I’m just finishing up my first 7 day fast, and pleasantly surprised to discover that I have the capacity to say no to meals and snacking. I had black coffee, herbal teas, carbonated water, and homemade broth. My ketones were nice and high, between 4.5 and 6.5, and glucose levels between 50 and 80. I plan to do this again someday, and I was wondering what the consensus is on broth when fasting. Does it stop autophagy? Does the protein in the collagen get converted to glucose? Strangely, my blood glucose was below 50 earlier in the fast (day 2) and then bounced back up to 87 on day 5. I certainly felt a lot better when my blood glucose was higher, but where did this glucose come from? the broth?
Extended Fast and Broth
RobC
(Robert C)
#2
If you are fasting for autophagy you probably want to stay zero calorie (i.e. no broth). There are conflicting ideas out on the internet about what stops autophagy - I’ve read that any calories will stop it and I’ve read that maybe fat is okay but protein will stop it.
But, if you are fasting for autophagy, I would follow the advice given by the IDM program when they are fasting cancer patients (for autophagy) - they say zero calories.
Of course, you still need the salts in the broth so you still want to supplement with something like “fasting drops”.
CarlKeller
(Carl Keller)
#3
That’s your liver doing its job to keep your blood sugar from falling too low and you getting hypoglycemic.
The gluconeogenesis pathway (see metabolism figure below) synthesises new glucose using non-carbohydrate precursors (glycerol from the breakdown of triglycerides, lactate during anaerobic glycolysis and amino acids from muscle protein degradation). 90% of gluconeogenesis occurs in the liver but some occurs in the kidney too. Insulin regulates gluconeogenesis. The newly made glucose is released back into the blood stream to raise blood glucose levels.
Congrats on your 7 day fast. 
collaroygal
(KCKO, KCFO)
#4
Congrats on the first full fast.
Bone broth does have protein, so will stop the autophagy, but if weight loss is your focus and it does not make you hungry go or it.
I used to use it when fasting when I just had to have something, but my recent attempts to use it resulted in hunger within an hour of consuming it. I have lost my weight and fast to maintain it, so that might be a factor, we are all different. If it worked ok for you, continue using it until it doesn’t.