Episode 29: Health is Wealth — Functional Health Talk with Christian Yordanov
Is intermittent fasting actually good for you, or are people crediting the wrong thing for health benefits?
In this episode, Joe sits down with functional health specialist Christian Yordanov, author of The Fasting Delusion, to look at what fasting does and doesn't do, and why Christian thinks most of its reported benefits come from somewhere else.
Joe first met Christian through his functional health master class. He later booked a one-on-one session that included metabolomics testing, which looks at nutrient status and metabolic markers at the cellular level. Joe says the results gave him a level of detail he didn't know existed. That's where this conversation starts.
Christian begins with the idea behind functional health. The conventional model, as he describes it, waits for a symptom and then manages it. The functional approach asks what is contributing to the symptom in the first place: diet, stress, sleep, digestion, nutrient status, or something else.
His analogy is a tree with yellowing leaves. You can spray-paint the leaves green, or you can check the soil, the water, and the nutrients. He also explains why he looks for optimal markers instead of stopping at "in range," and why he treats food quality as the first foundation before any supplement or gadget. Christian is clear that he is not a medical doctor. He works as a non-licensed practitioner, and everything in this episode is his interpretation of research and client experience.
Joe then brings in his own story. For years he practiced intermittent fasting, going 13 to 15 hours a day without food, then lifting heavy weights before his first real meal. Around the same time, he tweaked his back about once a year, even though he works standing up and wasn't doing anything obviously risky.
After a conversation with Christian, he changed his eating schedule so he was fueling before training, and he hasn't tweaked his back since. Joe is upfront that the link is his own speculation, not something he can prove.
From there the conversation moves to The Fasting Delusion. Christian's core argument is that fasting is a catabolic state: when the body runs short of fuel, it breaks tissue down to make energy, and he argues that this has costs people don't see.
He also argues that many people who feel better after starting a fast are really benefiting from the habits that come with it. They cook more, eat out less, take supplements, and give their gut a break from foods that bothered them.
And the weight loss itself brings real metabolic benefits, but he says you can get those from any approach to weight loss, including better ones. Joe connects this to Henry Hazlitt's economic lesson of the seen and the unseen. The weight loss is what you can see. The trade-offs happen beneath the surface.
Christian also gets practical about weight loss. He starts clients at maintenance calories, not a deficit, so they learn what it takes to hold a weight before they try to lower it. He describes a study he cites in which metabolism and hunger hormones stayed disrupted months after a short fast, and a client who regained all his weight after two weeks at a fasting clinic. And he explains why he thinks studies on fasting tend to measure a narrow set of outcomes while missing others.
The episode closes on agency. Joe and Christian talk about reading ingredient lists, choosing the better option when you won't give something up entirely, buying from smaller producers, and eating seasonally.
Christian's last point goes after one of the most common arguments for fasting. Our ancestors fasted because they had to, not because it was optimal. So the question isn't what they did to survive. It's what we need to do to thrive in the modern world.
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In this episode:
- What functional health is, and the tree analogy for symptoms versus root contributors
- Metabolomics testing, and why Christian aims for optimal markers instead of "in range"
- Why Christian calls food quality the first foundation of health
- Joe's years of intermittent fasting, his recurring back issue, and what changed when he started fueling before workouts
- Christian's case that fasting is a catabolic state, and why many people feel better when they fast
- Why weight loss and better habits, not fasting itself, may explain the benefits
- Why Christian starts clients at maintenance calories, and what he says happens to metabolism and hunger after a prolonged fast
- Hazlitt's seen and unseen, applied to fasting
- Reading ingredient lists, choosing better options, and voting with your dollars
- Why "our ancestors fasted" is not a reason to fast today
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About Christian Yordanov:
Christian Yordanov is a functional health specialist and author of The Fasting Delusion and How to Actually Live Longer. He offers a free master class, free metabolic function assessment sessions, and a six-month program that includes testing, a personalized health plan, and ongoing support.
Free master class: https://livelongerformula.com/
The Fasting Delusion: https://www.amazon.com/Fasting-Delusion-fasting-longer-health/dp/1916393055
How to Actually Live Longer: https://www.amazon.com/How-Actually-Live-Longer-Vol-1/dp/1916393020
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