Last updated on March 12th, 2024 at 01:38 pm
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Before we tackle the acceptable liquids during Intermittent Fasting, let us first define the meaning of IF. Intermittent fasting (IF) is a kind of eating that cycles between times when you don’t eat and times when you do.
It doesn’t tell you what foods to eat, but when you should eat them. In this way, it’s not really a diet in the usual sense. Instead, it’s more like a way of eating. Some common ways to do intermittent fasting are fasting for 16 hours every day or for 24 hours twice a week.
Intermittent fasting (IF) is one of the well-known health and fitness trends in the world right now. Much research shows that it can have powerful effects on both your body and brain and may even help you live longer. (1) (2) (3)
What are the liquids you Can Drink During Intermittent Fasting?
Be aware of a drink’s calories when you choose it during your fasting window. Drinks with more than ten calories can break your fast and ruin all your hard work. Even drinks with no calories, like diet soda, flavoured water, or anything with artificial sweeteners, can cause an insulin response and mess up your fast. What can you drink, then?
1) TEA
Okay, so tea is the first among the 9 liquids during intermittent fasting we’ll be dealing with. Can you have some tea? Yes, you sure can. Now, caffeine is in tea and coffee. You can, of course, drink too much. Even though tea has some caffeine, drinking a small amount probably won’t be a problem at all. But caffeine in large amounts can start to make insulin work faster, but small amounts don’t seem to do anything. Okay, so tea is okay. Of course, it’s just decaffeinated naturally.
2) COFFEE
So, how about we talk about coffee? Again, I think it would be great to have one in the morning. And I know that some people get really mad because, you know, they’re used to drinking it all day long. They might say I’m trying to take it from them. And I don’t want to do that because of how addicted they are or how much they want it. But the point is that too much coffee can stimulate the adrenals and turn on cortisol, which can then turn on insulin. Okay, that’s the problem because coffee is a stimulant that stimulates the adrenal. Now, caffeine also makes adrenaline go up, which, by the way, does help burn fat. But if I wanted to lose weight, I wouldn’t drink coffee. Certainly, so I think one in the morning will be fine.
Can You Add some sweeteners to your coffee?
Now, it’s going to be hard to decide whether to use milk or cream. Just because you work with many people doesn’t mean you can’t do small amounts. Now, let’s talk about what happens when you add the bulletproof, which is the butter. Some people can do it, but for others, it’s almost like eating a meal because they’re eating so much butter. So, if you want to eat that, go right ahead. But suppose we’re trying to do intermittent fasting. In that case, we’re trying to fast that adds that much fat even when you’re not supposed to eat because anything will trigger insulin to some degree, like a meal.
Now, what about sugar? Can we add sugar? Not even close. You can put sugar alcohol or Xylitol back in the tall. I’m not sure if I would want to put stevia in there because it would taste strange. But a small amount of coffee is fine as long as you don’t add sugar and only use a small amount of cream and maybe a little butter. Some people can get away with it, but others can’t. So I’ve heard different things about that.
So, suppose you do a coffee bean extract. In that case, some phytonutrients in the coffee bean are really good for insulin resistance. It probably helps some people lose weight because of this. But it won’t help them lose weight if they don’t have insulin resistance. Again, this is the thing about coffee bean extract. I’m not going to talk about that. But when you roast coffee, you get rid of all those phytonutrients because you heat it up a lot. So, that’s coffee. Just try to make a small amount, okay?
3) WATER
You can drink water, so don’t worry about that. You will lose some water when you are on a ketogenic diet, so don’t be afraid to drink it. I just like to add electrolytes to it because when you’re on the ketosis diet or even intermittent fasting, you can lose some electrolytes, like potassium and salt. This can make you feel tired all of a sudden. We add a little bit of salt, and boom, they seem to wake up right away. So, either salt or potassium could be the answer. But don’t use water from the tap. Do so with filtered water or Pellegrino, which I like best, and I’ll drink a lot of that every day. Or some other water from a spring bottle. I love carbon and water, and carbonation doesn’t change either of these things in any way.
4) BONE BROTH
Now, vitamin water has a lot of sugar in it. That’s a bad idea. So, we’ll make bone broth. Bone broth is actually a really good thing to eat, even between meals, because it has a lot of electrolytes and not many calories. Okay, so I think it’s fine to do this. And the electrolytes in the food would help you get over the ketogenic flu or any other symptoms you might be having. So that’s fine. That’s fine.
5) DIET SODA
No, because aspartame makes insulin levels go up. So, these artificial sweeteners will make insulin levels go up. Still, if you buy a diet soda with stevia, Xylitol, or retail that isn’t made with GMOs, that’s fine. So I’ll say “no” to diet sodas.
6) APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
Very okay. Other than that, vinegar will help control blood sugar. This is a great way to help if you have a fatty liver. It helps digestion and makes insulin more sensitive to glucose, so less insulin is needed. This is really, really good.
7) ALCOHOL
Just don’t drink more than six beers a night. No, I’m just kidding. Now, alcohol. Even though some types of alcohol are low in calories, they will still stop the liver from working and take you right out of ketosis. So don’t consume alcohol. Alright.
8) COCONUT WATER
No, this doesn’t work. This one is also a no because it has a lot of sugar. Electrolytes are in it, but it also has a lot of sugar. So, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Again, you might be able to get away with it if you have a very fast metabolism. But I’m just telling you that, in general, any kind of sugar or juice will increase insulin. Now, you can also mix unsweetened cranberry juice with water. I used to tell people to do this, but believe it or not, it would stop some people from burning fat. I was surprised, and then I took them all off, but I haven’t just done the lemon and the opposite of vinegar and water. And that right back into burning fat. So that’s like a test I found that works.
9) ALMOND MILK
Now, almond milk is the last among the 9 liquids during intermittent fasting we will talk about. Well, you usually want unsweetened almond milk, and you can have some of that. It doesn’t have much sugar in it. Most of the time, no, but sometimes there are some that do. But it’ll be fine if it’s low in sugar.
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Ali Webster is a seasoned researcher, communicator, and Registered Dietitian with a diverse background encompassing government, nonprofits, academia, and health care. The core belief is that science should be made accessible, understandable, and relevant to all individuals, driving the motivation behind their work. Proficient in conducting and interpreting research to shape nutrition policy decisions, the individual also excels in nutrition and health communication, consumer research survey development and implementation, and clinical nutrition. Holding a Doctorate of Philosophy with a focus on Nutrition and Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota, their dietetic internship emphasized medical nutrition therapy.