What should you eat when you’re done with a fast?
When breaking any fast, I recommend eating foods that are nutrient dense and lower in carbohydrates such as meat, fish and vegetables. However, these are foods that I recommend should be eaten daily and for life, so basically it is no different how people on a regular Low carb/Keto or Carnivore diet eat (except the Carnivores skip the veg).
If your goal is weight loss, breaking a fast with a pizza or big bowl of pasta really does defeat the purpose of your fast. Those who have the most success with weight loss combine fasting and a low carbohydrate diet.
How long did you fast for?
Depending on the length of your fast, depends on how quickly or slowly you should break it.
If you’ve been doing shorter fasts like 16:8 or 24 hours, then you’re pretty much good to go in terms of eating your next meal as normal.
However when you take on longer fasts, you may need to reintroduce food more slowly to give your body time to adjust. You may be very excited about eating food, but it’s not usually the best idea to just devour whatever you can get your hands on.
Introduce something small and then wait 15-30 minutes for your hunger to kick in. Sometimes hunger may not kick in immediately (especially after a long fast like 7 days), so it’s best to just give it time. You may also end up with quite the stomach ache if you eat too much too quickly.
Foods you can eat to break your fast include:
- a mug of bone broth or a bowl of soup
- a handful of nuts like macadamias or walnuts
- a small bowl of veggies or a small salad
- boiled eggs (if you don’t have a sensitivity to eggs)
- some cheese or yoghurt (again only if you are not intolerant)
Once your hunger is back, you can eat again. Just listen to your body 🙂
Hope this has been helpful.
Let me know, in the comments below, what your favourite food is to break a fast with.
To your fasting-fueled health,
Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner
