Welcome to Episode 419 of The Intermittent Fasting Podcast, hosted by Melanie Avalon, biohacker, founder of AvalonX, and author of What When Wine Diet: Lose Weight And Feel Great With Paleo-Style Meals, Intermittent Fasting, And Wine, and Barry Conrad, actor, singer-songwriter, and creator and host of Banter with BC.
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LINKS
Featured Restaurant: Saskatoon Lodge
The Great OMAD Debate: IF Podcast Episode 116
STUDIES
The Impact Of Intermittent Fasting On Sperm Parameters
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TRANSCRIPT
(Note: This is generated by AI with 98% accuracy. However, any errors may cause unintended changes in meaning.)
Melanie Avalon
Welcome to Episode 419 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, founder of AvalonX, and author of What, When, Wine. Lose weight and feel great with paleo-style meals, intermittent fasting, and wine. And I'm joined by my co-hosts, Barry Conrad, actor, singer-songwriter, and creator and host of Banter with BC. For more on us, check out MelanieAvalon.com and BarryConradOfficial.com. You can submit questions for the show by emailing questions at iapodcast.com or by going to iapodcast.com. We would love to hear from you. Please remember, the thoughts and opinions on this show do not constitute medical advice or treatment. 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 419 of the Intermittent Fasting Podcast. I'm Melanie Avalon. I'm here with Barry Conrad. Barry, how are you today?
Barry Conrad
Hey everyone hey mel, how's it going i'm doing great today it's a kind of a bit of a rainy day here in cindy but it's beautiful day otherwise and i'm super stoked to be here with you all.
Melanie Avalon
Oh my goodness, it was rainy here today as well.
Barry Conrad
I feel like you love that, you prefer cold and cool.
Melanie Avalon
It actually was cooler. Yeah, it was nice. I liked it
Barry Conrad
So no cryo today or cryo still?
Melanie Avalon
Oh, cryo every day. Every day. Even if it's, yeah, freezing.
Barry Conrad
which now I'm yet to still experience and actually book into do I need to do it. I've been making a mental note to try it because I'm curious because you always do it.
Melanie Avalon
Well, when you come to Atlanta or the US, you can do it here. The one I go to two people can go in the old one I went to. It was only like a one person unit, but this one actually, I think I says up to it says max capacity is like four or five people.
Barry Conrad
I'm picturing like a sauna set up where you can sit around in like this freezing freezer. Is that the deal or what what's the
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, it's kind of like that little bit bigger, bright, like blue lighting and very cold.
Barry Conrad
Okay, I feel like you'll school me, but I'm all for it. I'm up for the challenge. It's a vibe.
Melanie Avalon
It's yeah, it's super fun. How are you? How's your your day? I'm good So when this comes out, it will have been a month post launch, which is still in the future for me right now Finally of my EMF blocking product line. I've been working on it for years. Whoo. That's awesome. Congratulations. Thank you I'm so excited. These are the EMF free headphones so that you can use your phone and not transmit EMFs to your brain and body amazing. So I'm very excited
Barry Conrad
What inspired you to create that and why that in particular?
Melanie Avalon
I went through a period of time where I was like very sensitive to everything in the environment and that's when I became aware of EMFs and some people are more sensitive than others, but it's not woo woo. It's very much a real concern. Like I've said before, EMFs are classified by the IARC as a group to be carcinogen. And if you look in your iPhone in the legal section, it literally says, it literally suggests that you put your phone on speakerphone or use like wired headphones so that you reduce your RF exposure. So this is very much a real thing. The EMF free air tubes on the market right now, they didn't have, I couldn't find any that were the, like the app, you know, like the Apple earbuds. Yeah. I couldn't find any that were that type of earbud. They were all the like ones that go like in your ear. And I also couldn't find any that were like girly. So I'm making, I'm making black and rose gold. So the whole spectrum in this like Apple form and they're digital up until like below your neck. And then there's this little bead thing that stops all the EMFs and then it turns to analog. So no radiation goes into your head. So I'm very excited. And the reason it took so long, literally I've been talking about this for over a year, probably two years now, a lot of them weren't good sound quality. I literally kept trying so many, there'd be a good sound quality, but then the microphone wouldn't be good or vice versa. I'm working with like a production partner and it would take a long time between samples. So I have literally tried so many samples, but I finally got ones that I feel good about.
Barry Conrad
I want to see them, I want to experience them too, I want to see what they sound like.
Melanie Avalon
So this week I just got the final finals to take photos of. So we're going to be taking photos this week. So I'll send you some pictures so that you can see how exciting and I'll send you some once I get them.
Barry Conrad
Speaking of rose gold, Melanie, I never ever, ever, ever, ever wear gold ever. But I just went to the MJ musical premiere.
Melanie Avalon
Yes, I saw your pictures from that. How was that?
Barry Conrad
It was actually, I'm going to say, the best musical I've ever seen. Wow. In terms of the production and the talent, it's just like, like regardless of what you think of Michael Jackson, like the music was incredible. The performances were out of this world. The production was, you, Mel, you would have loved it. And I was so blown away, blown away. It was amazing. Is there a plot? Yeah. So it's, it kind of throws back to the past. And then the present day is the day, the making of the dangerous tour that he did. So basically the rehearsals and preparation for that and that time of his life, which I like that they really touched on a lot of stuff that might be controversial, which is good.
Melanie Avalon
Did they play? No, probably not. Do you want to know my favorite Michael Jackson song? Tell me. What's your favorite?
Barry Conrad
I have a couple i'm gonna say man in the mirror don't stop till you get enough and human nature that's my three favorites.
Melanie Avalon
Mine is, let me make sure this is actually the title of it. I feel like I have a hunch. Do you want to guess?
Barry Conrad
Is it you are not alone? I don't know, is it? No.
Melanie Avalon
No.
Barry Conrad
Is it the Free Willy song?
Melanie Avalon
yes yes oh my gosh you guessed you guessed that song is so good
Barry Conrad
That's good. It's a good one.
Melanie Avalon
Ah, the music video and he's like dancing and they two clips from Free Willy. Ah, man. Okay. We used to watch Free Willy. Did you watch Free Willy growing up? I'm guessing so.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, of course, yeah.
Melanie Avalon
Did you have it on BHS?
Barry Conrad
We actually did.
Melanie Avalon
Do you remember like the commercials in front and they would do the music video? There was like a commercial for like Batman I think and then they would do the music video. Will you be there?
Barry Conrad
That was my first guess, but I don't know why I went with you. I knew it was going to be something heartfelt. That's my hunch. There we go.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, treasured memory. So in my childhood house, we had a, like a grand piano, and it was a disclaver, so it could like play songs, and it could play that song.
Barry Conrad
Really?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah.
Barry Conrad
So you love it, you love that song, you really do.
Melanie Avalon
It could play that and it could play like Titanic and it could play Aladdin. We just had like...
Barry Conrad
That's funny. I don't know why that made me laugh. It just, it's hilarious. But the reason why I brought that up is I wore a shirt with rose gold buttons and also rose gold cufflinks. And it made me think of you because you mentioned rose gold, but I don't really wear that, but I actually loved it because it's not like a tacky yellow gold, like rose gold is really nice. It's a nice color.
Melanie Avalon
I remember when I first like really discovered it as like an option. It's when it became really popular and it was like everywhere for a second. I was like, this color is so great. It's like everything I love about pink, but in like a really classy, refined elevated version.
