Can I Drink Regular or Decaffeinated Coffee While Fasting?

Can I Drink Regular or Decaffeinated Coffee While Fasting?

If you are a coffee lover trying fasting for the first time, you might be wondering if coffee is a big no-no. Fasting is not a joke, therefore stay attentive as the article dissects rumours surrounding coffee and fasting.

You wake up one morning while fasting, pour yourself a good-smelling cup of coffee, and just when you are about to take a sip, you remember the most disturbing question to the majority "am I allowed to take a coffee while fasting?

Well, it all depends on a variety of reasons such as your goal of fasting, type of coffee, and level of calories in the coffee. A lot of people fast because of religious beliefs, others fast to reduce their body weight and blood sugar, while some fast for stomach gut rest.

What Is Fasting?

Fasting means you are simply giving up on eating completely for a given period to focus your thoughts and energy or generally to reduce your intake of junky foods. In any case, fasting plays a crucial role in body health whereby it helps in reducing cholesterol levels, lowering both blood pressure and sugar level, and boosting your mental thinking and growth. The most practiced fasting apart from religious fasting is intermittent fasting which involves regulating eating and not eating for a long regular schedule.

Can I Combine Coffee and Fasting?

 Yes, you can drink coffee while fasting, because a cup of pure coffee like black coffee and brewed coffee contains no calories and is fat-free. Coffee plays a big role in keeping you alert, energetic, and fresh as you go through grueling 12 to 16 hours of fasting for a day. Even though plain coffee can be a decent way for you to feel you are taking something while fasting, adding additional ingredients like sugar, milk, and chocolate can break your fasting session.

What Are the Benefits of Coffee While Fasting?

Depending on the reason you are fasting, a few sips of morning coffee can exhibit a variety of both health and spiritual benefits. When you are fasting, you are not allowed to take any solid meals or high-calorie drinks, your body energy levels are low, decreasing your daily productivity rate. Drinking coffee doesn’t only improve your overall performance by inducing energizing effects into your body, but can produce the following benefits while fasting:

Fasting With Coffee Can Supports Your Brain Health

According to clinical trials and studies, intermittent fasting has a powerful effect on your mental health whereby it helps in preventing neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Incorporating black coffee in your fasting period lowers the risk of dementia and brain cognitive decline by exhibiting its stimulant power hence slowing the progression of neurodegenerative diseases.

Fasting With Coffee Can Support Weight Loss

One of the main reasons people fast is to drop a few body pounds by reducing the intake of foods and drinks with high calories. Energetic effects associated with drinking coffee come from increased body metabolic process that breaks down stored fat into energy.

Drinking Coffee Can Lower Anxiety and Stress That Comes from Prolonged Fasting

When fasting for more than 2 days, your mind has not enough energy to work on cognitive functions. It causes your brain nerves to increase oxidative stress activities in the cells, resulting in the release of the hormone cortisol increasing stress and tension thoughts. Drinking a cup of coffee during your fasting period lowers negative thoughts by decreasing the release of stress hormones and increases your concentration on your spiritual performance or work.

Coffee Can Improves Your Spiritual Meditations During Fasting

You may be fasting because of your spiritual needs. Coffee can be a good boost to help you connect your body to your mind and then to your meditating thoughts and it provides your body, muscles, and mind with calming and relaxing effects that are essential in providing a good platform for any kind of meditation.

Coffee Can Promote Blood Sugar Control During Fasting

If you are suffering from diabetes, there is a high chance that your doctor told you to try intermittent fasting.  It gives your body time to decrease blood sugar levels by reducing insulin resistance.  When you add coffee to your fasting sessions, it heightens these benefits by promoting the dissociation of glucose into energy.

What Coffee Can You Drink When Fasting

Coffee is a great booster that helps you to go through your fasting period without you feeling weak. However, it could be all in vain if you won’t consider the following three factors

Calorie Level

The main reason to fast is to reduce calorie intake, but if you infuse your coffee with high-calorie ingredients like chocolate, sugar, cream, or plant-based milk you will automatically break your fast. The recommended level of calories in coffee when fasting should be below 20, meaning adding a teensy bit of cocoa or nutmeg won’t break your fasting.

Coffee Type

Black coffee is the most recommended coffee type for fasting sessions since it contains no calories and provides over  50% of your body's energy for normal body functioning. However, some coffee drinks such as cappuccino (steamed milk and foam), Irish coffee (combination of black coffee, whiskey, and sugar), and American latte ( milk and chocolate) can easily break your fasting since they contain a calorie level above 50.

The Severity of Your Fasting Purpose

The main two reason people fast are to improve their overall body health and for religious purposes.  If you are fasting to manage your body weight, and lower your blood pressure and sugar, you automatically take coffee containing sugary and fatty ingredients. However, if for religious reasons, most advises their followers to take only black coffee with no added ingredient, just hot water, and coffee powder. Sometimes taking a cup of coffee is not allowed depending on the stage of religious fasting.

The Disadvantages of Drinking Coffee During Fasting

It’s important to state that you should be careful with how much coffee you consume when fasting. Everyone is different and you should try a small amount of coffee first and see how you feel.

Since you are drinking coffee on an empty stomach, then the effect of the caffeine can be felt faster and potentially felt more than usual due to the fasting. So practice caution and monitor how you feel during the fast when drinking coffee.

Can You Drink Decaffeinated Coffee When You're Fasting?

Yes, you can absolutely drink decaf coffee during fasting. This is because it has no calories and is fat free, as well as little or no caffeine, so there are no dangers of consuming too much caffeine too fast.

IMPORTANT: This information is intended to support, not replace, discussion with your doctor or healthcare professionals. Nothing in the content or products should be considered, or used as a substitute for, medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. You should always talk to your health care provider for diagnosis and treatment, including your specific medical needs.