How To Bulletproof Your Health
3110 Main Street in Santa Monica is one of my all-time favorite places to frequent for great coffee and hearty conversation. It is the home of Bulletproof Cafe, a locale that attracts an eclectic crowd of lifestyle entrepreneurs, health fanatics, and misfits.
I first learned of Bulletproof and the pioneering work of company founder Dave Asprey from my friend, Colorado human potential and wellness coach Jason Ryer. Since then I have been a big fan of Bulletproof’s signature coffee drink made with grass-fed butter and MCT oil. It's a drink that was inspired by Asprey’s encounter with a cup of yak butter tea he drank during a trip to Tibet years ago.
Bulletproof was my pandemic go-to while I was on lockdown at home. It delivered a healthy punch of energy to keep me focused and sane during those harsh times.
Asprey attests to the coffee’s benefit saying that it hacks one’s feeling of hunger by boosting the levels of ketones in your blood, a state known as ketosis. In other words, your body is actually burning fat as its primary fuel source in addition to providing you with enhanced levels of focus and energy.
Asprey and many other Keto adherents believe that red meat has gotten a bad wrap, in light of their belief that “fat burning fat.” It’s why, while living in San Diego, I became such a big fan of Burger Lounge and its infamous Paleo Burger, replete with grass-fed beef, avocado, and bacon.
The Plight Of The Pandemic Belly
Earlier this year while I was out taking the trash to the dumpster, my neighbor while driving through the complex where I live past rolls down his car window and blurts out, “Hey Michael. It sure looks like you haven’t missed a meal lately.” Laughing it off and not sure of what he was referencing, I immediately went inside to assess the evidence. By golly he was right, a post-pandemic belly was protruding through my shirt as though I were expecting a baby.
Needless to say, I was disheartened by my discovery as I always pride myself on being at peak health. To this point, I have been uncommonly blessed — over the course of my life, no major or even minor health conditions to speak of — no surgeries, haven’t had a cold in over six years, no aches or pains, all as I approach 59 next year. I did have the common flu once but that was back in sixth grade.
So when my neighbor made note of my belly, I was a bit hurt and taken aback. The good news is that it spurred me to open a book that had been lying dormant on my Kindle called “Fast This Way: Burn Fat, Heal Inflammation, and Eat Like the High-Performing Human You Were Meant to Be.” Written by, you guessed it, Dave Asprey, it offers an uncommon look at a theme I’ve long been afraid to embrace.
Fasting
Having read several of Dave’s other books, I can honestly say that this is his magnum opus. He presents the whole concept of fasting in such an accessible, non-threatening way by beginning with a story of his own fasting experience in an Arizona desert where for four solitary days, under the guidance of a shaman, he consumed only water.
For starters, I was immediately drawn in by his discussion around inflammation for like most people I thought my belly issue was largely attributed to fat. In an excerpt in the book he notes:
“If you pay attention each morning, you’ll notice that the size of your belly sometimes grows overnight—that’s inflammation. The same type of swelling happens in your brain; you just can’t see it. These changes are caused by cell-signaling molecules called cytokines.”
The elixir, says Asprey, involves addressing the inflammatory response which fasting helps you achieve. It’s here where the book offers a startling revelation, namely, that plant-based foods such as bread, and even vegetables like raw kale, spinach, beets, bell peppers, and soy, elicit an inflammatory response as well.
“The plant world is full of inflammatory toxins that can find their way into your food,” asserts Asprey
He goes on to say that fasting in its many forms literally helps to change your body and reprogram your brain. This view runs counter to the common narrative around fasting being for the weak-minded, a practice they had to pursue solely to lose weight.
Whatever fasting regimen you choose though, says Asprey, has to be sustainable in order to be meaningful. Being sustainable, he believes, involves making the least possible effort while feeling the least possible pain.
In the book, he shares in a deeply vulnerable way the lessons he learned from his cave experience in Arizona, particularly with respect to hunger.
“By the time I emerged from the cave, I’d started to realize that none of this is true. I came to recognize that there’s a fundamental difference between hunger and craving. Hunger is a biological message, and it is something that you can control. Craving is a psychological need, and it is something that tries to control you. The truth is, you can go a long time without eating, and you won’t suffer for it. In fact, you will thrive.”
Continuing, he offered this thought:
“When I came out of the shaman’s cave, I felt great. That was when I realized that fasting doesn’t need to be painful. It doesn’t need to be hard. It’s actually one of the most natural things you can do because it is something that our species has naturally evolved to do. Fasting is a fundamental part of being human.”
While reading the book, I immediately began to experiment with a few of the practices. My first milestone was fasting for 12-hours which was not so bad. Then I pushed it to 16 which led me to become a ravenous bear once reaching that point.
Why sixteen? Well, that is the generally accepted point where your body goes into ketosis, the fat-burning stage. But hitting this point on an intermittent basis accrues other benefits as well. Says Asprey in the book:
“Intermittent fasting enables you to put the amygdala and the whole reptilian part of your brain in its place so that you can be more fully human, more fully yourself, less burned by your fears.”
