Today’s Breakfast. Recipe and Macronutrient Breakdown Below.
You have to laugh. In today’s world of industrially engineered food and drink, the term “energy drink” is merely euphemism for sugar drink. Yea, some are laced with caffein, for added “energy.” And naturally, engineering being what it is, you don’t even have to look to know that cans of that crap probably contain upwards of 8 teaspoons and more of sugar in a single can. There are 4 grams in a tsp of sugar, all carbohydrate, so an “energy drink” sporting 30 grams of rapidly assimilating carbohydrate in liquid form is about 7-8 teaspoons.
Now, let me ask a dumb question. How many of you would put 8 teaspoons of sugar into any 10 or 12 oz. unsweetened drink? Anyway, enough of that nonsense.
As anyone with an ounce of true nutritional sense knows, fat is the ultimate source of energy, both dietary and body fat. It’s simple. A gram of carbohydrate like sugar or HFCS has 4 kilocalories of energy, while a gram of fat has 9 — more than twice as much, gram for gram.
But there’s one kind of fat that’s a bit special, medium chain triglyceride (MCT). What’s special about it?
MCTs passively diffuse from the GI tract to the portal system (longer fatty acids are absorbed into the lymphatic system) without requirement for modification like long-chain fatty acids or very-long-chain fatty acids. In addition, MCTs do not require bile salts for digestion. Patients that have malnutrition or malabsorption syndromes are treated with MCTs because they do not require energy for absorption, utilization, or storage. Coconut oil is composed of approximately 66% medium-chain triglycerides. Other rich sources of MCTs include palm kernel oils and camphor tree drupes. The fatty acids found in MCTs are called medium-chain fatty acids.
You usually have to dig a bit if you don’t already know, to discover that these MCTs are SATURATED FATS! Or, should I say, arterycloggingsaturatedfat?
Another thing to note is that they digest rapidly, like sugar in a drink and so are truly in the category of supplying rapid energy, the whole point of an “energy drink” or glucose gel, such as endurance athletes use. But guess what? Little to no glycemic load. They don’t spike your blood sugar to significant degree, and thus, don’t spike your insulin significantly…leaving you to later need another “energy drink,” and another, and another. Peak, valley, peak valley; wash, rinse, repeat.
There’s more. Turns out that MCTs have other huge benefits in terms of blood sugar control in diabetics as well as actual fat loss. Yea, a fat that makes you lose body fat. Let’s take a look at what the scientistas have to say.
Pubmed: Greater rise in fat oxidation with medium-chain triglyceride consumption relative to long-chain triglyceride is associated with lower initial body weight and greater loss of subcutaneous adipose tissue.
CONCLUSION: These data suggest that shunting of dietary fat towards oxidation results in diminished fat storage, as reflected by the loss of BW and subcutaneous adipose tissue. Furthermore, MCT consumption may stimulate EE and fat oxidation to a lower extent in men of greater BW compared to men of lower BW, indicative of the lower responsiveness to a rapidly oxidized fat by overweight men.
This was a randomized, crossover, controlled feeding trail. Subjects got either high amounts of MCT or LCT (olive oil). Crossover means that each group was subjected to both diets, which is gold standard. Those on MCT lost almost twice as much fat as those on LCT.
ScienceDirect: Medium-chain triglycerides
Abstract: …chemical and physical properties of MCFAs show substantial metabolic differences. MCFAs do not require binding to proteins such as fatty-acid binding protein, fatty acid transport protein, and/or fatty acid translocase (FAT, homolog to human platelet CD36). MCFAs are a preferred source of energy (β-oxidation). MCFAs are also incorporated into adipose tissue triglycerides, and may influence adipose tissue and other systemic functions more substantially than previously assumed. MCTs reduce fat mass, through down-regulation of adipogenic genes as well as peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-γ. Recent studies confirmed the potential of MCFAs to reduce body weight and particularly body fat. This effect was not transient. MCFAs reduce lipoprotein secretion and attenuate postprandial triglyceride response. It was, however, frequently observed that MCTs increase fasting cholesterol and triglyceride levels. But, given in moderate amounts, in diets with moderate fat supply, MCFAs may actually reduce fasting lipid levels more than oils rich in mono- or polyunsaturated fatty acids. The same is true for glucose levels. MCTs improved several features contributing to enhanced insulin sensitivity. Under certain in vitro conditions, MCTs exert proinflammatory effects, but in vivo MCTs may reduce intestinal injury and protect from hepatotoxicity.
