The Bulletproof Diet by Dave Asprey (2014): Food list

The Bulletproof Diet (2014) is an anti-toxin diet which encourages you to find out and avoid your food sensitivities.

• Drink “Bulletproof Coffee” for breakfast every day – very-low-toxin coffee with grass-fed butter and MCT oil; limit other meals for intermittent fasting.
• Eat lots of vegetables, approved fats, some grass-fed protein, a little starch/fruit.
• Avoid sugar, sweeteners, processed foods, gluten, corn, dairy (except grass-fed butter).
• Discover which foods you’re sensitive to, and avoid them.

See below on this page for a description of the food recommendations in the diet. There’s a lot more in the book.

General guidelines  |  Foods to eat  |  Foods to limit  |  Foods to test  |  Foods to avoid  |  Starting the diet – 2-Week Bulletproof Protocol  |  Bulletproof for Life

Use this page as a cheat sheet alongside the book. Send this page to friends, family, and anyone else who you want to understand what you’re eating on this diet.

Get a copy of The Bulletproof Diet for explanations of the author’s research and conclusions, takes on common diet myths, sleep guidelines, supplementation and exercise suggestions, the reasons behind the food ratings of Bulletproof/Suspect/Kryptonite, troubleshooting tips, restaurant tips, and recipes.

Order Bulletproof: The Cookbook for 125 recipes.

The reasoning behind The Bulletproof Diet

Dave Asprey monitored his health (biohacking) to uncover the hidden variables that were affecting how he felt, how he looked, how he performed, and his relationships and overall happiness. After compiling the results, he started using “smart drugs” to turn his brain back on, adding supplements, and experimenting with countless diets to see what worked, what didn’t, and why. From this he learned about the complex roles that inflammation, toxins, hormones, neurotransmitters, gut bacteria, and many other factors play when it comes to weight loss, hunger, and energy levels. He shared the results with friends and family members and saw them rapidly lose weight too, while also increasing their mental focus and gaining willpower. The trick is to reduce your body’s immune response by eating fewer foods with antinutrients (lectins, phytates, oxalates, mold toxins / mycotoxins) and avoiding entirely the foods that trigger your immune system, as well as eating foods that encourage good gut bacteria.

The Bulletproof Diet plan – what to eat and foods to avoid

General guidelines  |  Foods to eat  |  Foods to limit  |  Foods to test  |  Foods to avoid  |  Starting the diet – 2-Week Bulletproof Protocol  |  Bulletproof for Life

There’s a one-page Bulletproof Diet Roadmap at https://www.bulletproofexec.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/BPDRMrast-06112014.55436.pdf. This shows proportions, what to eat when, and grades foods on how good they are for you. There’s also a shopping guide at http://www.bulletproofexec.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Bulletproof-Diet-Shopping-List-Final-PDF2.pdf.

