Should I Drink Tea While Intermittent Fasting?
When it comes to successful intermittent fasting, there are 14 rules you should follow to achieve effective weight loss and improve your health. Intermittent fasting provides a refreshingly light approach to achieving these goals. If you find regular water boring and struggle to stay hydrated during fasting, tea can become your new best friend. It’s an awesome drink for anyone practicing intermittent fasting.
However, it’s crucial to ensure that you follow the fasting protocol to maximize the health benefits and weight loss during your intermittent fasts. If you’re too busy to find time for a consistent schedule or not getting the desired results from exercise alone, intermittent fasting can be highly effective.
While practicing intermittent fasting, it’s important to note that sweetened teas, tea lattes, or any tea with caloric mix-ins like syrup, honey, added milk products, sugar, or juice are considered to break your fast. To adhere to the fasting window’s zero-calorie rule, your drink options are limited to water, coffee, and tea. It’s worth noting that while coffee alone isn’t likely to break your fast, added ingredients should be considered.
During longer fasting phases like a 24-hour fast, you can sip on bone broth. When it comes to coffee, you can add a splash of milk, but avoid consuming more than ¼ cup as it can break your fast due to the fats and carbohydrates present. It’s important to avoid breaking your fast with foods that cause a steady rise and steep drop in blood sugar, such as sweets or meals loaded with refined carbs, as it can lead to energy crashes later in the day.
While milk is high in fats and carbohydrates that break your fast, tea offers a wide variety of options to please every tea lover’s taste buds. If you prefer plant milks, oat milk is recommended as it is rich in vitamins, minerals, and contains beta-glucans, a fiber that helps reduce cholesterol. When it comes to fasting teas, it’s important to consider your caffeine intake.
Intermittent fasting brings about drastic changes in one’s health, body, and life, even with fasting periods ranging from a few hours to more extended durations. It’s important to understand that intermittent fasting is not a diet but rather a pattern of when you eat, not what you eat. However, combining intermittent fasting with a diet of real, unprocessed foods can enhance your results. To slim down and improve your health, it’s advisable to avoid refined carbs at all times.
If you’re sensitive to fruits and experience sugar level fluctuations, it’s best to avoid them during fasting, as they contain glucose and fructose that can increase insulin release. If you find it necessary to add milk to your tea, incorporating 1-2 teaspoons will not significantly impact your calorie count.
Ultimately, fasting teas can be safely consumed during the fasting window, contributing to the overall healthfulness of your diet. For many individuals, starting the day with a good cup of coffee is essential. When practicing intermittent fasting, black coffee is a calorie-free option that can be enjoyed in moderation during the fasting phase. However, it’s important to avoid adding milk, cream, or sugar, as these added calories can break your fasted state.