by Jessica Child
April 14, 2020
It's four hours before your eating window, but your belly is already asking for something. Otherwise, it's an hour past your eating window and you just need anything but plain water.
It's the pain of the beginning of intermittent fasting or being off your fasting schedule, and anyone fasting has been through it.
Luckily, tea and coffee are the two most recommended ways to manage this window, and you've got options! While you should still keep up on your water, these tea treats will help carry you from window to window without feeling like you're missing out!
You can develop your rouTEAne however you like, but keep in mind there may be just one rule. Some tea might contain calories, and how many calories you can have without breaking your fast is well-debated. If you'd like to err on the side of caution with consuming no calories at all, avoid any tea with fruit pieces, sweeteners, chocolate, or anything else that would otherwise have calories in it if you ate it. While you may not be eating the fruit or chocolate directly, it can still steep a few calories into your cup.
Green tea in the morning
Sure, any classic breakfast tea like
Irish Breakfast is easy to recommend in the morning since it packs a punch to get you moving. However, there's somebody uniquely equipped for this situation: Green tea!
While many teas made from the Camellia sinesis plant (
black,
green,
white, and
oolong) carry a little bit of the wonder L-theanine, green tea is the L-theanine hero carrying the most of this benefit-packed amino acid. L-theanine complements caffeine by its absorption to prevent crashes on top of improving metabolism, cognition, and mood. In terms of fasting, it can reduce your appetite and make your morning fasting window pass without as much grumbling!
Experience L-theanine and caffeine working together not just in any member of our
green tea collection, but also in our
matcha collection! With matcha being a finely ground powder made from green tea, it boasts all the same health benefits concentrated in smaller cups.
If you're a boredom snacker, this makes matcha an excellent choice to keep your mind busy! The process of heating your tea, making a green tea paste, and savoring the delicate flavors in high-quality matchas such as
Uji Matcha will give your brain a great break from anything it's dodging that you'd love it to focus on!
If that all sounds like too much effort before you're caffeinated and fed, don't worry! You can check out our matcha collection features a variety of flavors from
traditional matcha to
black tea matcha to even
oolong matcha! If green tea isn't your thing, you can still mix these up and enjoy something in the morning without any effort at all. Better yet, oolong and black tea still carry plenty of L-Theanine and caffeine themselves, so there's no compromise in shopping around!
For rough mornings, you can cold brew most any tea if managing brew temperatures and times isn't ideal in the morning on an empty belly. Simply place your tea in water the night before at your normal tea-to-water ratio and it'll be ready for you in the morning. You can also brew an excess and keep your tea on hand for days at a time!
In the evening
Fasting becomes a new challenge in the evening, especially if you're trying to cut back on calories. Everything sweet, salty, and
savory becomes a little more enticing the more you just can't have it. Tell your tummy it's time to simmer down for the night with a soothing cup!
Enjoy simple herbal teas, the fruity and mellow
Rooibos, decaf teas such as
Decaf Strawberry, or doze off with
40 Winks.
Other than picking the right caffeine content for you, there aren't any rules for your nighttime tea, so you've got your pick of the litter here! If you're just fasting by cutting off solid food rather than all calories in the evening, you can enjoy more complex and fuller-bodied blends such as
Honeybush Banana Nut to help you feel like you've really had a satisfying dessert.
Whatever your plans are for your eating and fasting windows, there's plenty of variety in the tea world to keep you trying something new every day!