- This video is the Definitive Guide
to what does and what doesn't break your fast
when you're aiming for weight loss.
We've got a lot to get through,
so let's get started.
(upbeat music)
Hi Carb Dodgers, my name is Dr. Dan Maggs,
I'm so glad you've landed on my channel
which is all about achieving lasting weight loss
through low carb, real food and nutrition
and of course intermittent fasting.
Now if that sounds like something you'd be interested in,
then I'd love to have you on board,
just hit the Subscribe button and then the bell
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So what I really hope you get out of this video
is that fasting can be a lot more flexible
than people think.
There is a lot more than can be consumed on a fast
that will still allow people to achieve
their weight loss goals, and it kind of helps fasting
become a little bit more sustainable.
You see there are many types of fasting.
Dry Fasting This is the strictest form of fasting.
Consume nothing at all, no food, not even water.
And this is the kind of fasting that is done by Muslims
during the month of Ramadan.
Water fasting is where you don't eat anything
but can consume water freely.
And if you're a purist like all these people
that commented on my, does coffee break a fast video
then you'll probably leave it at that.
You say that anything else other than water breaks a fast.
And I totally respect your viewpoint,
and this is a completely valid way of looking at things.
And others will say that if it has any calories in it
then it will cause a metabolic response
and will disrupt fasting.
And this is again is a very valid way of looking at things.
And probably for losing weight,
it's the optimum way of doing things.
But it's not the only way of doing things.
Because at the other end of the spectrum
we have something that purists
probably wouldn't say is fasting at all,
but it can still be really effective
and that is the 5:2 diet.
Now the 5:2 diet has been really popular
over the last few years and if you haven't heard of it,
it basically works like this.
Five days a week you eat exactly
what you would normally eat, the other two days a week
you restrict yourself to eating just 500 calories for women
and 600 calories for men throughout the whole day.
Now the only reason that there is any food allowed
on the fast days is that, its inventor Dr Michael Moseley
didn't think that people would accept
to complete fast for two days a week.
But what is really important here,
is not whether this is truly fasting in the purest sense,
but is it helping people achieve their weight loss goals?
And the answer is a resounding yes.
So if you can still achieve your goals
and eat five to 600 calories on a fast day
then surely there're some a gray area there.
Personally I like to think about fasting in a different way,
not necessarily in terms of putting names on it,
but in terms of how it supports your weight loss goals.
In order to work out whether something breaks a fast or not,
we need to think about the metabolic function of a fast.
The goal is to get in and maintain a fasted state
within your body.
And in order to get the best results out of fasting,
it's good to stay in this state as long as possible.
So what's the fasted state?
The fasted state is characterized by; low insulin levels,
raised glucagon levels which is insulin's opposite number,
normal blood glucose levels especially in non-diabetics,
increased fat burning and ketone production.
The key point is that in the fasted state
you're burning you own body fat for energy
and of course that's what you want in order to lose weight.
So in order to work out whether something
really breaks a fast, we need to know
what impact it has on that fasting state.
Let's look at the macronutrient impact.
All macronutrients that is carbohydrates, proteins and fats
have an impact on insulin levels
but to a greater or lesser degree.
Take a look at this graph,
we have time running across the bottom,
and insulin levels at the side.
We can see that carbohydrates
have a big impact on insulin levels,
protein also has an impact on insulin levels,
but much less than carbohydrates,
fats on the other hand has a minimal impact
on insulin levels, but interestingly not none.
So consuming any of these things
will increase insulin levels to varying degrees.
They will also supply your body with energy
which it will use preferentially
rather than burning its own stored body fat.
But when we're thinking about fasting for weight loss
we need to consider the time it's going to take
for your body to deal with what you've just eaten.
In order to get back to that same state
of burning fat that you were in before.
And don't worry, if you're not 100% clear on what I mean,
I'm going to take you through some examples.
Let's start with green tea.
Green tea is the jackpot, green tea is amazing.
This is something you really should consider drinking
when fasting for weight loss.
