Breaking Fast. WillPowders Ask: What’s the Best Way to Break a Fast?
So, you’ve fasted for 16 hours, or you’ve gone marine and bashed out a modest 72 (show off)! However long you’ve abstained, bravo - it’s no mean feat letting your cells repair and renew.
Fasting’s an art form, but breaking a fast also benefits from some thinking ahead. During fasting, yes, we’ve fantasised about an ill-advised frisson with a chocolate eclair or dreamed of swapping the house for eggs and salmon (preferable). But, when the moment comes, turns out, it’s better that it’s a time for wise choices. Face-planting into a huge pile of junk food? Not wise. Swigging a long cold drink ‘in one’? Ditto.
What’s the problem with scoffing everything?
Your stomach and liver have been resting for hours. Now's the time to interrupt their lull and eat. When we do this, there are three things to attend to:
- Looking after our insulin
- Looking after our fluids
- Looking after how we repair, recover and rejuvenate
With WillPowders, you can break a fast and glide into your eating window with the help of our Insulin Support Precursor, ElectroTide, Collagen and Protein Powders. Let the fat-fuelled feast begin!
Don’t have your insulin and insulin receptors heading for divorce
When fasting, insulin and insulin receptors go to ground. Hours before, they’d sorted the last rise in blood sugar by sending glucose into cells. Practically all tissues in our body have insulin receptors. When we’re in good nick, our tissues keep their insulin sensitivity. So far, so good.
But, if we are pre-diabetic, are aware that we have habitually eaten too many carbs, been sugar-addicted or we’re a woman over 40, our insulin’s relationship with insulin receptors could be heading for a sticky divorce. Like good couples therapy, fasting can help with this. But. no matter what the relationship status between the two, having fasted, no one should want to rip up the hard work the moment the fast is over.
Carbs are the drama llamas when it comes to blood sugar
Carbs are responsible for our highest blood sugar spikes. They’re the drama. They can leave our pancreas scrambling to marshal the insulin troops and our insulin troops calling an emergency COBRA meeting for insulin receptors to perform The Great Glucose Mop Up. Set up this situation too often and it could be, hello insulin resistance.
The problem is, most of us have been misguided when it comes to carb intake. Simply put, we’ve been told to eat too many. For many of us, they’ve become our ‘go-to’ when we’re hungry. They also make us hungrier in the long term. That’s not great for closing the fasting window, unless we like being hunted down by thoughts of custard creams. The Gov’s Eatwell Guide (yeah, right) has led to a stronghold of insulin resistance amongst us. And, eventually, that could lead to Type 2 Diabetes.
Support your insulin
Need to know where your insulin is at? Obviously speaking to a medical practitioner who can help you understand how your insulin is performing is a great start. However, signs such as putting on belly fat, having brain fog after food, constant ‘hanger’ and craving carbs, nothing but carbs, might all indicate the workings of your insulin could be out of whack.
If we’ve been fasting and plunge head first into the biscuit jar, then we can expect to find our blood sugar spikes in line with the top of The Big Dipper! Avoiding those spikes is better for health. And, bonus, we can supplement to support blood sugars. WillPowders Insulin Support Precursor contains dihydroberberine. Think of it as the Balenciaga of Berberine! Berberine’s long been applauded for its ability to help stablise blood sugars but dihydroberberine, in a head to head comparison for bioavailability with berberine and a placebo, ‘irrespective of what dose is delivered, achieves greater area under the curve as well as peak berberine concentrations’.
Good to know. It can reach higher blood concentration levels, maintaining those levels for longer. Essentially, it’s going to outperform more regular berberines. It can improve insulin action, improve the way glucose is balanced in the blood and help to reduce those times when we do have a spike because fasting hunger got the better of us. Whoops! We’re all human.
What foods should I avoid when breaking a fast?
Foods that spike blood sugars include:
- Sugary drinks. Swerve ‘em.
- ‘White’ carbs like rice, bread and pasta. Fast-break is not the time or place for these boys. Dodge ‘em.
- Starchy vegetables such as potatoes. Not just yet.
- Honey and syrup. Nope - they’re fructose.
- High sugar fruits and fruit juices such as mangoes, grapes and bananas. Sorry fruit bowl.
- Breakfast cereal. Even the low sugar, whole wheat versions convert to blood sugars. Mr. Kellog can do one!
If the temptation was too much - we get it. We’re all busy and our brains drive our need to take fuel on board. Take Insulin Support Precursor. Even our Rise and Shine could help in these situations.
Even better, avoid the blood sugar high and go low carb, higher fat
Researchers found that in the case of Type 2 diabetics, making the first meal of the day lower in carbohydrates and higher in fat helped even out blood sugars for the next 24 hours.
Delicious low carb fast breakers include:
- High fat fruits such as avocados or olives
- Nuts
- Oily fish
- Eggs
- Full fat Greek yoghurt - pop some WillPowders Protein Powders in there for sweetness without the blood sugar spike and to beef up your protein. It’s halal, too. Psst! The chocolate one’s award winning …
Got a date with a date?
Many people break a spiritual fast with dates. This article discusses research into eating between 2 and 10 dates (with a focus on diabetics) and the effects on blood sugar; dates being considered a low GI food. The article concludes eating dates ‘does not cause significant blood sugar spikes when people eat [them] in moderation’. If you are concerned, are prediabetic or diabetic, ask your healthcare practitioner. Dates contain magnesium which will help replace lost minerals. After the dates, keep carbs low.
