New to Intermittent Fasting? It can be difficult to navigate the confusing world of "what breaks a fast". This is why I've created a whole section on my blog to help answer those specific questions like "does toothpaste break a fast?" and "can you drink coffee while fasting?". You can check it out HERE.
Today, we're diving into the details of butter and if it breaks a fast.
Does Butter 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, butter will not break your fast.
One of the main goals with Intermittent Fasting is to reduce how often insulin is released in order to tap into fat burning mechanisms. Pure fat sources, such as butter (or ghee), do not spike the storing hormone insulin and therefore keeps the body in a fat burning state. This is called a "fasting mimicking" state. On the other hand, products that contain protein or carbohydrates can cause insulin to spike and therefore will break a fast.
If you're using butter in your coffee while fasting (like with Keto Coffee - see below for three free recipes), ideally it's important to opt for a grass-fed butter. Grass-fed butter has additional health perks that regular grain-fed butter does not have. Grass-fed butter is rich in vitamin K2 which is essential for directing calcium out of the arteries and into the bones.(1) Butter is also rich in a short chain fatty acid called butyric acid. Butyric acid has been found to help reduce inflammation in the gut and therefore aid in gut healing.(2) I'll Keto Coffee cheers to that!
3 Coffee Recipes That Won't Break a Fast
From a fat burning perspective, we want to focus on coffee recipes that won't spike the storing hormone insulin. Below are three of my favorite coffee (and tea!) recipes that won't break a fast.
The Original Keto Coffee
This is the classic Intermittent Fasting coffee recipe that I personally use every morning. You can get the recipe and the health benefit details with the video below.
Keto Chai Latte
One of my original spins on Keto Coffee! Check out the recipe below:
Serves 1
Ingredients:
10-16 oz. brewed organic black tea
.5-1 Tbsp. grass-fed butter (remove to make vegan or use raw cacao butter)
.5-1 Tbsp. unrefined coconut oil
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
pinch of sea salt
1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend for at least 30 seconds on medium/high until frothy.
Coffee + 1 Tbsp. Heavy Cream
When I'm at a coffee shop while traveling and I haven't properly prepped Keto Coffee ingredients, this is usually my go-to. Just make sure to keep the heavy cream to one tablespoon, otherwise it might break your fast.
If you're using this at your house and you have control over the heavy cream you use, make sure to opt for grass-fed. Otherwise, if it's the occasional trip to a coffee shop and you're using what's available (i.e. likely not grass-fed), that's fine as well. It's not possible to control EVERY situation but you can at least make the best choice available to you!
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Keto Coffee Cheers,
Autumn
Autumn Elle Nutrition