Coffee & Fasting

Fasting, or Intermittent Fasting is gaining in popularity these days due to its health benefits. Giving up food for 16 hours or more is hard. It’s even harder to give up coffee for that long. So, can you drink coffee during your fast? I can answer that with a very definite maybe.

Coffee itself has nearly zero calories, but the myriad of coffee based drinks we like to consume, particularly those cold blended drinks delivered by a massive chain of coffee shops based in Seattle can pack in 600 calories or more. So, if you’re wanting to keep your fast to zero calories, take your coffee straight. Also, black coffee won’t interfere with achieving the state of ketosis, so you’re good there.

A cup of coffee can even perk you up if you’re feeling a little sluggish because you haven’t eaten in a while. Now here’s the catch. One of the benefits of fasting is letting your body rest for a while. The caffeine content in coffee will bring your adrenal system online, preventing those organs from taking a break. That might be a deal breaker for you, but for most it’s probably not, and besides, coffee.