Barry Conrad
Nicely put I like that. That's really and also it's very unisex too. Like it's very as non offensive It's not like too pink or too gold. It's just like the perfect medium. I reckon
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, you can come with me next week. I'm going to the Neil Diamond musical. Have you seen that? A beautiful noise.
Barry Conrad
listeners, Melanie does this to me every week and she'll either message me or on the podcast, do you want to come to this? I would love to come to that. Thank you. No, I haven't seen it. Tell me about it.
Melanie Avalon
I don't know. I just know that it's Neil Diamond and all of his songs. I think it's like a working session where he's like working through his, I feel like I looked up the plot and I'm like, I don't know that there's like much of a plot here type thing.
Barry Conrad
Well, I think the music will be, I mean, Neil Diamond's a legendary artist. So I feel like people will be just loving the music, you know?
Melanie Avalon
Oh yes, Sweet Caroline here we come. And I had an epiphany about this because we were saying Mama Mia. I was saying how I actually loved it, but I was saying how I wasn't really a Mama Mia fan. I didn't realize I would like it as much as I did, but I was thinking about it. I was like, honestly, I probably enjoy. So me going to like a musical or a show that I don't like, I probably enjoy it more than a lot of people going to shows they do like because I just love theater so much that even if I don't like it, I have the time of my life. Like it would be hard to make me not enjoy it.
Barry Conrad
I was going to ask you about Mamma Mia. What did you what did you love most about the show? Like, did it surprise you or did you kind of know what to expect?
Melanie Avalon
I'd seen the movie and I listened to the soundtrack, you know, in the past. I didn't realize that I liked the music as much as I did. And I kind of liked the whole intrigue of like, who is her dad? Which of the three dads is the dad?
Barry Conrad
I did see it as well. I saw it in Australia. It's, I mean, it's pretty fun. It's a fun show. You can't deny that.
Melanie Avalon
What's my favorite song from that? Well, Dancing Queen, probably. Such a cliche, but...
Barry Conrad
I feel like I could just see you dancing in the aisle.
Melanie Avalon
Yep, always.
Barry Conrad
put your moves you have like a signature move will you know when we go out when we go out then i'll get to see you on the dance floor to see.
Melanie Avalon
My dance moves? Yeah. You're the dancer.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, but also like when you go out, it's kind of, you know, you don't want to like try to look like you're trying to dance. It's more like, I'll just like move and like have a good time, but I'm not going to go there and like do like a full choreograph set and try to pull focus, you know what I mean?
Melanie Avalon
Yes. What makes me happy is I feel like the way Taylor Swift dances at stuff, like when she's always having like the time of her life at things, like what the way she dances is the way I dance at things.
Barry Conrad
Basically, what we both feel like we both are saying is you just got to have fun. As long as you have fun, you don't care. That's dancing. You don't, if you're too concerned about looking cool, you're not really having a good time anyway.
Melanie Avalon
I think I've told you this before, I kind of had like an epiphany, perspective epiphany change about dancing because I was so like in middle school and high school dances were like so awkward and I felt really uncomfortable and embarrassed. So then when I like came into my maturity and was like, oh, this is awesome. It's like I discovered the concept of like dancing and I was like, this is so fun. I want to do this all the time. Drinks help too.
Barry Conrad
Did you have like a moment where that happened where you like, Hey, this is fun.
Melanie Avalon
I think so. Honestly, probably. I'm trying to think when was the first time I really danced and wasn't scared anymore. I feel like it's not that long ago. Definitely post-COVID.
Barry Conrad
Cause you definitely look like you're having the time of your life when I look at your stories and stuff like you just having a good time you're not like caring about anything like you're just having fun so that's the whole point right so what would you like before we just.
Melanie Avalon
Well, I was like, I don't know, because like, I don't know how it is in Australia, but like, middle school, high school dances. Wait, when did you? Okay, wait, when did you move to Australia?
Barry Conrad
a while ago. Fuck.
Melanie Avalon
Not date, for like middle school, high school, whatever you call it, what country were you in for that?
Barry Conrad
I was in, I was in New Zealand. And it's like, yeah, it's very, like, we call it a four in Australia and New Zealand, we call those dances a formal if, or, M L you want to go to the formal with me, it's not like a prom, but it's like your version of prom.
Melanie Avalon
We have Formals and PROM.
Barry Conrad
Oh, you do?
Melanie Avalon
Mm-hmm. And we have semi-formals. Did you have semi-formals?
Barry Conrad
I don't understand.
Melanie Avalon
We have semi-formals, formals, and prom.
Barry Conrad
What's the diff? Like, what's the...
Melanie Avalon
And then other ones like homecoming. We have homecoming, semi-formals, formals, prom, there's a lot of options. Sadie Hawkins, did you guys have Sadie Hawkins? No way. That's where the girl has to ask the guy.
Barry Conrad
Did you do that?
Melanie Avalon
But one of my biggest regrets to this day is I didn't ask my crush in high school to it. I wanted to. I did ask a guy, but not my crush. Actually I put that in my book and I put his name in the book. Did you really? I said, quote, that I did not invite my crush Stuart Horner to the 10th grade dance. Shout out.
Barry Conrad
You actually name-checked him. Did he ever reach out to you or find?
Melanie Avalon
I doubt it. No, actually, you know, what I did do, though, is I did when I published that book, because I mentioned a lot of names of a lot of people. So I did this was like back in the Facebook days. I mean, Facebook is still here, but this was like before Instagram. So I did a post and I was like, shout out to and then I tagged everybody that I mentioned. So I think I tagged him, but I doubt he saw it.
Barry Conrad
Wow. Good for you that you're just confident to do that. That's awesome.
Melanie Avalon
Thank you. I feel like life is too short to be scared anymore. I spent too long being scared. Like it dances.
Barry Conrad
So would you just sort of like, what, hug the wall or like sit down? Like you, you wouldn't like dance.
Melanie Avalon
There's like stand there, you know, like, like move, like slightly sway my body, like a little bit. It's just so awkward. Middle school is such an awkward time and high school a little bit.
Barry Conrad
I agree too. I feel like, yeah, you just learn so much more about yourself as you grow, like, which is so freeing and feels awesome.
Melanie Avalon
I know I cannot agree more. And I used to be so scared of like the age I met now. Like I thought that was over the hill, like, but I feel, I feel great.
Barry Conrad
I feel exactly the same way. It's so relative. When you're in high school or a kid's like, oh, that's old, that's old. It's actually not. It's just old perspective. It really is. Although, let's be honest, some people act really old and that's probably why too. They're just boring and don't have any life for them, so that's probably why.
Melanie Avalon
It's your mindset. Actually, something I learned in the book I'm reading right now called Ageless Aging, she said that your perspective on aging correlates to people's biological age. So people who are more fearful of aging actually, no, no, it correlates to mortality. So people who are more like worried about aging, it correlates to reduced mortality.
Barry Conrad
Wow, she talks about like, I guess, stuff to support that happening or what, how does that work?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, I mean, the book is all about how to support longevity.
Barry Conrad
Is there anything for the dudes in there or is it more like female kid?
Melanie Avalon
I'm not finished with it yet. But thus far, it is all applicable. The whole beginning of it is about the perspective of women and aging and culture.
Barry Conrad
Nice. Interesting. Ageless aging. What a good title as well.
Melanie Avalon
I know. So, well, one of the things that we know is anti-aging or supportive of longevity is intermittent fasting.
