Introducing Maven: a new social network where you follow interests, not influencers. Be heard without needing followers and find others who share your interests.
Categories
Books

The Bulletproof Diet

Summary

Asprey lays out comprehensive diet/lifestyle on how to eat as much as you want of certain foods, feel great, lose weight, and have incredible focus and energy

The Rabbit Hole is written by Blas Moros. To support, sign up for the newsletter, become a patron, and/or join The Latticework. Original Design by Thilo Konzok.

Key Takeaways
  1. BP Coffee for breakfast
    • 1-2 cups organic, single source coffee
    • 2 TBS organic, grass-fed butter
    • 2 TBS MCT oil
    • Blend for 20-30 seconds
    • Can add cinnamon, cayenne pepper, stevia, pumpkin spice to add some variety
  2. 50-70% of calories come from very high quality fats (grass-fed butter, MCT oil, cacao butter, pastured egg yolks, grass-fed beef or lamb)
  3. ~20% of calories from high quality proteins (grass-fed beef or lamb, wild caught fish, pastured eggs)
  4. ~20% of calories from vegetables even this will compose the vast majority of the food you eat (avocados, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy)
  5. ~5% from carbs from fruits (raspberries, limes, lemons, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries)
  6. Lays out a list of supplements and other lifestyle changes in order to feel better, have more energy/focus, sleep better, etc.
  7. Cook foods as little as possible
  8. Follow the 2-week BP diet protocol and slowly incorporate suspect foods to realize how certain foods make you feel
What I got out of it
  1. I have been following the BP diet for the past year and a half with incredible results. The most important thing I have learned is which foods don't make me feel good the consequences of eating these foods. I sometimes ignore this and drink some of my favorite beers or enjoy an amazing dessert but I do this consciously and on rare occasions knowing how I will feel later and even the next day or days!
  2. This diet gives you incredible energy and focus and the roadmap provides a spectrum for what foods will make you feel the best. This is by no means an all-or-nothing diet which are often frustrating and depressing
  3. Creates a system to follow so what foods to eat, buy and how to prepare them becomes automatic while still allowing for enough flexibility for you to experiment and try new, delicious recipes
  4. Limited exercise and still look and feel great
Chapter 1- Biohack your Diet to Lose Weight and Upgrade Your Life
  • Inflammation is the body's natural response to a pathogen, toxin, stress, or trauma. When something stresses the body, it responds by swelling up in an effort to heal itself. Inflammation is necessary for proper tissue repair
  • Research has shown time and again that high levels of inflammation are at the center of many diseases
  • The trick is to reduce your body's immune response by eating fewer foods with anti-nutrients and avoiding entirely the foods that trigger your immune system
  • The main categories of naturally occurring anti-nutrients are lectins, phytates, oxalates and mold toxins (mycotoxins)
    • Lectins
      • Made by plants that bind to joints, irritate the gut, lead to bacterial overgrowth, and contribute to leptin resistance (lack of signal to tell you you're full)
      • Come from beans, nuts and grains, nightshade plants (tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and potatoes)
    • Phytates  
      • Antioxidants that prevent other molecules from becoming oxidized which is usually good but too much is a bad thing
      • Come from whole grains, nuts and seeds
    • Oxalates
      • Bind to calcium in your blood and can be deposited in the body and cause muscle pain
      • Come from raw cruciferous vegetables (kale, spinach, chard), black pepper, chocolate, most nuts most berries and beans
      • Cooking and draining away the cooking water minimizes oxalates
    • Mold Toxins
      • Mycotoxins that are everywhere in small doses but the more you are exposed the more damage it does
      • Coffee often carries naturally occurring mold toxins with decaf having more
      • Comes from wheat, corn, grains, peanuts, fruits chocolate and wine
  • You are not only what you eat, but what your food ate
  • Goal is to personalize your diet to provide the most flexibility and the most energy and focus for you
  • Increased focus, lose weight, less inflammation
  • Biogenic amines are neurotransmitters that influence brain function and histamine is a BA that is well known for its role in seasonal allergies. The single most common source of dietary histamine is fermented soy, particularly soy sauce
  • Gut bacteria plays a huge role and it has been found that skinny people tend to carry different bacteria than obese people, bacteria which are beneficial for being (and staying) skinny
  • Coconut oil is an anti-fungal and MCT (Medium Chain Triglycerides) and an incredible source of saturated fat
  • Consuming more fats helps the body produce more bile which helps eliminate more toxins
Chapter 2 - What you Think is Good for You Might Be Making You Fat, Sick and Stupid
  • There are five basic things your diet should provide: energy for your brain, fuel for your body, nutrients for your cells, no unnecessary toxins and perhaps, most importantly, satisfaction
  • Willpower is a limited resource (decision fatigue)
  • BP Diet helps you feel satisfied instead of deprived, and when you are satisfied there is no need to waste willpower on something as trivial as food
