Include some protein and carbohydrates in your first meal after fasting. Good options include grilled chicken or fish, quinoa, sweet potatoes, and brown rice. These foods will provide your body with the energy it needs to recover from the fast. The key is to be gentle on your body and listen to your hunger cues.
Water should ideally be your drink of choice after a fasting period, but other good options include coconut water, diluted apple cider vinegar, or watermelon juice — which may be a better option for those craving something sweet and refreshing that's still low in calories.
No matter whether you enjoy them scrambled, boiled, or even cooked in an omelet, eggs can be a fantastic food to choose when breaking a fast.
Regardless after about the first 24 hours your body will burn through your remaining glycogen stores and switch almost entirely over to burning fat for fuel which will slowly lead to weight loss. Since your brain primarily relies on glucose to function your body will be able to separate...
Since calories are your body's energy source, changing your caloric intake affects the way that your body processes energy — also known as your metabolism. Some studies indicate that your metabolism speeds up when you're fasting.
It is also highly unlikely that short-term fasting is enough to produce long-term changes in the stomach. “Based on our data from animals, we don't have any evidence that a day is enough to do this,” says Farrugia.
Fat-soluble vitamins (in certain forms)
Vitamin D, E, A, K: These require fat for absorption, so taking them with a small amount of fat could technically break a fast. However, if your fast allows for some flexibility, you can take them in the morning before eating.
The bottom line. After fasting, your body needs gentle food options to ease back into digestion. Focus on hydrating, easy-to-digest foods — think light veggie soups, simple smoothies, or bland foods like rice or toast. Avoid foods that are high in fiber, fat, sugar, or spice.
Longer periods without food, such as 24-, 36-, 48- and 72-hour fasting periods, are not necessarily better for you, and may be dangerous. Going too long without eating might actually encourage your body to start storing more fat in response to starvation.
For those aiming to lose belly fat, the 16/8 method is often recommended as the best intermittent fasting window to lose belly fat. By fasting for 16 hours and eating within an 8-hour window, you give your body enough time to burn stored fat while still allowing for a manageable eating period.
A weekly 24-hour fast
Many people fast from breakfast to breakfast or lunch to lunch. People following this diet plan can have water, tea, and other calorie-free drinks during the fasting period. People should return to regular eating patterns on nonfasting days.
Fasting can cause muscle loss, but it's normally well after 24 hours. And that's not something commonly done by those practising intermittent fasting. The process in which we "lose" muscle occurs when, in order to maintain blood glucose, our amino acids must then be converted into glucose (called de novo glucogenesis).
One of the most common questions is whether apple cider vinegar (ACV) will interrupt your fasting state. The short answer is a comforting no. ACV is low in calories and doesn't contain a significant amount of carbohydrates, which means it won't cause an insulin spike that could potentially disrupt your fast.
Foods to Avoid While Fasting
As with any healthy, nutritious diet, it's best to avoid highly processed foods loaded with added sugars, heart-unhealthy saturated fat or salt. "They won't fill you up after a fast and can even make you hungrier," Maciel says. "They also provide little to no nutrients."
So, can you drink Coke Zero while fasting? The answer largely depends on your goals and how your body responds to artificial sweeteners. From a calorie standpoint, Coke Zero won't break your fast. However, if you're fasting for insulin sensitivity, gut health, or autophagy, you might want to think twice.
Eggs have protein and other nutrients you need after you break a fast. They're also easy to digest.
While a prolonged fast of 3–5 days aligns with the gut lining's turnover rate and facilitates cell regeneration, studies have shown that shorter fasts of around 16–24 hours can still yield positive changes in the gut microbiome, offering digestive benefits without the need for an extended fast.
A new study has found following an “early” time-restricted pattern where fasting runs from about 5:30 pm until about 10 a.m. the next morning helps improve blood sugar regulation and reduce abdominal subcutaneous fat amounts.