Practical Benefits You Did Not Know
Although I came to intermittent fasting because of its remarkable health benefits, it is the practical advantages in everyday life that are why I have stuck with it.
After a few weeks, even beginners will find that intermittent fasting makes life far more straightforward because of the following facts.
1. Its Incredibly Simple
Unlike most dietary advice, Intermittent Fasting is simple for beginners. Classic 16/8 intermittent fasting has two rules:
- No breakfast
- No snacks
Bottom line. The simpler the rules, the easier it is to implement methods in everyday life.
2. Intermittent Fasting Is Cheap
Intermittent fasting is not only free, but youll save yourself money doing it:
- No breakfast
- No expensive exotic superfoods
- No gym subscription
Even though marketing has taught us otherwise, less can be better. Youll feel it in your checking account.
3. It Saves Time
The food industry loves diet tips that involve multiple meals because no one can cook six times a day. Hence, these tips create a need for more convenience foods.
On the other hand, with intermittent fasting, you can focus on 1-2 meals and prepare them relaxed using real food. Or simply skip a meal when there is no time.
This way, on stressful days, youll save yourself the junk food, the post-meal productivity slump, time, and money.
4. Fasting Is Executable With Any Diet
Intermittent fasting is not a trendy special diet but rather an omission.
On the contrary, you have to choose what not to prepare and eat today.
Does Drinking Apple Cider Vinegar Break A Fast
One reason that many people drink a daily dose of apple cider vinegar is because research suggests that it may help improve blood sugar levels after a carbohydrate-rich meal. If you have gotten used to drinking your morning shot of apple cider vinegar, then good news! Apple cider vinegar and fasting go well together. Apple cider vinegar is calorie-free and carbohydrate-free, so it wont interrupt your fasting state.
Windows For Eating And Fasting
The first thing you have to determine for intermittent fasting is when you are going to eat.
This is called youreating window. Likewise, the period of time you abstain from food is yourfasting window.
A popular split between the two is the 16/8 plan. You eat for 8 hours, you dont eat for 16.
It seems simple enough, right?
The one caveat is that you only must abstain from food during the fasting window. In other words, drinks are allowed.
But exactly what kind of drinks are permitted can be tricky, because some are better than others.
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Why Is What You Drink So Crucial
Hydration is vital. Its easy and common to become mildly dehydrated when you fast. Its surprisingly simple to forget to drink while youre in the fasting part of your cycle, or to mistake thirst for hunger and ignore it. You may not realize it, but a significant part of your fluid intake comes from your food.
During your fasting window, you dont get water from your food. So, youll need to monitor your thirst and make a conscious effort to drink. Its essential for you to remain hydrated. However, hydration isnt the only thing to keep in mind when you choose what to drink when you fast. Drinks with sugar or carbs provoke an insulin response, which causes your body to secrete the hormone insulin. And insulin can cause you to miss out on the benefits of intermittent fasting.
How Popular Is Fasting
Americans keep gaining weight and were always searching for ways to stop. Between 2000 and 2018, the prevalence of obesity in U.S. adults jumped from 30.5 percent to 42.4 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
Hoping to lower the numbers on the scale, 43 percent of Americans followed a specific diet or eating plan in 2020, up from 38 percent just a year before. The most popular option was intermittent fasting.
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What Types Of Blood Tests Require Fasting
The most common types of tests that require fasting include:
- Glucose tests, which measure blood sugar. One type of glucose test is called a glucose tolerance test. For this test you will need to fast for 8 hours before test. When you arrive at the lab or health care facility, you will:
- Have your blood tested
- Drink a special liquid containing glucose
- Have your blood re-tested one hour later, two hours later and possibly three hours later
Glucose tests are used to diagnose diabetes.
- Lipid tests, which measure triglycerides, a type of fat found in the bloodstream, and cholesterol, waxy, fat-like substance found in your blood and every cell of your body. High levels of triglycerides and/or a type of cholesterol, called LDL can put you at risk for heart disease.
