Can You Take Greens Powder When Fasting?

What Is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting is a form of time-restricted eating. This means you limit the hours during which you eat.

There are many different forms of intermittent fasting, and some are more extreme than others.

Here are some popular forms of intermittent fasting:

16:8

Here you eat within an 8-hour window and then fast for 16 hours. It’s one of the most popular and achievable ways to try intermittent fasting.

5:2 Diets

Here you eat a normal diet on 5 days a week, and then greatly reduce your calorie intake, to around 500 calories on the other 2.

24-Hour Fasting

This can be hard to achieve when you’re active or working – but some people practice this form of fasting every week or month to help give their bodies a rest from eating.

Is Intermittent Fasting Good For Your Health?

Intermittent fasting can mimic the way your ancestors would have eaten. In the past, food wasn’t available 24/7, instead, you would need to hunt or forage for it.

This meant people would probably not have had three meals a day, plus two snacks.

So, the body would get a longer rest between eating to focus on other key physiological processes such as rest and repair.

When we eat frequently, and often late into the evening, we can risk consuming more calories than we need.

We can also end up with consistently raised blood glucose levels because we are forcing the body to produce lots of insulin at regular intervals.

Here are some of the potential benefits of intermittent fasting.

Weight Loss

There are two main reasons why intermittent fasting could lead to weight loss.

The first is simply because, if you are eating for a shorter period of time, you might consume fewer calories than if you were eating unrestrictedly.

So, you can end up in a calorie deficit, which over time may contribute to weight loss. 

Also, if you reduce your calorie intake, you can reduce your risk of metabolic diseases which are associated with obesity, such as type 2 diabetes.

And, if you go for long enough without eating, your body will start to use your stored fat to provide you with energy – which can again affect your body composition after a while.

But, intermittent fasting doesn’t ensure weight loss for everyone. For, some people, they notice they are very hungry after taking a break from eating.

This can be a natural response to temporary starvation  – as the body ramps up its hunger hormones such as ghrelin to encourage you to eat.

This means that when you break the fast, you can overeat, and end up consuming more calories than if you ate more regularly.

So intermittent fasting is not a guaranteed weight loss tool – it works for some, but not for others.

Improved Gut Health

If you have gut health issues such as IBS, or heartburn, then eating too frequently, or late at night can make things worse.

Giving your gut a proper break, especially overnight can avoid you reaching for those antacids in the middle of the night.

It can also help your body to properly digest and absorb the nutrients from your food which can improve your general health.

Reduced Inflammation

Eating often can mean your body is so busy trying to digest all the time that it doesn’t have the capacity to take care of other key tasks, such as dealing with damaged cells, or repairing inflammation caused after exercise.

When you go without eating for an extended period of time, you can enter a state called autophagy. This is when your body turns its attention to removing waste products from the cells, or destroying and removing broken cells.

Autophagy may help to reduce inflammatory processes in the body, support healthy aging, and potentially reduce your cancer risk.

Does Taking Athletic Greens Break A Fast?

Technically, taking anything that isn’t pure water or tea/coffee without milk does count as breaking your fast.

This is because even though most super greens powders are low in carbs, sugars, and overall energy density, they are not calorie-free.

So, taking Athletic Greens, or regular super greens will break your fast.

And, if you’re wondering, does drinking a green juice break a fast? The answer is also yes.

So as many people add their greens powder into a green juice to start the day – this would be a definite fast-breaking choice.

But, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. After all, what better way to break a fast than treating your body to a nutrient-dense boost of greens.

So, if for example, you are trying the 16:8 intermittent fasting plan, you could start with a super greens juice at 10 am, and then finish up with your last meal at 6 pm.

This means you get the benefits of time-restricted eating, whilst topping up your nutrient intake, in an easy and tasty way.

What Are The Benefits Of Super Green Tonik?

We all could do with upping our intake of nutrient-dense, brightly colored foods.

After all – you’re probably familiar with the annoying instruction to ‘eat your greens’. But, if you find this a bit of a chore, there is help at hand.

Enter, Supergreen Tonik. This glyphosate-free third-party tested super greens blend offers you a nutritional insurance policy.

It does this by topping up your level of commonly lacking nutrients such as Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Vitamin A.

It also helps you to get enough key minerals such as potassium and selenium, which can be hard to come by with a processed diet.

Of course, eating badly and taking supplements will not transform your health. But, doing the best you can to eat well, and adding in a little nutrient boost does make sense.

Especially as you’ll also get an added adaptogenic boost to help you soothe your stresses – sounds good.

Julia Ebbens, MSc

Julia is a health content editor and nutritionist from Norwich, UK. She has worked as a health coach in private practice and for the national health service. She undertook an MSc in nutritional medicine to deepen her knowledge.

She enjoys producing evidence-based content which inspires people to become healthier and happier.