Controlling Hunger During a Fast: Does Black Tea Help?

Black tea has the most caffeine of all teas. (Photo by prakhar)

So far in my ongoing experiment to find ways to control hunger during fasting, I've been drinking quite a lot of black tea. According to the U.S. Department of Nutritional Services, 5 oz (about 1,5 dl) of black tea contains between 20 and 110 milligrams of caffeine, while coffee contains between 106 and 164 milligrams. Generally, black tea contains more caffeine than green tea and green tea contains more than white tea. The exact amount depends on the type of black tea and brewing time.

I usually make about half a liter (or 17 oz) of tea and drink it during the course of a half an hour or so. Drinking tea does seem to help a little with the hunger, and especially in the morning it's a good way to start the day if I'm fasting. The downside is that if I drink it in the evening, it'll keep me up at night. I suspect most of the appetite suppressing effect is due to the caffeine, but it is of course possible that there is something in black tea that helps with hunger.

The effect is quite minor, however, so black tea is most likely not the best drink choice if you're having trouble fasting. Also, I've noticed that if I drink black tea when I'm very hungry, I get a bit dizzy and don't feel very energetic. This may be due to the fact that black tea has been shown to lower blood sugar levels. Black tea seems to be a decent choice when you're feeling a little hungry but still have the energy to something besides sleep.

For more information on tea and fasting, see these posts:

Controlling Hunger During a Fast: Does Black Tea Help?
Controlling Hunger During a Fast: Does Decaffeinated Tea Help?
Controlling Hunger During a Fast: Does Coffee Help?
The Psychological Effects of Intermittent Fasting

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Controlling Hunger During a Fast

Nicotine is one of the known appetite-suppressants. (Photo by lanier67)

During the past few days, I've been searching for studies and articles on how to suppress hunger to aid me in the intermittent fasting experiment. Eating foods with a higher satiety index will obviously keep the hunger away longer, but I'm looking for something with zero calories to drink while fasting. Unfortunately, there seems to be very little information available on the subject.

Caffeine is often said to be helpful, and while my own experience suggests these claims may have some merit, there isn't much data to back them up. All I could find on the subject was one study that mentions that the appetite-suppressant effect of nicotine is enhanced by caffeine - so be sure to have a cup of coffee with your cigarette! It remains unclear whether caffeine by itself has appetite-suppressant effects or whether it simply enhances those of nicotine.

The study referred to in this article says that chewing gum may help reduce cravings and control appetite. The reductions in calorie intake after chewing gum were not that big, but I suppose even a little is helpful. Chewing gum also improved the subjects' mood by reducing anxiety and stress.

It is reported here that the main green tea catechin, called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), caused rats to lose weight by up to 21% by suppressing appetite. However, the catechin was injected into the rats, and the study spesifically mentions that oral administration was not effective.

To find out whether there is anything helpful out there, I'll be experimenting with different substances in the coming weeks. Green tea, black tea and coffee are definitely on the list, but any other suggestions are also very welcome.

For more information on green tea, black tea and fasting, see these posts:

Controlling Hunger During a Fast: Does Black Tea Help?
Controlling Hunger During a Fast: Does Green Tea Help?
Controlling Hunger During a Fast: Does Decaffeinated Tea Help?
Controlling Hunger During a Fast: Does Coffee Help?

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Intermittent Fasting: Eat as Much as You Want, Just Don't Eat All the Time

If you meditate hard enough, you won't hear your stomach churning. (Photo by Gurumustuk Singh)

Intermittent fasting (or IF for short) means that you eat as much as you like but do so in a restricted time frame. It's a way of achieving some of the benefits of caloric restriction without having to count calories and be hungry all the time. Also, unlike with CR, it is possible to maintain one's current weight while doing IF.

I got the idea to try this from other people's blogs after coming to the conclusion that caloric restriction is too much of a hassle for me. As Patrick Donnelly explains in his blog, there are several ways of IF: fasting a few days a week, every other day or daily.

The first one means that you skip some or all meals on one or more days of the week. The second option means that you alternate between eating and fasting every 24 hours; for example, by eating from Monday 6 PM to Tuesday 6 PM, then fasting from Tuesday 6 PM to Wednesday 6 PM etc. The daily method means that you compress all meals into a short period each day; for example, by only eating between 12 PM and 6 PM.

At first, I tried fasting an entire day to see how it feels. It was fine but not really something I would want to do once or twice every week. As with caloric restriction, I felt hungry pretty much the whole day and had difficulty getting sleep that night. I think Sunday, when you can just relax at home, is the only day a 100% fast is somehow convenient. Combining it with working or exercising would be difficult, at least for me. Fasting only once per week might not get you all the benefits, however.

Currently, I am trying the second approach of alternating between eating and fasting every 24 hours. I've been doing it for a little less than two weeks, and so far it's gone well. My cut-off point has varied slightly between 4 PM and 6 PM, depending on my schedule. Consuming my usual amount of calories has been a little difficult, though, and I've probably lost some weight, but I'm going to try and fix that in the future.

Hunger has not been that much of an issue with this way of intermittent fasting. It's always nice when the fasting period is about to end, but I haven't felt like I was starving during the 24 hours that I'm not eating. I must admit, however, that I've occasionally cheated and drank alcohol even during fasting periods, but I'm not going to be to hard on myself for that. In fact, I'm thinking of calling this method Intermittent Fasting with Beer (or IFB), which I'm going to stick with for now.

For more information on intermittent fasting, see these posts:

A Typical Day of Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent Fasting Improves Insulin Sensitivity Even without Weight Loss
Intermittent Fasting Experiment – Update after 5 Months
The Psychological Effects of Intermittent Fasting

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