What Can You Eat During Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting can be tough on the body. It demands that you go for a majority of the day without eating anything. Throughout your intermittent fasting window, all calories are bad calories that could cause you to break out of ketosis. The whole point of intermittent fasting is to maintain ketosis which is done by staying below 50 grams of carbohydrates for the day.

But when you’re just getting started or nearing the end of the fasting window, the hunger and cravings can be quite powerful. Your body wants to break the fast now, maybe cheat a little bit with a small, low-calorie snack? It can be tempting to eat something small to “tide yourself over” until the end of the intermittent fasting window.

Is there anything that you can eat whilst intermittent fasting? We’ll take a look at the basics of the process and how it works to determine whether or not you can eat while intermittent fasting. Let’s start by answering the question everyone is asking – what can you eat during intermittent fasting?

Bad News About Eating…

Unfortunately, you can’t eat anything while intermittent fasting. Even that small snack to tide yourself over will be enough to break ketosis and ruin your intermittent fast. To get the most out of the process, you should completely restrict eating anything throughout your intermittent fasting window.

Even if you’re partaking in the 22:2 intermittent fasting plan and have a majority of the day left, to successfully intermittent fast, you shouldn’t eat anything. This becomes much more difficult the deeper into intermittent fasting you get. Going 22 hours or even a full day without eating can be quite strenuous.

Luckily, some intermittent fasting plans do allow you to eat throughout, but they greatly restrict the amount you can eat. The 5:2 breaks your week into 5 days of normal eating and 2 of 500 or fewer calories. For your 500 calorie days, you should stick to plain foods and gentle meals as to not overload your system while fasting.

Good News About Training Your Body!

While it certainly will be difficult to maintain your intermittent fasting without being able to satiate your hunger with a small snack, it does become much easier as you keep with it. The more you intermittent fast, the more you train your body to become used to the process. Longer periods of intermittent fasting become much more accessible for your body.

Eventually, you’ll get to the point where you won’t be as willing to eat throughout your intermittent fasting period. Your body will be able to handle the hunger and you won’t have to worry about breaking ketosis. Keep up with intermittent fasting and you’ll find that the fasting windows become easier and easier.

Eventually, you’ll be able to work your way up the ladder to a much more strenuous intermittent fasting plan. This is the recommended method of intermittent fasting for most users – start at an easier level then work your way up to the difficult fasting plans.

Can I Have Anything While Intermittent Fasting?

Not all hope is lost – there are some things you can have while intermittent fasting. You can have certain drinks to help satiate the hunger and trick the mind into thinking you’re eating. Some drinks, like water, are even necessary for the body to function while intermittent fasting. Your body needs to stay hydrated which becomes much more difficult without eating food.

So, while you might not be able to eat anything throughout the intermittent fasting window, some drinks are still on the table and will help with hunger and cravings.

If you are planning to start intermittent fasting, we would like to recommend everyone to download fasting app. It will make everything a lot simpler and you will know for sure that you are doing everything right.