Green tea is good for you on so many levels
but importantly it's got some good evidence
that it increases the metabolic rate
and the rate that fat burning.
Herbal teas, now you used to know where you stood
with herbal teas they are pretty much free
of any metabolic effect on the body.
But herbal teas are getting a bit strange.
People are trying to get clever
and they are putting all sorts of bits and bobs in there.
Now if it's plain old herbal tea, you should be fine.
If it looks a bit strange, check the label,
but realistically it's unlikely there will be anything
in there that will significantly disrupt your fast.
Black tea, is much the same as the first two,
but who drinks black tea?
Certainly not how we do things here in England.
It needs some milk in it,
and we will talk about milk very shortly.
Black coffee as I mentioned in the video the other day,
no protein, no carbs, no fat
it's all good to go for fasting.
Now artificial sweeteners.
We are talking about thing like saccharin, Sweet 'N Low,
sucralose which is Splenda,
aspartame which is the sweetener in most diet drinks,
stevia, sugar alcohols such as xylitol,
there're few others that also end in tol.
Now I don't wanna turn this into a video
about whether sweeteners are good for you or not.
If you want me to make that video
then please let me know in the comments down below.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of artificial sweeteners
as whilst they don't have the same effect on you as sugar,
most of them are synthetic chemicals
and I wouldn't classify them as real food,
which is one the core principles of this channel.
But this is about whether they break a fast or not.
So do they increase blood glucose?
Well no they don't.
Using these in your coffee, it's your tea or diet beverages
won't increase your blood glucose.
What is less clear is the long-term effect
of drinking these on blood glucose levels.
There are some studies that have found negative effects
of sweetener consumption on gut bacteria,
which appears in turn to have a negative impact
on blood glucose control.
However, most of these studies have been done in animals.
So we're not sure whether this translates to humans or not.
And do they affect insulin levels?
Generally not, but sucralose and saccharin
showed mixed results in some studies, which say they do.
But limited studies are available.
So do sweeteners break a fast?
In a word, no.
So what about coffee with cream?
A small amount of cream is gonna provide your body
with a small amount of fat
and a very, very small amount of carbohydrate.
The fat in the cream will raise your blood insulin level,
an insignificant amount
as will the small amount of carbohydrate.
But the effect is gonna be so minimal,
you're gonna be quickly back to where you started.
The 50 calories from one tablespoon of cream,
is 50 calories your body doesn't have to find
from your own fat stores,
so it will slow down your weight loss very slightly.
So yes, technically cream breaks a fast,
but in practical terms, it's unlikely to cause you
too much of a problem if you're only having a small amount.
However, if you have four tablespoons of cream
in every cup of coffee, and you have five cups of coffee
during the morning, then you might find your results
a little less pleasing.
Now let's look at bulletproof coffee.
So what is in bulletproof coffee?
Well there are lots of different recipes
but the classic version contains;
coffee, butter or ghee and medium-chain triglyceride oils
which are also known as MCT oils.
Now there is about nine times more calories
in a mug of bulletproof coffee than there is in a coffee
with a tablespoon of cream in it.
But it's pretty much all fat,
and the carbohydrate content is negligible.
The effect on your insulin levels and glucose levels
will be absolutely minimal,
and you're staying very close to that fasted state.
I wanna give you two scenarios as an example
of where bulletproof coffee might be used when fasting.
With varying impact on the overall effectiveness
of the fast.
If you're doing 16:8 fasting or one meal a day fasting,
and you have a bulletproof coffee in the morning,
you're still gonna remain in the fasted state
for the most part.
But your body has about 450 calories of fat on board
that it can use for energy that it didn't have before.
Whilst I'm not trying to reduce everything down
to a simple formula of calories in and calories out,
unfortunately it isn't that simple I'm afraid,
clearly this isn't gonna be as good for your weight loss
as not having that bulletproof coffee.
But if you're just getting started with a ketogenic diet,
it can be a really useful tool to help you transition
to a 16:8 or one meal a day fasting pattern.
