Best Energy Drinks For Intermittent Fasting
Here are my suggestions for the best energy drinks for an intermittent fast:
XS energy drinks nutrition facts.
Sugar: 0g
Caffeine: 80mg
Calories: 10
The numbers seem ideal to what Ive been discussing above in this article. Its low in calories, contains a moderate amount of caffeine and is sugar free.
XS is a suitable partner in your intermittent fasting quest. XS Energy Drink is also available in many flavors and there are even two caffeine-free options:
Caffeine-free cranberry-grape blast
Celsius Originals energy drink nutrition panel.
Sugar: 0g
Caffeine: 200mg 300mg
Calories: 10
Celsius has a higher level of caffeine compared to XS Energy Drink, but similarly has zero sugar and just 10 calories.
It could also be a good choice for those who would like an energy drink while on an intermittent fast, especially if youre looking for that extra caffeine boost. Celsius Energy Drink does comes in 3 different categories:
Originals
Naturals
Celsius Heat
So, depending on how much caffeine you need that day, you can opt for the 200mg or the 300mg caffeine choice.
The nutrition facts of Bang Energy Drink
Sugar: 0g
Caffeine: 300mg
Calories: 0
Besides the whooping 300mg of caffeine, the zero sugar and calories are pretty tempting. You might want to try this out if you are in need of some superindustrial strength for the day!
Caffeine: 50mg
Calories: 11
What Can You Drink During Intermittent Fasting
Medically Reviewed by Babar Shahzad DR, on January 27, 2020.
It doesnt matter if youre into fasting already or just thinking about starting it not having any food for 16 hours sounds like a challenge.
Drinks are here to save you. But you have to understand that liquids often have a lot of sugar and calories hidden. You want to avoid that, as it would break your fast.Keeping this in mind, we have compiled a list of seven drinks that will not break your fast. In addition, this article also explores drinks that you should avoid while fasting.
It goes without saying that intermittent fasting offers a myriad of health benefits, especially those related to healthy weight loss and its maintenance.First things first, intermittent fasting does not advocate the intake of any specific diet or drink.Rather, it is an eating pattern in which people eat/drink only during a certain period of the day. Simply put, there are cycles of fasting and feeding periods. Some common ways to do intermittent fasting include the 5:2 diet, 12-hours fasts, 16-hour fasts, 20-hours fasts, and 24-hour fasts.
Nonetheless, you should be aware of certain drinks that break a fast and probably reduce or even negate the benefits of fasting.For example, you have been fasting for 14 hours and suddenly, you are tempted to drink soda. We all know sodas are loaded with sugars, which can cause insulin surges and sabotage your weight loss efforts.
Gatorade And Powerade Zero While Intermittent Fasting
Even if the enrichment with electrolytes and vitamins sounds interesting for fasting, at first sight, sugar-free sports drinks are not suitable for it.
For example, Gatorade and Powerade Zero contain sucralose, the sweetener in Splenda.
According to studies, just one pack of Splenda can be enough to wipe out 50 percent of healthy gut flora .
Moreover, sucralose increases the insulin level by about 20 percent, which breaks the fasting anyway .
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Gentle Foods To Break A Fast
When youre ready to break your fast, its best to ease out of it. Toward the end of your fast, you might want to introduce small portions of foods that are more easily digested, so you dont overwhelm your digestive system.
Breaking your fast with foods that are especially high in fat, sugar, or even fiber can be difficult for your body to digest, leading to bloating and discomfort.
Foods and drinks that can be even more shocking to your system after a fast include those like a greasy cheeseburger, slice of cake, or soda. Even high-fiber raw produce, nuts, and seeds may be difficult to digest.
On the other hand, nutrient-dense foods that easy to digest and contain a bit of protein and some healthy fats can break your fast more gently.
Below are a few examples of what to eat to break your fast.
Breaking your fast with healthy foods that may be better tolerated can help replenish important nutrients and electrolytes while easing food back into your diet.
Once youre tolerating gentler foods, add in other healthy foods like whole grains, beans, vegetables, nuts, seeds, meat, poultry, and fish and return to eating normally.
Is It Ok To Consume Sugar On An Intermittent Fast
No, you shouldnt consume sugar during intermittent fasting because it will cause your blood sugar levels to spike which will break your fast.
Whether you are practicing a diet or not, your sugar intake should always be moderate. Consuming a lot of sugar and not utilizing it as energy will result in that sugar becoming body fat.
Sugar also helps provide the energy needed for us to go about our activities, whether it be sugar from a drink or food items. But, dont shovel down sugar while youre in your eating window as youll most probably suffer a sugar crash later on in the day.
It is therefore best to consume energy drinks that are sugar-free. However, do be mindful of artificial sweeteners too. If you are looking for a great option, I recommend REIZE energy drink, which is sugar-free, thus checks all the right boxes.
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The Right Mindset For Fasting
One of my goals today was to help folks chill out about fasting. You dont need to be a water-only person to benefit.
