Question: What is bulletproof coffee & why do you drink it?
Answer: Bulletproof coffee is high quality, low toxin coffee blended with grass fed butter and coconut oil or MCT oil.
Why does low toxin coffee matter?
Traditional coffee can be packed with toxins from the mold that grows on the coffee beans. Analysis of standard beans shows that more than 90% may have mold growth. If you want to be sure your beans are low toxin, you can’t go wrong with the true bulletproof coffee.
What’s with the butter and what does grass fed mean?
Butter is packed with vitamins and antioxidants. Butyrate, one of the ingredients in butter, has powerful cellular-protective effects, especially on cells within breast tissue. You want your butter to come from grass fed cows (I use Kerrygold unsalted butter) and not from conventionally fed cows. Conventional butter will be high in pro-inflammatory omega 6 fatty acids because those cows are fed grains. Grass fed butter is naturally high in anti-inflammatory omega 3s and free from the pro-inflammatory omega 6 fatty acids.
What’s MCT oil & why is it included?
MCT refers to medium chain triglycerides, a type of fat found in coconut oil. The fat in coconut oil is about 60% MCTs and coconut oil can be found in traditional grocery stores. MCT oil is pure MCTs but isn’t available in most grocery stores. I buy mine online . It is a great source of energy that is burned for IMMEDIATE fuel and is highly unlikely to ever be stored as fat due to the unique chain length of the fatty acids.
If you are new to bulletproof coffee and want to understand the basics, start by listening to episode 446 of the Primal Potential podcast (you can click the play button below to listen). That’s my most recent episode on it.
One you hear the basics, if you have questions about whether you should be using MCT oil or coconut oil, you’ve got to take a listen to episode 450. You’ll love this one.
People will ask, “what does it taste like?” or freak out and say, “I’m terrified to put butter in my coffee!” Let’s take a deep breath and realize that no one is going to force you, you certainly don’t have to try it, but I mean, what’s the worst case scenario? You take a sip and you don’t like it? Just freakin’ try it for yourself. If you hate it, pour it out. No harm, no foul. Living in curiosity is an odd choice. Just try it.
Don’t: Stir it.
Coffee is water based. MCT oil/coconut oil/butter butter are fats. If you stir it, the fats will melt and sit on top and your first sip will be pure fat. Use an immersion blender or traditional blender. Shaking is better than stirring, but still not optimal. When I’m traveling, I’ll take one of these guys with me (no blade, easy for security) so I can mix it up in my hotel room.
Do: Start slowly.
People tend to get really hung up on things like, “How much butter?” or “how much oil?” Just like people put different amounts of sugar, cream or milk in their coffee, make it to your own tastes. If it’s your first time, I don’t recommend starting with 2 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of oil, though that is a common recipe you’ll find online. So, what’s the right amount? Again, that’s like asking how much cream and sugar you should put in. Tweak, adjust and find what tastes best to you and what makes you feel the best. Start slow. Put in a teaspoon, see what you think and you can slowly increase the amount of butter and/or oil you add over time.
For those of you who have experienced stomach cramping or diarrhea – check the quality of your MCT oil. I go into the different forms of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) in episode 450 and that will help you see why some versions might upset your stomach and others won’t.
Don’t: Let it get cold.
You might be used to letting your coffee sit for a couple hours while you go about your morning. What happens when melted butter cools? It solidifies. Take it from my experience – drink it while it’s hot!
Do: Pay attention.
How do you know if you’re overdoing it? How do you know if it is working for you? How do you know if you’re eating too much fat? You’ve got to pay attention. Adding a few tablespoons (or even less) of fat to your diet every day, with no other changes, means you’re increasing the amount of fuel you’re giving your body. Is it too much? Your body will tell you.
Write down what you eat, how much, and when. Measure your waist and hip circumference and recheck it every couple weeks so you can determine if you’re making progress towards your goals. BP coffee is not a magical drink that doesn’t “count”. It’s fuel. Give your body more fuel than it needs and the extra gets stored.
