Lose weight with Rooibos Tea and Fasting

Did you know that Rooibos tea has wonderful benefits and is a great companion to fasting and dieting? You can lose weight by combining Rooibos tea and fasting.

Two months ago, I started intermittent fasting. If you would like to know what that is and how it works, read my post Glow with Clear Skin: Healthy Food, Elimination and Fasting

One of the challenges of fasting is, well, hunger. Fasting and hunger, the two go together. Hunger pangs are most likely to appear during the night and in the early morning when you would normally be eating breakfast. I have experienced both.

As a beginner intermittent faster, there were a couple of times when hunger pangs woke me from my sleep. Believe me, an attack of the growlies can derail our fasting goals; I realised that I needed a strategy to deal with them effectively.

How to deal with those morning hunger pangs.

Intermittent fasting involves skipping breakfast and delaying any intake other than herbal tea or water until mid-to-late morning. This is prime time for hunger to compromise your fasting goals and this is where Rooibos tea comes into its own.

Drinking water is a good option but I find that drinking Rooibos tea is a far better option. Although both offer a sense of fullness, Rooibos tea offers flavour, antioxidants, and more electrolytes than regular water. That is a strong combination when with dealing with hunger first thing in the morning.

My favorite Rooibos tea for combatting hunger is Annique’s Rooibos and Honeybush tea. It has a natural sweetness that soothes my hunger, and because it is Rooibos, I can drink it hot, warm, cooling or cold. One tea bag will give me four cups of flavorful tea. I put one tea bag in a tea pot, fill it with boiling water, and let it steep. The flavor never gets bitter or too strong and I can drink it all day long.

What about the nighttime growlies?

My first step was to realize that a middle of the night attack of hunger pangs was because I had not had enough healthy fats and protein in my dinner the night before. It is important to eat for satiety. Satiety is achieved when we eat protein and healthy fats such as avocado, olive oil, fatty fish, and nuts including nut butters. Carbohydrates and vegetables, as good as they are, do not provide satiety. Protein and healthy fats help us to feel full and signal that we have had enough to eat. Hence, I adjusted my dinner to ensure that I had enough satiety to carry me through the night.

Here are a few other successful fasting strategies

To succeed at my intermittent fasting goals, I have learnt to receive the hunger pangs as a friend. They are not a punishment or even an experience that I have to grin and bear, instead they are friends that are taking me towards my goal. To stay on track, it is important to know why you are doing something and what it will give you.

When my hunger pangs are feeling particularly peckish and strong, I counsel myself. I speak to myself as a mother would to her child saying, ‘No, we're not going to eat now. We can wait as we're just getting used to a new routine.” It soothes me, keeps me on track and lets my stomach know that I am not ignoring it. It can relax, food is coming, just not right now.

Here is a bonus tip. When I woke during the night with hunger pangs, I massaged my stomach and again counseled myself by speaking like a mother who soothes a child that is unsettled at night. I found that I was able to go back to sleep without getting up in the night to feed myself with a snack attack.

What is a fasting dream or goal you have?

I am doing intermittent fasting for its health benefits. I want a healthy body that will serve me well so that I can make the rest of my life the best of my life. What are your goals and dreams? Is your body going to help you to achieve them?

Two months into my intermittent fasting, I have found that Rooibos tea has become my beverage of choice. My internal rhythms have adjusted to no breakfast and, although not gone, I have fewer hunger pangs. I also do not have hunger interrupt my sleep. I am slimmer, as I have shed the last couple of stubborn kilograms that were clinging stubbornly to my hips and thighs. I feel great, with good energy, and Rooibos tea has been part of that revitalizing transformation.

Have you discovered your favorite Rooibos tea yet? If not, do take a look here to find your new favorite Rooibos tea and let it be your companion to achieving your fasting and dieting.

Photo Credit London Scout on Unsplash.