There are a couple of principles to keep in mind. First, if it doesnt have calories, it wont break a fast. That means coffee, tea, and non-caloric sweeteners are fair game.
Also, calories arent the kryptonite of fasting. Intermittent calorie restriction, or even just a significant calorie restriction, is a perfectly acceptable form of fasting. Keep in mind, the goal here should be to reap the benefits of fasting, not win some kind of hypothetical fasting olympics.
If you do decide to consume calories during your fast, you should favor fat or collagen calories. This prevents your body from releasing insulin, activating mTOR, and switching into growth mode.
Youll be in growth mode soon enough, once you officially break your fast. And that, folks, is my cue to go eat something.
Intermittent Fasting: Timing Is Everything
Some health experts support the concept of fasting to improve overall wellness and help with weight loss. That sounds extreme but it doesnt have to be. Fasting means simply not eating for a designated amount of time. We typically think that to fast one has to go without food or water for a day or more.
But fasting can be whatever length of time it takes your body to burn fat or gain certain benefits by giving your body a break from food. Thats where intermittent fasting comes in. A regimen that has caught on in a big way, intermittent fasting can be thought of as simply scheduled eating.
Types of Intermittent Fasting
You can select from several different intermittent fasting schedules that suit you and your goals Before you start on any regimen, we strongly recommend you speak to a medical professional to discuss any benefits or customization required for your specific health needs.
Intermittent fasting can take many forms. Here are some basic intermittent fasting types:
The operative words here are intermittent and eat normally. The idea is to incorporate fasting into your routine regularly, which might be daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Its important while youre on your eating cycle to eat healthy meals dont use fast-breaking meals as an excuse to binge on junk food.
The other important component to healthy intermittent fasting is fluids. See more information below on the types recommended during an IF program.
Possible IF Benefits*
Drinking and IF
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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.
What Exactly Is Fasting
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to fast can mean one of two things:
As you can understand, since fasting can, technically, mean both completely abstaining from food AND eating a little/not eating some foods, were in a bit of a pickle.
Remember when, at the start of this article, we said that things are not as straightforward as you may think? Well, this is partly why.
Hold your horses, though, because this is going to get a little more complicated.
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Insulin Resistance And Type
As research shows, regular intermittent fasting improves insulin sensitivity.
Therefore, it reduces high insulin levels, improves blood-sugar metabolism, and eliminates excess sugar in the body.
Furthermore, it can even reverse insulin resistance and type-2-diabetes, which most diets alone simply cant .
The cause of these metabolic diseases lies in the liver. Too much sugar and insulin cause insulin resistance in liver cells for years .
The result is a fatty liver. If you want to get at the heart of many metabolic problems, you must burn off the deposited visceral fat in the liver.
The term visceral fat refers to the accumulation of fat in and around organs, which harms health.
But according to current studies, intermittent fasting, in particular, can burn this dangerous visceral fat more effectively than low-carb diets .
However, intermittent fasting can only burn excess sugar and visceral fat as long as it is not interrupted by food.
For example, it is crucial to drink coffee without milk during intermittent fasting since this would cause blood sugar and insulin levels to skyrocket.
Fasting And Weight Loss
Intermittent fasting isn’t a regimen built around limiting calories , but it can promote weight loss in a big way. Fasting gives your metabolism an overhaul. It works on the same principles as a ketogenic diet. By restricting food , you’ll switch your body from burning glucose for energy to burning stored body fat.
According to a study in Translational Research in 2014, intermittent fasting can reduce your weight by 3 to 8 percent over three to 24 weeks. A systematic review in Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology in 2015 confirmed these results by reporting that, on average, participants following a fasting diet lost between 7 and 11 pounds in 10 weeks.
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What Are The Health Benefits Of Fasting
While research is ongoing, theres a laundry list of pretty amazing health benefits associated with being in a fasting state. Why? When you refrain from the consumption of food and caloric beverages, youre giving your body time to focus on processes other than digestion.
Early research on animals suggests that during a fast, cells regenerate and clean house a process known as autophagy.2 Autophagy is essentially your bodys natural way of detoxing getting rid of damaged cells, bacteria and viruses by breaking them down and regenerating new healthier cells.2
Another exciting thing that happens when you fast for at least 12 hours: You can start to burn fat!1 Its known as the metabolic switch. Once your body has used all of its glucose stores , it switches to using fat for fuel.1
This is a natural process, Rodriquez says, Its also known as fasting ketosis.
When practiced regularly, intermittent fasting has been linked to the following health benefits:3
- Weight loss
- Reducing the risk of certain diseases
Intermittent Fasting Basics For Beginners
In case you dont already know how fasting works, feel free to check out the complete guide to fasting.
If you want the quick n dirty version, though, Ill explain it briefly just to make sure were on the same page.
So fasting works by restricting when you eat, rather than what you eat.
Its not really a diet.
No food is technically off-limits, so long as you eat reasonable portions and only within a specific window of time each day.
The most popular intermittent fasting schedule is 16:8, where you fast for 16 hours of the day and eat all your days food within the remaining eight consecutive hours.
