Cut the Correct Calories!

Intermittent fasting (IF) makes your dietary choices all the more important. Please do not embark on intermittent fasting if your diet consists primarily of processed and/or fast foods! This is because it's not restricting calories per se that does the trick, but rather it's the restriction of unnecessary calories from foods that do not supply essential nutrients.

It's important to realize that all calories are NOT created equal, and will not have identical effects your weight or health.

Their value depends on the types of food (nutrients) they're attached to. You barely need any grain carbohydrates in your diet. You could cut out virtually all sugar and grains, limiting carb calories to vegetables (and perhaps some less harmful starchy carbs like potatoes and rice) and still thrive. Unfortunately, in the US, six of the top 10 sources of calories are carbohydrates from sugars and grains,⁵ and this is a major reason why so many Americans are overweight. They're simply eating far too many sugars. So it's very important to restrict carbs when doing a calorie restrictive diet. When you cut out the sugars and carbs it is wise to replace them with high quality non-processed fats. Some of my favorites include:

• Organic grass-fed raw butter
• Eggs
• Coconut oil
• Avocados
• Almonds

There's very compelling evidence showing that calories from healthy fats are far more beneficial for your health than calories from carbohydrates. And fear not... It's already been well established that stearic acid (found in cocoa and animal fat) has no effect on distorting your healthy cholesterol ratios at all, and actually gets converted in your liver into the monounsaturated fat called oleic acid.

The other two, palmitic and lauric acid, do raise total cholesterol. However, since they raise "good" cholesterol as much or more than "bad" cholesterol, you're still actually lowering your risk of heart disease. And there are additional benefits. Lauric acid (as from coconut oil) has been shown to boost thyroid hormone activity along with your body's metabolic rate. This is obviously a huge advantage to those interested in weight loss or those who suffer from an underactive thyroid.

I couldn't encourage you more to implement this program. It has radically improved my personal confidence in using diet choices to achieve high level wellness and optimal body fat. Cutting down on your grains and sugars, replacing them with high quality fats and skipping some meals, especially before exercise, seem to be a powerful combination to help you take control of your health.
http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/10/12/goldilocks-exercise-zone.aspx?e_cid=20121012_DNL_art_1