General guidelines

• Proportions
  • Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re satiated, and try not to snack
  • If you feel like eating less, don’t force yourself to meet the guidelines
  • Fats (the “right kinds”) – 50-70% of your daily calories
  • Bulletproof protein sources – up to 20% of daily calories
  • Unstarchy vegetables – 20% of your daily calories (this makes up a large proportion of your plate because unstarchy vegetables are naturally low in calories). If you don’t like vegetables, remember that you can coat them with sea salt and grass-fed butter
  • Starch and fruit – 5% of your daily calories, combined. If losing weight is a priority, avoid them on most days; otherwise have small amounts each day
• Breakfast
  • Drink Bulletproof Coffee – 2 cups piping-hot brewed coffee made with Bulletproof Upgraded Coffee Beans (highest quality, no mold, lowest level of toxins), up to 2 tablespoons grass-fed unsalted butter, e.g. Kerrygold (use your hunger as a guide), up to 2 tablespoons Brain Octane C8 MCT oil or other MCT oil or  as a last resort coconut oil if you can’t find MCT oil (use your hunger as a guide); optional add-ins: cinnamon (only highest quality), vanilla powder, chocolate powder, stevia/erythritol/hardwood xylitol to taste
  • If you are a woman, a heavily muscled athlete, or have a lot of weight to lose, you will likely benefit from having some protein with your Bulletproof Coffee in the morning for the first 60 days. For these people, the author recommends blending collagen protein from grass-fed cows into your Bulletproof Coffee
  • If you’re pregnant or trying to conceive, don’t drink caffeinated coffee – instead use the No-Coffee Vanilla Latte recipe or switch to lab-tested decaf
  • After the first 14 days, once you’re in maintenance mode – if you want to eat something in addition to having Bulletproof Coffee in the morning, the best idea is to eat a combination of protein and fat, like poached eggs or smoked salmon and avocado. Eating just protein without any fats is better than eating fruits or other carbs, but this will still lead to some food cravings
• Intermittent fasting, for longevity and healthy digestion
  • After your Bulletproof Coffee, don’t eat until lunchtime, or later if you’re not hungry. This allows you to have the benefits of intermittent fasting while still having something at breakfast time
  • Your ideal window of eating is 6 hours long, to give an 18-hour fast
• Evening meal
  • Eat a modest amount of Bulletproof carbs (about 30 grams, plus vegetables), but only with your evening meal or soon after. Once or twice a week – “carb re-feed days” – eat 100 to 150 grams (do this on Bulletproof Protein Fasting days, see below). The exact amount depends on your hunger, your stress levels, and how fast you want to lose weight. (Eating fewer carbs nightly brings faster weight loss.)
  • Women may need more carbs – 300 grams of Bulletproof carbs on re-feed days. Women who are pregnant should eat limited carbs every night while adhering to all other principles of the Bulletproof Diet.
  • Fill up with fat at dinner to help you sleep better. Also to help you sleep, add protein before going to bed (but not too much meat, which can leave you with a heavy feeling) – hydrolyzed grass-fed collagen peptide or grass-fed, undenatured when protein concentrate – add these to the recipe for No-Coffee Vanilla Latte. You can also try some raw honey.
• Once a week – Bulletproof Protein Fasting
  • One day a week, limit your protein to no more than 25 grams, for longevity
  • If you find that a full day of protein fasting is causing muscle loss or some other unwanted side effects, cut back so that instead of going a whole day without protein, you’re skipping protein at several meals in a row. You can also play around with the total amount of protein you’re eating on the day of your Bulletproof Protein Fast

Foods to eat in The Bulletproof Diet (“Bulletproof”)