Barry Conrad
Absolutely.
Melanie Avalon
Do you have a study or something to start us off with?
Barry Conrad
I definitely do. I'm really excited about this study that I found. It's called the impact of intermittent fasting on sperm parameters. On sperm what? Parameters.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, that's cool. Oh my goodness, we have not talked about this on the show. I am so excited right now.
Barry Conrad
When I found this, I was, this is awesome.
Melanie Avalon
Did you type in intermittent fasting sperm?
Barry Conrad
I did, spur of the intermittent fast. No, I was just curious about if there was any research around it, cause I'd never ever heard anyone talk about it. So it's like, let's try to find something.
Melanie Avalon
This is so great. And you know, it's so true, because I feel like so much of the talk about intermittent fasting and reproductive health, it's always focused on how it affects women's reproductive health. Rarely do we talk about men. That's so interesting. Whereas the rest of the world focuses on men, but for this one topic. Well, there you go. The rest of medical literature. Okay, so what did you find? I'm excited to hear this.
Barry Conrad
Yeah. So it's, it's called intimate, the impact of intermittent fasting on sperm parameters. And it's from team kindervunge Hanover in Germany, and silent university medical center. And this was in October 2023. And like, as you were saying before, like, we know a lot about, you know, female fertility and, you know, female focused studies regarding intermittent fasting, but not so much about male in the same topic. And we know that diet and antioxidants play a massive role in male fertility. But what we don't really get a lot of is how fasting impacts sperm health, which is why when I found this, I'm like, yes. And that's where the study comes in. And the researchers basically wanted to, to see if intermittent fasting could improve sperm quality. So things like, like sperm concentration, motility, morphology. And what makes this really even more interesting to me is that they weren't just looking at any men, they specifically studied men undergoing IVF treatment. So this is the connection on which I think might be applicable to some of our listeners, maybe going through that. So when we talk about men in IVF, just to zoom out for a second, what does that actually mean? Because we we kind of think it's something focused on just females and hormone injections and egg retrievals, embryo transfers. But male fertility plays just as big of a role in whether IVF is successful. So
Melanie Avalon
This is so interesting.
Barry Conrad
Yeah. So if a man being part of that treatment means undergoing something called semen analysis. So that's when doctors check for things like sperm count, sperm motility, morphology, just to see if the quality of the samples are good. And if the sperm aren't moving well, or if the count is low, it can make conception harder, even in a lab setting. So in some cases, they were saying like if sperm motility is poor, doctors have to use a technique called intracytoplasmic sperm injection. And it's along with where basically like a single sperm is injected directly into the egg to improve the chances. So the fact that the study was done on men who were already dealing with fertility challenges makes this melt like even more compelling. So basically, these guys took, these researchers took 20 men in the IVF process and tested this sperm before and after 30-day intermittent fasting period. So they fasted just from 14 to 16 hours a day, mostly stopping food intake around 6 to 8pm and not eating again until 8 or 10am the next morning. And so here's where it which is how well the sperm move significantly improved. Out of the five men in the study who had poor motility at the start, guess how many showed so much improvement out of the five? All of them. Four out of the five showed so much improvement that they now were considered to have normal motility after the fasting. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. And that's because like motility is it's a big part of fertility and because if the sperm, if they can't move efficiently, the struggle to reach the egg, like to fertilize the egg, whether naturally or IVF is really tough. The next thing is sperm viability. So that means how many sperm are actually alive. That also improved significantly. And even sperm pH levels saw like a big shift which matters because sperm thrive in a very specific pH range. So if the environment's off, it can actually damage them. So those two things change. What didn't change interestingly was sperm concentration. So that means like the number of sperm in the sample. It did go up slightly, but not in a way that was statistically significant in the study. And the sperm morphology, which refers to the shape and structure of the sperm, didn't really budge. But basically the big takeaway here is IF appears to have a positive effect on sperm motility and overall sperm health, at least in the short term. And yeah, it's a small study. While it was a small study, it's one of the first to directly compare sperm parameters before and after fasting, which is super exciting because it just opens the door for, I reckon, more research on how fasting could actually be used as a tool to support male fertility, which I think is fresh, new, exciting. And when you think about the science behind fasting, Mel, we know that makes sense because we already know IF reduces inflammation, improves hormone balance, metabolic health. So these are all things that are key for reproductive function.
Barry Conrad
And also it increases human growth hormone, as we know, which plays a huge role in repair. And that could also be a factor, I reckon, why the sperm function might have improved. And practically, if you're a guy out there, shout out to our male listeners, or you're a female or male with a partner or husband, if you're dealing with fertility challenges, IF could actually be a simple naturally strategy to try or to help. I mean, it's not a magic bullet. It's very new research. But this study, I mean, it just suggests that it could be a valuable tool in the bigger picture later on. And maybe intermittent fastings, not just about longevity and fat loss and retaining muscle, but also a reproductive level tool as well. So I think that's really exciting. So what's the space for more research on this area? Mel, what do you reckon?
Melanie Avalon
Wow. Okay. Such a great find. Kudos to you. Thank you. And it just goes to show like it never even occurred to me to research this. So I'm so glad that you brought this up. Even when it's like a small study, it's really exciting when the results like that are very, like when you have smaller numbers, you need more impressive results to show more of the effect, if that makes sense. Things can be statistically significant, regardless of sample size. But when you have a small sample size, it's more important to like the four out of five example, to have higher numbers like that, because it really shows something that's going on. I think what I find really interesting about it is, this is interesting. So when they look at the longest lived populations, and people often talk about Loma Linda, for example, which is a vegan community in California as having particularly long lives. And people will say that about the vegan population as well. So I do know there have been studies that have found negative effects on some of the sperm parameters. I'm not sure which ones in vegan populations. I think some have found favorable effects, but some have found negative effects. That's basically a concern. So like whenever I whenever I interview people well known in the vegan populations, I often talk about this topic because it is something that is kind of out there as a potential negative. So I find it really interesting that my experience to date learning about male fertility, sperm and longevity, it seemed to have been a trade off sometimes like you can't have the longevity and have the sperm, you know, the beneficial sperm effects. So it's really exciting to hear this finding with fasting, which we also know is great for longevity and health and wellness, and these beneficial effects on some of the sperm parameters. Wow. And it was 30 days.
Barry Conrad
It was 30 days and just 14 to 16 hours a day, which I think it's not the same thing, but just to set listeners at ease. It's not just about doing 30 hour fast, fasting is so beneficial even like past the 12 hour mark. There's so many benefits to fasting, so just 14 to 16 hours a day, so I keep going.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, no, no, this is amazing. I hope they do more studies, more follow-up studies on this.
Barry Conrad
It's so topical as well, because I'm sure, I mean, statistically, from a listeners, there's going to be someone going through IVF or just about to or just maybe in the process of trying again. And maybe it's not even something that their partners have even or they've even thought of themselves that could help.
Melanie Avalon
Awesome, great find. Thanks. So we will put a link to that in the show notes, which will be at ifpodcast.com slash episode 419. All right, so what we wanted to do was we wanted to talk about a Facebook post that I posted that has a lot of really interesting answers, but maybe before that, we have a really quick question that's also fasting related that maybe we could answer to get both in, if you like. Okay. It's Gwen's question, do you wanna read it? Okay.
