My lifestyle practice is Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting (BP-IF).  I am enjoying how it is changing my life. I enjoy less hunger, good energy and better brain focus and recall. I am happier and healthier. I no longer have insulin resistance which may have taken me a couple years to fully reverse. One good sign I noticed is that I no longer have a rapid heartbeat at night after having drunk a glass of wine. I no longer worry about that.  I had two glasses at a party recently and it didn’t bother my sleep; a personal success for me. I also follow BP-IF because it feels good and I no longer have noticeable inflammation and little pain. I have started doing yoga and now have good flexibility. This is a healthy, anti inflammatory lifestyle program—not a diet. Inflammation equals pain. We don’t have to live with pain. “What do you not want to live with?”

I first started BP-IF incorporating a lot of collagen into my coffee in the mornings.  This was so rejuvenating for me as collagen reduces stress levels and makes you feel good which made this lifestyle an easy transition. I easily lost 20lbs just making this change and skipping carbohydrates for breakfast and reducing carbohydrates overall.  It can take awhile to build up your fasting “muscle” so to speak. I began exploring intermittent fasting by not eating past 7 or 8 in the evening but still using collagen in the morning. However, Collagen is a protein and will break a fast. Intermittent fasting is also called called “shrinking the eating window”.  I started pushing my morning fasting window out to 11am for a 16 hour fast. I would tell myself that I could eat at a specific time as a goal not a punishment, but a reward which made the practice easy to incorporate. I began having collagen in the afternoons and evenings instead of with my coffee. Intermittent fasting became easier and more comfortable as I practiced it. I definitely noticed better energy and had good brain focus during my BP-IF. Being a naturally, low-energy person this is a great benefit for me and one of my overall guiding factors. 

The next stage for me was not eating past 6pm on a regular basis and pushing my eating window to start at 1 or 2pm. This was an 18 to 19 hour intermittent fast with a five-hour eating window. I began to notice my body didn’t do well eating past 6pm. I often go to bed early and that was too heavy for my digestion at bedtime. I eventually noticed that a heavier lunch and one big meal a day was optimal for me. I even began to explore 36+ hour fast and felt good and energized with that. However, I always read my stress levels for the day and if I didn’t feel I could go with the plan then I would eat dinner and just do a 20+ hour intermittent fast.  I also don’t eat past 5 or 5:30pm on my yoga nights. Thus twice a week I created a longer intermittent fast for myself as it was too late to eat after yoga. This became a goal and a balancing act for me to get my nutrients in by 5:30pm. (A future goal for me is to actually fast on yoga nights and completing more 36-hour fasts.). BP-IF is completely normal and comfortable for me now and part of my keto IF lifestyle. 

As one follows the Bulletproof intermittent fasting lifestyle, hunger is noticeably lessoned, fat is burned and then utilized for energy. My daughter often mentions, “not everyone has my energy level!”  Sometimes one big meal a day is reasonable and practical and definitely involves less meal prep. Someone commented to me that I eat simple. BP-IF and whole food preparation is simple and doesn’t need to be complicated. I eat good, clean food that revolves around good fats, proteins, vegetables and complex carbs that I usually plan for the evening to manage blood insulin levels more optimally. 

What really is intermittent fasting?  Intermittent fasting is eating in an 8-6 hour eating window by not eating breakfast or dinner. Most people skip breakfast so they can still share dinner with others as connection and easily fits into a daily schedule. Bulletproof Intermittent fasting is using mct oil and butter blended into coffee to satiate the appetite and energize one’s body and mind. This also makes it easier to function well and focus while working without hunger and willpower becoming overwhelming. BP-IF also keeps you in ketone producing, fat burning mode longer. It makes you sharp and better able to have good recall and focus. This is my favorite aspect as my brain has turned back on and given me the ability to build a new life and start a new career. 

The health benefits of BP-IF are many.  Studies show that keeping insulin levels low is a powerful step to health and minimizing disease.  The overall benefit is resetting the metabolism. Functional Health Practitioners are finding diet is the largest component of creating better health and using low carb diets as the best program to health and longevity. Virta Health in Colorado is reversing diabetes with a ketogenic diet and health coaches.  Dr. Jason Fung, Nephrologist, and author of “The Complete Guide to Intermittent Fasting” is reversing diabetes and getting people off medicine naturally with fasting. Just taking away sugar and refined carbohydrates is the beginning step to reversing all health issues. Anti-aging specialists are almost all across the board on the Bulletproof Program as it is so wonderful for brain health and longevity by keeping insulin levels low and the brain turned on. It’s not a diet but a lifestyle. Studies show that regulating insulin protects us from disease. What happens is that while fasting our bodies use up the available glucose and starts burning fat for fuel—putting us into ketosis. This also leads to autophagy which is cellular clean-up of accumulated dead and dying cells and regenerates stem cells. Autophagy reduces inflammation. The best part of that is that our excess skin is protein and the body doesn’t waste protein so the skin will be used and processed and the skin tightens naturally.  Autophagy is also the process of glowing complexion, Naomi Whittel, author of “Glow 15” and an autophagy expert (Bp #477). This process also turns off growth of unwanted cancer cells. BP-IF lessons inflammation, lessons oxidation, thus pain—leading to a wonderful, glowing complexion. The food one eats with intermittent fasting and a ketogenic lifestyle is a detoxifying, anti-inflammatory one. Epigenetics—Let food be thy medicine.  

