Recent Articles

Just Do Something!

In 1988, at an advertising agency meeting, the infamous saying, “Just do it,” was coined. It is thought to have increased the sales of Nike shoes from 18% to 43% (from $877 million to $9.2 billion). The slogan is considered to be one of the top two taglines of the...

The ABC’s of Prioritizing

by Donna Reish

There is an old Jackson Five song that goes, “ABC It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3 As simple as do, re, mi ABC, 1 2 3 Baby, you and me!” I know that this song is showing my age, but it is catchy tune (and super fun to East Coast Swing Dance to!)—and it has helped me in...

Recipe Keys for All Kinds of Cooking

by Donna Reish

One of the things I am most excited about with this blog is the ability to teach people how to cook and bake sugar-free in a clear, incremental, simplified fashion. I know from experience how overwhelming it can be to open recipes just to be completely confused as to...

Low Carb Sprouted Flour Mix

by Donna Reish

I have been a mad scientist for the last couple of years! Well, my grown kids and hubby who teach biology, anatomy, chemistry, and physics in our homeschool Cottage Classes would beg to differ. They would say that I don’t have a scientific bone in my body. But I...

Sugar-Free Crock Pot Apple Butter

by Donna Reish

I used to make apple butter for my family of nine—even in the crock pot sometimes. You know…all of the “methods.” The peel everything then use an immersion blender method. The run everything through a hand crank thingy method. The cook-your-apples-in-apple-cider...

Best Sugar Free Strawberry Jam

by Donna Reish

BEST. Sugar free. Jam. Ever. And I am a grammar police—I have written fifty books (mostly English curricula) and forty thousand pages over the past fifteen years. But this jam is good enough to break the sentence rules over! 🙂 I can’t get to the link to give the...

BEST Low Carb Biscuits

by Donna Reish

There is no doubt in my mind that in the three years that I have been baking low carb, I have made at least twenty different low carb biscuit recipes! Agghh…..that is a lot of expensive flour and even more time than I care to think about. The bottom line is that...

Very Low Carb Flour Mix

by Donna Reish

When I first began low carb baking seriously three years ago, I had way more failures than I did successes. No one flour seemed to make anything edible—especially for my sons and husband. Almond flour was too heavy. I didn’t understand how much liquid/how many...

The Plastic Wrap Gift Ball Game

by Donna Reish

Need an activity for a group of adults who want cool prizes? Trying to phase out of stockings for your older kids and into something equally as festive but a little less expensive (especially if you find yourself getting real gifts that cost a lot for...

Everything You Want to Know About Plexus Slim

by Donna Reish

While the title might seem a little bit heavy on the hyperbole, as I’m sure this article will not contain every single thing that everybody wants to know about Plexus Slim, I do think you will get many answers here! Don’t be overwhelmed by the magnitude of this post....

HEALTHY! Cream Cheese Dessert Base

by Donna Reish

HEALTHY! Cream Cheese Dessert Base {Low Carb, THM, Sugar-Free} Cream cheese. Creamy desserts. Cheesecake. Frostings. Fruity concoctions with mounds of creamy goodness. Peanut butter, chocolate, and nuts, oh my! Those could be tags for the first mix that I am...

Sugar-Free Solutions Downloadable Chart

by Donna Reish

Click here to pin the complete version of the infographic above, and click on the picture below to download a printable version of this chart! This chart also appears in chapter 2 of my FREE e-book, Sugar-Free Solutions. Save Save Save

Low Carb/Healthier Cooking and Baking: It’s All About Dilution

by Donna Reish

Funny thing about low carb/healthier cooking and baking…sometimes I feel like my daily goal is to make things taste as normal as possible. That is, figure out a way to make the dish not taste low carb—even though it is. I am a picky eater….my mom tells the story of...

Tried and True [Super Easy] Stain Removal

by Donna Reish

Seven kids in fourteen years. Tons of stains. Every.single.day. Pre-Pinterest. Pre-internet.....mostly just Helps from Heloise columns and books from the library. 🙂 I tried it all.... But for the past ten years, I have used one trick over and over and over. And it...

Next Entries »

Recent Blog Posts

Plexus

Check out the supplements that have changed my life!

