Bulletproof Executive - Biohack Your Life 2013: Insights from Dave Asprey

by Kunal K February 01, 2013

Across each day of the BPExec 2013 conference the man himself Dave Asprey gave some time for Q & A about issues that may or may not have been explicitly covered in the conference. It was a really great way to air any specific issues or questions that people had about the diet and the approach in general.

We’ve compiled a list of the tidbits that stood out to us as being particularly interesting and put them into categories below. We hope you’ll find them interesting.

Bulletproof/Upgraded Coffee

What is it and why is it special?
[Also known as butter coffee]. The Upgraded Coffee manufacturing process is optimized for no inflammation through minimisation of i) mycotoxin contamination and, ii) formation of biogenic amines. In fact, due to the antioxidant content it can be considered to be an anti-inflammatory food!

What are some alternatives?
Green Tea and Chamomile, but make sure to get high end stuff. These also have anti-inflammatory properties. - Dave won’t admit to drinking chamomile though...”it’s not manly enough”
( I’ve heard of some people doing Bulletproof green tea but it sounds pretty gross!)

How big of a problem are the Mycotoxins in Coffee?

Your typical high end coffee can give expose you to 25% of the daily maximum recommended exposure of Ochratoxin (according to EU standards.)

Wheat

Why is Modern Wheat Bad? Not just gluten! Metabolites will impact on your opiate receptors & the gluten will do damage to the villi in your gut causing inflammation. The way it’s grown and harvested is also a problem. Fusarium is a toxic mould that grows on the stock and is spread after the wheat is harvested and stored. Also the farming methods - when people start eating grains, they get shorter and get malformed teeth because of the pesticides.

If you do inadvertently eat wheat what should you do? Bing and purge man! ( he actually said that but it was an obvious joke... a funny one :) Listen to the sound byte:

Seriously though:

Take activated charcoal / bentonite clay which binds to the proteins.
Take N-acetyl-d-glucosamine binds to specific lectins in grains
There is a Houston Enzymes product: AFP-Peptizyde designed for digesting wheat protein - works with some kids with autism.

Ultimately, just don’t do it, if you really want something like wheat, try mochi.

Cheese

Casein is the main protein in cheese. It concentrates about 60% of the total toxins that cows eat. Casein is inflammatory, second only to gluten. It is linked with poor liver function.
Fermentation is a microbiological war: Fungus vs. Bacteria. All the biological weapons that they do battle with end up in the cheese which you are putting in your mouth (for some reason.)

General Tips

An easy way to test your sensitivity to foods: If your heart rate goes up 20 minutes after a meal, then you are probably allergic to something you just ate. (This was one of the coolest things that I learnt. I’m such a noob. Ended up borrowing pulse oximeters all conference so i could check my meals :) )
Rather than Resveratrol, check out Pterostilbene (2 Resveratrol molecules stuck together) It mimics caloric restriction half as well as Upgraded Ageing.
Mycotoxin contaminated food = food intolerances, allergies as a result of the food molecules looking similar to the mycotoxins. Everyone has a level or resilience to emotional, physical and chemical stresses. Your body can only take so much of a beating before short term discomfort can snowball into a long term problem and eventually a malignant condition.

Why does Dave wear weird glasses all the time?
You can use Amber glasses / lights / filters to block most blue light. You can get personalised shades from the IRLEN institute which are specific to your eyes requirements. Dave's are orange. (the show bags from the conference included the amber versions of these bad boys http://www.shop3m.com/3m-metaliks-protective-eyewear-pd0zt67t76.html )

Some really cool biohacks Dave showed us include:

(Note that there was plenty more cool tech on display at the conference - we'll follow up with a more complete post on this stuff soon!)

Ozone therapy
Reduces oxidative stress. Can inactivate bacteria, viruses, fungi, yeast and protozoa through disrupting cell integrity, growth inhibition and damaging the viral capsid. Ozone therapy up-regulates red blood cell glycolysis, activates the Kreb's Cycle and reduces NADH. There is increased production of enzymes that protect against free radicals through increased Super-Oxide-Dismutase(SOD) and glutathione peroxidase. This is an extensive topic! For further reading, you could start with Ozone Therapy: A Clinical Review

Infrared (IR) laser nerve therapy and brain stimulation
This is one of Dave's $5000 'toys' which he gave us a look at. At the right wavelength, Infrared light has been shown to excite neurons, and up-regulate ATP, RNA and DNA synthesis. It also causes vasodilation. Applications include light therapy for mood disorders and improved cognition without the use of nootropics.

Cold / Low Level Laser Therapy
Shown to be effective in the management of acute and chronic pain, but still considered to be an experimental treatment (doesn't stop a biohacker though does it!)

Anyway, thanks for reading! We’ll continue to post more insights into our experiences at the conference. We had an amazing time there and couldn’t recommend it more highly to any other potential future attendees!