Bone Broth Fasting

BONE BROTH FASTING

I recently discussed bone broth fasting in Episode 93 of the Naturally Nourished Podcast on Getting Autoimmune Disease into Remission. A bone broth fast is a type of modified intermittent fast that entails consuming bone broth several times per day as a replacement for meals. Consuming bone broth provides your body with essential amino acids while allowing your gut a rest from anti-nutrients in vegetables or grains and other inflammatory foods. Reducing inflammatory foods and gut damaging compounds from intake allows the immune system time to rebound from leaky gut reactivity likely contributing to flare. Remember, gut lining damage can occur from stress alone and we see depleted levels of glutamine. Beyond resting the gut, bone broth is rich in glutamine, collagen, and gelatin to support gut tissue repair to reset your gut integrity reducing inflammatory stress while enhancing nutrient absorption at future meals.

Beyond the benefits for your digestive tract a bone broth fast supports autophagy, a process of cellular clean up, regulated by the immune system and stimulated at times of calorie restriction (CR) or time restricted eating (TRE). It is important to understand and acknowledge the digestive process is somewhat distressing on the body, when the system is over burdened with toxic overload, inflammation, autoimmune flare, or under chronic stress, the body is not in an optimized digestive state and may actual create more signals of stress and inflammation when distressed with food. This is where when animals are sick they may go off to the woods for a day or two, spike a fever, rest, sleep, and allow their body to do the healing work. Often unfortunately when we are not feeling well, we often don’t have an appetite, so we don’t eat savory quality protein-rich and fat focused foods, we force feed carbs as comfort foods when our body is telling us “don’t eat” with nausea or bloating. This is where a bone broth can be incredibly supportive of gut health and can be used as a tool when experiencing an autoimmune flare or recovering from an immune hit like a cold, flu or food poisoning.

A bone broth fast can be used proactively for optimal health as well, as a tool for weight loss or used as a quarterly detox. Fasting supports a reduction in insulin levels, which allows the body to access fat as a fuel source and when in a fasted state, the body makes more human growth hormone (HGH) which stimulates metabolism and has a muscle sparing effect. Bone broth is packed with minerals as well as amino acids making it the perfect addition to extended fasting that will keep electrolytes from being thrown off.

Note: this is not a recommendation if new to keto or not participating in a low carb diet and coming from a high carbohydrate intake! If you have blood sugar irregularities and are on a blood sugar lowering medication consult first with your physician as you may need to adjust dosage prior to participating in a bone broth fast.

Also, if under high stress and dealing with known low leptin levels or elevated rT3 via blood value, a bone broth fast could further signal starvation and distress your body, it would be ok to do only broth but it would be required in this case to get 5-6 Tbsp fat to compensate for calorie need.

Consider a Bone Broth Fast if:

You are in an active autoimmune flare.

You want to kick off a detox, elimination diet or reset on a ketogenic diet.

You are looking to accelerate body fat loss (and are overweight with body fat out of normal range).

Benefits of Fasting:

Accelerated fat loss

Reduction of fasting insulin and insulin resistance

Lower insulin allows access to adipocytes (fat cells) to dump fatty acids into blood stream to turn over fatty acids essentially burning fat

Autophagy or cleaning up of old “faulty” cell parts

Reduction of cardiovascular and diabetes risk

Promotion of human growth hormone (HGH) to aid in body composition shift and maintenance of muscle mass

 

How to Do a Bone Broth Fast:

• Consume 2-3 quarts bone broth per day, ideally from a variety of sources. Here is a recipe for our Chicken Bone Broth and Beef Bone Broth. You can also use a good quality pre-made bone broth such as Bonafide Provisions (use code ALIMILLERRD to save 20% off your online order!).
• You can add herbs or spices such as turmeric and ginger as well as pinches of Himalayan or celtic salt to flavor broth and increase nutritional density. Note: If dealing with bloating, distention, or digestive stress, hold all additives and just do broth to limit antigens and potential reactions.
• Green and herbal teas are best, coffee and espresso are okay.
• No dairy, no meat, fish ok cooked in broth if needed for extreme hunger but best to eliminate.
• Generally, consume broth in 5 servings, only 2 should have add ins of ghee/coconut oil, herbs, turmeric (try golden broth from the Naturally Nourished Cookbook!) the other 3 should be plain broth
• Keep consumption within 8-10 hour window, this means for 14-16 hours (typically 8pm-10am or 12pm) only water, coffee, or tea to support a pure fast.

Modifying your bone broth fast:

If dealing with hunger that is uncomfortable, hypothyroid, dealing with adrenal fatigue, low leptin, or are at low body weight: Limit a pure fast to 12 hours and add fat to liquid once 12 hour window hits (example 8pm-8am with nothing, then can do a fatty coffee or a bone broth).