This is just a review article looking at studies demonstrating a lot of the benefits of MCTs that we’re talking about. Do note the warning siren about elevated fasting cholesterol and triglycerides. Of course, this is just the abstract, such that some news media regurgitator in the “Health” section can write a dumbshit headline like “Coconut Milk Raises Cholesterol Levels, Study Finds.” Then you tear into the full text and find it wasn’t significant, it was one poorly controlled study out of many, or some other BS. And who cares about cholesterol numbers anyway? Cool that it may also may aid intestinal repair and protect your liver from drug or alcohol induced toxicity, important for those on medications or who drink regularly.
More? Hell, I don’t do science that often anymore, so let’s go all out. But in consideration of the environment, let’s save some space and you can click over to the abstracts you want to read.
PubMed: Physiological effects of medium-chain triglycerides: potential agents in the prevention of obesity.
PubMed: Medium chain fatty acid metabolism and energy expenditure: obesity treatment implications.
PubMed: Medium-chain fatty acids as metabolic therapy in cardiac disease. [the heart muscle loves ketone bodies, I’ve heard. -Ed]
PubMed: Medium-chain fatty acids: functional lipids for the prevention and treatment of the metabolic syndrome.
Well here’s one from 1986 that bears quoting the entire abstract, especially in view of the recipe for my secret energy drink, below.
PubMed: Medium chain triglycerides (MCT) in aging and arteriosclerosis.
Abstract: Some of the nutritional work with triglycerides consisting mainly of C8 and C10 fatty acids (MCT) lends itself to speculations about their influence on arteriosclerosis. Arteriosclerosis is thought to be part of the normal aging process which is due to age associated molecular biological changes. The lipid theory of arteriosclerosis is rejected. Pertinent studies with MCT include these observations. Feeding of MCT to rats resulted in animals of low body weight, small fat deposits and excellent survival rate. This deserves emphasis because of the beneficial influence of low body weight on aging and arteriosclerosis. MCT feeding was associated with low linoleate and low tocopherol requirements in rats. This may lead to reduced formation of those linoleate derived prostaglandins which favor thrombosis formation. Lower linoleate requirements may also lead to the presence of fewer uncontrolled free radicals in the cells. MCT feeding is associated with low levels of serum and liver cholesterol involving speculations that tissue conditions are such that an adaptive increase of cholesterol is unnecessary. The Demographic Yearbook of the United Nations (1978) reported that Sri Lanka has the lowest death rate from ischemic heart disease. Sri Lanka is the only of the countries giving reliable data where coconut oil (containing over 50% medium chain fatty acids) is the main dietary fat. [emphasis added]
So, while it doesn’t say how much saturated fat the lowest death rate from heart disease-Sri Lankans ate, we do have an idea for another population, the Tokelauans, who eat about 50% of energy from saturated fat and have no evidence of heart disease. I blogged about it way back here.
There was one other issue I wanted to cover, and that’s the potential insulin stimulating effects of MCTs (if any), and whether coconut milk — with 1 gram of carbohydrate per ounce — could present any problem to diabetics. I dug all over the place, got lots of help from Twitter peeps (thanks much, all of you) but in the end could not really come to firm conclusions, so I’ll leave that to comments. Other than that, there’s this interesting conversation between Marty Gallagher and Dr. Chris Hardy at PrecisionNutrition on MCTs, coconut oil, and coconut milk in both a health and training context. Good stuff.
