Welcome to Episode 332 of The Intermittent Fasting Podcast, hosted by Melanie Avalon, author of What When Wine Diet: Lose Weight And Feel Great With Paleo-Style Meals, Intermittent Fasting, And Wine and Vanessa Spina, author of Keto Essentials: 150 Ketogenic Recipes to Revitalize, Heal, and Shed Weight.
Today's episode of The Intermittent Fasting Podcast is brought to you by:
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SHOW NOTES
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LMNT: For A Limited Time Go To drinklmnt.com/ifpodcast To Get A FREE Sample Pack With Any Purchase! Learn All About Electrolytes In Episode 237 - Our Interview With Robb Wolf!
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Special Guest: Barry Conrad
Link Tree
dealing with Food Fear
Body Dysmorphia
finding intermittent fasting
is it Metabolism?
starting IF
Listener Q&A: Joelle - What are ways to gracefully decline social food events at work? Depending on the person, I don’t always like to mention fasting.
Navigating Social Norms
Body Composition
Listener Q&A: Jill - Can you optimize for fat loss and muscle building at the same time while doing IF?
Listener Q&A: Deanne - Muscle building and needing to eat more protein...
eating high protein
aligning lifestyle with your values
biohacking favorites
2 truths & a lie
Our content does not constitute an attempt to practice medicine and does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice and answers to personal health questions.
TRANSCRIPT
Melanie Avalon: Welcome to episode 332 of The Intermittent Fasting Podcast. If you want to burn fat, gain energy, and enhance your health by changing when you eat, not what you eat, with no calorie counting, then this show is for you. I'm Melanie Avalon, biohacker, author of What When Wine and creator of the supplement line AvalonX. And I'm here with my cohost, Vanessa Spina, sports nutrition specialist, author of Keto Essentials and creator of The Tone Device Breath Ketone Analyzer and Tone LUX Red light therapy panels. For more on us, check out Ifpodcast.com, Melanieavalon.com, and ketogenicgirl.com. Please remember, the thoughts and opinions on this show do not constitute medical advice or treatment. To be featured on the show, email us your questions to questions@ifpodcast.com. We would love to hear from you. So, pour yourself a mug of black coffee, a cup of tea, or even a glass of wine if it's that time and get ready for The Intermittent Fasting Podcast.
Hi, everybody, and welcome. This is episode number 332 of The Intermittent Fasting Podcast. I'm Melanie Avalon, and I am here with a super special guest. We have a super special episode today for you guys. I'm just so excited. Okay, so the backstory on today's conversation probably, I don't even know now, a few years ago, I'm trying to remember the origin story of this. There's this fabulous human being named Barry Conrad who is here right now, and we were following each other on Instagram. Barry was actually a listener of the show, correct? That's how you found me through this show?
Barry Conrad: Yep.
Melanie Avalon: Okay. Yes. So, we have a listener here, and so I feel like, we’ve interacted a little bit on Instagram, and then I think we started actually talking because I was so perplexed, because this man looks very young, and he is young. [laughs]
Barry Conrad: Can we not-- [laughs]
Melanie Avalon: Basically, I was curious about your age, and I think that's how we started actually talking. It turns out that he is an intermittent faster as well. Well, we can talk about the actual style of intermittent fasting that you do, but this man is so inspiring. He's doing so many cool, incredible things. I thought it would be an amazing conversation to have, a motivational conversation, to see what it looks like to have a really high functioning career, doing all the things, being an amazing physique, and also super appreciating food and doing all the things with fasting. So, I thought listeners would really enjoy this conversation.
So, a little bit about Barry. And I will ask you about your personal story. So, I'm sure you'll touch on some of this, but he's done stuff with music, acting, and theater. This is actually ironic. So, was Fox's Power Rangers Ninja Storm your first big thing?
Barry Conrad: Yeah, it was. Well, first of all, thank you so much for having, Melanie. It's crazy, it's surreal, because I started listening to your show. I just finished a show, and I stumbled on-- I've just typed "intermittent fasting" in Spotify. The show that you had with Gin when she was still on it came up and then I just started binging it, and that's how I found you. I was like, "This is really interesting." And then I think maybe shouted out the show on Instagram and then we started going back and forth. I don't know. I think that's the origin story. To answer your question, yeah, it was the first big deal situation to me doing Power Rangers. But the funny thing with that was, I was a huge fan of the show as a kid, so it was pretty surreal as well as I am on the set of a Power Rangers show, that was amazing.
Melanie Avalon: The crazy ironic thing about it is we've had one other actor on this show and he was in Power Rangers.
Barry Conrad: Mm-hmm.
Melanie Avalon: What are the odds?
Barry Conrad: That is actually weird.
Melanie Avalon: Isn't that weird?
Barry Conrad: Is that just a vibe that you give up like you attract?
Melanie Avalon: I guess like if intermittent fasting Power Rangers like-- [laughs] It's pretty telling. It's pretty telling how powerful it can be. So, Power Rangers and then you were in your first feature film, the number one box office hit, The Sapphires, and then you've been on stage, and Violet, which is a broadway hit. Hairspray, Grease, Beautiful, The Carole King Musical, Matilda. And then you originated the role of Kane Jones on Australia's longest running TV drama series, Neighbours. And then most recently, you have your web series Banter with BC, first of all, it's super awesome. Congrats. Are you producing it? Was that all your brainchild?
Barry Conrad: Yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah, well, I was at lost for a new idea. What else can I post? Because, as you know, social media is such a huge part of what we do. I thought, what is interesting other than just, here's another event, here's another set, here's another shirtless photo, here's whatever it is. And so, I thought, "You know what? What do I enjoy doing?" Connecting with people and food. So, I just thought, let me just get someone. Let's have lunch, talk, and film it. And it just got traction from there. But it didn't start, as like, a business venture. It just started as something I'm passionate about, but now it's actually grown into something that is getting press and we're looking at expanding it. So, it's really exciting.
Melanie Avalon: I love that. That's actually similar to this show. We started it as something fun to do and it was a passion project, and here we are now. If listeners should not pick up on this, you banter with people. So, it's like an interview style show while having a full meal at a restaurant, because we got to love food around here.
Barry Conrad: We do. I have to say, though, Melanie, I haven't had scallops yet, so that's something that we need to add to one of the episodes is like a shout out to you.
Melanie Avalon: Speaking of scallops, one thing I learned on your show, and I have learned more about since then, is that you used to have a shellfish allergy. Is that correct?
Barry Conrad: Yeah. Good pickup, by the way.
