"Will this break my fast???" Etc.

It's been my experience that this question pops up a lot in submissions on this sub. "Oh no, I absent-mindedly had a spoonful of peanut butter forgetting I was fasting, will this break my fast???" or some such inquiry. I think it helps to put some things in perspective when wondering these questions aloud. "Does it break my fast" can mean many things to the person posing the question. I think primarily, this means "did I just ruin my fast??" This depends on your goal. Weightloss? No. I'll give an example. I was feeding my son some food (toddler) and he doesn't have molars, so occasionally I'll straight-up baby bird it and pre-chew it (beef, ham, etc.) If I swallowed a mouthfull of beef, would it kill my four days of fasting/weightloss? No, certainly not. But what about autophagy? Will it interrupt this? Yes, very likely. But autophagy is not my only goal in fasting. Mental clarity? Maybe, if this is giving you anxiety it could, but your mileage may vary. So give yourselves a break. Experienced fasters will know autophagy is just a day or so away, so if you goof it up today, just try again tomorrow. You didn't gain all of your weight in a day, a month, or even a year. Expecting to lose it in this time frame is not the norm, and expecting these results can have negative impacts to one's mental state. Practice forgiveness and grace, and keep practicing fasting. You'll get the hang of it, eventually! The option to fast will be there for you, no matter what stage of life you're in (mostly).