Through years of research and self-experimentation, I’ve come to believe that fasting, when done safely, is outstanding for your health. The safest way to fast is to consume water and electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium) to maintain a steady baseline in the absence of food. One of the hardest parts of fasting is abstaining from consumption and the boredom that follows. I’ve spent the past several years researching a solution for these issues, and that solution is Salties. Before we get into it, make sure you’ve read “5 reasons you need Salties while intermittent fasting.“
Fasting is a lifestyle
Fasting isn’t a one-and-done type deal for me; it’s a lifestyle. My routine is pretty simple. I keep a small eating window to about 3-4 hours per day and skip one eating day a week. My weeks typically look like this:
- Monday: Eat at around 5 pm-9 pm
- Tuesday: “ “
- Wednesday: “ “
- Thursday: Fast all day with Salties
- Friday: Break the fast with tasty food
- Sat: Try to eat around 5 pm-9 pm but likely eat all day because it’s fun
- Sun: Eat around 5pm-9pm
As you can see, I have a (mostly) strict eating window per day. When I first got into fasting, I didn’t know about electrolytes. I’d get headaches and think that it was terrible. Well, it is when you do it without essential nutrients (electrolytes). So I started adding salt to my water, which cured the headaches. My most extended fast on the Salties mixture was six days (I don’t recommend no-food for this long unless you’re experienced). Some of the personal benefits that I’ve encountered from this lifestyle
- Cured my allergies
- No more bloat
- Weight managed
Here’s a before-and-after of my six-day fast, only consuming Salties:
When sugar enters your bloodstream, it binds to receptors that trigger an insulin release. It’s easy to think of insulin as the storage hormone; when it’s high, your body will hold onto fat. Low insulin = fat-burning; high insulin = fat-sparing. But its primary role is to clear excess blood sugar and put it into your cells for energy use. Once the carbs have entered the cell, they undergo glycolysis to produce 32-36 molecules of ATP that we use as energy. Any excess carbs that we’ve consume that undergo glycolysis will break of the path before the energy creation part and get metabolized into free fatty acids, which is what ends up getting stored throughout the tissues.
If you’ve fasted for some time and your blood sugar is in a fasted range, that’s a good indicator that your body is in deep ketosis, using fat for fuel. A fasting blood sugar level is less than 100 mg/dl. If levels go above 100 mg/dl, it’s safe to say you’ve recently broken your fast.
Here was my fasted blood sugar level before drinking Salties (using a blood-glucose monitor:
78 mg/dl, totally expected since I was around 40 hours fasted at that point. Here is my fasted blood sugar level after drinking a 12oz Salties:
84 mg/dl, well within the fasted range! Keep in mind; these blood glucose meters are around 15% inaccurate. It’s hard to measure blood glucose with a tiny amount of blood. These numbers aren’t definitive, but they’re within the margin of error. I’ve used the Salties mixture hundreds of times with hundreds of successful fasts.
Now you know you can fast and consume Salties! If you don’t believe me, try it out yourself. If you’re new to fasting, try eating a single meal in a day, supplementing the fasted time with a few cans of Salties. It’s a natural, zero-calorie drink with no artificial sweeteners. Give it a go and reclaim your hydration!