Melanie Avalon: Thank you. What I found fascinating about this, and I would actually love to talk a little bit about this. So, you liked it so much that you kept eating it, eating shellfish through allergic symptoms, and now you're no longer allergic.
Barry Conrad: Is that weird?
Melanie Avalon: It's awesome. I'm just wondering-- were you severely allergic and then you just stopped being allergic?
Barry Conrad: It was really a situation. For example, I was in Houston one year, and I just had a couple of some shrimp, for example, and my face just blew up. I'd get hives, my neck would expand, my eyes would swell up. It was really bad. Like, the symptoms were pretty hectic, but I was so stubborn. I was like, "I'm not giving this up. There's no way. [laughs] It's like going up to a stove knowing that it's going to be hot and keep touching it. But I was not willing to give it up, so I just kept persisting and kept eating it. And now I'm very proud to say that I'm not allergic anymore. I can smash it.
Melanie Avalon: I'm so fascinated. So, was there a transition? If you remember, did you start reacting less or did you just stop reacting overnight?
Barry Conrad: It wasn't overnight. Maybe the symptoms started to subside a little bit. My lip would get a little bit itchy. My tongue would get a little bit itchy, but then I wouldn't break out in hives anymore. It did like overtime gradually decrease, but it wasn't overnight. I just ignored it suddenly. I was like, “Nah, keep eating.”
Melanie Avalon: Well, A, I want to research this more, but I find this really encouraging and motivating because I think so many people have-- well, I'm not saying people who are allergic to things should go eat the allergic things, but in today's culture with food, people have so many sensitivities. I mean, I know, I do. And allergies, and there's a lot of food fear. If there's one thing I've learned about you over the past few years, it's that you are the antithesis of food fear. [laughs] You're very inspiring.
Barry Conrad: It's hilarious. Maybe I should put that in my bio. The antithesis of food fear. [laughs]
Melanie Avalon: No, I think it's so great because I think people-- I mean, I know speaking from experience for me personally, I feel like I react to certain foods and I try to be very careful in what I eat. So, it's very inspiring and liberating to see somebody like you, who you are very health conscious and at the same time you love enjoying the food, and I don't sense any food fear. I mean, you were severely allergic and just kept eating. What are your thoughts on food fear and how do you approach food? Do you have food fear? I might have just made a lot of assumptions.
Barry Conrad: No. So, food fear, do you mean in the way of, "If I eat this, I'll have a reaction," or do you mean, "If I eat this, I'll gain weight, so I shouldn't eat it?" Or both?
Melanie Avalon: Both. I think so many people, especially our listeners, are saturated in both.
Barry Conrad: Okay. So with the first part of that question, not really. Like, I'm pretty game to try any food. Being from South Africa, we were raised a lot of animal protein, but also went camping a lot. So, we catch fish, pick shellfish from the rocks, shellfish. We tried different things. I've had, like, sheep's brains, I've had shark. I've always been adventurous of my taste buds. I'm not sure I would try rodents. That's not really my jam. Just saying. In general, I'm pretty open to trying food. So that's that side of things. In terms of fear of what the food is going to do to me aesthetically, I definitely have had that, for sure. Like, I've had body dysmorphia right after high school. One of my ex-girlfriends got me into modeling, and that set off a massive chain of events in terms of eating disorders.
I had body dysmorphia big time, and food was definitely something that I'm more controlled, and I wasn't as liberated. Food is more something that I controlled and I wasn't as adventurous because I thought if I had this, I'd get fat or gain weight because an agent once told me, “Perfection is desired, darling, you need to lose some weight.” And that statement still resonates in my mind now. And that was so long ago, but that affected me so much. So, food fear, absolutely. I really struggled with that. But in terms of the allergy side of things, not so much. I'll try pretty much anything. What about you?
Melanie Avalon: Well, just first of all, to comment on that really quickly, first of all, thank you so much for talking about that because I feel like it’s very women talk about it a lot, but men, it's like not a thing as much to talk about, like body dysmorphia or eating disorders. And I know it's still prevalent. It's not nice to know, but thank you for talking about that. I will answer your question because I know you asked me a question, but how did you deal with that?
Barry Conrad: You know what? I definitely wouldn't say that I have body dysmorphia anymore. I don't identify as having that anymore. When I do get tired and weary, at times, a thought may come into my mind diet brain, if you want to call it that. But it's very much something that I don't think about anymore. I think it's just overtime and a lot of healing internally, more changing the view of myself and my self-worth. This is going to sound super corny, but my value isn't in what I do, but who I am. So, that really helped to bring myself back to who I was and to not be chained by the title of “Body Dysmorphia.” It was the point where I would lie to people. My friends would say, “Hey, do you want to hang?” I'm like, “Ah, I've got to help my parents with something.” But I'd be home working out and having chicken breast and stuff. So, it was pretty hectic. But now, as you know, I'll eat all the things. Fasting has just brought so much freedom to my life in that way, big time.
Melanie Avalon: I think what also is hard about it is speaking of being at home and working out and eating a chicken breast, is it's an experience like the diet culture and the working out and all of that that it gives you things you want, so it can be effective, these restrictive diets and being super controlling and so you get what you want from it. So, it can be compared to an addiction where it's really just negatives from the addiction, like a drug addiction. When you're engaged in this behavior where you're over restricting and dieting and the gym and all of those things, you're getting what you want from it physically, possibly. So, I think that makes it even harder for people to come out of.
Barry Conrad: Absolutely, because you are getting a result and the more compliments you get or the more you see it changing, it's like, "Oh, well, I better keep on-- more is more." But that's actually not what you should do because then you get caught in a cycle of like you can't jump off that treadmill, pun intended.
Melanie Avalon: Perfect pun, actually, similar to you, because I can answer your question and it relates to all of this. I was always chronically trying all the different diets and feeling really restrictive and similar to you was because of my concern about being on camera and all of that. And then when I found intermittent fasting, I was like, “Oh, this is amazing.” I can actually eat as much as I want and not feel restricted, even though it might look restrictive to other people. It just works so well for me personally. Then also to answer your question, I am still very and I probably do still have food fear and am controlling on what I eat. At the same time, I super love what I eat. So, it's a weird combination. It's not like I would want to be eating other things. I loved what we've talked before [chuckles] about all the things.
Barry Conrad: The scallops and the cucumbers and the–
Melanie Avalon: Scallops and the protein, steak, elk, and lamb.
Barry Conrad: Is lamb, yeah. That has the different taste. Yeah.
Melanie Avalon: That has a different texture-- an earthy texture, yes. So how did you find intermittent fasting? What made you start it?