Alright, now while I certainly didn’t need to do all this sciency researchin’ to know that a natural product like coconut milk would be like most wholesome food: good for me…I want to make sure you have confidence, dear reader, that indeed it is safe to go back in the water. The sharks are all over at Jamba Juice getting their faux “health” smoothies (count how many of those sugar drinks have over 100g of sugar).
Nope, what you’ll get here is a smoothie, an energy drink that will blow the lid off all that crap in a cup in terms of sustained, level energy and satiation; and well, you’ve seen the potential numerous health and weight loss and control benefits. Incidentally, coconut fat is about 90% saturated. Of the saturated fat, 66% is comprised of MCTs.
And by the way, I’ve used both coconut oil and coconut milk in cooking for years, particularly for Thai curries. Also, last year at NovNat over a week, we probably each had near or more than a can of coconut milk every morning (see the top pic) and I for one was rarely ever hungry much for lunch, in spite of the activity (though I ate big every meal). And I lost 3 pounds over the week and felt great.
Alright, the recipe:
- 1 cup full fat coconut milk (I like Native Forrest)
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 raw egg yolks (don’t eat whites raw; cook them to destroy avidin, an anti nutrient)
- 1 scoop whey protein (I use vanilla Primal Fuel)
- 2/3 cup frozen berries (I like the medleys)
Blend it and consume. I save the whites, scramble them in a pat of butter and add a bit of grated parmesan for flavor, no salt.
Macronutrient breakdown:
- Total Fat: 70 grams
- Saturated Fat: 50 grams (71.4% of total fat)
- Carbohydrate: 27 grams
- Protein: 27 grams
- Total Calories: 840
- Percent Total Energy: 75% (TF), 54% (SFA), 13% (C), 13% (P)
An alternative which I’ll try is to do one raw egg yolk in the smoothie and mix the white with the other whole egg for cooking. And, of course, there’s tons of variations you can do with this. The egg yolks make it smooth. The frozen berries make it cool without making it watery with ice.
And so on, and so on.
Alex 
Brett Legree 
Michael 
echokitten 
Ashley 
David 
How about short-chain fatty acids such as those found in butter or those released during fiber digestion. These are quite glucogenic being 2-4 carbons long. Someone help me – they provide 20-30% of their energy from the glycerol?
Peter at Hyperlipid did a post on Dr Davis’ claim that butter is insulogenic. Don’t recall the details, though.
I have nearly the exact same shake! I stopped having them a few months ago, but I started to gain a bit of weight. Once I put them back in, I felt satieted all the time and the leanness came back. It’s a staple of my diet now.
Just had an “energy smoothie” myself, but instead of coconut milk I use straight grass fed half/half, and add a table spoon of unrefined extra virgin coconut oil separately.
I also add frozen berries, grass fed vanilla whey concentrate, raw honey, saigon cinnamon, true cinnamon, 1 raw egg yolk, and a good chunk of almond butter.
Yum.
There are a million roads, Anthony. In fact, isn’t it Primal Toad that has an ebook with hundreds of smoothie recipes?
He’s welcome to drop the link here in comments.
Hey Richard! Yes, I do… not hundreds of smoothies YET. I do plan on getting there. What sucks is I haven’t had my blender for the past 3 weeks so my progress in making smoothies has obviously stalled.
I do have recipes with coconut milk and one with coconut oil. I will be using coconut oil in many more recipes to come. I’ve been making smoothies consistently for more than 6 years so I know a bit about them… first it was fruit and crap, then green smoothies… now primal/paleo smoothies!
You asked for it so here is the link with a nice discount for Richards readers:
Use “animal” as a discount code to buy it for only $5. I’ll end this in about a week.
My sales page is a mess but will be worked on soon!
That’s a great offer, Toad. Much appreciated.
Hey man, they didn’t have blenders in the paleolithic era!
I make smoothies almost the same way but I alternate between full fat yogurt and coconut milk and I add some flax oil and some unflavored metamucil and sometimes some molasses for minerals and also sometimes some magnesium ‘oil’. I do put in the whole egg, white included. What does avidin do to a person?