• Bulletproof fats
  • Best: Bulletproof Brain Octane / Bulletproof medium-chain triglyceride MCT oil, ghee, Bulletproof Chocolate, Bulletproof Cocoa Butter / cacao butter, pastured egg yolks (if not allergic to eggs), krill oil, grass-fed animal fat (bone marrow, tallow, lard, etc. but not poultry fat), avocado oil (best to eat avocados), virgin coconut oil, sunflower lecithin
  • Next best: fish oil, fermented cod liver oil FCLO, grass-fed butter and ghee
• Bulletproof protein sources
  • Fish – low-mercury
  • Meat – beef, lamb – grass-fed
  • Eggs – pastured
  • Hydrolyzed collagen
  • Gelatin
  • Clean whey concentrate
• Bulletproof vegetables (those marked* should be cooked)
  • Choose organic where possible. Avoid vegetables with wilting or brown spots. Frozen veggies are often better than “fresh”
  • Best: asparagus, avocado (raw), bok choy*, broccoli*, brussels sprouts*, cauliflower, celery, cucmber, fennel, olives
  • Next best: cabbage*, collard greens*, kale*, lettuce, radishes, spinach*, summer squash, zucchini
• Bulletproof protein
  • Best: Bulletproof Whey, Bulletproof Collagen Protein, Bulletproof CollaGelatin, grass-fed beef, lamb, bison, goat (insist on grass-fed and grass-finished), pastured eggs (if not allergic; don’t just have the egg whites), pastured gelatin, colostrum
  • Organ meats from grass-fed animals: liver (beef, lamb, goat, fish), kidneys, heart, tongue, bone marrow, joints (soup bones)
  • Next best: low-mercury wild fish (such as anchovies, haddock, petrale sole, sardines, sockeye salmon, summer flounder, wild tilapia, wild trout)
  • Shellfish: crab (real not fake), lobster, mussels, oysters
• Bulletproof dairy (test first to see if you have a dairy allergy)
  • Best: organic grass-fed ghee, organic grass-fed butter, colostrum
  • Next best: nonorganic grass-fed ghee or butter, organic grass-fed cream
• Bulletproof nuts, seeds, & legumes
  • Best: coconut
  • (no legumes)
• Bulletproof spices & flavorings (where marked*, these often harbor toxic mold spores – use fresh, high-quality whenever you can)
  • Best: Bulletproof Chocolate Powder, Bulletproof Vanillamax vanilla powder, apple cider vinegar, cilantro, coffee*, ginger*, parsley, sea salt
  • Next best: lavender, oregano, rosemary, thyme, turmeric, vanilla*
• Bulletproof sweeteners
  • Best: xylitol (made from North American hardwood), erythritol, stevia
  • Next best: sorbitol, maltitol, other sugar alcohols
• Bulletproof beverages
  • Best: coffee made from Bulletproof coffee beans, high quality green tea or yerba mate, diluted coconut milk (without carrageenan, preferably without guar gum, BPA free, note that light coconut milk is just coconut milk plus water), mineral water in glass bottles
  • Next best: filtered water with lime/lemon, green tea
• Bulletproof cooking methods
  • Best: raw or not cooked, lightly heated. The book says that animal proteins are best eaten raw or rare, and grass-fed animals are less likely to contain parasites, pathogens, and toxins than those from grain-fed animals. Note that the book also says that cruciferous vegetables should be eaten cooked not raw
  • Next best: steamed al dente, UV oven, convention baked, baked at 320 or below
  • Boiled or poached – shown on the chart as Suspect but listed in the book as Bulletproof

Foods to limit with The Bulletproof Diet

Starches and fruits should be limited during the whole diet, the Beneficial types are listed here for that reason.

You should test the Suspect foods here, to see how you react to them.

• Bulletproof and suspect starches
  • 5% of your daily calories, including calories for fruit. Eat in the evening
  • Best: pumpkin (fresh not canned), butternut squash, sweet potato, yam, carrot (cooked if you have IBS or gut damage)
  • Next best: white rice
  • Cassava, taro, plantain – shown on the chart as Bulletproof, listed in the book as Suspect
  • Least suspect: resistant starch powder (potato starch, plantain flour, Hi-maize starch, green banana flour). Not for use during the 14-day program. Note that these work for some people; others find that they can feed healthy gut bacteria more effectively with gelatin, collagen, and connective tissue from meat
  • Suspect: black rice, wild rice, brown rice, banana, fresh or frozen organic corn on the cob
  • Most suspect: potatoes (white, purple, new)
  • Oats, buckwheat, quinoa – listed as Suspect in the book, shown as kryptonite on the chart. Oats are listed as kryptonite if you have gut damage
• Bulletproof and Suspect fruits
  • No more than 25 grams of fructose a day, which is roughly the amount in two apples; eat in the evening
  • Get organic if possible; if not remove the skin where there is one
  • Don’t eat damaged fruits, or those that are starting to spoil
  • Best: avocado, blackberries, coconut, cranberries, lemon, lime, raspberries
  • Next best: blueberries, pineapple, strawberries, tangerine
  • Least suspect: grapefruit, pomegranate
  • Suspect: apple (don’t eat in first 2 weeks to see whether you react to them), apricot, cherries, figs, honeydew, kiwifruit, lychee, nectarine, orange, peach, pears, plums
  • Most suspect: bananas, fresh dates, grapes, guava, mango, melons, papaya, passion fruit, persimmon, plaintain, watermelon

Foods to test with The Bulletproof Diet (“Suspect”)

Avoid these foods during the 2-week protocol, and test them to see which you can reintroduce into your diet. “Suspect” doesn’t mean they’re bad, it means that some people react to them; you should see what your personal reaction is to each food – follow the testing suggestions to find your sensitivities.