Don’t: Think of this as “fasting”
If you use a couple tbsp of butter and couple tbsp of oil, that’s a good 400 calories. Just adding this to what you normally eat for breakfast without making any subtractions could set you up for energy overload. This is not a fasting meal. It is a meal. It is a highly energy dense meal. Refer to the previous “do”. Monitor your progress and adjust accordingly.
If I only have it for breakfast, am I still fasting?
Nope, you’re not. Any time you add fuel (calories), you take your body from fasting mode to digesting mode. Just because it’s liquid doesn’t mean you’re still fasting. However, it is a fat loss friendly option compared to oatmeal, cereal, bagels, etc. When you add calories, you break your fast. Period.
Does it matter if I use coconut oil instead of MCT oil? Yes. I go into these details in episode 450.
What is the best type of coffee to use?
Ah, the subject of so much debate. I consider this also a small rock. You can make bulletproof coffee with any kind of coffee. It is true that there is low quality coffee and high quality coffee, coffee with more toxins and coffee with fewer toxins. I really emphasize degrees of improvement. If you’re switching from a Chick-fil-A breakfast (like I did), any coffee is going to be a significant improvement over your previous choices. With that said, there are lots of organic coffee options out there.
How much is too much?
There is no black and white answer here because it depends on what else you eat throughout the day, your goals, your activity level, your sensitivity to caffeine, etc. This is where you have to do the work for yourself. If your goal is fat loss, monitor your progress via waist and hip circumference. If you aren’t losing weight, you might be drinking too much of it but it might also be because you’re eating too much throughout the rest of the day. If you aren’t able to fall asleep at night, it might be too much. If you feel really jittery, it might be too much. If I drink a lot of bulletproof coffee, I am mindful of how much I eat throughout the rest of the day. If I drink less, I eat a little bit more. If I’m more active, I have more wiggle room. There are a ton of factors here and it boils down to monitoring your progress, your hormonal biofeedback and adjusting accordingly.
I don’t like coffee, can I make bulletproof tea?
Absolutely. You can substitute tea for coffee. But remember, you can also make great, whole food choices in the morning and those will be great for fat loss and energy as well. Check out Q&A 6 of the Primal Potential Podcast for lots more fat loss friendly breakfast options.
Is it wrong to have food alongside my bulletproof coffee?
This totally depends on how much butter and oil you put in your coffee, what you plan to eat, what you eat throughout the rest of the day and how active you are. If I decide I want whole foods for breakfast, I’ll typically scale back the amount of butter and oil in my coffee or drink it black. You have to account for all the other factors and then monitor your progress. Your body and your results will give you this answer.
Can I add sweetener to my bulletproof coffee?
You can do whatever you want, haha. First try it without sweeteners. You’d be suprised how palatable it is on its own. If you do add sweetener, make it non caloric. Adding sugar (or eating carbohydrates) kind of defeats the purpose.
What’s the difference between bulletproof coffee and keto coffee?
Well first of all, bulletproof coffee is obviously ketogenic diet friendly. However, if you were to google the two, you’d see that keto coffee just adds more fat via egg yolk and or heavy cream. Keto coffee therefore has more fat and more calories (energy).
I am hungry a couple hours after I drink it, am I doing something wrong?
Nope, not necessarily. Some people respond better to whole foods and a lot of that has to do with psychological satisfaction that comes with chewing. You’ve got to do what works for you. Also, some people really need fiber (from non-starchy veggies) to help fill them up in the morning. Eggs don’t work for me for breakfast because they don’t fill me up. That doesn’t mean something is wrong with me, it just means I make other choices. If bulletproof coffee doesn’t work for you, no worries, just make a different choice.
Have more questions? Let’s hear them! I’m happy to share my $0.02!