Bloviator, as I recall it inhibits B vitamin absorption, but that may be wrong. Google.
I was doing. Lot of proteins shakes at one point and I would always use 1-2 jumbo whole raw eggs. After a while, I noted that my toenails and fingernails kept breaking, as in really brittle. I was reading a Masterjohn article somewhere and it mentioned that as a side effect of avidin. I stopped the smoothies and nails returned to normal.
Avidin binds strongly to biotin (vit B7). Eating too many raw egg whites can cause biotin deficiency.
I know we are all different but do you guys think that 3 raw jumbo eggs a week would cause a deficiency? I enjoy smoothies with raw eggs but am fine doing only the yolk. Since I do have that eBook, I would not mind updating my thoughts on raw eggs and the recipes that include whole raw eggs too.
Egg yolks are loaded with biotin, so whole eggs shouldn’t have this problem. I think it’s only an issue for people who want to consume raw egg but have been brainwashed with the idiotic notion that egg yolks are unhealthy and should be thrown away.
I was doing like at least two whole jumbos per day for a while, on Leangains, trying to get the protein down. Then I noticed the brittle toenails particular, which I understand is predicted by biotin deficiency. I stopped and nails returned to normal. I dunno for sure, but seems plausible.
Looks good, Richard. I’ve experimented some, but keep going back to your original Fat Bomb with coconut cream and heavy cream. I mix it up with some ice, vanilla, and a wee bit o’ sweetener if I feel like pissing off the cave gods. Heaven, I tell ya.
One little extra I do is melt some coconut oil while the bomb is in the blender. Stir in a tbsp or two of warm oil in there after pouring it into a glass and it freezes into little bits you can chomp on while drinking it. It’s like a Caveman Blizzard.
Murray, you are my hero. I never thought about adding in coconut oil like that. And here I thought my Blizzard days were over!
Take all that and throw it into a Cuisinart ice cream mixer. Fatty goodness squared.
Sometimes I miss ice cream, and a smoothy like you’ve described or (dare I even say this) 4 cups whole milk and a couple of scoops of protein powder make a nice mix for a quick batch of ice cream in the Cuisinart.
Make it right before a workout, then put it in the freezer so it firms up while you’re breaking a sweat, then ice cream PWO. NSPH. Not-strict-paleo-heaven.
🙂
That sounds totally awesome. I think I’ll try it tonight, since I’m recovering from pneumonia and a lot of the other things I normally eat aren’t going down too well and I don’t want to lose any more weight (down 12 pounds already) – this sounds delicious to me…
Oops, I forgot. Add a whole avocado to either mix for a super smooth and rich taste and texture. Yes, avocado, milk, and chocolate protein powder. Heresy, yet tasty!
I do coconut milk smoothies all the time minus the water and whey protein. Excellent drink. Will probably have one before we start on that bottle of Abelour 🙂
By the way, cooking reduces the avidin in egg whites by about 70%.
Experimenting with high fat and about equal protein & carbs. Doing grassfed ground beef curries w c milk and not draining the beef fat, cooking on low, letting moisture evaporate. Siddons Primal Fuel is 2 scoops per serving and has a good fat profile, so I use 1 scoop to moderate protein.
Avocado, chocolate, and whole milk sounds good for some bizarre reason. I shall try it!
Avocado is the world’s greatest smoothie ingredient! If they are soft then they will make the smoothie extra smooth. If you eat bananas then that is also a top ingredient for smoothness.
I love using coconut milk in smoothies BUT my stomach is not a fan. I have suspected that it was the guar gum and after listening to the AHS podcast of Robb, Matt and Mark my thought was confirmed. Robb mentioned something about guar gum and negative effects on the gut.
I LOVE using shredded coconut. In order for it to blend well, something like an avocado or banana is absolutely necessary!
Almond milk is a decent alternative to coconut milk too – just not as thick.
There are some brands out of Thailand and Viet Nam in a local Asian market (Ranch 99) that do not have guar gum in them, both canned and the frozen packages.
