I Skipped Intermittent Fasting, Drank Alcohol, And My Body Protested

A simple weekend slip turned into a wake-up call. After letting intermittent fasting drift, leaning on late-night snacks, and saying yes to back-to-back drinks, the fatigue hit like a wall—stealing precious hours meant for family and fresh air. Rather than chalk it up to a bad day, we zoom in on what really changed and why midlife bodies respond faster and louder to small choices.

We walk through the chain reaction: how alcohol fragments sleep and stirs late-night hunger, how refined carbs spike and crash energy, and how perimenopause shifts magnify these effects. From there, we rebuild with practical, compassionate steps. Think: recommitting to a realistic fasting window, front-loading protein and fiber, closing the kitchen earlier, and choosing whole foods that keep blood sugar steady. If you eat meat, we talk quality and balance. If you’re plant-forward, we share anchors that satisfy without inviting the 10 p.m. pantry tour. No fear, no shame—just data you can use tomorrow.

Along the way, we share the mindset that keeps momentum: quick audits when fatigue flares, small course corrections instead of crash diets, and simple weekend systems that protect your energy. The message is clear and empowering: your 40s and 50s aren’t a cliff; they’re a feedback loop. Listen to the signals, adjust your plate and timing, and reclaim the hours that matter most. If you’ve felt that surprise nap creeping in, this conversation gives you the tools to push back with grace.

If this resonates, tap follow, share with a friend who’s navigating perimenopause or energy slumps, and leave a quick review to help more women find these tools. Your story might be the nudge someone else needs today.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Purpose
• 0:16 Health Habits And Midlife Shifts
• 1:18 Intermittent Fasting Slips
• 1:46 Weekend Choices Catch Up
• 2:13 Fatigue Hits Hard
• 2:52 Connecting Dots: Diet And Energy
• 3:18 Wake-Up Call For 35 Plus
• 4:06 Practical Eating Reminders
• 4:48 Closing Encouragement

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hello everybody. This is Still Rose's podcast. This podcast has become has been created for women by women to elevate women's voices. I hope everyone is feeling well and having a wonderful week thus far. I wanted to share something with you guys that I noticed and for myself, and so I want to call it out to you. So um I think you guys have heard me kind of get on my little soapbox before about being mindful of how you're treating your body, eating healthy, exercising like the whole bit. I'm not so great with the exercising. The eating healthy, I'm actually pretty decent at. Part of what spurred me along with getting healthier was obviously physically like how I was feeling. But then I had also read a couple books or some guests that came on that were, you know, explaining to me different things about when you get to your 40s and 50s with perimenopause, menopause, that your diet actually really is a it has a lot to do with how you're going, you're physically going to be reacting during these times. So in my mind, I'm like, let me do the best that I can to give my body what it needs because my body's already going to be going through something that is not going to be probably pleasant. So let me just help as much as I can. So normally I'm pretty good with that. And yes, like I have a sweet tooth here and there for things that are salty things, whatever. Like I'm a big snacker, so I try to like maintain some kind of some kind of balance, um, which again, I usually am pretty decent at. Um, this past the past few weeks, I've been having some struggles with like keeping up with my intermittent fasting. So I've been trying to recommit there, which this week is gonna be a big recommitting. You, my husband and I are both starting down that journey again, um, or re reinvigorating that journey. But the one thing that this past weekend I wanted to share with you was that over the weekend, I kind of just let it go a little bit. I really didn't do the intermittent fasting. And I also had alcohol on Friday and Saturday. And then I just I just wasn't eating well. To be perfectly like transparent, I just was not eating well. I was eating poorly. Carb, like carby, you know, again, the alcohol I think really had a lot to do with this. On the weekends, I really like to, I do like to get a lot of things done, but I also like to be out and about and I like to be out walking. I like to be out physically with my kids and, you know, interacting with them. Like this is my time to really spend time with them. Today, the first day in a really long time that I had to lay down and take a nap. Now, I think I've explained to you guys before that I have these days sometimes where I get this really bad fatigue, comes out of nowhere, and I have to rush through whatever it is I'm doing because if I don't, I'm gonna fall asleep. I'm gonna have to just stop and go lay down. So it hasn't happened to me in a long time, in a while. Long enough that I'm like, I was surprised when it happened today. So I immediately had to like, I told the kids, I was like, I have to rush. Mommy, mommy needs to lay down. I don't feel good. So I had to rush through like making lunch for everybody, and then I eventually went to go lay down for like an hour and a half, which honestly is huge in general for the fact that I even did that for myself, but I felt it in my body and I was like, I need to lay down. But while I was doing that and while I was like holding on by a thread, making sure that everybody was settled so I could lay down. Um I started thinking about, you know, why? Why, why, why is this hitting me like this today? You know, I should be okay. Now, granted, yes, like I am on Slind, and so I'm sure that's having some effects on my body that I'm still getting used to, but I'm I've been paying very close attention to what, you know, my reactions have been to that and anything that I've been feeling there. But then it clicked into place. I haven't been doing intermittent fasting, which is a big thing. I've been eating late at night, snacking late at night. Horrible, horrible habit that I have. And I had stopped for a really long time. So now that it I had it back, I'm like, this is terrible. I can't do this anymore. And plus I drank alcohol this weekend. I think a combination of factors pushed me a bit into uh a worse physical state and my body reacted to it. And it kind of just all clicked into place as I was taking my nap. And I'm like, I, you know, this is if I were to let's say go back to eating meat, if I went back to just regular food, processed food, I can only imagine how badly my body would feel if I was putting all of that into it. So it was more of an awakening almost shock to my system. Like, you have to stop this. Like, you have to get get it back together because quite frankly, I don't have time. I don't have time for naps. I don't want to waste time on naps. I wanted to live my life. So this is more of like a moment for me, like a aha moment. Like, oh, this is proof isn't putting people, make sure you're not like treating your butt your body poorly. I know when you're young, you kind of don't pay attention to it because you think you're invincible. I get it. I've been there. We've all been there. I'm talking to the 35 plus crowd who's like, oh, now I'm starting to feel things. It's time. It's time to just treat your bodies better. It's time to try and put as much good raw food into your body as possible. If you're a meat eater, you're a meat eater. Like, I'm not saying don't do that, but you know, eat as well as you can. Avoid like the fatty fried, deep fried situations. You know, try to eat things that are a little bit better quality. I just wanted to add that note into everybody. It was one of those moments that I was just like, oh man, I really have to get myself back on track. So if you're starting to feel badly, I encourage you to look at your diet, look at how you're treating your body, and like look to food for support in getting through whatever it is you need to get through. Some stuff, obviously, not possible to use food to treat it, but a lot of stuff is. So I definitely encourage you to look at stuff like that. I hope you all found this episode quick but informative. Just kind of food for thought. Pay attention to what you're putting in your body because your body is gonna react to whatever you're putting in there. And I hope you all have a great day. Thank you for hanging out with me, and I will catch you on the next one. Take care.