  • Diet Myths
    1. If you're not losing weight, you're not trying hard enough
    2. You have limited willpower and diet helps increase your limit
    3. Willpower is far more sensitive to energy than lower levels of biology needed for survival.
    4. Your limbic brain, or Labrador brain, controls your instincts but distracts you with inappropriate urges and make us want to eat anything and everything.
    5. You're not as hungry as you think you are
      • When you eat certain foods they can make you hungrier, trigger your fight or flight response and increase your heart rate (see Asprey's app)
      • Your human brain gets the leftovers after the reptilian brain and other life-necessary functions get their fill. Therefore, if you only eat enough food to keep the first brain happy or eat the wrong things, your human brain runs out of energy first, which means you run out of willpower
    6. A low fat diet is healthy
      • Low-fat, sugar laden foods spike insulin and make you gain weight
      • Hunger isn't something to ignore but it is extremely controllable
    7. Eating fat will make you fat
      • The right fats are essential and satiating
      • When you eat real foods that aren't designed with flavor-enhancing chemicals that trick you into eating more, your Labrador brain tells you to stop eating when you've had enough. You won't want more food than your body needs
    8. Cutting calories is the best way to lose weight
      • Calories in vs. out is an outdated paradigm
      • When you start focusing not on the number of calories you consume but rather the quality of your food and the nutrition it provides, your body will respond in kind, revving up its fat-burning and nutrient absorption and naturally regulating your caloric intake.
    9. Everything natural is good for you
      • Fructose spikes insulin and can contribute to many diseases
      • Limit fructose to no more than 25g per day (about 2 large apples)
    10. You have to work out to lose a lot of weight
      • Diet much more important than exercise when it comes to weight loss
      • Foods you eat will help you lose weight, build muscle and stay in the best shape of your life
    11. Coffee is bad for you
      • When you remove toxins from your coffee, coffee is more of a superfood than nearly anything in your diet
    12. Red wine and chocolate are famous for their polyphenol content but coffee actually has far greater quantities
      • Has powerful thermogenic properties which helps stimulate fat loss
    13. Salt is a hazardous substance
      • Having the right amount of salt in your body is essential
      • Increase energy throughout the day by taking .5 - 1 teaspoon of sea salt in water right upon waking
      • Avoid table salt
  • Moderation is the key to success when dieting
  • BP 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
Chapter 3 - Stop counting calories, eat more fat, and trust your hunger
  • Fat isn't good or bad. Protein isn't good or bad. Even carbs aren't good or bad. Food and macronutrients are more complex than that...
  • Our cells, organs, and brains are all made of fat and need high quality fat to function optimally. Fat is also the basis for the lining of your nerves, called myelin, which allows electricity to flow efficiently. When you have more myelin, you literally think faster
  • Men should aim for at least 120-150 g of fat (8 to 10 tablespoons) per day.
  • Women should aim for at least 90-120 grams (6 to 8 tablespoons) per day, although body weight, activity level, genetics and hunger all play roles in how much fat you need.
