How often should I Fast?
By definition: Short is less than 24 hours. Long is 24-72 hours. Extended is 72+ hours
- Short – Daily: 16 hour+ Intermittent fasting
- Long – Weekly: 24-36 hour fast
- Longer – Monthly: 48 hour fast
- Extended – Quarterly: 3-5 day fast
- Extended – Yearly: 7 day fast
Tips when Fasting (Updated: 2.24.17)
- Add sea salt to your drinks. Insulin retains water so when fasting we excrete salt and water. Adding salt helps guard against fatigue and lack of energy (Guide to IF, 13)
- For longer fasts (3-5 days) you can add bone broth and bulletproof coffee to help with satiety. Although this is not a pure fast, you will still receive most of the benefits of fasting (Guide to IF, 18)
- For longer fasts, the week prior to the fast get into ketosis first. This will help ease the transition to fasting through your ability to up-regulate fat metabolizing hormones (Guide to IF, 16).
- Longer Fasts: Be careful with the supplements you take. Supplementing may send mixed signals to your body. When we are fasting we are producing good reactive oxygen species; we don’t want to down regulate this benefit that comes from fasting (Guide to IF, 18).
- Longer fasts may benefit from taking a multivitamin
- Magnesium is one of the few vitamins/minerals that lower while fasting. (Guide to IF, 81)
- 3g of BCAA during exercise (Tools of Titans, 25)
- Coffee with MCT OIL during the 1st & 2nd day to get into ketosis as quickly as possible to avoid muscle wasting then omit (Tools of Titans, 25)
- Drink mineral water or green tea to stimulate metabolism and weight loss, cinnamon to suppress hunger (add to black coffee) (Guide to IF, 8, 230).
- Make sure you are mentally prepared for the fast.
- 16-hour fasts generally provides the right balance of autophagy (Tools of Titans, 60)
- If your blood sugar dips into the low 50’s for more than a couple hours you may want to end the fast. This is known through blood glucose strip testing.
- Caution against fasting if you are pregnant, nursing, trying to gain muscle or an athlete, have serious adrenal issues or chronic renal disease, have chronic stress, or underweight
- Break your fast if you are experiencing light-headedness, shakiness, confusion, excessive sweating, blurred vision, or slurred speech
- Using a sauna during a prolonged fast helps guard against muscle wasting
Does drinking bulletproof coffee or bone broth negate the benefits of the fast?