On a trip to Tibet, the American computer scientist Dave Asprey enjoyed a cup of tea with typical yak butter and noticed that he felt much better physically and mentally. This experience was, in a way, the starting signal for a new life for the current entrepreneur and author of several books. After his return, he developed a coffee version of Tibetan butter tea. It is a black coffee with a few teaspoons of butter and coconut oil. He called his creation Bulletproof Coffee.
As if that were not enough, Asprey, who was overweight at the time, completely changed his diet and lost about 50 kilograms as a result. Mentally and spiritually, he also felt better than ever before thanks to his new diet routine. The Bulletproof Diet was born. "Bulletproof" alludes to the diet's guarantee of success. It is supposed to support fat loss and muscle maintenance while keeping inflammation at bay. The Bulletproof Diet is also designed to balance blood sugar and hormones and increase energy levels and cognitive function.
3 important principles of the Bulletproof Diet
His "bulletproof" nutrition routine includes three essential principles.
Firstly, priority is given to products that are organically produced and have not been elaborately processed. These include unprocessed whey products, butter from grazing cows and milk that has not been homogenised or pasteurised. Products with a high proportion of colourings or additives are correspondingly offside. It is also advantageous to heat certain foods very little. This preserves the important ingredients.
Secondly, another important point in Dave Asprey's routine is a conscious diet. He pays very close attention to what goes into his body in the sense of a pronounced body autonomy.
Thirdly, the diet has a clear idea of essential ingredients such as fats, proteins and carbohydrates. For example, Asprey considers protein to be the cause of many diseases in the body, which is why it should only be consumed in modest quantities. Furthermore, the Bulletproof Diet allows carbohydrates, but only in small amounts and preferably with dinner. The bacterial composition in the intestine is said to be particularly favourable at this time. Carbohydrates also increase the production of serotonin, from which the sleep hormone melatonin is subsequently produced. Overall, 50-70 % of the calories burned should come from healthy fats, about 20 % from protein and the rest from carbohydrates.
How to get started with the Bulletproof Diet by Dave Asprey
Similar to a ketogenic diet, the Bulletproof Diet aims to induce the natural effects of ketosis - that is, to "reprogramme" the metabolism to recognise fat as an energy source. Unsurprisingly, the Bulletproof Diet sees sugar as a dangerous source of energy. Basically, our body can quickly convert sugar into energy. This process sets off a number of other actions. In particular, the pancreas secretes insulin, which causes the blood sugar level to drop promptly and makes you hungry again after a while. If you eat a lot of sugar, the excess quickly turns into fat in your body. In addition, sweet foods also have a certain addictive effect.
In the morning, Asprey recommends eating a high-fat breakfast, if at all, and avoiding carbohydrates, as you want to be full for a long time, especially in the morning. Bulletproof Coffee is said to be an effective and quick way to experience the energy and restorative effects of saturated fats. The high content of MCT fat (Medium Chain Triglycerides) in coconut oil is said to make it easier to digest than other fats, as well as significantly increasing energy expenditure, effectively helping the body to dissolve fat deposits. It is important that only organic butter from grazing cows is used instead of conventional butter. According to his theory, only this contains the optimal ratio of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, lowers cholesterol levels and ultimately promotes fat burning. The fat in coffee ensures that caffeine enters the bloodstream in a delayed and sustained manner. In addition, unlike normal breakfast rolls, butter and oil make you feel full without burdening your digestion.
Bulletproof coffee to make yourself
The blend of high-quality coffee, pasture butter and MCT oil is easy to prepare yourself, even if you don't use the special "Bulletproof" coffee powder:
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- First brew yourself a cup of coffee
- Put this in a blender
- Add 1-2 tablespoons of organic butter from pasture cows
- 1-2 tablespoons MCT oil or C8 oil supplement
- And lastly: mix
Bulletproof lunch and dinner
For the other meals of the day, the diet divides different foods into good, medium and bad according to a traffic light principle. High-quality foods such as meat from free-range animals, fresh fish, vegetables, butter from free-range animals, olive and coconut oil, avocados and nuts (no peanuts) form the basis of your diet. Organic products fresh from the market are particularly recommended. Sugar, cereals, pulses, dairy products and sweet fruits are not very beneficial and are also not recommended as snacks between meals. The perfect bulletproof dish is, for example, steak with spinach or avocado with smoked wild salmon.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are found in many vegetable oils, are normally considered healthy. However, the Bulletproof Diet is based on the theory that these fatty acids promote inflammatory processes in the body. Thus, rapeseed oil, safflower oil, peanut oil and sunflower oil should be strictly avoided. Instead, the diet recommends coconut or olive oil.
Fasting & Supplements
However, the high-fat, low-carbohydrate, and low-protein diet is just one of many building blocks of Dave Asprey's Longevity routine. This ranges from intermittent fasting protocols, to the use of biohacking tricks to optimize recovery, to dozens of supplements.
These are all important components on the way to his goal of reaching the 180-year mark.
Dave Asprey is a big believer in intermittent fasting. In his books and podcast he recommends the 16:8 model. This means fasting for 16 hours and eating within 8 hours. For practical reasons, he advises skipping breakfast and not eating the first meal until noon.
The bestselling author supplements his nutritional routine with a veritable flood of supplements. Polyphenols, selected amino acids, electrolytes, fat-soluble vitamins and special oils are on his daily menu.
Asprey, who describes himself as a biohacker and health enthusiast, says he has spent more than $1 million on his longevity routine to date. This enormous sum is based in part on costly interventions such as stem cell treatments, NAD infusions and regular red light therapies. The future will tell if the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