Ray & Donna Reish Independent Ambassadors #1382677

Save Save

Creamy Greens

Dec 27, 2017

My hubby is doing so great three weeks into Intermittent Fasting*! I am excited to be doing this lifestyle with him, getting healthy together and losing weight. (We have been on our Plexus journey together for nearly two years, but now he is also losing weight with Plexus and IF!) We have big ballroom dance goals for the coming new year–and our weight loss efforts will go a long way in helping his knees and heels feel strong enough to dance more. (And I have secret plans for some amazing dips and twelve-consecutive-twirls!)

(more…)

5 Reasons You Might Need a Shorter Eating Window in Daily Intermittent Fasting {Pictorial Slideshow}

Dec 27, 2017

For optimal viewing on a mobile device, tilt your device to landscape mode.

5 Reasons

You Might Need a Shorter Eating Window in Daily Intermittent Fasting

#1

Your Fasting Window Might Not Be Long Enough to Burn Through Your Glycogen Stores in Order to Burn Body Fat.

People often think the benefits of Daily IF are those of calorie cutting, having less opportunity to eat, etc. But this is a small part of Daily IF. One of the greatest benefits of IF is turning your body into a daily fat-burning machine!

Your glycogen stores are burned through somewhere between the 12 and 16 hour fasting mark. If you have an eating window of 8 hours, you have a fasting window of twelve hours. Your body might not be burning its own fat yet at the point you start to eat!

#2

You Might Not Experience Appetite Correction (AC) in a Longer Eating Window.

Appetite Correction is a phenomenon in which, after three to four weeks of a consistent daily IF lifestyle, you stop being hungry during the fasting period AND you get full more quickly during your eating window. This occurs most often for those who are doing short eating windows of say, two, three, four, or five hours (often called 22:2, 21:3, 20:4, or 19:5).

With a longer eating window, you will often eat two full meals. While you may get full faster, the real beauty of AC comes in a shorter eating window with less time to “get hungry” again and again within that window.

#3

You Will Likely Consume Too Many Calories for Weight Loss to Take Place.

While burning body fat is a huge benefit of IF, there is an element of Calorie In/Calorie Out (CI/CO) that cannot be overlooked in any weight management protocol. An eight hour window is long in terms of eating time.

A shorter eating window of 2 to 5 hours will usually result in OMAD–One Meal a Day. Within this time period, most people will eat an appetizer/snack/salad to open their window then an hour or two later have their meal followed by dessert within the hour or so, if desired. The short window, coupled with appetite correction (AC), yields a much lower total caloric intake for the day than an 8 hour eating window.

#4

Your Body Will Experience the Other Benefits of Daily IF More Fully.

Autophagy, the body’s natural recycling program, occurs when your create membranes that “eat up” old cells. This process makes us more efficient machines–and plays a role in slowing down the growth of disease and aging. (Yay!)

This process, along with Appetite Correction, lowering of important lab numbers, body fat burning, energy, and mind clarity, all seem to occur more readily in longer daily IF windows/shorter eating windows.

#5

You Will Likely Experience More “Personal” IF Benefits With a Shorter Eating Window.

If we cook, shop for, and clean up from two full meals (and perhaps a snack or two) in a longer eating window, we are missing the time saving benefits of a longer daily fast.

A longer fast also yields us more empowerment, more personal growth, and time to pursue other interests. Frankly, a longer fasting window can change your life in many positive ways.

Resources

#1 Your Fasting Window Might Not Be Long Enough to Burn Through Your Glycogen Stores: IF Journal Episode 4

#2 You Might Not Experience Appetite Correction (AC) in a Longer Eating Window: Appetite Correction by Burt Herring

#3 You Will Likely Consume Too Many Calories for Weight Loss to Take Place: Delay, Don’t Deny

#4 Your Body Will Experience the Other Benefits of Daily IF More Fully. The Obesity Code

#5 You Will Likely Experience More “Personal” IF Benefits With a Shorter Eating Window: IF Journal Podcast

IF Fasting Journal here at Donna Reish

Recipes and Tips here at DonnaReish.com

YouTube Channel

IF Journal Podcast at iTunes

Find ME–and Find Out More About Daily Intermittent Fasting!

