What breaks a fast?

When you’re fasting, you’re not eating anything. You’re drinking water, and you’re fasting. If you consume supplements that aren’t bone broth, amino acids, carbs, or shakes then you’re still fasting. If you’re taking vitamins and minerals you’re still fasting. It may not be a true fast, because a true fast is just water. I’m pointing this out because I don’t want people to fast without taking sea salt, electrolytes, and B vitamins because I’ve had people faint, have side effects, and issues.

Here’s what you need to know:

There’s something in your small intestine that causes insulin to spike every time you eat. The more carbohydrates there are in what you eat, the more your insulin will spike. The more it’s fat, the less it will trigger insulin.

Pretty much any meal will bump you out of ketosis. But there’s a huge difference between consuming a meal laden with refined carbohydrates, sugar, and starch, and a low carbohydrate meal. But even eating an apple with 19 grams of sugar, or bread, pasta, cereal, and candy has the potential to knock you out of ketosis for 48 to up to 72 hours. Or even longer!

If you eat a vegetable with steak and some fat, you can also reduce your ketosis, but not for very long. Let’s say you consume MCT (medium-chain triglyceride) oil. It won’t block ketosis but if you consume this or pure fat, your fat burning will decrease because your body will turn the dietary fat into ketones instead of using your body fat. You won’t see much weight loss.

If you take supplements, they won’t affect ketosis very much. If you drink coffee, it won’t throw you out of ketosis much either. Water won’t affect ketosis, but sugar water will. If your goal is to lose weight and burn fat, make sure you’re not adding a lot of extra fat to your diet, eating only infrequently, and avoiding refined carbs. And of course, fast as much as possible.