I first heard about putting butter in coffee a couple years ago.  Only recently, did I first try what everyone now knows as Bulletproof Coffee.  I have to tell you, after the first morning, I was hooked!

Many cultures have put butter fat in their coffee for centuries.  Dave Asprey, learned about the practice while drinking yak butter tea in Tibet.  He brought the idea back to the US and experimented until he was able to replicate the fantastic energy boost and mental focus afforded by the mixture. Bulletproof Coffee was born and has swept around the world.

What got me hooked?  I felt amazing!

Bulletproof coffee quickly produces a mild ketosis, which can be combined with regular intermittent fasting. The result is – more daily fat burning, improved mental focus and extended satiety (not feeling hungry).

Here’s how it works.

What is Ketosis?

Humans are kinda like hybrid cars, in that, our bodies can select from two sources of fuel.  The first, and go-to, fuel is glycogen.  The second is ketone bodies, also called ketones.  Most cells in the body can use both glucose and ketone bodies for fuel.

The state of burning blood glucose for fuel is called glycolysis.  The state of burning ketone bodies is referred to as ketosis.

Ketones are a type of fat produced by the liver.  They are only present when the body is burning fat for fuel. A person burning ketones is said to be in ketosis. Our bodies enter ketosis and begin burning ketones when liver glycogen has been depleted due to a consistently low level of carbohydrates.

But don’t humans require a certain amount of carbohydrates to function?  Actually, we don’t.  Dr. Perlmutter says, “While we definitely require protein and fat, the human requirement for dietary carbohydrate is none, none whatsoever.

In glycolysis, the higher levels of insulin promote storage of body fat and block release of fat from fat cells.  In ketosis, fat reserves are readily released and provide the body with energy. For this reason, ketosis is sometimes referred to as being in “fat burning” mode.

Most cells in the body can use ketones as a source of fuel for energy.

Benefits of Ketosis

There are some powerful benefits from being in ketosis.

• In ketosis, the body burns energy from fat stores.  This usually results in weight loss.
• Ketones enhance the growth of new neural networks in the brain.
• A 2005 study showed Parkinson’s patients on a ketogenic diet improved on par with those made possible by medication and brain surgery in just 28 days.
• Ketones increase glutathione levels in the hippocampus. Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant.
• Ketones facilitate the production of mitochondria.
• Low carbohydrate diets lower triglycerides and raise HDL-cholesterol (the good cholesterol), compared with low-fat diets.

How to get into ketosis

Our bodies naturally switch into ketosis as we sleep.

To be in regular nutritional ketosis, the following conditions must be met:

• Concentrations of ketone bodies in the blood must be over 0.5 millimolar
• Insulin levels must be low and stable
• Blood glucose must be low and stable
• Liver glycogen stores must be depleted

Here are the various ketone levels.

blood concentration (millimolar or mM)	Condition
< 0.2	not in ketosis
0.2 – 0.5	slight/mild ketosis
0.5 – 3.0	induced/nutritional ketosis
2.5 – 3.5	post-exercise ketosis
3.0 – 6.0	starvation ketosis
15 – 25	ketoacidosis

Mild ketosis generally develops after a 12- to 14-hour fast.  The primary purpose of Bulletproof Coffee is to speeds up the transition into mild ketosis.  I’ll talk more about that in a moment.

We switch back to glycolysis each day as soon as we eat enough carbs to raise insulin levels and blood glucose.

Dave Asprey is an expert on ketosis.  He instructs, “The normal way to get into ketosis is to eat zero carbs, moderate protein, and lots of fat for several days until your body switches into burning fat for fuel. When that happens, a blood test for ketones will read 0.8 (that’s mM/L) or higher. You’ll never get there if you’re having moderate or even low carbohydrates. You’ll probably have levels of 0.2 or nearly none at all.”

Once in nutritional ketosis, remaining there is possible by heavily restricting carbs.  The target I see mentioned most is to keep total carbs below 50g per day.  The standard American diet usually derives about 45-65% of daily calories from carbs while a ketogenic diet typically restricts carb intake to 5% or less.

