For a few years, intermittent fasting (IF) was the wellness world’s golden child.
It was in every headline, every podcast, every “how I lost weight” reel. The 16:8 method — skip breakfast, eat from noon to 8pm — promised effortless weight loss, clearer thinking, and metabolic rebirth.
But fast forward to 2025, and the hype seems to have fizzled. The phrase “intermittent fasting” isn’t trending like it used to. And many are asking: did it ever really work?
Here’s what’s happening… intermittent fasting isn’t dead. But the way it’s been marketed, taught, and practised? That part needed to die.
We’re in the middle of a powerful shift — from generic fasting windows to intelligent fasting strategies that respect your biology, your trauma and stress levels, and your hormones. And as someone who has been practising fasting for over 15 years, I can tell you — what’s coming next is far more transformative than anything we’ve seen before.
Let’s explore.
The problem with “one-size-fits-all” intermittent fasting
The 16:8 protocol is simple, seductive, and sadly… oversold.
For many, it works at first — reduced bloating, a little weight loss, maybe some mental clarity. But over time, progress stalls. Or worse, people feel more exhausted, more inflamed, more stuck in old patterns. Why?
Because this version of intermittent fasting:
- Doesn’t respect your unique hormonal profile
- Ignores the role of chronic stress, trauma, and nervous system dysregulation
- Often combines with poor-quality diets, under-eating, and nutrient deficiencies
- Prioritises weight loss over healing and regulation
Fasting isn’t just about eating less. It’s about removing what blocks healing — and that’s a far deeper, more layered process than simply counting hours.
Modern research backs this up. A 2023 study published in Cell Metabolism found that women with a history of metabolic dysfunction responded poorly to rigid fasting windows, especially when coupled with stress, poor sleep, or undernourishment. In contrast, personalised, circadian-aligned fasting produced significantly better results in insulin regulation and inflammation markers.
We need more than time windows. We need a new paradigm — one that teaches us how to fast with our body, not against it.
So what’s replacing it? The evolution of fasting in 2025
The good news? Fasting is entering its renaissance — not as a trend, but as a personalised, ancestral, trauma-informed, and scientifically grounded healing tool. Or at least, that’s where I’m hoping to steer things.
Here’s what’s rising in its place:
1. Bio-individual fasting protocols
The era of blanket recommendations is over.
We’re moving toward fasting based on your body’s readiness — not someone else’s plan. Whether you’re insulin resistant, navigating hormonal imbalances like PCOS or perimenopause, or managing chronic fatigue, your fast must reflect your biology.
This is why I created the Fasting Adaptability Score — to help people understand how to fast, when to fast, and why their body might resist or react. No two fasts should look the same.
Science speaks:
Studies show women in their reproductive years have a more sensitive HPA axis (stress response system). Fasting impacts cortisol, which in turn affects thyroid and sex hormone production. This is why a personalised approach isn’t optional — it’s essential.
2. Circadian & SIRT1-aligned eating
The future of fasting isn’t just about when you don’t eat — it’s also about when you do.
Your metabolism, cortisol, melatonin, and insulin all follow a circadian rhythm — a light-dark cycle that governs your body’s natural function.
Fasting that respects this rhythm — eating during daylight, fasting after dark — activates deep healing.
Research shows that eating in alignment with circadian biology improves inflammation, insulin sensitivity, and longevity. Night eating, even within a fasting window, disrupts melatonin, gut repair, and glucose metabolism.
For example, research in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (2022) found that eating earlier in the day — with your largest meal by 2pm — led to a 25% greater reduction in post-meal insulin and improved leptin sensitivity. These effects were even more pronounced in women over 35, where hormone decline and metabolic flexibility begin to shift.
Enter SIRT1 — a gene linked to longevity, mitochondrial health, and DNA repair. Fasting activates it. But eating at night, exposure to blue light, and erratic sleep suppress it.
When SIRT1 is activated, it:
- Increases mitochondrial function
- Reduces inflammation
- Supports neuroplasticity and memory
This isn’t biohacking. It’s biology.
Eating earlier, reducing evening light exposure, and syncing your fasts with your sleep-wake cycle is the next evolution.
3. Trauma-informed fasting
This is the most radical — and necessary — shift.
