What Foods Should You Avoid While Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent Fasting (IF) is an age-old fasting plan known for its overall health benefits. Its simple and flexible nature makes it convenient for most people. Intermittent fasting involves alternating between voluntary fasting and eating windows. You can select your eating and fasting windows to suit your lifestyle and preferences. While there are many IF patterns to choose from, some of the most popular are the 16:8, 14:10, 12:12, and 20:4 (Warrior Diet) methods, periodic fasting such as the weekly 24-hour fast, alternate day fasting, fasting twice a week, and many others.
Speaking of the eating and fasting periods in your IF schedule, it is important to note that you must avoid consuming calories during the fasting period. Consuming calories will break your fast and disrupt your progress. However, experts suggest keeping yourself hydrated through the fasting period. Hence, you can drink plain water to maintain your body’s electrolyte balance during fasting hours.
Now that you know how to plan your fasting period, the next big concern is your feeding window. IF does not prescribe or restrict you to a specific meal plan. Does it mean you can binge on anything during the eating period? The answer is not a definite no, as IF offers the flexibility to choose your diet. However, you still need to watch what you eat for best results. Gorging junk food during the feeding window may affect your weight loss and overall health.
Excerpted from Fitness Volt