I will have to check this out immediately then. Thanks!
If you can find it: Chef’s Choice Coconut Milk (product of Thailand) is a Guar Gum free canned coconut milk as well…so is Chaokoh(Thai also) brand. I have access to both of these via a restaurant supply store I frequent.
I prefer the Chef’s Choice brand because the cream separates in a thick cream readily in the fridge overnight. The cream from this brand is naturally sweet and thick like yogurt. I let the can separate then puncture the bottom over a bowl to drain out the liquid and then turn it over and open the can completely to reveal “coconut yogurt”…which I eat plain with a spoon for breakfast. I save and drink the liquid separate as a post workout potassium replenisher.
Sometimes I sweeten the cream lightly with a tiny bit of Stevia and whip it with a hand mixer and freeze for about 30 min for “ice cream”…
Interesting, echokitten. And what has been the effect on your leanness eaten that much coconut fat?
I recently ordered some coconut from Tropical Traditions and have been making coconut milk as needed in my Vitamix. http://www.freecoconutrecipes.com/recipe_HomemadeCoconutMilk.htm It is way easier than I would ever have thought, although this strainer definitely comes in handy – . I feel good eating/drinking this homemade coconut milk as it is just coconut and water, and it tastes pretty yummy!
I would rather chew my food. Have you checked your BG after drinking one of these?
Go ahead. Fat is liquid, in case you never noticed. You may be chewing on something, but the fat component is liquid.
How is chewing butter working out for you?
How about your salad dressing? Chew up. Ever do a fatty sauce for your steak? How’s the chew factor? Maybe you do your eggs scrambled, so you can chew them, but I’m partial to OE or sunny. Haven’t figured how to chew runny yolks, yet.
This is a 75% fat meal, but you had to expose your ignorance like that, didn’t you?
I’m just sure my BG will have skyrocketed after a meal of 75% fat, 13% protein, 13% carb. Out of sight.
I haven’t done a BG in over a year and my goal is never to fall into that stupid reductionism again for the rest of my life,
Thank you for pointing this out Richard! I emailed Robb to ask him of his opinion on smoothies and, well, he was completely against it for people who are trying to lose weight. But, like you said, fat is liquid. People who wish to lose weight will often times take 3 TBSP of coconut oil or more a day which is liquid… but low carb smoothies are a no go? Does not seem logical to me.
I love Robb Wolf. The more I read his blog and listen to his podcasts the more I love him. But, grr… I don’t agree with him on smoothies. Not that I agree with everything that anyone says so no big deal. And, smoothies are PERFECT for aiding digestion!
I am generally opposed to drinking calories as well, with the exception of high fat smoothies. Of course, a sugar or high fruit smoothies with lots of liquid carbage is going to be bad, as is a very high whey smoothie. In my case here, the 840 cals is 75% fat. I have a few pound to loose after my gain following injury, so we’ll see.
I agree and most of my smoothies are lower carb. I of course have some that are mostly fruit but a lot are high fat.
And adding greens slows down the harmful effect as well.
Yumm. I was reading this after eating 300g lamb steak for breakfast and still wanting to eat more. Not fun. I made the smoothie, without the protein powder, and now feel good. Hopefully that’ll do me for the day!
Yes, I am ignorant of many things (but I did see the fat breakdown in your post).
I love the curry sauces on a substrate. Steak. Sausages dripping in egg yolk. Chewing>drinking imo because it takes longer, and I don’t seem to have any problem getting enough fat this way.
Side note: just listened to your podcast w.angelo coppola. Enjoyed it very much. You sounded very natural & Angelo sounds like a radio pro.
Ok , Scott, sorry for being so harsh.
I too advocate chewing your meals, but for a very high fat regimes I am doing, pretty tough without taking c milk or cream. But when I typically say chew your food, it is against sugar drinks primarily and protein drinks second. I stopped doing the latter a long time ago, unless it’s the odd dessert, which is rare.
Drinking fat is a whole other world.
