Can i drink lemon water with salt during intermittent fasting

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Can you add lemon juice to your water while using Intermittent Fasting? The answer to this question depends on what your goal with Intermittent Fasting is and how much lemon juice you're using. Today we're diving into the details of whether or not lemon juice breaks a fast.

Can i drink lemon water with salt during intermittent fasting

Does Lemon Juice Break a Fast?

If you're using Intermittent Fasting from a gut healing perspective, any food or drink outside of water (and possibly black coffee and tea) will break your fast. This is because it can stop the gut cleaning process called the Migrating Motor Complex.

However, if you're using Intermittent Fasting to tap into fat burning mechanisms and achieve a weight loss goal, then you can be a bit more flexible with the liquids consumed during the fasted state. A good rule of thumb is to stick to less than one total grams of protein or carbs during the fasted state. This is because both protein and carbs stimulate the storing hormone insulin. When insulin spikes, this throws the body out of fat burning mode and breaks a fast.

Looking at lemon juice, the devil is in the details. Lemon juice technically contains carbohydrates and therefore can break a fast, but it comes down to the amount of lemon juice that you're using. One full lemon, juiced, contains a little over 3 grams of carbohydrates. This means using one full lemon will break a fast. However, if you drop the amount of lemon juice used to 1/4 of a lemon or less, then this brings the carbohydrates down to less than 1 gram of carbohydrates, making it a good option during the fast.

Can i drink lemon water with salt during intermittent fasting

Does Apple Cider Vinegar and Lemon Juice Break a Fast?

One tablespoon of apple cider vinegar contains around .1 grams of carbohydrates, making it a great option to dilute in water during the fasting period. In fact, apple cider vinegar has been found to aid in improving fasting blood glucose levels.(1) This is why the Complete Intermittent Fasting Bundle utilizes a diluted apple cider vinegar drink to help ease the transition from a fasted to a fed state.

However, what happens when you combine it with lemon juice? Using that one gram of carbohydrates as the cut-off, we're looking at 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar with 1/4 lemon (juiced) as a the limit during the fasting period.

Can i drink lemon water with salt during intermittent fasting

What Juice Can You Drink While Fasting?

Outside of lemon (or lime) juice, juice from various fruits and vegetables will typically be much too high in carbohydrates and sugars to consume during the fasted state. Particularly fruit juices tend to be very high in sugar which will greatly spike the storing hormone insulin. Some vegetable juices will be under the 1 gram total of protein and carbohydrate content at small volumes (1 oz. or less). However as a general good rule of thumb, it's best to stick with any juices (other than lemon and lime) during the eating window, not the fasting period.

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Your Nutritionist,

Autumn

Can i drink lemon water with salt during intermittent fasting

Autumn Elle Nutrition

  1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31667860/

Will salt and lemon water break a fast?

Long story short - the answer to the question “Does lemon water break a fast?” is no, lemon water does not break a fast. Lemon water contains almost no calories and zero sugars, it doesn't raise insulin levels, which means it will not break your fast (1).

Does lemon can break intermittent fasting?

Plain lemon water with only lemon juice is also allowed when following the intermittent fasting method. The drink contains almost zero calories and does not break your fast. Having one or two glasses of lemon drink, when following intermittent fasting can also help you burn fat and curb hunger.

Does Salt break intermittent fasting?

Pure, high quality sea salt does not contain any protein or carbohydrates that will cause an insulin response and therefore will not break a fast. However, if you are using fasting for religious or certain therapeutic purposes, then it may break your fast.

Can you drink lemon water while fasting?

However, sometimes beverages with a very low number of calories can be consumed. Since lemon water only has around 11-30 calories per glass, you could drink it while fasting.