Updated: July 16, 2020 –
YES, You can drink COFFEE while you are fasting (during your fast) and doing keto. Here is why…
Yes, you can drink it during your fasting period and definitely when you are just doing Keto. Here is why I do and you might want to as well.
I just found this study on why Coffee and Ketones go together hand in glove and you can read the results for yourself. Can you say 6th Gear? This was from Dr. D’Agostino.
Part of the regime from day one with my Intermittent Fasting and Keto Journey 814 days ago was the daily consumption of Bomb Proof Coffee. (my version of bulletproof coffee with a bit more kick and in my personal opinion, a LOT better for you).
One of the additional ingredients that are in my Bomb Proof Coffee is a pinch of Himalayan salt or Redmond salt in each cup I drink. (more on Bomb Proof coffee later)
Here are two reasons of several why I do this. Coffee and specifically caffeine have been shown to deplete our sodium and chloride reserves. This counteracts it. Believe it or not, good salt is one of the best things you can do for your blood vessels. That is another post though.
Did you know that a salt deficiency actually can raise your insulin resistance i.e. make you fat? Triglycerides can go up too and HDL can go down and LDL can go up all because of not enough salt.
Not I am not talking regular salt or even Sea Salt which is really polluted with all kinds of chemicals and micro-plastic.
The trick with BPC is to keep the total fats under 150 calories as it will trick your body into thinking it is still fasting and yet, give your brain a huge boost (6th Gear) and actually help your body burn fat better and believe it or not, calm your overall nervous system down by upping your Dopamine levels and lowering your Cortisol levels ( think belly fat when you think Cortisol). Now you do not have to go up to the whole 150 calories in total fat.
This alone is going to cause the Intermittent Fasting and Keto police to run around with the Hair On Fire and them wanting to burn me at the stake for Heresy!
Now the thing is, if you do not want to do this, then don’t. But, a lot of people find it easier to stick with the program using this when they first start out during the first few months. Then you can try just black coffee with Stevia and see how that goes.
You can save your BP Coffee for your eating window. Or change your eating hours to start from when you first get up. Then you can have your proverbial Bomb Proof Coffee and Drink It Too! 🙂
As I will explain later in more detail, because the fats do not typically raise your insulin levels, you can fake your body out doing this. 🙂 This is a huge cheat that most people do not know about.
While you do not have to drink it, your weight loss and your ability to function at a higher level, i.e. think more clearly and get rid of brain fog will probably not go nearly as well as if you do not at least at first. Again, if you do not want to do BP coffee, then don’t. It is simple as that.
That being said, if you have been eating a normal diet for years and years, BP Coffee or Tea can help you successfully transition.
In fact, in a PubMed study, drinking coffee dramatically helps improve your body to produce Ketones. Ketones are your brains preferred fuel and there is a whole host of other benefits to burning Ketones as well. One of them is that there are indications that it protects you against dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Some Quick Reasons Why I Drink BP During My Fasts And As Part Of My Daily 6th Gear IF/KETO Regime
Grass-fed butter actually has C6 in it, along with C8 oil (both really good medium chain triglycerides), it lowers your hunger response and actually helps reduce inflammation, and helps keep your body in ketosis.
Grass-fed Butter also has Vitamin K which is fat-soluble and helps your body make use of calcium throughout your body. Including Bones and even Teeth. Dr. Winston Price, the first head of the American Dental Association research arm, also linked it to reversing tooth decay and preventing osteoporosis. Even though at the time he did not name it Vitamin K. Unfortunately, it appears most of his research was ignored by the ADA in what surely looks like an apparent grab for money.
Vitamin K deficiency has also been linked to hardening or calcification of the arteries and other tissues. Plus, deficiency severally impairs the ability of your blood to clot.
Back to Ketones. MCT oil has roughly 5 times as many Medium Chain Triglycerides as Coconut Oil and C8 Oil has nearly 14 times the easily usable Ketones as MCT Oil. C8 is rocket fuel for your body and brain.
What most people do not know is that ketones kind of by-pass the whole ” I am eating food” in the body response. It keeps Ghrelin and Leptin under control plus optimizes Dopamine and damps down Cortisol and may help increase Adiponectin which is the hormonal switch that controls insulin sensitivity in fat cells which tells them to burn fat baby burn.
Not to mention that ketones have been shown to have an added benefit of better brain function and enhanced mood. Sign me up for that right?
So Bomb Proof Coffee can do all of the above far more so than just coffee. Which is why many people that do BP coffee have a higher success rate on the whole IF/KETO process overall.
Note: DO NOT USE THE CHEMICAL COFFEE CREAMERS. THEY ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR ANYTHING I WILL EVER TALK ABOUT FOR IF OR KETO.