Barry Conrad: I'm trying to find the origin because I was thinking about that leaning in today. And I had done, like, the Body for Life situation, and then I did paleo for a long time, which I loved. I think it was definitely about six or seven years ago now. But I must have googled it or something like that and said, “Oh, you can eat whatever you want.” But it takes the decision fatigue out of eating. And I thought, "You know what? Let me try this and see what happens." It was during the end of Grease, when I did Grease, I think, and at that time, I hadn't been in the gym for two years because of-- well, I had the situation with my lung. There's so much to get into, but I had that, so I couldn't work out. I was doing body weight stuff at home and just more controlling my food. I've never thought, "This sucks, [chuckles] I won’t be able to eat more food." So, trying fasting helped me to do that, and I just binged your show, to be honest. That really educated me for real. No, seriously, that I got so much out of that and different protocols. I started with 19:5, and then I moved to 24, and now I averaged 20-hours a day, every day of fasting. Yeah.
Melanie Avalon: Although you eat earlier. Well, compared to me. [laughs]. So, wait how does that manifest for you, the 24?
Barry Conrad: Well, I like to eat later because it's more social. You can go out with your friends, go out, have some wine, have some drinks, have some food. But sometimes schedules don't permit that, so I have to do it earlier, which is fine. I'm not bound by, “Oh, wow, can't eat because I'm fasting.” If there's an occasion, I'll just eat, and then I'll just jump back on again. So that's not really a thing. But for me, it's more like a restaurant type situation where I'll have a glass of wine or two while I cook my main meal. I might snack on something, have the main meal, and then I'm done. I don't typically have dessert, but I usually have the one big meal and maybe some trinkets, they're like snacks, so like chocolate, chips. I really eat a lot. And people would be like, "How are you doing that?"
I don't actually know because some people have that and they just can't like their bodies will just blow up. But I don't know, maybe it's just the protective effects of fasting. I'm not too sure. You tell me.
Melanie Avalon: Tell you why it's working?
Barry Conrad: Yeah, in terms of why, I mean, I have ultra processed food maybe once or twice a week, and it's not too bad.
Melanie Avalon: Now it's coming back to me some of the things we talked about earlier when we first started talking, because you also were on team like protein high. You eat a lot of protein, right?
Barry Conrad: High protein.
Melanie Avalon: I mean, I think that's a huge key, especially right now I'm reading-- Do you follow Dr. Gabrielle Lyon?
Barry Conrad: I don't. But should I?
Melanie Avalon: Yes, you would love her. She's all about muscle centric medicine, and she's all about high protein. She has a new book coming out called Forever Strong. I love her. She's amazing. So, I've been really saturated reading her book and the power of a high protein diet. And I've just been thinking more and more. I think if people focused on protein, as like a cornerstone of their meal, I think that would help so much for people with body composition, with satiety, with sustainability. So, I think that could be playing a huge role. I mean, I think for you, you probably do have metabolically-- I don't want to diagnose you, but you probably-- [laughs] here's what's happening from Dr. Melanie. Nope, not at all. That's not what this is. I'm guessing, though, that your metabolism, you probably do well with food, especially if you are doing high protein and fasting, like, it works for you.
I think a lot of people, when they start intermittent fasting, it's so great because now they can possibly have things, they might not would have been able to have if they were eating in a normal pattern, would make them gain weight or not work for them. But by doing fasting, because of all of these cellular mechanisms that are activated, they're now able to "have their cake and eat it too," no pun intended.
Barry Conrad: Definitely pun intended.
Melanie Avalon: Pun intended. Yes. [chuckles]
Barry Conrad: But for example, can I just say I'm really annoyed with what you just said about the metabolism thing, because a lot of people are like, “Oh, bro, oh, if I was you and you had a good metabolism, I could eat that too,” because that makes me go, “I have to work really hard.” I can't just not exercise. Like, I have to still eat well. I eat well most of the time, but a lot of people just assume, “Oh, you're black and you have a good metabolism," or whatever. You know what I mean?
Melanie Avalon: No, I'm so glad you said that. Even when I said metabolism, all of these billboard signs flashed in my head about all the assumptions people make about metabolism. I'm so glad that you brought that up to clarify.
Barry Conrad: [laughs] I'm not calling you out, I'm just calling you out. Is that all right?
Melanie Avalon: No, it's totally fine. Please, all the calling out. I agree. So, I will clarify. I think, yes, that happens so much, what you just said, where people will be like, "Oh, it's just their metabolism," or something. Wait, that's a line from something. It must be my metabolism or something–
Barry Conrad: Like a film. What is it?
Melanie Avalon: Yeah, it's from a movie. Argh. It's going to come to me, in any case. So, I think people use that as a label all the time. And at the same time, there will be people who are not like what you're doing, who aren't exercising, aren't eating healthy and look good on the outside from that. And it probably is their metabolism but it doesn't mean that they're not healthy.
Barry Conrad: Must be nice.
Melanie Avalon: I get really worried about what's going on beneath the surface with that situation. So, I think it definitely goes both ways. I guess what I meant by the metabolism with you is that I think there could be another person in your situation eating the same thing, doing the same workouts, and for them, when they have those extra processed foods or whatever, it does, for some reason, land. It does have a negative effects physically. I think there might be some metabolism aspect [laughs] going on.
Barry Conrad: You don't have to teeter around it. It's fine that you said that. I just had to bring it up because I always roll my eyes at especially like my bros. "Oh, bro, it's just your metabolism.” I'm like, "Can you not diminish my hard work? Thank you very much."
Melanie Avalon: You work really hard, I will attest to that.
Barry Conrad: I do think, though, I do think that. I mean, come on, let's be real. There has to be some sort of a genetic advantage, though, like exactly what you're saying, because someone else--
Melanie Avalon: Genetic advantage. That’s a good phrase.
Barry Conrad: Because some people could-- yeah, exactly. They could do the same thing, eat the same thing, do the same exercise, and not have the same result. So, you're right in that way.
Melanie Avalon: Exactly. But it's not all your metabolism. You're doing the intermittent fasting, you're focusing on the protein, you're doing the exercise, and you're living a vibrant life.
Barry Conrad: Do you think it could be effective like the up-day down-day thing as well? Because maybe, for example, I'll tell you so if I'm going to be on camera and I have some notice so maybe it's on Monday, I'll pretty much stick to very high protein and minimal carbs sort of thing. But then right after I film something, my ritual is like, I'll have a high carb meal, a celebratory feast. So, is that a metabolic boost caused from the up-day down-day situation? Do you think it could be that?