More About Beverages And Fasting
Its important to remember that there are many different types of intermittent fasting so what one person can use successfully during a fast might be off-limits for someone else. Furthermore, everyones metabolism is unique, so some people may be able to fast dirtier than others without it impacting their weight loss progress.
Intermittent fasting is a lifestyle. There is no one-size-fits-all protocol. It takes trial and error to find a regimen that works best for you. Dont be afraid to experiment with clean and dirty fasting in order to find a routine that suits you best.
Below is my opinion/reasoning for whether or not a beverage breaks a fast. As a registered dietitian, I considered the macronutrient composition of each drink, how these nutrients are digested, their impact on blood sugar and insulin response, and overall personal experience and clinical intuition.
Please know that I fully support dirty intermittent fasting, as I dont believe fasting should be miserable. Fasting should be something that provides physical and mental benefits, and flexible intermittent fasting is key.
It takes time to dial in what regimen works best for you, so hang in there. Have an open mind and dont compare your results to someone else.
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Butter Cream And Milk
If you take cream, milk, or butter in your coffee, does that break your fast? Technically, yesbut realistically no.
Fat, if you recall, is the least insulinogenic of the macronutrients. So if youre going to have a few calories, you want them to be fat. It also has virtually no impact on mTOR signaling due to its scarcity of carbs and amino acids.
Verdict? Technically, yes. But assuming its high-fat dairy without added sugar, a few calories of butter or cream is fine.
Stay Away From Sweeteners
Sugar-free light drinks are popular not only for diets but in general. Nevertheless, it is these drinks that prevent success in intermittent fasting.
Contrary to the advertising message, zero sugar does not stand for fat burning in reality.
Although sweeteners such as aspartame and stevia do not increase blood sugar levels, they can stimulate insulin secretion .
Moreover, they erase gut bacteria that are a guarantor of our health .
Precisely because sugar-free drinks hardly increase blood sugar levels, they trigger cravings for sweets in the brain. Therefore, sweeteners make people hungrier than conventional sugar .
It appears that people who consume diet products like water are more often overweight, which is a proven fact.
Accordingly, researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio found that consuming light beverages increases the likelihood of weight gain by 47 percent .
During the fasting period, fluid intake is essential. However, it should be limited to water, mineral water, tea, and coffee without additives.
On the one hand, diet sodas break the fast. On the other hand, they will push your goals further away, even in eating periods.
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How Supplements Affect Fasting
Becoming deficient in nutrients while fasting is unlikely, but it depends on how restrictive your fast is and how long it lasts.
Some people choose to take supplements while fasting to ensure adequate vitamin and mineral intake. Fasting too frequently could lead to nutrient deficiencies if your diet is already low in vitamins and minerals .
If you supplement while fasting, its important to know which supplements could break your fast. This will help you decide if you should take them with a meal or during your fasting period.
What Can I Eat Or Drink While Fasting
To reap all the incredible health benefits of intermittent fasting, youll need to abstain from food and caloric beverages for a period of time. But can you have anything?
Rodriguez says, There are certain things you can enjoy without compromising the natural fat-burning process. Its also important to stay hydrated, so drinking enough fluids is beneficial.
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Pro tip: If you’re a Jenny Craig member, your weight loss plan includes the revolutionary Recharge Bar so you can break your hunger without breaking your fast. Beyond consuming the bar, we recommend sticking to water, black coffee or unsweetened tea during your fast and avoiding added sweeteners of all kinds.
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Intermittent Fasting Diet Plan : 1
Eat stop eat or the 6:1 diet has also proven successful because of its simplicity. The restriction is limited to one day a week. You can choose which day you want to fast every week.
On the other days, you can simply keep your usual food routine. This Intermittent Fasting plan has proven itself especially for very active and competitive athletes who train several times a day.
