I am considering doing 3 day fasts but i really enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning with some sugar. I measured what i would normally add to my coffee and its almost exactly 10 grams. Is this going to stifle my results?
Sugar is such a fast hit of glucose in the blood that even small amounts during a fast are likely to play with you a little. Key likely impacts are tiny insulin spikes, which can kick off hunger and also very lightly reduce fat availability. This in turn makes for a hungry, low energy faster.
I find it helps to treat anything you’re ingesting as medicine during a fast - if you need coffee for alertness/headache prevention, then have one, but don’t focus on if it tastes nice.
10 grams of sugar will impact your fast. Black coffee is fine, perhaps use some sweetener instead? There are many options available these days.
I didn’t like regular black coffee during my fasts, but then I discovered quality espresso. Maybe see if you would like that?
I wouldn’t imagine that it would make a huge difference if you’re only fasting for weight loss, as you’ll still be maintaining a considerable caloric deficit.
Having said that, one thing to keep in mind is that adding sugar to your coffee may end up making you hungry as, (I believe), glucose stimulates the production of ghrelin, a hormone which is responsible for hunger. You could try it and see how you get on.
I have to agree with everybody encouraging you not to use any sugar or sweetener. However, I remember how awful it was for me to give up sweetness in my coffee. I finally found a stevia drop with marshmallow flavor that actually does well with coffee. I have not found any monk sugar that goes well with coffee, it always seems to be bitter. I find the marshmallow stevia on Amazon when I’m lucky.
You will not be successful using sugar in your coffee. What that will do is spike your blood sugar and cause a lot of cravings. In return you’d fail at this way of eating. Quitting sugar is hard because it’s so addictive and they made it addictive so we’d poison ourselves. I do fasting to break those habits, improve my health and lose weight, so that would mean cutting out all the things we were taught were ok to eat. It’s a process and a difficult one when first starting. After time you should be able to live without the sugars and starches and replace those with healthy foods in between fasting. I also love my coffee sweetened with sugar, so I use a little bit of a sugar substitute. I use Lankato sugar replacement that has stevia and Erythritol. It comes in one package and I buy mine at Walmart. Some would say this is cheating, but it does not impact my blood sugar and have no spikes. I’m able to stay at 80 or below after testing it. That’s a great substitute! There will be people that say that’s not fasting, but I have lost 75lbs and have maintained my goal weight for 3 years with using it and doing long 30-40 day water fasts with drinking one cup of coffee.
I find good quality coffee that’s smooth and low acidity - I can handle without sugar or sweetners. The Starbucks VIA (which are freeze dried packs) I find exceptionally smooth and easy to drink black with nothing added.