Many people carry unresolved trauma, histories of disordered eating, or chronic stress in their bodies. Fasting without nervous system awareness can feel like punishment. But done safely and intentionally, it becomes a gateway to profound healing.
We now know trauma isn’t just psychological. It lives in our mitochondria, our gut, our fascia — our cells. Fasting gives the body space to clear what food cannot fix.
But it must be gentle. A trauma-aware fast works with the nervous system, not against it. This includes preparing the vagus nerve through breathwork, cold exposure, prayer, or somatic tools so the body enters fasting in a parasympathetic, not stressed, state.
Science supports this:
A 2021 review in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews links vagus nerve activation with reduced inflammation, better emotional regulation, and a decrease in cytokine storms — effects that align beautifully with fasting’s anti-inflammatory power.
This is the difference between restriction and restoration.
Fasting calms brain inflammation, downregulates fight-or-flight responses, and creates space to process stored trauma.
4. Fasting for cellular repair — not just fat loss
We need to stop reducing fasting to a weight loss tool. That’s not the purpose — that’s a side effect.
The real power lies in autophagy — your body’s natural cellular recycling process. It clears damaged proteins, senescent cells, and inflammatory debris. This regenerates your skin, immune system, brain, and mood.
But you won’t access this if you’re constantly under-eating, skipping meals, and fuelling your body with anxiety, caffeine, and stress.
Autophagy kicks in during longer fasts (24–72 hours) — the kinds that require support, guidance, and reverence. Not casual meal skipping, but a deep commitment to allowing your body to do what it was created to do.
Yoshinori Ohsumi won the Nobel Prize in 2016 for his work on autophagy — and we’re only scratching the surface of its healing potential.
So what does this mean for you?
If you’ve tried intermittent fasting and it didn’t work — it’s not your fault.
You were likely following a model that was never made for you.
When stripped of context, fasting loses its healing power. But applied with precision, reverence, and science, it becomes a profound act of metabolic healing, hormonal recalibration, and emotional restoration.
Most people fail with fasting because they jump in too fast, following rules that don’t fit their biology.
If you’re unsure where to begin, use this 3-phase approach:
1. Assess your state
Take my Fasting Adaptability Audit to gauge how resilient your metabolism and nervous system are. This helps avoid rebound effects and frustration.
2. Regulate before you restrict
Start with circadian rhythm syncing — not skipping meals. Eat with the sun, prioritise protein in the morning, and stop eating at least three hours before bed.
3. Layer in healing fasts
Once your body feels safe and nourished, begin layering in 24-hour resets, seasonal 36-hour fasts, or guided 3-day cellular fasts — always with education, rest, and support.
This new wave of fasting is:
- Personalised
- Trauma-aware
- Hormone-supportive
- Rooted in ancestral rhythms
- Grounded in scientific truth
And this is the work I now do — guiding clients through fasting that heals, not restricts. Helping them reset their relationship with food, their body, and the emotional patterns beneath both.
The future is intelligent fasting
The body doesn’t need trends.
It needs truth.
In many ancient traditions, fasting wasn’t just physical. It was spiritual.
When done with intention, fasting becomes a portal — not only for healing the body, but for releasing emotional burdens, surrendering control, and creating space to hear God’s voice.
Truth isn’t found in a cookie-cutter 16:8 window. It’s found in learning your body’s cues, honouring your biology, and returning to rhythms we were never meant to abandon.
Fasting isn’t dead.
It’s coming alive — finally, as it was always meant to be.
Spiritual fasting isn’t about deprivation. It’s about clarity. Connection. Surrender. And this is a part of fasting we’re only beginning to reclaim — especially in a world that glorifies noise and consumption.
As someone who began fasting for spiritual clarity before understanding the science, I believe the deepest breakthroughs come when we fast not just from food, but from distraction.
The future is intelligent, integrated fasting
Start with your own biology.
Let’s retire the rigidity and reclaim the reverence.
Let’s fast with our bodies — not against them.
Let’s integrate science, trauma work, and spirit — because the body doesn’t separate them.
Let’s stop mimicking influencers and start listening to our cells.
Reach out to me for your Fasting Adaptability Audit and discover the best path forward for your body.
Because when fasting is done right — it doesn’t just change your weight. It changes your life.