There’s a lot of talk these days about bulletproof coffee. I’m one of the people doing a lot of that talking! I’m a huge fan of bulletproof coffee and over the past several months it has been a major staple in my diet. Yup, bulletproof coffee is my breakfast just about every morning. Now, there is absolutely nothing magical about bulletproof coffee. I drink it because it increases my energy, curbs my hunger and keeps me satisfied for hours. Most importantly, I drink it because I LIKE it. I like the way it tastes. I like how simple and easy it is. I like that I don’t have to prep food or clean up. It works for me. But it’s not magic. So today we’re talking about WHAT it is and why I drink it. To hear more about what I eat for fat loss and why, make sure you’re on the free VIP e-newsletter list!
Question: What is bulletproof coffee & why do you drink it?
Answer: Bulletproof coffee is high quality, low toxin coffee blended with grass fed butter and coconut oil or MCT oil.
Sometimes I get fancy and add cocoa powder and raw egg yolk!!
Why does low toxin coffee matter?
Traditional coffee can be packed with toxins from the mold that grows on the coffee beans. Analysis of standard beans shows that more than 90% may have mold growth.
What’s with the butter and what does grass fed mean?
Butter is packed with vitamins and antioxidants. Butyrate, one of the ingredients in butter, has powerful cellular-protective effects, especially on cells within breast tissue. You want your butter to come from grass fed cows (I use Kerrygold unsalted butter) and not from conventionally fed cows. Conventional butter will be high in pro-inflammatory omega 6 fatty acids because those cows are fed grains. Grass fed butter is naturally high in anti-inflammatory omega 3s and free from the pro-inflammatory omega 6 fatty acids.
What’s MCT oil & why is it included?
MCT refers to medium chain triglycerides, a type of fat found in coconut oil. The fat in coconut oil is about 60% MCTs and coconut oil can be found in traditional grocery stores. MCT oil is pure MCTs but isn’t available in most grocery stores. I buy mine online . It is a great source of energy that is burned for IMMEDIATE fuel and is highly unlikely to ever be stored as fat due to the unique chain length of the fatty acids.
When it comes to weight loss or fat loss, carbohydrates don’t have to be the enemy. However, for most of us, they are. Why? Because we don’t understand how they can work against us, how they can put us in fat storing mode, how they can keep us from fat burning mode and what we need to do to make sure those things don’t happen. When we understand this, we can begin to focus on the right carbs for fat loss, the right time for carbs for fat loss and all the other little nuances. Today I want to cover the basics. I want everyone to understand what carbs are, what types of foods fall into that category beyond the obvious bread/pasta and most importantly, I want us to understand when carbs are stored as fat and how we can avoid that scenario.
Carbohydrates are a macronutrient, which means that they provide energy in the form of calories. Other macronutrients include fat, protein and alcohol. Micronutrients – things like vitamins & minerals – provide nutrients but do not provide energy in the form of calories. All of our macronutrients are chains of smaller building blocks and the type of building block is different depending on which macronutrient we’re talking about. For example, the building blocks of proteins are amino acids. This means that all proteins are chains of various shapes and sizes made up of amino acids. The building blocks of fats are fatty acids. The building blocks of carbohydrates are sugars. It’s important that we always remember that carbohydrates – whether in the form of a pretzel, an apple, a teaspoon of sugar or a bowl of oatmeal – are chains of simple sugars.
Little side note here: fruits and vegetables are not macronutrients. You can’t argue, “That’s not a carb! It’s a banana!!” Sorry my friend, that is a carbohydrate. Fruits and vegetables (with a couple of exceptions) are carbohydrates. Sure, their chains are quite different from pasta or the carbs found in a donut, but the building blocks are the same: sugar.
Food is fuel for our body. When we eat it, it has to be broken down so that fuel can be accessed and utilized by our bodies. To be utilized, it has to be broken down to its smallest part. In the case of carbohydrates, our bodies will break them down to their sugar building blocks. Compared to fats or proteins, most carbs can be broken down pretty quickly by the body. They are a fast-access fuel source, comparatively speaking. I like to use the analogy of fueling a fire. If you’re trying to keep a fire burning, can you expect to keep it burning hot for a long time with just twigs, kindling and newspaper? No way, right? Sure, those are a good way to fan the flame but only for a couple mintues at best. The burn hot and fast but fizzle out quickly. They provide an immediate fuel surge but it doesn’t last. That’s how carbohydrate acts in your body. Yes, it can be an rapid acting fuel but won’t last for long. Fat and protein, however, are slower to metabolize and therefore are more like the hefty logs on the fire – they burn more slowly, providing sustained energy (fuel) over time.