  • Healthy fats should make up 50-70% of the calories you eat each day
  • 20% of daily calories should come from protein(low-mercury, wild caught fish, grass fed beef and lamb, pastured eggs, hydrolyzed collagen, gelatin and clean whey concentrate)
    • A good general rule is to experiment with between 0.325 and .75 grams of protein per day per pound of body weight
  • 20% of your calories actually come from vegetables even though you'll be eating much more vegetables than anything else
  • Only 5% of daily calories should come from fruit and starch combined
    • Should eat no more than 25 g of fructose a day, about two large apples
    • Best fruit - raspberries, blackberries and strawberries
  • Saturated fats are the most stable fats
  • Excess protein causes inflammation because it is more difficult for the body to digest than other macronutrients
  • Organic, grass-fed meat provides more nutrients and fewer toxins than grain-fed or conventional meat, with more antioxidants, omega 3s, trace minerals and vitamins than any other food. Consuming grass-fed meat is one of the best ways to prevent disease, improve brain function, lose weight and become bulletproof
  • Yellow fat is a sign of high nutrient density
  • Eat as many vegetables as you can possibly stand
  • Dry eyes is one of the first symptoms that you are cutting too many carbs for too long
  • Resistant starch - starch that is resistant to digestion, doesn't cause insulin to rise and produce the resulting blood sugar problems
    • Include banana flour, plantain flour, a special kind of resistant cornstarch and potato starch
  • Can feed healthy gut bacteria and make butyric acid by consuming gelatin, collagen, and connective tissue from meat
  • Eating sugar makes you tired, disrupts brain and hormone function, and promotes obesity
  • Sugar triggers the same reward center in many people's brains that cocaine does
  • Consumption of excess sugar and carbs is a major factor in the obesity epidemic and eliminating sugar is one of the very best things you can do for your health, weight and overall performance
  • Avoid MSG at all costs. Most commonly found in processed chips, commercial salad dressings, brothers, commercial soups and sauces like BBQ sauce and ketchup, and most spice mixes
  • Avoid aspartame, ace-K, saccharin, sucralose (splenda) and tagatose
  • Avoid GMO foods - canola, corn, cottonseed, sugar cane, potatoes, soy crops, vegetable oils and high fructose corn syrup
    • Foods labeled as "organic" cannot contain any GMO ingredients
  • Avoid polyunsaturated oils - canola, corn, cottonseed, peanut, safflower, soybean, sunflower and all other vegetable oils
  • Should consume no more than 4x as many omega 6s as omega 3s (most people on western diets consume 20-50x more 6s than 3s)
  • Avoid wheat because of the many negative side effects of gluten
  • Asprey found than when he ate gluten he was fine the day after, but 2 or 3 days later he became cranky and foggy. Although this is unusual, some people respond to a food exposure up to 10 days later.
  • Avoid conventional dairy, unless it is grass-fed, organic butter (or ghee)
  • The secret ingredient in butter that makes it so good for you is butyrate
  • May only work for some people, but full-fat organic raw milk, kefir or yogurt from grass-fed cows may be alright
  • The high amounts of high quality fats are so satiating that you won't want to overeat
Chapter 4 - Eat Fat for Breakfast and Carbs for Dessert
  • Eating or avoiding specific foods at certain times of day can cause a desired reaction in the body
  • Bulletproof Coffee for Breakfast
    • 1-2 cups organic, single origin coffee
    • Up to 2 TBS organic, grass-fed butter or ghee (kerrygold butter)
    • Up to 2 TBS MCT oil (NOW brand on Amazon)
    • Blend it all together for 20-30 seconds
    • Varieties - vanilla, cinnamon, xylitol or stevia (sweeteners), cayenne pepper, nutmeg
  • There are unquestionable benefits to short bouts of fasting including a metabolic boost and sharper focus (intermittent fasting). Also produces neural plasticity and neurogenesis, literally makes it easier for your brain to grow and evolve
  • MCT oil helps you go into ketosis even if you've eaten some carbs the day before
  • Should try to fast (the BP coffee doesn't count) for 18 hours
  • 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. The proper timing of carbs (at night) is one way the BP diet works like it does
  • BP protein fasting - enter into autophagy which is where cells clean themselves out, eat 15g of less of protein for 1 day every week
Chapter 5 - Sleep Better and Boost Your Energy
  • Getting high quality sleep is one of the most important variables in improving your brain function, longevity, and performance in all aspects of life
  • People who slept 6.5 hours a night lived longer than the ones who slept 8 hours. It doesn't mean that sleeping 8 hours will kill you, but it might mean that if it takes 9 or 10 hours for you to feel human you're less healthy than someone who feels great after only 6.5 hours
  • If you can't sleep, there are 3 main reasons for it - either you're not tired, you're distracted or you have a biological problem such as sleep apnea or hormone irregularities that need medical attention
  • As you sleep, your brain cells' mitochondria remove cellular waste
  • Filling up with clean fats at dinner gives you a steady stream of energy. Grass-fed butter, animal fat and coconut oil are all good choices, but extra-concentrated MCT oil is my personal favorite.