(1) FB Group for Support and Daily Help

(2) Blog with all videos, articles, 5 Top Tips for IF Slideshow, and more.

(3) IF Journal Podcast at iTunes

(4) YouTube channel

(5) Donna Reish Blogger FB Page

Thanks for Viewing My…..

5 Tips for Daily IF Slideshow

Find More of These Weekly Slideshows here at donnareish.com

PIN THIS POST!

In the slideshow above are a couple of links to books I use and love. I am an affiliate for Amazon.com. If you click on the links above I will earn a small commission. Thank you for your support of this blog!

5 Reasons You Will Love Daily Intermittent Fasting (IF) {Pictorial Slideshow}

Dec 22, 2017

Scroll through the slideshow below for the top five reasons you’ll LOVE intermittent fasting! 🙂

For optimal viewing on a mobile device, tilt your device to landscape mode.

#1

It Will Probably Be Easier Than Anything Else You’ve Done for Weight Loss

Most people who have done years of various types of deprivation (keto, point counting, calorie counting, low fat, etc.) find a daily IF protocol easier than the other approaches to weight loss they have tried.

This is because a daily fasting window of 18-23 hours is a short term deprivation. People who have been in bondage to stringent food limitations love eating whatever they want.

#2

It Gives People Freedom—Food, Time, Kitchen Work, and Mind Freedom.

People love the option of eating formerly-forbidden foods during their eating window. The food freedom is huge!

Busy people also love the time, kitchen work, and mind freedoms. Most people who practice daily IF gain one to two hours a day in eating time and kitchen work time–and do not spend as much mental energy on planning their diet foods and regiment.

#3

It Burns Body Fat as You Do Nothing!

Most weight management programs are based on what you DO or what you EAT in order to lose weight and burn fat. Daily IF is the opposite of this—it burns body fat as you do nothing!

After 12 to 16 hours without food, the body goes into fat burning mode. Thus, your body is burning its own fat for fuel–simply by your doing nothing!

#4

It Is Simple–No Counting, Measuring, Weighing, Shopping, Prepping, Joining Programs, or Denying Yourself Long Term.

Busy people, as well as those seeking a simpler way of life, love the fact that you don’t ADD anything to your schedule in order to practice daily IF. You do not need to join a program, record food, cook elaborately, or count macros or calories.

With daily IF, you simply count the number of hours you do not eat (the fasting window) or the number of hours you do eat (the eating window)–or both (if desired). Easy-peasy!

#5

It Is Sustainable Forever–So You Don’t Have to Gain Back Weight You Lose When You “Quit.” (You Don’t Need to Quit!)

With most “diets,” there is the assumption that you are “on” –so you eventually go “off.” People cannot tolerate the deprivation, food limitations, and “rules” forever. (Plus, they find that as they get closer to goal, they have to eat less and less in order to lose weight!)

Daily IF is so simple, adaptable to your life, and health-giving that you do not feel the need to go “off” and then try to get back “on”! Once you reach your goal weight with IF, you just continue with the IF lifestyle to maintain that weight.

Want to Learn More?

Check out the following resource slides!

Learn More About Intermittent Fasting

#1 Easier Than Anything Else You’ve Done: Three Surefire Ways to Lose Weight

#2 It Gives People Freedom: IF Journal Podcast

#3 It Burns Body Fat as You Do Nothing!

#4 It Is Simple: Delay, Don’t Deny

#5 It Is Sustainable Forever: Feast Without Fear

Intermittent Fasting Journal: Week Four

Dec 21, 2017

I went to Disney World! And I went to the Plexus Leaders’ Retreat that I earned for my summer Plexus biz. And hubby went with me. AND.. I did IF the whole week! Yep, Intermittent Fasting passed the true dieters’ test–a plan you can stay on while on vacation without feeling deprived. Wow!

Here is my Week 4 video/podcast. Watch it here. Listen to the podcast in iTunes, follow the outline here!

Homestyle Skillet Green Beans (aka Best Fresh Green Beans EVER!)

