I’m relatively new to fasting, just completing a third trial, a second duration of 5 days. This time I added tea and tisanes (herb teas), only drinking water and electrolytes the first two times. It didn’t change much for experience of hunger or energy but it was pleasant having that limited, no-calorie food experience. Running went well, not different than normal, maybe just feeling like a normal low energy day. I didn’t seem to recover as fast after running as normal, still feeling sore an extra day. All in all a good trial.
There’s not much more to it beyond that, except covering which teas and tisanes I tried, and adding a bit about experiencing an energy crash on day 4, the day after running, which I guess can come with the territory. I wrote more here:
https://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.com/2023/02/5-days-of-fasting-including-exercise.html
Any input about these themes is welcomed, about what else you drink during fasts, or how you think even that limited “food” input changes your body’s experience, for better or worse. I already posted asking about the running here, and based on others’ input I think I can push it for duration and frequency later after acclimating more. A run on day 1 might be a good way to clear out glycogen reserves too, to get on with ketosis.
When fasting, a person is in a catabolic state. A person will not have much protein synthesis going on so they will not be able to build muscle or repair much. I’ve found that when I supplement with leucine and some protein that I recover very good. I can lift or run the next day. Glutamine is also good for building muscle.
That’s interesting, I hadn’t considered herbal teas. Personally I’m using a flavoured electrolyte drink for mine. There seems to be mixed opinions on this, but as far as I’m aware there’s no actual scientific evidence that suggests that drinking alternative/flavoured things when fasting will have a negative impact on the fast. Your blog is lovely by the way :)