The Vida library

Short, sourced guides on fasting and a woman’s body. Every claim that needs a study has one, and where the evidence is thin, we say so.

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Fasting, the basics

What fasting actually is, and what happens in your body.

3 min read

Choosing your eating window

Early, late, or whatever fits your life.

3 min read

Hunger is not an emergency

Reading hunger waves instead of fearing them.

2 min read

Breaking a fast, gently

How to come out of a fast in a way that feels good.

3 min read

When to skip a fast

Rest is part of the plan, never falling behind.

2 min read

Day to day

Coffee, tea, and what breaks a fast

What you can drink, and what the fuss is about.

2 min read

Water, salt, and feeling off

The simplest fix for most rough fasting days.

2 min read

Headaches while fasting

Why they happen early, and how to head them off.

2 min read

Alcohol and your fast

What a drink does to the night and the next day.

2 min read

Eating out, dinners, and a life

Fitting a window around other people.

2 min read

Shift work, travel, and a moving clock

Fasting when your schedule won’t hold still.

2 min read

Starting again after a break

Picking it back up without the guilt tax.

2 min read

Your month

Fasting and your cycle

What actually changes across the month, and what to do with it.

2 min read

Your luteal week, and how to fast through it

The days before your period ask for a gentler touch.

2 min read

Fasting around your period

Being kind to yourself while you bleed.

2 min read

Fasting with PCOS

What’s known, and what’s still guesswork.

2 min read

Fasting on hormonal birth control

When there’s no cycle to sync to.

2 min read

Your stage

Your first month of fasting in perimenopause

What to expect, and what to ignore.

2 min read

Fasting through perimenopause, honestly

What’s known, what isn’t, and what to do meanwhile.

2 min read

Fasting after menopause, honestly

A steadier stage, and what to prioritize in it.

2 min read

Hot flashes, and what actually helps

What the evidence supports, and what it doesn’t.

3 min read

Fasting and menopause hormone therapy

What’s known about combining them, which is not much.

2 min read

Body and mind

Moving with your cycle

Matching movement to how your body feels each phase.

2 min read

Fasting and strength training

Fueling around your workouts without overdoing it.

2 min read

After menopause: protecting muscle and bone

The two things most worth your effort now.

2 min read

Fasting and your sleep

How the two affect each other, in both directions.

2 min read

Mood, irritability, and fasting

What fasting does to how you feel, and what it doesn’t.

2 min read

Your gut on an eating window

Rumbling, reflux, and what’s actually known.

2 min read

What the evidence says

What the evidence actually says

The real state of the research, including the gaps.

3 min read

Autophagy, honestly

The cellular cleanup everyone fasts for, and what we actually know.

3 min read

What Ramadan studies add

The largest real-world fast, and its limits as evidence.

2 min read

When to stop

When not to fast

The situations where fasting is not the right call.

2 min read

Under-fueling, and the signs to watch

The one risk worth knowing properly.

3 min read