Edit; found this helpful article on the Zero app
https://go.zerofasting.com/s/547yMm96CwisbDQC8
I recently did a 6 day fast with just water/electrolytes and no vitamins because apparently that helps with autophagy. I’m about to do another long fast but this time the only goal I care about is fat loss. So I think a multi and some vitamin D might be helpful. Maybe even some Ashwaganda.
Should I take them? Pros/cons?
Personally I take all the vitamins/supplements I want to take while fasting, which includes
Vitamin D I especially love because this is the first winter I rigorously took them and the first one where I didn’t get extremely depressed.
I tolerate all of this well if I pad with 8-12 oz of water.
I have taken herbal supplements before but not Ashwaganda. It might be different for you but most herbal supplements I’ve tried had no effect on fasting or me, positive or negative.
I’d like to see your source on how having no vitamins helps with autophagy. Because afaik, there is no such reputable science. The science on fasting, particularly prolonged fasting, is still in it’s infancy. The only research I know that comes close, is Valter Longo and his fasting mimicking diet, where they found that eating a micronutrient dense, low protein/carb/cal diet for 4-5 days had health effects similar to those from purported water fasts. From that you could extrapolate that it’s primarily a lack of calories (mainly protein and carbs) and not micronutrients that signals for increased autophagy etc. But as I said, it’s scant evidence.
I did 33 days without really too much of vitamins. I took some D/ mulitvitamin/iodine/magnesium etc at start of my fast, but stopped around half way throgh and didnt notice any change. expect no more diarhea….