Ep 361 The 5-Day Fertile Window Explained (And Why Hollywood Gets It Wrong) (Copy) (Copy)
In this episode of The Wholesome Fertility Podcast, Michelle Oravitz, shares the only fasting approach she recommends for those trying to conceive, and why most intermittent fasting methods can actually harm fertility. Drawing from both modern research and Ayurvedic principles, Michelle explains how to sync your eating habits with your body’s natural circadian rhythm to support balanced hormones, stable blood sugar, and optimal digestion.
She breaks down how to determine if fasting is right for you (hint: it depends on insulin resistance and PCOS type), the best time of day to eat your biggest meal, and how the ProLon fasting-mimicking diet can help restore metabolic balance without depleting your energy or fertility.
If you’ve ever wondered whether fasting could fit into your fertility journey, this episode offers a grounded, fertility-safe way to approach it.
Key Takeaways:
Not all fasting methods are fertility-friendly, skipping breakfast can increase stress hormones and harm reproductive balance.
Those with insulin resistance or insulin-resistant PCOS may benefit from specific, gentle fasting approaches.
Your largest meal should align with your body’s strongest digestion period (midday, when the sun is highest).
Finishing dinner 2–4 hours before bed supports better sleep, hormone repair, and digestive rest.
ProLon’s fasting-mimicking protocol can enhance insulin sensitivity and reduce stubborn weight safely.
Always test, not guess, consult your healthcare provider before starting any fasting or supplement plan.
Disclaimer: The information shared on this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider before making any changes to your health or fertility care.
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Michelle: [00:00:00] Episode number 360 1 of the Wholesome Fertility podcast. Welcome to the Wholesome Fertility Podcast. I'm your host, Michelle Orvi, and today I'm going to be covering the only way I personally recommend fasting, and this is in the case of people who have insulin resistance or stubborn weight, and they feel more sluggish and.
Michelle: This could be coupled with irregular cycles or PCOS, and this would be really the only way I would recommend fasting. But if you don't have those things, you still might wanna listen, because I do also talk about the timing of eating and how you can do so to improve your overall energy and help your sleep.
Michelle: So stay tuned.
[00:01:00]
Michelle: So I'm going to be
Michelle: explaining who would benefit the most from what I'm about to talk about. So stay tuned. So if you have been diagnosed with PCOS or suspect that you might have insulin resistance, or your doctors told you that you're slightly insulin resistant. Which could reflect on your reproductive health as irregular periods, feeling sluggish.
Michelle: Oh, metabolism really, really hard to lose stubborn weight, then you might benefit from a more fertility friendly way of fasting. But before I get started, I recommend that you always speak to your doctor to make sure that you're not self diagnosing because. I've seen this happen so many times where people self-diagnose or assume that they have something and then they self-treat and it ends up sending them further back on their [00:02:00] fertility journey.
Michelle: So I always recommend really to test and not guess. And speak to your doctors before doing anything. Even when it comes to supplements or certain diets, it's really, really important to have a team that is well qualified and can really help you. And I also wanna be really clear that this could benefit people who do have insulin resistance.
Michelle: And types of PCOS that do have insulin resistance. Keep in mind that not all PCOS is created equal. Everybody's a little different when it comes to their expression of the type of PCOS, so you wanna make sure it's more insulin resistance, PCOS, and many times this can show up, like I mentioned as stubborn weight, acne, or irregular cycles.
Michelle: However, sometimes people have irregular cycles because they're underweight and not nourished enough. So in that case, I would definitely not recommend doing this, but I'm also gonna mention how to eat optimally with the [00:03:00] time of day. So that aspect of it, I think will benefit everybody. So overall, I do not recommend intermittent fasting in the way that it is really.
Michelle: Advertised out there, which is to skip breakfast. And this is because when we're first waking up, our bodies are primed to eat food. And the fact that you might not feel like eating food does not necessarily mean that it's not really something that your body needs. Sometimes people are in a habit of not eating breakfast and their bodies get used to that.
Michelle: But that doesn't necessarily mean that that's the best thing when it comes to fertility health. The body really needs that stability and the stability of blood sugar, and you wanna support your body with. A healthy amount of proteins, a healthy amount of complex carbs, and you also want to eat vegetables and a healthy amount of healthy fats.
Michelle: Ideally, you would have a mixture of all of those in every meal because you have your proteins, you have your healthy fats, and you also have [00:04:00] the vegetables, which contain a lot of fiber. It can also help your digestion, but then also having a little bit of complex carbs or starches, but not a huge amount.
