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mmc6661's review against another edition
2.0
It would be a wonderful situation if we all lived in a world where we could easily and CHEAPLY eat just according to his book. Unfortunately being on a fixed income with a family to feed this is not always possible. I'm not a coffee drinker so his special coffee blend that is the main staple to the whole diet would not be feasible. Basically I'm finding all diet books come down to the essentials, eat healthier be healthier.
jacquie05454's review against another edition
2.0
I was not impressed with this book. This is just another weekly fad diet without a leg to stand on. Having said that there is something to be said about the lack of enough good fats in our diets. The author is basically citing a combination of the Paleo diet, intermittant fasting and tons of coffee with fat thrown in stave off hunger. Exercise is minimized, and he makes it clear that any coffee other than the Bulletproof brand is dangerous for your health. Sorry but I don't think a high animal protein diet is the answer for health, weight loss or the environment.
composed's review against another edition
1.0
One-star for me means I think this book is actively harmful and you should not read it. Luckily for you, I read the whole thing and can summarize!
The diet:
It's a blend of keto and the Atkins diet with some Paleo, plus coffee. I really look forward to the diet book that says, "I take cocaine in the morning, skip breakfast, and feel like a god!" (This is basically the light version of that.) Yes, skipping a meal a day and largely cutting a food group will make you lose weight, but as those are two of the most common fad diet recommendations, we already know they don't work in the long run.
Also, apparently you're not supposed to eat garlic because when he eats garlic he has trouble meditating as well after, and also some ancient texts warned against garlic's psychoactive effects. Yet, this guy microdoses LSD on the regular for its creative boosts. Okay...
The health risks:
Robert Atkins had a history of heart attack, congestive heart failure, and hypertension. According to the more neutral-to-negative reviews of The Bulletproof Diet online, people actually tracking their blood results on this diet have their "bad" cholesterol go up. Generally, if you feel like crap on a diet, you should stop it, but you know TBD is more on the cult end of things because it tells you that you're just not doing it right if it doesn't work for you in some form. This is bad science and bad for people. My favorite is the idea that if it's not working for you, you're probably just not buying the right products (i.e. his products).
My favorite line from the book sums up its grasp on science: "...according to one, albeit controversial study...." No. Just no. That's not how studies work.
Tone of the book:
A fear-based extended advertisement for his branded products. Very smug. P.s. it's super obnoxious to put your own trademarked word in front of every single recipe. The fear is generated largely through frequent mentions of mycotoxins (dangerous mold on food). He claims that America doesn't test for them, which is outrageously false. There are international safety guidelines, and all kinds of crops and food products, including all the ones he mentions as concerns, are monitored and tested. Please don't go around being afraid of everything you eat — that fear will cause health problems!
I'm suspicious of any system that claims that health equals being UP UP UP. Health looks like a lot of different things to different people, and I'm fine with a more subtle form of health that allows me to do what I want to do. My brain is plenty "on" already.
The author:
All you really need to do is look up Dave Asprey. He is 45. He looks at least 60. How is he the "anti-aging guru" if he's aging so terribly?? Since he's proudly spent millions of dollars "hacking" his own health, I don't know how he can possibly know how much the food is helping. After all, he also supplements wildly, uses expensive technology to aid meditation and other brain states, and has stuff in his house you can usually only access at a medical facility. So, why does he think it's the diet? It's cool that this stuff works for him, but n=1 is bad science. And no, anecdotes from readers are not science.
The good things:
Grass-fed animal products are better for your body, the environment, and the animals (and I'm happy to hear any argument against factory farming because that shit is evil).
Tracking your body's reactions and listening to your body.
Full-fat dairy products! Yeah!
Get allergy testing if you think you have specific allergies.
Personal note:
I already eat a relatively lower-carb diet because I'm allergic to wheat. I also love full-fat dairy, eat a huge quantity of vegetables from a local farm through a CSA share, and try not to go too nuts with my sweet tooth. So, I'm already doing some of the larger recommendations in the book. As someone recovering from disordered eating, I'm incredibly skeptical of trying to train your body to not send you hunger signals. For years, I had inadequate hunger signals, and I wouldn't want to give them up now! I'm actually excited when I feel hunger pangs, because it means my body is talking to me. It is an act of love to feed myself. At the moment with a pretty moderate approach to food and exercise, I'm the healthiest I've ever been, my brain is productive and happy, and I don't get sick often. Please don't read this stupid book, just listen to your body and feed it what and when it wants.
