Is drinking coffee okay while fasting.

[Redrock12]

Re: Is drinking coffee good for us while fasting.

I did a 41 hour fast two weeks ago, and I drank my usual 24 ounces of morning coffee. At the end of the fast, I felt better than I have in a long time. I think the coffee helped to suppress my appetite, and there were no side effects.
As of this morning, I'm starting another fast, again continuing with coffee, but this time I'm going to try for seven days.

 

[Chu]

Re: Is drinking coffee good for us while fasting.

To me it sounds counterproductive. If you are fasting to give your body a break, part of that goes with letting your body show you how much energy you REALLY have, and letting the liver and the pancreas rest too, not to mention the stress aspect that Keyhole wrote about already. So why drink coffee? If you're trying to lose weight, I get it even though I would no do it. But for actual health benefits, it seems weird.

All the times I've fasted I've always done only water, and a short dry fast once. And after going back to eating, I noticed a definite decrease in the amount of tea, coffee (and mostly yerba mate which I've drank practically all my life) I could drink. Which to me says that it's good to stop at least once in a while, in order to not build a higher and higher tolerance. A little bit is okay, and depending on the sensitivity of each person. But to continue doing it while fasting seems totally illogical to me. FWIW.

 

[nature]

So drinking coffee during fast hampers it because of its metabolisation, ie makes liver work. Thank you for this info.
- Does it mean that even a tiny metabolisation is to avoid during fast?
- Only water is allowed?
- No infusion of ginger, nor curcuma nor other healing herbs?

 

[Nico]

Yes nature, I'm sorry I don't find the article where I read that infusion, tea, all except pure water (and some guys fast without water) needs enzymes to be broken down.

And I wander if smoking might be concerned as well, as the nicotine go down to the stomac through saliva ?

Considering it we have to ask ourselves if a total fast is desired, or if just slowing down the liver metabolism do the work. So I would move aside coffee, tea and tobacco because of the stimulating effect, but for other calming herbs or even a vegetable broth I would try it.

 

[theos]

And I wander if smoking might be concerned as well, as the nicotine go down to the stomac through saliva ?

In my experience with fasting, once I go past 1-3 days any taste for cigarettes is completely obliterated. They're awful to me during a fast but when the fast is over it's right back to

I think that if one wants a deep fast where the body's healing mechanisms can really kick in, everything, save some water, should be cut out.

 

[nature]

OK, thank you very much to all for your testimonies.
I'll stop all vegetable broth, coffee, tea, next time (during fast)

 

[Gaby]

I just finished reading two books that recently came out; "Fat for Fuel" by Dr. Mercola and "Primal Fat Burner" by Nora Gedgaudas.

Both are essentially the same book, down to quoting the same people and the same concepts. They differ in their practical advice and the research to support that. Gedgaudas is hardcore primal. She doesn't even advocate ghee butter. She practically lives like in an Ice Age and she doesn't even have xylitol, just occasionally some pure stevia as a sweetener. Gedgaudas is not a great advocate of fasting nor cold adaptation for those who are very stressed or ill-compromised, she basically encourages people to eat primal most if not all the time. It is basically an update to her first book "Primal Body, Primal Mind" but with recipes per each week and some interesting scientific updates.

Mercola is more mainstream, recommending proteins mostly from plant-derived foods such as seeds and nuts. He says that 12 grams of protein should be the limit for women, and a little bit more for men per each meal (assuming a person eats three times per day). He recommends dairy, coffee and other inflammatory foods. It looked like quite the killer diet for some food sensitive folk, but it is strictly keto.

Neither highlight the potential antigenic properties of eggs for quite a lot of people.

Both de-emphasize blood ketones as the final aim, but then do tend to get lost in the numbers and the how to, specially Mercola. He came across as living quite the life of the "rich and famous", unpractical for most folk, but practical for those with the time and self-drive. Mercola is a big fan of fastings and explains several of them. One is the "fat fasting" which includes coffee with fat. As expected, a manufacturer of coffee made one plan here:

_https://blog.bulletproof.com/rapid-fat-loss-protocol/

IMO, it doesn't look like a fasting. More like a lifestyle where you are in the run and only had time to drink coffee with some healthy fat. I don't think it should be called a fasting because technically speaking, it is not that.

