Pills, Vitamins, Sleep Aid, and Gum.

I have been doing IF and Calorie Counting since November 2022. This feels like something I can maintain permanently. I do have some questions I am looking to help/advice/opinions with. 1) I have a pill I take daily along with a general vitamin. I used to take these in the morning but started waiting until my eating window, Just in case. I would prefer to take it first thing because it can affect my sleep when I don’t take it until the afternoon. Vitamin I can take anytime, less important. But in theory a vitamin has no calories and should not matter. Am I just being stupid and there is no fast breaking for either of these and I should just take them when I get up. 2) Kind of the same question but with dissolvable Melatonin. These things are slightly sweet but list no calories. I would normally take at bed time. I should probably just pitch these and get non-dissolvable/ non-sweet to take at bed time. 3) Chewing gum! So I am an ex-nicotine user and the gum has helped so much. When I started IF I had it all the time. Did some reading and slowly cut it to only during my window. I would love to do this BEFORE again but I can’t really find anything definitive via Google. I am talking >1G Sugar Alcohol gums like Trident. Thoughts?

Answer

.1. I take my multivitamin, 5-HTP, L-Tyrosine, Choline, Loratadine, Singulair, Valsartin and ADHD meds in the middle of my fast when I first wake up.

.2. The precursor amino acid to melatonin (and serotonin) is 5-HTP. I’ve had better results taking this in the morning than taking melatonin at night. As always, ymmv…

.3. Depends on how “clean” you want your fast to be. Metabolically, the sweeteners in the gum are going to cause an insulin response which will reset the timer regarding the benefits of being without insulin for extended periods (like lowering insulin resistance) but you’ll still be benefitting from a calorie deficit for pure weight loss. It also might make you more hungry when the gum causes an insulin response, stops energy production from fat burning but there are also no actual calories coming in.

It’s like exercise, if you cannot do the form perfectly there is still gains to be had doing it the best you can until you can do it perfectly.

Answer

In answer to your 2nd question, most dissolvable melatonin will break a clean fast. I get mine in these sleep electrolytes which also have magnesium glycinate which is amazing for sleep. https://www.amazon.com/Reset-Electrolyte-Electrolytes-Melatonin-L-Theanine/dp/B094RFF6RC/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1OGMCZKB3VF7T&keywords=reset+electrolytes&qid=1677517185&sprefix=Reset%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-5