Michelle: So that should be the smallest part on your plate. So what happens is if you're skipping meals or if you're skipping breakfast. That can actually spike your cortisol and cause more stress on the body. And these are things that we don't wanna do. You wanna actually nourish your body consistently and regularly because your body has an internal clock and rhythm that it gets used to certain habits that you're doing every day.
Michelle: So it's important to reregulate that if you're not used to eating breakfast. Having breakfast first thing in the morning according to Ayurvedic medicine. We look at the way the sun rises and how our own bodies respond to those rhythms. So our bodies respond to the natural rhythms of life and nature.
Michelle: And so whatever happens in nature's clock oftentimes reflects on our own body's [00:05:00] clock. And typically what happens is when the sun comes up, our bodies are primed to digest best. So it's important not to skip any meals, especially breakfast. So that you're having a good, healthy breakfast, and what I recommend is for your largest meal to be in the middle of the day when the sun is the strongest.
Michelle: And this is because our body's internal digestif fire or Agni responds to the heat of the sun. So you have the help of nature. To support our own ability to digest and think about cooking, cooking your food. You want the fire to be as high as possible so that you can support that cooking, and that typically will be when the sun is strongest around two to 4:00 PM So this is the time where the body is the most prime to digest food, and you wanna help that digestion by chewing really well.
Michelle: And avoiding too much water before or even during your meals. Maybe have it afterwards so that you're not diluting your digestive fluids and really being [00:06:00] mindful with your food. So typically what I will suggest if a person needs or can benefit from a little bit of fasting is to have their last meal of the day be smaller.
Michelle: But also have it really early. And then your fasting would be really at the end of the day, a couple of hours before gonna sleep, depending on how stubborn the weight is, or if a person has insulin resistance. In those cases, they may benefit from maybe four hours before they go to sleep, but typically two to three hours would be really a general guideline.
Michelle: And what this does is it allows the body rest from digesting. Because the digestive process could be very, very taxing and demand a lot of energy from the body. Typically, we are primed to have more energy during the day as we are slowly winding down from the day you wanna let the body rest. Typically, that will improve your sleep as well.
Michelle: Also, allow your body to work on whatever it needs to restore your body and [00:07:00] balance hormones and everything that it does while you're sleeping. And the repair process that happens when you're sleeping will be uninterrupted and won't be competing with your digestive system. So ideally, this is what you wanna do to really restore the body, and this is going to impact really all the different processes of the body.
Michelle: Need to support your reproductive health. So another thing I recommend, and I recommend doing this periodically, is if you do have insulin resistance, and you again, always talk to your doctor about this, but there are things like fasting mimicking diets, and I personally recommend ProLon. And what this is, is basically they have either three day or five day, one day, and what you do is you basically get these boxes and you will eat certain types of foods throughout the day.
Michelle: And it's very, very small amount so that your body is going into autophagy and it's able to break down and fast, but you're still at the same time eating. So you're able to really function in life and not [00:08:00] feel super depleted, and you're also getting nutrients while you're doing this. So this is actually something that is recommended for a lot of people who have insulin resistant PCOS.
Michelle: People have a lot of great benefits from this, and in clinical studies when this is done in cycles over months, it showed reduction in trunk fat, improvements in insulin related markers, and reductions in growth factor signaling linked. To metabolic aging. So the benefit is that you're not reducing foods all together, which would cause other problems.
Michelle: You're still maintaining some kind of calorie intake, but you're also inducing more insulin sensitivity. So combining all of these and maybe doing periodic. ProLon fasting with just having a couple of hours before you go to sleep of no food, and also combining certain foods and macronutrients in a certain way that is more harmonious for your body and harmonious in a way that will also.
Michelle: So sustain [00:09:00] sugar balance is really your best bet. So while this isn't a cure all, it could definitely be something that can benefit in the case of insulin resistance, and it could possibly get the body to a point where it's able to really manage its energy more optimally. To support equality and to support your cycles and overall reproductive health.
Michelle: So be sure to talk to your doctor about it. And if you want, you can find a link in the description for ProLon where you can get a discount and you can also go on there and look into what it is, how it works, and really the research behind it. So thank you so much for tuning in today. I hope this was beneficial for you in some way.
Michelle: If nothing else. Definitely take out of this that you are a circadian being. So it's really important to approach what you're doing with the sun and also the timing of your body. And this includes food, but it also includes daylight because we really are part of nature. So thank you so much for tuning in, and I will see you next time.
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