  • Supplements or Tips to try out before bed to improve sleep:
    • Take 1-2 TBS of MCT oil at night with dinner or right before bed
    • Krill oil, of all the omega 3s, promotes the best sleep. 1 g of krill oil with dinner or at bedtime
    • Take 1 to 2 TBS of hydrolyzed grass-fed collagen peptide before bed (can mix in with no-coffee vanilla late to enjoy benefits of MCT as well)
    • Try taking 1 to 2 TBS of grass-fed, low temperature-processed whey at night in no-coffee vanilla latte
    • Taking a small amount of honey by itself before bed will raise blood glucose while you sleep, putting you in a deeper sleep faster
    • Take 6 to 800 mg of magnesium a day (malate, citrate, aspartate and other "ates"
    • Potassium citrate and potassium bicarbonate keeps the heart beating regularly. Take 400 mg of potassium of citrate at bedtime (start with 100 to 200 mg and work your way up from there)
    • Take 100 mg of Suntheanine at night
    • Start with 500 mg of GABA and work up to 2,500 before bed
    • Phenibut protects against the psychological side effect of chronic stress in mice. Take less than 600 mg and don't use it every day. Does not mix with alcohol or other medications and is a very powerful sleep hack
    • Take a mixture of arginine and ornithine at night for growth hormone release. Take 500 to 1,000 mg at bedtime
    • L-tryptophan mixed with GABA is a great sleep hack. Start with 500 mg a night
    • Melatonin - 300 to 500 mcg for men and 300 mcg for women, For jet lag, can safely use 1 to 3 mg
    • Vitamin D3 - 1,000 IU per 25 pounds of body weight are recommended each day but up to 10,000 has shown to have positive effects. Take in the morning
    • Active PQQ - 10 mg at night to improve sleep efficiency
    • Can get amber nightlights online that will help preserve the quality of your sleep
    • Use Sleep Cycle to track your sleep
    • CES machines have been used to treat insomnia and range from $300 to $2,000
    • Earthing mats help electrically ground you and has shown improvements in recovery, lowering inflammation and normalizes cortisol. Theory has it that our bodies develop a positive charge that is slowly dispelled as we touch the earth. The earth itself has negatively charged electrons that balance the positive charge we accumulate when we're disconnected, which happens because we are almost always electrically insulated from the surface of the planet
    • Sleep Induction (spike) mat - helps sympathetic nervous system relax and what felt extremely uncomfortable a couple minutes ago now feels blissful and relaxing
    • When your "labrador" brain is calm, the amount of time between each heartbeat changes and becomes more variable. Can use a heart rate variability app to train yourself to get into this mode. The technology gives you feedback so you can alter your breathing and put yourself in a calm state
    • Deep breathing exercises like art of living, pranayama yoga and meditation can do wonders for helping your brain shut down, recuperate and prepare for another great day
  • Avoid:
    • Bright lights
    • Watching graphic or violent TV
    • Do not exercise for at least 2 hours before bed
    • Don't drink coffee after 2PM or at least 8 hours before bedtime
    • Go to bed before 11PM
  • Changing what you eat before you sleep and becoming conscious of the quality of your sleep can give you an edge in how well your diet works for you
Chapter 6 - Work out Less and Get More Muscle
  • Increasing stress raises cortisol levels which causes weight gain, muscle loss, a decline in testosterone and burnout
  • When done moderately and correctly, exercise improves bone density, mood and blood lipids and increases insulin sensitivity and lean muscle. It can also decrease inflammation and help you sleep better, as long as its done more than 2 hours before you go to bed
  • Exercise must be brief, intense, infrequent, safe and purposeful
