Intermittent fasting is a very popular method for improving your health. In fact, people often try out intermittent fasting for a variety of reasons such as for weight loss, simplifying their eating plan or even increasing their lifespan. Milk is one beverage that is good for your health, regardless it still has calories and therefore it should not be drank when you are during your fasting period of an intermittent fast.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern in which you cycle between a period of eating and a period of fasting. One of the most common versions of intermittent fasting is the 16/8 intermittent fast. This is when you cycle between 16 hours of fasting and then leaving 8 hours within the 24 hours to eat. This usually comprises of skipping either breakfast or dinner and fitting the rest of your meals within 8 hours.
Intermittent fasting only focuses on when you should be eating and not what you should eat. This means that you are free to eat what you want during your eating period. While you can technically eat anything you want, you should still try to plan out what to eat and aim for healthy foods. Regardless of when you eat food, eating more calories than what you are burning will cause weight gain.
Instead of trying to eat as much as you can during your eating period, try to measure it out and plan to eat some fresh vegetable, whole grain, seafood and lean meat. These will help keep you feeling full and satisfied for longer. Also, I find it best to avoid eating too much processed foods or empty calories, these are usually unhealthy and not good for you.
If you are like me, it is very hard to avoid processed foods. I really love to eat biscuits, it’s one of my guilty pleasures. Instead of eating it all up during your eating period or completely avoiding unhealthy foods, try to incorporate it into your diet and eat it in moderation. Try to increase your diet with whole foods and lean meat while also decreasing the amount of unhealthy food you eat.
A balanced diet that includes vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean meat is one of the best way to help you achieve your health goals.
Milk
Milk has been in the human diet for thousands of years. It is a staple that is both versatile and nutritious. There are many sources of milk, the most common types are from cow, sheep, goat, almonds and soy.
Nowadays, there are many different types of cow’s milk. This ranges from fresh, ultra high temperature milk (UHT milk), skim, lactose free, fortified and many others. These different types of milk both have advantages and disadvantages.
Cow’s milk in general is about 87% water the rest is filled with protein, fat, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. In addition, many milks that are sold nowadays have been enriched with more minerals and vitamins. On average, 1 cup of whole milk contains around 146 calories, 8g of protein, 8g of fat and 28% of your recommended daily allowance of calcium.
Milk contains a decent amount of protein. It is 82% casein protein and 18% whey protein and is considered a ‘complete protein’ because it contains all of the 9 essential amino acids that are required for your body to function.
Calcium is an essential nutrient that is very important for your bone and teeth health. Milk is able to provide you with a good source of calcium. In particular, the fact that it contains a combination of calcium, phosphorus, potassium, protein and vitamin K2. Around 99% of the calcium in your body is stored in both your bones and teeth. Therefore, milk is a great source of nutrients to help keep your bones and teeth strong.
Intermittent Fasting and Milk
When you are fasting, you can not eat or drink anything with calories in it. This means that milk is not allowed to be drank while you are fasting. Instead, you are allowed to drink 0 calorie drinks such as straight tea, black coffee or water.
When you are in the period of eating, you are free to drink as much milk as you would like to. It is a very nutrient rich drink that provides you with a lot of benefits. However, drinking too much milk is also a bad thing for you. On average, drinking 1 or 2 cups of milk a day is safe and nutritious. However, the USDA dietary guidelines actually recommends you to drink 3 cups of dairy daily. This is actually too high for most people. We do not need that much dairy milk to get the nutrients we need in a healthy diet.
While consuming milk is good, you need to also be aware that milk that is full fat is also a source of saturated fat for you. Consuming saturated fat is often associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. In addition, some people who are lactose intolerant might have a negative reaction to drinking milk. It might cause them to have issues such as bloating, diarrhea or gas.
There has been an ongoing debate nowadays on whether dairy milk is actually needed for a healthy diet. With the increased amount of alternatives to dairy milk, more and more people have switched to non-dairy alternatives. Try out some dairy milk and some non-dairy milk alternatives and see how you feel about it while you are doing intermittent fasting.