Jason Hartman’s guest on episode #62 of The Longevity & Biohacking Show is a name you’ve heard before on the podcast. A few episodes back, Jason invited Fernando on to talk about the incredible changes he has made in his diet and lifestyle and, more specifically, how the recent incorporation of Bulletproof Coffee and the Bulletproof Diet have cranked up the health quotient even higher.

Where We Stopped Last Time

At the end of part one of Fernando’s journey, chronicled in episode #58 of The Longevity & Biohacking Show, Jason and Fernando discussed the guest’s journey from a consumer of the Standard American Diet (SAD) through the first few years of better eating and exercise. That conversation took them through the end of 2013, which Fernando says was a significant year in his investigation into changing his lifestyle and view of food.

At that time, Fernando and his family (wife and kids) were all on a raw vegan diet. The problem is they were all losing weight, even though Fernando was the only one who really needed to. He realized they were going to have to add back in some sort of meat and fat.

Heading into 2014

As a computer chip designer at Apple, Fernando receives a free medical exam every year. He walked into the doctor’s office that year, expecting to be pleasantly surprised at his own progress. But there was a problem. It turned out that his sugar levels were still high, even on the vegan diet. He finally realized it was due to the amount of fresh fruit he consumed on an almost hourly basis. While fruit is good in many ways, it is loaded with natural sugar.

About that time, Fernando and his family went on a six-week trip to Brazil. He doesn’t hesitate to say that it was a time of poor eating choices. After months away from gluten on the vegan diet, he found himself eating the stuff once again, feeling bloated and lethargic because the human body is not able to properly process gluten. Evolution has hey to catch up with humanity’s current diet.

And Then There Was Bulletproof Coffee

As an aside, Fernando suggests that anyone interested in healthy eating should watch the movie, “The Perfect Human Diet.” The filmmakers stayed away from a “groupthink” approach and examined what an authentic human diet should be, taking into account how quickly the modern diet has changed in comparison to how slow our bodies evolve in being able to assimilate this new world of fast food, chemicals, and preservatives.

Okay, let’s get to the Bulletproof Coffee. What, in fact, is the stuff? According to Fernando, it’s a standard cup of coffee blended with two tablespoons of unsalted butter and one or two tablespoons of medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil. Weighing in at 450 calories, some people have a hard time wrapping their brain around the idea that this liquid breakfast alleges to be an excellent appetite suppressant, is great for weight loss, and promotes mental clarity. Fernando is a true believer, having incorporated the stuff into his daily diet.

How Does Bulletproof Coffee Work?

The particular combination of ingredients puts your body into a mild ketogenic state, which is just another way to say it makes you burn fat more efficiently. Fernando uses it in conjunction with his intermittent fasting approach to daily eating. It works like this. After his evening meal (around 6 pm), Fernando eats no more solid food until lunch the next day. This is an approach used by dieters for years, in which all calories are consumed in a 6-8 hours time frame from lunch through early evening. Fernando’s use of Bulletproof coffee as breakfast doesn’t abide by the exact letter of the diet, but it has worked great for him.

Fernando’s Bulletproof Diet

Even though you could run right down to Amazon.com and buy yourself a nice, new copy of The Bulletproof Diet by Dave Asprey, it’s not an absolute necessity (or even moderate recommendation) that you should do so. The ideas in it are not secret information that his been hidden from humankind for centuries.

Here is Fernando’s interpretation

As we’ve already mentioned, no glucose in the morning. Breakfast is that gut bomb of a cup of Bulletproof Coffee. This is pure fat, folks, but the good kind. In general, Fernando eats a high fat (the good kind), low carb, low sugar diet. When he says high fat, think wild-caught salmon, avocados, grass-fed beef, free-range eggs, and the aforementioned unsalted butter.

Add to that a plethora of organic vegetables and moderate amount of fruit. When out and about and confronted with the need to eat away from home, he reminds you to be suspicious of sauces and choose simpler foods. It’s harder to hide diet-busting ingredients in broiled chicken than shrimp scampi.

To Supplement or Not to Supplement

Fernando is of the strong opinion that, due to the generally poor soil quality in the United States, everyone should be taking supplements to some degree. Even though they might be organic, vegetables grown in soil bereft of the appropriate minerals can’t supply everything your body needs to stay healthy.

In particular, modern homo sapien finds him or herself short of vitamin D more times than not. Blame it on the fact that we don’t get outside in the sunshine enough any more. All our jobs have moved inside. Even an otherwise healthy diet might not provide enough of this important bit of nutrition.

The Bottom Line

Ultimately, the reason Jason decided to spend two podcast episodes talking to Fernando is that he is a perfect example of how “everyman” or “everywoman” can turn themselves around from a life of lethargy brought on by the Standard American Diet and find vibrancy again. Who knows? You might even decide you like Bulletproof Coffee. (Image: Flickr | Pseph)

More from Jason Hartman:

Lab Grown Meats! The Future of Food

Fernando’s Journey (Part 2)

The Longevity Show Team

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