  • Moving (easy bike rides or long walks, not exercise) helps decrease risk of metabolic syndrome, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease and vascular dementia. It also decreases overall systemic inflammation which saps your performance and contributes to almost all known disease
  • High Intensity Interval Training - Run as fast as you can for 30 seconds, rest for 90 and then do it again. Do this for 15 minutes. Do this once per week and at least 3 days before or after lifting weights
  • Exercising on an empty stomach while on a high-fat diet with plenty of calories provides the most muscle growth, improves whole body glucose tolerance and improves insulin sensitivity.
    • Supplement with grass-fed hydrolyzed collagen protein or cold processes whey protein concentrate within 15 minutes of finishing a workout
  • When it comes to lifting weights, its best to work out one to three times per week (in addition to HIIT). You should only train 3 times per week if you have extra time for sleep and recovery and are not jet lagged. If you find your training stalling or decreasing on this program, decrease the frequency instead of forcing yourself to try harder. Remember, there is a point of diminishing returns with exercise. More exercise will not always lead to more benefits, and overtrianing is harmful
  • Each workout should not last longer than 20 minutes. Often, 10 to 15 minutes is enough but your workout should be extremely high intensity, with each movement done to the point of muscle failure
  • The weight should be heavy enough that you will reach muscle failure in 1.5 to 2 minutes. A good rule is to use about 80% of the heaviest amount of weight you're capable of lifting at one time. The next movement should be performed as soon as possible after the completion of the previous one. The time between movements should not exceed 2 minutes, and less is better
  • The five compound movements that are most beneficial are:
    1. Seated row
    2. Chest press
    3. Pulldown
    4. Overhead press
    5. Leg press
  • Some warm up necessary, such as stretching, but no need for extensive jog or anything like that
  • Recommended fitness books
  • Recovery is extremely important. Wait at least 2 days and up to 10 days before your next workout. Between 4 and 7 days is the sweetspot
  • Diet is more important than exercise in determine the shape of your body and how you feel. These exercises are simply a way for you to become stronger and more powerful. For nonathletes, weight lifting during week 1, sprinting once during week 2 and then repeating is a good schedule
  • The night after a workout you need to sleep extra. A 20 minute workout can increase your sleep needs by more than 3 hours
Chapter 7 - Weak Multivitamins and the BP Guide to Supplements
  • Almost every common disease has been linked to micronutrient deficiencies
  • Most multivtaimins result in you over or underdosing in certain nutrients and often contain low quality nutrients
  • Important to get the vast majority of your nutrients from food as the nutrients work together in a process known as food synergy. Food is more powerful than the sum of its parts
  • Eating grass-fed meat boosts plasma omega 3 levels far more than can be explained by the amount of omega 3s in meat
  • For Asprey's most up to date recommendations, visiting bulletproofexec.com/top10
  • Vitamin D
    • Probably the most important supplement and biohack for antiaging and human performance
    • Dose: 1,000 IU for every 25 pounds of body weight
    • Form: D3
    • Time to Take: Morning
  • Magnesium
    • Dose: 600 to 800 mg per day
    • Form: Citrate, malate, aspartate, glycinate, threonate, or orotate
    • Time to Take: Bedtime
  • Vitamin K2
    • K2 is a fat soluble vitamin that helps with calcium metabolish
    • Dose: 2,000 mcg per day (100 mcg of MK-7)
    • Form: Mk-4, Mk-7
    • Time to Take: Morning
  • Vitamin C
