– If you like coffee as much as I do, but don't wanna mess up
your intermittent fasting, then this video is for you. (rock music) That's better. So, today, I'm gonna be
answering one of the questions I get asked the most about
intermittent fasting. Can I drink black coffee when fasting? Is adding milk or cream
gonna break my fast, and it is it true that as long as you
don't exceed 50 calories, you're not gonna break a fast? Now, let's take it back to basics.
Let's start with what we want to be happening when we're fasting. Now, in this video, I'm gonna be focusing on
fasting for weight loss, not fasting for longevity, which is gonna be coming
up in a video very soon. When we're fasting, we want our blood glucose
levels to be normalized rather than raised, We want our insulin levels to be low, and we want our glucagon, which is insulin's opposite
number, if you like, levels to be high. That's gonna promote
things like fat burning and ketone production.
So, is drinking coffee
gonna disrupt that process? Let's talk about black coffee, but this also applies
to black tea, green tea, anything without milk, really. Black coffee is probably not gonna disrupt that process at all. It's zero carb, zero
protein, and zero fat, and only about one or two calories. It's basically just
caffeinated hot brown water with some other stuff in it that just makes it taste really nice. (ethereal harp music) Sorry about that. So, what about cream or milk? (cow mooing) One of the most common pieces of advice you'll find on the Internet is that it's okay to drink something as long as it's less than 50 calories. Now, I don't think this is very useful. In fact, I think it's just plain wrong, and I'm going to explain why. 50 calories of cream is
about one tablespoon, and that is pretty much pure fat. There's very little carbohydrate in there, in fact, only about half
a gram of carbohydrate. 50 calories of milk is
about eight tablespoons, and don't forget that
lactose is a sugar in milk, and that is actually
the equivalent of about six grams of carbohydrate.
"But who has eight tablespoons
of milk in their coffee," I hear you ask. Well, don't forget that
a latte is espresso and almost entirely milk. Interestingly, full fat
milk has less carbohydrate for the same volume as lower fat or diet versions of milk. And if you're allowed 50 calories, then surely that 50 calories
could come from sugar. How much sugar is in 50 calories? Well, that's three teaspoons of sugar. So let's just go back to what
we didn't want to happen. We didn't wanna raise
our blood glucose levels. We didn't wanna affect our insulin levels, and we didn't wanna interrupt
high levels of glucagon. Well, black coffee's clearly
not gonna do any of that. Having a small amount of cream in coffee is probably not gonna have
much of an effect on that. Having a small amount of milk, even, isn't gonna have much
of an effect on that. Having a large amount
of milk or even sugar clearly is gonna have an effect on that. So, that's why I don't think looking at it in terms of calories
is particularly useful.
It's clear to me that 50 calories of sugar is very different from
50 calories of milk, is very different from
50 calories of cream in terms of the metabolic effect it's gonna have on the body. Next, I wanna talk about
some of the other benefits of drinking coffee when fasting. But before I do that, I wanna
ask you a quick question. How do you prefer to take your coffee? Let me know in the comments
down below this video. Okay, let's look at some of
the other benefits of coffee for people who are practicing
intermittent fasting. Coffee is an appetite suppressant.
If this were true, it
would be the perfect thing for people who are practicing
intermittent fasting to help them keep hunger at bay. But unfortunately, this is one of those commonly-held beliefs that probably isn't actually true. But if it works for you, great! Hydration. Another old wives' tale is
that coffee is a diuretic and will actually dehydrate you. Whilst it is slightly true, coffee is only a very weak diuretic, so the overall effect of
drinking a cup of coffee is that you will become more hydrated. Now for the good stuff. Coffee stimulates ketone production. One study showed that coffee
given at breakfast time can stimulate ketone production
in a dose-dependent manner. That is, the more you drink, the more ketones are gonna be produced. This does come with a
word of warning, however. Not only is excessive coffee gonna make you feel pretty unwell, excessive coffee has been shown to increase fasting blood glucose and decrease insulin sensitivity, exactly the opposite of
what we're trying to do. So, in summary, ideally, drink black coffee when you're fasting. The same goes for black tea, green tea, or other similar things without milk in.
And learning to drink black coffee is very similar to
learning to drink coffee or tea without sugar. It might seem a little bit weird at first, but you quickly get used to it. And if you really don't like black coffee, then by all means, have a
small amount of cream or milk. It's unlikely to disrupt your fast. Just remember that things like lattes or cappuccinos or flat whites are made almost entirely with milk, and definitely will disrupt your fast. Okay, that is it for today's video. If you've found this video useful, I'd love it if you'd give
it a thumbs up down below.
You can subscribe to my
channel by clicking here, and don't forget that
this is part of a playlist all about intermittent fasting
which you can find here. Have a great week, and hopefully I will see you next Tuesday. Cuppa coffatea? Coffatea? Coffee? Coffatea. Coffee!.
