There’s one thing that most Daily Intermittent Fasters agree on: water during the fasting window. It helps regulate you (a problem many fasters have as they eat less food and eat less frequently), helps flush out fat and toxins, and can make you feel full (or at least less “empty”). Some fasting experts recommend half your body weight in ounces of water; others recommend up to 150 ounces of water every 24 hours!

There are four kinds of water you might benefit from: a. Tap, bottled, or filtered water–just your every day water, with or without ice. a.  Mineral water—it has four times as much calcium and magnesium as regular tap water. Can balance your electrolytes/mineral deficiency easily and quickly with mineral water. c. Sparkling water (mineral or not)–it  tricks the “ghrelin gremlins” (grehlin is the hormone that tells you you’re hungry) into thinking you’ve been fed due to the bubbles. d. Caffeinated water–for those who want caffeine to help with hunger.

Cold or hot unflavored, unsweetened, non-caloric beverages help many Daily IF’ers get through their fast. These include coffee, tea, green tea, unflavored, etc.

Some fasters use caffeinated water (again, flavorless) to get their water and their caffeine both in. Others use “caffeine pills” to give them a caffeine boost. Note that neither of these is an “energy drink” that is loaded with sugar, calories, and artificial ingredients.

Himalayan salt contains the same 84 trace minerals and elements that are found in the human body. Some of these include sodium chloride, sulphate, calcium, potassium, and magnesium. When consuming this salt, you are actually getting less sodium intake per serving than regular table salt because it is less refined and the pieces are larger.

You can use this salt in a couple of ways when hunger is challenging, especially in the first few weeks of Daily IF. First of all, you can put some of the tiny, unground chunks under your tongue for immediate balancing. People have reported that dizziness, nausea, and headaches leave immediately when doing this. You may also make a coffee or other drink with the ground pink Himalayan salt and drink that down when you feel weak.

Clean fast advocates say NO calories. They believe that any calories (even fat ones) take the body out of body fat burning because even though they are not carbohydrates, they cause a metabolic response. Some allow a tablespoon of cream or two, saying that compliance of actually fasting for many hours each day is more important than perfection. Others allow fat of any kind, including avocados, oil, butter, cream, and certain nuts. Many of these people drink bullet-proof coffee, ranging in calories from 400 to 1200 per cup!

If there is a chance that your fasting hours aren’t truly fasting hours (because of a little cream), you might want to forgo the cream in the coffee. The biggest thing for me is that I do not want to “drink” 400 calories or more during my fasting window. Calories do eventually catch up with you if you consistently eat more than you burn–and I don’t want to “spend” any of them during my fasting window.

Some believe if it doesn’t have calories, it doesn’t matter. Diet pops, stevia-sweetened lemonade, gum, sugar-free jello, sf mints and hard candy,  etc. Others say it doesn’t have to have calories or carbs to elicit insulin response. Any sweet or fruity taste can do it and is breaking the fast.

Studies have shown that fruity or sweet flavors (even non-caloric) can cause an insulin response. An insulin response can take you out of body fat burning. Who wants to work this hard at fasting, getting into a fat adaptive state, getting your body to truly be a “fasting inferno”–just to take you out of that with a measly sugar-free jello when you’re going to be feasting on planned, enjoyable, health-giving foods in a very short time? Try breath drops that are pure; brush your teeth often (carry a mini toothbrush and toothpaste–it does more than freshen your breath; it can become a “starting ritual” when you begin your fast or a “continuing ritual” when things get tough).

1. Drink Water: Delay, Don’t Deny

2. Drink Caffeinated Drinks: https://plexusworldwide.com/raylreish/product/plexus-accelerator-plus

3. Take Pink Himalayan Salt:  Himalayan Salt Crystals

4. Do or Do Not Use Fat/Cream in Coffee, Bullet-Proof Coffee, etc.:  Appetite Correction

5. Do Not Consume Flavored Drinks/Sugar Free Gum or Mints: Fasting Inferno blog post

IF Fasting Journal here at Donna Reish

Recipes and Tips here at DonnaReish.com

YouTube Channel

IF Journal Podcast at iTunes

Just say no! Say no to continuing bad eating habits on Monday that you had over a less-than-perfect weekend. Say no to having the diet mentality that “I already blew it this weekend, so I may as well just forget it!” Stop the overeating madness right now—not later! You could have your body back into a fat burning state in two or three days of clean long fasts (18-23 hours). Don’t let the weekend ruin what you know you could do!

Take a look at what happened this weekend. You know that you can adjust your fasting hours and eating hours to accommodate special occasions (not every Saturday and Sunday is a special occasion!). You know how flexible this lifestyle is (for life!). So what went wrong?

See if you had the weekend “Diet Mentality”—perfect on week days and indulgent on weekends. See if what started out as a simple exception or lengthening of your eating window for a special day turned into a weekend eating fest. Did you not have a plan in place to handle the down time or the food that you were going to be around as you cooked breakfast for your family? Examine your weekend—and fix it for next weekend!

The “Diet Mentality” is that we are perfect on our “diets” during the week to compensate for over-indulgence on the weekend. The “Diet Mentality” is that we punish ourselves on Mondays to do penance for our weekend food sins. This can stop with Intermittent Fasting!

While you might want to extend your fasting hours to prepare for a shorter fasting window for a special occasion. While you might want to do sugar-free for a few days because you do better without as much sugar. While you might want a short eating window when you go out to a four course dinner….you no longer need to punish yourself for whatever may have taken place food-wise over the weekend! If you push yourself to do an Extended Fast (EF—36 hours or more) as punishment when you aren’t ready for that lengthy fast, you could set yourself up for fasting failure in general. If you decide to do super low calories in Monday’s eating window, your Tuesday fast will be HARD. Get rid of the punishment mentality—regardless of what your weekend was like.

Another Diet Mentality! Associating weekdays with health food and weekends with junk food is no longer needed with Daily IF! You can have whatever you want, whatever makes you feel good and achieve your health and weight management goals, any time. When we attach certain food types to days of the week, we also risk the “I already ate junk today, so I may as well forget my program” mentality. (Do you see how the “Diet Mentality” is a slippery slope?)

Eat what you want, what you like, what helps you feel good, what leads to your goals—on whatever day you want to. If you want ice cream on Tuesday, eat ice cream on Tuesday. If you have a special occasion and want a longer eating window on Thursday, have a longer eating window on Thursday. If you don’t have anything special on Saturday, have a longer fast! Don’t base your food choices and/or fasting windows on weekdays vs weekends!

Start Monday out strong! Don’t waver. Don’t let the weekend’s successes or failures dictate how well you will fast this week! Briefly look at your calendar and plan your fasting windows and eating windows based on your schedules and social events. Think about how you will move your windows around to accommodate a Friday lunch date that is really important to you. Plan, plan, plan! (We have so little to DO in IF that looking at your calendar and thinking through the week for a few minutes is really not much to ask!)

If you didn’t use your coping techniques, distractions, or self-soothing strategies on the weekend, pull them out and get them ready to go! Use self-talk as soon as you get up on Monday morning: “I have already fasted for twelve hours. I am only six hours away from eighteen hours. I’ve got this. I am 2/3 done. I succeed in fasting because I plan and think and love the results!” Get ready for a great week—without worrying about what happened on the weekend!

IF Fasting Journal here at Donna Reish

Recipes and Tips here at DonnaReish.com

YouTube Channel

IF Journal Podcast at iTunes