My 2 cents!

 

[A Jay]

I just finished reading two books that recently came out; "Fat for Fuel" by Dr. Mercola and "Primal Fat Burner" by Nora Gedgaudas.

Both are essentially the same book, down to quoting the same people and the same concepts. They differ in their practical advice and the research to support that. Gedgaudas is hardcore primal. She doesn't even advocate ghee butter. She practically lives like in an Ice Age and she doesn't even have xylitol, just occasionally some pure stevia as a sweetener. Gedgaudas is not a great advocate of fasting nor cold adaptation for those who are very stressed or ill-compromised, she basically encourages people to eat primal most if not all the time. It is basically an update to her first book "Primal Body, Primal Mind" but with recipes per each week and some interesting scientific updates.

Mercola is more mainstream, recommending proteins mostly from plant-derived foods such as seeds and nuts. He says that 12 grams of protein should be the limit for women, and a little bit more for men per each meal (assuming a person eats three times per day). He recommends dairy, coffee and other inflammatory foods. It looked like quite the killer diet for some food sensitive folk, but it is strictly keto.

Neither highlight the potential antigenic properties of eggs for quite a lot of people.

Both de-emphasize blood ketones as the final aim, but then do tend to get lost in the numbers and the how to, specially Mercola. He came across as living quite the life of the "rich and famous", unpractical for most folk, but practical for those with the time and self-drive. Mercola is a big fan of fastings and explains several of them. One is the "fat fasting" which includes coffee with fat. As expected, a manufacturer of coffee made one plan here:

_https://blog.bulletproof.com/rapid-fat-loss-protocol/

IMO, it doesn't look like a fasting. More like a lifestyle where you are in the run and only had time to drink coffee with some healthy fat. I don't think it should be called a fasting because technically speaking, it is not that.

My 2 cents!

Thanks for the synopsis, Gaby! It was really helpful!

 

[Anthony]

I just finished reading two books that recently came out; "Fat for Fuel" by Dr. Mercola and "Primal Fat Burner" by Nora Gedgaudas.

Both are essentially the same book, down to quoting the same people and the same concepts. They differ in their practical advice and the research to support that. Gedgaudas is hardcore primal. She doesn't even advocate ghee butter. She practically lives like in an Ice Age and she doesn't even have xylitol, just occasionally some pure stevia as a sweetener. Gedgaudas is not a great advocate of fasting nor cold adaptation for those who are very stressed or ill-compromised, she basically encourages people to eat primal most if not all the time. It is basically an update to her first book "Primal Body, Primal Mind" but with recipes per each week and some interesting scientific updates.

Mercola is more mainstream, recommending proteins mostly from plant-derived foods such as seeds and nuts. He says that 12 grams of protein should be the limit for women, and a little bit more for men per each meal (assuming a person eats three times per day). He recommends dairy, coffee and other inflammatory foods. It looked like quite the killer diet for some food sensitive folk, but it is strictly keto.

Neither highlight the potential antigenic properties of eggs for quite a lot of people.

Both de-emphasize blood ketones as the final aim, but then do tend to get lost in the numbers and the how to, specially Mercola. He came across as living quite the life of the "rich and famous", unpractical for most folk, but practical for those with the time and self-drive. Mercola is a big fan of fastings and explains several of them. One is the "fat fasting" which includes coffee with fat. As expected, a manufacturer of coffee made one plan here:

_https://blog.bulletproof.com/rapid-fat-loss-protocol/

IMO, it doesn't look like a fasting. More like a lifestyle where you are in the run and only had time to drink coffee with some healthy fat. I don't think it should be called a fasting because technically speaking, it is not that.

My 2 cents!

I managed to listen to interviews with both Mercola and Gedgaudas about their books. Where they seem to differ is that Mercola emphasizes that you shouldn't constantly stay in ketosis, whereas Gedgaudas doesn't talk about cyclical ketosis, at least not in the interview.

Thanks for the overview.

