Meals

What Should I Eat While Fasting or on my Weight Loss Journey? 

So now you may be wondering what you can eat during your eating window. Many of the intermittent fasting methods mean you may be inadvertently missing out on specific macronutrients such as protein or healthy fats, or micronutrients such as vitamin A, B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc, or electrolytes. 

It is important to ensure you are eating a full and satisfying meal—now is not the time to engage in low-calorie eating. The goal is to get all of your nutrition from fewer meals. Here are the top foods to eat while fasting.

‌‌‌‌Protein 

Protein is vital to your overall health, immune health, and to ensure you maintain muscle mass. Muscle is necessary to optimize blood sugar balance and keep our metabolism high. Lack of muscle can promote weight gain, higher blood sugar, and frailty. 

Remember to include cultured protein foods such as plain yogurt, kefir, buttermilk, or cottage cheese in your diet as these foods are rich in probiotics to support a healthy gut microbiome.

Optimal protein sources include:

‌‌‌‌Healthy Fats

Healthy fat is crucial to optimal health. However, many people have a fear of fat, but they shouldn’t. Healthy fat is necessary for cellular health, energy, hormone production, insulation to keep us warm, and protection for our organs. Adding fat to the diet is required to metabolize fat-soluble nutrients such vitamin D, vitamin E, multivitamins, or even herbs and spices such as turmeric or rosemary. These vitamins need fat and do not dissolve with water.

Sources of healthy fats include:

‌‌‌‌Fish and Seafood

Seafood of any type is an excellent choice during your feeding window. Fish such as wild-caught salmon or sardines are very high not only in protein but also rich in omega-3 fats that are necessary for optimal health and to reduce cellular inflammation. DHA and EPA are considered essential fats—omega-3 fats that we must get from our diet. Unfortunately, with intermittent fasting, many are deficient in this necessary nutrient, and why supplementation would be an excellent choice in this case.

Fish and seafood to optimize intermittent fasting include:

‌‌‌‌Veggies

Vegetables are vital to optimal health and adding them to your diet while IF is an excellent strategy. Vegetables also serve as prebiotics—the vegetable fibers feed our healthy gut bugs that result in a healthier gut, a leaner body, and optimal health. 

Nutrient-rich vegetables to eat while intermittent fasting:

‌‌‌‌Fruits

Fruit can be a welcome source of nutrient-rich food while one is intermittent fasting. However, choosing low or medium-sugar fruits is important as an excess amount of fruit sugar (fructose) can promote metabolic health issues and undo many of the benefits accrued while IF.

Best fruits to choose for intermittent fasting include:

‌‌‌‌Whole Grains

Whole grains are a unique type of food in that for many people, they either have no increased blood sugar response, inflammation, or gut distress, but for others, they have all of the aforementioned maladies. If you are one of those who cannot tolerate grains via the lectin or gluten inherent in the grains, leave them off your shopping list. Remember to avoid all refined foods, including grains such as white flour.

Healthy whole grains that help to optimize intermittent fasting include:

‌‌‌‌Legumes And Beans

Beans and legumes are excellent choices for your intermittent strategy meal planning. They are often disregarded but are true powerhouses packed with fiber, antioxidants, protein, B vitamins, and other vitamins and minerals. They help to balance blood sugar, keep hunger and cravings at bay (perfect for intermittent fasting), reduce LDL cholesterol, and promote gut health, the epicenter to every aspect of health. 

Nutrient-rich beans and legumes include:

‌‌‌‌Herbs And Spices

Herbs and spices have a potent, powerful, and anti-inflammatory impact upon our health, and are delicious too. They help to optimize your intermittent fasting results. Add any herb and spice to almost every meal.

Top herbs and spices include:

‌‌‌‌Beverages

Intermittent fasting means you cannot eat during your fasting period. A good rule to remember is that anything with calories will break a fast such as soda, juice, and coffee or tea with any type of milk, creamer, or sweetener.

However, you can have water and unsweetened coffee or tea without milk or creamer and your drink2shrink. In fact, coffee and tea (green tea in particular) help boost the benefits of intermittent fasting.

Top drinks to optimize intermittent fasting include: