Butter coffee for fat loss and focus

Hi Everyone,

Hope you’re doing well. Today I’m going to cover one of the most popular, successful, and, for some people, infamous biohacks of all time: ‘butter coffee,’ also known as ‘Bulletproof Coffee.’

Quick summary: Having coffee blended with butter and MCT oil for breakfast is an easy and delicious way to lose weight, lower inflammation, and achieve mental focus.

Full post:

Ok, first, what's a ‘biohack’ exactly? It’s anything that you actively do or change to try to create a desired biological/health outcome. So, exercise is a biohack, as are diets, meditation, supplements, etc.

Back to the subject at hand: why on earth would you put butter into your coffee and where did this crazy idea come from?

The origin story goes briefly as follows: Dave Asprey, a leading biohacker and ‘inventor’ of butter coffee, was hiking at high altitude in Tibet years ago and feeling totally gassed. A local gave him a yak butter tea, and he felt a surge of energy, focus and well-being.

Subsequently, he decided to make his own version, using coffee, and with the important addition of liquid medium-chain-triglyceride (MCT) oil from coconuts. He promoted this mixture of coffee, butter, and MCT oil as ‘Bulletproof Coffee’ along with his own branded ‘Bulletproof’ coffee and supplements line.

What are the effects?

The standard way to use butter coffee is as a substitute for breakfast. By having fat, and only fat, in the morning, the body switches into a temporary state of mild ketosis. Ketosis is when the body uses fat instead of carbs for its primary energy source (and ketones are produced in the liver).

The most common effect of ketosis is fat loss. There are various potential mechanisms for why this occurs, including the body using its own fat stores for fuel, an increase in metabolic rate, and a reduction in hunger. Not only does research support this, but I have seen it with my own eyes in several of my friends and family members (see testimonials at the bottom of this post - they are remarkable).

In addition, many people report that being in ketosis promotes mental energy and focus. And, research has linked it to reduced pain and inflammation and even to cancer prevention.

Given these benefits of ketosis, some people follow very high fat and low carb diets for prolonged periods, particularly if they are seeking substantial weight loss. However, there are some potential risks to being in ketosis for extended periods. Thus, the butter coffee for breakfast protocol is a nice way of experiencing ‘cyclic ketosis’ – where you go into ketosis for a few hours, experience some of its benefits, and then come out.

A final set of benefits can stem come from blending the coffee with the fat, thereby ‘emulsifying’ various antioxidants and polyphenols contained in the coffee and making them more absorbable. Yes, (high quality) coffee does in fact contain a number of healthy compounds!

How to make FAT coffee

First, if you are seeking weight loss or the other benefits that can come from ketosis, it is critical that you have nothing else for breakfast! No milk or sugar; no carbs or protein of any kind until lunch. People are often concerned that they’ll feel hungry, but fat is actually digested quite slowly, making butter coffee a long-lasting source of energy.

1) Make your cup of coffee as normal. I highly recommend high quality, organic coffee, ideally freshly ground. The Bulletproof brand is solid, which you can find on Amazon and at Whole Foods, although it’s fine to use your favorite coffee instead.

2) Mix in 1 - 2 tablespoons of C8 MCT oil (derived from coconuts). Coconut oil itself only contains 10-15% C8, but that is the most potent ketone, especially good for fat loss and brain function. People living outside the US can get it here. A few people can find C8 oil to be very stimulating; in that case, you can start with as little as 1 teaspoon and gradually increase. NOTE: MCT oil is very effective and promoting fat loss and cognition. However, I only recommend using it for a few weeks at a time, before taking a break. Long-term daily ketosis could possibly result in some blood sugar regulation issues.

3) Mix in 1 - 2 tablespoons Irish Kerrygold grassfed butter. You can get it at Whole Foods and many other grocery stores. Other suitable brands include Anchor and Lurpak - it should be 'pastured' or 'grassfed' butter. Make sure you get unsalted, otherwise it won’t taste good. To make your butter coffee vegan, you can use organic cacao butter instead.

4) Add any additional optional ingredients (see below) and blend for 15-20 seconds. Blending – rather than just stirring – is critical both for the texture/taste as well as for better emulsification of the antioxidants. If you don’t have a blender or can’t be bothered to use and clean one, a milk frother does a pretty good job as well, and is what I use to make this when I’m traveling.

Note: for people who eat relatively low-fat diets, it may take them a few days to start producing the digestive enzymes - namely, lipase - necessary to fully digest this. It’s a good idea to ramp up the amounts of fat for the first few days. A conservative approach would be to start Day 1 with 1/2 tablespoon of each (C8 oil & butter), go to 3/4 tablespoon day 2, go to 1 tablespoon on day 3 and eventually get up to 1.5-2 tablespoons each. Just note that you may get hungry with the lower amounts and won’t experience the full ketosis effects.

Also: you don’t have to do this every single day for it to work. It does work more the more you do it, and some people like it so much that they are happy to do it every day. But others do it only on weekdays, or on some other cyclic schedule.