    • One of the safest, most effective supplements you can take, enhances immune function and helps prevent free radical damage
    • Dose: 1 to 2 g per day
    • Form: Ascorbic acid crystals or time-release capsules
    • Time to Take - morning and evening (but not after a workout)
  • Iodine
    • Dose: 1 mg per day
    • Form: Kelp powder or potassium iodide capsules
    • Time to Take: Whenever
  • EPA/DHA (Krill Oil)
    • Krill oil is more stable than fish oil so its easier for your brain to use
    • Dose: 350 to 1,000 mg per day
    • Form: Krill Oil
    • Time to Take: with meals
  • Vitamin A
    • Dose: 10,000 to 15,000 IU per day
    • Form: Retinol
    • Time to Take: with meals
  • Selenium
    • Too much selenium can have negative health consequences and you should therefore get regular checkups
    • Dose: 200 mcg per day
    • Form: Se-methylselenocysteine or selenomethionine
    • Time to Take: Whenever
  • Copper
    • Alternative sources of copper include cocoa, cashews and lobster
    • Dose: 1 mg per day
    • Form: Capsule
    • Time to Take: Whenever
  • Vitamin B12 and Folate
    • Dose: 5 mg methylcobalamin or hydroxycobalamin and 800 mcg folate (5-MTHF or folinic acid, NOT folic acid)
    • Form: Capsule
    • Time to Take: Whenever
Chapter 8 - Why the BP Diet Works for Both Men and Women
  • To protect fertility, it's just as important to avoid unhealthy fats as it is to eat healthy ones
  • All women who are planning to get pregnant start the BP diet at least 3 to 6 months before conception
  • If you are stressed, consuming enough salt will help ease the burden on your already taxed adrenals
  • If you are over 40 and/or have significant weight to lose, it might help you in the long term if you add some protein to your breakfast
  • When you're in maintenance mode, try adding some BP protein like pastured eggs or whey protein to your breakfast
  • Re-feed days are days when you replenish your body with carbs by eating more of them than you normally do on the BP diet. These carb re-feed days coincide with protein fasting days. Once a week, you'll replace the protein in your meals with healthy BP carbs. Some men perform their best when they eat carbs even less frequently. Women, however, should always re-feed with carbs at least once a week, on the day of their protein fast
  • On carb re-feed days you should stick to BP Diet principles and eat up to 300 g of BP carbs like sweet potatoes, carrots and white rice
  • Women who are pregnant should eat limited carbs every night while adhering to all other principles of BP Diet. Never fast while pregnant, ever! It is extremely important for an embryo to receive adequate calories and nutrition in the womb
  • If pregnant, it's not a great idea to consume caffeinated coffee
  • What a man does and doesn't eat can make a dramatic difference when it comes to his sperm quality, his fertility and even the health of his children
  • A diet that is high in fat and low in sugar and carbs like the BP diet naturally increases testosterone levels
Chapter 9 - The BP Diet Roadmap to Swanky Neighborhoods
  • The lists below only include foods at the top of the BP spectrum
  • Vegetables
    • Asparagus
    • Avocado
    • Bok Choy (cooked)
    • Brussels sprouts (cooked)
    • Broccoli (cooked)
    • Cauliflower
    • Olives
    • Celery
    • Cucumber
    • Fennel
  • Fats
    • MCT Oil
    • Organic, grass-fed ghee
    • Cacao Butter
    • Pastured egg yolks
    • Krill oil
    • Grass-fed meat fat and marrow
    • Avocado oil
    • Coconut oil
    • Sunflower lecithin
  • Proteins
    • Grass-fed hyrdrolyzed collagen
    • Grass-fed beef and lamb
    • Pastured eggs
    • Wild caught fish (anchovies, sole, sardines, sockeye salmon)
  • Dairy
    • Grass-fed, organic ghee and butter
Chapter 10 - BP Diet Roadmap to Sketchy Neighborhoods
  • Nuts
    • Coconut way above anything else
    • Almonds
    • Cashews
    • Pecans
