Understanding the benefits of coffee for fat metabolism, curbing food cravings, enhancing mood and introducing you to my ‘keto diet coffee’ recipe, engineered specifically for inducing and remaining in ketosis.
Burn More Fat
A keto Diet is restrictive and only allows you to eat foods which favour the fat:protein:carbohydrate ratio, only then will you enter ‘ketosis’. Thankfully there’s one ‘treat’ of mine that I don’t need to sacrifice on a ketogenic diet. Coffee!
Coffee consumption leads to an up-regulation of the hormone adrenaline from the adrenal glands. Adrenaline is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant. As such, Coffee enhances your body’s ability to break down fat (1). This is achieved by boosting the amount of fat oxidation hormone glucagon in the blood, if insulin levels aren’t spiked.
The primary purpose of a ketogenic diet is to enhance fat oxidation, so the additional of coffee into your ketogenic diet seems like a logic additional.
Beat the carbohydrate cravings
Anyone who has ever attempted to live off a low-carb diet knows just how tough the initial few days can be. As soon as you reduce the carbohydrate intake your body begins to panic and wonder where it will get energy from; being so used to deriving energy from carbohydrates, it can take a while to get accustomed to a fat based diet.
Speaking from experience, one of the best vices to combat these cravings that I can recommend is coffee. A study conducted by Duke University concluded that coffee intake worked effectively as an appetite suppressant as it acts as a short term energy boost and enhances alertness.
Improve mood during ketosis
Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world, consumed across all continents in abundance, and for good reason! According to psychology today, coffee increases the secretion of neurotransmitter, dopamine. This powerful impact on the brain makes coffee the most consumed psychoactive outlet in the world.
When you make drastic dietary changes, mood fluctuations are expected. During the initial stages of a ketogenic diet, the brain is suddenly starved of carbohydrates: its energy source it’s become accustomed to over the previously weeks/months. This can lead to poor concentration and irritability.
The combination of both the dopamine and norepinephrine released ‘post-coffee’ will help keep you mood elevated and your mind alert.
Keto diet coffee recipe
Based on the information above, I will often a have a coffee (or three) when I start a Keto Diet. The aptly named ‘Keto Diet Coffee’ I’ve constructed helps me both stay in ketosis (burn more fat); keeps my mood high and beats those ever-looming cravings.
Ingredients
– 1 cup of warm coffee
-1 tablespoon of unsalted, grassfed butter
-1 pinch of cinnamon
-1 teaspoon of brain octane oil
Blend the above up and enjoy!
Reference
Tae-Wook KimYoung-Oh ShinJeong-Beom LeeEmail authorYoung-Ki MinHun-Mo Yang. Effect of caffeine on the metabolic responses of lipolysis and activated sweat gland density in human during physical activity. Food Science and Biotechnology. August 2010, Volume 19, Issue 4, pp 1077–1081
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