Barry Conrad
So Gwen from Facebook asks, how long should your eating window be if you're trying to do just one meal a day?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, so I really love this question. I don't know if we've actually answered this, like, prescribed a number for this. But the reason I like this is because when I think when people hear one meal a day, they think, Oh, like an hour, you know, like that it has to be like 30 minutes or an hour. Of course, if you're very style, you can knock it back in like 15 minutes, 10 minutes, it should be as long as it needs to be to get in all the food and nutrition that you need to get in. So for me, when it's like, how long should it be? It's how long it should be for you. So for me, I eat a lot of seafood and chicken and cucumbers and blueberries. And I eat for about four or five hours, like, it's kind of like having a really, really long meal at a restaurant. But other people so like, because because Barry, when you do your one meal a day daily, like, is it around a similar amount of time? Or what is it like for you?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, when I'm doing my one meal a day, if I'm working from home, for example, or just before heading out, the cooking is one thing, but it'll be... It's less than an hour, like, from cooking to eating and finishing up, usually. I mean, I don't generally go, hey, I've done 24, so let me just keep trying to fill up that four hours. No, I'll just, like, finish eating once I've had enough. What about you? You have four hours or so?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, like four or five hours and I'm, I go slow. I take my time. I read my books.
Barry Conrad
She enjoys her self. Yeah, it's good.
Melanie Avalon
I do. Yeah. It's like a feast every night. So my answer for you Gwen is there is no one answer. It's however long it needs to be to get all the food in that you need to get in and want to get in and the pace that you want to go at for that.
Barry Conrad
To add on to that, I think it's such a good question, because as soon as I saw this, it harkened back to the great One Meal a Day debate between Melanie and, you know, the original co-host, Jen Stevens, and then even we revisited in episode number 404, actually, if you want to listen to that listeners. And interestingly enough, we put up a poll on our podcast Instagram, and the question was, what's your definition of One Meal a Day? And we had three options there. A, you've got to eat the meal within one hour. Max. B, it can be spread across two to four hours. And C, just eating once a day. Timing doesn't matter. Mel, which one do you reckon had the most votes out of those three options?
Melanie Avalon
Wait, so say them again. So timing doesn't say them again.
Barry Conrad
So A, you've got to eat the meal within one hour, B, it can be spread across two to four hours, and C, just eating once a day, timing doesn't matter.
Melanie Avalon
So I would say once a day timing doesn't matter, but was it two to four hours?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, our followers, they voted 62% of our followers voted for that one, followed by 29% for just eating once a day timing doesn't matter. And then lastly, 10% with you've got to eat the meal within an hour. Interesting.
Melanie Avalon
very interesting to me. Yeah, so they would have answered this question a little bit differently. But technically, you know, if everybody has different perspectives on it, I feel like that further supports my answer.
Barry Conrad
No, it does. Like it doesn't like negate your answer. It's just like really interesting that no one thought that one like just eat it like really quickly, which like, I think we all agree. That's not what it is.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. That's so interesting. I mean, cause you, you can't really, I mean, if you're eating throughout the day, it's much easier to have it in a small amount of time. But if when it's your one meal a day, I feel like most people might need a little bit more time there. I a hundred percent agree. Awesome. Okay. Friends, listeners join my Facebook group called IF biohackers, intermittent fasting plus real foods plus life. I put a lot of fun, like, I put a, I put a question in there every single day, actually. So there's a lot of fun community in there and berries in there and I'm in there and all the things. So I didn't anticipate doing this, but I posted something and it got so many answers I thought would be fun to talk about. And it was, if you had to pick, what is the one health thing biohack supplement lifestyle choice, et cetera, you wish you started sooner. So, and there's 58 comments. Should we go through them first or should we say our answers first?
Barry Conrad
Let's go through them first, let's see what they have to say.
Melanie Avalon
Okay. So, Baren Adet said intermittent fasting. I'm going to count how many people say intermittent fasting. Okay. Trevor, oh, he said this is a great thread. Janice said, I agree, fasting. And then she said a close second is red and near infrared light therapy. Kate said HRT. Anna said IF and loss of outdoor walking. I like that. And then April commented on that and said, I used to be a runner, but I'm shifting to more outdoor walks now and perimenopause and love it. Patty said eating whole foods and more protein. Jackie said more protein, lots more protein. Protein has the building blocks to repair our skin, muscles, red blood cells, hormones, literally everything. Don't skimp on protein. Holly said fasting. There's another one. And eliminating seed oils. Alice said intermittent fasting. For the clarity of mine, it has given me along with all the other non-skilled victories it has brought about. Stephanie says, actually, it's hard to say. When I was younger, I feel like I didn't need any of these, quote, AIDS that I use now. It's only since my 40s and now into my 50s that I feel like I can't get a handle on the lack of energy, pain, and how to keep weight off. I feel like red light supplements, chiropractic, and occasional acupuncture when I'm in a really bad place are barely holding me together at this point. Stephanie, I'm sending her lots of love and keep on trying the things and looking at your sleep and diet and everything, because I really think people can feel better at any age. I truly, truly do. Lisa said fasting. Christine said resistance training. Karen said hitting my protein goals, HRT and fasting. Carolina said resistance training and eating more protein. Sheila said intermittent fasting. Lisa said intermittent fasting. I am still newer to getting it all down. Alexander said intermittent fasting, obviously. Rachel said intermittent fasting. Deborah said fasting and BHRT. BHRT is probably the most beneficial. So that's bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. Denise said sunscreen. Oh, I have thoughts on that one. Maria said fasting. Olivia said fasting. Amy said exercise and IF. April said agree with others on fasting, more protein and red light. We'll add regular use of sauna and cryotherapy. Monica, fermented foods. That's a new one. Teresa, I used to be so tired. I'm not exactly sure what supplements I'm taking that gave me my energy back, but I used to have to nap around 5 to 6 p.m. every day and I no longer need to. Jane, red light therapy. Julie, fasting. Amy, morning grounding and sun exposure. Teresa, meditation, protein intake and berberine. Deanna said strength training. Noreen said breaking the fast with protein. I like that idea. Karen said fasting. Sherry said strength training. Ginger said HRT. Stewart said morning sunlight and cold water. I wonder if he means drinking cold water.
Barry Conrad
Or if it means, like, swimming or...
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, or like cold water shower. It could be a lot of things. Becky said carnivore and daily health system. I don't know what that is. And somebody asked her, but she didn't answer. Susan said definitely IF. Nikki said wearing my aura ring because I used it to significantly improve my sleep. Julie said activating my life with natural activators. Michelle said bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and strength training. Paulina said strength training. Tia said intermittent fasting. Shauna said whole foods, hot yoga, walks in the sunlight, NIF, curious about the red light therapy. And if it works, Claudia said choosing to eat more saturated fat and less polyunsaturated fat. Christina said fasting. And Lisa's last one said the NRF2 activators hands down to have a medically proven natural product that lowers oxidative stress, multiple independent medical journals written up in PubMed. It's phenomenal. Yeah. Okay. So that was, I was counting on my hands. That was 24 people at a 58. No, not exactly half. So 24 people at a 58 mentioned fasting. That's a lot. Yeah. So what are your thoughts on all those answers?
