BULLET PROOF LIFESTYLE + LAMB MEATBALLZ

Greta Livingood
Jun 19, 2017
5 min read

A lifestyle that I have been inspired by lately is the Bulletproof lifestyle. This lifestyle is a major difference from the American diet as it focuses on being the healthiest and strongest version of yourself that you can be while eating and supplying your body with the right foods and supplements. Putting in 1/2 the effort of a Bulletproof lifestyle will give you results {1/2 the results} but committing 100% to a Bulletproof lifestyle will give you the strongest outcome!

Here are the 14 steps that I followed to begin my Bulletproof lifestyle:

1. Eliminate sugar (including fruit juices and sports drinks that contain HFCS, honey, and agave).

2. Replace the sugar calories with healthy fats from the Bulletproof Diet such as grass-fed butter, ghee, Brain Octane™, Upgraded™ XCT oil, or coconut oil.

3. Eliminate gluten in any shape or form. This includes bread, cereal, and pasta. Do not make the mistake of resorting to gluten free junk food, which can be almost as bad.

4. Remove grains, grain derived oils, and vegetable oils such as corn, soy, and canola. Also remove unstable polyunsaturated oils such as walnut, flax, and peanut oil.

5. Eliminate all synthetic additives, colorings, and flavorings. This includes aspartame, MSG, dyes, and artificial flavorings.

6. Eat significant amounts of pastured, grass-fed meat from big ruminant animals such as beef, lamb, and bison. Pair this with fish, eggs, and shellfish.

7. Eliminate legumes such as peanuts, beans, and lentils. If you must have your beans, soak, sprout (or ferment), and cook them.

8. Remove all processed, homogenized, and pasteurized dairy. High fat items can be pasteurized, but they should be grass-fed. Full fat, raw, whole dairy from grass-fed cows is okay for most people.

9. Switch to grass-fed meat and wild caught seafood. Eat pastured eggs and some pork, chickens, turkeys, and ducks.

10. Switch to organic fruits and vegetables. This is more important for some plants than others. See this site for details.

11. Cook your food gently, if at all. Incorporate water into your cooking whenever possible and use low temperatures. Do not use a microwave or fry.

12. Limit fruit consumption to 1-2 servings per day. Favor low fructose containing fruits like berries and lemons over watermelon and apples.

13. Add spices and other flavorings from the Bulletproof Diet. Favor herb based spices such as thyme and rosemary over powders. Use high quality ones, recently opened.

14. Enjoy your food. Take the time to think and process where your food came from, who helped culture it, how it was moved from farm to table and HOW YOU prepared it.

Click here for a Bulletproof foods roadmap.

Let's talk about some additions of the Bulletproof lifestyle. Ketosis; Ketosis is a state of appetite suppression that curbs hunger and when energy is needed, it uses stored fat, instead of using muscle, which is typical the American diet. This lifestyle, by no means, is starvation or starving yourself for 24 hour periods but a constant state of control for a certain time frame. I would like to mention that the bulletproof diet while in Ketosis does have an "non-eating window" which occurs from 8pm-2pm the next day. You may have bulletproof coffee during this time; it is actually recommended for breakfast.

The idea behind Ketosis and putting your body into this certain state, is focusing on a high fat diet and cutting out meaningless carbs like sugar, processed snacks, bread, etc.. When you commit yourself to cutting out those foods, your blood sugar swings and spikes will likely stop. These swings and spikes are what makes hunger linger after you eat a carb-heavy meal. Here comes Ketosis. Ketosis actually puts your body into a state of control over two hormones that determines hunger and fullness. {ghrelin and cck//cholecystokinin}.

Example: If someone loses weight and their not doing Ketosis, less CCK is produced in the body, making you actually feel hungrier, causing your weight loss to dissipate after all your hard work AND aid in reaching for those unhealthy foods making you gain the weight back in a SNAP. GOT IT? On the other hand, weight loss with a Ketosis lifestyle actually pushes out CCK making you cut your meals short and puts you at ease, being satisfied with the raw veggies, healthy fats and grass-fed protein you just fueled your body with the night before until its time to eat again at 2pm. Make sense? So what does Ketosis actually do? Ketosis raises blood ketone levels in your body to suppress appetite.

I like to do Ketosis once a week. Why only once? Because I like eggs and smoothies and breakfast foods too much. I can also get away with doing it once a week because I eat a Bulletproof diet regularly. On the days that I come into Ketosis, I make sure to have a bulletproof dinner before 8pm. For breakfast the next day (Ketosis day), I make myself a bulletproof coffee with upgraded coffee, butter or ghee and brain octane oil. All these ingredients can be found here.

BULLETPROOF MEALS:

I've been eating a lot of red meat lately and I am surprised to say that my body is responding very well. I was used to fueling my body with chicken, turkey and occasionally pork and would only eat red meat 2-3 times a month.

After researching the benefits of the Bullet Proof Diet, I realized that my body was actually craving the the micro nutrients that are more profound in red meats. These are myoglobin, iron, zinc and B vitamins. Now, there is a vast different between your stadium hot dog and a rack of lamb from the butcher. Processed meats like hot dogs, deli meats and bologna contain high omega-6's, which are the fats that can hold mold toxins and nitrates. These chemicals give you 1. a bad gut and 2. increase your risk for some scary diagnosis'. By switching to grass fed, low toxin meats, we can promote the MOST healthy outcome for our bodies. {insert high five here}

Although grass fed meats still contain omega 6's, they have a drastically lower number of a chemical called HNE (hydroxynonenal) which causes inflammation in your body, ie. bad gut and health risks. By decreasing the number of HNE's you put in to your body, you set yourself up for optimal health!

What's the difference between process and unprocessed

Processed // preservation techniques

smoking
curing
salting
adding chemical preservatives and then packaging

Examples of process meats can be packaged deli meats, salami, lunch meats, hot dogs, sausages, breakfasts meats, etc.

UNproccessed // good for you techniques

grass fed
fresh meat from your butcher or local farm
wild caught // free range (poultry and fish)

Examples of UNprocessed meats can be grass fed beef, lamb, pork, veal, etc.

*next time you go to the grocery store, ask your butcher to carve turkey and chicken for you instead of buying packaged meats.

Now that you have the scientific information, let talk about how to prepare these awesome, good for you, meats!

I highly recommend cooking your meats and other nutritious foods "bulletproof style" or how the caveman did. Like mentioned above in the "14 Steps to start your Bulletproof lifestyle", it mentions cooking foods at a lowers temperature. Cooking your foods on moderate to low heat for shorter periods of time helps you reap the benefits of 1. the flavor of the meat, 2. the tightly bonded nutrients that are still present (charring meats is like eating cardboard, ie., no nutritional value) and 3. it sets you up in preparing the least inflammatory food for optimal performance and health. I also like to including antioxidant spices that aid in inflammation!

The recipe below is taken from the Bulletproof Diet Book and will NOT disappoint in flavor or heartiness!