Either way, do BP Coffee or not. You are grown up. Make up your own mind. Either way works.
Why Higher Dopamine Levels Are So Important
When First Starting Out In Intermittent Fasting Or Keto
Higher levels of Dopamine is responsible for giving you a sense of accomplishment and even pleasure when you do something that you have set out to do. It is partially responsible for ” Will Power” and motivation.
Low levels will give you feelings of self-doubt and lack of motivation. This is just one of the many brain chemicals that BP Coffee can influence. It enhances the overall sense of well being and mood. That by itself is enough for me to drink it!
This alone may very well determine your success or failure at every getting into and sticking with 6th Gear IF/Keto. Which for me, drastically changed my life for the better.
There are a few Info Docs out there that are using old information and are hardcore about what fasting is, but ignoring the more recent data has never been my thing and I do not want to wait a few years for them to catch up on the information about just how successful this can be for many people.
While you do not have to do this, every bit of my own experience indicates it works far better than not doing BP Coffee. Also overwhelmingly, the information I get from the 36,000 people in my Facebook group point to this as well.
You are far more likely to get fast and consistent results and to stick with 6th Gear Intermittent Fasting and Keto versus not doing BP coffee. The mental acuity and fat burning on a day in and day out basis plainly speak for themselves.
Now on my 24 hour and 48-hour fasts, I do not do not always use BP Coffee. Just coffee with Stevia or just water sometimes.
Flat out, for me, I know I would not have gotten the results I got without it. And I still get all of the benefits of fasting plus it helps me get into Autophagy and burn fat and ketones far better too. The best part it gets and keeps me in 6th Gear.
If you have not heard of it, BP Coffee is you basically put butter into coffee and some C8 oil ( a type of refined coconut oil, see more below). Presto! As more and more science comes out on this rediscovery, people are realizing what your grandmother and her Mom already new…fat is good.
Why Bomb Proof Coffee? Can You Say Fat Burning Autophagy Machine?
I have done bomb-proof coffee since even before I started 6th Gear IF/Keto. There are numerous reasons why and I go over them in detail in my book Eat Fat and Get Skinny, but one of the big ones is the compound Chlorogenic Acid in the coffee can increase Fat Burning by as much as 50% and it can decrease blood sugar fluctuations by 50% as well. That is one of the main triggers of thinking you are hungry. Less hunger and you burn more fat. I call that a win don’t you?
Coffee And Tea Decrease Insulin Sensitivity
This is done partially because it can decrease Insulin Sensitivity. Check out this PubMed Study.
You can also use Tea instead of coffee. The best for fat management studies have shown is Oolong. Just use it instead of coffee or switch it up once in a while.
Coffee Can Help Induce Autophagy
Autophagy is kind of the Holy Grail for many people that do Intermittent Fasting and even Fasting. This is where your body finally gets to take a break from digesting all of the food that is being shoved down someone’s gullet (it starts after about 10 hours of not eating and ramps up from there the more time goes by) and actually goes after damaged and old cells and recycles them. These include old and saggy skin, pre-cancerous cells, and other bad things floating around your body that are not good for you.
The Never Ending Party From Nightmares Of NORMAL Eating
I like to use this analogy to explain Autophagy. Imagine if you are are throwing a party and the guests keep showing up 24 hours a day and you have to feed them.
Well because you are so busy feeding them, you never have time to clean up the mess. This is the same thing with your body. It needs downtime from digesting food to do that. Unfortunately, most people never give it time to do so.
Slowly as the years go by, your body is full of garbage and that is not good for you.
Good news! Coffee actually helps you get into Autophagy. Here is the PubMed study on that.
Fats And Cholesterol Are Good For Your Brain!
Our brains run off of fat. Mainly cholesterol. It is also what testosterone is made of… which is why when they erroneously said cholesterol is bad for you, the need for help in the sex department came into play. Can you say Viagra? Also just to note, having high cholesterol does not mean you have or will get heart disease. In fact, there is plenty of research that indicates the exact opposite.
Did you know that the daily cholesterol limit was removed from the 2015 Dietary Guidelines! This has not been widely publicized. Hmmm… wonder why?
Men must have cholesterol to have property Testosterone Levels. Hence, the big need for Viagra once Cholesterol-lowering drugs came out. Can you say billions and billions of reasons why this myth was put out there???
The main study on cholesterol has been debunked.
Having not enough cholesterol can actually give you all kinds of problems. This is a good story on 6 Cholesterol Myths Debunked.
Back to Grandmas coffee. Back in the old days, they would put heavy cream into their coffee which provided a lot of nice fats that your brain needs to get kick-started in the morning. Bullet Proof Coffee on steroids!