Barry Conrad
I'm not surprised with the intermittent fasting being the number one that you would have started sooner because mine's exactly the same. I wish I knew about it sooner, followed by just a better education about whole foods and that you didn't have to demonize different macronutrients that they could all work for you and you don't have to be afraid of carbs or afraid of fats sort of thing. So definitely ayah for me, followed by just more of a more knowledge base of how to eat properly, you know? What about you?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. So mine's similar. So I started fasting in sophomore year of college. For me, hands down, the one health thing would be your second one, which was I wish I had eaten not as all those processed foods growing up. I wish I'd eaten more like real food and not all the fast food and like everything. But then on the other hand, I feel like weird. I feel conflicted because I have all these really great memories of that food. And I actually like having those memories. I like that I know how everything tastes, if that makes sense. And what's so interesting is I can remember now how I haven't had processed foods in forever. But pizza, cake, things like that, even candies, I really remember exactly what they taste like. It's interesting how much that memory stays with you.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, and I think it's better that you know rather than like I'll never know so and you'll be living in that that mystery or that just not knowing it's good that you've experienced it and you know that it's not for you doesn't work for your body more importantly that's great.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, I think I wish like if I could have raised and I love my parents, so this is not like anything about them I'm just saying like from what I've learned If I were raising a child, I think the approach I would take is because this is how I would have wanted to have been raised I would have liked if in our house Everything was like healthy so like unprocessed foods but then if my mom had like Made for like made made healthy quote healthy versions of things so like for like birthdays and cakes and cookies like if we had made like them with almond flour and gluten-free and Stevia and like so I think that I wish I had had like a whole foods basis at home I wish our pantry hadn't been filled with like little debbies. Wait, we talked about this. Are there little debbies in Australia? What's that? Oh my goodness
Barry Conrad
What? Little Debbie's? Mm-hmm. Little Debbie's. No, that's... I've never heard that in my life.
Melanie Avalon
Have you heard of hostess, like Twinkies?
Barry Conrad
Oh, Twinkies, yeah, Twinkies, for sure.
Melanie Avalon
it's not Twinkies, but it's like a package. It's probably the most little Debbie is probably besides hostess hostess and little Debbie are like the most famous packaged snack cakes brand and little Debbie like little Debbie is the mascot. And there's all these different ones that are like from childhood like cosmic brownies and nutty buddies and all these things.
Barry Conrad
I'm literally just looked it up when you said it. I see like brownies cakes, like cookies, doing everything and the little Debbie.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, like all packaged, you know, they're always like on the end cap in the aisles and you and we would always pick up little debbies like it's very much like a thing. So I wish our pantry had not been full of those. And then I wish that I would have liked it if my parents would have like educated me about the importance of Whole Foods, but then let me if I'm like out have have other things, and just communicated to me that, you know, if you have this, you can have it, but you might not feel well. And that's okay. Then I would have like learned, oh, this is what these other foods taste like. And maybe I don't feel that well when I have them, you know, I think that would have been like the best balance, like have the Whole Foods at home, make the the paleo and the healthy versions of cakes and cookies and stuff at home and then be allowed to have things when I go out. And maybe I just don't feel well from it.
Barry Conrad
I like that. So basically just education on food and you can make your own choices. I like that a lot.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, so I think that's what I that and and then also in that realm like maybe making the smarter alcohol choices earlier
Barry Conrad
I guess we just don't know what we know, right? Don't know.
Melanie Avalon
That's the other thing I really want to emphasize is I'm really all about not having regrets, you know? Like everything's a learning experience and it can always get better from here. So I don't, you know, I'm not like down on myself about any of that. I just learn and go from there.
Barry Conrad
Love it. Once we know better, we can do better, all right?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, exactly. When do you think you would have started intermittent fasting? Like at what age?
Barry Conrad
If I knew about it and I could choose to do it.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, mhm.
Barry Conrad
I think probably late teens because I still want to, I don't know, I wouldn't want to start it too early, but I also would have loved the, like for someone to teach me that it's okay to not eat all day, but then still have like a generally not too much of a strict window growing up, but then late teens maybe start knuckling down to like maybe like a 16 eight or something like that. And then from there I can build on it. But just like you said, just knowing you don't have to eat all day. This is what happens when you do. This is what happens when we fast and then having that choice.
Melanie Avalon
What's really funny is growing up every Wednesday, we would go eat at the country club and it was like this massive buffet. And I would, so I would do intermittent fasting once a day, once a week, because on Wednesdays, I would not eat all day so that I could just like pig out at the buffet. And it's funny because I thought I was like doing harm to my body by, you know, not eating. I was like, this is so like bad that I'm like not eating. And then I would like have my feast. And now literally it's like that's what I do every day is fast and feast. Although the foods I was eating were not the best. That's okay.
Barry Conrad
I think I did the same thing and like you used to think, oh, you're starving. But it's like, wow, a little do we know.
Melanie Avalon
I know. So, so yeah, so friends definitely joined the Facebook group. Oh, I'm trying to think I was going to comment sunscreen. I actually, I don't really go out in the, um, the sun that much, but I do wish I had used, I definitely wish I had used non-toxic sunscreen and more of it growing up when I was like in the sun all the time. Cause I would like go out, we would be in Florida all summer and I would just, I would not, not only would I not put sunscreen on, I would put on all those like creams and lotions that make you tan even more. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, I do. Or I would put like oil on my skin so that I would tan more.
Barry Conrad
so bad that's not I wouldn't not concern Aussie thing but I do think a lot of Caucasian or or people that don't have darker skin like they I've seen them do that and know people who do that like they'll put coconut oil on or just oil to literally to tan and fry like fried bacon skin you know
Melanie Avalon
I remember the one time I got so burned. I looked like a raccoon for days. I got sick because you know, when you get so burned that you get like sick because you get sun poisoning or whatever it's called, I was like almost throwing up. I was so burned, but literally, yeah, I was like a raccoon for days. It's horrible. And I remember we would have our relatives come stay with us in Florida. And one of my relatives, they were, they were very intense with like health stuff. And I thought they were so weird at the time. What do you mean? Just like they were very much aware of it. Well, they were very, very religious, but they were just would only eat. Yeah, they wouldn't eat like the processed foods. And I thought they were so weird and they would not like, I don't know, they would like make their own like cleaning product, like everything I do now they were doing. But we would go on. We would go on bike rides and they would my uncle would not use sunscreen. Instead, he would like tape paper towels to his skin. What to like block the sun. And I thought he was so weird. And now I'm like, oh, he was on to something. I mean, I don't know if I would like tape towels to my skin, but it's just funny how you can have such a paradigm shift with your thoughts, you know. Well, that's a first. Papering paper towels. Yeah. Do you wear sunscreen? Do you wear non-toxic sunscreen when you go out?
Barry Conrad
I do and it's got at least SPF 30 plus for sure. I think it's so important and that's one thing that I actually, I don't know where it comes from or whether my mom instilled it, but from a young age, it's like sunscreen, like I was always really big on that, even inside, like, just because you're not on the side, like, it's really important because the sun's getting in, it's really, really...
Melanie Avalon
You use sunscreen inside.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, because I'm still I'm sitting in front of a window right now. As long as it's not dark, those UV rays, man, they are, especially in Australia, New Zealand, really, really, really strong and harsh. So for sure.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. So you're using one that has a physical barrier, not like a chemical barrier. Okay. So I'll ask the question, what type of sunscreen do you, do you use? Does it have a chemical barrier or a, like a.
Barry Conrad
It's a physical barrier and definitely SPF 30 plus minimum because it's really important to, it's not just any sunscreen, like it has to be the right strength to help mitigate the effects of the UV rays. It's really, really, really important and something that I, from a very young age, I can't even pinpoint the age. My mom was always like sunscreen, sunscreen, very important. Even inside, doesn't have to be outside. On my lips as well, which there is a lot of skin cancers that develop on your lips as well. I have a balm. Yeah, very, very important.