The transition into nutritional ketosis can last a couple days and is referred to as “keto-flu”.  It is typical to feel headache, nausea, fatigue, dry mouth, bad breath, upset stomach, frequent urination, and lack of mental clarity.  I found it very uncomfortable and would suggest it’s not something you want to go in and out of very often.

Bulletproof Coffee allows you to go into fat burning mode without severe carb restriction.  The Wellness Repair Diet is NOT a ‘less-than-50g-per-day’ ketogentic diet.  You may find a standard ketogenic diet to work well for you.  Some people thrive on it.  But most functional medicine doctors recommend not staying in ketosis for longer than three months because it can severely tax the adrenal system as well as hinder sleep and the production of mucus.

The Kind of Ketosis I Prefer

There are 3 different styles of the keto diet:

The Wellness Repair Diet is Cyclic with a mild ketone target level of just over 0.48 mM.

As Dave Asprey points out, “If you can just dip into ketosis a little bit, you automatically reset your hunger hormone (ghrelin) and your satisfaction hormone (CCK).”  Both ghrelin and CCK reset at 0.48 mM or higher.  Dave adds, “The problem is that you’ll never hit those numbers unless you’re following a strict ketogenic diet, which shoots you way above what it takes to reset ghrelin and CCK.”  

In fact, the typical person would have a blood ketone level of around 0.1 to 0.2 mM, which would not be high enough to keep them from being hungry.

There is a trick, however, that takes advantage of the natural overnight fast to jump start mild ketosis.

Pure C8 MCT Oil for mild ketosis and mental focus

MCT stands for Medium Chain Triglyceride and is defined as any fat with 6, 8, 10 or 12 carbon chains.  Actually, the 12 carbon variety is not a true biological MCT. Unlike other dietary fats, MCTs don’t get stored as fat in the body.  They get burned for energy.

Dave Asprey sells a pure C8 MCT oil branded as Bulletproof Brain Octane. Here’s are his definitions of C8 and C10.

C8, Caprylic Acid (Brain Octane)- The rarest ~6% of coconut or palm oil:

It has potent anti-microbial properties (way more potent than lauric acid) to help you maintain a healthy gut, and it is the fastest to metabolize in the brain. (This is Brain Octane Oil.) Your liver does not need to process this rare type of MCT, and it only takes 3 steps for your body to turn it into ATP, the cellular fuel you use. Sugar takes 26 steps. This is why Brain Octane is so good at suppressing cravings and is the most powerful oil to put in Bulletproof Coffee. You would need 18 tablespoons of coconut oil to get just one tablespoon of Brain Octane.

C10, Capric Acid – Around ~9% of coconut or palm oil:

This is the second shortest form of MCT, also rare. It is slower to turn into energy but more affordable than C8. XCT Oil is triple-distilled in a non-oxygen atmosphere with no solvents ever used, and it contains C10 and C8, because these are the only two MCT oils that turn into ATP quickly without the liver. You would need 6 tablespoons of coconut oil to get one tablespoon of XCT oil.

Most MCT oil is made up of C8 and C10. The C8/C10 mixture will work and is cheaper, but doesn’t peak ketones as quickly.  Also, Some people experience less stomach discomfort with the more refined C8.  C6 would absorb even faster, but tastes and smells terrible, whereas C8 is nearly tasteless and odorless.

The MCT oil that will put you in mild ketosis the quickest is pure C8. Unlike C12 in coconut or palm oil, C8 metabolizes in just three steps and works within minutes – without the dreaded keto-flu transition.

The typical amount of C8 MCT to use in a cup of coffee would be 1-2 tbsp.  You really only need enough to get over that 0.48 mM threshold.

You can measure with Ketostix, or a blood glucose meter. There is breath analyzer called Keytonix, but reviews say it in only generally helpful to plot a trend and not accurate enough to reliably tell you if you are in ketosis.  You can also start with less than 1 tbsp of MCT and work your way up until you feel the improved mental focus.

I want to mention that I am not affiliated with Dave Asprey or Bulletproof in any way.  I do, however, use some of his products.

Bulletproof Brain Octane Oil was the first I ever tried and the brand that got me hooked on C8. It works great.

