolism and Renew Your Health by Dr. Will Cole
Publisher: Rodale Books
Genre: Health, Mind & Body
Release Date: February 23, 2021

Intuitive Fasting by Dr. Will Cole is a great resource for intermittent fasting. I've been curious, but afraid to try it on my own. Dr. Cole explains it in a way that seems much less intimidating!

There is so much information in this book, that it definitely warrants reference book status for me! I was so grateful that this includes a 4-week flexible fasting plan, as well as recipes and a meal plan.

I'm so grateful to Dr. Will Cole, Rodale Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Great information on fasting with a chapter for each week, devoted to different topics to reset, recharge, renew, and rebalance. A chart cheatsheet included in the plan. Will I do this? Maybe not, but those interested will benefit greatly from this book and the included recipes. I loved the recipes and the guidelines to make this much easier.

This was an interesting read and explained intermittent fasting well. If you haven't tried it before this is a good, easy to follow guide. The author doesn't speak over your head and scales the program well. I'm getting ready to try this. I will say that a friend in her 50s lost 15lbs doing intermittent fasting.

Eating recommendations from the experts have always been very confusing for me. It became even more so when I was diagnosed as diabetic Type 2. If I remember correctly in 2008 I was told to eat 6 small meals good grief to me that was too much eating. More than ten years later I feel like I've finally got it; for my body it IS about when I eat not so much what I eat.
Dr Cole shares a 4 week intermittent Fasting plan in this book that might not be so ground shaking for those who have fasting in the past, but it might be for first time IF'er (Intermittent Fasters)

The first two weeks I thought my scale was broken, but week after week the numbers keep going down. I like that Cole says this is a way to recharge your metabolism and that is exactly what I feel is happening. The idea of "Intuitive eating" is something we all can do and Dr. Cole shares how in his 4 week plan. I won't go into the details because you need the book for support but the weeks are set up as such:
Week 1 - Reset
Week 2 - Recharge
Week 3 - Renew
Week 4 Rebalance

I great read and I am sure I will be purchasing copies for family & friends.
This book was provider by the publisher in exchange for my thoughtful & honest review.

I'm no stranger to fasting; I lost 50 lbs with fasting/keto but then 2020 happened and I fell off the wagon. Ugh. When I saw this on Netgalley, I requested it, as my goal for the new year is to get back on the weight loss train and I was interested in seeing if there was anything new I could add to my routine.

I'm not sure where the idea that fasting is bad for you came about, but it's not true. When I started fasting, I had a lot of people spouting off untruths - everything from how fasting will "slow your metabolism" to "it's not healthy" to the head scratching "you'll become malnourished". Seriously? None of those things are true. And adding low-carb eating along with fasting cuts down on cravings, which means once you get past the first week or 2, you'll find it easier and easier to do.

As far as all of the information in the book goes, I did learn a few new things that I intend to incorporate into my new program. Things like staying away from diet sodas (I'm not going to pretend I'll give up my beloved Pepsi Free entirely, but I will reduce the amount I drink substantially) and also from dairy (As a cheese addict, this one will be tough. Goodbye Pepper Jack, I'll miss you) so I've got some challenges in the weeks ahead as I adjust my eating plan.

If you are new to fasting (or are interested in learning more about it) then this is a great place to learn more. All the information is easy to understand and would be a great resource for people who want to begin fasting but don't know where to start. Included in the program are recipes and sample plans for what the author calls "Ketotarian" - in other words a high fat/moderate protein/low carb diet that includes lean meats and vegetables, combined with a 4 week get started plan. The program is simple enough to do (although the first week may not be easy) and I recommend it for people to at least try.

This has a lot of information of more than the fasting. It adds various other diets...Keto, Vegan etc. The issue I had is that I am not sure all these different diets can really work together.