Dirty fasting allows practitioners a little wiggle room for calories during their fasting window.
In ancient times, fasting was primarily practiced for religious purposes. However, it has recently gained popularity as a weight management tool, with approaches like intermittent fasting becoming widespread. One such method, dirty fasting, is also on the rise.
Dirty fasting offers a more flexible approach to fasting, allowing you to enjoy some food during your fasting window. But does it deliver on its promises? In this article, we delve into dirty fasting as a component of intermittent fasting and provide insights into its potential benefits and drawbacks.
What Is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is a dieting technique with periods of little to no eating followed by periods of regular feeding. Research shows it’s effective for weight loss and supports healthy digestion, metabolism, immune response, and more (1).
There are multiple types of intermittent fasting protocols with different rules. However, the traditional ones involve avoiding calories during the fasting period. This could last anywhere from 12 to 24 hours. Some intermittent fasting diets include alternate-day fasting, 16:8, and 5:2. The 16:8 method is the most common and involves restricting your eating window to eight hours and fasting for the remaining 16 hours. This differs from the alternate-day method, where you get a mix of days of normal eating with days of fasting or no eating.
Going a whole day without eating can be tough. As a result, there have been recent modifications to methods like the alternate-day fasting method. For example, during fasting days, people can now eat under 500 calories in these modifications, a.k .a. dirty fasting. In dirty fasting, you consume fewer calories within your fasting window. This approach deviates from the traditional clean fasting method, yet both variations aim to achieve the same goal.
How Dirty Fasting Works
It’s essential to understand that dirty fasting is not a term you’ll find in the medical community. So you won’t find lots of research on it, and there isn’t an agreed rule on the number of calories to consume. In general, however, people consume anywhere from 50 to 200 calories during dirty fasting.
Proponents of dirty fasting believe that consuming a few calories during your fasting will not break your fast. They also believe it’ll make sticking to your diet easier. However, the more calories you consume while dirty fasting, the closer you get to normal eating. If you want to get the benefits of fasting, your calorie intake should remain low.
Fasting Diet
As there are no rules during dirty fasting, other nutrition parameters depend on how many calories you aim to hit. For example, are you trying to bulk or cut? Moreover, the quality of the food you eat matters. Here are some general foods that people eat during a fasting diet:
- Bone broth or other clear broth and stocks
- Fresh fruits like berries or all citrus fruits
- Protein powders or drinks
- Coffee, tea, herbal tea, and other zero-calorie drinks
- Non-starchy vegetables like green beans, mushrooms, broccoli
- Probiotics like yogurt
Pros & Cons of Dirty Fasting
Because you still restrict calories during dirty fasting, it offers the benefits of other fasting methods. However, you’ll still be eating, so it might not be as effective as a clean, traditional fast. Below are the pros and cons of this method of fasting.
Pros |
Cons |
| A compromise that could make your fasting sustainable. | A lack of guidelines could lead to you eating more. |
| Improves mindful eating, as you will tend to watch what you eat when choosing things to meet your dirty fasting calorie goal. | It could be harder to get into ketosis and burn fat stores during a fast window. |
| Leads to weight loss due to calorie restrictions. | This could lead to fluctuation in blood sugar levels, which could affect your mood. |
| It can help you keep your hunger in check. | |
| Normalizes your blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol. | |
| Delays the onset of weakness and fatigue during your fast. | |
Does Dirty Fasting Work for Weight Loss?
Evidence shows intermittent fasting methods like alternate-day fasting and time-restricted eating work to lose weight (2, 3). Because calorie restriction, a common factor in these diets, leads to weight loss and other health benefits. So, while there’s no direct research on dirty fasting, it can help you lose weight since you’ll reduce your caloric intake.
A study on eating a 200-calorie nutrition bar during the fasting period of an intermittent fast showed that it did not interfere with the fast (4). However, the closer your calories are to your regular eating schedule, the less benefits you receive from fasting.
Should You Try Dirty Fasting?
Trying dirty fasting should depend on your reason for wanting to fast. This will also help you decide precisely how many calories to aim for while dirty fasting and what to eat. Here are three things to consider below.
Eat Less
If your aim with fasting is to reduce your food intake, dirty fasting may help your goal. It has the potential to help you consume fewer calories than you expend. In such instances, your focus during dirty fasting can be to reach a lower overall calorie count.
To Go Into Ketosis
Ketosis is when your body starts to burn fat from your fat stores. If this is your goal, you must be more careful with your dirty fasting calories. Consume drinks with zero calories, as your body typically goes into this state 8 to 12 hours after your last meal.
Total Fasting
If your goal is total fasting, then dirty fasting is out of the question. This could be where you want to take a complete break from eating. It could also be for medical appointments or testing where your doctor asks that you avoid food.
Final Word
Dirty fasting is a variation of intermittent fasting, where you consume a few calories during your fasting window. While there are no strict rules, most people aim to stay within the 500-calorie range. Advocates of this fasting approach claim that it enhances adherence to the overall fasting diet.
To lose weight, reducing your calorie intake is critical. Therefore, weight loss will occur if the calories consumed during dirty fasting contribute to fewer calories than your regular intake. However, it’s essential to acknowledge that fasting may only suit some. Prioritizing daily physical activity, obtaining sufficient restful sleep, and maintaining a healthy diet benefit your physical and mental well-being beyond breaks from eating.
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References
- Lange, M. G., Coffey, A. A., Coleman, P. C., Barber, T. M., Van Rens, T., Oyebode, O., Abbott, S., & Hanson, P. (2023). Metabolic changes following intermittent fasting: A rapid review of systematic reviews. Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association, 10.1111/jhn.13253. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jhn.13253
- Cui, Y., Cai, T., Zhou, Z., Mu, Y., Lu, Y., Gao, Z., Wu, J., & Zhang, Y. (2020). Health Effects of Alternate-Day Fasting in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in nutrition, 7, 586036. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2020.586036
- Regmi, P., & Heilbronn, L. K. (2020). Time-Restricted Eating: Benefits, Mechanisms, and Challenges in Translation. iScience, 23(6), 101161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2020.101161
- Huang, A. W., Wei, M., Caputo, S., Wilson, M. L., Antoun, J., & Hsu, W. C. (2021). An Intermittent Fasting Mimicking Nutrition Bar Extends Physiologic Ketosis in Time Restricted Eating: A Randomized, Controlled, Parallel-Arm Study. Nutrients, 13(5), 1523. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13051523