Melanie Avalon: I bet that does help a lot. Yes. And we get questions about that a lot, like should you mix it up? Is it okay to do the same thing all the time? It's interesting because for me, I pretty much eat the same way all the time and it works for me. For some people, having that different, that up-day down-day or however it manifests, that actually is a key to them, for it working. Then for some people, I think it might just be an added benefit, but I bet that is very helpful. It makes sense to me. Especially from what we-- I feel like I'm being very casual. This is in the literature with [laughs] this type approach, because I think people will try to consciously do that as a pattern, but it's nice when you can just make it-- it's actually very inspiring, make it a part of your life and just do it on an on-call basis, like you said. So, when you're going to be on camera a certain way and then when you're not, you can be a different way and then it's just like natural.
Barry Conrad: It's actually clockwork at this point. It's not even something that I really-- I don't struggle with it. As soon as I know it's a work thing, my brain does this thing where it just switches and it just happens. Like, I don't have to go, “Oh, this is really hard.” It's just like, “Cool, I'm working.” Time to pull it in. And by pull it in, it means I know for my body, that's what works in terms of getting the results I want. But for someone else, they can eat all the bread, all the trinkets, all the pasta and look great. For me, if I have some bread, I'm just going to look puffy like tomorrow. And that's fine.
Melanie Avalon: It's probably their metabolism. [laughs] Actually, okay, I have so many questions for you. Was intermittent fasting hard for you in the beginning, or was it easy or how was it when you first started?
Barry Conrad: It was hard in the very beginning because I thought, how am I supposed to go without eating for like, 19 hours? Because I dove straight in. I didn't do 16. I just went to 19. And, yeah, it was tough, but I walked a lot and I used the walks to listen to your podcast.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, my God. [laughs]
Barry Conrad: And so that would kind of like, inspire me to keep going, keep going. But then, I would open my window with not the best food because I thought I should treat myself, “treat” fasting. But then that changed and you hear people say that a lot like, “Your taste buds change,” but it's actually for real. What you feel like eating over time does change because you pay attention to your body, what your body wants. But yeah, it was hard. It was so hard in the beginning. What about you? Was it easy or?
Melanie Avalon: I was doing low carb before, so I was already pretty fat adapted. Actually, I remember I was working on my friend's film set the next day, and I had decided to do it, and I was like, “I'm going to do this one meal a day thing.” This is going to be so hard. I remember I went to the set and normally at crafty I would eat all the snacks, and instead I just drink all the tea.
Barry Conrad: That's real fun.
Melanie Avalon: Yeah, I remember thinking, “Oh, this is doable,” because I was going to do it for a week. And then it was just so amazing that I just never stopped. And that was a decade ago. I do remember thinking, though. I do remember thinking because sometimes I would go to sets and the craft station would have the most epic food ever. And I was like, this is just a waste of money. It's a waste of money for me personally because I could be eating all of this amazing free food and instead, I'm fasting. Oh, well, next time.
Barry Conrad: That's the only thing about that, because on set, you have that FOMO like, “I've got to make the most of this thing,” but I'm the same as you.
Melanie Avalon: Yeah, it was mostly FOMO financially, though, because I really had no money. And then it'd be like salmon, shrimp ice sculptures, and all this stuff. That's a true story. Once it had a shrimp ice sculpture.
Barry Conrad: What do you mean?
Melanie Avalon: At the craft food station, there was an ice sculpture with shrimp. I'm not making this up.
Barry Conrad: You didn't have that?
Melanie Avalon: No. [laughs] I was like, “This is such a waste of money right now.”
Barry Conrad: That's hilarious and cool.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, but I would sometimes take food home, which you're not supposed to do, but I would.
Barry Conrad: So, what you just will stuff it in your bag, casually? [laughs]
Melanie Avalon: Uh-huh.
Barry Conrad: Do you have a photo of this shrimp situation, by the way?
Melanie Avalon: Are you questioning me? [laughs]
Barry Conrad: I want to see it. I'm so curious because it's funny and awesome.
Melanie Avalon: I don't. Actually, if I did, it was on a different phone. It was a while ago. It was on the set of-- I don't even remember. It was one of those live TV shows, like a studio audience.
Barry Conrad: Oh, yeah, yeah, craft services. It's so good.
Melanie Avalon: But it's also a problem, though, that's a reason fasting is so amazing, for it is just constant access to food. So, you mentioned this earlier, decision fatigue, the freedom you get from just not having to engage with that question of, “Am I going to have the snack? Am I not going to have the snack?" When it's just like a no, it's so freeing because you don't have to have that whole exhausting debate in your head, which is just very draining.
Barry Conrad: I 100% agree.
Melanie Avalon: Nobody wins. Because if you don't eat it, you don't get to eat it. And if you do eat it, you might feel bad about eating it. So literally nobody wins.
Barry Conrad: Do you ever-- let me say this properly. Do you ever not cheat, but do you ever break your protocol, just say your bestie just came into town, surprised you, and she's like “Hey, let's go hang. I'm taking you out to dinner.” And in your head, you're like, “I was supposed to fast two more hours.” Would you ever open your window earlier? What's your view on that? Do you struggle with that?
Melanie Avalon: This is such a great question and I'm so excited because it relates to a question I was going to ask you. So, everything is coming together in this moment [chuckles] because you mentioned earlier something about how I think you basically said that you will go to restaurants and you're not like super intense, religious. It has to be this way If life happens, that was the vibe I got from what you said earlier. I actually asked for questions, I didn't say who I was interviewing, but I asked for questions for how to do fasting if you're high achiever, career driven, socially, how to do fasting with that. We got a question from Joelle. She said, "What are ways to gracefully decline social food events at work, depending on the person, I don't always like to mention fasting.” So, I'm going to bring all this together into a question and a conversation, which is when these moments come up, Joelle said, where it's a social event at work, or like you just said, where a friend comes in town and it's a dinner. Do you decline? If so, how do you decline? Do you not, like, how do you act with that? So, for me to answer your question, if it's something where it's still in the dinner vicinity, like-- I eat really late. I don't even like saying how late it is. I'll eat at late 10:00.
Barry Conrad: Oh, wow.
Melanie Avalon Did you not know that?
Barry Conrad: No judgment. Well, I mean, maybe I knew that, but I still had a reaction to that but also your sleeping situation is different too or so.
Melanie Avalon: I sleep late too. Yeah, it's a normal pattern. It's just shifted. Everything's just shifted. So, typically I do eat late. I thought you knew that because Barry's in Australia. I didn't mention that yet.
Barry Conrad: From Sydney, Australia.
Melanie Avalon: Sydney. Although you're not from there. I learned this from Banter with BC that you moved there for your breakdancing group.
Barry Conrad: Yeah, I was in a singing dancing break dancing crew. Yeah. We moved here from New Zealand.
