Does Bone Broth Break a Fast?

Fasting was usually connected to religious beliefs and practices, until the last decade when intermittent fasting became a lifestyle choice. If you’re going for true fasting to lose weight and adopt healthy eating habits, bone broth will break your fast.

Quite simply, bone broth has calories, loads of them, and consuming calories essentially breaks your fast. However, if you have tried keto and fasting and ended up feeling like garbage, you should give bone broth a try.

This nutrient-dense drink can help you sustain yourself and provide other benefits to facilitate long-term fasting. So, here’s a detailed overview for those asking does bone broth break a fast and is it worth taking as a regular habit.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Before answering the question in detail, let’s get this out of the way for newbies. Intermittent fasting is a phenomenon where a person refrains from eating for certain periods or consumes minimal calories.

While the habit intends to help the person lose weight, it pays attention to when you eat instead of what. There are various patterns in which a person can fast depending on their lifestyle. Some common patterns include 12-16 hours every day or 24-48 hours every week.

Prolonged periods of limited calorie intake let your body go through several metabolic changes. Ultimately, your body enters a state of ketosis. This happens when there are no carbs left to process within your body and generate energy, so the body uses fats instead.

Besides weight loss, fasting also helps reduce inflammation, lower blood sugar, improve heart health, and protect you against chronic diseases.

But, is your fast no longer valid if you drink bone broth during the period? No, and yes. Taking less than 50 gms of carbohydrates can help your body maintain ketosis, but there are multiple schools of thought regarding this idea.

Generally, there are some foods you can take while fasting. These include,

• Water
• Tea
• Coffee
• Healthy Fats
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Bone Broth

So, Is It Okay To Drink Bone Broth While Fasting?

As mentioned, all calories are off-limits when it comes to true fasting. Considering this, bone broth will break your fast. But remember, true fasting is not everyone’s piece of cake and can get you exhausted beyond functioning.

If you cannot stay exhausted for hours but still prefer fasting over restricted dieting, you should select a middle ground. This technique involves avoiding fasting by taking low-calorie liquids such as bone broth.

This superfood has anti-inflammatory and immunity-boosting properties that help you stay energetic while ensuring your body does not go out of ketosis. So, while bone broth will break your fast, it will help you sustain your fasting habit and adapt it as a permanent lifestyle.

Is Bone Broth Beneficial During an Intermittent Fast?

Bone broth will break your fast, but if you’re scared of burnout and want to lead your everyday activities efficiently, it has various benefits.

Drinking bone broth full of nutrients and healthy fats amplifies intermittent fasting and keep you energetic during your fasting hours. However, there are specific ways to take bone broth when following an intermittent fasting schedule which we’ll discuss later.

But, if taken correctly within favorable intervals, here are the benefits you’ll experience.

Your Body Will Enter Ketosis Easily

Believe it or not, it is the truth. While taking calories will usually hinder your body’s ability to enter ketosis, bone broth helps you enter the ideal metabolic state to process fats instead of carbohydrates.

First, it does not have any refined sugar and has only a few grams of carbs, making it better for fasting than tea or coffee. Besides that, its high protein and fat content make sure your body does not get out of ketosis after entering the state.

However, make sure you consume plain bone broth void of any vegetables with traces of carbohydrates. That’s because they can produce glucose and affect your ketone levels.

Helps Your Body Produce Insulin

Intermittent fasting keeps your blood sugar in check because it helps burn fat and avoid carbs. But, even if you take the bone broth, the nine essential amino acids in the drink help your body produce favorable insulin levels and reduce blood sugar.

Those who take bone broth combined with intermittent fasting are less likely to develop chronic blood sugar illnesses. Moreover, those with such illnesses can reduce their regular insulin drug intake as their body facilitates the same for them.

Boosts Your Immune System

Drinking bone broth while fasting supports your immune system, similar to how its nutrients help you sustain yourself during periods of illness. While avoiding all other food, your body only digests bone broth while bringing an anti-inflammatory response to your digestive system.

This phenomenon is beneficial for your digestive cells and gut linings. Similarly, consuming healthy nutrients in a fasting state helps your body clean out damaged cells and replace them with new ones through autophagy.

How To Drink Bone Broth While Fasting?

Bottom line, bone broth does break your fast but helps you sustain yourself with multiple benefits in a fasting state. If you’re looking to consume bone broth while fasting, you should do it.

Remember, taking bone broth once or twice during longer fasts won’t hurt, but it can take your body out of ketosis in shorter fasts.

Besides that, if you’re a newbie to intermittent fasting, bone broth can help. Start by skipping a meal and replacing it with bone broth until you develop enough stamina to skip the meal entirely.

Moreover, you can also try drinking only bone broth for 16 hours a day and feeding yourself for the next six hours. Similarly, another beneficial approach is to fast while consuming only bone broth for 24 hours, once a week.

Whatever you do, consult your nutritionist to make sure bone broth and collagen do not adversely impact your digestive system.

Final Verdict – Does Bone Broth Break a Fast?

Unfortunately, the answer to this question cannot be stated in black or white. Instead, it is more in the gray area where technically, taking bone broth will break your fast but, in turn, will help you sustain this habit as a lifestyle.

It has multiple benefits that can help you strengthen your fasting schedule and keep your body in ketosis while avoiding complete burnout. However, especially if you’re a beginner, you should try fasting with bone broth rather than altogether avoiding any calories.