• Suspect vegetables
  • Least suspect: artichokes (avoid if you know you’re nightshade sensitive), butternut squash, winter squash, carrots, green beans (cooked is better), green onions/scallions, leeks, parsley
  • Suspect: eggplant (nightshade), onion (like garlic but with less effect), peas (lectins/starch), peppers (nightshade), shallots, tomatoes (nightshade and high in histamines), garlic (psychoactive)
  • Most suspect: beets (oxalates), pumpkin, raw chard, raw collards, raw kale, raw spinach
• Suspect fats (includes nuts and seeds)
  • Least suspect: palm oil, palm kernel oil, pastured bacon fat, raw macadamias, extra virgin olive oil
  • Suspect: unheated nut oils (almond oil, hazelnut oil, walnut oil, etc.), cashew butter, non-GMO soy lecithin (listed in the chart as suspect but in the book as bulletproof)
  • Most suspect: pastured duck fat or goose fat, pastured chicken fat (not okay if it’s burned on the grill), grain-fed butter and ghee
• Suspect protein
  • It’s okay to have pork, duck, goose, chicken, or turkey a few times per week, but you’ll benefit less than you would from sticking with fish or grass-fed ruminants
  • Least suspect: pastured pork, clean whey isolate (cold-pressed and cross-flow microfiltered CFM, no more than 2-4 tablespoons per day; people with dairy sensitivities should use isolate over concentrate), pastured duck and goose
  • Suspect: factory farmed eggs (if not allergic to eggs), pastured chicken and turkey
  • Most suspect: heated whey, sprouted legumes, hemp protein, factory-farmed meat
• Suspect dairy (test first to see if you have a dairy allergy)
  • Least suspect: organic grass-fed full-fat raw milk or yogurt
  • Suspect: nonorganic grass-fed ghee or butter, organic grass-fed cream
  • Most suspect: grain-fed butter
• Suspect nuts, seeds, & legumes
  • Most suspect: almonds, cashews, chestnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia, pecans, walnuts
  • Pistachios, pine nuts, Brazil nuts are shown on the chart as Kryptonite but listed in the book as suspect
  • (no legumes)
• Suspect spices & flavorings (where marked*, these often harbor toxic mold spores – use fresh, high-quality whenever you can)
• • Least suspect: all-spice, cinnamon, cloves*, organic prepared mustard with no additives
  • Suspect: mustard seed, onion, table salt
  • Most suspect: black pepper*, conventional chocolate (at least 85% dark chocolate), garlic*, nutmeg*, paprika*, all vinegars (except apple cider vinegar)
• Suspect sweeteners
  • Least suspect: non-GMO dextrose and glucose, raw honey (listed on the chart as suspect and in the book as Bulletproof, to be consumed in moderation)
  • Suspect: maple syrup, coconut sugar
  • Most suspect: white sugar, brown sugar, agave syrup or agave nectar, cooked honey
• Suspect beverages
  • Least suspect: tap water with lime/lemon, water with muddled fruit, fresh brewed iced tea (unsweetened), herbal teas (high quality), fresh nut milk
  • Suspect: kombucha, raw milk, bottled iced tea (no sugar added), fresh coconut water, coconut water (bottle/box), bottled nut milks
  • Most suspect: freshly squeezed fruit juice
  • Suspect alcohols (avoid during the first 14 days of the diet; observe your reaction to each of them afterwards and consume in moderation): vodka, gin, tequila, whiskey, dry champagne, dry white wine (these last two are more suspect)
• Suspect cooking methods
  • Least suspect: simmered, lightly grilled (not charred)
  • Suspect: sous vide, slow cooking (although there are recipes in the book that require a slow cooker)
  • Most suspect: broiled