Melanie Avalon: Do you breakdance?
Barry Conrad: Let me loosely say I used to, but don't ask me to do a head spin now. I mean I could probably-- [laughs] but I used to be able to.
Melanie Avalon: That's impressive.
Barry Conrad: Yeah. What about you? Do you dance?
Melanie Avalon: I wish I did. That's actually one of my-- I have very few regrets in life. Life is amazing. One of my few regrets that I have is that I didn't do dancing growing up. I just feel it would be so helpful for, A, your health, B, feeling comfortable in your body.
Barry Conrad: It's not too late. You can do dance classes, as you can take.
Melanie Avalon: I know, I know. Maybe. Maybe.
Barry Conrad: Then when I come to Atlanta, we can go dancing and you don't have to hug the wall?
Melanie Avalon: Yes. I'll show you my skills. I'll show you my skills. I did in college. Did you go to school? College?
Barry Conrad: I didn't, actually. No.
Melanie Avalon: See, that's another inspiration thing. Okay, that's a whole tangent. I did, and when you like freshman year, you go and there's like it's great. Well, I guess it depends which school you go to. I went to USC, and there's all of these clubs and all of these things, and it's like, "Wow," for free. So, in freshman year I was like, "I'm going to sign up for everything." So, I signed up for fencing. That did not last very long.
Barry Conrad: Fencing. [laughs] I can't picture that for some reason.
Melanie Avalon: I think I would have done it longer. I can still. I got the muscle memory to do it, I think. When I realized you had to wear that that mask thing, I was like, "Hm-hm, hm-hm." [laughs] This is not for me. But the other thing I did was ballroom dancing, and so I think that would be-- that's something I think would be really, really fun. Do you ballroom dance?
Barry Conrad: I can picture you ballroom dancing to a Taylor Swift song. Maybe All Too Well.
Melanie Avalon: Argh. I have convinced Barry that All Too Well is a treasure. Well, I've convinced you that that it's talented.
Barry Conrad: For the listeners out there, Melanie loves Taylor Swift, obviously, as you know if you follow her, and she convinced me to listen to the full 10-minute version, and I did it. I did what she said. And you know what? I liked it. It was good.
Melanie Avalon: I was so happy. Especially he said, he was like, "I listened to it." And you took a while to tell me your thoughts, you built up. I was waiting with bated breath. I was like, "What if he doesn't like it? [gasps]" But yes, it's very good. All of that to say, okay, that's a whole-- What are we talking about? Break dancing.
Barry Conrad: You eat really late, because of your sleep pattern, so you eat really late. How do we get into that?
Melanie Avalon: Break dancing, Australia. Joelle wants to know how to gracefully decline social food events at work. I'm just going to bring it back to.
Barry Conrad: Oh, you said if it's still in the dinner part of the day. Yeah
Melanie Avalon: Yes. So, if it's still in the general dinner time, then I will definitely adjust accordingly. The problem is when you do eat so late and so much so late, it's hard to be hungry earlier. And I don't like eating when I'm not hungry, I will adjust. Basically, if it is yes socially, if it's a dinner, I will make the adjustments. If it's a lunch, no. Breakfast, no. I'll just go and not eat. Yes, I will just go and not eat. And I want to encourage listeners, I think there's a lot of fear, and this speaks to Joelle's question about how do you decline, if that's your choice? There's a lot of fear about like, will I look weird? Will people judge me? She says she doesn't like to mention fasting, which I completely understand. Well, A, you start to realize that it doesn't have to be as big of a deal as you think it is, especially in large gatherings.
So many people are just focused on themselves that they're probably paying less attention than you are to it if you're not eating. B, you can get away with a lot by just holding a drink, like holding water or something. C, you do you. You do what makes you feel good and don't do it for other people because of what they may or may not think. It's just my thoughts on the matter. And you don't have to say that you're fasting. I mean you could say you're fasting. You could say that for health reasons you're making certain choices, or you're just not hungry or you already ate, which is true, or you're going to eat later, which is also true. There's a lot of truth you can speak without making it a whole thing, I think. What are your thoughts?
Barry Conrad: I think that's all exactly right. For me, I try to zoom out if something's happening that's special, I zoom out on the week and I go, "What am I doing most of the time?" I'm being consistent. I usually fast very consistently, make good choices, choices right for my body. So, if something comes up, it's not going to affect what my desired result is. So, it's like, fine, you have to go with-- for me, I go with moments because experiences only happen when they do. So, I'm not going to say, “Oh, sorry, I'm not going to eat.” If something's happening, I'll just have it. But if I'm focused on what I'm doing, I'll just say, “Oh, I've got plans, but thanks so much,” which I do. I've got plans to eat later, or I've got plans to do whatever. So, to what you said, it's not lying. You don't have to say, “Ah, sorry, I'm fasting,” and make it a big deal because it's only weird if you make it like a big issue. No one really cares. So, I just kind of say, “Oh, I've got plans, but thanks so much for inviting me,” or I'll be like, ‘Cool. See you there.” It's just really simple.
Melanie Avalon: That's amazing. And to that point, talking about how it's not as big of a deal to the person as we might think it is. If it is, because that happens too, where it is a big deal to them, it's often coming from their own stuff. It's not necessarily you. I don't think people need to change themselves to accommodate other people's stuff. Although, interestingly, something that happened with me historically, this was before fasting, but this is when I went low carb for the first time and my family was pretty much okay with my crazy stuff, but my mom was not really about it, in the beginning. She's great now. She's wonderful now, but in the beginning she was not. I remember one of the family get-togethers, my grandmother would always make-- Do they make in Australia or South Africa, refrigerator cake or ice box cake?
Barry Conrad: I feel like we might call it something different, but I feel like we do.
Melanie Avalon: It's like where you put the cookies and the whipped cream and you don't actually bake it. You put it in the refrigerator and it turns it into cake?
Barry Conrad: I make that. It's banoffee pie.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, wait, what was that word?
Barry Conrad: Banoffee. So, B-A-N-O-F-F-E-E. It's like you set it in the fridge, right? You don't bake it. It's actually really good, Melanie. I'm really good at making it.
Melanie Avalon: Made from bananas. Oh, is it normally made from bananas?
Barry Conrad: You should slice bananas on top of it, but it's not made with that. It's condensed milk, crushed biscuit, cookie base for the crust. And then you pour the condensed milk in and it sets in the fridge, and it's delicious. Yeah, same, same.