Also, ensure you consume between 3-5 Tbsp pure fat during fasting. Ideally use a combination of coconut oil, ghee or grassfed butter, MCT oil and avocado or olive oil this can be topped or blended into broth or beverage.

If this sounds extreme but you still want benefits!

You may do a 12-16 hour fast while sleeping and in morning only having water, coffee, or tea, and then do just bone broth and fat to break the fast and a couple times through the day and 1 meal daily trying to keep bone broth and eating window optimally within 8 hours.

A gentle entry for a 5 day optimal health bone broth fast: 

Days 1-2: Guidelines above (either with or without meal per preference) + 1 avocado (may cube into broth or eat with lemon/lime, coarse salt, cayenne)

Days 3-4: only the bone broth fast guidelines

Day 5: Add 1 avocado plus guidelines above, Add 1/2 cup shredded cabbage simmered in bone broth twice during the day (1 cup total cabbage), Add 1/2 cucumber, eat with mashed avocado or in broth, or as slices with ghee

 

Lifestyle support for fasting:

Fasting provokes hormetic impact on body meaning it is stressful but provokes benefits to the system, in this sense it is important during a fast to ensure mental, emotional, and physical stressors are limited as you are already physiologically stressing system with “food insecurity”.

• Restrict exercise to gentle movement therapy! Yoga, walking, light pilates, barre or gentle resistance only!
• Consider infrared sauna and temperature variations to provoke thermogenesis to stimulate lipolysis (body fat break down), adiponectin (hormone that stimulates grey/brown fat), and anti-inflammatory healing effects.
• Focus on harnessing your parasympathetic state to allow the body a sense of “safety” during your fast. Caloric restriction and time restricted eating alone will be a stressor so work to practice breath, meditation, and mantra.
• Take nutrients that drive detoxification processes of both phase 1 and phase 2 biochemical enzyme pathways. My 10-day Reset, Restore, Renew Detox Packs drive phase 2 encapsulation and excretion pathways while supporting phase 1 activation in the liver. I suggest 1 pack 2-3 times daily during a bone broth fast.
• If dealing with digestive distress, rawness, gut inflammation, or inflammatory bowel disease consider layering on the Gut Rehab Bundle!

Now what about mTor?

Doesn’t the protein in a bone broth fast block your autophagy? If you are a nerd (I totally love ya extra) click here! Otherwise keep reading!

It is important when looking at research on the influence of “protein” to not get too myopic and recognize that it is the dose that makes the poison!

When focusing on mTor activation and impact, energy should go towards demonizing refined carbohydrates and refined sugar as they provoke insulin response and have no essential need or nutritional benefit where as amino acids in protein-rich foods have a quarter or less influence and provide essential needs and therapeutic value for the body.

 

A note from Becki on her experience:

I do a 3 day bone broth fast with my husband every quarter as a detox and reset for my system. I follow a low carb high fat diet most of the time, so a bone broth fast is not a huge shock to my system. We choose a long weekend with no social commitments and try to reduce our agenda to chores around the house and minor outings that do not involve food. I will often choose a project that needs doing around the house like cleaning out a closet as a distraction and find that without the distraction of eating (plus all the fabulous ketones I’m producing) I can be super focused and productive! We start this on Thursday night and break the fast with a meal on Sunday night.

Our fast for the 3 days looks like this:

Breakfast

Matcha Keto Tea: 1 tsp matcha powder, 12oz hot water, 1 Tbsp coconut oil, sprinkle cinnamon

Snack

16 oz Bone Broth with pinch Himalayan sea salt

Lunch

16 oz Bone Broth, 1 Tbsp ghee, pinch turmeric powder, pinch Himalayan sea salt

Snack

16 oz Bone Broth with pinch Himalayan sea salt

Dinner

16 oz Bone Broth, 1 Tbsp ghee, pinch turmeric powder, pinch Himalayan sea salt

Snack (if needed)

2 sheets toasted nori dipped in 1 Tbsp olive oil sprinkled with coarse sea salt. I find this super helpful to have something to chew on and nips any desire for munching with minimal caloric impact!

I sip on additional bone broth with sea salt, green tea and rooibos tea throughout the day. I also take 3 detox packs per day during my 3 day fast and ensure I am drinking 2 liters water and sparkling water as well to accelerate detoxification. Note: I typically do 3-4 Tbsp fat daily while my husband does closer to 5-6 due to our calorie needs

Fasting is NOT appropriate if pregnant or breastfeeding, if significantly underweight or if you have a history of disordered eating. You should only fast if being actively monitored by a nutrition professional. 

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