Monday Moron Medical Monitoring

Quick explanation of so-called "Bulletproof Coffee:"

The coffee was popularlized -- and I guess invented -- by David Asprey, author of "The Bulletproof Executive." Here's his video about it.

He makes various claims about the coffee which strike me as ludicrous -- he says his !Q has gone up 20 points on the coffee --- but there is one big part of the coffee that seems solidly-based.

The coffee recipe is just two tablespoons of grass-fed unsalted butter (Kerrygold has one of the most widely distributed of such butters; look for the silver label for unsalted (gold is salted)), and some medium-chain triglyceride oil, available from Amazon in various forms. I use coconut oil, but not for any particular reason. (SEE UPDATE.)

I also put a lot of Saigon cinnamon in mine, plus non-sugar sweetener (stevia for me -- I don't taste the bad taste many object to).

The point of the coffee for those doing Intermittent fasting and/or Low Carb High Fat is that you're actually having a small meal, composed of almost 100% fat, but this meal does not produce any insulin response, as fat doesn't trigger an insulin release.

So, as far as intermittent fasting, even though you actually are breaking your fast with a shot of calories and fat, you're not breaking your fast as regards the hormone you actually care about -- insulin. No insulin is being raised, so as far as your insulin metabolism knows, you're still in your fasted state.

Yet you're getting some calories, which will make it easier for you to hit the 16 (or 18, or 20) hour mark without eating.

If you're doing Low Carb High Fat, you just swapped out one meal for a small meal that's 100% dietary fat, so that helps you on LCHF ratios.

Remember, don't just replace carbs with protein. At some point your body will figure out the trick you're pulling on it and start burning protein for glucose (and producing the insulin response). Eat more protein, but not too much more. You want to swap the carbs for fat, not a ton of extra protein.

People add the cinnamon because it's a natural stimulant that adds to the kick of caffeine and also, I think, is supposed to have some additional fat-burning effect beyond the simple metabolism-boosting effect. I kinda doubt that though. But we have a doctor who prescribes cinnamon capsules to patients, so maybe he can elucidate on that for us.

Since I've been adding cinnamon I've gone from two cups of coffee in the morning to just one, which is good for me, because too much caffeine makes me jittery and trips my anxiety switches.

Now, I know people whom make their coffee with heavy whipping cream, which is also 100% fat (or nearly so). So the question arises: Why have your coffee with weirdo creamer like butter and coconut oil, when you could get the same basic metabolic effect from heavy whipping cream?

I have no idea why you wouldn't do that. I think Asprey just popularlized this butter-and-oil recipe (he claims that he drank tea with yak butter in the Himalayas and it endowed him with superior performance in all ways) and so this is what I'm doing. I don't see how the heavy whipping cream version would be inferior for IF or LCHF purposes.

I would say this, though: Butter keeps a long time. That means you pretty much always have creamer in the morning, and never have one of those oh-no-I'm-out-of-creamer-and-didn't-go-to-the-supermarket-last-night black coffee mornings. So even if you're going the whipping cream route, maybe just have a stick of unsalted butter in there. Just in case.

Okay so here are my accountability stats: Had another lame week of weight loss. I dropped through the 187 resistance point Friday, down to 185.5, but have lost nothing since then. I actually I gained slightly -- 185.7.

Still, 20 pounds down from two months ago, or around then. Maybe two and a half.

The last time I lost weight I was losing 3-4 pounds per week many weeks, but I was doing something else then too: Walking at a hard pace for 40-50 minutes, 4 times a week. I haven't been doing that. I might have to start doing that again, especially now that my shoulder's got me out of commission for weightlifting.

So: How are all of you doing?

PS: Broseidon King asked if he could post his lift figures here. Of course you can/should. Any medical/health/exercise goal can be posted here. It's not just weight loss.

If you want to talk about your GAINS, BRO, then talk about your GAINS, BRO~!

Oh: Last time people were debating the best way to drink two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (which might reduce insulin, especially at night -- though this is unproven).

I've been having it in coffee cups with cold water and ice and stevia. The water cuts the vinegar, obviously, but it's still a small enough amount to drink that you can power it down in a (not terribly pleasant) minute.

A coffee cup, especially a big coffee cup, seems to me to be the right compromise between cutting the vinegar and yet not making so much liquid it's hard to get down.

A Note on Adding MCT Oil to Your Coffee: Remember when I pooped my pants a few months ago?

Yeah, that was from MCT oil. You sort of have to add it slowly, to get your body used to it. It gets things moving smoothly out of your body -- a little too smoothly if you start with loads of MCT oil.

posted by Ace at 05:03 PM

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