Melanie Avalon
Awesome. So yeah, and I think it's so like I said, similar to what you're saying, like I wish I had used more sunscreen, but I wish I had not been using the chemical bear, the chemical sunscreens, because those are like they contain carcinogens and endocrine disruptors, and they're going straight into your bloodstream. So you really want like what Barry's using where it has something like zinc oxide in it that is just creating an inert physical barrier between your skin and the sun, not chemicals that are not good for you.
Barry Conrad
Melanie, what were you saying about the other answers on the poll of the thread that you made? Like what was surprising to you of some of those answers, like the hormone, the therapy you were talking about? Can you touch on that? Is that more?
Melanie Avalon
Well, so I might punt that a little bit in that a lot of people. So this post inspired me to post another post because I saw so many people commented hormone replacement therapy. So I actually created another post where I asked people their thoughts on hormone replacement therapy and it got so many answers and every single one was overwhelmingly positive. So I think hormone replacement therapy is beneficial for so many women, even though it kind of has had a bad rap because of women's health initiative, which is a whole not their rabbit hole. Yeah, so it was nice to see that. Let me look through and see. Oh, I like the one about walking outdoors. Oh, this is interesting morning grounding and sun exposure. So kind of the flip side like getting that therapeutic, you know, light in your life.
Barry Conrad
It is different though, like the morning sun and just it hits different pun intended. It feels different. It's better for you. It is really nice and walking outside is one of my favorite things when I first started getting into intermittent fasting and even listening to this podcast. One of the ways I listened to the I consumed the show was by walking walking for miles and miles and just it's because it's like it's an underrated fat burner and people think it's like not really exercise. It's so effective. Anyway, walking is great.
Melanie Avalon
It's so great. And if you're walking, definitely get paluvas, which are minimalist shoes that separate your toes and they let your body walk naturally the way it's supposed to walk. Because when we wear normal shoes with walking, it actually is very detrimental for our health because it messes up all the signaling from what we should be feeling on the ground that signals to our body how to walk, how to, it affects like our posture, our bones, our muscle, so many things. So I'm obsessed with paluvas. I never thought I would be, but I am now.
Barry Conrad
Did I see on Polluvers, did I see your sister post like in the gym wearing those? I think I'm pretty sure I did. Polluvers.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, yes. She's like all on board. She was listening to my episode with Brad Kearns or Mark Sisson, who we had on this show as well. Yeah, she's like obsessed as am I. They blew my mind about the problems with modern shoes. It's crazy. And what I love about them is they have so many options. Like you can get any style that you like. They're amazing.
Barry Conrad
I gotta try them.
Melanie Avalon
If listeners go to pelluva.com, that's P-E-L-U-V-A.com. The code IFPodcast will get you 15% off. And it used to be 10%, but I got it bumped up to 15%. So, and literally they have, like I said, so many styles. It's incredible. Shall we break our fast?
Barry Conrad
Let's do it. I'm so ready for this.
Melanie Avalon
All right, listeners, friends. So the time has come for us to proverbially, virtually, simulatedly. Someday we're going to come up with the word for this.
Barry Conrad
And all we'll make our own up, just like I say, Trinkets, we can say something our own thing.
Melanie Avalon
let's just make up a word. Well, time for us to break our fast because as you guys know, fasting, the health benefits of fasting are not just about the fasting, they're equally, I would say equally about the eating because if you just fast, you actually won't get any of the health benefits. The eating part is so, so key to it. So we like to always feature a restaurant that we find exciting or, you know, alluring for whatever reasons it may be. And then we talk about what we would order at that restaurant. So Barry, do you want to know why I picked this restaurant? So I picked, it's called, it's called Saskatoon restaurant. It's in Greenville, South Carolina. And there was a very specific reason I chose this restaurant.
Barry Conrad
Why tell me?
Melanie Avalon
So my first podcast that I ever went on as a guest, like as the person being interviewed. So this was around 2014, over a decade ago. And Edwin Wu, who is the owner of a rush of this restaurant called Saskatoon, reached out to me to come on his podcast. And because I think at the time, I just had myself published book. I didn't have, I didn't have my book and stories. I didn't have my podcast. I did not have a following. I had like a blog. But yeah, he asked me to come on and I remember being so nervous, which is like so crazy and surreal to think about now. It was so cool because he had this restaurant, which is very like paleo and has all these cool, you know, game meat and things like that. So A, I need to actually go to this restaurant because it's doing everything I want in a restaurant. And B, I'm really excited now to actually look at the menu and see what I would order. And it's kind of like a lodge feeling type setting the restaurant.
Barry Conrad
Which I think they did a really good job with the website to make you even feel like convey that vibe like you definitely get that vibe looking at the website and now you had me at steakhouse saskatoon steakhouse I'm in.
Melanie Avalon
Yes. And it says the first thing it says is welcome to Saskatoon, the call of the wild in the heart of the South. Like I love that it's like in Greenville, and it's this whole like lodge hunter vibe. Okay, it says that tucked away on nine acres of beautiful landscape and organic gardens. Saskatoon lodge is the perfect replica of an authentic Northwest mountain lodge. We specialize in wild game prepared to perfection with mouthwatering cuts of buffalo elk, antelope, kangaroo, even alligator and ostrich. Oh my goodness. Okay. Shall we say what we would order?
Barry Conrad
Let's go. Okay, I'm going to click on the menu. So exciting. I love this.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, so I think I went first last time. Do you want to go first? What you would get for the appetizers?
Barry Conrad
Ah, man, spoiled for choice. This is really good. What jumps out at me straight away. I've got to go for the BA's charcuterie and it has to be an end.
Melanie Avalon
Which is, wait, do you want to read it? Do you want to read what it is? Because people are not, this is like wild. This is not your normal charcuterie.
Barry Conrad
So B.A.'s charcuterie, seared kangaroo, wild game sausage, smoked salmon and duck breast with mature cheeses. Delicious. Pickled vegetables, olive oil, crostini, house-made jam. That already sounds like a huge meal. So that's like a good situation there. And then I have to go for the Saskatoon Spicy Shrimp as well. Those two, which is Saskatoon Spicy Shrimp, is plump shrimp, skewered, grilled and served with a Cajun Rumelade sauce. Did I say that right? Rumelade? Rumelade.
Melanie Avalon
I think so, yes.
Barry Conrad
I'll have my lad's sauce. Delicious. What would you have?
Melanie Avalon
good choices. Okay. So I am definitely also getting the Tarkudari. I love kangaroo. I'm so jealous of you having access to kangaroo more freely.
Barry Conrad
Also on kangaroo I went to a wedding two weeks ago Mel and basically we stayed at a lodge
Melanie Avalon
Oh, is that the one that you sang at? Did you sing? Did you sing Taylor Swift?
Barry Conrad
I didn't sing Taylor's first, but...
Melanie Avalon
You said you were going to maybe sing Lover. I tried to convince Barry to sing Taylor Swift at this wedding.
Barry Conrad
I had to go with what was ever moving and evolving.
Melanie Avalon
Did you wear white?
Barry Conrad
Yes, so white party on the first night, and then the next day was the ceremony. It was very festive. But the reason why I brought it up was we stayed at this lodge where kangaroos literally would just come and hang with us while we're sitting around drinking and eating. I can send you videos. They're literally right by us at our table and stuff. At the table? Yeah, they even came into the reception. They're around. They're everywhere. Just guests.
