Pretty much my three favorite things...coffee, butter, and nerds.

We are almost halfway through the year of eating paleo. I am amazed at how simple it now seems. In January I thought I was going to pull my hair out and now it just seems like second nature to choose meat over grains. And if you have been keeping up with my posts you know that I am now crossfitty so I also am pretty physically active. But what now? I'm not sure if I'm looking for a challenge or just want to get my health to an even greater level but I'm trying something new. Have you heard of INTERMITTENT FASTING? If you are in the nutrition world you probably have. I hear about it all the time in paleo podcasts and have read several articles on it. It sounds pretty stinkin awesome...sometimes.

Intermittent fasting seems to promise decreased fat stores, increased metabolic rate, increased longevity, decreased risk for cancer and increased muscle building. Sounds really cool to me. But what is it?

Well, there are lots of different ways to do an intermittent fast. Some are every day, some are once a week, and some are inbetween. But the idea is to go an extended period of time without food, drinking only water and sometimes allowing for black coffee. (THANK GOODNESS!) Some even suggest the day before you fast you should go crazy and eat all kinds of carbs, including grains. That one came from an article in Men's Health Magazine and I will go ahead and say that some of those articles are just baloney. It's not like you guys read that for the articles anyways. Some of the fasts last 24 hours other 18 or even less.

But here are the problems...

#1. Women don't seem to do so great on these fasts. Sure, they get all those wonderful benefits listed above but along with those often comes acne, hormone imbalance, sleep issues and irritability. Our feminine bodies were made to make babies but when we restrict calories for a long period our bodies think, "Holy crap! This must be a famine! Obviously there isn't enough food available for everyone to eat so we sure as heck better not make any more little mouths to feed." And therefore your body gets all weird hormonally. Some women stop having a period completely. And as lovely as that sounds it is not good or healthy.

#2. Some of us are real stinkers when we don't eat. You might be the next Mother Teresa but if you skip a meal you turn into the next freaky Jason with those scary long fingernails and creepy smile. And if you don't become the next serial killer you may be like me and your brain literally stops working and it takes you 20 minutes to put on your kid's shoes because you put them on the wrong feet 3 times in a row...how does that even happen? So basically you have nothing to fear from me on a fast because I may have the intention of cutting your throat but I will get confused just trying to find the knife.

#3. Food is good. Who doesn't want food? I want food. Food is pretty high on my list of things I find important. It smells good. It tastes good. It makes my belly stop sounding like I swallowed an angry bear. I enjoy people more when food is around. It is a social buffer and also a social instigator. What exactly do you do at a dinner party if you can't eat? Drink some water I guess...that sound fun.

But don't give up on this intermittent fasting concept quite yet. I have recently discovered the most amazing concept...Bulletproof Fasting. Dave Aspry is this Silicone Valley genius who uses technology to literally hack his health. I really fall hard for the nerds so I pretty much love Dave's website, Bulletproof Exec and his podcasts. He created Bulletproof Coffee which in my opinion is  the greatest discovery known to man ever. He completely debunks all the coffee=evil myths and explains that coffee is actually GOOD FOR YOU! Let me say it again, COFFEE IS GOOD FOR YOU. I'm not quite sure if I believe this or if I'm just going with it because it makes me feel good about the fact that I am utterly and totally addicted to coffee and I don't even feel bad about it. Dave explains that coffee increases our memory recall, is high in antioxidants, increases fat loss, and increases our workout performances. I am so glad to hear all that but quite honestly I'm going to drink coffee so that all of my kiddos survive past breakfast.

But Dave takes coffee to a whole new "upgraded" level. This amazing genius of a man puts grass-fed butter in his steaming hot cup of joe. WHAT?!?!? That's right, butter. Now this just sounds amazing to me because I am the type of person that would eat butter all by its lonesome. I know that I'm weird. I've made peace with it, you should too. So why the butter in the coffee though? Well grass-fed butter provides CLA which helps your body metabolize fats but even more importantly it keeps your body from going into starvation mode because it now thinks, "Mmmm...life must be good right now. This chick is drinking butter, getting good fats, and therefore we can actually increase our metabolic rate and function at a higher level." And our brain loves it too! And as an added boost Dave recommends adding MCT oil to promote ketogenesis.

So what does the Bulletproof fast look like? In the morning I wake up, stumble into the kitchen as quietly as I possibly can in hopes that I will not wake any of the tiny beggars that live in my house. I make a cup of coffee using Dave's Upgraded coffee beans, add a tablespoon of KerryGold grass-fed unsalted butter and MCT oil. Pour it into my magic bullet cup and pulse until all blended and frothy. SOOOOOO good. I drink this cup of coffee like it is my last meal. I relish every second I spend with this cup. It smells amazing. It tastes incredible and as long as I don't make very loud oooohhhh and aaahhh noises I can manage to drink the entire cup in peace. By the time it is all gone I feel pretty darn good. I am ready for the begging/demanding to begin. I feel confident that everyone is going to live to see the end of the day.

Then I don't eat until 2pm. I know that sounds just awful but really it hasn't been difficult at all. If I feel hungry I just have another cup of bulletproof coffee. The butter in the coffee really does help suppress your appetite.

Now one thing I want to point out...I do not want to lose weight. I am not trying to reduce my calories. My biggest reason for trying this Bulletproof fast is to get my brain back. I am a world-famous (at least I should be) plate spinner. I've got kids 1, 2, 3, & 4 spinning around up there. Then add a husband, a business, grocery shopping, laundry (counts as three plates, sort, wash, put away), church responsibilities, school stuff, cleaning potties (which seriously rarely happens but I think about it a lot), cooking, extended family and friends, and of course facebook and you have an amazing circus act. Well recently my plates have started spinning out of control. Last week I didn't even realize we were in the last week of school until that Wednesday when I ran into another mom and when I asked her why she had her kids with her she said, "Well, they got out at 11:30 today because this is the last week of school." This was at 2pm! My poor baby was forgotten! Sometimes I can't believe the state of Texas would ever deem us responsible enough to care for our two littles. I could probably make a pretty sizable list of all my failings lately but I don't think I can handle the criticism. But my point is that I am willing to try this fast if it is going to give me an edge in the plate spinning arena.

Okay, back to the fast. After fasting for 18 hours, at 2pm I break my fast and eat a little bit. I like almond butter and some apple slices or celery and a wheat grass protein drink. Then I go to Crossfit. Get a new bruise. Feel awesome about it. Then I come home and eat a paleo dinner. I eat until I am full. Then around 7:30ish I eat another small meal. I try to make sure it is high in calories and protein because I am trying to get in the entire day's calories into 6 hours. Then after 8pm I don't eat again until 2pm the next day while drinking the Bulletproof coffee. It really is pretty simple. To be honest, it works really well with my schedule and I feel like I'm getting more done because I'm not constantly peaking in my fridge as if somehow it will magically produce something different from what was in there just 30 minutes before.

So that is what I'm doing right now. Four days a week I'm doing the Bulletproof fast and I guess we will see how well it works for my plate spinning skills. This is something cool to look into if you are ready for the next thing. Intermittent fasting is not really something for the paleo beginner. It is really important to be fat adapted before taking this on. At the very least this makes for an awesome way to have your paleo coffee in the morning.