 

[Gaby]

I managed to listen to interviews with both Mercola and Gedgaudas about their books. Where they seem to differ is that Mercola emphasizes that you shouldn't constantly stay in ketosis, whereas Gedgaudas doesn't talk about cyclical ketosis, at least not in the interview.

Thanks for the overview.

The impression that I had from the book, is that he de-emphasizes blood ketones as a formality. In the practical advice, he seems to contradict himself as he tends to get lost in the numbers and the how to. He does explain very easily research that can be very difficult to read. For instance, how some people actually enter ketosis after eating more carbs because several biochemical pathways involving sugar get more balanced... Your liver is not creating sugar like crazy once the body receives an amount of carbs. His explanation on insulin was also interesting.

Mercola's synthesis on the fastings and light therapy was pretty good. That info is available in his web articles and interviews.

I think I preferred Nora's book. She is more likeable. She talks more about antigenic food and how dairy can be so evil. And although she came across to me as a hardcore Ice Age primal, she does eat a lot of vegetables. I'm just impressed that she has managed to eat like that for years on end.

Maybe I was not in the mood, but reading passages from Mercola's "rich" lifestyle intermixed with his addressings to brain cancer patients came across as a little bit off.

Both highly regard Dr. Rosedale and his longevity research and mTHOR pathway. Neither talk about stealth infections and how can that make a ketogenic diet quite difficult.

Now I'm re-reading Dr. Cate Shanahan's "Deep Nutrition". I read the older version and now in 2017, she updated entire chapters and added some more. Personally, this is my favorite book among many. She is more like a modern Weston Price health care provider.

My other 2 cents!

 

[Harmony99]

I am thankful to you guys for your insights on this topic. I have seen some health food store advocating the benefits of coffee for weight loss. I have tried drinking black coffee with a tablespoons of cold press coconut oil during intermittent fasting.Dr.Mercola recommended drinking organic roasted coffee without sugar, honey or milk as this may increase the body acidity. We must also be mindful of the fact that most coffee is treated with lots of chemicals .

 

[placematt]

Hey Fluffy,

I'm currently doing intermittent fasting.At the same time I'm reading Dr Jason Fungs book "the complete guide to fasting" He seems to think that black coffee, tea and water and bone broth are fine when it comes fasting. I know a lot of people use
coffee to suppress hunger, i drink a bit of mineral water. I have a small black coffee in the morning after my salt water and so far i haven't felt any ill effects. Like how you said, i feel my best when I'm fasting and really enjoy exercise and working out when fasted too. At the moment I'm keeping my eating window smallish, but would like to try a 5 day fast later on down the track.

I recommend Dr Jason Fungs book, its very insightful and he backs up pretty much everything with some solid facts!!

 

[Altair]

I do 16-24 hours fasting at the moment and I'm wondering whether drinking pure green tee can break the fast. I'm aware of Rhonda Patrick's arguments about coffee and other herbal teas during the fasting but she is pretty much the only researcher (as far as I know) who doesn't recommend caffeinated beverages and even herbal teas during fasting.

My goal for fasting is not losing weight but rather stimulating brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF). Will it still work when drinking pure green tea during fasting or is it just waste of time?

 

[Gaby]

My goal for fasting is not losing weight but rather stimulating brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF). Will it still work when drinking pure green tea during fasting or is it just waste of time?

I would say that if you don't have any overt insulin issues and are relatively young, taking some green tea would not change much. It doesn't have to be strict and allowing a couple of days of "healthy liberal eating" might actually be better in terms of avoiding boredom and stimulating your metabolism. There is very little human research, but in mouse models, the data seems to support the idea that breaking the time-restricted feeding a couple of times per week doesn't counteract the benefits.

 

[Altair]

I would say that if you don't have any overt insulin issues and are relatively young, taking some green tea would not change much. It doesn't have to be strict and allowing a couple of days of "healthy liberal eating" might actually be better in terms of avoiding boredom and stimulating your metabolism. There is very little human research, but in mouse models, the data seems to support the idea that breaking the time-restricted feeding a couple of times per week doesn't counteract the benefits.

Thank you, Gaby! And yes, Rhonda Patrick herself mentioned in one of the podcasts that the fasting can still be beneficial of one breaks it 2 days a week (but not more often).