Fasting Supplements

Fasting has become incredibly popular over the years in the health and fitness industry, with various fasts being used for multiple reasons.

Fasting has become a popular health and wellness trend, known for its benefits like improved metabolism, mental clarity, and cellular repair. This is where fasting supplements come in, offering support to make your fasting experience smoother and more effective.

The right supplements can help you stay hydrated, avoid nutrient deficiencies, and even boost the benefits of fasting. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced faster, understanding which supplements to include—and which to avoid—can make all the difference in achieving your health goals.

What Is Fasting?

There are many types of fasting and people fast for a multitude of different reasons, from religious festivals to detox and weight loss. However, the most common type of prolonged fasting is intermittent fasting.

Intermittent fasting is a type of fasting that cycles between fasting and eating. It can be done by splitting up the day or week into cycles.

The most common intermittent fasting methods are the 16/8 method, the 5:2 method, the eat-stop-eat diet, and the OMAD protocol.

The 16/8 intermittent fasting method means that you don’t eat for 16 hours and then eat within an 8 hour period. For example, you may not eat your first meal until 11 am and then stop eating at 7 pm. There’s another version of this called the 14/10, with the same idea but with a smaller time frame.

The 5:2 diet is where you eat completely normally for 5 days and then reduce your calories drastically on the other 2 days. These two days should never be next to each other since the recommended daily consumption of calories is only around 500 calories on these days.

The Eat-Stop-Eat diet (also known as the 24-hour fast) involves fasting for 24 hours once a week or, in some cases, twice a week.

Lastly, the more extreme fasting protocol is the one-meal-a-day or OMAD protocol. This is where you restrict eating to just one hour within 24 hours.

Rules For Drinking During Fasting

Although some fasts, such as the fasting people do during Ramadan, means that you can’t drink during your fast when it comes to fasting for health purposes, you can drink, and it’s important to do so if you are going to do so safely.

When you are fasting, you can drink water, coffee, and calorie-free drinks. Drinking will keep you hydrated, support your body whilst you’re not eating, and reduce hunger and cravings.

Do Supplements Break Fast?

Although technically you shouldn’t consume anything other than liquids when you’re fasting, you can take certain supplements.

Certain supplements do not break your fast and can support you through it – in this article, I’m going to be telling you about the best supplements you can take!

However, there are certain supplements that do break your fast, and first, it’s a good idea for me to go over these supplements.

• Gummies – These supplements typically contain sugar and can be quite calorific, meaning they can break your fast.
  So, avoid these at all costs while you’re fasting. Honestly, avoiding these supplements normally might be a good idea anyway – they aren’t typically that beneficial anyway since they’re too small to be effective.
• Protein Powder – Protein powders contain quite high numbers of calories as well as amino acids, both of which can increase blood sugar and can cause a spike in insulin levels, breaking your fast.
• BCAAs (Branched-chain amino acids) – BCAAs contain calories and amino acids (obviously), and therefore consuming this type of supplement will break your fast.
• Avoid Supplements Containing These Ingredients: amino acids, maltodextrin, sugar, cane sugar, protein, and fruit juice.

Supplements That You Can Take While Fasting

Whether you want to continue to take the supplements you typically do whilst you’re fasting, or you’re looking to add supplements to your diet whilst you fast to support yourself, there are things you can take. So, let’s take a look at them.

Multivitamins

When I say multivitamins, it’s a little more complicated than that… vitamins fit into two main categories: fat-soluble and water-soluble.

Fat-soluble vitamins should be eaten with food so the body can properly absorb them. These vitamins are vitamins A, D, E, and K. Therefore, if you’re fasting, you cannot take these supplements while you fast. So, avoid them!

Water-soluble vitamins are excreted during the day when you drink and don’t need to be taken with food. Several vitamins are in this category, including B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, and folic acid.

If you are only doing a short-term fast, you don’t need to worry about taking these vitamins whilst you fast.

However, you may want to consider supplementing with water-soluble vitamins if you’re fasting long-term.

In addition, these vitamins are safe to take during a fast.

Electrolytes

Electrolytes can be incredibly helpful during a fast, especially for those that are new to fasting.

Since a lot of electrolytes derive from food, electrolyte solutions can reduce the likelihood of dehydration and keep your electrolyte levels topped up!

These supplements also help to support a state of ketogenesis (where the fat cells in the body are broken down into chemicals called ketone bodies, which provide a different source of energy for you).