Alright, now here is where it gets really interesting. Here is where we can understand how and when carbs are stored as fat. We have to understand the basics of carbohydrate metabolism and storage. We have to understand, at a high level, what happens after the carbs are broken down into their building blocks: simple sugars. These simple sugars which result from the breakdown of carbs we eat are either immediately used for fuel or taken for storage. For most of us, unless we’ve been fasting or we’re super active, most of it will be taken away to be stored. Enroute to storage, this sugar enters the blood stream. The hormone insulin is released when sugar enters the blood. Why does insulin have to get involved? Because insulin is the usher that shuttles the sugar from the blood to its final storage site. Insulin has a few drop off options for the sugar. The first place its going to try to take it is to the muscle. Storage space there is limited, but its easily accessible for your next workout or the next time you get chased by a bear. So, if you’re eating carbs regularly and not exercising regularly to tap into that fuel, chances are that the storage space in the muscles is all full. Next stop? The liver. Again, easy access in case your body needs to generate fuel, but limited storage. And I’m talking seriously limited space, only about 400g between the muscle storage and liver storage combined.That is not a daily storage max or a storage max per meal. That is TOTAL storage space. Like I said, if you’re not working out regularly or if you’re eating carbs on a regular basis, chances are that both of those storage sites are FULL. No vacancy. But insulin has another storage option. And this is what we call “carbohydrate spillover”. Carbohydrate spillover can also be referred to as lipogenesis or creating fat. This is when carbs are stored as fat. The muscle and liver storage space is full because we eat carbs with most meals and we aren’t that active. It has to go to the final option…
The excess sugar (glucose) is converted to fat. That fat either continues to circulate in your blood (this is where we see things like elevated triglycerides) or it is stored in your adipose tissue (body fat). And, lucky us, this storage space is UNLIMITED and it is NOT easily accessed. Once it gets stored as body fat your body considers this its emergency fuel reserve and doesn’t give it up without a fight.
Think about that the next time you eat a carbohydrate rich meal. Where will that sugar be stored? Will your body need it for immediate fuel while you sit on the couch and watch Lost for the 10th time? Have you been active enough to deplete those muscle stores so there is somewhere for that glucose to go or is it destined to be stored as body fat??
In our next post we’re going to be talking about the 2nd half of this equation – how constantly flooding our blood with sugar by eating carbohydrates tells our body to stop any and all fat burning and instead store all fuel as body fat. And, most importantly, we’ll talk about what you can do about it!
Want more info about carb strategies for fat loss? Check out this quick video!
I have been getting a lot of requests lately to do a #WIAW or “What I Ate Wednesday” post here on the blog! I have to admit that my meals aren’t usually all that fascinating but I’m more than happy to share them here in case they are helpful for you. I’m gonna take it a step further and not only tell you what I ate but why I made that particular choice.
5:15am – After meditation and some quiet time I made a huge glass of water with apple cider vinegar and lemon juice. I don’t do this every day but after drinking wine and having apple streudal on New Years Eve, I’m still feeling a little puffy. This helps me detox a little bit and I don’t mind the taste. It’s 20 oz of water with 2 tbsp of both lemon juice and apple cider vinegar.
7:20am – I’ve been reading and writing for a while and now I’m ready to eat! Bulletproof coffee is always on the breakfast menu. All I do to make it is blend high quality (low toxin) coffee with grass fed butter and MCT oil. I avoid carbohydrates in the morning because that helps me stay in fat burning mode (you can read more about that here) so the healthy fats in bulletproof coffee satisfy my hunger and send my energy levels through the roof. Plus, I happen to think it tastes amazing. I have been trying to eat a little protein in the morning as well so I also had a pork/maca “muffin” – recipe courtesy of Mary, The Paleo Chef. I am adding the protein in because I tend to workout pretty intensely and want me to make sure I’m eating enough to recover properly.