The diet:
It's a blend of keto and the Atkins diet with some Paleo, plus coffee. I really look forward to the diet book that says, "I take cocaine in the morning, skip breakfast, and feel like a god!" (This is basically the light version of that.) Yes, skipping a meal a day and largely cutting a food group will make you lose weight, but as those are two of the most common fad diet recommendations, we already know they don't work in the long run.
Also, apparently you're not supposed to eat garlic because when he eats garlic he has trouble meditating as well after, and also some ancient texts warned against garlic's psychoactive effects. Yet, this guy microdoses LSD on the regular for its creative boosts. Okay...
The health risks:
Robert Atkins had a history of heart attack, congestive heart failure, and hypertension. According to the more neutral-to-negative reviews of The Bulletproof Diet online, people actually tracking their blood results on this diet have their "bad" cholesterol go up. Generally, if you feel like crap on a diet, you should stop it, but you know TBD is more on the cult end of things because it tells you that you're just not doing it right if it doesn't work for you in some form. This is bad science and bad for people. My favorite is the idea that if it's not working for you, you're probably just not buying the right products (i.e. his products).
My favorite line from the book sums up its grasp on science: "...according to one, albeit controversial study...." No. Just no. That's not how studies work.
Tone of the book:
A fear-based extended advertisement for his branded products. Very smug. P.s. it's super obnoxious to put your own trademarked word in front of every single recipe. The fear is generated largely through frequent mentions of mycotoxins (dangerous mold on food). He claims that America doesn't test for them, which is outrageously false. There are international safety guidelines, and all kinds of crops and food products, including all the ones he mentions as concerns, are monitored and tested. Please don't go around being afraid of everything you eat — that fear will cause health problems!
I'm suspicious of any system that claims that health equals being UP UP UP. Health looks like a lot of different things to different people, and I'm fine with a more subtle form of health that allows me to do what I want to do. My brain is plenty "on" already.
The author:
All you really need to do is look up Dave Asprey. He is 45. He looks at least 60. How is he the "anti-aging guru" if he's aging so terribly?? Since he's proudly spent millions of dollars "hacking" his own health, I don't know how he can possibly know how much the food is helping. After all, he also supplements wildly, uses expensive technology to aid meditation and other brain states, and has stuff in his house you can usually only access at a medical facility. So, why does he think it's the diet? It's cool that this stuff works for him, but n=1 is bad science. And no, anecdotes from readers are not science.
The good things:
Grass-fed animal products are better for your body, the environment, and the animals (and I'm happy to hear any argument against factory farming because that shit is evil).
Tracking your body's reactions and listening to your body.
Full-fat dairy products! Yeah!
Get allergy testing if you think you have specific allergies.
Personal note:
I already eat a relatively lower-carb diet because I'm allergic to wheat. I also love full-fat dairy, eat a huge quantity of vegetables from a local farm through a CSA share, and try not to go too nuts with my sweet tooth. So, I'm already doing some of the larger recommendations in the book. As someone recovering from disordered eating, I'm incredibly skeptical of trying to train your body to not send you hunger signals. For years, I had inadequate hunger signals, and I wouldn't want to give them up now! I'm actually excited when I feel hunger pangs, because it means my body is talking to me. It is an act of love to feed myself. At the moment with a pretty moderate approach to food and exercise, I'm the healthiest I've ever been, my brain is productive and happy, and I don't get sick often. Please don't read this stupid book, just listen to your body and feed it what and when it wants.
antidietleah's review against another edition
3.0
Lots of good info, but pretty extreme. I plan to incorporate stone of the ideas but certainly not everything. it is too expensive and time consuming.
mbm1311's review against another edition
3.0
Here are the Bulletproof Diet pros:
* Extra fat does indeed satiate appetite and gives you more control over hunger.
* Dave Asprey is one of the few people that understands the dangers of too much protein.
* Dave Asprey also gets the dangers of vitamin supplementation (or at least approaches it in a more intelligent way).
Here are the Bulletproof Diet cons:
* The way he pushes his Bulletproof Coffee sounds like a used car salesman in action.
* Dave maintains the diet will change your gut bacteria. Bulletproof alone was not enough for me.
* I'm really undecided on some of his information about natural toxins/anti-nutrients in food.
* Legumes are actually a common item eaten among centenarians. Come on Dave, don't over think it.
* The recipe PDF with the audiobook is really heavy on the meat, which contradicts information in his own book.
* I think on some level, calories do still matter, even though I totally get the gut bacteria connection.
I'm going to say that I think Dave is a genius. That said, there are just a few things that concern me. I really like the way he judges foods by the way they make him feel and/or mental clarity. However, some anti-nutrients do stress your body, and at times this can be beneficial to your health. Go to a popular search engine and look up a wonderful article by Moises Velasquez-Manoff, called "Fruits and Vegetables Are Trying to Kill You, Antioxidant vitamins don’t stress us like plants do—and don’t have their beneficial effect."
