Guest post! Coffee, Fasting, and Ketosis

Anyone who has ever taken on a new diet knows just how difficult it can be to stick with it, especially in the first few weeks. It’s difficult to get used to new schedules and practices, and it also takes time for your body to adjust.

In recent years, more and more people have begun to explore diets that are low in carbohydrates, and high in good fats. Contrary to what most people thought in the past, you can lose weight on a diet that is high in fat, so long as your carb consumption remains low.

The average person burns carbohydrates as their primary energy source. Consuming a low carb, high fat diet, forces the body to burn fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates. It takes a bit of time to make the transition, as you allow your body to be depleted of excess carbs, but eventually your body will enter a state of Ketosis.

Ketosis refers to a metabolic state whereby fat is burned, producing ketones. These ketones are used as an energy source.

We won’t sugar-coat it (pun very much intended), this is a drastic change for most people, and it can be quite difficult. It helps to have some assistance.

That’s where coffee comes in.

Here are some great ways that coffee can assist you with dieting.

Altering your metabolism

The caffeine in coffee helps to stimulate the fat burning process! By consuming coffee, you can help your body make the transition to fat burning, even if your carb stores are not depleted.

One thing to note here, adding excessive cream and sugar into your coffee kind of defeats the purpose! Your best bet is to drink your coffee black. If regular old coffee isn’t your thing, perhaps you’d enjoy…

Bulletproof coffee & MCTs

You may or may not have heard of Bulletproof Coffee. In a nutshell, Bulletproof Coffee is a cup of coffee with added medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) and grass-fed butter.

The idea is to transform your coffee into a tasty treat with the help of healthy fats (MCTs). You may also choose to simply add some coconut oil to your coffee.

Bulletproof Coffee, and similar drinks can tide you over until dinner, replace a meal altogether, or just help to curb a craving for something sweet. This is also a great option for people that don’t particularly enjoy black coffee.

Intermittent fasting & appetite suppression

If you’ve heard about the Ketogenic diet, chances are you’ve also heard about intermittent fasting, as the two often go hand in hand.

Doing a daily 14-16 hour fast, in which you do not consume any calories is common, and it’s easier than you think!

Guess what has zero calories? Coffee! You can drink as much coffee as you want while fasting, as long as don’t add anything to it! (Save the BulletProof coffee for an afternoon treat!)

Not only can consume as much coffee as you’d like while fasting, coffee will actively assist in the process, as it is a hunger suppressant!

When you start a new, more restrictive diet, there will inevitably find yourself hungry at times. If you’ve drastically reduced your carb intake, you will likely crave carbs. This is especially true if you’re adding intermittent fasting to your lifestyle on top of a new diet.

Luckily, these cravings will pass as your body adjusts to your altered eating habits. Until you get to this point, coffee is a great way to suppress your hunger.

This is by no means a cure all for hunger, but it will help you put off eating until lunch time! It’s worth noting that drinking a lot of coffee on an empty stomach is something you may want to ease in to. Opting for a low acid coffee is recommended.

Building a routine & breaking bad habits

Building a new routine is key to maintaining any diet, as it helps you to form new eating habits. It just so happens that a reliable and enjoyable routine can be built around coffee!

If you’re a coffee lover, you can look forward to that first cup of coffee in the morning. Make it a staple of your day. Time to wake up? Time for coffee.

Find yourself hungry between lunch and dinner? Coffee time. Maybe even add some MCTs in if you want a treat!

Coffee can also help you break some bad habits that you have. You’d be blown away at how many people unconsciously grab a snack out of boredom. When you’re bored, reach for some coffee instead.

Before long, you’ll internalize a routine and learn to follow a well-defined schedule. This will get easier and easier over time and will eventually become automatic!

Conclusion

Dieting is difficult. There’s no two ways about it. There’s no shame in accepting all of the help you can get and using whatever tools are available to you. Coffee happens to be a particularly useful tool if you know how to use it.

Written by Zach Parkes of Try New Coffee.