Bulletproof Diet

Since Sept 14th 2020 my husband and I have been enjoying the Bulletproof Diet created by David Asprey. I heard him interviewed on a podcast and was instantly intrigued. After starting his diet, I got more benefits than I signed up for and was hooked.

My diet story

Like a lot engineers and software folk, I have a sedentary life. Working at a desk in front of my computer for way more than 8 hours a day, I constantly struggle with staying in shape. My family is full of extreme athletes. My dad is Bill Welzien, (google him to learn more about what I have to deal with). Because of this, I’ve always loved working out. The hard part is that as I’ve gotten older I can do the same amount of working out, eat the same things, but still gain weight! My body was getting worse and worse at staying at the same weight.

In 2014 I went on a low carb/almost keto diet. I had tried some of the bulletproof diet ideas but I hadn’t really focused doing it right. Because I didn’t do it “right,” I had a lot of health issues and slowly quit it after I’d lost a lot of weight. Since 2014 I’ve gained weight every year. Finally, in September, I decided to make the change and do the diet right. I really hate dieting and have avoided it and instead try to just eat right. The problem is that there is a lot of contradictory information about what is healthy on the internet. My family mostly fed us veggies so I tend towards a lot of veggies in my diet.

There were three main reasons why I decided to do the diet.

Reduce inflammation. I have a few other auto immune issues like psoriasis and vitiligo caused by inflammation. I wanted to reduce the inflammation I my body as the symptoms are showing up as these skin conditions.

Steady energy all day. Removing carbs and using healthy fats provides a steady flow of energy during my day.

Lose the extra lbs. I knew from my early experience and from the science that getting most of my calories from fat would help me lose weight. The diet strongly encourages intermittent fasting which is proven to increase health indicators, even over a reduced calorie diet.

My results:

Weight loss results. Since starting the diet, I’ve lost 3 inches from my waistline and about 10lbs.

Energy results. I feel great all day. I am working a full time day job and have Toastmasters in evenings and on Saturdays. I always feel full of energy and focus, even with such a busy schedule.

Inflammation results. I think this is still a challenge for me. I am working on a few things to help me reduce the inflammation including a redlight/infrared therapy box from BluBlox. I am also correcting my teeth alignment. If you are curious what is the connection between inflammation and teeth alignment, watch this video. Stay tuned!!

The bonus unexpected results.

Not waiting up at 3am every night. I’ve slept through the night since I started the diet. I used to wake up about 3 am and worry about everything. Now I sleep through through the night. I recently got the Oura Ring and am improving my already great sleep even more.

Saving time. I used to eat a veggie egg scramble every morning at 7ish for years. I thought that eating lots of healthy proteins for breakfast would give me mental energy and focus for the day. I would be veraciously hungry by 10:30, so I’d to eat fruit as a mid morning snack. Then at 12 I was again super hungry and would never miss lunch. What I discovered by trial and error and also by reading more about how the body works is that protein causes food cravings. Now I have a bulletproof coffee at 8:30 and eat lunch about 12:30 with no food cravings. I feel just slightly hungry and so I eat. I am saving so much time not eating.

To learn more about the diet I recommend reading the whole Bulletproof book by David Asprey, which I failed to do back in 2014. Reading the whole book will set you up for success. There are so many little things that make the diet work such as using grass fed ghee and butter that you wouldn’t realize when you just watch a few YouTube videos.

My latest experiences.

I am now fasting from Saturday at 7pm to Monday at 12pm. I love it! It makes me feel so energetic. I just finished Fast this Way by David Asprey. I really liked the book. He lays out a ton of “Fasting Hacks” that make fasting doable, if not easy. I am really changing my relationship from food. I now make food work for me vs. being a victim to food cravings.