And this is exactly how I started
my weight loss journey back in 2016.
And I was still able to lose loads of weight
even with almost daily bulletproof coffees
in those first few months.
Now let's thing about it in terms of longer fasting.
Now think about if you're doing alternate day
pattern of fasting, and on your first day,
you decide to have a bulletproof coffee as a pick me up.
It's the only thing you consume in that entire day.
The MCT oil is readily turned into ketones in your liver
and this can have a real energy-boosting effect
and can be really handy.
Say if you're gonna do your workout or something.
But it still energy your body will use
before burning its own fat.
But you're still only consuming
about 450 calories in the whole day, with a minimal effect
on the hormone levels needed to maintain that fasted state.
So yes, technically to the letter of the law
you're breaking your fast, but you're still getting
almost all of the benefits of that longer fast.
Using pretty much pure fat in this way
is commonly called fat fasting.
People also use fat bombs, which are snacks,
which are pretty much pure fat, with similar effect.
If you're trying to do longer fasts for the first time
and you're struggling a bit, and rather than breaking
your fast early with a full meal,
it's an option to try fat fasting.
What about tea and coffee with milk.
Milk is kinda at the other end of the dairy scale
to cream and butter.
It's got a lot more of the milk sugar lactose in it
and not so much fat.
Lactose is two sugar molecules stuck together,
glucose and galactose.
And when you drink milk the lactose is broken down
in the body and the galactose is turned into glucose.
So I always find it helps to think of the sugar in milk
as just glucose, 'cause that's what it ends up as.
So milk is definitely gonna raise your blood glucose levels
which will cause your insulin levels to rise
and disrupt that fasting state
much more than the same number of calories
of cream or butter would.
But what if you only just have a small amount?
Yeah, the quantity of milk here is really important.
If you're having just a splash of milk in your tea or coffee
then you're ingesting only a very, very
small amount of glucose which will cause a minimal blip
which your body will quickly deal with,
and in theory, should be back to the fasted state
in no time at all.
Compare that to a latte,
which is made from almost entirely from milk.
I'm just gonna use a Starbucks Grande
or medium latte here as a reference.
It has about the same carbohydrate content
as four or five teaspoons of sugar.
Now that is clearly gonna have a pretty significant impact
on your fasting state for some time to come.
What about lactose-free milk?
So I had a few people comment this question on my video
about coffee, if lactose is the problem in milk,
surely I can just drink lactose-free milk.
Now I like your thinking here people, I like your thinking.
The reason they make lactose milk is for people
who can't break down the lactose themselves.
Basically what they do, is they add an enzyme
that breaks it down so you don't have to do it yourself.
Now this simple bit of biochemical trickery
solves the problem for people
who can't digest lactose itself.
However, it doesn't actually change the carbohydrate content
of the milk in a meaningful way.
In fact, it actually makes the sugars in the milk
ever so slightly simpler,
and it's actually noticeably sweeter than normal milk.
So sorry, lactose-free milk,
lattes are not the solution, I'm afraid.
Next let's talk about plant-based milks such as almond milk.
Who knew you could milk an almond, eh?
Yes, there are some options here,
which in terms of carbohydrate content are better than milk,
if you enjoy the flavor of these.
These are figures for the carbohydrate content
in an eight ounce or 225 ml glass.
Whole milk has 12 grams of carbohydrate,
almond milk has just one gram of carbohydrate,
coconut milk two, soy milk four
and rice milk all the way up at 22,
basically a twice as much carbohydrate has whole milk.
Oh, and be sure to avoid the sweetened versions
of those plant-based milks, I've made that mistake before,
and the figures are very, very different.
Okay so this next one is kind of an obvious one
but this is the complete list after all.
Drinks with sugar or honey or any of the hundreds of things
that sugar can be called will of course break your fast.