10:30am – Tea time! I enjoyed a mug of hot apple spice tea with a little unsweetened almond milk while taking a break from writing.
12:30pm – Time for lunch! To stay in fat burning mode and create the ideal hormonal environment for it, I still avoid carbohydrates at lunch. Today I made a quick scramble of eggs, bacon, salmon & avocado. Super nutrient dense, super energy dense and totally delicious. It will absolutely help me power through my workout later on!!
2pm – Pre-workout cup of coffee. Nothing special, just plain, black coffee. I have nothing against stevia or unsweetened almond milk, but I was in the mood for black today.
6:00pm – Oh my favorite meal of the day!! On the menu: coconut/cayenne crusted chicken thighs with steamed broccoli. This is super easy and really delicious. I take finely shredded coconut and add salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Dip my chicken thighs in eggs then into the coconut mixture. I add them to a skillet with a few tablespoons of coocnut oil and let them cook through on both sides.
I didn’t have any carbs with this dinner but don’t worry, I didn’t miss out! I made a super easy dessert (but it looks terrible in the pic so we’ll skip that). I took 1/2 cup of canned coconut milk and added 1 tsp of cacao powder and a few drops of stevia. I mixed it well, just with a spoon, and then added 1/2 cup of fresh raspberries for my little dose of carbs. Yum!!!! It was so good and really easy.
That’s my day in a nutshell! Let me know in the comments or on facebook if you like these types of posts and want to see more of them!
Yeah, you can get too much of a good thing. Sure, some foods are great for fat loss but that doesn’t mean you can enjoy them without limitation. I got into trouble along my fat loss journey by eating too much of a fat loss food. I slowed my progress way down until I figured out the mistake I was making. I was eating too much protein. I would say to myself, “surely I won’t get into trouble by having too much protein powder/salmon/chicken…” And then I did. Haha. But it was a very powerful lesson for me and one I wanted to share with you guys!
(I mean, I drank my protein shakes out of a freaking flower vase! hahaha)
Protein is a critical part of a healthy, fat loss diet. Your body cannot manufacture protein therefore you need to consume it daily to ensure you have what you need. Protein helps to satisfy your hunger and reduce cravings. It helps to build and repair muscle. However, there is such thing as too much of a good thing! I went through a phase where I was eating probably 6-10 servings of protein every day. I didn’t really think too much about what your body does with that excess….
Excess protein can be stored as body fat. Excess protein can be broken down and converted to glucose, yielding a similar type of metabolic response we see with carbohydrates: fat storage, insulin and blood sugar increases, hunger and cravings.
Excessive protein intake can also be very taxing on your body. To metabolize protein, your kidneys need to remove the nitrogen from the amino acids (building blocks of all protein). This creates ammonia as a byproduct, which must be turned into waste by the liver and excreted in your urine. In moderate amounts its no problem – your body is equipped to handle that process efficiently. In excess, however, it can be burdensome.
Consuming too much protein can also lead to dehydration because the process of protein metabolism requires more water than carbohydrate or fat metabolism.
Finally, if you’re consuming excessive amounts of protein, you’re probably doing so at the expense of other important nutrients like dietary fat. You always want to work towards balance. An excess of any one macronutrient can create problems for your health and your weight loss efforts.
So how can you ensure that you aren’t eating too much protein while also making sure that you’re getting enough? Be sure to include a serving of protein with each meal. Eggs are a great combination of fat and protein for breakfast. Chicken, fish and beef are fantastic protein sources for the rest of the day. Don’t worry that consuming protein at each meal will lead to “excessive intake” – it wont – so long as you keep your portions to about the size of the palm of your hand. There’s no need to double or triple up on your protein servings. If you’re still hungry go for more non-starchy vegetables or increase your fat intake.