Melanie Avalon: It's a classic English dessert. Okay. So similar. Yeah, we have refrigerator cake, ice box pie, which is a similar concept. I remember my mom took me aside. She was like, “Melanie, are you going to eat the refrigerator cake at Thanksgiving?” I was like, “No.” And she was like, “But your grandmother worked so hard to make this cake, and it'll mean a lot to her if you eat it.” And I was like, “I'm sorry, I'm not going to eat it.” So, the story has a good ending. So, I went to the Thanksgiving or Christmas or whatever it was, and I didn't eat it. My grandmother asked me why, and I told her that-- this was when I was doing paleo, I think. Oh, that's what it was. Yeah, when I first started doing paleo. And so, I told her that I was doing the paleo diet, and I was eating certain things, like whole food.
And my grandmother got so excited, she was like, “That's the way we used to eat. That's the way it should be.” She was all about it, and I was like, see, this is such a good example of there's so many narratives and so many things going in different people's heads. You got to just do you, just do you.
Barry Conrad: I think that's an awesome story. That's so good.
Melanie Avalon: A little tip. So, I read this, I think from one of the guests that I interviewed. They said that the issue with not accepting food, like, in that situation where it's from a family or a friend and they made something, it's an offer of love, oftentimes to you. So, the key is to decline politely and maybe say why and then give them an opportunity to show love some other way in that moment to you. So, you can say, “I'm so sorry, I'm following this diet. I can't eat that right now, but I would love if you would like make me some tea.” You give them an opportunity for them to show love some other way and then that can smooth things over a little bit.
Barry Conrad: That's pretty evolved of you to have that perspective. A lot of people wouldn't maybe have the confidence to say that in the moment.
Melanie Avalon: Yeah, let it marinate for people and maybe next time it comes up they can work on it. And I will say the more you do it, the easier it gets. Another question, speaking of eating all the things. So, here's two questions and they sort of go together, because I'm curious-- actually no, before I ask this, when you started intermittent fasting, did you see a big change in your body composition or what happened with that?
Barry Conrad: Okay, this is a big thing for me because I'm not going to talk about age or anything like that, but what I'm going to say is, back in the day, I'll say in my early 20s, I feel like I look better now than before. And that's not like a flex, it just is what it is. My face looks different, my body looks different. It's so strange. And I feel like I eat more now if I had to spread it out in the day. I eat so much more food, so much more variety of food, and my body looks just different. It's like a different body type. I'm not as bloated looking. I'll have to send you a photo as well, but it's crazy.
Melanie Avalon: Yeah, I want to see your pictures.
Barry Conrad: Yeah, it’s really, I don't understand how that works, but it's pretty magical what fasting can do with the body composition. So, it definitely did change. And people like, "How are you looking younger now?" Last night I went to an event and someone was like, “You look younger.” I get that so much. And that sounds really up myself to say, but that's one of the most common things people say.
Melanie Avalon: I'll say it. You look younger.
Barry Conrad: [laughs] Yeah. What about you? Do you get the same thing?
Melanie Avalon: I do. Yeah, I do. I get that a lot. I get that I look younger than before, even. It's like something clicks when you find and I think different diets work for different people. So, when you find the food choices that really work for you, and especially when you find the fasting pattern that works for you, that together, I think can just be magic because then your body is given the fuel it needs to do what it needs to do. It's given the fasting it's giving the time it needs to detox and repair and recover. I think it's like antiaging in a dietary protocol.
Barry Conrad: Your skin as well, your skin changes, like for real.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, yes. So, you notice that? I notice that big time.
Barry Conrad: Skin, and even like nails, even just like they grow really quickly. I'm like, “Man, slow down.”
Melanie Avalon: Yeah, yeah. I noticed that too. I'm getting flashbacks now. I used to have such brittle nails.
Barry Conrad: What? They'd break like a lot.
Melanie Avalon: Yeah. And what's interesting is I was probably eating way more calorie wise back then. But I think there's such a difference when you're eating, like, when you give your body the food that's actually nutritious and you're supporting its ability to utilize that food. I think it manifests in your body. So, the question from Jill. Hi, Jill. [chuckles] She wanted to know, “Can you optimize for fat loss and muscle building at the same time while doing IF?" So, did you find that you were able to do both of those at the same time, or do you have to do one or the other?
Barry Conrad: I don't do the whole gym bro dirty bulking and then I cut, I don't do that. My gym protocol is very simple. I work out for 25 minutes, which sounds like a lie, but I do. I just get in there real intense, lift with dumbbells, push-ups, and then the rest is just really all food and fasting. I do think that you can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time because fasting promotes human growth hormone and it doesn't-- contrary to what people think. Fasting is not going to eat away your muscle because it's protective and your body's smarter than that. It's not going to kill your muscle off first if you haven't eaten in 20 hours. It doesn't work that way. Whereas in the gym culture, guys are like, “Oh no, you got to have your protein shake, like straight after your session, bro.” I'm like, “Hmm, do you?”
Melanie Avalon: Fact check that. [giggles]
Barry Conrad: Yeah. So, to answer the question, Jill, you can do both at the same time, I believe when you're in the fat burning state and you're fat adapted and your body is preferentially using fat for fuel, you absolutely can do that.
Melanie Avalon: I agree. And I've experienced that as well, definitely. Then Deanne wanted to know, muscle building and needing to eat more protein. She says, “How do I eat more protein while fasting?” She said she's been doing one meal a day for two years and it's so hard to eat more often. Do I really need to--" well, we talked about this earlier, but how do you get all of the protein in your one meal a day eating pattern?
Barry Conrad: I eat a lot of protein. I'm just going to say, for example, I might have 500 grams, this is like just a simple meal, but like 500 grams of ground beef with sometimes six eggs thrown into that and then just like a lot of protein. And I can eat volumes of food. So, that's not-- I don't struggle to get protein in, but I feel satiated so much more when I do high protein. My body just recognizes that. Whereas if I eat more carbs, I can tend to maybe overeat more than what I need to. What about you?
Melanie Avalon: It's funny because I get this question so much. I empathize and I want to find solutions. It's just not my experience, I just love eating the pounds of proteins. I just love it, personally. So, it's like what I crave. I'm prepping right now to interview Dr. Joel Kahn. I don't know if you are familiar with him. He's really big in the vegan sphere. I'm just so hungry reading his book. It’s all talking [chuckles] about-- and more power to people who can do veganism, and it supports their body. I would just be so hungry on that. I just feel so good and satiated and full, but I also can eat a lot of it in one sitting. So, like, for Dan's question how to eat more protein, I don't even know what to say because for me, I just crave it so much. Like, it's what I want to eat.
