Ep. 313 - Foundational Fasting for Holiday Stress | Why Emotional Eating Isn't Willpower Failure | The Gut-Brain Loop | Using Fasting to Reset Metabolism | Starting 2026 Strong | Join Our Next Fasting Challenge!

Fasting For Life

Scott Watier

Nutrition, Health & Fitness, Alternative Health

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

***JOIN THE NEXT MASTER YOUR FASTING CHALLENGE THAT STARTS January 14th, 2026!*** We’ll GUIDE you on how to FAST to LOSE FAT for good, and use ‘fast cycling’ to achieve uncommon results! REGISTER HERE! Click the link for DATES, DETAILS, and FAQs! In this timely New Year's episode, Dr. Scott Watier and Tommy Welling unpack groundbreaking research published in Cell Host and Microbe revealing why holiday emotional eating isn't a character flaw but a metabolic brain loop driven by gut-produced molecules that hijack your stress response. They explain how the microbial metabolite imidazole propionate (IMP) crosses into the brain and fundamentally alters stress-coping circuitry, causing a "freeze" response that makes you reach for food when overwhelmed rather than exploring healthier options. The hosts connect this mechanism to the 88% of Americans living with metabolic dysfunction, demonstrating how insulin resistance, gut dysbiosis, and blood sugar dysregulation create a vicious cycle where stressed brains default to emotional eating as a neurobiological coping strategy. They provide actionable solutions including establishing foundational fasting habits, using continuous glucose monitors for real-time feedback, removing ultra-processed foods that feed harmful gut bacteria, and implementing simple stress-management tools that rewire the gut-brain-metabolism connection. This episode offers scientific validation and practical strategies for starting 2026 with momentum rather than guilt-driven New Year's resolutions. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Take the NEW FASTING PERSONA QUIZ! - The Key to Unlocking Sustainable Weight Loss With Fasting!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Resources and Downloads: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SIGN UP FOR THE DROP OF THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BLOOD SUGAR CONTROL⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠GRAB THE OPTIMAL RANGES FOR LAB WORK HERE! - NEW RESOURCE! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FREE RESOURCE - DOWNLOAD THE NEW BLUEPRINT TO FASTING FOR FAT LOSS!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SLEEP GUIDE DIRECT DOWNLOAD⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DOWNLOAD THE FASTING TRANSFORMATION JOURNAL HERE!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Partner Links: Get your⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FREE BOX OF LMNT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ hydration support for the perfect electrolyte balance for your fasting lifestyle with your first purchase⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ here!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠25% off a Keto-Mojo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ blood glucose and ketone monitor (discount shown at checkout)! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our Community: Let’s continue the conversation. Click the link below to JOIN the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Fasting For Life Community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, a group of like-minded, new, and experienced fasters! The first two rules of fasting need not apply! If you enjoy the podcast, please tap the stars below and consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes. It takes less than 60 seconds, and it helps bring you the best original content each week. We also enjoy reading them! Article Links: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41297540/

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, I'm Dr. Scott Wadier.
0:03.0	And I'm Tommy Welling, and you're listening to the Fasting for Life podcast.
0:07.0	This podcast is about using fasting as a tool to regain your health, achieve ultimate wellness, and live the life you truly deserve.
0:15.0	Each episode is a short conversation on a single topic with immediate actionable steps.
0:20.0	We cover everything
0:21.2	from fat loss and health and wellness to the science of lifestyle design. We started fasting
0:25.9	for life because of how fasting has transformed our lives and we hope to share the tools that
0:30.1	we have learned along the way.
0:42.2	Hey everyone, welcome to the Fasting for Life podcast.
0:45.3	My name is Dr. Scott Wadier, and I'm here, as always, my good friend and colleague, Tommy Welling.
0:46.4	Good afternoon to you, sir.
0:47.5	Hey, Scott, how are you?
0:49.2	Doing fantastic, my friend.
0:52.9	Excited for today's New Year's Eve episode.
0:57.5	First and foremost, want to wish every single one of you listening in an absolutely happiest of New Year. 26 is going to be amazing. We wish you all the best
1:07.6	prosperity and blessings coming to you in the new year and excited that we get
1:12.6	to celebrate New Year's Eve with you on this episode today. And we're going to get into it
1:17.6	here in just a second. We're going to be talking about an article that just came out in December
1:22.1	this month, December 10th of 2025 in cell host and microbe. It's called the Microbiome Met imidazoleproprinate modulates hypothelomic activity and stress-induced behavior. So man, that's a mouthful. So how we're going to frame this, we're going to take this study that was done in mice and then the data that's in the human studies that's out there and correlate it to a lot of the stuff that we've been talking around this time of the year, Tommy, about emotional eating and
1:47.8	stress and travel and sleep and money and grief and all the holiday bag of fun that we have.
1:54.5	The holidays are wonderful, family, friends, a lot more opportunities, food environments,
1:59.5	changes, travel, lack of sleep,
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 18 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Scott Watier, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Scott Watier and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.