Currently, I am using MiCkey T Eight Pure C-8 Caprylic Acid. It is only sold on Amazon under the name Real Food Expeditors.  I have gotten to know the owner, Doug Long. He is a semi-retired attorney that I have found extremely helpful and very transparent about his product. He publishes the Certificate of Analysis (COA) for each batch on the Amazon sales page. The COA can be viewed as one of the product images. MicKey T Eight is one of the least expensive.

There are a couple other brands available as well. I have another post that is a detailed shootout of all the C8 brands.

Grass-fed butter for energy and nutrients

When a cow eats grain and soy, the butter from their milk has a harmful ratio of omega fatty acids along with high concentrations of pesticide residue.  This is the butter you have always heard about as being dangerous for you. It causes inflammation.  Further, reduced fat versions made from canola oil (rape seed) are even worse for you.

A saying to remember and teach your family is:  “You are what you eat – ate.”

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When a cow eats grass, the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids changes entirely and the butter becomes anti-inflammatory.  It becomes a healthy fat.

Grass-fed butter is a nutrient dense superfood with these additional benefits:

• does not take you out of ketosis so you keep burning fat
• better source of beta carotene than carrots
• contains vitamin A
• contains vitamin D – 500IU per tbsp
• contains vitamin K2 – which most don’t get enough of
• contains vitamin E
• contains antioxidants
• used by your brain and body to create cell walls (membranes) and hormones.
• Excellent source of butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid.  Benefits of butyrate include:
  • increasing metabolism
  • preventing and decreasing inflammation
  • preventing neurodegenerative diseases
  • improving body composition
  • providing energy
  • improving gut health
• contains only minor traces of dairy proteins, so tends not to be a problem for those sensitive to dairy
• grass-fed butter is more flavorful than butter from grain-fed cows.
• CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), found in grass-fed butter, has been shown to reduce body fat mass, especially in overweight individuals.

Two tablespoons of grass-fed butter in your coffee or tea will replace a breakfast meal with a blend that offers higher performance than a carbohydrate source like oatmeal.

It is important to understand that adding cream, milk, nut milk, sugar, or honey DESTROYS the effects!  Each of these additions cause insulin to be released, stop autophagy (normal process of cleaning out old cells) or cause inflammation.  Instead of mental clarity, satiety and fat loss, you would instead experience brain fog, hunger and fat storage.

The ingredients are everything.  When you encounter articles criticizing butter in coffee, take note of whether they are using the highly specific ingredients that make it healthy.

Kerrygold is an excellent grass-fed butter brand, and it’s stocked in most supermarkets.

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The Recipe for Bulletproof Coffee

The official recipe comes from inventor Dave Asprey.

• At least 1-2tbs unsalted grass-fed butter – I use Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter – Unsalted (8 ounce)
• 1-2tbs of Brain Octane or XCT oil – I have used Bulletproof Brain Octane Oil and currently use MiCkey T Eight Pure C-8 Caprylic Acid.
• 1-2 cups of hot coffee – I love the Bulletproof Upgraded Coffee.  It tastes amazing, but I usually drink other brands that are cheaper.  Bulletproof coffee is roasted by Portland Roasting Coffee, according to research by a poster on coffee geek.com.

Brew coffee as you normally would.  Dave Asprey is highly sensitive to mold and strongly recommends Bulletproof Upgraded Coffee beans.  He also suggests using a metal filter if possible.  And, while not mandatory, it is highly recommended that you blend all the ingredients at once in a blender.  Stirring by hand is fine for an emergency workaround, but the taste, texture, appearance and bioavailability are all enhanced when blended.

If you want the coffee to be super hot, it is a good idea to pre-heat the blender with hot water.  You can boil extra water and pour it into a blender while your coffee brews.

When the coffee is brewed, dump out the hot water from the blender and add the brewed coffee, butter, and MCT oil.  Blend  until there is a thick layer of foam on top like a latte. A spoon doesn’t produce the frothy/creamy consistency.

Optionally, you can add cinnamon, vanilla, dark chocolate,  or a sweetener like Stevia, erythritol, or xylitol.

Tell me what you think

For maximum fat loss and performance improvement, I encourage you to try Bulletproof Coffee in conjunction with The Wellness Repair Diet.  Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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