Looking back over my 20+ years of yo-yo dieting, restricting, bingeing, rapid weight loss and compensatory weight gain, I think there is one thing that can sum up why I kept failing:the approaches I was trying weren’t sustainable.
There’s no question that I dropped weight super fast when I did the HCG diet. But the last day of the diet was the last day I’d ever eat that way – 2 apples and 2 pieces of fish for a total of less than 500 calories for the day. What did I expect to happen when it was over? I trained my body to operate on soooo little fuel. In order to survive, my metabolism slowed down. When I went back to what I thought was a healthy, moderate approach to maintaining the weight loss, I ballooned back to bigger than I was before – in record time.
I spent months on crash diets where all I ate was chicken broth and protein shakes. Same story. Is that sustainable? Good Lord no!!! Not even close.
Being the analytical type that I am, I spent a lot of time looking back over my failed diet attempts to find common themes. Was it me? Was I just too weak? Did I have no self control? Actually, I’d argue that with the severity of some of the diets I adhered to, I had pretty impressive self control!But I wasn’t adopting an approach that I could follow for the rest of my life.
That’s why I chose a Primal diet. It is now my lifestyle and honestly, it always will be. I was tired of traditional diets. I was tired of following someone else’s set of rules.I wanted a common sense approach to eating that would help me lose fat and get healthy but also something that I could easily maintain indefinitely.I didn’t want to sign on for anything that was going to result in compensatory weight gain. That would make all my efforts completely a waste of time and energy! No thanks! Been there, done that. 20 different pant sizes in my closet to prove it.
The Primal approach made sense to me. You eat foods in their natural form. You don’t eat processed junk. You eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full. You choose foods that satisfy your hunger, increase your energy and minimize cravings. I won’t tell you that I made the transition overnight – I didn’t. I knew I needed to take a gradual approach. I didn’t rush myself. I just worked on it slowly. First I cut out processed foods every day except my one cheat day. Then I got rid of the cheat day but incorporated a few healthy-ish buffer foods (not Primal at this point) like protein bars and shakes. Then I cleaned up my buffer foods, only using shakes and bars when needed for convenience and travel.
I made these changes over a series of months. And in 18 months I had lost just under 140 lbs. I will eat this way for the rest of my life. I will continue to emphasize fat, protein and vegetables. I’ll avoid processed foods except for occasional indulgences. I’ll avoid wheat and grains. I’ll buy organic meat and produce to reduce my exposure to toxins. I’ll walk often. I’ll push my body through high intensity workouts and I’ll lift a few times each week.
Is what you’re doing sustainable? Have you tried unsustainable approaches? What happens when you go “off” the diet? It might be time to try a new approach…
Lots of talk lately about bulletproof coffee and people putting butter in their coffee, huh?
People drink it for energy, focus, mental clarity, metabolism and satiety. While there are absolutely health benefits derived from butter (especially from the short chain fatty acid butyrate) and coffee (it’s packed with antioxidants and polyphenols), the heavy hitter in bulletproof coffee is the medium chain triglycerides (MCTs).
MCTs are naturally abundant in coconut oil or you can purchase straight MCT oil, a more concentrated delivery of medium chain triglycerides.
Bulletproof coffee is made by blending coffee with butter and either coconut oil or MCT oil. There are dozens of variations possible including egg yolks, collagen, cacao powder, whey protein & more.
For today, we’re looking just at MCTs. What are medium chain triglycerides and what do they do?
A Word of Warning
Let me start out by making one thing incredibly clear: there is NO magic weight loss secret. There is nothing that can replace a consistently clean, fat-loss friendly diet. You can’t workout enough to compensate for a diet full of garbage. You can’t supplement to counteract the damage caused my constantly eating junk. Bulletproof coffee is not a fairy dust drink that will trigger fat burning.
The only magic is YOU and the decisions you make.
