Butterly mad for fatty diet coffees
IT’S the bizarre health craze that singers Ed Sheeran and Harry Styles swear by.
Bulletproof Coffee – where butter is added to your morning drink – claims to help you lose weight and boost energy, despite containing 441 calories.
Creator Dave Asprey says he lost seven stone with the coffee and a fat-rich diet after spending years investigating his own body.
In the week a National Obesity Forum report declared low-fat diets a failure, his eating plan has been winning over more fans.
Dave, 43, said: “Any time you can swap out sugar for the healthier kinds of fat, you win. Sugar makes you fat, fat does not make you fat.”
The dad- of- two’s weight problems began as a fast-food loving child. He had arthritis in his knee by 14. At uni he ballooned to more than 21 stone.
He said: “I didn’t want to be fat. The stuff that should’ve worked didn’t. I rode my bike, tried running. I chose healthy food but that led to cravings.
“The energy that should be going into your brain is hijacked by your metabolism and is going into your fat. You’re tired, not stable, you yell at your friends and act like a total jerk. I was guilty of all those things.”
It was while working in Silicon Valley in California that the dotcom entrepreneur decided to “biohack his body” and discover how different foods affected it. He spent £200,000 on tests and removed dairy, gluten and heavily cooked meats from his diet. But his eureka moment came on a trip to Tibet. He said: “At a guesthouse, a Tibetan lady gave me a bowl of yak- butter tea. It felt as if someone turned the lights back on. I drank 20 cups.” Dave spent years trying to recreate t hat magical filling drink – a nd he struck gold when he swapped tea for coffee, added medium- chain triglycerides oil and butter from grass- fed cows. He patented the drink in 2009 and Bulletproof Coffee was born. He also developed a bestselling book, The Bulletproof Diet. On it, half your calories are drawn from healthy fats such as grass-fed butter and coconut oil and 20 per cent from grass-fed protein, dairy and organic veg. Grains, beans, legumes and peanuts are banned, with sugary fruit limited to two portions daily. Foods you can eat a lot of are billed as “bulletproof”. Ones to be wary of are “suspect”. You avoid “kryptonite” foods. Dave, who is 6ft 4in and now 15 stone, has a cult following. Ed Sheeran has been won over by the coffee, which he said energises him and fills him up for the rest of the day. Dave claims his lifestyle has also improved his IQ by 20 points and lowered his biological age. Critics question its nutritional value and emphasis on fat. But Dave is so convinced that his two kids, aged nine and six, have his signature drink each morning. He said: “They’re calm and focused. The fat gives them sustained energy and they don’t crave candy.” With Britain in the grips of an obesity crisis affecting a quarter of adults, Dave hopes to make people think again about fats and food. He said: “You have absolute control of your biology.” Visit uk.bulletproof.com for more details.