- People are becoming more and more aware that traditional and intermittent fasting boosts health and longevity, and helps speed up weight loss even when calorie intake stays the same.
- The Bulletproof Diet, one of the first books to promote intermittent fasting, recommends eating your meals in a six- to eight-hour window each day.
- The idea behind fasting is that when your body isn’t burdened with the task of digestion all day every day, it has a chance to carry out cleaning and repair processes that make you healthier overall.
- Skipping meals isn’t fun, which is why people have been experimenting with different ways to temporarily restrict food.
- You’re loving your Bulletproof Coffee — is there any way to have it and still intermittent fast?
- Find out why Bulletproof Coffee is the hack that makes fasting easier without messing with your fat-burning results.
You’ve been hearing a lot about intermittent fasting these days. Notably, Hollywood megastars like Halle Berry, Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez and Hugh Jackman have been linked to the fat-melting, longevity-boosting diet.
Of course, humans have been fasting long before celluloid screens came about — sometimes for religious reasons, other times fasting was necessary because there wasn’t enough food around. Now, scientists and the wellness-obsessed people recognize that fasting boosts health and longevity, and helps with weight loss even when calorie intake stays the same.
The Bulletproof Diet was one of the first diets to advocate intermittent fasting — cycling in and out of periods of eating and not eating. Only recently, though, is IF picking up steam as people learn about its benefits for disease, aging, and fat loss.
Skipping meals isn’t fun, which is why biohackers and lab geeks have been experimenting with different ways to temporarily restrict food, while still reaping the benefits. Here’s what you need to know about intermittent fasting, and how to get the best results with the least amount of discomfort.
RELATED: Set yourself up for intermittent fasting success — instantly download the Ultimate Intermittent Fasting Guide to get your quick-start guide, sample 3-day meal plan, and printable intermittent fasting journal
How to intermittent fast
There are several ways to do it, but the most common way to intermittent fast is to consume all of your calories for the day in an eight-hour window, and avoid eating the rest of the day (known also as the 16:8 diet — as in 16 hours of fasting and eight hours of eating). That way, you get to eat every day, and your body still gets a break from constantly digesting food every day. The idea behind a 16:8 fasting schedule is that when your body isn’t burdened with the task of digestion all day every day, it has a chance to carry out cleaning and repair processes that make you healthier overall.
Keep reading to view the health benefits of intermittent fasting — and how Bulletproof Coffee makes it easier.
See the benefits
Health benefits of fasting
Science shows that intermittent fasting benefits you head to toe. Here are a few documented benefits:
- Boosts weight loss
- Increases energy
- Promotes cellular repair and autophagy (when your body consumes defective tissue in order to produce new parts)
- Reduces insulin resistance and protects against type 2 diabetes
- Lowers bad cholesterol
- Promotes longevity
- Protects against neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s[1]
- Improves memory and boosts brain function
- Makes cells more resilient
- Protects[2] and helps clean and repair[3] the brain cells you have
- Protects against chronic conditions like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease[4]
- Keeps mitochondria strong, which fuels your body and keeps you young[5]
Another state that has the same benefits as fasting: ketosis
Another diet that’s making waves right now, the keto diet has surged because its benefits consistently overlap with the benefits of intermittent fasting. It’s a low-carb eating style with moderate amounts of protein and a high fat content. The two pair well together, which is why many people choose to intermittent fast while on a keto diet. Among its claims to fame, a keto diet:
- Improves insulin sensitivity
- Reduces the rate of free radicals (potentially harmful oxygen atoms) produced[6]
- Shifts your metabolism from burning sugar and carbs to burning stored body fat[7]
You can credit these three things for most of the improved health markers you get from intermittent fasting: cardiovascular healthm, mitochondria health, glucose metabolism, and more. When you’re burning fat for fuel, when you have a healthy level of insulin sensitivity, and when you’re not exposed to high levels of damaging free radicals, your cells stay healthier and you live longer and stronger.
How to make intermittent fasting easier to stick with
Fasting, even intermittent fasting, leaves you feeling hungry and grumpy, which interferes with your work and life. You want to perform at max power and you want the longevity benefits, but not at the cost of your job and your relationships.
The answer? Cheat.
Don’t cheat as in, cheat yourself and hinder your intermittent fasting results. Think of it as using a cheat code on a video game to get farther with it and make it more fun. If you incorporate easy keto principles into your intermittent fast, you’ll skyrocket your results while making intermittent fasting infinitely easier. Those are the guiding principles behind the Bulletproof Diet — a mashup of a cyclical keto diet and intermittent fasting, designed to reap all the benefits of intermittent fasting, without the hangriness. Here’s how to do it.
Keep your carbs low and add healthy fats
If you shift from burning sugar to burning fat, your fasting period will be much more pleasant, because you won’t have the usual energy dips that comes from eating sugar and carbs. Plus, burning fat for energy releases fewer damaging free radicals than burning glucose does, so your cells get an extra layer of protection from potential harm.
Have Bulletproof Coffee in the morning
For fasting purists, consuming a single calorie technically breaks your fast. However, there’s no scientific reason to completely restrict calories to reap the benefits of intermittent fasting, including weight loss. And, chances are, if you’re fasting, it’s the benefits you’re after.
If you consume fat only — no protein or carbs — during your fast, you won’t interrupt autophagy and you’ll stay in the fat-burning state of ketosis. Fasting (like ketosis) works because it keeps insulin levels low enough to keep your body in a fat-burning state. Fats like butter and coconut oil don’t cause insulin levels to rise. Carbs and protein, however, do require insulin in order to be metabolized.
The solution: Drink Bulletproof Coffee — a mixture of black coffee, butter and Brain Octane Oil (a rare subtype of MCT oil). Your body will get the signal that you’ve eaten, and you won’t feel hungry. Then, you can extend your intermittent fast a few hours longer for even more fat-burning benefits. The majority of benefits of intermittent fasting come from autophagy, so an extra hour or two makes a big difference.
Related: Forget Juice Cleanses. Autophagy Is the Real Way to Detox Your Body
Make your Bulletproof Coffee with high-quality medium-chain triglycerides
Brain Octane Oil (aka upgraded MCT oil) gives you instant energy and helps your body produce ketones up to four times faster than coconut oil. Ketones are the fuel your body uses instead of glucose when you’re in ketosis. During an intermittent fast, your body enters ketosis and starts producing ketones. That’s when the hunger monster calms down and you experience mental clarity. You’ll get there eventually while fasting, but you’ll get there faster with Bulletproof Coffee.
You don’t have to suffer through sluggish, foggy days in order to get the benefits of calorie restriction and fasting. You can experience all of the mental clarity, energy, and whole-body benefits of intermittent fasting without feeling lethargic, hungry, or cranky. Who would have thought a cup of coffee in the morning would make your life so much easier?