If you feel dehydrated, dizzy, or fatigued during a fast, grab an electrolyte supplement – just make sure you choose one that has zero sugar to make sure you don’t break your fast.

Magnesium

Magnesium is an essential mineral that can be very useful during a fast. Magnesium cannot be made naturally within the body and therefore we typically get it from food and drinks.

Magnesium helps to support the reaction of enzymes, the production of energy, regulation of other minerals such as calcium and potassium, and brain function.

When you’re fasting, obviously you’re not going to be getting magnesium from food, and sometimes, people don’t consume enough magnesium anyway.

Therefore, magnesium supplements can be incredibly beneficial especially when you’re fasting! They can also be consumed without worrying about breaking your fast.

Related: Can I take Zinc and Magnesium together?

Psyllium Husk

Psyllium husk is a type of fiber that you can take whilst you’re fasting. It’s a supplement that’s created with the husks of the Plantago ovata seeds.

Psyllium husk helps to improve digestive health, which is an important thing to focus on when you’re fasting – in fact, improving gut health is a reason why a lot of people fast.

Supplementing with psyllium husk can help you to support your gut health, both in the fasting period and in the eating period of your fast.

Caffeine and Green Tea Extract

Caffeine and green tea extract are both things that you take to support your fast – you can either take them as supplements or by drinking black coffee or green tea.

Caffeine and green tea extract can help to improve memory, boost brain function, reduce fatigue, and promote weight loss.

They’re also supplements that are fine to take during a fast, just make sure you don’t overdose on them since you might get the jitters.

There is an alternative to caffeine, though; this is by consuming mushroom coffee.

Potassium

Potassium is an essential mineral that helps to support muscle function, heart function, and energy levels. These are all obviously incredibly important functions, and keeping energy levels up is essential during a fast.

Potassium also has no calories and therefore will not break your fast.

Calcium

Calcium is also an essential mineral that helps your body to maintain bones and build them in the first place. It also helps to support heart, muscle, and nerve function, as well as support a suitable level of blood pressure.

You can supplement with calcium during a fast because it doesn’t have calories.

L-Tyrosine

L-Tyrosine is an important amino acid, and although amino acids can increase blood sugar and cause a spike in insulin, as long as you take a small amount of it, it can be consumed safely during a fast – just keep an eye on the dosage you’re taking.

When consumed, the body turns L-Tyrosine into three major neurotransmitters: dopamine, norepinephrine, and adrenaline.

These help to support your brain function and improve your mental state, both of which are always important, but especially important during a fast.

Adaptogens

Adaptogens are specific herbs that help the body to adapt to stressors, whether environmental, physical, or emotional.

Although not as commonly taken as multivitamins, adaptogens substantially benefit mental and physical health.

They’re also safe to be taken whilst fasting so they’re an ideal support supplement during this time.

Adaptogens can be drunk or consumed in supplements.

Probiotics

Whether probiotics will break your fast depends on how you consume them. If you are taking a probiotic supplement that contains zero calories, then technically, you won’t break your fast.

However, consuming probiotic foods such as probiotic yogurt, kombucha, kefir, and tempeh would break a fast as these foods contain calories.

To Break Your Fast: A Super Greens Powder

When it comes to breaking a fast, there are some rules you still need to follow. Your first meal after breaking a fast should not be heavy, shouldn’t include high levels of carbs or sugar, and should be incredibly easy for you to digest.

When you start to eat again, you may experience digestive discomfort if you don’t consume the right sort of food or the right amount. Keep it small, nutritious, and easy to digest!

Greens powders are the best way to break a fast since they provide you with various essential micronutrients, incredibly beneficial ingredients, and are easy for your body to digest.

Suppose you’re looking for a greens powder after you break your fast. In that case, you’ll want to look for one with a fully disclosed label, scientifically dosed ingredients, and no fillers, colors, artificial ingredients, or added sugars.

Supergreen Tonik contains 38 individual ingredients, has a fully transparent ingredients label, contains sufficiently dosed ingredients, and contains no filler ingredients or hidden ingredients.

Brenda Peralta, RDN, CDE

Brenda Peralta is an experienced Registered Dietitian (RDN) and Certified Diabetes Education (CDE). She is a freelance health and nutrition writer based in San Jose, Costa Rica. She has several certifications in sports nutrition, women’s health hormones, and gut health.