Foods to Break Your Water Fast: My Top 5 Foods!

When looking for foods to break your water fast, what you choose can be the difference between a successful or unsuccessful water fast.  This is regardless of whether or not you make it through the fast!

Experiencing your first prolonged water fast is extremely powerful, and there is no better way to test your mental toughness than with a water fast that lasts a few days or more.  On top of this, water fasts unlock a variety of health benefits such as weight loss, improved mental focus and clarity, autophagy, healthy skin, healthy organs, decreased inflammation, and the list goes on and on!

Regardless, accomplishing a prolonged water fast can be very difficult.  It takes a lot of willpower and self-control.  It’s not for the faint of heart.  Because of this, after pushing through the hunger pains, it’s so tempting to eat everything in sight when the time finally comes to break your water fast!

Remember Why You Started!

Before you start stuffing your face with ice cream and donuts, remind yourself of why you decided to do a prolonged water fast in first place. Did you have a goal to lose those last few pounds?  Or, are you battling a skin condition that the doctors can’t fix? Maybe you just want detox your body and acheive your optimum level of health.

Whatever your reason is for your water fast, just remember that you are accomplishing something that the average human doesn’t dare attempt.  After all, you just fought through the hunger, food cravings, the brain fog, and maybe even a few tears in order to make it to the end of your water fast.  Now, do you really want to mess up everything you fought so hard for?

If you binge on the wrong foods, you will likely reverse all of the benefits that you set out to accomplish.  Furthermore, your body and your organs just went through a major cleanse, and the last thing you should do is dump them with poison.  It would be like rolling around in a mud puddle right after you take a shower.  It just doesn’t make sense!

How To Choose The Right Foods To Break Your Fast

When choosing foods to break your water fast, avoid grains, raw vegetables, high glycemic fruits and vegetables, sugar & artificial sweeteners, and processed foods when breaking your water fast.  These foods are difficult to digest and will overtax your organs and GI tract.  However, if you like these types of foods, you will want to ease into them a little at a time.

As you will learn if you visit this blog often enough, I avoid grains and sugary foods daily unless there is a special occasion where I want to indulge, and I think you should too!  But that’s a discussion for another day.

Top 5 Foods to Break Your Water Fast

Below are my top 5 foods to break your water fast.  Remember to ease into eating.  Don’t overtax your liver by eating a weeks worth of food in one sitting.  And if it feels wrong, it probably is wrong, so just listen to your gut (both literally and figuratively).

1. Bone Broth

Bone broth is my number 1 food for breaking a prolonged water fast.  When you water fast, your body loses electrolytes that are important to it’s function and overall health.   The main electrolytes you want to replenish include sodium, magnesium, and potassium.  Bone broth is full of these electrolytes as well as many other nutrients that your body thrives on.  It is also rich in protein and collagen.  Before you put any other food into your system, have bone broth!

2. Leafy greens

It’s no secret that leafy greens have too many nutients for us to even count.  When you initially break your water fast, you may notice that your body is not digesting your food as efficiently as if was before.  Not only will leafy greens replenish your nutrients, but they will also feed your gut fiber that will help regulate your GI tract.  Leafy greens won’t overtax your organs and

will leave you feeling energized and refreshed after your meal.  Some examples include:

• spinach
• kale
• lettuce
• cabbage
• collard greens
• watercress
• microgreens
• swiss chard

3. Healthy Fats

Fats used to have a bad reputation. Through modern research we now know fats are not only critical for our bodies to function, but they also optimize our health in ways that other macronutrients simply can’t do!  Just don’t overdo it.  Some people are sensitive to fats after a fast and can experience diarrhea.  Start with one or two servings of healthy fats and add in fats gradually as your body tolerates.  Let your gut be your guide!  My favorite options include:

• avocado
• nuts & seeds
• coconut oil
• olive oil
• animal lards
• grass-fed butter

4. Proteins

Proteins contain essential amino acids that are vital to building and maintaining muscle.  Your body cannot create protein, therefore it is important after going this long without protein to feed your body with this essential macronutrient.

Great options include:

• eggs
• chicken and poultry (chicken thighs, chicken breasts, turkey, cornish hens, etc)
• Red meats (beef, pork, veal, lamb, etc)
• Salt water fish and seafood (sardines, salmon, tuna, shrimp,squid, etc)
• tofu

I could make a huge list of protein options, but you get the idea.  Just take your pick!

5. Low Glycemic Fruits

Your glycogen stores will be depleted after a prolonged water fast, which is usually the best time to consume fruits, because your body won’t be able to store too much excess glycogen.  You can avoid this one all together if you practice a ketogenic diet and prefer to stay in ketosis.  If however, you love fruits, stick to the fruits that are low on the glycemic index such as:

• Berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc)
• Apples
• Pears
• Cherries
• Grapefruit
• Oranges
• Plums
• Apricots
• Peaches
• Grapes
• Kiwi

What are your staple foods for breaking your water fast?  I would love to know what you eat to break your fast.  Leave a comment below with your favorites foods for breaking your prolonged water fast!