Bulletproof Coffee, or at least my ghetto version of it, is a pretty core element of my diet.
I skip breakfast and lunch for the most part, just having a mug or two of broth every day when I get hungry. Dinner and a snack in the car on the way home is really all I eat during the week. I get my calories for the day through my coffee.
Bulletproof coffee is a trademarked brand, but the core concept is good quality coffee (Zeke’s shoutout) combined with butter and oil for fat and calories. The BPC website recommends high-end European-style butter, but I use store-brand unsalted, and didn’t notice a difference. The BPC website also sells an “Upgraded” oil, but I’ve used coconut and gotten what I need out of it. I have read a lot of good comments on people who use actual MCT oil and get more energy and fullness out of it over coconut oil. YMMV.
My process is this: Brew coffee to your preference, drip, espresso, french press, whatever, about 16 oz (2 cups) worth. Add 1 TBSP of butter and 1 TBSP of coconut oil. Apply blender, immersion blender, or vigorous shaking. Without the blender, I’ve noticed an oil-slick effect as the oils collect at the top. I keep a stick blender by the coffee making apparatus, and a few seconds with that gives you a frothy, latte- like texture.
Since I get up unconscionably early, I’ve found it a little easier to pre-mix the butter and oil. I took the ratio of oil to butter up to 1.5:1, so that it pours a little better. 1:1 has a consistency like yogurt. 1.5:1 is more like heavy cream or salad dressing. We have a Magic Bullet (thanks Mom!) so I put a stick of butter (8 TBSP) and 3/4 cup of oil (12 TBSP) into a cup and blend it for 45-90 seconds. Stick that in a squeeze bottle, and guesstimate 2tbsp into your coffee.
Nutritionally, a tbsp of butter has about 100 calories, as does a tbsp of oil. Coffee has minimal calories, about 10 per 8 oz cup. So, two cups of BPC on the way to work, and I was around 500 calories. More than enough to keep me satiated. I really believe that the “hunger” that my broth appeases is just my body being used to taking in food, rather than an actual need for sustenance. I say this because I don’t even think about being hungry if I’m busy or under pressure. It’s only if I’m writing or editing a document or doing something else rather dull that the 11 o’clock hunger bell goes off.
Funny story: A guy who works for me went to culinary school, so he’s my go to sounding board for food topics. He’s also a latte junkie. All of his talk about his delicious frothy lattes implanted into my brain, so I dug into the back of the pantry and pulled out the espresso maker that we inherited from my in-laws about a decade ago. I made a couple of lattes with almond milk, but it had a sweetness that I didn’t care for. Milk has too much in the way of sugar/carbs, so I used heavy cream. And because I’m a doofus, I couldn’t figure out why I was so overfull and I stopped losing weight. I was using about a cup of heavy cream in 4 oz of espresso, along with 2tbsp of oil/butter. Yeah. When I plugged that into MyFitnessPal, I found out I was drinking 1,000 calorie coffees, over half of my daily calorie goal. Between that, and the pork rind snack on the way home, I really shouldn’t have been eating dinner.
Just this morning, I think I found a safe alternative. I put 2tbsp of heavy cram into the container, and topped it off with water. It steamed and frothed up just as well, but gave me a 300 calorie cup of coffee. I think I’ll do that from now on.
Some family and friends have started doing paleo, and I know they’re all anti-dairy, so I think my next experiment will be making BPC with clarified butter/ghee rather than straight butter. I’ve heard the flavor is a lot more intense, so we’ll see.
KCKO!