Review: The Bulletproof Diet

Perhaps you already know some oddball at your office who is borderline evangelical about his coffee blended with butter (Bulletproof Coffee!). If you don't, it's just a matter of time.

I have followed Dave Asprey's blog and podcast for a couple of years now, and there is a lot to like. While I take exception to the idea that "biohacking" is even a thing (more on that later), I truly admire what Dave has set out to accomplish.

Here are a few ideas I really appreciate from Dave Asprey's new book The Bulletproof Diet:

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A Focus on Performance

The Bulletproof Diet is not an all-or-nothing approach; it's a simple roadmap that will help you make better choices so you can eat more of the foods that move your health and performance in the right direction and fewer of the ones that don't support your goals.

It is more empowering and more sustainable to focus on achieving something positive, rather than avoiding something negative. We have all experienced food target fixation: Don't eat the cookie. DON'T eat the cookie. DON'T EAT THE COOKIE. D'oh! ...ate the cookie. The Bulletproof Diet focuses on helping us feel our best and perform our best rather than fixating on the negative.

Fault-tolerant

...foods are listed in order of gradually decreasing nutritional benefits and increasingly toxic contents and harmful effects. ...It's up to you to decide where on the roadmap you want to be and make the right choices to drive yourself there.

Dave frequently mentions how it is impossible to fall off the wagon on the Bulletproof Diet and I think this is pretty brilliant. You can't go out of bounds if everything is in play. There is no wagon.

Timing is (almost) everything

One reason the time of day you eat your carbs is so important is that you want to avoid continually feeding the bad bacteria in your gut throughout the day.

Many diet books omit any discussion of nutrient timing; The Bulletproof Diet does not. Few natural foods are always bad for you, but timing and, of course, dosage are both crucial factors. Are carbs good or bad? Both, actually. Nutrient timing is an aspect of food choice many of us rarely consider. You might be surprised (as I was) what a tremendous difference proper timing makes.

If you are well familiar with The Bulletproof Executive, you will not find loads of new material in the book. That said, it is a great snapshot of the whole enchilada that does not require staring at a computer screen. As always, Dave Asprey writes in his unique voice and with abundant enthusiasm. Does he plug some of his own products in the book? Yes. Do you have to buy them to be "Bulletproof"? No.

Thank you, Dave!
It is no coincidence that my health dramatically improved shortly after discovering Dave Asprey's work at bulletproofexec.com. When I first stumbled upon the blog, I had strictly followed the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) for many months. While I am a huge proponent of SCD for anyone suffering with gut issues, at that time, I was burned out, frustrated, and seemingly stuck bouncing between constipation and diarrhea every few weeks. It turned out that the regimen that quelled the worst of my ulcerative colitis symptoms could take me no farther. I had plateaued; something was still missing. Because of the Bulletproof Diet's inherent flexibility, I continued with SCD--which had brought me so far--but added and tested new Bulletproof principles to see which worked for me. This was a revelation.

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These days, my mornings typically start with beans and a blender. While my personal recipe changes over time, the foundation remains the same: clean coffee (often decaf), clarified butter, and fat from coconuts. If you have not yet tried this marvelous elixir of energy and productivity, I enthusiastically recommend doing so. Coffee once caused me all kinds of gut pain and brain fog, but now it is a staple of my morning ritual. For that alone, I am deeply grateful.

The bottom line: I heartily recommend The Bulletproof Diet book to anyone ready step out of their fog and into vibrant health. Are there other books with similar vision and recommendations? Yes. Are they better? I'll leave that one to you!

In good health,
Ethan

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