Hey Four Corners fam!

So at this point because I love it so much, I probably read nutrition/food science/food system books at about every third book in my rotation. I’ve collected quite a few over the last several years so I’ve taken it upon myself to finally get down to reading some of them and sharing my thoughts.

Since this is my first review, I am going to preface a few things here. First, my own personal experience has shown me that although many of these newer diets are rooted in the latest research, for the majority of people, I am always going to just recommend the basics over the extremes: focus on getting enough vegetables, enough hydration, enough sleep, some movement and manage stress levels; reduce highly processed foods, overall sugar intake, and moderate drug and alcohol use.

In this particular case, I need to also add that I have not tried the Bulletproof Diet as recommended, however I have used a similar protocol in the past (I’ll get into how.)

As I shared in my macro post, I think it’s important before diving in to also share a little of Dave Asprey’s backstory because it sets the stage for his personal biohacking and research. Just starting to reach his first peak in his Silicon Valley career in tech, Dave also reached his peak of 300 lbs. He was on a host of medications, had severe health problems and believes he would have died at an early age had he not made some signifiant changes to his lifestyle. 
Asprey then spent many years adhering to the typical calorie restriction and exercise protocol most Americans are familiar with when it comes to weight loss. He would see some results, but never as much as he believed he should have and still knew he wasn’t feeling his best. So he “biohacked” everything — using a lot of expensive tests, tools and treatments at his disposal, he went on to test how his body responded to virtually ever type of food and came up with a protocol of what he considers Bulletproof Foods, Suspect Foods and Kryptonite foods.

What you are going to see from this protocol is that it turns a lot of conventional diet advice on its head. While I agree with some of the tenants of the Bulletproof diet for most individuals, the fact of the matter is that I find some of the categories so restrictive that unless you are in a situation like Dave’s or dealing with some kind of other chronic condition, I’m not sure I would ever recommend. The Bulletproof Diet has many of the latest diet trends rolled into one package: Intermittent Fasting, tapping into ketosis (the basis of the Keto diet), and elements of Carnivore by limiting many vegetables due to their natural defense mechanisms in the human body.

Bulletproof Coffee

The crux of the Bulletproof Diet is high fat. You are encouraged to eat three meals a day and one of which is a high-fat butter and coconut oil (or Bulletproof’s own Brain Octane Oil) coffee to kick start your day.

Now… Don’t knock the butter coffee until you have tried it. The Bulletproof version of Intermittent Fasting is basically the version that I was using consistently for six months where because fasting allows your body to move into ketosis (when you are using ketones/stored fat for energy rather than glycogen/stored carbs), just adding pure fat to the mix will keep you satiated without breaking your fast and actually rev up the fat-burning mechanisms.

It’s creamy, rich, and delicious. The fat in the butter and oil also allows your body to create a more prolonged effect of caffeine release so that you feel more alert for longer. Asprey is quick to point out here one of the key reasons he believes more foods are suspect than I do: mold toxins and other types of contaminants hack the brain and cause everything from cravings to serious disease. Because coffee is such a staple in his diet and he firmly believes in its superpowers, Asprey begins recommending from the get go that the reader invest in guaranteed mold-free coffee. I’ll come back to this topic which is one of the reasons I don’t believe the Bulletproof diet is a great recommendation for the average person.

High fat

Following on the trend of the butter coffee is the fact that other two meals consumed on the Bulletproof Diet are full of butter! I am all for taking back high-quality, organic, grass-fed butter as a health food. The consumption of Ghee throughout Ayurvedic principles also points to this cooking fat as truly being a health miracle when done right. These are both high sources of Saturated Fat which Asprey explains is necessary for the brain to use as a fuel source.

If not butter, lots of coconut oil and avocados are present in every included recipe in the book. With all of the other foods that are going to be cut out of the diet, Asprey makes a fair point that all of the fat makes for a highly satiating and delicious diet regardless. Vegetables slathered in butter with some high quality salt always sounds good to me!

Moderate protein

The Bulletproof Diet is first and foremost a high fat diet but does involve moderate protein and unlike the Keto Diet, some starches for longterm sustainability and to avoid some of its apparent pitfalls (this is another diet I have not tried and have no plan to.)

Food quality is where Asprey and I agree the most on overall philosophy. Most of his dishes are meat and seafood forward and many staple vegetarian proteins are considered Suspect or Kryptonite (legumes, soy and wheat.) Within the animal kingdom, Asprey recommends first grass-fed ruminants like beef and lamb, as well as collagen, gelatin and pasture-raised eggs; and then seafood like wild-caught salmon, sardines, anchovies, flounder, haddock and trout.