Foods to avoid with The Bulletproof Diet (“Kryptonite”)

• Processed foods
  • Containing monosodium glutamate (MSG), soy protein, and other chemicals and processed ingredients
  • Synthetic flavorings
• GMO ingredients
  • Commonly found in canola, corn, cottonseed, sugar cane , potatoes, and soy crops
  • Products made with these ingredients, e.g. vegetable oils and high-fructose corn syrup HFCS
• Krytonite vegetables
  • Less bad: corn (fresh on the cob)
  • Worst: all other corn (except fresh), canned veggies (BPA and histamines), mushrooms (fungi; in the chart as Suspect but in the book as kryptonite), soy
• Kryptonite fats (includes nuts and seeds)
  • Refined vegetable oils
  • Chemically damaged fats
  • Less bad: factory chicken fat, safflower oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, peanut oil, soy oil, cottonseed oil, corn oil, vegetable oil, heated nuts, heated oils, flaxseed oil
  • Worst: margarine and other artificial trans fats, oils made from GMO grains, commercial lard
• Kryptonite protein
  • Less bad: high-mercury seafood, farmed seafood, rice protein, pea protein
  • Worst: soy protein and soy foods (including soy beans, soy milk, soy burgers, tofu, tempeh, miso, natto, soy sauce), wheat protein, legumes/beans including chickpeas, cheese and other pasteurized or cooked dairy (except butter)
• Kryptonite dairy
  • Less bad: skim or low-fat milk, fake butter, pasteurized nonorganic milk or yogurt
  • Worst: all cheese, powdered milk, factory dairy, dairy replacer, condensed milk, evaporated milk, conventional ice cream, prepared dairy products (American cheese, coffee creamer, cheese spread, cheese sauce, etc.)
• Kryptonite nuts and seeds
  • Less bad: peanuts, flaxseed, chia seed
• Kryptonite legumes
  • Less bad: sprouted legumes, garbanzo beans/chickpeas, hummus, dried peas, most legumes (dried beans and lentils), peanuts
  • Worst: soy, soy nuts, corn nuts
• Kryptonite starches
  • Worst: wheat (bread, baked goods, cereal, pasta, etc.), conventionally grown corn (e.g. non-organic corn on the cob, corn bread, corn mash, polenta, other processed dried corn products), millet, other grains, potato starch, corn starch, gluten-free powders
• Kryptonite fruits
  • Less bad: cantaloupe
  • Worst: raisins, dried fruit, fruit leather, jam, jelly, canned fruit
• Kryptonite spices & flavorings
  • Less bad: fermented soy, miso, tamari, tofu (soy lecithin and natto aren’t kryptonite)
  • Worst: commercial dressings, spice mixes and extracts, monosodium glutamate MSG, yeast, caseinate, textured protein TVP, bouillon and broth, hydrolyzed gluten, anything labeled enzyme modified, artificial flavorings or seasonings
• Kryptonite sweeteners
  • Less bad: fructose, fruit juice concentrate, high-fructose corn syrup HFCS
  • Worst: aspartame (NutraSweet), sucralose (Splenda), acesulfame potassium (ace-K), tagatose
• Kryptonite beverages
  • Less bad: pasteurized milk
  • Worst: soy milk, packaged juice, diet drinks, soda, sweetened drinks, aspartame drinks, sports drinks
  • Kryptonite alcohols: white wine (although dry white wine is listed as highly Suspect), red wine, beer
• Kryptonite cooking methods
  • Less bad: stir fried
  • Listed on the chart as Suspect but in the book as kryptonite: barbecued, microwaved
  • Worst: burnt, blackened, charred, deep-fried

