A Healthy Way to Break Your Tisha B'Av or Yom Kippur Fast

If you’re fasting on Tisha B’Av or Yom Kippur, you’re probably also daydreaming about what you will eat to break your fast!

Since both fasts typically fall during the summer months, I often spend the day fantasizing about eating juicy seasonal melons. At the time of this writing, they include the yellow watermelon, a canary melon, a torpedo melon, a Santa Claus melon and two French morning melons waiting patiently for me on my counter top. It’s quite a challenge to look at them without my mouth watering! Of course, I will not be eating ALL of these in one sitting, but the mind is a powerful visualizer.

Break-the-Fast: From Daydreaming to Reality

I have written several pieces about how to prepare for a long fast like Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur. This includes how to stay hydrated and how to keep your blood sugar stable well into the fast. However, how do you successfully and healthfully break your fast, without ending up in a food coma later that night? In this piece, I provide some ideas on how to end your fast without prematurely ending your evening.

Tisha B'Av and Yom Kippur are tough fasts for many people. In addition to the heat and potential for dehydration, it is difficult to not dream about food during these long days! But figuring out what to actually eat at the end is a very important topic. The most traditional foods used to break it are not necessarily the best ones for your body and your brain.

The Traditional Break-the-Fast Meal

For most of my life, breaking the fast meant stuffing myself with lox and bagel, tuna salad smothered in mayonnaise, noodle kugel, orange juice and handfuls of cookies. In addition to my own family traditions, I've also been to families who broke their fasts on Coca-Cola and sponge cake, cold fried chicken or even leftover cholent. None of these meals ever turned out very well for me. I would go into a food coma from my blood sugar spiking and crashing, followed by a stomach ache.

While not everybody is bothered by eating a traditional break-the-fast heavy on carbs, sugar and processed ingredients, many people cannot tolerate it. Why is this the case?

Breaking a short fast, such as eating breakfast after 8-10 hours of not eating overnight, has no real impact on your body. However, once you've hit 24 or more hours of fasting, your body will likely decrease the amount of digestive enzymes that your digestive system produces. Jumping right in and eating a huge meal, like the ones I just described above, is likely to cause bloating, stomach pains, nausea and other digestive problems until your digestive enzymes ramp up again. Additionally, you will likely spike your blood sugar.

A More Healthful Way to Break the Fast

This is what I've learned about breaking the fast in a more deliberate, healthful way.

Rehydrate

Before doing anything else, you will need to rehydrate and replenish your electrolytes. Start by drinking a glass of this homemade electrolyte sports drink. It contains coconut water, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, raw honey and a pinch of sea salt.

If you do not have coconut water, a glass of water with some fresh-squeezed lemon juice and a pinch of salt is fine too.

Eat Small Portions

After rehydrating, approach the meal slowly and deliberately, focusing on minimally-processed whole foods. Eating a combination of protein, healthy fat and fiber is best. And focus on small portions.

On the other hand, go easy on the animal protein, especially if it is loaded with rich sauces or toppings. And resist the urge to gorge on potato chips or other greasy foods.

Avoid Spiking Blood Sugar

The goal of the break-the-fast meal is to keep your blood sugar in a moderate range. Therefore, do not start with orange juice, because its high sugar content may hit your bloodstream like a ton of bricks. If you can't avoid it, at least drink cold-pressed juice or squeeze it yourself, so there are more nutrients and some fiber in it.

Also, avoid refined or processed carbohydrates, such as white bread, cookies and white rice.

Meal Ideas for Breaking the Fast

Here are some meal ideas for breaking your fast in a moderate way, with minimal impact on your digestive system.

Electrolytes and Water

Rehydrate and build up your electrolytes.

Protein

Eat a fist-sized piece of salmon filet, a modest portion of good-quality canned tuna, some grilled chicken, even a hard boiled egg (or, if you are vegan, you can eat a scoop or two of quinoa).

Healthy Fat

Take a couple tablespoons of almond butter or half an avocado.

Fiber and Complex Carbs

Make a small salad made with leafy greens, cucumbers and other veggies dressed with olive oil and apple cider vinegar; you could also eat a lentil or vegetable soup.

Additional Fiber and Hydration

Drink a glass of chia seeds or flax seeds that have been soaked in water for about an hour. A teaspoon soaked in 8 ounces of water is sufficient.

Additional good fat with some probiotics

Have a bowl of cashew yogurt with some cinnamon, vanilla and a few drops of maple syrup. This is an excellent blood sugar-stabilizing dessert (or you can throw in some frozen blueberries in place of the cinnamon); this will also help support your gut microbiome.

Make a Smoothie

A quick, effective and wholesome way to break your fast is with a smoothie based on almond milk or cashew milk, a few fruits and some leafy greens like kale, chard or beet leaves; a slice of avocado; and a teaspoon of chia seeds and some cacao nibs. Try this blueberry dragonfruit smoothie, this leftover veggie smoothie or this golden beet smoothie (cook the beets before the fasts so you can prepare the smoothie quickly).

Try a Shirataki Noodle Stir Fry

One option is to prepare a meal that contains glucomannan. This is what shirataki noodles (also known as “miracle noodles”) are made out of. Glucomannan is a sugar made from the root of the konjac plant, a tuber native to Asia. It is used in traditional Japanese cooking as a thickener. Glucomannan is rich in soluble fiber, which means that it absorbs many times its volume in water and also acts as a bulking agent in the intestines. It may also have blood-sugar-stabilizing effects. which would make it an excellent post-fast food.

You could prepare a shirataki noodle stir fry with fresh vegetables like onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and broccoli.

What Food are You Dreaming About Today?

What foods have you been dreaming about while fasting?

Have a safe and easy fast – and a comfortable break-the-fast!