Dec 15, 2017

I am not a fan of many vegetables….but fresh green beans are another story altogether. I adore them–and I have been known to make them every single week in my Parmesan Roasted Green Beans, Crock Pot Green Beans and “Potatoes,” or this homestyle recipe. I don’t like snapping green beans by myself. Ever since I have been married, snapping beans has been a family affair. My husband and I would put in a movie and snap buckets of green beans from our garden when we were first married. And later I would read aloud to my kids for hours as they snapped beans, peeled potatoes, cleaned fruits, etc. As a matter of fact, just recently, my twenty-year old son came in when I was cleaning veggies and said, “Do you remember when we would all gather around the table with fruits and vegetables and clean and cut all morning long while you read The Chronicles of Narnia series aloud to us? And how we never wanted to stop even when we were done with the produce? I miss those days!” Be still my heart….

(more…)

Cheapest, “Normal-Tasting” Low Carb Flour Mix

Dec 13, 2017

Low carbers, gluten-free folks, Paleo peeps, and real foodies all have their favorite flour and flour combinations when it comes to baking healthier (or lower carb, or gluten-free, or real, etc). Most people who use alternative flours focus on their specific need or preference–whether they want fewer carbs, no grains at all, nothing processed, etc. Two things that are sometimes overlooked in this quest are how “normal tasting” the flour substitute is and the cost of the substitute. I know there are die hard healthy bakers who would never use a grain or never use a flour with over a dozen carbs….but there are others who are trying to navigate these new baking waters (especially those of us seeking lower carb who are not used to the unusual flavors or those who have sticker shock when they start purchasing low carb flour substitutes).

(more…)

Hot Hamaramas/Hawaiian Sliders (With Low Carb Options!)

Dec 4, 2017

One of the beauties of creating something low carb that is as versatile as Low Carb Sprouted Crescent Dough (and the recent recipe post, Low Carb Sprouted Dinner Rolls) is being able to make so many formerly-high-carb foods into low carb foods. Once I got onto low carb bread making, dough, biscuits, crackers, Cream Cheese Dessert Base, candy, and so much more, I could look at a recipe that was previously off limits in low carb eating–and transform it into something low to moderate in carbs! Such was the case with our family’s long time favorite, Hot Hamaramas. (I have since found that they are called Hawaiian Sliders, ham and cheese sliders, baked ham sandwiches, and more. I have made these two two decades and always called them Hamaramas from a restaurant in my childhood hometown.)

(more…)

Intermittent Fasting Journal: Week Three

Dec 1, 2017

Welcome to the third episode/week of The Intermittent Fasting Journal podcast! I hope you like the format of the podcasts/videos. I am trying to pack as much “education” (teacherish!) into each one as I can while still being very experiential/journal-like. I also hope that you will follow my journey/journal even if you have no interest in supplements.

Low Carb Sprouted Wheat Dinner Rolls

Nov 28, 2017

I explained all about my quest for low carb yeast dough–and how it resulted in a low carb sprouted flour mix that actually works to create yeast dough products at five to seven net carbs per serving–a few months ago. I have had many people write to tell me that they are trying it, and I am excited to have low carbers enjoying yeast baking along with me. That recipe (Low Carb Sprouted “Crescent Roll Dough”) has a lot of options for using the dough. However, people are still asking for specifics about this or that–how to make the exact dinner rolls in the picture or how to make a thin pizza crust or how to create full sized loaves of bread. So I am going to be breaking down the recipe for individual items, starting with the exact dinner rolls in the pictures! (Watch the blog for recipes using these rolls, such as Low Carb Hamaramas (or Hawaiian Ham and Cheese Sliders) and more!)

(more…)

7 Ways I Avoid Holiday Weight Gain (for 3 Years Now!)

Nov 25, 2017

Something strange happens around Thanksgiving–or worse yet, at Halloween (!)–for those of us with lifelong weight management struggles. We give up. We throw in the towel (or the scales!). We wave a white flag of surrender (or our white granny panties of surrender!). We start eating during our Thanksgiving cooking prep, and we lose all resolve to lose weight. We even lose all resolve to not GAIN weight. It feels hopeless. We feel hopeless.

The food is going to be flying at us in every direction, so we yield to it. After all, if we can’t beat them, we might as well join them! New Year’s resolutions are just around the corner. We’ll do some drastic diet then and undo the damage. We’ve lost many a pound in January–and we know we can do it another year.