What Can You Drink During Intermittent Fasting?

So you're intermittent fasting and wondering what you can and can't have during your fasting window. In this post I will talk about intermittent fasting drinks you can have.

During your intermittent fasting window, you should be aiming to consume zero calories. Now if this is hard for you, there are drinks you may have that could help you complete your fasting window successfully. What we want to do here is not spike insulin, as that is what breaks a fast. Anything you consume should not cause an insulin response in the body.

What Can't You Have?

So what spikes insulin? Carbs such as sugar definitely cause a spike in insulin. Do not drink sodas and teas that have sugar or honey in them, as these drinks will push you out of the fast. They are not good for your fast. Having those drinks wouldn't be considered a fast. It would be more like a liquid diet, which is not what you are trying to do.

Another thing to watch out for is fake sugar. Aspartame and sucralose may be hiding in your diet soda. It is not okay to consume diet soda during a fast just because it is 0 calories. Aspartame and sucralose have proven to cause insulin spikes, which knocks you out of a fasted state because then your body starts having increased hunger.

There are people that debate about this all day because they do not want to give up their precious diet coke, but I don't even consume those outside of a fast because in my opinion it's super unhealthy to consume these fake sugars. Be careful to watch the labels of any flavor powders you add to water because they usually have aspartame or sucralose in them. Read the ingredients and steer clear of those products.

What Can You Have?

Stevia, on the other hand, has not be shown to cause a high insulin response. The insulin response with stevia is very low, so you could find flavor packs that only use stevia as a sweetener and that would be a better alternative.

Studies have shown that it's sometimes okay to have a little bit of fat in your fasting window. Some people use coconut oil, heavy whipping cream, or butter in some of their hot drinks. You should however limit yourself to one tablespoon if you are going to do this. You don't want to be consuming very many calories. Many people swear by putting butter in their coffee.

And lastly, I would urge you to just find a way to feel comfort in the discomfort of fasting. We are trying to find intermittent fasting drinks so that we can ease the discomfort, but really you need to just accept that you are fasting. Fasting has so many benefits, and even making yourself go through the hunger is beneficial to you mentally.

How To Get Through The Fast

One way to get through periods of hunger is to read articles about the benefits of intermittent fasting, or listen to lectures about it. It will help remind you of why you are doing this and will motivate you to continue.

Try to stay busy, since hunger is largely a mental thing anyway. Reading, working on projects, cleaning, and just getting things done in general will help you. You'll notice on days that you are busy, intermittent fasting is much easier. There is a reason for that.

Slowly Adjust To Your Eating Window

You may want to think about slowly increasing your fasts day by day until you complete a full fast. This will help your body adjust so that you may feel less hunger. You will always feel some amount of hunger on just about any intermittent fasting schedule, but some people find that if they ease into intermittent fasting at first, it really helps.

You could start off with just 12 hour fasts and slowly work your way to completing 16 hours a day by adding an hour per day.

Using an app to track your intermittent fasting can really help you to watch the progress of your fasts. These apps will time your fast for you and show you how well you are doing over time.