What are the options for those of rare few of us who can’t stomach eggs?
Totally doable without the eggs, though I don’t see how you would notice the egg yolk part. Totally undetectBle taste wise, and if it’s a digestion issue, separating the yolk from the white gives you a chance to see which one it might be if not both. Do the yolk in the smoothie one day, eat the cooked whites the next. Experiment.
But if you skip entirely, you can always find something to chew along with it, like bacon, leftover meat, ham…
Or just add some coconut oil or avocado and eat protein with it.
This sounds awesome! I have made similar smoothies with half coconut milk, half full fat yogurt, and the frozen berries. Never tried it with all coconut milk and egg yolks before, but will. I might even substitute almond milk for the water. You don’t have to convince me that all things coconut are good and good for you. I’ve been eating coconut milk and oil and slathering the oil on my skin for about 6 years, ever since I read Mary Enig’s books, and I grew up on foods made with coconut. I love the ice cream idea. I have an ice cream maker that has been idle since I went LC. It’ll be great to drag it out and use it again.
BTW, @Brett Legree, coconut oil has a load of lauric acid (one of the MCTs) in it and, once in the body, that is converted to Monolaurin, which is a powerful anti viral, antibiotic, anti fungal agent. I always ramp up the coconut milk and oil on the rare occasions when I’m sick. My favorite hot soup when I’m sick is coconut ginger soup: simmer equal parts coconut milk and chicken broth (the real stuff) with some fresh ginger for about 10 minutes. Delicious and loaded with healthful stuff. I don’t only eat it when sick, but I eat it a lot when I am. So, if you’re still recovering, chug down the coconut milk, cream and oil as much as possible! It’ll give a boost to whatever antibiotics you are taking.
@Margaretrc – wow, thank you, I did not know that – so it looks like the universe brought me exactly what I needed today in the way of Richard’s post 🙂
I know what I’ll have for breakfast tomorrow – another one of these smoothies – and I’ll buy some more coconut milk tomorrow. I still feel really great after having it – now I’m going to go get about 9 hours sleep…
Here is the link to Primal Toad’s ebook:
http://www.primaltoad.com/toadally-primal-smoothies/sale/
He also has free recipes on his site.
-C
Thanks for linking to it here Candice! I mentioned it above but will mention it again… if you use discount code “animal” you can steal it for only $5! I may end this within a week.
Our standard breakfast smoothie recipe:
-one can coconut milk
-large scoop full-fat greek yogourt
-one avocado
-large scoop or two whey powder (flavored or non flavored)
-large scoop peanut or almond butter
-handful frozen berries (mixed)
-one banana
-some whole milk to top up the blender
Not perfect – but filling, practical, and my bf loves it. My preference is coconut milk + almond butter + chocolate protein powder + ice (and maybe avocado, and I should try the egg yolk).
When we did a backpacking trip, we just did coconut milk + flavored protein powder (sans blender). It was awesome and way better than just oatmeal.
I make a smoothie very similar to this. Its a great way to get nutrients to my picky four year old. Sometimes I freeze it and let her eat it like a frozen treat. A great variation is to make with homemade raw kefir or homemade coconut milk kefir. Also instead of powdered whet protein, make the real stuff a la Sally Fallon. This way you can pack in probiotics too.
A great video showing how to make coconut milk kefir: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist/2011/02/video-coconut-milk-kefir/
What about the vodka? Or did you mean to write 1/4 cup little water? Personally, I think 1/4 cup is a bit too much.
Shhhhhh
Lol. I plan on experimenting with wine in smoothies and MIGHT do a vodka one. I am not a fan of beer or vodka, just wine. A smoothie with coffee or espresso is due too. People claim I have been creative with my recipes and that the rock but, well, I kind of disagree. I am stepping it up a notch or 2.
I make protein shakes with pure, unflavored whey protein isolate and a splash of coconut milk, and one of the flavors I use is two teaspoons of organic instant coffee and a teaspoon of gourmet cocoa powder, with maple syrup for sweetness.