Keeping things simple, this equates to skipping breakfast, eating lunch around or after 12, and finish your last bite of food for the day around 8 pm.
Now that you know what fasting is lets talk more about the fasting window.
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Can You Drink Bulletproof Coffee During Intermittent Fasting
Although Bulletproof Coffee is repeatedly declared to be safe for fasting, it is not.
The keto coffee may not cause insulin levels to rise, but it does supply the body with a lot of fat.
And as we know, the nutrient sensor AMPK reacts to fat. For this reason, Bulletproof Coffee affects autophagy.
Because the original Bulletproof Coffee contains only pure, high-quality fat but no other macronutrients, it does not increase insulin levels. You can find the recipe here:
Thus, you can stay in ketosis and burn fat.
Since it counteracts hunger, this coffee with MCT oil and butter helps beginners get accustomed to intermittent fasting.
If you only get along for 12 hours with black coffee but hold on fasting for 18 hours with a few teaspoons coconut oil, the fat addition is probably justifiable.
Nevertheless, after a few days of 16/8 intermittent fasting, you will not need these training wheels to prolong the fast anymore.
Eventually, you want to burn body fat instead.
Why Is What You Drink While Fasting So Crucial
Hydration is essential. When you fast, it is easy and common to become mildly dehydrated. Its surprisingly easy to forget to drink while youre fasting or to misinterpret thirst for hunger and ignore it. You may not realize it, but your food provides a significant portion of your fluid intake.
During your fasting period, you do not acquire water from your food. As a result, youll need to keep track of your thirst and make a concerted effort to drink. However, hydration isnt the only factor to consider when deciding what to drink during a fast.
Sugary or carbohydrate-containing drinks elicit an insulin response, causing your body to secrete the hormone insulin. And as a result, you may miss out on the benefits of intermittent fasting.
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Can You Drink Energy Drinks While Intermittent Fasting
Page Medically Reviewed and Edited by Cyrus Khambatta, PhD
Can you have zero-calorie energy drinks while youre intermittent fasting?
In this article, well teach you why a better question to ask is should you have energy drinks during your fast?And why the answer is: no, backed by strong scientific evidence.
Intermittent fasting is a dietary strategy in which times of food consumption alternate with periods of calorie restriction .
The potential results of intermittent fasting are powerful, including :
The key to intermittent fasting is a biological process called autophagy, which happens during periods of low-calorie intake.
Basically, your cells still need ATP, the cellular form of energy, and with less energy available from food, cells in tissues all throughout your body begin recycling dysfunctional and damaged proteins and cells.
This is actually great for your body when done in short bursts.
So why dont we recommend drinking zero-calorie energy drinks during a fast?
Well, even though these drinks dont have calories and wont technically break your fast, these artificial drinks can have negative short-term and long-term effects that interfere with the health benefits of intermittent fasting.
Well explain the scientific reasons below, and also provide some ideas for other, health-promoting zero-calorie beverages that amplify the health benefits of fasting.
My Experience Drinking Seltzer Water While Fasting
When I first started fasting, I wasnt in the habit of drinking soda water. So I was already pretty experienced with fasting when I started trying it.
Since then, Ive drunk seltzer water during both time-restricted eating and extended fasting, on quite a few occasions. I find it a pleasant distraction, whether Im fasting at work or at home.
I enjoy it because of the carbonation, and the slight flavor. And I havent really noticed any negative effects from drinking it.
Keep in mind though-
While soda water doesnt seem to stimulate any cravings or hunger for me, it might be an issue for someone whos new to fasting.
If youre somewhat of a beginner with fasting, youll want to be cautious with anything that could potentially derail you, including soda water.
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Can You Drink Flavored Water While Intermittent Fasting
As long as it doesnt have any sugar or sweeteners, its okay to use flavored water while you fast.
If it does have sweeteners, it may still be okay to use, but I wouldnt really recommend it. Even moreso than natural flavors alone, sweeteners tend to cause cravings and other challenges while fasting.
Always pay attention to your individual response, so you can identify any substances that make fasting more difficult for you, and avoid them in the future.
How To Drink Water During Intermittent Fasting
Now that we already have some guidelines on how much water to drink you might be wondering what kind of water can I drink during intermittent fasting?
You can drink water basically in any shape or form. Both plain and sparkling water are the best intermittent fasting-safe drinks. While mineral water can help restore electrolyte and mineral imbalance that occurs while fasting.
If adding a little taste to your water helps keep drinking it, try adding a slice or two of cucumber, lime or lemon. Herbs like mint or basil can give a hint of taste and smell as well. Some people also enjoy having apple cider vinegar water once or twice a day during their fast.
When it comes to timing, again there are no set rules. However, to avoid dehydration and its side effects, we would suggest not leaving the important task of drinking water to the end of your fast. Try drinking water frequently. Sticking to this tip will also have the added bonus of feeling less hungry during your fasting hours. When food is a no-go, water can still fill you up for a while.
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