Water would usually do the trick for me. I believe a nutritionist may recommend a higher proportion of complex carbs for your last meal of the day, wholegrain or the like.
From my personal experience this sounds like more of a case of training your mind not to expect food and learning to understand, acknowledge and move past your hunger cravings.
I would suggest doing this through the addition of some longer (24hr+) fasts periodically. When you committed to an eating goal which is further away, whenever it is, the hunger seems to diminish right up until you approach your eating time.
Not a medical professional, just my experience over the years.
You’ll need to minimize your sugar/simple carbs during your eating window. If I have a heavy carb day, the hunger is unbearably strong the following day. Hot peppermint tea did help in the beginning when I was first adjusting to IF also.
I drink water as soon as I wake up then a black coffee or two in the mornings.
It takes a while for you to understand that there is a difference between the feeling of an empty/rumbling stomach and actually being hungry. Your mind will slowly be trained to know that this is the new normal. Keep it up!
I would check for what you are eating before 8pm. Carbs/Sugar stuff? Or proteins/vegs?I would eat more salty vegs and proteins as a last day meal, therefore I wouldnt wake up craving for food. But that’s me. :)
Try to eat your last meal earlier, and go like 6 to 10, I find it’s much easier. I bang out 24hr days by eating huge at 2pm - slow digesting carbs and healthy fats will keep me full until bed time no problem.
Only exception is if I’m extra active I definitely feel powerful hunger and it can be hard to hold out even for 16 hours. In those cases I just eat because it feels like my body really needs it.
Coffee! I make my own cold brew, but I do consider myself a “dirty faster” as I add zero calorie sweeteners like Splenda or 0 cal sugar free syrups. This keeps me so happy and i feel very satisfied for a few more hours. :)
Also eating high protein helps me stay full longer 😊
You mostly just have to deal with it, distract yourself. Before fasting, I legit had an addiction to sugar for breakfast. I would get cranky if I didn’t have some sort of sugar for breakfast every single day. Now I don’t feel that way anymore.
Of course sometimes I still get generally hungry in the morning. And I found that preparing something for lunch helps, feeling as if I actually ate when I didn’t. But you should be careful about accidentally taking a nibble as a taste test. Sometimes when I’m really hungry I’ll watch something about food on youtube.