Melanie Avalon
Aren't they aggressive?
Barry Conrad
They can be.
Melanie Avalon
And they're very, very lean meat.
Barry Conrad
Oh yeah, the meat here. Do you have access to it over there in Atlanta?
Melanie Avalon
so, so, so. Yes and no. I love kangaroo. So one of my favorite restaurants here, which I'm trying to decide if I should say it because I'll probably do it as one of our restaurants, but it's called Canoe. I haven't done it yet, right? On this. Oh, yeah. So they have a kangaroo appetizer that's fabulous. And you can buy kangaroo ground beef at Sprouts, which is a chain here, kind of like Whole Foods, but not Whole Foods, but not in every state. Because when I moved to California, I don't think I could buy kangaroo there. Some states you can't have kangaroo, but we have it here. Why? Weird laws about importing certain meats and things. Okay. Yeah. So it's so good though, like kind of like the Maui Nui venison that we love. I was.
Barry Conrad
Just about to say that, Mel, you read my mind, perfect.
Melanie Avalon
why I'm here. I'll give listeners a link. So we love Maui Nui Venison, which is also a very, very lean venison from Hawaii. They are an invasive species there. So having this company actually helps the environment because they're kind of wrecking the ecosystem. They do it very sustainably in a stress-free environment for the animals and the meat is just absolutely delicious. So I cannot recommend it enough. I love it. You can go to MauiNuiVenison.com. That's M-A-U-I-N-U-I-V-E-N-I-S-O-N.com slash I-F podcast to get access. That is the link to use. But yeah, kangaroo, I also love because it's a very similar vibe. Although I've never had very, I've never had like a kangaroo steak. I've only had kangaroo as a seared kind of like at Saskatoon, like a seared appetizer. They have like steaks for it, right, in Australia?
Barry Conrad
They have steaks and also like a stir-fry pack packs of like stir-fry cut up meat like that as well. You have the key though is to cook it not too long because it can be tough if you don't cook, you know, but it's delicious and so good for you. The protein content is amazing. It's so lean as well.
Melanie Avalon
Well, so I love so this charcuterie board is speaking to my heart. So seared kangaroo. Yes, wild game sausage might upset my stomach because of I don't know what's in there. So you can have it. You can have it smoked salmon. Yes, smoked duck breast. Yes. And then you can have do you want the mature cheese, the pickled vegetables, olive oil, Christina in the gym.
Barry Conrad
Load it on my plate.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, so like when you order yours, you can just get it normal. And for mine, I'll be like, can you just have everything like kind of separate, you know, make sure that there's no, it's probably fine. There's probably not anything on top of anything. So I would get that. And then actually, I'm going to do a curve ball. And you have to really know me to know why this is a curve ball because it seems like an obvious answer. But I would get the bacon wrapped scallops, which are pan seared, then oven roasted with citrus, garlic cream and remoulade dipping sauces, I would get all the sauces on the side. Do you know why this is a curve ball?
Barry Conrad
Because you don't really, you don't really eat bacon really.
Melanie Avalon
I love bacon. It's true that I don't eat that much. It's a curveball because everybody knows I'm obsessed with scallops and I eat pounds of scallops every night so people think I'll order scallops when I go out, but I never order scallops when I'm out.
Barry Conrad
Ah, so that's the COBOL. Oh, you don't really order it out. Okay.
Melanie Avalon
Because I eat them every night, and I'm used to eating them in mass amounts and at home, but when you go out, you get a scallop. So I would never order scallops as my entree. A scallop. Yeah. I would never order a scallop entree because it would not be filling enough and it would be so expensive for a tiny amount of protein. But as an appetizer and with bacon, the bacon is what's getting me because bacon is... I had a moment probably a few months ago where I just sat there contemplating bacon. I was contemplating, why is it so amazing? Why do people get ravenous and frenzied and passionate and jealous of bacon compared to all the other meats?
Barry Conrad
Because that's so good.
Melanie Avalon
But it is so good, you know, like it like lights up your brain, like why?
Barry Conrad
And you know what, when you, when keyword, when you go to New Zealand, the bacon there is like nowhere else in the entire planet that I've ever had it. It's amazing.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, really? Yeah. Would you like to taste my bacon-wrapped scallops?
Barry Conrad
I would love that. Also, I wonder how many you get. I wonder if it's like a whole
Melanie Avalon
That's the thing, it's probably like two or three.
Barry Conrad
I wonder how big it is if it's just like little or like a substantial, either way, I'm trying some. I love scallops. You like scallops, right? I love scallops. I don't, this is my, not really a curable, but I do like scallops, but I never ever really have them. So I'm actually inspired today to when I go to the store to get some today with my steak.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, nice. Steak and scallop. So that, that's an exception. I might like, if I'm, if I have like an entree where you can add on scallops, I might do that. I would basically never get scallops as my entree at a place, but I would get them as an add on or an appetizer.
Barry Conrad
You just need to tell me how to prepare the scallops because you're like a pro at that.
Melanie Avalon
People always ask me that. I feel like I'm not a good person to ask. I feel like I'm not a good person to ask for preparing anything because I'm so crazy. What do you mean? Like how to prepare a steak. I'm like, uh, I want it like as blue as it will come. For scallops, I cook them in a Dutch oven. Do you have one of those?
Barry Conrad
I don't, but I could probably figure like a workaround.
Melanie Avalon
This is good to know, taking notes.
Barry Conrad
Okay. Well also what's your definition of a Dutch oven? Because it might be different.
Melanie Avalon
Like, like a cast iron, like who set, which I thought was like her set, but then I heard it pronounced like crusade. So now I'm wondering if I'm pronouncing that brand wrong, which is embarrassing, but.
Barry Conrad
Ah, ah, ah, ah, yes, I do have one of those. Sorry, that's, we don't, yeah, I do have, we do here. I do have one.
Melanie Avalon
Is it la crusade or la crusade?
Barry Conrad
Like we say, but I mean, I guess tomato, tomato.
Melanie Avalon
It's La Crucet. I'm so embarrassed. I have said La Crucet so many times on so many podcasts.
Barry Conrad
Do you say Follette? No. I knew the answer to that. I'm just trying to be...
Melanie Avalon
Can't believe I say okay, so I cook the scallops in there and I cook them it sounds like gross to say this way but in their own juices like I don't add any water or anything because they're so They're so like water like they're so like full of water that you can cook them and it it's like all fine
Barry Conrad
Okay, no take-in.
Melanie Avalon
So, okay, shall we move on to our entree?
Barry Conrad
Let's do it.
Melanie Avalon
Your dinner does include fresh vegetables and your choice of a of their farmhouse special potatoes. Do you want my potatoes?
Barry Conrad
absolutely. I love potatoes. We're doing that.
Melanie Avalon
You get to choose from skin-on-garlic mashed potatoes, jumbo baker, or golden wedges. Which would you have?
Barry Conrad
I'm not going to do mashed potatoes. I prefer like sort of like whole sort of potatoes. So whatever the, whichever one of those means that.
Melanie Avalon
So the jumbo baker, because yeah, the jumbo baker, because the golden wedges are probably like fries.