The significant advantage here is that two nights may be hidden in the fasting period. Thus, you are fasting for more than 24 hours if you do not eat for a whole day.
Generally, this results in 36 hours from dinner to breakfast the next day. Hence, you get deeper autophagy and ketosis, but only once a week.
Since eating nothing once a week is a straightforward rule, 6:1 fasting has proven excellent for beginners.
Types Of Intermittent Fasting For Beginners
People are individual. So is intermittent fasting.
From a colorful variety of methods, I have summarized those that are very well known.
Accordingly, different methods also have individual advantages and disadvantages, which we will dive into together.
From the following methods, you should choose the one that fits best into your daily routine. Finally, intermittent fasting should not become an additional stress factor.
Because of its simple rules, which you can tailor to your daily routine, beginners achieve the best results with 16/8 intermittent fasting.
16/8 Intermittent Fasting
Classic 16/8 fasting is also called Peak Fasting or Lean Gains Method because it allows you to gain lean mass while losing body fat.
In this method, you eat between 12 and 8 pm, for example. Therefore, your body can fast for 16 hours with an 8-hour eating period in between. Since you sleep 8 of the 16 fasting hours, classic intermittent fasting is easier than you might think.
Although you can start with fewer fasting hours with this method, 16 hours has proven effective since some health benefits for longevity dont kick in until after 14 hours.
Since it is simply unnecessary due to the high energy level in the morning , it is easiest for most people to skip breakfast at 16/8.
Nonetheless, forgoing dinner has also proven successful for some people.
- Fasting period: 16 hours
Crescendo Method
The Crescendo Method is a milder form of 16/8 Intermittent Fasting.
One Meal A Day
- Fasting period: 23 hours
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Intermittent Fasting For Beginners: The Ultimate 101 Guide
No other diet has experienced as much growth over the past few years as Intermittent Fasting.
The reason for this is effective weight loss, proven health benefits, and a simplified daily routine.
But the supposedly simple diet always raises questions when you start.
Thats why this ultimate intermittent fasting guide for beginners provides you with the framework that guarantees a smooth start.
What Are The Health Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting
A proper Intermittent fasting plan can help you curb weight gain, lower oxidative stress, and inflammation. Furthermore, it also reduces blood pressure and improves cardiovascular health. Research suggests that intermittent fasting increases the levels of the fat-burning hormone, improves insulin sensitivity, and normalizes insulin levels.
While drinks may seem negligible when considering your intermittent fasting journey, in reality, they play an immense role. The simple rule is, consume drinks with little to no calories. Make sure you avoid sugars at all costs since they bring in a considerable amount of calories. While fasting, if you consume calories, it breaks the whole point and purpose, doesnt it? Hydrate yourself consistently and keep a check on calories.
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Stevia And Monk Fruit
Stevia and monk fruit are plant-based sweeteners with similar sweetening powers, a bunch of antioxidants, and zero calories. They may have a tiny insulin effect, but theyre unlikely to interfere with a fast.
I know folks will push back on this one, but hear me out: even if we get a small bump in insulin release, what happens? Blood glucose decreases. So, although you may have a tiny decrease in fasting activity the subsequent decrease in blood glucose should only deepen the fast.
Verdict? Stevia and monk fruit wont break a fast.
Does Collagen Break A Fast
Yes, collagen powder breaks a fast. Collagen is a form of protein that can stimulate an insulin response. Even though many collagen supplements consist of collagen peptides which are smaller strands of proteins, activation of the pancreas is required for enzyme release and activation.
Clean fasting: AvoidDirty fasting: Avoid
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Foods To Avoid On 16/8 Intermittent Fasting
During your eating window on any method of intermittent fasting, you should stick to the foods presented above. Foods that you need to exclude from the IF food list are:
- Candy
- Baked goods
- Fried foods
- Low-quality snacks
All processed foods, junk food, refined grains, trans-fat, processed meat, candy bars should be excluded from your list of foods for the 16/8 intermittent fasting method or any other IF protocol.
