Can the fatty coffee really hold me to lunch?

Hey everybody,

 

I clearly have not had much time to jump on here during the last month or so.  I am working on a few posts but life, a couple races, and a host of other things have stood in the way of getting things out the door.  I still respond to questions that I get directly.  I figured while I am working to get back on the wagon I would at least drop a post here and there of some of the questions that I get.  So here is a first.

 

Question from a friend out in Tennessee:

I can't find your coffee butter, coconut blog. I might try dumping the avocado in the morning. I put a scoop of coconut oil and grass fed butter in the coffee mug this morning wondering if that will hold me until lunch. Looks like you need the heavy cream to get the fat into suspension...what kind though?

Here is the link to my phatty coffee post.

I am not so sure the heavy cream gets things into suspension, maybe with very thorough blending but I just stir it with a spoon but if it sits the fat all floats and separates.

Coconut oil is the number one ingredient in the coffee due to the MCTs that are very healthy and are a great energy source especially when in ketosis.

Cream and Butter are next and share the number two spot since cream is really mostly butter

The key to the cream and butter is that they are from pastured cows. Pastured animals have naturally occurring omega-3s (EPA and DHA) from the grass and other green stuff they eat. Kerrygold is the only widely distributed pastured butter that I know of and you can find it at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.   However, you may have some local farms that provide pastured cream and butter to local stores and markets. Grass-fed cream may be harder to find and may only find it at Whole Foods. I generally buy a half-gallon of grass fed cream and make butter from a little less than half ot it and it works out great and is a little cheaper. Check out this post on that.

If you can't find a clearly marked grass-fed cream I would just opt for the highest quality cream you can find in your local stores. Many of the organic creams imply they are at least partially pastured and probably have decent fat ratios.

As for getting you through until lunch. This will largely be up to how dependent you are on carbs. If you are in ketosis and have already done a little intermittent fasting then one phatty coffee (1 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp coconut oil, and a shot or two of cream) should be fine. If you are not in ketosis and still a little carb dependant then it might be rough for a day or two. You might want to keep the avocado in the mix and go to a half and then a quarter and dial it back slowly. Good luck and keep me posted on how things are going!

Thanks

Chuck

Planks, Love and Guacamole: Paleo coffee creamers

OK coffee lovers I have posted a few things on Paleo coffee ideas but honestly I have gotten pretty comfortable with my own personal fatty coffee variants.  If you really need some of your old school creamers but are now living in a Paleo world check out Planks, Love and Guacamole: Paleo coffee creamers.  These ladies have put together a handful of your old favorites, in Paleo style, and they look sure to get you your fix.  Go check them out.  They have lots of other delicious looking recipes that I am adding to my list of must trys.

Thanks for stopping by!
Chuck

Homemade Snowville Creamery Butter is as Good as it Gets

I was in Whole Foods the other day hunting down some heavy cream.  I so wanted to buy another half gallon of Snowville Creamery heavy cream that I talked about in the "A Heavy Cream Dilemma" post but a half gallon is a bit much to get through for coffee.  I snagged one of the Whole Foods crew and asked if he could get quarts or pints of this heavenly delicious cream.  He wasn't sure but told me they would be at the store that weekend.  First thing Saturday, the family and I headed out with smaller cream deliveries as our goal.  We got there early so the two young ladies, Morgan and Heather, were just setting up.  I told them of my dilemma and they explained how they were in the process of expanding to include production of smaller heavy cream sizes. They loaded the kids, Steph, and I up with stickers, pins, samples of their yogurt, and creme fraiche. The creme fraiche was really pretty amazing. While the kids were spreading several yogurt samples around the surrounding area, the ladies suggested that I try making butter with the cream which might make purchasing a half gallon a more reasonable thing.  I figured why not and grabbed a half.  A half gallon is about $10 so when you are looking at all the surrounding half gallons of milk it seems pretty expensive.

Sunday morning I figured it was time to give this butter making a try.  The carton had instructions right on it. I dumped half of the carton into my food processor and let it rip.  After a couple minutes I peeked inside and to my surprise saw some change occurring.  At this point things were looking a lot like whipped cream and from a sample was pretty tasty.  I ran the blender for another minute or two and saw about the same thing.  At this point I wasn't so sure the butter was going to be like the butter I like to throw in my coffee or on my sweet potato.  I flipped the food processor back on and a few minutes later I heard a significant change in the sound.  I opened it up and this time BAM it was butter. It was like magic.  OK so maybe you have seen this before but I never had. Five minutes in the processor and the cream had been transformed into butter. I strained the butter, hand pressed it into a mold, and harvested the resulting butter milk.

The butter is some of the tastiest butter I have ever had and knowing how the animals are pastured gives me the highest confidence in the quality of the fat.

I did a little math and this really turned out to be a pretty good deal.  At $10 the half gallon of cream produced one quart of cream for a week of coffee, about one pound of the best butter ever, and a couple cups of butter milk for Steph's cooking experiments.  Normally we end up buying two pints of cream at $3.50-$4 a pop and Kerrygold butter at $3.50/8oz for our coffee.  In comparison, that would be $15 for the same amount of cream and butter not including the butter milk.  From that perspective this stuff is a really good deal and I am convinced this is some of the best quality and best tasting cream you can get.  If you are lucky enough to be in an area that Snowville distributes to give them a try and I bet you'll be sold.  It looks like the Brady's will be making our own butter from now on.