Lost fluids
Some of us clean or dry fast, not eating or drinking during our fasting window. Some of us dirty fast, drinking liquids and fat fuelled WillPowders Coffee. Either way, it’s likely that fasting has us having to make up for the fluids we would normally get from eating. In the UK, around 27% of our total water intake comes from food. If we’re eating less food due to fasting, and we have smaller eating windows, we need to increase our water intake from other fluids. Fasting also means we need to replenish minerals in electrolyte form.
On breaking a fast, or a short time after drinking water to break a fast, if your fast is spiritual, replacing lost fluids and electrolytes is crucial. If there are no restrictions on what you drink when you come out of fasting, then go straight for a liquid which includes electrolytes. Electrolyte minerals such as magnesium, phosphorus and sodium keep our spark of life revving.
Water with a few grinds of Celtic Sea Salt and a squeeze of lemon will do the job. However, after all that hard work fasting, you’ll probably want something with more appeal. We developed ElectroTide to help get your salts back. Mix a sachet with 330ml of water and you’ve got an appetising way to deliver those salts and rehydrate. Mix with sparkling water if you fancy working up a froth. There’s a buffet of flavour choice with Cherry, Citrus or Watermelon, so enjoy!
Go nutrient dense to satiate, repair, recover and replenish
Now’s the time to get the building blocks of life and vitality into your body. Don’t try to skimp during your eating window. Once you’ve had some fluids and sent the message to your body that food is now coming it’s time to eat.
If we’re looking for nutrient density (and why wouldn’t we be?), then we need to concentrate on fats and protein. Good fat is energy! It’s also satiating, plus vitamins A, D, E and K are only soluble in fat. Triple points for fat, then! Protein contains the amino acids to repair and be the precursors to your happy hormones. It’s worth noting that insulin plays a part in getting amino acids into cells, so do look after your insulin in order to keep those insulin receptors in tip top condition and ready to receive!
We’ve developed products to supplement all the things you want to cook for yourself and the family. Or, if you’re lucky, all the things you want your other half to cook for you! Send these pimped recipes their way: Chicken Tikka Masala or Low Carb Cottage Pie, both with Bovine Collagen. Don’t forget, we have a Halal collagen, too!
You’re not in the fasting desert anymore so have dessert!
Yes, Big Food’s loaded with the idea that pudding is a ‘treat’, especially when that pudding is laden with sugar and disastrous fats - trans fat treat, anyone? Thanks but no, thanks! But, choose a nutrient dense dessert and you’re good to go!
Our Sweet Protein Powders come into their own for sweet occasions. Not only are they great for breaking a fast, with their complete protein profile, good fats from butter from grass fed cows, but that butter contains the gold standard in Vitamin K - Vitamin K2, no less! But, we didn’t stop there (because we love an opportunity to stack nutrition), our Scandinavian Bone Broth Powders contain electrolyte minerals to keep you sparky! They’re also suited to a halal diet. Bung them in your full fat Greek yoghurt, whip up a drink, the Vanilla Protein tastes like Mr. Whippy, remember, or bob them in a shake. We love a Supper Protein Smoothie which could help you sail back into fasting: low carb so fewer cravings down the line, MCT Keto Creamer to feed the brain and stevia to satisfy that sweet comfort craving.
If you’re stuck for a dessert and you’ve got friends or family popping in to eat with you, try Cottage Cheesecake. No one will complain! Neither will tummies - your guts heal and thrive when you cut out sugar and are supported with protein.
From feast back to fast
Use carbs for a good night’s sleep. They’re like a supernanny calming a toddler for your brain, dampening down stress responses. We’re all familiar with the power of a carb coma!
If a spiritual fast means eating early in the morning, high protein diets help to stave off hunger for longer between meals. Food that is blander can feel easier to eat when it’s way before your normal get-up. Try a Carnivore Pancake (note: no actual carnivores are harmed in the cooking of them!) to help keep your stomach busy, your amino acids busy building and avoid sugar spikes that usher in hunger.
Working shifts? You’re the chameleon of fasting and feasting patterns. Heading to bed? Sourdough toast, butter (from pasture raised cows, chef’s kiss) and a cup of Vanilla Protein Powder, anyone? Box clever and end your fast just before leaving work with a Protein Powder Sachet then eat sleepy time carbs once you get home. Tipping the wink at those at home that coming home to a roast dinner would be the bomb is always an option! Fast partly while you sleep (no biggie at all) and use MCT oil to calm food chatter, if it hits.
Remember: for a happy break fast …
- Look after your insulin levels
- Break a fast with something low carb
- Top up your fluids and salts
- Eat nutrient dense - even dessert can be nutrient filled!
- Exit the eating window with higher protein, lower carb foods that won’t have you imagining a scene from the Hogwarts dining hall all day (or all night, if you’re on shifts, of course!)
And while you fast, you’re back to …
- Getting your cell repair on
- Using fat as fuel - look at you go!
- Giving your metabolic system a leg up
- Boosting testosterone while exercising - ooh, la la!
- Getting busy with learning and memory
It’s the infinitely loop that dreams are made of!
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