It takes about half the processing (energy) to turn the fat into food our brain can use than it does carbs or sugars. Or put it this way, Fats are twice as efficient at making energy than carbs in your body.
It might be compared to having to chase down a chicken over a 500-acre field to find the egg, vs walking to your refrigerator. Plus, overall, Ketones (the energy from fat) are much easier for our brains to process and they can use it the rebuild and maintain that wonderful Noodle of yours.
This is why we want good fats, aka butter and Coconut, MCT, or best C8 oil in your coffee.
Also, Fats Do Not Impact Autophagy but a small percentage of where Proteins And Carbohydrates do.
Most people do not know this which is why many get so adamant about it. I always ignore zealots when it comes to anything a general rule. 🙂
The mechanisms that start and stop Autophagy are more like a Dimmer Switch on a light, not necessarily just an on-off switch.
So you can still be rolling right along and have your BP Coffee and at 90% efficiency Autophagy wise and get all of the other benefits. I am just making up that number, but you get the drift.
Think about it this way, if you are in a completely dark room and you find the dimmer light switch and put it to 90%. Is that a huge difference? Can you see? Do you even notice the other 10%? Nope, especially when it also turns on the refrigerator and the TV too. You get all kinds of benefits once that slider is moved in the right direction.
Overall hands down, the above is why I do BP Coffee vs not.
On to the whole butter and cream thing. This impacts butter less because it can contain C 6 Oil which is a higher octane version of C8. Yeaaaa. However, you really want to make sure you spend the extra money and get Organic butter or if you have access to it, even Raw cream butter.
This is a little bit off my main point, but I think I might be of interest to you.
Pasteurization and Homogenization Are Not Good
Two big differences here. One. The cream was not pasteurized or heated to a high temperature which destroys enzymes and nutritional values and it was not homogenized.
They started pasteurizing milk because they started high-intensity farming and feeding cows grains which lower their immune systems, just like in humans. Check out the book Wheat Belly for more info on this.
Because the cow’s immune systems are compromised because of grain feed and overcrowding, they had to start giving them antibiotics to fight infections in their udders because of all of the puss that was getting into the milk. In most non-organic milk, they allow quite a bit of puss to be in the milk, but when it is homogenized you don’t notice it. Which brings up the next point.
Of the two, homogenization may be the worst. What they do is force the milk fat through tiny holes and high pressure or in a blender and it rips apart the fat chains and proteins so they can’t clump together. What happens is our bodies do not recognize these short and mutilated fat chains as food and it can set up an immune reaction and they are not easily digested. This is really bad, OK?
So, if you are going to do bulletproof coffee, just having organic is not the best but still better than regular cream. You might want to try to get non-homogenized and pasteurized butter. Or better yet, just get heavy cream that is organic, non-homogenized, and unpasteurized.
This can be kind of tough as the big milk producers bought off a whole bunch of state legislatures and made it illegal to sell in many states. I know crazy right? That is a whole other blog post on how that happened. Just let me say it was and is a very slimy corrupt business. Just my humble opinion of course and I could be wrong. 🙂
Here is a great resource for raw milk and why pasteurization and homogenization are not good for you. The Weston Price Foundation. They also found that raw milk will help you prevent cavities. Weston Price was the precursor to pretty much the Paleo Diet and Wheat Belly, and Bulletproof Coffee. There are some mind-blowing studies and information here that you will not find anywhere else.
Here is a link to where to find Raw Milk in your area as well.
Here is a great PDF that gives you a nice rundown on Raw Milk.
Then there is even one more aspect that can really matter about milk and that is this. You did jump down this rabbit hole with me. 🙂
What Type Of Cows Are They? A1 or A2
Somehow about 8,000 years ago, give or take a century, there was a natural mutation in certain breeds of Cows and they started producing different proteins in their milk. Instead of having A2, they started producing A1 proteins. No one knows why, but while this was not such bad news for the Calves, it was pretty bad news for people it seems. You see depending on who you listen to, up to something like 90% of people out there may have a somewhat allergic reaction to A1 protein. There is inflammation and not so good reactions to A1 milk, but far less so for A2 milk. You know the phlegmy feeling you can get after drinking milk? It is possible that it comes from your body’s reaction to A1. It thinks you are being invaded!
It appears that most people do not have the ability to digest it. Unfortunately, most cows in the US are all A1 breeds. Holsteins to be exact simply because they push out the most milk.
This is a Holstein.
Guernsey’s and Jersey cows have a whole lot less A1 and there are some that they’ve tested put out 95% to 100% A2 milk. Guess what, they do not put out as much milk which makes them less popular with commercial farmers. But if you are a milk drinker, it tastes soooooo much better. Plus, they have more vitamins and nutritional content in their milk as well!
