Can You Drink Coffee During Intermittent Fasting?

For anyone unfamiliar, intermittent fasting is the method of only eating during specific times of the day and sticking to that schedule. For example, some people follow the 16/8 method, which includes a 16-hour period of fasting and an eight-hour period of eating — the idea is that you fit all three meals into that eight-hour period, say 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. One question that may come to mind is: What about drinks? Or more specifically, can you still have your morning coffee if you want to try intermittent fasting?

The short answer is yes, so you can breathe a sigh of relief — coffee (alongside water, tea, and other noncaloric drinks) are okay to indulge in during your fast. Since coffee contains just about three calories and has very little nutritional value, it won't affect your metabolism (and thus break your fast). However, everyone's coffee orders are different — and not all of them are acceptable during fasting hours.

Essentially, you can enjoy coffee or espresso, as long as no other ingredients are added to it. This means that black coffee and straight espresso are okay, either hot or iced, but a latte or a cappuccino aren't because they have milk added to them. Similarly, you can't add milk, creamer, sugar, or sweetener to your coffee or espresso. You can order an Americano — which consists of just espresso and water — as long as you're careful not to add any milk or sweetener to it.

If you're someone who prefers something like a latte, mocha, or even a cafe au lait in the morning, then this may be disappointing. Just remember that those drinks are acceptable to drink during your non-fasting hours. Plus, if you're trying intermittent fasting, you're setting your own eating hours, so you can even tailor those to when you like to enjoy your coffee in the morning, such as starting the eating hours at 9 a.m.