I was lucky enough to be asked to perform at the BIL Conference a little over a month ago as my
burlesque alter ego Kitty Kat
DeMille.
You could say that BIL is the alternative kid step-brother to the now
massive TED Conference. BIL is a quirky, populist, “unconference” that for the
last four years has been open to the public, fully participant powered, and
features a wild mix of technologists, scientists, artists, hackers, and those
with a passion for community awareness. Now one of the sponsors of BIL was
Kerrygold
Butter. Initially I thought this was a rather odd partnership for an event
for a bunch of alternative software geeks, that is until I heard of Bullletproof Executive and their butter
coffee.
And yes, you read that last line right, I did say butter coffee.
Bullletproof Executive is the
brainchild of Dave Asprey a Silicon Valley investor, computer security expert,
and entrepreneur who according to him “spent 15 years and $250,000 to hack his
own biology and in doing so upgraded his brain by >20 IQ points, lowered his
biological age, and lost 100 lbs without using calories or exercise.”
The Financial Times calls him a "bio-hacker who takes self-quantification to
the extreme of self-experimentation." Asprey’s writing have been published by
the New York Times and Fortune, and he's presented at Wharton, Kellogg, the
University of California, and Singularity University. In the last few years
he’s been creating quite a following in the world Wall Street Executives and
Techies (pretty much anywhere a mental edge is the difference between success
and death).
Asprey’s Bulletproof Executive
diet itself is very Paleo in its tenets (lots of organic fats, grass-fed meats,
and leafy greens), but the most striking differentiation between the two is the
consumption of a cup of butter coffee each morning.
As Asprey explains in the
Bulletproof Executive's blog, “Try this just once, with only 2 Tbs of
butter, and have nothing else for breakfast. You will experience one of the
best mornings of your life, with boundless energy and focus. It’s amazing.”
Now I know what you’re thinking butter in coffee? That’s absolutely crazy!
And yes you’re right, it is completely against what we know to be the norm, but
at the same time when some of the smartest people I’ve ever met are doing some
maybe there’s something to it!
Asprey’s buttered Joe was inspired by a cup of yak butter tea he consumed
after climbing Mt. Kailash (that’s a 18,000 feet elevation) in Tibet in 10
degree weather. Asprey notes he was literally rejuvenated by a creamy cup of
this strange brew and the quest for the knowledge of why lead to genesis of the
Bulletproof Executive lifestyle.
Now coffee is one of the most chemically treated foods we ingest and for
this reason Asprey chose to take matters into his own hands selling the lowest
toxin, highest performance coffee out there known in the Bulletproof world as
“Upgraded Coffee.”
Asprey explains “it was John Patrick Henry’s 2nd cousin’s boyfriend Juan
Valdez who said, “Give me high-end coffee or give me death.’ That’s because
toxins in cheap coffee (Starbucks included) will steal your mental edge and
actually make you weak, but clean coffee actually fights cancer and provides
antioxidants.”
Now once you’ve brewed these Upgraded beans, you then blend unsalted
grass-fed butter into it (such as Kerrygold, sponsor of the BIL Conference! See
it all comes full circle!). As Asprey explains, “Yes, butter! All the benefits
of healthy milk fat with none of the damaging denatured casein proteins found
in cream” (and casein proteins are bad, very bad for the human body). “It makes
for the creamiest, most satisfying cup of coffee you’ve ever had. It will keep
you satisfied with level energy for 6 hours if you need it. And because I’m
having it for breakfast, I’m programming my body to burn fat for energy all day
long!”
Along with the choice coffee, the choice of butter (such as Kerrygold,
sponsor of the BIL Conference) is a very important aspect of this morning
potion. Kerrygold butter or another grass-fed brands of butter really matter
because corn or soy-fed cows don’t make butter with the same fats. According to
Asprey, “those butters don’t blend well, don’t taste good, and don’t make you
feel Bulletproof. Grass-fed butter is much healthier than other butter. It
doesn’t make cholesterol levels worse, it optimizes them! Starting your day
with grass-fed butter will give you lots of energy and it will give your body
healthy fats that it will use to make cell walls and hormones.”
And it must be unsalted butter! In the world of Kerrygold butter universe
this is the one that comes in the silver foil.
Asprey notes, “realize salted coffee is a crime. Do not do this with salted
butter. Bleah.”
This “crazy” concoction has such an underground following now that the last
three times I have tried to purchase it at the Venice Whole Foods
Kerrygold’s unsalted butter has been sold out. I guess being a Bulletproof
Executive isn’t just for software geeks anymore!
The
recipe for Bulletproof Coffee is below (with links to where to buy Asprey’s
“Upgraded Coffee”):
Bulletproof Coffee Recipe
- Start with 4-500 ml (2 mugs) of black coffee brewed with my mold-free
Upgraded Coffee beans.
- Add 2 Tbs (or more, up to 80 grams, about 2/3 of a standard stick of
butter) of Kerrygold or other UNSALTED grass-fed butter
- Add 30 grams of MCT oil for max energy, weight loss and brain function
(this is 6 times stronger than coconut oil, your next best choice)
- Blend with a pre-heated hand blender, Magic Bullet, or (best) counter top
blender until there is a creamy head of foam. (It doesn’t work well if you mix
it with a spoon).
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