Bulletproof coffee doesn’t burn fat. It’s not a hack or weight loss quick fix.
With that said, there are certainly individual factors that have the power to magnify the results of your clean eating and intelligent exercise. There are ingredients that can increase energy & mental clarity.
However, if you haven’t mastered eating clean 80% of the time or more, THAT is where you need to invest your energy. THAT is where you will get your results. Don’t think that adding something like bulletproof coffee will have ANY impact if you aren’t eating clean.
For the Science Folks
Let’s talk about medium chain triglycerides. One of the ways we classify dietary fats is by the length of their fatty acid chain. Like carbohydrates and proteins, fats are chains of their building blocks – fatty acids. We characterize fats as either short chain, medium chain or long chain. The majority of the fats within the foods we eat are classified as long chain fatty acids. These long chains require an intricate digestive process to allow them to be digested and absorbed.
Medium chain fats (we’ll refer to them as MCTs – medium chain triglycerides) are metabolized very differently than long chain TGs. Because of their shorter length, they’re more soluble in water, allowing them to be metabolized much more easily. In fact, MCTs bypass the long digestive process that LCTs have to endure.
They are absorbed rapidly into the blood stream. When you consume these MCTs you get a quick energy boost and, because fat is such a long-burning fuel, you don’t get the energy crash that follows carbohydrate consumption (or the rise in blood sugar and insulin).
MCTs give you instant fuel the way carbohydrates do, but without the energy crash, insulin response or potential for fat storage. Not only that, butstudies have shownthat MCTs actually improve your metabolism of glucose (sugar) by enhancing insulin sensitivity.
MCTs are sent directly to the liver where they are processed to provide immediate fuel for our muscles, cells and brain. Our metabolic rate increases, our energy increases and we get much more mileage out of MCTs as fuel than we ever would from carbohydrate.
Because they bypass the “traditional” digestive process, they are often tolerated more easily by people without a gallbladder or with other digestive challenges and sensitivities to dietary fat.
Best of all, because they avoid they long digestive process of LCTs and are used more immediately for fuel, they’re very unlikely to be stored as fat, in so long as you don’t consume MCTs with a moderate or high carbohydrate meal. They should be consumed only with other fats, proteins or non-starchy vegetables.
Where Do You Find MCTs?
MCTs occur naturally in coconut oil, however you can also buypure MCT oil. Medium chain TGs are also naturally occurring in other foods like dairy products, but in far lower amounts than what we see in coconut oil.
For more on bulletproof coffee, check out one of my most popular podcast episodes! It’s all about bulletproof coffee, MCT oil and how it has helped my fat loss journey!
You might have questions about alternative variations of the traditional BP coffee, decaf coffee, bulletproof tea or the use of sweeteners and you can read my thoughts on those questions in this bulletproof coffee Q&A post.
Beans are a confusing subject. Lots of people assume they’re a super food but its time we really ask: Are beans healthy? They’ve been touted as this nutrient-dense, protein-packed power food yet Paleo and Primal advocates say they are off limits. What’s the scoop? I can honestly say that beans and legumes are one of those foods that just won’t fit into the “sometimes” category for me. They are a “rarely” food. Yes, I love peanut butter as much as the next person but I’ve found I can easily satisfy that craving with sunflower butter (its amazing!) or cashew better.
Beans, peanuts and soybeans fall into a category called legumes. From the 10,000 foot view they look like they’re packed full of nutrients, but when you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that’s not really an accurate depiction. Here are some of the reasons you might want to re-think beans.
Phytic Acid/Phytates
The phytic acid in legumes binds to critical nutrients such as iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium and copper and prevents them from being absorbed. So the stellar nutrient deck you’re looking at when you pick up a can of beans? It’s misleading. They phytates will keep much of that from ever being absorbed.
Protease Inhibitors
Proteases are the enzymes required to break down protein into it’s building blocks, amino acids, so they can be absorbed and utilized by the body. Legumes contain protease inhibitors, meaning they impair the breakdown of protein. Once again, the protein you think you’re getting based on the nutrition facts is misleading. These protease inhibitors keep much of that protein from being broken down for use by the body.