And it was this point of his that I particularly appreciated which made the whole fasting process seem more universal versus some wacky approach used by rogue health fanatics.
“Note that I didn’t say “going without food,” because there are many ways to go without: Sobriety is going without substances. Meditation is going without thinking. Solitude is going without other humans. Sabbath (or Shabbat) is going without working. Abstinence is going without sex and sexual release.”
I could totally relate to this given my general propensity to live a life of “addition by subtraction.” In my minimalistic ways, I am always looking for things to regularly eliminate. By way of example, amid the throes of the pandemic in 2020, I grew weary of the fear triggering “BREAKING NEWS” alerts by CBS News and other networks. As a result, I decided to eliminate television outside of sports This conforms to another interesting statement offered by Asprey in the book:
“When your mind expends less energy processing junk culture, it devotes more resources to creativity and original thinking.”
He talks about a “dopamine fast,” a concept he says was created by his friend Cameron Sepah, a psychologist at the University of California San Francisco noting:
“A dopamine fast is basically a break from all the instant gratification stimuli in your life, from shopping to gaming to alcohol and drugs.”
Igniting My Fasting Routine
According to Asprey, the basic principle of intermittent fasting involves toggling between short periods of doing without and periods of normalcy. In a sense, fasting powers down the insulin-glucose response, providing your body with much-needed rest.
Fasting also offers the added benefit of igniting a self-cleaning inner rinse of the body known as autophagy.
Studies, in fact, show that longer life spans are often tied to eating less versus the three meals a day that human nature is so conditioned toward.
As Asprey explains it:
“Lions don’t sit down to three meals a day, for instance. When they get a good catch, they eat; then they may go three or four days before another major meal. You may have heard about the “carnivore diet,” which combines a diet of only grass-fed meat with intermittent fasting. The good news about the carnivore diet is that it contains none of the plant toxins that spike hunger, which makes fasting really easy.”
What I’ve personally discovered is that Bulletproof in the morning along with some grass-fed butter and MCT Oil added enables me to fast longer by reducing hunger. Not eating anything for more than fourteen hours allows me to leap into ketosis, the ultimate fasting state.
Asprey mentions a number of the fasting options available with their pros and cons. My regimen involves skipping breakfast, a very rich protein lunch between 1-3 pm before finishing the day with dinner, ideally before 6:30 or 7:00 pm. This is known as the 16:8 intermittent fast (at least sixteen hours without a meal, then at least an eight-hour window before starting the process over again).
Our largest meal of the day, according to Asprey, should be reserved for the period between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm when our digestion is strongest. For me, this fasting regimen now feels habitual, as normal as brushing my teeth and taking a cold shower in the morning.
I have found it advantageous to embrace the true intermittent nature of fasting by employing cheat days where I eat whatever the f*** I want to eat. This is a condition known as hormesis, where we from time to time challenge the body to adapt to change and adversity, making it stronger in the process.
But what about alcohol? Adds Asprey:
“Distilled beverages without additives—vodka, tequila, and whiskey—are the best by far. Dry white French wine is your next best bet. After that, red wine.”
And in a subtle nod to the Covid-19 pandemic, Asprey in his book reminds readers that ingesting a healthy amount of fruit juice, soft drinks, and high-sugar foods may not be so healthy as it can dramatically lower your immune function. He says that “having ketones present in the body is anti-inflammatory and always a good idea.”
As a supplement fanatic, I loved the section of the book dedicated to all things vitamins, minerals, herbs, and adaptogens. In particular, let me second the plug about
Vitamin D and Quercetin that Asprey offers. Citing government clinical trials, the book notes that Vitamin D is best taken in the morning, or at the very least before Noon, because being that it is a circadian hormone, it can help to wake you up. And while you would be taking it on an empty stomach, which runs counter to Vitamin D’Souza fat solvable nature, it will still absorb albeit not as well.
As the pandemic lingers on, Vitamin D combined with Quercetin is the most essential supplementation you can be taking at present for your immunity. For Black Americans, it may be as important if not more important than the vaccine in terms of its life-saving qualities.
Over the good part of 40 years, Vitamin C based on my admiration of the pioneering work of Dr. Linus Pauling has been my main supplement. I have taken upwards of 10,000 mg a day for peak health and overall cellular vibrancy.
Finally, let me put a plug in for walking. Personally, I have always hated the grind of health clubs, particularly when I see people with veins popping out, straining and injuring themselves under the guise of trying to be macho. For me, I follow the belief espoused in the book about the importance of a brisk walk every morning to increase my lymphatic circulation, the cycling of resources throughout my immune system. Being that I’ve been car-free since 2012, I am now walking eight-plus miles back and forth to my local WeWork coworking location.
In closing, what I loved most about Dave Asprey’s book “Fast The Way” is how it delivered an accessible look at the broader context around fasts without it turning into a treatise for wacky health fanatics. As Asprey says:
“Fasting makes your body work better. It makes you tougher. It makes you more resilient. What matters the most is that you’ll have the energy and clarity to pursue whatever it is that you want in life.”