Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting
Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting - what is it and why I do it
What is Intermittent Fasting? There are several different types of “IF”, the most popular being, a certain eating pattern or cycle around eating and fasting. For example, most people do a 12 or 16 (or even 24) hour fast. For example, stop eating around 8pm and do not eat again until Noon the next day (16 hours). IF allows your digestion to get a break, helps adjust your hormone levels, repair your cells and can improve insulin sensitivity. So, people have found weight loss, protection against chronic disease, improved brain function, and increased longevity. It has been said that, “when you fast, human growth hormone levels go up and insulin levels go down. Your body cells also change the expression of genes and initiate important cellular repair process.” IF does help with weight loss because the way fat is stored in your body and hormones levels change. This is because it lowers insulin and increases growth hormone levels. When those 2 things happen fat burning hormones release and then in return can sometimes increase your metabolic rate.
I know this is NOT for everyone. Do not do something because someone you know is or because you saw XYZ does it. I am here to tell you about MY journey and if that leads you to TRY it, thats great- just make sure your really tapping into your own personal body and doing your own research
I am that person that was ALWAYS hungry. I would be at my desk n the morning at work probably eating like an egg white, oatmeal or a toaster waffle with peanut butter while my coworkers were all eating bagels or breakfast sandwiches. I remember basically salivating and thinking “I want that” or “I wish I could eat that”. I then would spend the majority of my morning and early afternoon thinking about when I could have my pre lunch snack (but I didn’t want to have it too early because then I would get hungry again before lunch). A lot of my brain power at my old job went into my hunger or food thoughts. I would imagine that most of that time I wasn’t EVEN ACTUALLY hungry aka my hunger cues were super off. And I WAS OVER feeling that way. It certainly was not productive mentally/physically for me, or my job. Personally, the word fasting is a little scary to me and probably to most. When I was first on my new health journey, I did a lot of research about it and learned the reasons behind it, who does it and why, etc and decided to take a stab at it. Fasting has been used for centuries for all different health reasons. It has known that 12-18 hours of fasting improvs your focus, makes your cells more resilient and promotes autophagy (when your cells can clean themselves out).
I tried it for the first time about 2 years ago and my body was like, aight, girlll i’m into this. So, here we are. As I mentioned, I love food and love eating and I love coffee. Even though IF seemed to be working for me, I decided to try Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting (BIF), because, why not! Believe me, the thought of adding BUTTER into my cup of coffee was beyond odd. I grew up learning that we needed to STAY AWAY from butter and now I’m actually adding it FOR health reasons. WHAT? You don’t say. But, alright.. let’s do this. Well 1. I really liked the way it tasted, so thats a start. 2. I actually wasn’t thinking about food all morning. 3. When I did eat lunch, I actually enjoyed it instead of scarfing it down. 4. I had a lot of energy. Aka 4 points for BIF.
2 years later…we are here. I drink BP coffee almost every morning, and typically do a version of IF. It is not something I am super strict on but after doing it for a while, it has taught me a lot about my hunger cues and was able to give me a good guide to go off of. The best part of all of this is, I TRULY love my morning routine and is something forward to. I don’t have to stress about what to eat for breakfast, when to eat it and how much to eat. I am able to shift that brain power and put it into important daily tasks. My fueling and energy boosting coffee is something that starts me off the right way for the day and something I know is good for my body.
What is Bulletproof Coffee:
It is a cup of high quality black coffee mixed with Ghee (grass-fed butter) and Brain Octain Oil (a more effective coconut oil).
What is the difference between Intermittent Fasting and Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting?:
Bulletproof Fasting is the same as IF, except you drink a cup of Bulletproof coffee in the morning. It makes it possible to lose fat and build muscle faster than plain intermittent fasting… without feeling hungry or tired. It even improves mental performance while giving you more health benefits than plain intermittent fasting.
How is it healthy?
Grass-fed butter and brain octane oil are loaded with healthy fats that gives you a stable amount of energy that sustains you through the day
More energy, no crash
Increases focus, reduces unnecessary hunger cravings and even helps burn more fat
The added fat does NOT cause the jitters or post coffee caffeine headaches!
