While you’ve probably grown up hearing that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, what happens when you forgo breakfast for the benefits of fasting?  Then what becomes the most celebrated meal of importance?  Your Pre-Fast Meal of course!  What you eat before starting your fast plays a critical role in how easy your fast is and how harmonious your body will feel.  Since you’re not fasting for the fun of it but intentionally skipping a meal for the myriad of metabolic benefits it provides, you’ll definitely want to eat right to optimize results.

The goal of your meal is to flood your system with micronutrient-rich plants for their high fiber, electrolytes like potassium and magnesium as well as their polyphenols.  Dress them in a tablespoon or two of healthy fats like creamy tahini-dressing or my favorite, tea seed oil with a splash of apple cider vinegar and fresh herbs. Include an additional serving of two of healthy fats such as avocado slices or cheese. Enjoy 4 – 6 ounces of protein, especially humanely raised animal protein and wild caught seafood, like Wild Alaskan Cod or Salmon.  Add a serving of nutrient-dense starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes, beets or squash.  Including a serving of complex carbohydrates helps to prevent cravings, adds valuable fat-soluble vitamins and minerals as well as maintaining normal stress hormones to help you sleep well and start your fast on the right foot.

Choose High-Quality Ingredients

Fats:  tea seed oil, virgin coconut oil, virgin olive oil, avocado oil, nuts and seeds, nut and seed butter, avocado, full-fat dairy products from grass-fed cows, olives, wild salmon, sardines, herring, cod, grass-fed wild meat, eggs from pastured hens.

Non – Starchy Carbohydrates: arugula, romaine, butter lettuce, chicory, radicchio, spinach, mixed greens, chard, kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, mustard greens, Bok choy, asparagus, collards, celery, carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms (especially shiitake and maitake), artichoke, snap peas, fennel, radish, or any non-starchy veggie you like.

Starchy Carbohydrates: sweet potatoes, yams, butternut squash, delicata squash, acorn squash, kabocha squash, pumpkin, beets, parsnips, burdock root, yucca, plantain, cassava, celeriac root or sunchoke.  Also included in this category would be beans and lentils if tolerated, preferably soaked and sprouted.

Proteins:  Pastured chicken and turkey, wild game meat such as bison, duck, elk, boar or venison, grass-fed lamb and beef, wild caught Alaskan Salmon or Cod, sardines, butterfish, trout, oysters or other sustainable, low mercury fish.

Feeling hungry? Please check out these gorgeous recipes and get a head start on your glow!