THE BULLETPROOF DIET

WHAT IS IT?

The brainchild of Silicon Valley biohacker Dave Asprey, this divisive diet takes the basis of the 16:8, but adds buttery coffee to an otherwise empty morning menu.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Of all the fasting approaches out there, this one is probably the most… out there. It’s another schedule of time-restricted eating, but with a unique addition: Bulletproof coffee, your regular caffeine fix blended with grass-fed butter and brain-sharpening MCT oil (a supplement containing medium-chain triglyceride fats, found in foods like coconut oil). When you’re not sipping on this, you consume the bulk of your calories – high-fat, low-carb keto diet fare, including lots of red meat, fatty fish, avocado and eggs – within a specific window, with no restrictions on portion sizes.

Ketosis, the process by which a body starved of glucose begins to burn its own fat stores instead, is an established dietary principle. And a high-fat diet promotes ketosis alongside the preservation of muscle mass, which is why it’s big among bodybuilders and the likes of Kourtney Kardashian. But it’s hard to sustain when you’ve got a job, friends and responsibilities beyond being professionally buff – a mere forkful of rice will bump you out of your ketogenic state – plus comes with a host of undesirable side effects. Yes, expect everything from ‘keto-flu’ (headaches, dizziness and nausea experienced for between 24 hours and two weeks of starting the diet) to ‘keto crotch’ (where keto heads report noticing whiffs from down below, thought to arise as a result of the diet screwing with your vagina’s ph balance). Plus, Asprey’s coffee meets 75% of your daily allowance of saturated fat. Miller’s take?

This is little more than an extreme fad: ‘It’s funny, really, because a tablespoon of butter is around 90 calories. So, if you’re having a couple of cups, you might as well have scrambled a couple of eggs.’ He – and we – suggest opting for the latter.

THE DIGESTED TAKE:

Fat lot of good