Thanks again for stopping by!
Chuck

I want to go Paleo but can't ditch my delicious coffee!

Hi everyone, this is Steph, I truly fall into the category of one of those who cannot under any circumstance compromise on my coffee.  This was a huge cheat of mine for a while but Chuck slowly offered up alternatives until I got to the coffee I drink today. This recipe might not be exactly what your old coffee was like but you will be surprised how good it can be.  Most important is don't skimp on the coffee. When you are ditching the sugar gue juice the least you can do for yourself is get some really good coffee.






Ingredients:

• High quality whole bean coffee
• 1-3 tbsp pastured heavy cream
• 1/8-1/2 tsp stevia powder 
• NOTE: make sure what you pick up is pure stevia as many of the products out there have other additives.  We use Sweetleaf Stevia Powder 
• Optional
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• cacao powder
• fresh nutmeg
• cinnamon
• etc

Directions:
Start light and keep adding stevia and heavy cream to your coffee until you are happy with the mix.  Over time you will likely use less and less stevia. If you get brave try adding some grass-fed butter and/or coconut oil. I don't do this all the time but when Chuck mixes me one of his Phatty Coffees I am usually surprised at how delicious it is and he doesn't use stevia at all. We keep fresh nutmeg, cacao, and cinnamon right by the coffee maker and we may throw a pinch of some of that stuff in when we want to mix things up.

This new Paleo coffee may not fully replace your caramel macchiato at first but it is a great alternative and it won't take long before you won't miss the sugar drinks at all.

Thanks
Steph

A Heavy Cream Dilemma

Since my wife and I adopted Phatty Coffee as our regular morning drink, our heavy cream needs have increased significantly.  To get the best quality fat in your cream you have to find one that comes from pastured cows.  While organic, non-gmo, no antibiotics, etc may imply pastured it is not necessarily the case.  So we have a few go-to creams we choose from.  The other day at Whole Foods my wife noticed a half-gallon of cream. from Snowville Creamery.  I had never noticed this before probably because I wasn't looking for heavy cream in a half gallon size.  This cream gives you all the info you need to be confident you are getting the highest quality pastured fats.  The pints we normally get range from $3.50 to $3.99 per pint.  This half gallon was $9.99 saving us $5-6.  I swore when I picked this up the expiration date was 3 weeks out and we could easily get through it in that amount of time. Well I was wrong!  When I got up the next morning and looked I noticed the expiration date was three days away.  I thought for a minute and wondered if I could freeze the cream.  Then I thought ice cube trays.  Well it worked like a charm.  The amount of cream in each ice cube is a little deceiving and while I initially thought one was enough it is really more like three or four.  Drop the number of cubes you need in your cup, microwave it for 30 seconds or so, add some pastured butter, a little coconut oil, and top off with some rich fresh ground coffee and you are on your way to a great day!

Thanks for stopping by!
Chuck

Brady Nutrition Phatty Coffee

So this is how I make my Phatty Coffee.  I have this almost every morning but especially when I am fasting. I try to do an 18 hour fast three or four days a week.  I have primarily been inspired by The Fat Burning Man, Abel James’ Fatty Coffee.  You can check him out on his website at Fat Burning Man 

It seems like I buy most of my groceries at Wholefoods these days and you can find all of this at the Charlottesville Wholefoods.

I toss in 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of Kerrygold grass fed unsalted butter into the bottom of my coffee cup.  Then I toss in 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of coconut oil usually Wholefoods 365 extra virgin coconut oil.  I sprinkle a little cinnamon but not too much since it is easy to put too much.  Then I throw in 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of cacao powder.  Lately I have been adding in some fresh nutmeg also.  I usually buy whatever whole bean coffee is on sale.  I brew up a pot and poor some in my cup.  I stir it around for a minute or so and drink it up for a delicious fatty jolt in the morning.  I plan to try MCT oil in place of the coconut oil at some point soon.
  

The Barista and My Fatty Coffee

This morning I got up extra early so I could start the weekend a little early.  I decided I would kick the day off with a Fatty Coffee and fast until after work when I meet up with a couple friends.  When I went to bed last night I realized I had not ground my coffee and running the grinder at 5:30 AM would certainly lead to a toddler uprising in my house.  My wife suggested I load my coffee mug with my standard fatty coffee ingredients and head to the local coffee shop to cover down.  I thought this was a great idea.  So sitting in the bottom of my coffee mug is a tablespoon of very yellow grass fed butter, a table spoon of coconut oil, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and about a teaspoon of pure cacao powder.  I roll into the coffee shop, order a Café Americano and hand over my mug to the barista.  She asked if I would like room for cream glances into my mug and her face dropped and began to resemble the face of someone that was ready to lose their lunch.  As she grimaced in discomfort I assured her twice in quick succession that everything was OK.  She reluctantly moved to the espresso machine looked back at me and asked in a distressed voice what I had in there.  I very briefly explained without going into too much detail and she let me know she thought she had heard somewhere that this was good for you.  It was definitely a priceless coffee shop moment and the Fatty Coffee was exceptionally delicious this morning.

Check out the specifics on my Phatty Coffee at Chuck's Phatty Coffee
I have primarily been inspired by The Fat Burning Man, Able James’ Fatty Coffee.  You can check him out on his website at fatburningman.com and he has a video on Fatty Coffee located here Able James' Fatty Coffee

For those keeping track I finally broke below 174 this morning with a weight in at 173.8