The Benefits Of Bulletproof Coffee
Discover the secrets behind Bulletproof Coffee!
By Travis Wade
If you haven’t heard of Bulletproof Coffee yet, it’s a coffee recipe founded by Dave Asprey in 2009 and was featured on some very popular talk shows in 2014, causing it to gain a lot of popularity. Today, Dave has a number of New York Times best selling books: “Game Changers”, “Head Strong”, and “The Bulletproof Diet”.
A lot of people have been butchering the original Bulletproof Coffee recipe not knowing why the exact ingredients are in place. Some people that have heard about Bulletproof Coffee have been putting butter and coconut oil in their coffee hoping to lose weight. I’ve seen an intermittent fasting specialist talk about putting coconut oil in your coffee and skipping breakfast to keep your body in fat burning mode. As long as you’re not adding carbohydrates to your body you will be in fat burning mode; this is the basis of a keto-diet.
About Dave Asprey
I’m going to tell you straight up, Dave is the real deal and his recipe sounds way too tempting not to try. In this article, I’m going to tell you the real recipe to Bulletproof Coffee and why the ingredients are exactly the way they are. If you want to try it yourself you can order some with this link.
First, I have to tell you a bit about Dave Asprey: Dave’s not a doctor, he’s just a very brilliant man that had medical issues and learned how to overcome them. However, he is married to a doctor. He is also known as the original “Biohacker”. He is the man that coined the phrase “biohacking”.
Dave’s arthritis started at 14 and he was 300 pounds by the time he was in 4th year university. He had fibromyalgia, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, and brain fog. Today, Dave weighs 200 lbs. at 6’4” and all of his other symptoms have been relieved. The remedy to Dave’s health problems is rooted in fixing his microbiome.
In time, Dave learned the importance of meditation and travelled to Tibet to improve his skills in this area. On a mountain in Tibet, Dave was given some yak butter tea in a bowl and it made him feel so awesome he had to recreate it. Dave learned why the yak butter tea worked so well then came up with his own recipe and wanted to share it with the world.
The Bulletproof Coffee Recipe
The first component of the coffee recipe is the beans, which Dave grows in Central and South America. The problem with even the best brands of coffee in North America is the mold toxins in them. The mold toxin, which is a metabolite of the mold called a mycotoxin, accumulates in the brain and affects the gut biome. In fact, these mycotoxins are so toxic they are limited in the parts per billion, (not parts per million) in other countries. As a result, Dave makes sure his coffee is toxin free with his processing, before lab testing it for 27 different toxins. (That was last count, maybe more now).
The mold toxins cause side effects like the jitters and a crash after the original caffeine high wears off, alongside food cravings. These mold toxins are banned in other countries in Europe and Asia, but are not regulated as much in North America. This means, coffee companies sell their toxin free coffee in other countries that have better toxin regulations. This doesn’t mean they throw out their toxic coffee – they sell it to us here in North America.
Furthermore, I have to mention that mycotoxins are also found in grains. People and cows eat the grains and breast milk/dairy products have mycotoxins. Also, antibiotics are a mycotoxin. Dave, myself, and a lot of medical professionals believe antibiotics are way overused and should only be used in emergency situations.
Grass-fed Butter
The second component of Dave’s recipe is the grass-fed butter. There’s 3 ingredients in the butter that are important and that’s why it’s necessary for it to be grass-fed. In fact, Dave stresses the importance of not cheaping-out on proper butter. The first ingredient is saturated fat, the preferred energy source of the brain and body and an anti-inflammatory.
The second ingredient is butyrate or butyric acid, named after butter because that’s where it’s most commonly found. Butyrate is used to help increase good gut flora. Lastly, the third ingredient is CLA, or conjugated linoleic acid, which is commonly used as a weight loss supplement.
Plus, the antioxidants in the coffee and the ketones from the fat are anti-inflammatories. All in all, this whole combination turns down the bad and turns up the good bacteria. In a nutshell, this is one of the greatest things you can do to improve your overall health, performance, fat loss, and disease prevention.
Brain Octane Oil
Finally, the last component of Dave’s Bulletproof Coffee is “Brain Octane Oil”, also known as C8 oil. There are 4 different medium chain triglycerides: C6, C8, C10, and C12, named for their length of their hydrocarbon tails. You’ll find all 4 MCTs in coconut oil, with C12 being the most abundant at 52% and C8 being the rarest at 5.5%. Dave’s C8 is triple-distilled in an oxygen free environment. Dave doesn’t give away all his secrets but he says if you get your C8 anywhere else you’ll get what he calls “disaster pants”. As you can imagine, it’s not good. That is all.
C8 and Weight Loss
C8 is the key ingredient for people who want to lose weight. This is because its metabolized and used by the body a lot more efficiently than other fats. C12 is a longer chained fat. C12 will go through the liver and is stored there as fat that can be used when necessary.
On the other hand, C8 metabolizes a lot like a sugar, as it easily breaks down into ketones for your brain and body to use immediately. With 2 tablespoons of C8 and the absence of any carbs, you will immediately go into full ketosis in about a half an hour.
When I first started taking C8 I didn’t drink coffee and I put it in my soup. I remember one morning when I actually felt it kick in. My brain just felt like I snapped out of a day dream and was ready for the day.
Plus, you’ll think better and clearer without the crash you normally get with coffee and you won’t get hungry. The C8 puts you into ketosis and you’ll stay there until you eat carbohydrates. Better still, the butter is another source of fat that staves off hunger. As a result, if you drink Bulletproof Coffee in the morning, by lunchtime you may or may not be hungry. Coffee just happens to be another appetite suppressant.
Perhaps best of all, Dave also learned how to manipulate the microbiome to lose weight. C8 is an anti-fungal and works together with the coffee to induce a healthier microbiome. Thin people have more bacteroidetes and less firmicutes while obese people have the opposite.
Scientists have conducted studies where they put bacteroidetes in obese people, causing them to lose weight. While, on the other hand, they put firmicutes into skinny mice, causing them to gain weight. In short, C8 decreases the firmicutes, and the antioxidants in the coffee feed the bacteroidetes, (these are the 2 main types of bacteria in the gut).If you’re interested, you can have your own levels tested at viome.com.
How to Become Bulletproof
In Dave’s New York Times best-selling book “The Bulletproof Diet”, he talks about foods you need to avoid to heal your body and to lose weight, as well as those you need to incorporate. Click here to view the Bulletproof DIet Road Map. Plus, if you want to try Dave’s Bulletproof Coffee, you can click here.
In next week’s newsletter, I will talk some more about the microbiome. I hope you liked this article and, if you did, then please forward it, like, and share. If you want more help with your health and fitness journey, contact me and I will help you.
I wish you lots of health, love and happiness!
Travis Wade
The only holistic personal trainer in Edmonton.