You can eat whatever you like!

That’s actually 100% true (though not necessarily 100% optimal).

Intermittent fasting (IF) isn’t A Diet. It’s an eating style that structures your day—or week—into an alternating pattern of eating and fasting. 안전놀이터

Eat, fast, repeat. It needn’t be any more complex than that.

And, there’s a long answer (this is where the optimal part comes in):

Eat more of the foods that’ll make your intermittent fasting into a powerful driver of health benefits, weight loss, revved-up energy, and snappy thinking.

We suspect that’s the answer you’re really interested in.

We get it. You want to feel confident that your food choices compliment your fasting, rather than working against it.

Let’s make sure that happens. Consider this your ultimate guide in what to eat during intermittent fasting.

Whole grains
In the whole grain basket, we have the familiar:

oats
brown rice
whole-wheat pasta
and the less familiar:

quinoa
buckwheat
freekeh
Whole grains work great with intermittent fasting because their fiber content keeps you full and makes your digestion happy.

Some of these probably seem like strange options (what on earth is freekeh?!) and you might not yet know how to use them.

That’s OK. Try moving along the spectrum of grains starting with the easiest, friendliest looking option. Switch white rice for brown, for instance, or white pasta for whole-wheat.

Then when you’re feeling brave, throw some freekeh into a salad or soup (it’s actually surprisingly nice. Kinda chewy!).

Avocado
Heck, isn’t avocado full of fat?

Why yes, it is.

That’s exactly why it makes our “what to eat when intermittent fasting” list.

Avocado is full of unsaturated fat—the healthy kind—and that fat content will help satisfy your appetite. Check this study for what a humble avocado half can do (tl;dr: it’ll keep you full for hours).

Legumes
Let’s start by decoding “legumes”. Nutrition professionals are very fond of them, yet they often feel a bit obscure. In real food terms, legumes are:

lentils
peas
chickpeas
beans
soybeans
They might make you a bit stinky (thanks, indigestible starch!), but legumes bring the fire to your intermittent fasting life by being full of nutrition yet low in calories, and their protein and fiber content helps keep you fuller for longer with more energy to boot.

Probiotics
Probiotics are live microorganisms (i.e., bacteria and/or yeasts that naturally occur in the body) that benefit our health when we eat them in adequate amounts, and studies suggest they may promote a healthy gut and support your digestion.

They could also improve your ability to regulate blood sugar, with this study showing that pairing intermittent fasting with probiotics can improve your HbA1c (i.e., your average blood sugar levels for the last 2-3 months).

To get that probiotic boost, try adding a little fermented food like kimchi, live yogurt, or kombucha to your life.

Fruits
Your grandpappy was right, eating more fruit is a good thing.

It’s one of the best foods to eat while intermittent fasting, because every fruit is a powerhouse of health in a tiny, colorful package.

Fruit is packed with nutrients that help your body do its job. Whether you choose apples, berries, oranges, plums—you’re going to get a powerful hit of phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and carbohydrate, and your body will feel all the better for it.

And, they’re low calorie, so when you replace other, higher-calorie foods with fruit, you get more food—and more nutrients—with less calories.