This can contribute to poor sleep, cravings, mood swings, and weight gain. Without food, the body perceives starvation and releases stress hormones. No matter the situation, fasting is considered a stressor. Moreover, this ‘longer is better’ mentality often comes with a downside of poorer food choices when we eat again and a dysregulated appetite in the days and weeks. However, this way of thinking is not necessarily accurate. In other words, fasting for longer is simply better. Many believe that fasting duration and the benefits of fasting are positively correlated. Hence, an hour or two without food in the modern day could be considered a fast or abstaining from eating. Many of us are accustomed to constantly eating, from the moment we wake up to just before bed. Jews fast for Tisha b’Av and Yom Kippur.Buddhists regularly fast from noon to dawn the following day (similar to an 18:6 fast).Muslims do not eat during daylight hours for the month of Ramadan.Orthodox Christians fast for portions of this same period, which we know today as Lent.Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights (Matthew 4:2).Essentially, you’re fasting whenever you’re not shovelling food into your mouth.įasting isn’t anything new it’s been used for religious purposes for thousands of years. When you’re in between meals, you’re technically fasting. Unless you wake up every hour and sleepwalk to the fridge, you are innately fasting every night when you forego food during your slumber. Simply put, ‘fasting’ is (intentionally or unintentionally) refraining from eating. If you’re entirely new to nutrition, you might wonder, ‘what is this fasting everyone is speaking of?’ Instead of wondering, ‘Will this break my fast?’, try asking yourself, ‘Will this keep me in a negative energy balance so I can lower my blood glucose and burn fat?’ What Is Fasting? So, if your first meal for the day is 500 calories from a bulletproof coffee or a coffee milkshake from Starbucks, you’ll probably be better off switching to black coffee or dialling it back to a small dash of cream with some stevia. We generally find people do best in terms of satiety and blood sugar stability when their first meal involves a solid dose of protein. Your short-term bump in insulin and the release of stored glucose will balance out across the day.īut suppose it contains calories (e.g., milk, sugar, chocolate powder, or MCT oil)? In that case, your body will switch from burning body fat to burning the energy you just consumed from whatever coffee conglomerate you conjured up this morning. Thus, any change in insulin or blood sugar around your coffee in the morning won’t impact fat loss if it doesn’t provide significant energy. While the bump in glucose could be a surprise, considering that black coffee is ‘zero-calorie’, it’s probably nothing to be worried about. With the release of cortisol, stored glucose in the form of liver glycogen is released into the bloodstream, which may register on your meter as slightly elevated blood sugars. This is why some people experience ‘the jitters’ when drinking it. ![]() Will Coffee Break My Fast?Ĭonsidering the goal of Data-Driven Fasting is for you to achieve a long-term negative energy balance, the slight rise in glucose around your coffee should not be a concern, as long as your coffee contains minimal energy.Ĭaffeine tends to trigger the release of stress hormones like cortisol. Similarly, if you find yourself craving it and unable to function without it, it might be worth considering how much java you’re guzzling. For example, if you’re not sleeping well because you are drinking too much coffee too late in the day, you should stop earlier or reduce your intake. Because of its role as a stimulant, it can also help to blunt appetite.īut caffeine isn’t always a ‘yes’. Caffeine can stimulate metabolic rate and fat loss and prompt the release of stored energy from the liver. Most studies find caffeine can be beneficial. Thus, if you did choose to cut back on your caffeine, it’s best to scale back slowly. While becoming a monk and drinking filtered water may be a ‘better’ choice, doing a complete 180 and axing caffeine overnight might not leave you feeling so great.īecause we develop a tolerance to caffeine, many people will get a headache if they suddenly slash their intake. While there is plenty of debate over whether coffee or artificial sweeteners will break your fast, you need to find the balance between what is optimal, enjoyable, and, most importantly, sustainable for you.
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