What I Eat In A Day When Going Back On Keto | Episode 2 | 36 Hour Modified Fast

We had a few days off of keto which we do every once in a while. This is part of life and we try to plan for these days throughout the year. I thought it would be fun and informative to show you how we get back on the keto diet.

My Strategy

There are several different strategies that I follow when going back on keto, but today I am doing a 36 hour modified fast. I’ll show you what this looks like throughout my day.

Coffee

Good morning. It’s 5:30 am and this is what I eat in a day when going back on keto. The first thing I’m going to do is have my coffee. On my modified fast, I have my coffee first thing in the morning. I put in about a teaspoon of heavy cream and a little bit of salt to start the day off.

I’ve been trying to cut back on my caffeine intake so I get one shot of a full calf espresso and then the rest is decaf throughout the day. So I’ve got my espresso made how I like it and then I drizzle in about a teaspoon of heavy cream. Currently, it’s cold here, so I decided to go get my tea and add some electrolytes.

Tea & Electrolytes

All right so it’s now 11:26 am, and I realized I haven’t had any electrolytes today. I always do more electrolytes when I’m fasting because I tend to get headaches and since I know myself, that if I don’t do electrolytes I get headaches. In the middle of my workday, I realized my need to get my electrolytes in. Also, I am starting to feel a little hungry which could be because I'm missing some of the electrolytes or not having enough sodium.

Keto Chow’s electrolyte drops are what I use, doing just about a half teaspoon in my water and sip on it. I’m also going to make some tea because I’m quite cold today.

I’ve got my favorite sweatshirt on, my “honor the struggle” sweatshirt. I remember especially when I’m fasting to honor the struggle, honor my body, and set an intention for why I’m doing this fast to get back on keto.

Thinking About My Intention

I was thinking about my intention for doing this 36 hour fast and what I'm eating to get back on keto. This time it’s to support my body and my health. We hope to get back to traveling this year. So I want my immune system to be really healthy and strong which has been a lifelong struggle for me.

My Health Story

I used to start the Fall with some sort of cold or respiratory thing and be sick all winter long, maybe with only a week or two of feeling better. What I remember as a child is my immune support story was just that. As a young adult, I really struggled with getting myself healthy even with making a lot of healthy choices.

Keto Supports Immunity

On keto, my immune system is much stronger. I suspect because of the reduction of inflammation in my body. But it’s still not where I’d like it to be.

I always envied people that have naturally strong immune systems. Now I do everything I can to support my own immune system. That the connection and purpose behind my fast make me so much more likely to complete it. For me, a 36 hour fast is a piece of cake. There’s always an element of hunger I have so it’s about doing what I can to connect this process into what I want my fasting goals to be.

Bigger Goal

For me, the goal needs to be bigger than just simply wanting to complete a fast so I can get into ketosis quicker. The truth is I could just eat keto which would take 3 to 5 days to get my body back into that fat-burning mode. That’s fine, but if I want to transition into ketosis faster, doing a 36 hour fast is really effective.

Better Focus

Fasting will, in addition to supporting my immune system, give me focus. I want to have a really good focus this week. It’s one of those weeks where I have a lot of challenges and obstacles. I want my nutritional ketones back so that I can continue to perform at a high level with strong focus.

Hopefully, this will help those of you thinking about going on a 36 hour fast. These are some things that are really helpful to have figured out when you start. So ask yourself why are you doing this fast. Beyond weight loss or the number on the scale… connect this fast to something bigger than yourself. It’s so helpful and transforms all the little decisions you’re making throughout the day.

Favorite Teas

I’m gonna share with you some of my favorite teas on a cold day like this.

I’m really into Tulsi teas right now. They’re such a great adaptogen, which just means it helps your body deal with its natural stress response. Tulsi Lemon Ginger Tea is one of my favorite flavors. I find the ginger very warming and soothing. The Tulsi ashwagandha tea is also good, which again is another adaptogen supporting your body's stress response.

Things have been very stressful as they have with most people this past year. So I’m always doing as much as I can to support my stress response. I also really like the taste of Tulsi teas.

Chai teas are also very good, and I really like the Tulsi focus tea. This one has helped me with cutting back on my coffee. It’s a spicy tea that’s helped with my focus. I was to the point where I was drinking 6-8 cups of coffee per day. I have weaned myself back to 1 cup of half calf per morning. I’ll tell you what, my focus is better now than when I was drinking all that caffeine.

My naturopath Kimball (who is available for questions once a month in our Sustainable Keto Membership community) has been coaching me for years to cut back on caffeine. So I found this Tulsi caffeine-free Focus tea provides me with the focus that I tend to need mid-day.

While I’m waiting for my tea to steep I’m going to take my supplements.

Supplements During A Fast

When I’m on a fast, I take supplements like omega-3s, Nordic Naturals fish oils, my K2+D capsule, Magnesium (because I tend to need higher levels of magnesium), my probiotics, and PS100 (the supplement I take for memory and brain health). I have inattentive ADHD so the PS100 is something I take to kind of help support that without using caffeine or any medication.

Keto is one of those things I actually used to not need medication for my ADHD. Ketones give me better brain fuel. If I were struggling with my ADHD while fasting and having been off keto, I might’ve chosen to do exogenous ketones. Taking these during a fast will help support focus but I don’t feel like I need those today.

I will generally continue to take supplements during my fast and still see great benefits. This is a decision you can make for yourself.

Modified Fast

Okay, so now we’re at the end of the day. I had intended to do a modified fast but I’m not hungry which is kind of unusual for me when I’m doing a 36 hour fast. So I’m not going to have our Kettle & Fire bone broth I had planned to. Instead, I’m going to have Adaptive Nutrition Hy-Lyte Capsule with sparkling water.

We’ve been using these electrolyte capsules since we first started keto in 2017. We started with their liquid Hy-Lyte. Then later on about a year later they came up with these capsules by Adaptive Nutrition. Sometimes I just don’t want to drink water with the electrolyte formula because I don’t like how it tastes. So this is just a quick and easy way to get my electrolytes to prevent a potential headache. I am prone to headaches when I’m dehydrated. And sometimes I’m not in the mood for the taste which means that I just don’t drink it at all. So instead of the Kettle & Fire bone broth, I had my sparkling water for dinner. Now I’m good to go so the 36 hour fast.

How Often I Fast

I like to do these at least once a month which gives me a really good reset with my food. When we go off keto we often choose to go back on with a 36 hour fast. Generally, when we do that, we do a modified fast. Every fasting experience seems to be a little bit different and I choose modified fasting based on how I feel.

With my history of migraines and headaches, I’m always trying to figure out ways to not trigger one. So I really have to pay close attention to my body. And I encourage you to do that too. Don’t get so stuck in the thought of fasting and forget to be flexible. Listen to your body.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this What I Eat In A Day episode. It’s a little bit different than what I did for the first episode. If you have ideas for the What I Eat In A Day episodes, please put those in the comments. Let us know what you’d like to see next.