Will Honey Break My Fast?

It probably goes without saying that the most challenging aspect of intermittent fasting is maintaining your fast without giving into food cravings and desires.  Any small amount of caloric intake may disrupt your fasting and cause frustration.

But what about honey, even small doses of it?

Although honey is a tasty sweetener it contains a lot of calories, which immediately translates to sugar.

Other sweeteners like honey include cream and milk.

You cannot have these either while fasting.  You are trying to burn as much fat as possible while fasting; therefore you need to be cautious with what you put into your body.

What Can you Drink During Intermittent Fasting?

Your drink options when fasting are limited because of the limited calories you must intake.

All of your liquids should have minimal calories, but the preferred caloric amount is zero.

The safest drinking options available during a fast include:

• Water
  • Tap water
  • Filtered or bottled water
  • Mineral water
    • Check if there is any salt or sugar
  • Hot or ice water
• Herbal Tea
  • Mint tea
  • Chamomile tea
  • Green tea
• Bone Broth
  • Increases satiety and reduces inflammation
• Apple Cider Vinegar
  • Helps promote weight loss
  • Boosts your metabolism while burning fat

Some great health effects of increased water intake include:

• Increased fat burning
• Increased metabolism

If you are struggling with hunger throughout your fasting hours you can add some lemon to your water.

This is less than 10 calories and will help curb any food cravings to get you through your day.

Other Drinks to Include:

If you need to diversify your liquids during your fasting periods you can include caffeinated drinks. Caffeinated drinks in small bursts help increase your awareness while reducing your appetite.

You should not drink more than 6 cups a day, but regular caffeine increases your metabolism while continuing to support your weight loss.

You can also incorporate a zero-calorie sweetener to add some changes to your flavor of the liquid.  Stevia is a sweetener that does not break your fast.

You need to be aware that Stevia produces a sweet flavor that may trigger a hunger reaction.

You should avoid it if you are easily susceptible to hunger cravings.

To have a successful fast you need to actively monitor your body’s symptoms and reactions to different drinks. Your body will let you know when it is having difficulty maintaining its fast and you need to hear those messages.

An artificially sweetened drink consists of:

• Sweetened Tea
  • This can be with honey, which will spike your blood sugar
• Zero-calorie artificial sweeteners
  • Sucralose
    • Can also trigger the release of insulin

Along with eliminating sugary drinks that contain any form of artificial sweeteners, you should also avoid caffeine.  Too much Caffeine combined with your fasting will negatively affect your body.

While you are fasting too much caffeine can increase anxiety, unrest, heartburn, and mood swings. Because of these negative health side effects, caffeine should be minimized (bit doesn’t need to be avoided altogether, just be mindful of calories).

You should also be aware of calories within specific water brands that target active adults. This can be either propel or vitamin water.

Both contain calories that may appear inconsequential but are not beneficial at all during your fasting.

For liquids, you should stick to basic water or tea while fasting.  This promotes the best results for your health.

Other Drinks to Avoid:

There are other specific drinks you need to actively avoid when fasting.

The drinks you need to avoid include:

• Diet or Regular Soda
• Alcohol
• Juice

These liquids when used during a fasting period offer nothing but negative results.

Soda contains many sugars and artificial sweeteners regardless if it is diet or regular soda.

Both types begin a hunger response, which makes your fasting more difficult to achieve and maintain.

The main reason people practice intermittent fasting is due to improvements in overall health and well being – whilst managing calorific intake balanced with proper nutrition.

Your body will thank you for it.

By fasting for 12 to 16 hours a day your relationship to food will inevitably change.

You will no longer mindlessly devour food, you will learn to recognise the value of food and your relationship with it.

Food is an aspect of your daily life that often is not actively thought of and we tend to eat or GRAZE passively.

This TED talk on Fasting is definitely worth a watch too

 

When you fast you will notice how infrequently your mind wanders to thoughts of food and how much more controlled you are.

Fasting promotes self-discipline and gratitude, and whilst these are important personal attributes in their own right they that can really transcend to many other aspects of your personal, professional, and spiritual life too.

Good luck on your fasting journey!