I would say maybe what you're eating, it can go both ways. Because you just mentioned right now how adding carbs can actually make you hungrier, make you want to eat more. At the same time, I think if you're focusing on protein, for some people, it might have maybe more like adding fats. They might get too satiated. So, I think a potential solution here would be to focus on protein as the opener and the foundation so that you don't fill up on other things beforehand, because lot of people in the low carb world would do really high fat, so maybe going lower fat so that you can have more of the protein.
Barry Conrad: What I also did, I didn't forget to add is I'd start with 200 grams because I love salmon, smoked salmon. So, I'll have 200 grams of that with some freshly squeezed lemon juice over the top of that, snack on that while I cook my chicken or beef, lots of it. And then I'll always add eggs to that. Sometimes I'll have dozen eggs a day. I don't know if that's right, but it works for me. And I just can't get enough of protein, and that really works for my body. It really does.
Melanie Avalon: That's good. I like the egg thing, sneaking in the eggs. For me, I would take it one step further. I would start with the salmon, have the meat, and then have more salmon as dessert.
Barry Conrad: That's so wild. I've heard Melanie say this to all the listeners out there. She's like, “I have salmon for my dessert.” I'm like, "What?" But you have to let the kitchen know.
Melanie Avalon: You have to let the kitchen know in advance. People need to know that. I got to spread that awareness. I'm going to start, like, a trend of savory desserts, but let the kitchen know in advance. Oh, which that's something I learned from your Banter with BC that you got fired from your-- what job was it in the restaurant?
Barry Conrad: I don't know if they call it that in America, Kitchen Hand, which is, like, you're just in the kitchen, maybe food prepping or just whatever they need, washing dishes, slicing up squid, whatever it is, just kitchen hand. I got fired.
Melanie Avalon: What did you do?
Barry Conrad: I was going to auditions too much, and it would just keep clashing. So, it wasn't something wrong I did, but they were like,” Barry, you're just never here. This is not working out. You're fired.”
Melanie Avalon: Wow. I also learned you used to be a chain smoker. How did you quit that?
Barry Conrad: You're just calling me out this whole episode, aren't you?
Melanie Avalon: I think it can be very inspiring for people because I can't even imagine-- I mean, that must be really hard to stop.
Barry Conrad: I would literally light another cigarette while I was still smoking one. That sounds hard to believe if people know me.
Melanie Avalon: So, literally, the definition of wow.
Barry Conrad: Yeah.
Melanie Avalon: When you started, did it immediately become an addiction once you started?
Barry Conrad: Yeah. I don't want to label myself, but I feel like I go all in with whatever I do. So, I really did become addictive. It started more socially like to be cool, whatever, but then I really enjoyed it, and it took me three times to quit, actually.
Melanie Avalon: It took you three times to quit?
Barry Conrad: Yeah, I tried three times, I should say.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, you tried, okay.
Barry Conrad: Yeah.
Melanie Avalon: How did you finally--? I'm just curious if it was a physical thing, did you use nicotine patches, or was it a mental paradigm shift? Was it environmental change?
Barry Conrad: Definitely didn't use patches. There was a wakeup call because someone said to me, “Bro, like, your voice, don't you care about that?” And that was like, "Okay, you know what? I do value what I have, and that doesn't align with that, so that's not going to be helpful." And also, my mom's side of the family smoke a lot. No judgment at all. Like, you do you but it's just like, I didn't want to-- Yeah. It's just not worth it. And now I can't stand it, really. Especially, kissing a smoker. It's not ideal, being around them, their breath, the house, everything.
Melanie Avalon: How long did it take for that, like, the smell in your clothes and your environment, did it go away pretty quickly, or did you linger?
Barry Conrad: It may be kind of go as well. "Wow, do I smell like that?" I didn't like it once I quit, it was like, it's not for me, but in saying that, it doesn't mean that I haven't had an occasional here or there, like, whatever cigarette, but I'm not a smoker anymore.
Melanie Avalon: I think that's so empowering what you said, though, and I think it's a really nice approach people can take to anything they're struggling with. It sounds like it took a value focus and you were running towards something, rather than being, "I can't do this thing," and that being the end goal, it's like, "I'm running towards what I do value." I think that's really inspiring.
Barry Conrad: I think that's with every decision I have, I kind of go now, more so now, does this line up with what I actually say that I want or what I say that I believe that I want? And if it doesn't, then you just have to eliminate it for yourself, for my peace of mind. It's about exactly what you said, run towards your values and whatever is around that sort of, need to support that.
Melanie Avalon: Yeah. So much easier to do that than to try not to do something.
Barry Conrad: What about you? Do you smoke or have you smoked?
Melanie Avalon: I think I've smoked a cigarette, like, three times in my life, maybe, and each time-- it's so interesting, and this could be a whole tangent. I'm really fascinated by how with different compounds, so drugs, smoking, alcohol, whatever it may be, how certain things really vibe with certain people and others don't. People struggle with different things and not others. So, for me, with smoking, it was interesting experience, but it wasn't anything profound. And then the next day, I was, like, coughing and my throat felt scratchy. I was like, “Oh, this is not my cup of tea.” So, I do wear nicotine patches.
Barry Conrad: Why?
Melanie Avalon: It's funny. [laughs]
Barry Conrad: That's random. [laughs] You say that's so random.
Melanie Avalon: People don't usually see them because I wear them on my ab, but every now and then when I'm doing cryotherapy, if it's like a new person, they'll see it. And I've had comments, “Oh, congratulations, good job.” I'm like, "No, no, no I don't smoke. [laughs] This is not--" Nicotine actually has a lot of health benefits, so it's preventative of Parkinson's. My friend James Clement, who wrote a book called The Switch, which is all about the AMPK pathway activated by things like calorie restriction and fasting and dieting and longevity, not activated by longevity. The book is about longevity. And he talks about this really long-lived population that actually smokes, and not that smoking is good, I'm not advocating for smoking, but he thinks that possibly the nicotine has something to do with that. It makes me feel good. And what I like about it is, I don't have that addictive issue with it, so I could just not wear the patch and be fine. I'm not worried about it. But, yeah, in the biohacking sphere, there's like a whole nicotine thing.
Barry Conrad: Interesting. It was just more the timing of what you said, you were just talking, you're like, “I wear nicotine patches.” [laughs] I just wasn't expecting that.
Melanie Avalon: I do. And friends can look this up, they can fact check this about nicotine and its health benefits. I will say, if people want to experiment with it, I feel like we're going to get listener feedback about this because I've talked about this before on the show and got emails.
Barry Conrad: Good, feedback is good. It's good.