Protein is the key macro-nutrient in most of the fitness world with the focus on that when paired with regular exercise, this stimulates muscle growth and physique changes. Asprey actually recommends once a week Protein Fast Days so where no protein is consumed to give the body a break from metabolizing protein. He also does not believe in long, regular gym sessions in favor of max exertion protocols like HIIT and heavy weight training only a couple of times a week, maximum. This is due to wanting to personally spend his time elsewhere (he is a very successful entrepreneur after all with a family!) and firmly believing that most of his physical results are from the Bulletproof diet.

Vegetables

It’s when we get into the fruit/vegetable/starch world that I start to question some of the Bulletproof protocol. So far we’ve been focusing on what is being added in to the diet, but now we’re getting to the part of what is being left out. Spoiler Alert — it’s a lot.

Aside from a few rockstar Bulletproof vegetables, there are so many that make Asprey’s Suspect and Kryptonite lists that my BS meter is on high-alert. Now one of my tenants at Four Corners in bio-individuality and personalization of diet which is a two-sided issue here: with veggies, I would personally never recommend breaking down a list of which ones not to consume unless there is a reason to start suspecting that certain types are causing issues for the individual person. This is for the person who has already made very significant changes to their diet and now wants to refine further or has noticed new symptoms with their cleaner lifestyle. If you are noticing strange skin, brain fog or digestive issues from regularly consuming certain foods, or would like to get a comprehensive panel done on what you might be sensitive to, that might be a step along your journey but certainly not step 1.

This is also where we start hearkening to the current Carnivore Diet trend that eliminates vegetables due to their natural defense mechanisms for protecting against animals who eat them. I feel too good on veggies to believe it.

Fruit

Asprey’s Enemy Number #1 has got to be Gluten closely followed by Fruit. He is not the only source I have found that circles back to the fact that fructose (the primary sugar in fruit) is processed in the body very differently than other sugars. Fructose has to be processed by the liver first before anything can be done with it which means you’re taking away from livers capacity to do other essential detoxing functions.

Fruit is basically off the table in Bulletproof diet except for occasionally as a dessert and limited to certain fruits like berries which are lower in fructose, high in fiber, and provide other added benefits.

Other surprising toxins according to Asprey are onions, garlic, black pepper, mushrooms, all legumes and more. All of these he claims have severe impact on his brain capacity and therefore his ability to live a Bulletproof life.

If you follow through with his protocols, Asprey promises that your body will become a well-oiled (quite literally!), fat burning machine with the highest brain capacity and energy you have ever experienced. He also recommends very little exercise on this program unless you are an athlete. He sees excessive exercise as a waste of time and for many people as doing more harm than good. This flies in the face of the advice that many of us are told about daily exercise and that I believe more and more women especially fight a lot of mental release in the daily ritual of exercising.

It’s also worth noting that Bulletproof has a chain of products so of course throughout the entire book it’s recommended that you make these particular supplements part of your routine. Personally, I am so irked when I read shameless plugs for products in nutrition books but I understand that you gotta make money somehow!

My biggest complaint of the Bulletproof Diet however has actually nothing to do with any single food group recommendation but the underlying message that our food must be “toxic free” or we are undermining all results. From coffee, to protein sources, to every single produce item, Asprey insists that you find the absolutely highest quality item or else you will derail your progress. This is great for those who have the time and resources to do this research and spend the money on such products, but is clearly not realistic for the average consumer.

This is no fault of Bulletproof’s — I hope it continues to shed a light on the fact that our default food system in the United States is no good. Conventional food causes more harm then good in both physiological and sociological ways. If you’re a Silicon Valley exec like Asprey, you definitely should be “voting with your dollar” to help pave the way for those without the means to have access to pure, nutritious food as well.

For the rest of us somewhere in the middle, these types of nutritional and moral dilemmas on where to spend your food dollars are more of a spectrum. Which produce items can I buy organic? How do I source high quality meats? Do I cut back on meat altogether because I don’t have affordable access to a high quality source? You’re telling me that almost all coffee is covered in mold except your brand, Dave?! That last one is especially challenging since coffee is really a holdover from colonialism and not grown at all in North America. You can’t exactly visit your neighborhood coffee farm and check for mold yourself.

So that my friends is a summary of the diet! As you can probably tell, it’s not likely something I see fitting into my own lifestyle, and I’m also not sure we know the longterm effects of adopting Bulletproof principles. But if the idea of switching to a diet of mostly butter, vegetables and some meat appeals to you, could be worth a try!

As for me, I like my oats, peanut butter and pineapple — all of which make me feel pretty awesome and achieve a level of fitness that I love.

What are your thoughts? Would you try the Bulletproof diet? At least give butter coffee a go!