Over the last year I have been embarking on a slow but steady journey of self-improvement. Like most of us, I have been trying to this my whole life. But we all hit plateaus and I found myself sitting right on top of one.
Leave it to my awesome wife to somehow know the right thing to do! She gave me a balanceball for my birthday so that I could use it as a chair at work.
It changed me. Now whether or not sitting on a balanceball all day long is any better for you than a chair may be debatable but the impact the change has had on my body is not. It only took a few weeks until I was using it full time. At first I sat on it for an hour. And then I switched back to my chair. Then it was two hours. And then the chair. You get the idea. Small wins until I was able to sit on the ball all day long.
But it was not so much what the ball did for my back (good things) or what it did for the amount of time I spend sitting (also good things – because I stand up more often and walk around) – no, what the ball changed for me was the ability to see the plateau of my body honestly. It’s amazing how much that small shift made ripples out into my other choices.
I looked at what I was doing for exercise and started swimming more. I took a look at my lunch and started eating salads instead of sandwiches. And all of these changes have made me feel better and have given me more energy during the day.
Now I am trying another change to improve my mental clarity. This is a combination of many ideas but one of the most interesting experiments for me has been in the last two weeks, and that brings us to the yak.
I don’t remember when I first read or heard about Bulletproof Coffee but I was definitely not ready to try it. But as I write this I am two weeks into drinking it almost every morning and all I can say is wow. I would never have thought it would be so good. Both in taste, and in the epic way I feel a few hours after drinking it.
It all started as an effort to take in more fat that was good for me.
The first thing I tried was putting coconut milk in my tea or coffee. I loved it. From there I learned about coconut oil. So I added some of that in as well.
Then I tried some cacao powder to make it chocolaty. Yum.
Then I at some point I heard about Bulletproof Coffee and went over to Dave Asprey’s site and read about the recipe and his inspiration for it (Yak Butter Tea).
I was still pretty hesitant. Butter in your warm beverage? Really? Who does that? Turns out people do. Ethiopians. Tibetans. Biohackers. People. People like me.
Here is the recipe I have been using:
1) I Pour about 2 cups of coffee into a giant mug that I got in Germany when I was just a young lad. (Right now I am using Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf House blend – planning on looking at the mold-free question later)
2) Then I add 2 tablespoons of Kerrygold Grass-Fed Butter and 1-2 tablespoons of Trader Joe’s Coconut oil. (May try the MCT oil soon)
3) Then sometimes I add a teaspoon of Sunfood Cacao powder and a dash of cinnamon.
4) Then an immersion blender goes into the mug and blends it all up until it’s smooth and frothy.
That’s all there is to it.
And I have to say that I can tell a difference in the way I process information and in my ability to think. Fat is truly fuel for the brain.
Then there is the other connection. Small wins. Little changes. These are how we progress. I started sitting on the ball for an hour a day. Then I tried coconut milk in my beverage. And then the Bulletproof coffee. And then…..
Just like the Chinese Food Lady in Dude Where’s My Car. And then.
If you keep asking the question then you keep adding or growing. Until you don’t. At some point there is “No more and then”. That is when you plateau. Until you don’t.
Here are a few links about this idea:
http://www.bulletproofexec.com/how-to-make-your-coffee-bulletproof-and-your-morning-too/
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401262/Should-I-Drink-Bulletproof-Coffee.html