Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Been experimenting with Intermittent Fasting the past few weeks - which is a fancy way of saying, "skipping breakfast." I have been tweaking meals accordingly: big meal of the day to actually "break" the fast. I find it makes managing calories a lot easier - and nowhere near as hard as I thought it would be....

ANYWAY...

I take a few supplements in the mornings on the way to work, and have, for the past year or so: Vitamin D, B12, Calcium, and the most important: Fish Oil.

A Tbsp of fish oil is about 100 kcal or so. Is this "significant" enough to break the fast, and jeopardize whatever metabolic magic happens to my body when in the fasted state?

Thanks!

flag	asked May 15 2012 at 21:04 Kurp 131●6

ieatcarrots · Answer 1 · 2012-05-15 21:32:54Z UTC

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I think yes.

By the way, I don't think it's a good idea to take vitamins and fish oil in an empty stomach.

answered May 15 2012 at 21:32

ieatcarrots
31●1

	If you are low carb and burning fat by that alone it would not change anything. I suspect if you are mentioning managing"calories" you are not low carb?? I agree with taking you supplements with food and not in isolation. rethink your eating plan if you need to watch your calories. – jo60 May 15 2012 at 22:42
	Sorry, I don't get you? – ieatcarrots May 16 2012 at 0:16
	I'm pretty low carb. I just mean with Intermittent Fasting, I have found it's almost impossible to eat too much in a day. My "break"fast is usually 800-1,000 kcal. And 2nd meal is about 20% less. I'm about 195 lbs @ 20% bodyfat more or less. CF 3-4X/week) for past year. Fitness is steadily improving, but feel like I've plateu-ed with fatloss. Hence, watching my calories. I've been taking the supplements regularly, as part of my morning routine, and it occurred to me after a few weeks, that even this little bit may be defeating the benefits of fasting. Thanks for your answer. – Kurp May 16 2012 at 16:00

goodz · Answer 2 · 2012-05-15 22:21:22Z UTC

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It's got enough calories to break the fast. Fish oil should be taken after some other food has been put in your stomach to maximize absorption instead of burning it for fuel.

answered May 15 2012 at 22:21

goodz
196●4

	I wager most fish oil is spent as energy as opposed to being used for other things. Reference that says PUFAs are preferentially converted to various other things? – Matt May 16 2012 at 12:02
	Thanks for the answer guys. Makes sense now. I've always taken vitamin supplements on an empty stomach, as a way to maximize absorption. Guess I was wrong: in the fasted state, my body is burning these nutrients as fuel, and not absorbing the nutrients, you're saying? – Kurp May 16 2012 at 16:03
	Here's the only citation I could find as it's been awhile since I've looked into it. I should save articles more often, while bodies are complex the pigs were able to use fish oil as energy suggesting that it was being used to break the fast and used for fuel. jn.nutrition.org/content/119/11/1741.full.pdf During my search, I did find some notes stating that the pill form may make it to the intestines before absorption. I couldn't find any further research at this time. If I'm wrong apologies! I love to be corrected. – goodz May 16 2012 at 21:51
	Oh man. Thankyou. This is great. – Kurp May 17 2012 at 15:11

zero · Answer 3 · 2013-04-15 13:11:32Z UTC

it is a spectrum. I don't think it will have any significant impact, this would be even more true if you lowered the dose (half a spoon). Many people also state fat does not have the same fast breaking effect, and that the benefits of fasting can be obtained through just restricting carbs and protein. http://www.bulletproofexec.com/bulletproof-fasting/

Do you think the benefit outweigh the possibility of breaking your fast, it probably does.

Or you could just have it at a different time, i don't see why it would be necessary to have to in the morning, as opposed to other times of the day.

Anonymous Chump · Answer 4 · 2012-05-15 23:52:05Z UTC

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I think it does, but FWIW I asked Art DeVany this exact question about a year ago. He said that it didn't. Again, for what it's worth.

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answered May 15 2012 at 23:52

Anonymous Chump
6,385●5●20

Wayne daniels · Answer 5 · 2012-05-16 11:34:00Z UTC

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Water tea or black coffee are the only things that wont break a fast.

answered May 16 2012 at 11:34

Wayne daniels

community wiki

Ben · Answer 6 · 2013-04-15 11:01:34Z UTC

From my experience and getting advice from those in the IF comunity, you can have aroune 80 cals day, spread through the day during a fast. Low or no calorie drinks (i.e. Monsters, Red Bull, Coffee with a small amount of creamer, etc.). As far a fish oil it's still uncertian because it's pure fat but amino's are a go.

Does a tbsp of fish oil in the morning “break” the fast?

6 Answers