Additional foods and beverages are discouraged to minimize the risk of breaking the fast. However, you may have:
- unlimited herbal teas (unsweetened and caffeine-free)
- all types of sparkling water are fine (no sweeteners of any kind);
- if extremely needed, caffeine up to 140 mg per day: a small cup of black coffee, 2 cups of black or green tea, 6 cups of decaffeinated coffee;
- up to 1 tablespoon of dried herbs or spices per day to your soups or other foods in the diet to enhance the flavour (preferably unprocessed, e.g. red pepper flakes);
- up to 2 slices of lemon per day (squeezed, not eaten), whether you use it in your soups, herbal teas, or water.
You should add food to the program only as a last resort if you are so incredibly hungry that you feel like you are going to break the fast. In such an instance, you may have a slice or two of apple, 1 stalk of celery, or 1 small Persian (“baby”) cucumber of 5-6 inches in length per day.