
The Cult of the Bulletproof Coffee Diet - aaronbrethorst
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/style/the-cult-of-the-bulletproof-coffee-diet.html
======
Renaud
I'm wondering if there is real strong evidence, other than anecdotal accounts,
for the wonderful claims that are made for the quasi-magical properties of
that coffee melange.

I get it that under extreme physical circumstances (high in the Tibetan
mountains) coffee mixed with butter can be a good way to replenish your energy
quickly, but I'm not sure how this can be extrapolated to our more sedentary
lives.

Even if the boost in energy (undeniable since you're ingesting a lot of fats)
does make you feel good, it doesn't necessarily translate into long term
benefits.

I'm wondering if there are any studies showing the effect on cholesterol,
insulin levels, fasting sugar levels, over time.

And then can't help but getting very skeptical of the whole thing when I read
that some of the products on sale on the website are marketed for 'brain
detox'.

Sounds like snake oil to me.

~~~
failrate
I really want to see one serious double blind study where someone extracts oil
out of snakes and tests its effectiveness on various common ailments. Not for
scientific rigor. At this point, I just really want to know what would happen.

~~~
jefftk
See: [http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/snake-oil-
salesmen...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/snake-oil-salesmen-
knew-something/)

They reference Kunin 1989 [1], Shirai 2002 [2], and Shirai 2007 [3].

Chinese snake oil is a reasonable source of omega-3s.

[1]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1026931/pdf/west...](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1026931/pdf/westjmed00120-0094a.pdf)
[2]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0271-5317(02)00426-8](http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0271-5317\(02\)00426-8)
[3]
[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1444-2906.2003....](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1444-2906.2003.00806.x/full)

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equalarrow
I did this for a while a few years ago. I'm not adverse to fat and so I was
all in on the butter. Bought a little hand blender/frother from amazon and
went all out for about a month.

First off, the Aero Press didn't really impress. I got rid of it - it just
wasn't worth it for me. I could never make it 'work', coffee was always thin.

As far as the Bulletproof coffee, it was too 'light' for me. I know Dave was
talkin about making a darker roast, but at that time his roast didn't really
appeal to me. I was doing French, Italian, or Espresso roasts via drip funnel
for a while and I had it down pretty good. I felt like I had a pretty rich and
big flavor, but I was willing to try the low toxin approach. Didn't hold me
for very long.

Also, Dave says he can thrown down multiple cups of this stuff and after the
first cup (I would even thrown 1/2 stick of butter in), my stomach was not
happy.

I get where he is going with all this. I've been to Tibet, I've had yak tea,
I've had Chai in India, etc and the Bulletproof method just didn't do it for
me.

But back to fat. I've actually moved to a high fat diet (more or less). I
don't do _anything_ low fat. I do veggies and meats and for the meats, I want
the fat. My morning always consists of some sort of fat - only grass fed
butter with eggs, full fat yogurt, etc - and it works for me. Nothing
processed, whole foods only.

For my coffee I love Weavers. They have fair trade organic and their French
roast is _really_ good. Prob one of the darkest roasts I've tried that just
has this really killer smooth, nutty flavor. I use whole cream and a little
sugar. I love it.

My weight has pretty much stabilized. I'm not super lean, but I'm not super
lardo either. If I hopped back on my bike, I could prob drop 20lbs in a few
months. My LDL checks in at normal and my doc said nothing is crazy out of
balance.

Everyone has theories and Dave's are interesting. I guess it just boils down
to trying different things and seeing what works.

~~~
thenomad
Aeropress: were you using the brew method suggested in the Aeropress manual?
If so, yeah, that one sucks - no wonder you didn't get on with it!

If you fancy giving it another go and haven't tried it already, the general
approach used by most champion baristas who use Aeropress is much hotter water
(around usual brew temperatures, 90 - 96C) and the "inverted" method - see
[http://stumptowncoffee.com/brew-
guides/aeropress/](http://stumptowncoffee.com/brew-guides/aeropress/)

~~~
semi-extrinsic
Inverted brewing is by far the best, but if you want to stick with the
standard method, buying a metal filter helps a lot. Able brewing sells a very
good laser-cut stainless steel one.

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vldx
Dave Asprey markets well known and researched concepts under his own brand,
from performance/biohackig perspective.

The bulletproof diet is basically at it's core a very low carb/paleo/ketogenic
diet, incorporating intermittent fasting.

Mark Scisson has pretty much the same approach with his Primal Blueprint - re-
branded diet and prepackaged lifestyle.

Using healthy fats as main energy source, skipping breakfast and excluding
carbohydrates from your nutritional intake would regulate your insulin
sensitivity, blood glucose levels, respectively leading to imoroved energy
balance.

NOTE: references to be included.

~~~
joelrunyon
What I like about Sisson is that he talks about things in practical senses
(this is best, this is better, this is how you can deal with it in a pinch).
Dave tends to be a bit more high-end with a focus on "you either do it the
uber-optimized way or not at all."

No way is right (I actually tend to like the extreme ends myself), but I find
Sisson's approach is typically more end-user friendly (especially for
newbies).

~~~
ZeroMcMuffin
Sisson ends up being fairly pragmatic. I really like the encouragement to do
self-experiments to see what works for you. All dogma should be secondary to
the results you see personally.

~~~
joelrunyon
Agreed - he ends most posts with "see what works for you" which is refreshing.

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abecedarius
_red lights on his head (“boosts mitochondrial function,” he says)_

This seems to be about
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemoencephalography](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemoencephalography)
(in case you are going "What?", as I was). His company sells a machine for it.

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dodyg
Everybody is trying to make a buck out of selling magic potions.

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malkia
My grandma used to make every tea cup with a piece of butter.

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apolretom
This is a great evidence-based evaluation of Bulletproof Coffee claims by an
MD/PhD: [http://evidencebasedfitness.net/yummy-but-not-special-
part-i...](http://evidencebasedfitness.net/yummy-but-not-special-part-ii-
bulletproof-coffee/)