Alternatives to coffee

What if you just don’t like coffee, or are too sensitive to caffeine? There are some options for you.

First, this works fairly well with black teas (it doesn’t taste very good with green tea). Personally, I love making a butter tea using this Puerh tea, when I don’t want as much caffeine or I just feel like something besides coffee (teas have a different antioxidant profile from coffee, so it can make sense to switch it up once in a while).

Second, if that is still too much caffeine for you, you can also this cacao tea.

Finally, if the theobromine found in chocolate is still too stimulating for you, you could try Roiboos tea, which is completely stimulant free.

These are also good options if you want a second cup at any point; it’s best to avoid significant doses of caffeine after about 2 pm, because it can cause reduced sleep quality.

Possible additions and modifications (see Gavin Recommends for links for non-US residents)

To be clear, these potential additions and modifications are optional - the simple formula of coffee+C8 oil+butter still works great on its own.

1) Instant coffee. If you’re traveling or are really in a rush, this is an excellent instant coffee to use rather than brewing a cup.

2) Prebiotics. This prebiotic that I recommended in a previous post (as one of the single best things you can use to improve your gut biome) mixes in very easily to this recipe, does not change the flavor, and importantly, does not add any calories or otherwise disrupt cyclic ketosis (it is consumed by your gut bacteria, not by ‘you’). Add 1 tablespoon to your butter coffee.

3) Theanine. L-theanine is an amino acid found in tea that has a calming/focus effect for many, without drowsiness. It can be effective in reducing anxiety, and also increases Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (which increases neuroplasticity, or the brain's ability to form new connections). Theanine combined with caffeine is the simplest, most popular ‘smart drug stack’ out there, as the theanine reduces the jitters or overstimulation that some experience from caffeine. Add 200 mg to your butter coffee.

4) Lions mane mushroom. This is a mushroom that has been found to stimulate neurogenesis and connectivity in the brain, helping creativity and general cognitive function / brain health, by increasing Nerve Growth Factor and Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor. Add 1/8 teaspoon to your butter coffee.

5) Cinnamon. Ceylon cinnamon has been shown to have a variety of health benefits, including improving cholesterol and reducing blood sugar swings (which can help with fat loss, and in preventing type 2 diabetes). Some people find that it tastes great in coffee; others don't like the change in taste (I personally do not; I would say try the coffee without cinnamon to start and then try adding and see what you think). Add ½ to 1 teaspoon to your butter coffee.

Summary and testimonials

Butter coffee has become one of the most popular biohacks ever, and has spread around the world, for good reason. It really works. I’ve seen cafes offering it in New York, LA, San Francisco, Melbourne, Sydney, Shanghai and Chiangmai.

I personally use it 2-3 times per week, with added prebiotics, theanine, and lion’s mane, for a boost of energy and focus when I want to power through some work. And I love how it tastes.

Besides myself, I personally know nine different friends and family members who have tried it, most with great results. Seven of them still use it regularly and often gush about their experiences. To provide a couple of quick examples, one person steadily lost weight for the first six months, for a total loss of about 20 pounds. The only change was swapping oatmeal for butter coffee for breakfast. Another has been doing it every day for the past five months, and has lost a total of 14 pounds. Fascinatingly, for one of the months he switched to only black coffee rather than butter coffee, reasoning that fewer calories should lead to even greater weight loss. During that month, his weight loss stopped. The next month, he went back to butter coffee and the weight loss resumed – nicely demonstrating the benefits of the cyclic ketosis effect, which is increased by the fat intake.

Here are a few additional testimonials from friends and family. Keep in mind that I have no financial affiliations or interests here; I simply want to spread the word about something that makes many people’s lives better. I swear I'm not making these up!

“Did bullet coffee this morning. I really find massive concentration bump. Also the cacao butter makes it delicious.”

“Take the bullet proof coffee every day. it’s a life changer. I have the most ridiculous laser focus. I wouldn’t have been able to function without it. Most productive 2 months of my life.” (This person was adding theanine and lion's mane).

“Was initially a sceptic but was proven wrong when I tried! Bulletproof coffee turned out to be really effective to reduce inflammation/lose weight around the gut area. Saw results within a week. As a comparison, I was substituting not very much to begin with - for breakfast, I would normally have just a slice of toast and egg or butter with a cappuccino, so it probably wasn’t because of the marginal calorie reduction. Have been doing it regularly for the last 5 months now and definitely see a difference/is the easiest thing with a milk frother. Only thing is I would recommend swapping out the Bulletproof Coffee brand to another organic coffee - Stumptown has been my fave so far :)”

“I first tried bulletproof coffee in November 2014. I was surprised by the taste. Even though there is no milk it is like a rich latte. It cut my cravings for sweet things completely and I started losing weight, three pounds a month for several months and then gradually slowing down to half a pound a month until I reached my desired weight. Unlike the other times i have lost weight, I have had no trouble keeping the pounds off and still look forward to my large mug of bulletproof coffee each morning.”

So, why not give it a try? It's easy and you should see results within two weeks; if not, nothing lost.

To your health!

Gavin