Hi Leslie! New subscriber here, currently reading each post from the beginning and am so grateful to you for your work here (!!!), and I'm wondering what your thoughts are/the science says on adding unflavored collagen peptides to my morning cup of black coffee?
Your fasts will be much effective if you give your body complete digestive rests. Collagen peptides are still food and will stop autophagy, which is the recycling of old and damaged proteins. But collagen is a great thing so you can have another cup of coffee or tea in your eating window and add the collagen then.
Yes, it did break your fast. Tomorrow, have collagen with your first meal. One problem with having collagen on an empty stomach is that your body may turn it into glucose instead of using it as a building block. Collagen is best consumed with a meal.
Beginning of day five. Been kind of a roller coaster ride, not feeling well at times, but joints and surrounding tissues are beginning to lose swelling. It wasn't like they were swollen, but noticeable flexing joints. It's been easier the last few hours of fasting then I thought it would be.. We ate early (for us) last night and went 18 hours, more by accident than a plan.. Lol
Quick question: does herbal tea break a fast? I have a couple herbal teas (as well as my cold brew coffee) that have chicory which tastes sweet, but I’m not sure if there are actually enough calories in it to matter. Thanks!
Hi Christina, That's a very good question. I would definitely steer away from both of those while fasting and save them for your eating window. They definitely break the fast. I avoid all herbal teas and anything with flavor; I even avoid something like Earl Gray. It just makes fasting so much harder. Cold brews are deceptive because even though they're black, they have "natural flavors" in the ingredients. It's super easy to brew your own cold brew though if you google it. Keep in mind it's not calories that are the problem. You are wanting to lower insulin while fasting which allows your body to tap into fat stores which keeps you from feeling hungry. Flavors mess all of that up, except for the bitter flavors in black coffee and black tea.
Ok, hopefully last question for today: if flavors mess with insulin, should we avoid flavored sparkling waters like LaCroix? Would club soda be ok because it only has sodium added? Or does any carbonation mess with insulin as well? You’ve probably addressed this in one of your articles, I’ve just only read a couple of the oldest and newest ones. :)
Carbonation is fine, so plain sparkling waters like San Pellegrino or Topo Chico or any unflavored sparkling water is great. Avoid LaCroix and all those types of drinks!
If you scroll down on the Three Week Challenge, look for the heading "Marching Orders" and point #1 lists a bunch of things to avoid while fasting. I hope that helps. https://fastwell.substack.com/p/three-week-challenge
Hi Christina, Here are a couple of great audiobooks I would recommend. Fast.Feast.Repeat by Gin Stephens is great for tips on how to get started. But if your husband is more interested in the science behind IF, I would recommend the Obesity Code by Jason Fung. But some people find that book too sciency, so it all depends on what you're looking for. The Obesity Code is low on the how-to, it's more theoretical. So Fast.Feast.Repeat is usually the best place for most people to start. :)
Here are some links to the best YouTubes to get started before committing to an audio book:
Hi Leslie! New subscriber here, currently reading each post from the beginning and am so grateful to you for your work here (!!!), and I'm wondering what your thoughts are/the science says on adding unflavored collagen peptides to my morning cup of black coffee?
Hi Emily,
Your fasts will be much effective if you give your body complete digestive rests. Collagen peptides are still food and will stop autophagy, which is the recycling of old and damaged proteins. But collagen is a great thing so you can have another cup of coffee or tea in your eating window and add the collagen then.
Had collagen with my morning coffee... Did that break my fast? Ugh
Yes, it did break your fast. Tomorrow, have collagen with your first meal. One problem with having collagen on an empty stomach is that your body may turn it into glucose instead of using it as a building block. Collagen is best consumed with a meal.
Well, first day kind of down the drain... Would that be part of the reason I thought sixteen hours was easy peasy?
Beginning of day five. Been kind of a roller coaster ride, not feeling well at times, but joints and surrounding tissues are beginning to lose swelling. It wasn't like they were swollen, but noticeable flexing joints. It's been easier the last few hours of fasting then I thought it would be.. We ate early (for us) last night and went 18 hours, more by accident than a plan.. Lol
First day... Daumm
What if I want to avoid the caffeine in the black tea and coffee; is there any problem with decaf?
No problem at all with decaf. That's what I drink.
Quick question: does herbal tea break a fast? I have a couple herbal teas (as well as my cold brew coffee) that have chicory which tastes sweet, but I’m not sure if there are actually enough calories in it to matter. Thanks!
Hi Christina, That's a very good question. I would definitely steer away from both of those while fasting and save them for your eating window. They definitely break the fast. I avoid all herbal teas and anything with flavor; I even avoid something like Earl Gray. It just makes fasting so much harder. Cold brews are deceptive because even though they're black, they have "natural flavors" in the ingredients. It's super easy to brew your own cold brew though if you google it. Keep in mind it's not calories that are the problem. You are wanting to lower insulin while fasting which allows your body to tap into fat stores which keeps you from feeling hungry. Flavors mess all of that up, except for the bitter flavors in black coffee and black tea.
Ok, hopefully last question for today: if flavors mess with insulin, should we avoid flavored sparkling waters like LaCroix? Would club soda be ok because it only has sodium added? Or does any carbonation mess with insulin as well? You’ve probably addressed this in one of your articles, I’ve just only read a couple of the oldest and newest ones. :)
Carbonation is fine, so plain sparkling waters like San Pellegrino or Topo Chico or any unflavored sparkling water is great. Avoid LaCroix and all those types of drinks!
If you scroll down on the Three Week Challenge, look for the heading "Marching Orders" and point #1 lists a bunch of things to avoid while fasting. I hope that helps. https://fastwell.substack.com/p/three-week-challenge
Thank you!
Wonderful, thanks so much!
Hi Christina, Here are a couple of great audiobooks I would recommend. Fast.Feast.Repeat by Gin Stephens is great for tips on how to get started. But if your husband is more interested in the science behind IF, I would recommend the Obesity Code by Jason Fung. But some people find that book too sciency, so it all depends on what you're looking for. The Obesity Code is low on the how-to, it's more theoretical. So Fast.Feast.Repeat is usually the best place for most people to start. :)
Here are some links to the best YouTubes to get started before committing to an audio book:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tna57RAwcM0&list=PLfxLVLNGMHtZ781gui7RZXkKJ3YvYZ8Dv&index=5&t=2s&pp=gAQBiAQB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsa8cz8nPAA&list=PLfxLVLNGMHtZ781gui7RZXkKJ3YvYZ8Dv&index=4&pp=gAQBiAQB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqZsS03dlPk&list=PLfxLVLNGMHtZ781gui7RZXkKJ3YvYZ8Dv&index=3&pp=gAQBiAQB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKX_Wt50H0g&list=PLfxLVLNGMHtZ781gui7RZXkKJ3YvYZ8Dv&index=7&t=2s&pp=gAQBiAQB
Just one caveat with the videos: ignore them when they say you can have things beside water, black coffee, black tea in your fast.
If he likes podcasts: here's an episode from Intermittent Fasting Stories he may enjoy:
https://www.intermittentfastingstories.com/episode-1-kim-smith/
(Just ignore the vegetarian push)