Does bulletproof coffee break a fast? If you're looking to do intermittent fasting, then you need to know if bulletproof coffee will help or hurt.
Does Bulletproof coffee break a fast?
Are you ruining your intermittent fasting with your morning brew without even realizing it?
We're going to talk about it. Keep reading to learn more about how your daily caffeine boost interacts with your fasting efforts.
Does Bulletproof Coffee Break a Fast?
Before we answer this question, let's first go over the basics.
What Is Bulletproof Coffee?
You've probably heard of Bulletproof Coffee, but what is it?
Bulletproof coffee is a special kind of what is otherwise known as butter coffee, though sometimes the terms are used interchangeably.
True Bulletproof Coffee is made by the Bulletproof Company. It uses Bulletproof coffee beans, special grass-fed butter or ghee, and a special oil (otherwise known as medium-chain triglyceride oil, or MCT oil) all blended to make a creamy coffee drink without the heavy milk and sugar of your average tasty latte. (You can check out the official Bulletproof Coffee Recipe here!)
It's a way to have satisfying coffee without the sugar.
You can make butter coffee without the Bulletproof brand at home as well, though it won't have any special oil. You can add coconut oil if you have it.
Start with a cup of hot, freshly brewed coffee. Add 1-2 tablespoons each of butter and coconut oil (if you're using it). Put this into a blender. The bullet blenders work great for this!
Blend for just a few seconds (about 20 should work) and you have a frothy coffee drink without the barista.
This is a popular choice for keto dieters because of the higher fat content. If you're intermittent fasting, you might see this as a good alternative to breakfast.
But does it work that way?
How Does a Fast Work?
For this article, we're going to focus on intermittent fasting alone. In reality, anything consumed aside from water or plain drinks (such as tea or coffee without sugar) is likely breaking the literal fast.
Intermittent fasting, though, is a bit different. Its primary purpose is weight loss rather than gut health, longevity, cleansing, or spirituality. This makes the fasting aspect much more complicated.
How Do You Start Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is done on time blocks. Many people begin their day of eating around noon, meaning they skip a normal breakfast and go straight to lunch. They end their eating period at 8 pm. This gives them an 8-hour period of consumption and 16 hours of fasting.
Other people push their fasts to different times or even shorter feeding periods. If you're an early bird, you can start at 10 or 11 and end at 6, or if you're a late riser, you may start eating in the afternoon and end later in the evening.
The body, when fasted in this way, may enter the fat-burning process of ketosis. This makes keto a good match for intermittent fasting.
Does Bulletproof Coffee Break a Fast?
So if fasting requires that no new things come into the body, does Bulletproof coffee (or butter coffee) break the fasting efforts?
If you're going to fast for your religion, your longevity, or your gut health, it might. If you're fasting for your weight loss journey or to enter autophagy, though, your fast shouldn't be broken.
How Is That Possible?
A fast to reach ketosis or autophagy requires that the body doesn't take in protein or carbs. When you're only adding fat, autophagy isn't interrupted. The body shouldn't enter into its digestion process by only adding fat into the mix.
Butter does have a very small amount of protein in it, but the amount is negligible when you're making the coffee correctly. You shouldn't be downing multiple thermoses of coffee, but your morning boost shouldn't be a problem.
This coffee is mostly fat. It's calorie-dense and filling/, but the butter and oil just make a fatty and frothy drink.
If you're satisfied by the coffee (remember, no sugar) you may be able to finish your fast with less distress. The coffee fills you up just enough that you can get through your day until it's time to eat.
This all being said, coffee isn't free of calories. There are around 400 calories in a cup of butter coffee. If you're tracking calories alongside your keto diet or intermittent fasting, you should keep this in mind.
Many people benefit from not tracking while fasting or doing keto, so this is entirely up to your discretion.
Enjoy Your Coffee!
If you're intermittent fasting for the purpose of sending your body into autophagy and ketosis and you've been asking yourself "does Bulletproof coffee break a fast?", you don't have to worry.
You can keep drinking your Bulletproof coffee to get your caffeine boost and start your day off right.
Finally, before making any significant changes to your diet, you may want to consult a healthcare professional for personalized advice. This is especially important if you have any existing health conditions.