Indeed, an honest look at healthy populations all over the world will find a similar pattern of eating. As Dr. Dave Perlmutter M.D., pointed out in his book, Brain Maker, "Far too often people think a low-carb diet is all about eating copious amounts of meat and other sources of protein. On the contrary, an ideal plate in the Brain Maker protocol is a sizable portion of vegetables (two-thirds of your plate) and about 3 to 4 ounces of protein. Meat and animal products should be a side dish, not a main course." (Amazingly, that sounds a lot like diets in Asian countries).
And finally, Dave maintains that if you eat the Bulletproof Diet, your gut bacteria will change to good bacteria without the use of probiotics. With all the list of benefits that I can attribute to going Bulletproof, having battled with eczema, psoriasis, dandruff, and/or fungal/candida symptoms for a large portion of my life, it was only when I tweaked the Bulletproof Diet to include the Skinny Gut Diet, did I start to get relief from these issues. I highly recommend, "The Skinny Gut Diet: Balance Your Digestive System for Permanent Weight Loss," by Brenda Watson C.N.C. and Leonard Smith M.D.
Basically, The Skinny Gut Diet is Bulletproof, with the addition of fermented foods with every meal and probiotics. In the past, I've put some corporate exec's kids through college buying creams and ointments and probiotics that didn't work. It was only when I combined everything -- diet, exercise, weight loss, healthy fats, and fermented foods/probiotics -- that I finally saw the results I have been looking for my whole life.
* Extra fat does indeed satiate appetite and gives you more control over hunger.
* Dave Asprey is one of the few people that understands the dangers of too much protein.
* Dave Asprey also gets the dangers of vitamin supplementation (or at least approaches it in a more intelligent way).
Here are the Bulletproof Diet cons:
* The way he pushes his Bulletproof Coffee sounds like a used car salesman in action.
* Dave maintains the diet will change your gut bacteria. Bulletproof alone was not enough for me.
* I'm really undecided on some of his information about natural toxins/anti-nutrients in food.
* Legumes are actually a common item eaten among centenarians. Come on Dave, don't over think it.
* The recipe PDF with the audiobook is really heavy on the meat, which contradicts information in his own book.
* I think on some level, calories do still matter, even though I totally get the gut bacteria connection.
I'm going to say that I think Dave is a genius. That said, there are just a few things that concern me. I really like the way he judges foods by the way they make him feel and/or mental clarity. However, some anti-nutrients do stress your body, and at times this can be beneficial to your health. Go to a popular search engine and look up a wonderful article by Moises Velasquez-Manoff, called "Fruits and Vegetables Are Trying to Kill You, Antioxidant vitamins don’t stress us like plants do—and don’t have their beneficial effect."
Indeed, an honest look at healthy populations all over the world will find a similar pattern of eating. As Dr. Dave Perlmutter M.D., pointed out in his book, Brain Maker, "Far too often people think a low-carb diet is all about eating copious amounts of meat and other sources of protein. On the contrary, an ideal plate in the Brain Maker protocol is a sizable portion of vegetables (two-thirds of your plate) and about 3 to 4 ounces of protein. Meat and animal products should be a side dish, not a main course." (Amazingly, that sounds a lot like diets in Asian countries).
And finally, Dave maintains that if you eat the Bulletproof Diet, your gut bacteria will change to good bacteria without the use of probiotics. With all the list of benefits that I can attribute to going Bulletproof, having battled with eczema, psoriasis, dandruff, and/or fungal/candida symptoms for a large portion of my life, it was only when I tweaked the Bulletproof Diet to include the Skinny Gut Diet, did I start to get relief from these issues. I highly recommend, "The Skinny Gut Diet: Balance Your Digestive System for Permanent Weight Loss," by Brenda Watson C.N.C. and Leonard Smith M.D.
Basically, The Skinny Gut Diet is Bulletproof, with the addition of fermented foods with every meal and probiotics. In the past, I've put some corporate exec's kids through college buying creams and ointments and probiotics that didn't work. It was only when I combined everything -- diet, exercise, weight loss, healthy fats, and fermented foods/probiotics -- that I finally saw the results I have been looking for my whole life.
christymmack's review against another edition
3.0
Probably the most complicated diet I have ever seen. He did have some interesting points, even if over the top sometimes. A bit of a sales pitch for his Bulletproof Coffee, but getting past that a very different viewpoint than most "diet" and health books. Best bit from the whole book was about detecting food allergies and other sensitivities by tracking your heart rate. Really useful idea, I have never heard before!