This is a Guernsey.
The Devil Is In The Details.. Or In This Case, The Milk!
In his book, Devil In The Milk, the researcher Keith Woodford purports to show a linkage between a range of serious illnesses, including heart disease, Type 1 diabetes, autism, and schizophrenia to drinking A1 milk.
His book is on my reading list for sure! My guess is that in the next 25 years, A2 will be the predominant milk.
Mycotoxins In Coffee Myth
One of the other things that are spoken about in the other B Proof Coffee is it talks about fungus in coffee. As a farmer, mushroom grower, cheese maker, and beer maker, I am fairly well versed on Fungus, Molds, And Mushrooms. 😉
In that, if you do not have good fungus or molds, you can’t grow mushrooms, make cheese, or make beer. Here is a great article on the Myth of Mycotoxins in your coffee that B Proof uses as a sales point.
While you are welcome to worry about it, it is DEFINITELY not something that I am going to every worry about. For me, it just appears to be using murky science or non-science as a marketing ploy to sell people that may not have paid attention in science class and it bugs me. But it is your choice.
Apparently, I am not the only one that it bugs. It ticked off Joe Rogan as well.
Organic Healthy Green Coffee
For $5.75 A Pound
I also have to point out that I also roast my own organic green coffee and I have found them to be as healthy and as flavorful as you can get.
You roast it at home and my oh, my is it good!
Also not only are they the best and most healthy in my humble opinion, they are the least expensive as well. I get my Organic Coffee from Deans Beans for about $5 to $6 a pound. That is not a typo. Dean is one awesome guy!
I just did a video on roasting your own coffee at home and will try to post it shortly.
Here is a link to the Organic Coffee I buy. I do not make a dime off of this, just helping you and these guys out. Organic Guatemalan Coffee for $5.75 a pound.
Adding Coconut Oil Or Better Yet, C8 Oil
So if you really want to up your game, you one tablespoon of heavy whipping cream ( make sure it does not have any gums in it of any kind, they even put this crap in so-called Organic Cream, it ruins the ability for the fat in the cream to be easily digested) or organic butter (this is widely available) and then you add a good teaspoon of Organic Coconut oil, MCT oil even C8 Oil which is the best to it. This will give your brain such a huge boost it is not even funny. C8 Oil is high-test MCT Oil. This is the one that I use. Click on the image below if you have Amazon Prime and make sure you use the coupon code for 10% off.
So basically your Great-Grandma was way ahead of the curve on this.
Use this coupon for 10% off.
C8201810
Stevia and Coffee
Got asked a ton of time on FB about this. Yes, you can use pure 100% Organic Stevia Powder in your coffee. Lots and lots of people responded and said there is no significant spike in blood sugar after putting this in their coffee and one or two people said that it actually lowered their blood pressure. Pubmed studies back this up. So there you have it, folks. So here again, for most people, it does not seem to impact their fast at all!
Organic Stevia Extract Powder, White, 1 Ounce from Amazon. Just click on the pic! 100% Organic Stevia ONLY. No fillers.
I stay away from all other forms of artificial sweeteners. They can mess up your ability to lose weight. Things like Aspartame and Xylitol in my book are a big no, no.
Guidelines that I use for Bomb Proof Coffee when I am getting into 6th Gear IF/KETO
You can have 1-3 cups of Coffee or Oolong or Green Tea during your Fasting Period. Here is the only time I concern myself with Calories. Between the Butter or Cream, and the Coconut Oil, MCT Oil or Powder, and C8 oil. The total amount of Fat Calories you put in there should be under 150. Be it in one cup or you spread them out over 3. Sometimes I also shake on some True Ceylon Cinnamon or Nutmeg. You DO not have to do this if you don’t want to either.
You do not want to add collagen, protein powder or anything else to the mix. During your eating period, you don’t have to count the calories and you can have half coffee and half butter, cream and C8 oil if you like.
A word of caution about MCT and C8 oil especially. It can cause severe stomach issues, as in OMG just shoot me this hurts so bad at first. So I suggest that you start out at about a 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon first for a few days and then slowly, slowly up your intake.
Using a stick blender to mix everything well will make the whole thing much more palatable, although it is not necessary.
And last but not least. If you do not want to do BP Coffee while you are fasting don’t! If you do, then you will probably pick up some great benefits as we just discussed. The beautiful thing about it is that you can make up your own mind.
Intermittent Fasting and Keto 6th Gear Style is all about long-term improvement in the quality of life. You do not have to get everything perfect, just get it mostly right and be consistent you will be living life in a way that most people only dream of…
Good luck and have fun.
Cheers,
Andrew Anderson
Go 6th Gear