Melanie Avalon: Feedback is good. So no, please. I do welcome the feedback. If people want to experiment with it, do not go high dose in the beginning because you will get sick, I'm just telling you. So, start small and stay small. That's a tangent. Some questions to end on because I know that you have another call coming up.
Barry Conrad: So annoying. I'm sorry.
Melanie Avalon: This has been so amazing. I literally can't wait to air this and get people's thoughts on everything. Okay, there's two questions I want to ask. Rapid fire. One is, you are into some of the biohacking stuff, like the red light and stuff like that. What's one of your favorite biohacking things that you do?
Barry Conrad: I've got a Joovv. I've got one of those mini Joovvs. So, my ritual at night after I get home and everything's done, my wind down situation is I'll be listening to something whilst doing 10 minutes of holding my Joovv on my face. That's what I do.
Melanie Avalon: On your face? Okay. Have you only done your face? Do you use it anywhere else?
Barry Conrad: I've used it on muscles as well like if I've had aches and pains. And it seems to work, so I'm hoping that works, because I think it does.
Melanie Avalon: Awesome. Well, we are all about the red-light therapy. You've got to meet Vanessa because she has her Tone LUX devices. She's hardcore about the red light. Oh, and I think she just had an update where she's shipping to Australia. So, let me see what I can do there. If you would like a larger device. I hope Vanessa might be down with this. And then something else. I thought, in honor of your Banter with BC, the way that you started off oftentimes, not every episode, you left out one episode.
Barry Conrad: Good pick.
Melanie Avalon: I know. I watched all of your episodes.
Barry Conrad: That's because it got lost.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, it did. I was wondering, I was like, "Did he forget?" Oh, wait. Oh, I have a question. Are those extras in the background?
Barry Conrad: They're actually not, but that's a good question. A couple of episodes when there's people there, that's a double show day. So, the restaurant kindly opens early for us before it actually opens. They do the kitchen and everything, but then sometimes when they do open, people come in and they're just sitting in the background staring and trying to get a look. But they're not extras.
Melanie Avalon: I was dying to know. I was like, "Did he hire extras? Are those real people?" I need to know. I know you have to go. Do you want to play really quickly?
Barry Conrad: Maybe I should
Melanie Avalon: Go.
Barry Conrad: No, I'll hire the extras.
Melanie Avalon: Okay. [laughs] And mic drop. Okay, bye. It's been real. [laughs] Oh, man. I do know you have to go in five minutes. Do you want to do two truths and a lie? I don't know if we can do that in five minutes, though.
Barry Conrad: Okay, you go, you hit me with yours first. Go ahead.
Melanie Avalon: Okay. I have mine because I planned this. Okay, ready? Number one, I was accepted into the USC School of Theater without submitting an application. Two, when I was three, I informed my mother that Santa Claus did not exist because, “There was no way a man could fly around the world with reindeer and bring presents to people.” Three, when I was on Millionaire Matchmaker, the millionaire did not pick me, but then afterwards, he sought me out and DM'd me and said that he wanted to pick me, but the producers would not let him and would I like to go on a date with him, to which I declined.
Barry Conrad: I feel like the first and the third statements are the truths. Am I right?
Melanie Avalon: Nice. I actually informed my mother that the Easter Bunny did not exist because there was no way a rabbit could go around giving candy to people.
Barry Conrad: Yes, I got it right. I'm so excited.
Melanie Avalon: And she was like, "Just don't tell your friends." How about you? I'm impressed. Good job. You win.
Barry Conrad: It's just the vibe. I'm dyslexic. I don't have any tattoos. My very first acting experience performance was a school production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, man. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I'm going to go with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Barry Conrad: What's the other truth.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, as the lie, but now I feel like it's the truth.
Barry Conrad: Oh. Argh.
Melanie Avalon: What?
Barry Conrad: I don't know. I just was cramping up, so just had to stretch.
Melanie Avalon: Wait, I'm so upset. Okay, wait, so wait, was I right? Wait.
Barry Conrad: So, you're saying that's the lie.
Melanie Avalon: It's like Millionaire Matchmaker, final answer. I don't know. Yes.
Barry Conrad: You are incorrect.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, man.
Barry Conrad: The lie is I am not dyslexic.
Melanie Avalon: You just came up with that so quickly. I should have thought about that more. Who did you play? Were you Aslan?
Barry Conrad: I played Edward.
Melanie Avalon: Edward?
Barry Conrad: Yeah.
Melanie Avalon: Wow. With the-- what is it? Turkish Delight?
Barry Conrad: Yeah.
Melanie Avalon: You ate that Turkish delight.
Barry Conrad: [laughs] I actually developed obsession with Turkish Delight after that role.
Melanie Avalon: Really? See. Bring it all full circle, acting.
Barry Conrad: Full circle, method acting.
Melanie Avalon: Wow. Okay, well, I know you have to go. This has been absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I just think it's so cool what you're doing. And, oh, if listeners are curious. So, you are an ambassador for a suicide prevention charity called R U OK? You're involved with We Are Lonely, a six-part reality podcast series which is super cool. Your upcoming TV series-- Okay, is it actually called Erotic Series or is that the working title.
Barry Conrad: Erotic Stories, yeah.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, oh, your thing says Erotic series. Okay, so Erotic Stories. So, look for Barry there. Thank you so much for being here. This was amazing. Hopefully we can talk again in the future.
Barry Conrad: I'd love that. Thank you so much, Melanie.
Melanie Avalon: Thanks, Barry. Bye.
Barry Conrad: Bye.
Melanie Avalon: Thank you so much for listening to The Intermittent Fasting Podcast. Please remember, everything we discussed on this show does not constitute medical advice and no patient-doctor relationship is formed. If you enjoyed the show, please consider writing a review on iTunes. We couldn't do this without our amazing team, administration by Sharon Merriman, editing by Podcast Doctors, show notes and artwork by Brianna Joyner, transcripts by SpeechDocs and original theme composed by Leland Cox and re-composed by Steve Saunders. See you next week.
[Transcript provided by SpeechDocs Podcast Transcription]
STUFF WE LIKE
Check out the Stuff We Like page for links to any of the books/supplements/products etc. mentioned on the podcast that we like!
LINKS
BUY:
Melanie's What When Wine Diet: Lose Weight And Feel Great With Paleo-Style Meals, Intermittent Fasting, And Wine
Vanessa's Keto Essentials: 150 Ketogenic Recipes to Revitalize, Heal, and Shed Weight
The Tone Device Breath Ketone Analyzer
The Melanie Avalon Biohacking Podcast
More on Melanie: MelanieAvalon.com
More on Vanessa: ketogenicgirl.com
Theme Music Composed By Leland Cox: LelandCox.com
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