Starting the diet – 2-week Bulletproof protocol

There’s a meal plan for the 2-week Bulletproof protocol in the book, giving choices of recipes rather than telling you exactly what to eat on each of the 14 days

• Get rid of all Kryptonite foods in your house
• Use the Bulletproof Diet Roadmap as a guide (Bulletproof, Suspect, and Kryptonite foods), focusing on Bulletproof foods and avoiding the Suspect and Kryptonite ingredients
• For breakfast, have Bulletproof Coffee (If you’re a woman over 40, or need to lose a lot of weight, and/ or you’re not satisfied by Bulletproof Coffee alone, it’s a good idea to add 25 to 30 grams of protein e.g. Bulletproof Coffee with added grass-fed collagen protein)
• Lunch and dinner – have massive amounts of vegetables, lots of healthy fats, moderate amounts of protein, and (during and after dinner) small amounts of starch). Consume both meals within a 6-hour window to get the best results of intermittent fasting – e.g. lunch at 1pm and dinner at 7pm
• Once a week (days 6 and 13), follow Bulletproof Protein Fasting, eating 25 grams of protein and 100-150 grams of carbohydrates (up to 300 grams for women)

Testing foods

Track which Suspect foods are actually Kryptonite for you personally, because of your personal food sensitivities.

You can get an IgG/IgE blood panel test for food allergies or use the Bulletproof Food Detective App (iOS only at the time of writing) to see which foods you’re sensitive to.

Start this protocol during the 2-week Bulletproof protocol to see whether any Bulletproof foods are actually Kryptonite to you personally

Bulletproof for life

• In maintenance mode, you’ll get the best results from adhering as closely as possible to the main Bulletproof Diet principles— starting the day with Bulletproof Coffee , sticking to Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting on most days, Protein Fasting once a week , and avoiding Kryptonite foods most of the time. The main variable now that you’re in maintenance mode is whether you start eating more of the Suspect foods. This will depend on your personal reactions to those foods – as tested in the 2-week protocol. Once you know which foods you are sensitive to, you are free to go off into the world and make the very best choices for your body and your performance
• If you want, try eating a few more carbs in the evening, and if your pants get tight, simply cut back. You might even have starch in the morning sometimes if you really want to, as you now know your body is resilient and can handle it
• If it makes you feel good while you’re in maintenance mode, you can eat something for breakfast besides Bulletproof Coffee and do Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting only occasionally
• If you really want to, you can occasionally knowingly eat some Kryptonite as long as you realize you’ll take a hit in how you feel for the next day or two. Small variations are fine and do not constitute failure, but of course you’ll want to rein it in and stick to Bulletproof foods if you see your weight and performance start to really suffer. If this happens, go back to the 2-week plan to give yourself a refresher course on Bulletproof principles.

Health benefits claimed in The Bulletproof Diet

The diet in this book claims to reduce the risks for: acne, brain fog, certain cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, food cravings, gout, Hashimoto’s disease, high triglycerides, inflammation, insulin sensitivity, migraine headaches, overweight/obesity, seasonal allergies

As always, this is not intended to be a replacement for professional medical diagnosis or treatment for a medical condition. Consult your doctor before starting a new diet. This page describes what the authors of the diet recommend – Chewfo is describing the diet only, not endorsing it.

Get a copy of The Bulletproof Diet for explanations of the author’s research and conclusions, takes on common diet myths, sleep guidelines, supplementation and exercise suggestions, the reasons behind the food ratings of Bulletproof/Suspect/Kryptonite, troubleshooting tips, restaurant tips, and recipes.

Diet book
Order Bulletproof: The Cookbook for 125 recipes.

Cookbook
The Bulletproof website is https://www.bulletproofexec.com/, and the store is at https://www.upgradedself.com/. Dave Asprey is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/bulletproofexecutive, Twitter at https://twitter.com/bulletproofexec, and YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Aq3T1GmKcObLqo1YIU_Ww.

How has this diet helped you? Please add a comment or question below.