Get Maximum Results From Your Intermittent Fasting - Avoid These Common Mistakes

The way that you break your fast is what sets you up for the success of your fast on the next day. And it's not only about the food that you have, but it's how you have it and knowing what is the physiology and the psychology that you are going through at the moment of breaking the fast. So let's unpack this, because I want to make sure that you are clear on this. The first consideration here is knowing what breaks a fast and what doesn't, because sometimes we break it before we even have the intention to. You know, if you have coffee and you add a little bit of sugar or creamer, you're already spiking your insulin levels before you have a meal that breaks the fast, and your digestive system is already working. And now your physiology has completely changed. So first, make sure that you're not consuming any calories or anything that raises your insulin levels during your fasting window. Now, when it comes to the time of breaking your fast here, you want to consider what is the physiology that your body is going through. And this has to do with the length. For how long have you been fasting so far? The longer the fast, the more you need to prime your digestive system. If you are fasting on a daily basis, something like 16 hours, 14 hours, the physiology of your body is such that you don't need to have a specific type of food to warm up the digestive system, because it hasn't been working for a time that is not too long. But for all fasts that go over 24 hours, then you need to first activate your digestive system and prime your body to absorb more minerals from your next meal. How do you do that? Starting to break your fast with a big glass of water with some pink Himalayan salt that gives you minerals and some apple cider vinegar or some drops of lemon juice that helps your body absorb more minerals from this and the next meal at the same time. When you are fasting, you are in a process called the post absorptive stage. That is, after your body has absorbed all the nutrients from your previous meal, maybe in the previous day. A post absorptive state also means a highly absorptive state. Your body is ready to take all the nutrients from the food that you're going to have. So now you want to be mindful. After 16 or 20 hours of fasting, what is it that my body needs the most? Because it's ready to absorb. And for your body to survive all these hours, you need to have consumed the glycogen that you store in your muscle, in your liver. And the amino acids, they break down sometimes from even your muscle tissue to support your hormonal balance. This means that when you're breaking your fast, you want a meal that is high in protein and that has some low glycemic index, carbohydrates. These things will give the amino acids that your body needs to replenish and that low level of glycogen that starts to be replenished in your muscle and in your liver. If you are in a low carbohydrate diet, and this has been going for a couple of weeks, then your body is not feeding itself on glycogen, is feeding itself on ketones. In this case, you're gonna break your fast with protein and something higher in fat, which could be a fatty cut of fish, like solan, for example. But it's not only about addressing the physiology of the body. You see, there is a lot of the psychology of breaking the fast. If you are fasting for 16 to 20 hours, that is part of your brain, sometimes unconscious mind, that is looking for food. And a lot of people end up in the mindless type of behavior of, you know, looking forward to breaking the fast. And then when they start cooking, they are already eating, and they are eating while standing. When they sit at the table, the meals are already gone. And you just keep on that train of eating that makes you feel uncomfortable, that breaks the entire practice and makes you feel a failure about the fasting practice. So what you want to do here is two things. One, decide in advance what meal you're going to use for breaking your fast so you don't end up in the mindless type of choice. You open the fridge and then everything is a yes, right? Right. The second thing that you want to do is you have that meal while seated, you know, on a plate, not on the box, not in a Tupperware, but with cutlers or with your hands. If you eat with your hands, but eat that with reverence so you can be mindful. You're not working, you're not watching tv, you're not doing other things because now you are on top of your psychology, you're making mindful choices of the food and you are avoiding any uncontrollable behavior of eating because your brain has been searching for food, food for all this time that you are fasting. Addressing physiology and psychology puts you in the right place to break your fast and gives you options. You know, a lot of people over complicate this. You need to, you know, combine protein with this type of vegetables and omega 3 fatty acids, they cannot put fats and carbs together. There's a lot of instructions that over complicate this. What you need to know is what is the physiology of your body, what is the psychology you're going through, and how do you support those needs? So now I want to ask you, how do you break your fast? Whatever length of fast you usually practice, what is your favorite meal, and what do you think can be improved based on what you learned in this video? And if you want to learn more about intermittent fasting and how to build a sustainable practice, then subscribe to this channel because we're going to have many more videos on intermittent fasting in other areas of health and fitness. I'll talk to you in the comments and I'll see you in the next video.