Do Mushroom Supplements Break a Fast?

With the seemingly never-ending popularity of weight management and dieting fads, it seems people are always trying new ways to stay on top of their health. But it turns out that when you eat may be just as important as what you eat when it comes to controlling your weight. This paradigm shift has generated a growing interest in fasting as a lifestyle choice for achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight.

If you’ve decided to explore fasting as an aid to weight control, it’s important to understand how it works and how to do it properly. And if you’re a devotee of functional mushrooms, you may be wondering where they fit into the picture. 

But the big question remains: Do mushroom supplements break a fast? These ultra-nutritious superfoods, packed with micronutrients and bioactive compounds, could play an integral role in your weight management initiatives. Understanding their benefits and how they impact a fast will allow you to utilize these supplements to their utmost potential. 

The Evolution of Fasting

Fasting can play a significant role in your weight management plan or be a meaningful part of any dietary routine. The practice dates back to prehistoric humans before the advent of agriculture, and was a way of life for our primitive hunter-gatherer ancestors.

As early humans migrated from location to location in search of food, they often went for long periods without eating. Over time, their bodies adapted to these harsh conditions in order to survive. Without a continuous source of calories, their bodies burned stored fat for energy instead.

Fast-forward to today and most people can simply migrate to their amply-stocked refrigerators for the nutrition they need. But it turns out that putting some time in between your consumption of calories, or better yet abstaining from eating for long periods of time, is actually beneficial. Indeed, fasting can be a useful way to lose weight and keep it off.

One theory about why it works is that, similar to exercise, fasting causes the cells in the body to experience a mild form of stress. This conditioning makes cells more resilient and resistant to adverse health effects. Research has revealed that not only does fasting result in better weight management, but also improves blood pressure and insulin sensitivity while decreasing oxidative stress.

The Role of Fasting Explained

Though fasting is in vogue, there's also some solid science behind the practice. Your body depends on food for nourishment and energy. When you eat, food is digested, beginning in the mouth and continuing in the stomach. Carbohydrates are broken down into sugars; they proceed through your intestines where sugar molecules are absorbed into the bloodstream. As blood sugar rises, insulin is secreted to help sugar enter your cells where it is needed for energy. Insulin levels rise and fall throughout the day as food is consumed.

When you’re fasting, insulin levels fall. Without insulin, the body enters a metabolic state called ketosis in which fat cells release stored sugar from fatty acids for energy. If insulin levels are low enough for long enough, a significant quantity of fat will be burned. 

Fasting may be implemented in several ways:

Prolonged Fasting

Long-term fasting was a popular weight control method in the 1960s and 1970s. It refers to the practice of abstaining from food for prolonged periods of time, typically 2-21 days. It may involve consuming only water and non-caloric beverages, or it could include the consumption of 200-250 calories per day.

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting alternates between times when daily fasting occurs and times when eating is permitted. The relatively long periods of fasting cause insulin to drop, allowing your body to burn stored fat. Intermittent fasting is generally safe for most people.

There are several ways people can apply intermittent fasting to their dietary routines. The most common ones include:

• Alternate day fasting (ADF): This type of fasting involves eating normally one day and then restricting calories the next day.
• The 5:2 Diet: This intermittent fasting schedule involves eating normally five days per week while fasting (600 calories) on the remaining two sequential or nonsequential days.
• Time-restricted eating (TRE): For time-restricted eating, a window of time (typically 8-12 hours) is established during which eating is permitted. The remaining hours are for fasting.

In each case, the fast is broken whenever macronutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrates) are consumed. This causes insulin levels to rise.

Do Mushroom Supplements Break a Fast?

Though mushrooms do contain macronutrients, the amount found in most mushroom supplements is not considered sufficient enough to break a fast. A typical mushroom supplement dosage contains just a teaspoonful (approximately 2g) of mushroom powder and a minimal amount of calories. calories. This makes mushroom supplements a great option for your fasting journey.

Mushroom supplements are rich in micronutrients and bioactive compounds, including minerals, antioxidants, peptides, sterols, and polysaccharides. These important nutrients and bioactives can produce a variety of helpful metabolic and immune system effects without breaking your fast.^‡

In addition to the micronutrients contained in mushroom supplements, they are also a good source of prebiotic fiber. Since the bacteria in your gut depend on your diet for sustenance, fasting may impact your digestive flora. The supportive role of a mushroom supplement can help you feed and maintain a healthy gut microbiome.^‡

Choosing a Well-Rounded Mushroom Supplement

If you’re looking for a well-rounded mushroom supplement to complement your fasting efforts, Om Mushroom Superfood® has a specially-curated product just for you. Om Master Blend Organic Mushroom Powder is our mushroom superfood multivitamin containing the mycelial biomass and fruit body powder from 10 carefully chosen functional mushrooms, This high-powered blend comes in at just 10 calories per serving. The addition of standardized reishi extract and 3 botanical adaptogens means this mushroom supplement supports homeostatic balance for optimal health and well-being.^‡ 

At Om®, our cultivation and manufacturing process is overseen by expert mycologists and certified by third-party auditors to ensure the highest quality products. Our powder supplement is available in capsule form, too. When taken with water, you’ll get all of the micronutrients and bioactive compounds contained in this powerful blend without ever breaking your fast. 

[CTA]

^‡These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Functional mushroom products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.