Do Not Put Milk In Your Coffee
When drinking water, coffee, or tea, mistakes repeatedly happen during intermittent fasting, which clear rules can prevent. In the end, many beginners usually just lack reliable information.
Thus, many fasting beginners get carried away and add a splash of milk or sugar to their black coffee.
But these subtle little things can have significant effects. By raising blood sugar and insulin levels, they break the fast. So, time and time again, a good portion of the health benefits and progress in losing weight are negated.
For example, followers of the ketogenic diet also tend to forget that Bulletproof Coffee breaks the fast.
So while butter, coconut, or MCT oil in coffee helps with hunger in between meals, it prevents the full health benefits of fasting.
Finally, you also need to burn the fat from Bulletproof Coffee before the body into its fat stores.
Although bone broth is also a prime source of electrolytes and fat, it, too, technically breaks the fast and should only be used as a jump start. Once you get used to intermittent fasting, its just as taboo as Bulletproof Coffee.
Furthermore, many people dont realize that while light and zero drinks are sugar-free, they can still break the fast.
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Best Drinks For While Fasting
When someone tells you that you cannot eat, whats the first thing you want to do?
Yep, you guessed itcue the hunger pangs, right?
Thats why its important to keep yourself hydrated during the fasting window.
Otherwise, when its time to eat, youll overeat. One way to stave off hunger is by tricking your starvation mentality with liquid consumption.
And for this purpose, there are certain drinks that are superior to others.
With that said, here are 5 best drinks you can enjoy during your fasting windows:
Intermittent Fasting For Autophagy
The second primary reason for intermittent fastings burgeoning popularity is myriad health benefits.
Besides weight loss, so-called autophagy is predominantly responsible for the rejuvenating effects of fasting.
As soon as food becomes scarce, this intracellular recycling system kicks in, breaking down broken cellular parts and directing toxins out of the body.
In this way, autophagy prevents precisely those modern diseases that plague us today. For example, these may be cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, polycystic ovary syndrome , Parkinsons disease, or Alzheimers disease.
In this context, the positive effect of autophagy is so groundbreaking that it was rewarded with the Nobel Prize in Medicine .
But how is autophagy turned on and off?
To this end, three primary nutrient sensors exist in our bodies:
- Insulin: Sensitive to carbohydrates and proteins.
- mTOR: Sensitive to proteins
- AMPK: Sensitive to lack of energy in cells
Since AMPK can also be affected by fat, any caloric food breaks a fast.
However, many experts forget that there are also non-caloric substances that can interfere with fasting.
Although they sometimes have only a marginal effect on blood glucose, intense non-caloric sweeteners can significantly increase insulin levels.
They can stop both autophagy and fat burning. For this reason, not only any calories but also sweeteners in drinks are a no-no during the fasting period.
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Can You Drink Coffee While Fasting
The moment coffee-lovers have been waiting for: yes, you can drink coffee during your fasting times! The typical cup of black coffee contains 2.4 calories and 0 grams of sugar per 8 fl oz. It shouldnt disrupt your fasting state. Its important to remember, though avoid adding things like sugar, cream, or any calorie-containing syrups. They can interrupt your fast, so drink your coffee black.
If you need a little sweetness of flavor in your coffee, try adding zero-calorie sweetener or syrup in small quantities. Itll be very unlikely to interrupt your fast.
Can you drink tea while fasting?
Most brewed teas, such as green tea, are naturally calorie-free. That means theyre ok to drink during your fasting period. Avoid adding things like milk, honey, sugar, or cream, though. They will jeopardize your fasting state. If you need a hint of flavor, try adding a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, or create your own tea flavor by using a blend of teas.
If you want iced tea, instead, be sure to check the label for added sugars or calories especially if its a packaged tea. Unsweetened tea will not interfere with your fast.