Saponins
Saponins freak me out. No lie. These anti-nutrients actually have the ability to poke holes in the outer membrane of your red blood cells leading to inflammation and, in sensitive individuals or after repeated exposure, can actually cause your red blood cells to rupture.
Lectins
Lectins are proteins within legumes that actually evolved as toxins to protect the legume from predators. Unfortunately, because lectins are capable of crossing the protective barrier within your digestive tract, these toxins have been associated with tremendous inflammation and autoimmune disease.
You have to check out thisamazing articlefrom The Paleo Diet that points out that based on this collection of anti-nutrients, legumes actually deliver 66% less protein than chicken or turkey and 61% less than beef, pork or seafood.
It is important to note that nuts also contain a few of these anti-nutrients, such as phytic acid. However, they do contain slightly fewer than legumes but more importantly, we don’t rely on nuts as a primary source of calories and nutrients the way many people do beans. We also tend to eat nuts in smaller portions. There’s no question that you should take care with nuts and not consider them a dominant source of nutrients or protein but legumes are definitely a bigger offender!
With all that said, I’m not condemning beans and legumes, I’m just sharing why I choose to avoid them. There are certainly FAR more significant dietary threats like processed foods and artificial ingredients. However, there are also healthier choices than beans and legumes and there’s a reason beans and legumes don’t fit into the paleo and primal schema. For fat loss and optimal health, I choose to avoid them and I wanted you to know why.
When you increase your blood sugar with a meal or snack rich in processed foods or very starchy carbohydrates, the sugar has to get out of your blood quickly. That’s insulin’s job – ushering insulin out of the blood stream and helping it find a place to go. However, as we’ve talked about before, insulin isn’t really effective at doing it’s job in many overweight people. Why? Because the chronic state of high blood sugar from constant carbohydrate consumption floods the body with insulin and we develop what’s called “insulin resistance”. When insulin is always hanging around, the tissues and cells that normally respond to it become immune. It’s kinda like how we get used to the brightness of the sun after being outside for a while. When you first step outside, the sun can sometimes be overwhelming. You squint, shield your eyes and look away. But, after a while, you’ve adjusted. It’s no big deal. You aren’t squinting and it doesn’t seem so bright. You’re used to it.
When insulin is always around due to chronically elevated blood sugar, your cells become immune to it. That is a problem for a number of reasons, but today we’re going to talk about what happens when insulin is no longer able to quickly remove that sugar from the blood and it just hangs around in the blood stream.
There’s a reason we need insulin to clear sugar from the blood ASAP. When it hangs around, it can become quite toxic. One of the things sugar does when left to linger is bind to proteins or fats that are naturally present in your blood. Not only does this render the protein/fat ineffective (and it can’t do what it’s in the blood to do) but it forms something called Advanced Glycation End Products (AGES). The acronym is really quite appropriate; these AGES age you.There’s absolutely no question that they accelerate the aging process.
AGEs cause destruction throughout your entire body. Through research, AGEs have been implicated in the development of diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, neuropathy and much more. They damage your cells, which is the starting point for almost all disease. They can impair blood flood and have been linked to asthma, eye problems and systemic inflammation.
From a cosmetic perspective, AGEs seriously impair skin health. The body sees these AGEs as foreign bodies, triggering an inflammatory response. This can lead to both internal and topical inflammation. AGEs are naturally drawn to the collagen and elastin within your skin. Collagen and elastin are then no longer able to do their job effectively. The result? Fine lines and wrinkles.
It’s important to note that you can also increase your exposure to AGEs from smoking or eating foods that have been cooked at very high temperatures (grilled, fried, etc). We certainly can’t eliminate our exposure to AGEs – they are naturally formed within our bodies, but reducing their prevalence by managing our blood sugar is KEY.The simplest way to do that is by eliminating processed foods, sugars and wheat products.