Helps raise the ketones in your blood, which allows your body to use those instead of glucose for energy
Studies show that people who consume Grass Fed Butter have a lot lower risk of heart disease
What is Brain Octane Oil:
It is a purified form of a saturated fat called Medium-Chain Triglycerides (MCTs), which comes from coconut oil but is 4 times more effective. It is 100% American-made, 100% coconut based, triple-distilled C8 MCT, which is why it raises ketones much more than coconut oil or any other MCT oil.
It contains a fatty acid gives you that instant energy and gives you the most ketones. Ketones are a fat burning, brain boosting molecule in your body. This oil increases your ketone levels…which allows your body to burn ketones instead of glucose, which can help boost weight lost, reduce inflammation and boosts your metabolic rate by up to 12%. In terms of keeping you full, the reason is because the this oil helps suppress your ghrelin (hunger hormones) and increases your cholecystokinin (fullness hormone). As I mentioned above, you are able to focus on YOUR DAY not your hunger!! Plus, your brain immediately uses it as a source of energy aka say goodbye to brain fog and hello to mental clarity!
The lowdown on Grass-Fed Butter: This is why BP coffee is so creamy! This is actually one of the healthiest fats you can get! Because Grass fed butter comes from cows who eat only grass (not grains) their milk is fillllled filled with heart healthy nutrients, 400 different fatty acids (energy sources) and a high amount of fat-soluble vitamins, which help nourish your skin, heart and brain. This butter also contains a high amount of an anti-inflammatory fatty acid that provides you a lot of Omega 3, burns fat and help decrease inflammation.
Unless you’re living under a rock, it has be determined that after about 60 hears of the low fat fads- we know that fat doesn’t make you fat! Actually, eating high quality fats help reduce cravings and turns your brain on! I grew up thinking butter was bad for me; which is true when it comes to that unhealthy processed hydrogenated oil filled butters that our bodies cant process.
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My personal recipe for my morning Bulletproof Coffee is typically..
14 oz of Nespresso coffee (my fave tasting coffee from a machine)
1/2 tbsp Brain Octane Oil
1/2-1 tbsp Grass Fed Butter/Ghee
1 Scoop Collagen (protein powder)
1/2 tbsp Acacia Fiber (fiber powder)
Cinnamon
A few other topics:
Organic Coffee? yes, you should always try to drink organic due to conventional containing fertilizers, pesticides, etc. But that is true for all the things we ingest. The thing that the bulletproof concept talks about when it comes to the type of coffee bean is that you should upgrade your coffee beans to beans that are tested for mycotoxins and mold. This is not something I am super regimented about. I trust my Nespresso pods, as it is right now.
Collagen: why do I add it and what is the difference between different collagens? I add it because it devolves with no texture and taste, gives me 10g of protein and has the proponents to strengthen my skin, joints, gut health, hair and nails. There is really no difference between all the different “kinds” out there… there are just different brands. I personally use and trust Ancient Nutrition (they have great flavored collagens) and Vital Proteins.
Does the coffee stay hot after mixing everything in? Yes, it doesn’t change the temperature of the coffee at all. I brew my coffee and dump it in the blender, add the butter, oil etc and blend for minute and it tastes like coffee shop latte!
What if you don't like coffee? Great question because I get this one a lot. You can add these ingredients into anything you would like. You can make Non Coffee Lattes like in a Matcha, Spiced Chai or Turmeric Latte, etc. Also— other than that, you can cook and bake with the butter and oil (which I love to do), add it to salad dressings, add it to smoothies.
How to start? Honestly, that is up to you. It’s only one of those things that you just…start. I know they make them at the coffee shop in Whole Foods, so that is always an option so that you don’t have to buy all the ingredients before trying it.
Do I use the “Bulletproof” brand for everything? Answer is no but not because I don’t love it, I do! It is supppper high quality and its the best but honestly just out of connivence, I use other brands that are at my typical grocery store.
What protein brand do I put in my coffee? I like to use collagen protein because it dissolves without a trace and if you get a flavor like chocolate or vanilla, it tastes SO good.
Why not just add/use coconut oil?
Ok so there is ..coconut oil, MCT Oil and Brain Octane Oil. The easiest way to explain — You essentially can not get enough of the useful MCTs you need form just using coconut oil. MCT oil is a more concentrated version of coconut oil and Brain Octane oil is an even more concentrated version of that—