Of course,  when we sleep and eat is also an important component of this lifestyle. Satchin Panda author of “Circadian Code” and a professor and researcher at the Salk Institute who has become recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on circadian rhythm, states that WHEN we eat is just as important as HOW.  Eating follows our natural circadian rhythm. His studies show we should only eat during daylight.  When his pre-diabetic mom visited from India he enforced a no eating rule after 6pm. The kitchen was closed!  And the lights minimized. Feeling better and more energized following time-restricted eating, his mom became more active and lost weight.  In six months when she went back to India she had reversed her pre-diabetes with no other interventions and is now a convert of time-restricted eating and teaches it to others. Eating before dark as our species has done for millennia is optimal. Eating one big meal a day and eating less is also optimal. Getting good sleep and 8 hours a night helps with weight loss. Stress levels are lower. Fat burning is turned on. This is facilitated with a BP-IF ketogenic lifestyle. (Satchin Panda bp #466 and #467.)

So what’s all the rage?  Why do people really get excited about intermittent fasting?  For most of us it’s about weight loss! We want to look good and feel good and have less disease. We want to be active and do the things we love with our family and friends and live a long and healthy life. This is the emotional component that keeps us motivated. Looking good and feeling good is the reward of habit change and a new lifestyle. This is not accomplished on the American diet which increases the insulin load in the body and turns on the disease process creating pain and inflammation. The ultimate benefit is that BP-IF, IF and time-restricted eating are anti-aging, anti-inflammatory lifestyles. These facilitate detoxification on a regular basis creating health through the process of nutrigenomics (the food we eat programming our DNA to reduce obesity and disease). Intermittent fasting also creates neurogenesis (growth of new brain cells) for the brain improving brain function (Mark Mattson bp #634). This is what I am enjoying as a benefit. My brain is definitely benefiting from neurogenesis. IF reduces and eliminates seizures and multiple sclerosis (Dr. Terry Wahls, “Dr. Wahls Protocol.”). These are just a few and all very exciting to see how the puzzle of health can be pieced back together. 

Our bodies want to heal and be in a healthy state. We need to put ourselves back into our true human eating and sleeping state.  Our ancestors didn’t stay awake all night. They didn’t wake up and eat on a regular basis. They were more often in a ketogenic state (as nature has intended) that gave them the energy to go out and hunt their one meal of the day—if they were lucky. This is intermittent fasting. This keeps us strong of body and healthy of mind. 

BP-IF has become second nature to me and I now find it easy and relaxing. I feel good and energized daily. I am encouraged to continue as the rewards have been many. I don’t consider myself deprived in any way—but fortunate. I am 4 years into this anti-aging lifestyle and have had enough benefits to choose to incorporate it daily. I continue to study every aspect of BP-IF to make sure I am on the right track and to tweak the areas I need to improve my personal health, such as the health of my microbiome. Plus, the knowledge energizes me as it has become a daily habit I feel excited about. It helps me immerse myself into this culture for better understanding and to feel secure. One can be a lone wolf when going against the food culture around us. A good support system is needed. Listening to bulletproof radio gives me this support. Listening to other Functional Medicine Practitioners confirms all I am learning and implementing as they do so as well. I have ended up strengthening my knowledge and belief in this lifestyle while acquiring all the benefits. I get excited to learn each new piece of the human health puzzle and put it all together. It has inadvertently helped me turn my passion into a career where I can model my health and vitality.  BP-IF helps me facilitate a more active lifestyle that continues my momentum of being healthy. I have heard many times that my complexion “glows.” I am rejuvenated!

I am an average person invested emotionally into my journey. As I see results and feel better, I am motivated to continue. This is true habit change.  What are you tolerating that could be changed with a new habit formation? And reward? What do you want most to accomplish? Knowledge is power. Support and accountability can be the pathway to action. Health coaching can be that pathway for you. I will soon continue my studies with Functional Diagnostic Nutrition and continue onto the next step of my career If I can do it, you can too!  (Check out my before and after pictures.)

Stay tuned for My Amazing story and transformation using enzymes. It has amazed and delighted me in so many ways. Age Successfully! Be vibrant!  

Lori Balue, Adapt Certified Functional Health Coach

This information is being provided to you for educational and informational purposes only. It is being provided to you to educate you about functional health and nutrition and as a self-help tool for your own use. It is not medical advice. This information is to be used at your own risk based on your own judgement. For my full Disclaimer, please go to my website loribalue.com.