Fasting Friendly Drinks and Supplements

“In anything, there has to be that moment of fasting, really, in order to enjoy the feast.”

– Stephen Hough In this chapter, we discuss drinks and supplements a faster can enjoy without breaking his or her fast. For a true fast, a person abstains from both food and drinks except water. However, the faster has many options for non-caloric beverages. The beverages must be free from sugar since sugar triggers an insulin response and forces the body out of the fasting state. Sugar comes in many disguises.

• Sugar includes table sugar, honey, and agave nectar [10].

• Sugar has many scientific names depending on the source:

Fruits and honey (fructose), milk and dairy products (galactose and lactose), barley (maltose), and wood and straw (xylose).

• The food industry manufactures high fructose corn syrup from cornstarch. Technically, fructose may elicit a small insulin response since the liver must convert it into fat.

The faster should avoid sugar substitutes such as aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose. The chemical industry manufactures the sugar substitutes from artificial chemicals. We fasters should avoid the artificial sugars since they can awaken hunger, which would cause us to end the fast prematurely. Furthermore, we do not know whether artificial sweeteners illicit an insulin response because of many conflicting studies [11]. On the other hand, stevia comes naturally from the plant, Stevia rebaudiana. However, we do not know if stevia elicits an insulin response.

Dieters drinking zero calorie drinks do not reduce their calories and provide little benefit in weight loss. In one study, 30 healthy males consumed a sugary strawberry flavored beverage spiked either with table sugar, aspartame, stevia, or monk fruit [182].

Monk fruit is a natural zero calorie sweetener. The participants showed no difference in calories consumed, blood sugar, and insulin spikes after eating [182]. Thus, we may want to avoid consuming drinks with artificial sugars since we would make up for the zero calories by eating more food.

Fasters can drink broth, coffee, flavored water, tea, soda water, and minerals and not violate their fast. Although these drinks have a touch of calories, the calories are not enough to kick the faster out of the fasting state. It is like a speeder slowing down to go over a speed bump to protect a car’s suspension. Once the speeder crosses the speed bump, he or she returns to violating all the traffic laws again in full force again.

Broth

Some fasters drink bone broth made from beef, pork, chicken, or fish bones. Bone broth contains traces of protein, fat, and carbohydrates [183]. People fasting less than 24 hours may want to avoid bone broth since the protein and carbohydrates can halt the fasting state. A 0.42 cup (or 100 milliliters) of bone broth has 51 calories with trace elements and minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and sodium [10, 183]. Since the faster has eaten some food, they can endure longer fasts [10].

The bone broth provides the body with essential electrolytes that help the faster avoid refeeding syndrome when they kick-start the feeding cycle again [10].

• Tip #27 – Bone Broth: Clean half pound (or ¼ kg) of your favorite bones, such as beef, chicken, lamb, and pork.

Simmer bones in a covered pot of water or crock pot with 2 bay leaves for a minimum of four hours. During the last hour, add sea or Himalayan salt and pepper for taste. Sea and Himalayan salt contain trace elements and minerals.

Add water as necessary to make at least four mugs of broth. Refrigerate and reheat as needed.

Some recipes add vegetables to the broth. The vegetables not only add vitamins and minerals to the broth but also carbohydrates as well. Thus, fasters beware.

Some medical experts recommend that fasters avoid bouillon cubes because they contain artificial flavors, colors, and monosodium glutamate [10]. However, they are convenient. Just drop a bouillon cube into a mug of hot water and enjoy.

My favorite bouillon, Tom Yam, is a spicy, sour Thai soup.

The soup base comes from chicken or seafood stock, lemongrass, lime leaves, lime juice, fresh ginger, spicy chilies, fish sauce, brown sugar, and red curry paste. It packs a spicy punch.

The salt has the potential to dehydrate the faster. The body must muster extra water to expel excess salt in the urine. That is why we fasters should always drink plenty of fluids during a fast.

Coffee

Fasters who love their morning cup of joe can still enjoy their coffee as long as they add no sugar, cream, nor milk. In large quantities, sugar, cream, or milk could halt the fasting state. In addition, dairy products contain lactose, which serves as both a sugar and protein.

Black coffee is great when we get used to the taste. I live in a tropical climate, so coffee on the rocks adds a nice touch to my mornings. One teaspoon of instant coffee contains 4 calories with trace levels of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium and a smidgeon of niacin [183]. The coffee’s

nutrients depend on the coffee bean’s origin, type, roasting, and manufacturer.

• Tip #28 – Cold Brew Coffee: Some coffees have a bitter taste. If you enjoy iced black coffee, add 3 tablespoons of ground coffee to a small bottle of water. Shake and refrigerate for several days. Then filter the coffee, add ice, and enjoy. The cold brew weakens the bitterness of strong coffees.

The antioxidants in coffee impart many health benefits such as the following:

• Both decaffeinated and regular coffee initiate autophagy, which causes the body to rejuvenate its poorly performing cells [50].

• Regular coffee drinking reduces the risks of heart disease, Type II diabetes, and several cancers such as liver, colorectal, and melanoma [184, 185].

• Coffee drinkers experience a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, and multiple sclerosis [184].

• Coffee lowers mTOR and raises AMPK that switch on autophagy [50]. Thus, coffee encourages the body to rejuvenate and repair the body’s cells.

Coffee or the caffeine in coffee acts as a mild diuretic causing the coffee drinker to urinate frequently. Fasters should drink beverages with no caffeine to replenish the water in the body.

Bulletproof coffee has become popular with fasters.

Nevertheless, bulletproof coffee may not be a good choice for intermittent fasting with fasting periods less than 24 hours because the faster essentially drinks a liquid meal.

Bulletproof coffee clocks in the calories. The typical recipe is one cup of brewed coffee blended with two tablespoons of unsalted butter, two tablespoons of coconut oil (medium chain triglycerides), and two tablespoons of heavy cream. Thus, the coffee has close to six tablespoons of fat and packs 648 calories.

The calorie count depends on the recipe and which ingredients the person blends with the coffee. Some fasters substitute a strong tea for coffee to make bulletproof tea.

We can estimate the calories content of bullet coffee or tea.

One teaspoon of fat equals 4 grams. A tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons, and thus 12 grams of fat. Then a gram of fat holds 9 calories of energy. Hence, one tablespoon of fat yields 108 calories. Then we can ignore the calories in the coffee or tea since it adds 4 calories or less compared to the fat.

A person fasting beyond 24 hours or a person following the ketogenic diet may find benefits in drinking bulletproof coffee.

The coffee should keep the person in a state of ketosis, but the person burns fat from the coffee and not the fat stores from his or her body.

I have tried bulletproof coffee. It tastes similar to a rich cup of cappuccino since the blender froths the cream. However, we are drinking a liquid meal.