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A lot has been made of intermittent fasting in recent years. It’s becoming increasingly popular in the mainstream. With that popularity comes quite a bit of misinformation about what you can and can’t eat and drink while practicing intermittent fasting.
The basic rule of thumb, from my perspective, is that anything with any amount of calories above a trace amount is a big No-No while you’re in your fasted state.
Water is the best drink you can have while fasting. I don’t think there’s any arguing with that. However, there are plenty of other drinks that you can’t have that might help you be back as hunger pains when they occur.
With that in mind, we’re going to look at whether black tea is a good drink to have while in your fasted state.
Does Black Tea Break A Fast? The prevailing wisdom is that black tea does not break a fast. Black tea is essentially calorie-free. This makes it an ideal drink for anyone practicing intermittent fasting. In fact, black tea might aid the fasting process in a variety of ways and help suppress hunger during a fast.
If you are just looking for a great black tea to try while you fast I recommend
Buddha Teas Organic Earl Grey Loose Leaf Tea.
Before we get into the Nitty Gritty of what makes black tea a great option for someone practicing intermittent fasting. I wanted to give a brief overview of exactly what black tea is.
Black tea is the most popular tea on the planet. Black Tea comes in a variety of different types such as Earl Grey or English breakfast.
Black tea is one of the true teas. We often call herbal infusions, like lemongrass tea or ginger tea, teas. They are not actually real teas. They come from whatever plant or root that you use to make the herbal infusion.
True teas come from the tea tree. The differentiating factors on what tea is produced are determined by a variety of factors including the oxidation level of the tea leaves when the tea leaves are harvested among others.
Black tea has the most oxidation out of all the teas giving it much more caffeine than say a green tea and also a more robust flavor than most of the other true teas. But it still retains a lot of the health benefits and a lot of the antioxidants that are commonly associated with tea.
All the common health benefits associated with tea only stand to enhance the benefits of drinking black tea while intermittent fasting
With that out of the way let’s find out what makes black tea an exceptional choice to drink while you are in your fasted state.
Why Black Tea Is Great On A Fast
There are a few reasons that we’re going to touch on as to why black tea is such a great choice for anyone on a fast. We’ll take a look at the calorie content, the caffeine content. As well as a few other factors that make black tea one of the few beverages that’s safe to drink while on a fast.
No Calories
For anything that you drink during intermittent fasting, you have to start right here at the calorie content. Black tea has no calories for all intents and purposes. There are Trace calories in a cup of black tea.
But most people agree that there are not enough calories to pull your body out of a fast. There is a school of thought that says you should only be drinking water on a fast.
But the general consensus among those who practice intermittent fasting is that beverages like tea or coffee a perfectly fine during a fasted state.
So we have black tea with plenty of antioxidants and no calories as a basis for this beverage during an intermittent fast.
This is the biggest and most crucial saying when looking at any type of drink for yourself when you’re on a fast. It must be calorie-free. All true teas are naturally calorie-free including black tea.
There is a big caveat to this though. Your black tea starts calorie-free and it has to end calorie-free. So that means you have to get used to drinking your black tea with no sugar, no cream, no butter. Nothing.
There people out there that will tell you that having bulletproof tea which is black tea with butter in it is going to be fine when you’re fasting.
I disagree with that assessment there are just too many calories in the butter to keep you from going out of your fasted state. Now bulletproof tea or Bulletproof Coffee is fantastic if you’re on a keto diet.
But there’s a big difference between a keto diet and intermittent fasting. Although those two do go together very very well.
A Little Caffeine Helps
Caffeine may help your body during fasting and have a ketogenic effect when consumed, according to this study. This increase in ketosis contributes to fat burning. In fact, it is the whole idea behind fasting.
Your body has no carbs to burn so it becomes more efficient at burning fat for energy. The caffeine in black tea might just amplify that process.
Caffeine may also suppress your feelings of hunger and increase calorie burning, according to this article from the Mayo Clinic.
When you drink it while fasting these effects could be enhanced since you are limited to what energy source your body can draw from. Stored fat is really the only place it can go once you reach a fasted state.
A Great Choice For Fasting
No calories. Enhanced fat and general calorie burning. Appetite suppression. The list goes on and on. Not only is black tea ok for you to drink during a fast. It is actually going to enhance you fast.
Should you drink black tea at every chance while fasting? Probably not. The majority of your liquid intake during a fast should still be water.
But a couple of cups of black tea during the tough periods of your fast are really going to help you get the most out of your intermittent fasting routine.
The added bonus is that you get to continue drinking the greatest beverage ever discovered regardless of what type of diet you are on.
And it doesn’t stop at black tea. Green tea is great for fasting, you can find our article right here. And we will take a look at a variety of teas and herbal infusions in the future to see just how beneficial they are to not only intermittent fasting but your health in general.
Wrapping Up Black Tea And Intermittent Fasting
To wrap things up. I tend to drink a couple of cups of tea during my fasted state on any given day. Along with a cup of coffee in the morning usually.
The type of tea is what differs. Some days it’s black tea. Some days green. Other times it might be a nice herbal infusion.
They all have their benefits and some drawbacks at times. Find your sweet spot for what to drink during your fasted state. Experiment with new teas and infusions and find the ones that work for you.
There is no wrong answer.
Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful day.