I know it’s generally said to not take any supplements during fasting, especially prolonged fasting. But I have Lyme, West Nile, and also travel from USA to Germany every 2 months for work (7h time difference). I get sick every time! So my goals are to not get sick when travelling, conquer Lyme and West Nile, and not be dying for a nap at 8 in the morning. I’m fat adapted, do intermittent fasting easily, daily monitoring of blood glucose and ketones. I get into ketosis easily (4.5 on the morning after lots of veggies for dinner, and 85 glucose).

So for sure I will do prolonged fasting, but I’m nervous about not taking Lyme supplements. I’m doing the Buhner protocol, which involves mixing herbal powders like Japanese knotweed in water, and chugging. Some of this involves tinctures as well.

So my question is: would taking these powders disrupt the fast? (Yes, I know they would, but would they disrupt it enough to make it better to skip them altogether?)

My second question is: would tinctures be better? (yes, I know they would, but my question is really about whether even tinctures should be avoided? I know the “official” answer is “avoid them because we don’t know enough yet on how autophagy works,” but I’m curious to find out what anyone might know about this.

Thanks for any thoughts, Kelly