    • Walnuts
  • Starches
    • Pumpkin
    • Butternut squash
    • Sweet potato/yam
    • Carrots
    • White rice
  • Fruit
    • Avocado
    • Blackberries
    • Coconut
    • Cranberries
    • Lemon
    • Lime
    • Raspberries
    • Blueberries
    • Strawberries
Chapter 11 - The BP Diet Roadmap to Red Light Neighborhoods
  • Spices and Flavoring
    • Organic vanilla
    • Apple cider vinegar
    • Cilantro
    • Coffee
    • Ginger
    • Parsley
    • Sea salt
    • Rosemary
    • Thyme
    • Turmeric
    • Oregano
    • Lavender
    • Cinnamon
  • Sweeteners and Sugars
  • Beverages
    • Organic, single source coffee
    • Green tea
    • Diluted coconut milk
    • Mineral water in glass
Chapter 12 - The Way You Cook Your Food Can Make it Toxic
  • From best to worst:
    • Raw or not cooked
    • Lightly heated
    • Steamed
    • Convection baked or 320F or below
    • Simmered, boiled, poached, lightly grilled
    • Slow cooking
    • BBQ, stir-fried
    • Burnt, blackened, charred, deep-fried
Chapter 13 - Lose a Pound a Day Without Being Hungry: The 2-Week BP Protocol
  • The fastest way to get a pretty complete list of your food sensitivities is to go to your doctor and ask for an IgG/IgE blood panel testing for food allergies
  • The more often you limit your feeding window to 6 hours or less the more you'll benefit
  • I see snack cravings as a sign that I'm doing something wrong. One of the most important things I've learned as a biohacker is that hunger is almost complete controllable
  • If you're hungry while on this diet, it's probably because you're used to eating. Take a break, do some deep breathing or take a 10 minute walk. If that doesn't get rid of the craving eat a high-fat snack (BP coffee, guacamole, 90% dark chocolate, almond butter)
  • Gives a list of recipes but as long as you stick to the BP roadmap above for 2 weeks and do the BP coffee for breakfast, you'll be fine
Chapter 14 - BP For Life
  • The first thing to do after the 2 weeks is go out and eat a huge pizza or any Kryptonite food you craved the most over the past 2 weeks, wash it down with some beer and red wine and see how you feel, look and perform. Do you feel tired, bloated, unfocused? This was always the effect food had on you but you never knew the other side
  • If you have to have some Kryptonite food, have it and don't think you've fallen off the wagon. You're still on the diet - you just chose something from the other end of the spectrum
  • In maintenance mode, you'll get the best results from adhering as closely as possible to the main BP diet principles - starting the day with BP coffee, sticking to BP intermittent fasting on most days, protein fasting one day per week, and avoiding kryptonite foods most of the time
  • There may be a handful of suspect foods that cause you to perform poorly and if you only eliminate one or two of them you won't feel or look any different. This may cause you to believe that food isn't the variable making you weak and then go forward eating something that is actually hindering you every single day.
  • After the 2 week diet, your body is a "clean slate" and you can begin to slowly incorporate new foods to see how they affect you
  • A little extreme! but Asprey says every time he goes to a restaurant he brings with him MCT oil, good quality sea salt, a whole avocado and a stick of grass-fed butter
  • Typical lunch - wild caught fish, steamed veggies with no sauce and then add butter and an entire avocado to the veggies
  • If no high quality protein, goes vegetarian with some white rice and steamed veggies and add butter, MCT oil or a whole avocado

In the Latticework, we've distilled, curated, and interconnected the 750+book summaries from The Rabbit Hole. If you're looking to make the ideas from these books actionable in your day-to-day life and join a global tribe of lifelong learners, you'll love The Latticework. Join us today.