Want to drink a special coffee that will make you sharper and thinner? Just add butter. Whaaat? You heard right. Devotees of the paleo movement–that high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet–are turning their morning java into a slow-burning, protein-rich beverage by dissolving a dollop of butter in it. It’s called Bullet proof coffee and it was trademarked by tech entrepreneur Dave Asprey after a Tibet trip, where here he was served a cup of yak butter tea. For Tibetan monks, who spend long hours outdoors, hiking in high altitude and ice-cold mountains, this energizing and high caloric tea makes sense. But for the sedentary office vixen surfing the web all day, we’re not so sure. In fact, we thought butter was the devil.
Today’s research has experts questioning if butter was ever really that evil. A 2014 Time magazine cover line read: “Eat Butter.” But is it really good for us? No, it’s not. But eating a lot of fat-free and processed foods isn’t either. “The fact is, not all fats are bad, and concentrating too much on eliminating ‘fat’ from our diets has, in many cases, led us to replace even healthy fats with sugars and other simple carbohydrate foods that may actually be worse for our health,” the science writer Barbara Moran advised in a Harvard School of Public Health article. Bullet proof coffee isn’t about throwing just any salted butter into your instant coffee. The bulletproof coffee recipe is essentially black, toxin-free coffee blended with grass-fed butter and medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) oil or coconut oil. By combining these, and in Asprey’s words, you can “supercharge your brain function and create effortless fat loss with no cravings.” Really? Here are 5 reasons why people are taking the bulletproof coffee recipe seriously.
1. Helps You Concentrate
Aside from the mental high caffeine gives you anyway, the coconut oil or medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) you add to this coffee supposedly create a potent elixir of brain-boosting processes to help you focus for a longer period of time. Goodbye 3pm crash? Hopefully!
Read Related: #NotCoffee: 10 Other Hot Libations to Rev Up Your Day
2. You Will Lose Weight
The creator of bullet proof coffee claims that drinking one of these butter coffee triggers weight loss by way of ketosis, a metabolic state that sets in with a lack of carbs, and that kicks fat-burning into overdrive, burning fat for the rest of the day. I’ll have a double.
3. It’s a Meal in Itself
About two tablespoons in your coffee will effectively replace your old bagel and cream cheese breakfast ritual. And heck, it’s much quicker than sitting down with a big ol’ bowl of oatmeal with lacks a lot of the essential fats found in a bullet proof coffee cup.
4. An Energy Booster and More
When it comes to the bulletproof coffee recipe, the fat in butter slows your body’s absorption of the caffeine, creating an even and prolonged energy release throughout the day. The fatty acid Butyrate is one of those things that science used to say was bad for you, and has also been found to prevent neurodegenerative diseases and contain anti-inflammatory properties.
5. You’ll Feel Full Longer
Unlike regular coffee that can leave you hungry a few hours later, butter coffee’s fats and oils apparently leave you feeling full longer, so no naughty snacking at your desk or in the car when you’re bored.
6. To Some, it’s Delicious
This rich and creamy drink doesn’t change the taste of the coffee; it just cuts out the bitterness of the coffee like cream does. Some love it, other like the Today show’s Matt Lauer, hated it.
