My deepest thanks go to my dear friend, Dr. Suzanne Slonim, who first introduced me to Dr. Fung’s work. Thank you to Dr. Jason Fung and Megan Ramos, my gurus of fasting, who were so kind to pursue this book in partnership with me.
To my husband, Levi Sauerbrei, my partner in life and in fasting, who held me all the days I cried because I was angry that I hadn’t discovered fasting sooner: Levi, thank you for supporting my dream of helping others with FastingLane.com. Thank you to my friend and team member, Bridgette Hardy of FastingLane.com, who dived into fasting and surpassed my own skills. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to my daughter, Luna, who at only thirteen years old has used my experience to change her own eating for better health. Luna is forever grateful I no longer force her to eat breakfast when she isn’t hungry. To my parents, Guy and Regina Mayer, who were scared for me when I said I wasn’t going to eat for ten days but then stayed open: thank you, thank you. My parents watched my experience, asked questions, offered support, and made changes to their own way of eating for better health.
Thank you to our agent, Rick Broadhead, for his tireless work on this book. And thank you to the talented Sarah Durand for making our book even better!
Thank you to HarperCollins for supporting this message and delivering it into the hands of so many people who can have longer and more fulfilling lives because of it.
This book would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of Dr. Jason Fung. Not only was he fearless in combating the current standard of care to fight for the best medical practices for patients, but he also saved my life. Having been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at a very young age, I was on a fast track to an early demise. Today I’m healthy and strong. Even when people said fasting was crazy, Jason kept talking about it. He spent countless hours researching to provide the most sound, well-referenced scientific explanations possible. He lifted the sugary fog that was impeding my vision. And because of this dedication, I get to spend my days helping people take control of their health and overcome chronic disease that would otherwise kill them.
After working with thousands of patients from all over the world, I’ve learned one thing: people need to know they’re not alone in this. Eve Mayer’s selflessness and transparency in sharing her incredible story in this book fill that void. Her story is something I wish every single person I meet in our clinic could hear. She hasn’t just amazed me with her incredible story, passion, and southern charm through this process; she’s also become a mentor and a best friend.
I’d like to thank our team: Rick Broadhead, Sarah Durand, and our incredible editor at Harper Wave, Julie Will, for making this book and getting it out there for the thousands of people who need to hear Eve’s story. I hope one day they realize the number of lives they have helped us save.
To the thousands of people whom I have worked with through Intensive Dietary Management and The Fasting Method, thank you for trusting me to help you. Thank you for letting me learn so that I can go on to help so many more people. Thank you for making every day never feel like a workday.
Thank you to the readers of this book, who have yet to give up on themselves. You are my heroes, and you deserve to feel good in your body!
Last, but not least, I’d like to thank my incredible husband, Angel, for joining me on this wild ride. I can’t count the number of times he’s made dinner or done errands alone so that I can work on this book. He’s my rock.
I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude to my co-authors, Eve Mayer and Megan Ramos, for making this book a reality.
At HarperCollins, special thanks to my editor, Julie Will, with the able assistance of Haley Swanson and Emma Kupor. Thank you as well to Andrea Guinn, Brian Perrin, Yelena Nesbit, David Koral, and Bonni Leon-Berman.