A small amount of heavy cream is perfectly fine while fasting, depending on your goals. Here’s what you need to know.
Technically heavy whipping cream is food, so does that mean it will ruin your Intermittent Fasting results? Not necessarily. But before you go adding a full carton of heavy whipping cream to your coffee, make sure you check out the science-y deets below.
What IS Heavy Cream?
Heavy whipping cream is simply the higher fat component of whole fresh milk.
1 Tbsp. of heavy cream contains around .4g of net carbohydrates, .4g of protein and 5.4g of fat. Alternatively, 1 Tbsp. of half and half contains around .7g of net carbohydrates, .5g of protein and 1.6g of fat. The heavy cream option is lower in net carbs, higher in fat and lower in protein than half and half.
Related: Does Cinnamon In Your Coffee Break Your Fast?
Does Heavy Cream Break A Fast?
If you are following Intermittent Fasting for religious purposes or you are following a water or dry fast, then any food of any type will break your fast. However, for the purposes that we follow with the Complete Intermittent Fasting Bundle protocols, a small amount will not break your fast.
One of the main goals with Intermittent Fasting is to reduce the insulin response in order to tap into fat burning mechanisms.
Because 1 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream contains such a small amount of net carbohydrates, this likely won’t spike insulin and therefore won’t break your fast.
However, if you exceed this 1 Tbsp. amount and therefore exceed the 1g of net carbohydrates, it is possible that the heavy whipping cream will break your fast. That’s why you’ll find with my Iced Keto Coffee recipe (found on YouTube HERE) that I use 1 Tbsp. of heavy whipping cream and no more than that.
Is Black Coffee Better For Fasting And Weight Loss?
Not necessarily. In fact, if you are brand new to Intermittent Fasting, than incorporating some amount of fat into your fasted coffee can help to boost satiety while still staying in fat burning mode (aka lipolysis), ultimately making your fasting period easier! I personally swap between my hot cup of Keto Coffee and a splash of heavy whipping cream in my coffee.
How To Choose The Best Coffee And Cream
If you choose to drink coffee, it’s important that you’re also using the highest QUALITY coffee that is free of mold and mold toxins. I only trust the brand Purity Coffee for lab testing each batch of coffee to ensure it doesn’t contain mold or mold toxins that can trigger the fight or flight response. You can get 10% off all of your orders with Purity Coffee using my code “autumn” at checkout!
When choosing a heavy whipping cream, it’s important to use a grass-fed and organic option. Grass-fed dairy products typically have a more favorable omega-3 (anti-inflammatory fat) to omega-6 (inflammatory fat) ratio than grain-fed dairy products.(1) Plus, with organic heavy whipping cream, you won’t be exposed to potentially problematic pesticides. One great brand is Organic Pastures, but as long as you can find a brand that is organic and grass-fed that is local to you, then that’s perfect as well!
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The 21 Day Intermittent Fasting Program
The 21 Day Intermittent Fasting Program provides step-by-step strategies to help you use Intermittent Fasting with delicious, protein-packed meals to support fat loss, reduce hunger, and boost gut health.