Sugar of course is a refined carbohydrate,
which will rapidly raise your blood sugar levels,
rapidly raise your insulin levels
which will stop fat burning,
it will start you rebuilding your glycogen stores
in your liver, depending on the amount
and how well your body is able to process sugars,
it could take hours before you
get back into the fasted state.
Definitely avoid sugar in all its many forms
and that includes fruit juice.
Next up apple cider vinegar.
It's pretty in vogue at the moment, and with good reason.
Technically, it has a few calories in it
so it does break a fast, but it has such a wonderful effect
on the body in terms of improving things
like insulin sensitivity.
It's absolutely fine to consume
when fasting for weight loss.
Bone broth is another very popular health drink
because it's full of micronutrients,
which will have little or no impact on a fast.
However, it also contains collagen which is a protein,
so technically it does break your fast
and does increase your insulin level somewhat.
Although having a single mug of good quality bone broth
just helps support you through a longer fast
probably isn't gonna do your the weight loss efforts
a great deal of harm.
Okay let's talk about supplements.
Protein shakes, now there is so much protein here,
I generally think of it as a liquid meal,
and therefore it really does break a fast.
Whey protein in particular has a significant impact
on insulin levels and protein powders
tend to be mixed up with all sorts of other stuff.
Definitely one to avoid when fasting.
But what about BCAA's?
Now BCAA's if you've not heard of them
that stands for branched-chain amino acids,
they're like a stripped-down version of a protein shake,
which only contain the amino acids that are actually needed
for muscle building.
So it's a lot cleaner than a protein shake in that respect.
However one of the amino acids in there,
leucine is well known to be one of the amino acids
that provokes the significant insulin response.
So yes, technically BCAA's do break a fast.
Nevertheless, lots of people take BCAA's during exercise
whilst on fasting protocols as it may support
the healing of your muscle tissues afterwards.
Exogenous ketones, clearly, these are metabolically active
and have an impact on your own ketone production,
so yes they technically break a fast.
I think of them kind of similar to MCT oil
in the effect they have, they're really useful on occasions
as an energy boost, particularly before a workout,
but it's energy your body isn't going to be finding
from its own fat stores.
Creatine is another really popular supplement
which has absolutely no effect on fasting,
so is absolutely fine to take.
Omega-3 fish oil, yeah well technically it is an oil
so it will be like any fat.
But it's likely the dose is so small
as to not have any particular impact on fasting,
you might not wanna take it on an empty stomach, however.
And that does go for other supplements too.
Magnesium makes me vomit really badly
if I take it on an empty stomach.
I can't think of any other supplements
that would break a fast.
Besides, the dosage you're taking them in are so small
it's unlikely that any of them
might gonna do any significant harm
to your weight loss efforts.
Vaping, this might seem like a crazy question
but lots of the vaping oils are quite sweet,
so it is a question I get asked from time to time.
As far as I can tell, none of that get into your bloodstream
or provokes an insulin response
and seemingly needed is nicotine.
Which brings us on to cigarettes.
Now if you're smoking,
and you're concerned about the effects
it might have on your fasting,
you really need to reconsider your priorities.
I can't say for sure the overall impact
to smoking on fasting as there are so many chemicals
in there, it's difficult to know.
It doesn't appear to make any meaningful difference
to ketone levels, however.
But speaking as someone who used to smoke, I get it.
Giving up is difficult but it's not impossible,
but it's the single biggest change you need to make
for the sake of your health, if you are a smoker.
(whooshing)
I think that's about all the common questions
that I get asked about what breaks a fast.
I hope this has given you a bit more of an idea
about how flexible you can actually be, when you're fasting.
So yes, you're probably gonna see the best results
if you take the purist approach to fasting,
consume only water, no calories.
But when it comes to living your life
and integrating fasting on a regular basis
to achieve your goals, it is okay to experiment a little bit
without massively decreasing your results.
I really hope you found this video helpful
if you have, I'd really like it if you gave it a thumbs up.
If there is anything that I've missed out
then please let me know in the comments down below,
don't forget to subscribe if you're not already,
and I'll see you in the next video.