Barry Conrad
I'm not doing that. I'll do the jumbo Baker skin on. Let's do it. And I would get the,
Melanie Avalon
Oh, and it's organized by for friends. It's organized by wild game tame game. So wild game is like their specialties tame game, which is beef and steaks and then fish and seafood and then the birds and then pork. Oh, this menu is amazing. Okay.
Barry Conrad
It's actually amazing.
Melanie Avalon
So what would you get?
Barry Conrad
this is this is really tough i don't know what this is and can we just get it's just one man's right
Melanie Avalon
No, you can't. No, no, no, you can get, I mean, you can get two. I would get two. I'm gonna do.
Barry Conrad
I'm going to get the Saskatoon mixed grill, which is, it says here, chef's choice, a selection of three wild game cuts with the mild mushroom cream, which I love mushroom sauce of any kind. And so listeners, basically that grill is like the, like the, it's the elk, the lamb and the antelope all in there anyway. So that was separate. So I'm just putting in that grill. And then the second one, this is tough.
Melanie Avalon
The thing though is we'd have to talk to the waiter because it sounds like the mixed grill might be things not featured on the menu as well because it says ask your server. So it might include lamb, elk, or antelope, and it might also have other things. I must go to this restaurant.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, I feel like we both should because this is a very us like a very protein heavy amazing place Assuming that it's got just the wild game Selections in that mixed grill i'll go with that and then i'm gonna go for my second option a seafood situation which would be the Sizzling rainbow trout and so fresh from the cold clear idaho waters And grilled for a light smoky flavor served sizzling in the pan With your choice of citrus plum sauce or lemon pepper seasonings and garnish with a large Shrimp delicious. That's me
Melanie Avalon
I love that they have two salmons. They have a cedar plank salmon and a pecan crusted salmon.
Barry Conrad
I haven't tried to become aggressive before.
Melanie Avalon
So for me, I will also get to, so I want everything. I want the entire menu. I think I have to get Antelope because I don't know that I've ever seen Antelope on a menu until this moment. Have you?
Barry Conrad
No, not on the menu.
Melanie Avalon
I haven't. This is a first right now happening in real time. So eight ounce free range and field harvested from Texas, char grilled over live flame, very lean and high in protein. So I think I'm going to get that and I'm going to get it as rare as they will bring it. And I have to ask about the mixed grill because if they have something else, they also have an elk loin. Oh, this is so hard. Okay. I'm gonna get the antelope, the elk loin, which is eight ounce portion with grilled portobellas and our signature ginger demi glaze. But I'm gonna get all that on the side. And then for dessert, I'm going to get some seafood. So
Barry Conrad
Of course, you know, Melanie, like when we, if this was like real IRL, we would definitely just order like a whole bunch of things and just like, you know, have like a massive table.
Melanie Avalon
because there's another section, the specials. What? Yeah, with a kangaroo filet, ostrich filet, stop it.
Barry Conrad
Oh my gosh. Okay. There's odd. I didn't see that. Okay.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, I have to change my answer. Me too. I have to go here like multiple times because I think, okay, so I think what I'm going to do because I want everything, I'm going to get the two things that I have never seen on a mini before, which is the ostrich fillet and the antelope.
Barry Conrad
That makes sense. I get that.
Melanie Avalon
Did your answer change based on the specials?
Barry Conrad
You know what, I'll stick to my answer. I'm happy with that. Cause I've actually had ostrich pie before.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, you have?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, in South Africa. How's that? Delicious. It tastes a bit like chicken. Well, it tastes like chicken.
Melanie Avalon
So I was going to ask is it like chicken? Is it like a white meat?
Barry Conrad
It's a white meat and it was like a creamy sauce and it was really, really good. That's something that I fondly remember as a kid in South Africa, ostrich pie, really good.
Melanie Avalon
Wow, okay. Well, you know, this is not... Okay, let me see how far this is from me. My sister and I were talking about this and we want to go on a road trip. So you should come with us.
Barry Conrad
So you could try some of these, try some of these, the restaurants that we've talked about.
Melanie Avalon
It is directions.
Barry Conrad
Honestly, this looks really good now. This restaurant is, like, delicious.
Melanie Avalon
So it's, oh my gosh, it's only, what? It is only two hours and seven minutes from me.
Barry Conrad
Woah, what do you mean you could drive there tomorrow night for dinner? Literally.
Melanie Avalon
Oh my goodness. Okay, I have to go. You have to come too.
Barry Conrad
Oh my God, I'm jealous that you get to just go. You can literally just jump in your car. It's basically like being in peak hour traffic for a little bit extra time.
Melanie Avalon
That's the funny thing is like literally, yes, you could go somewhere here in Atlanta for two hours or for an LA like two hours, same amount of time as Saskatoon Greenville. So dessert. What would you get for dessert?
Barry Conrad
Okay. So let's go to the desserts. I'm going to go for a couple of things. I'm going to go with the chocolate mousse pie, which looks really good. And mousse is spelled M-O-O-S-E. So it's not like mousse, like desserty mousse. So I'm curious to see what that's going to be like.
Melanie Avalon
because this restaurant.
Barry Conrad
And then I'm going to go the better than sliced bread in quotation marks, bread pudding to go. If I can get that on like as a second, that'd be really good. What about you?
Melanie Avalon
I am going to have, I think I'm going to have the trout.
Barry Conrad
For dessert.
Melanie Avalon
Because it's like light, you know? So it's a really nice way to end the meal. And I love trout. And it's low in mercury. It's delicious.
Barry Conrad
I feel like this restaurant would actually, it'd be an easy eat because the food is like it's mainly, it's so high protein so I don't think it's going to feel bad, you know, quote unquote bad in your gut, yeah.
Melanie Avalon
It literally looks amazing. Like I wish it was here because I want so many things.
Barry Conrad
Well, Melanie, didn't you say it's two hours and a bit to drive there from where you are?
Melanie Avalon
Yep. So Saskatoon, here I come only a decade later, but I'm going to show up and be like, hi. Remember me? Here I am.
Barry Conrad
And then you'll be, we'll see like a thing in your story, you know, where to, friends? Hint.
Melanie Avalon
Yup. Oh my gosh, the emojis. The emojis can be like every single animal that they have. Which is, this may be the most animals I've seen represented on a menu. In like one menu. From all over.
Barry Conrad
I'm really curious as to why that is, like the region will let you know, like why.
Melanie Avalon
Like, like why he's doing
Barry Conrad
this. Like why they have some like access to so many, I guess, like it's just so much variety of animals in this region, I guess, Greenville.
Melanie Avalon
I think it's about his just like his love for this, you know, like his love for so he's making it happen. I don't think it's the location. It's definitely not the location. It's the the founder doing his passion. So this was super fun for listeners. You definitely need to let us know what you would order at a restaurant like this. I wonder I want to know if like people are as crazy as I am with everything.
Barry Conrad
Well, we actually like to add on to what Mel said, like we want to know like, what would you order? We should, you know, put it out there because we want to see how you would do it. You know, are you a Barry? Are you a Mel or somewhere in between in your order style?
Melanie Avalon
or none of the above.
Barry Conrad
Or none of the above?
Melanie Avalon
Yep. You can email us at questions at ifodcast.com or you can go to ifpodcast.com. You can submit questions there. We would love to hear from you. These show notes will be at ifpodcast.com slash episode 419. They will have a transcript as well as links to everything that we talked about, so definitely check that out. And you can follow us on Instagram. That's where I post all the and we are I have podcast. I think that's all the things. Anything from you, Barry, before we go?
Barry Conrad
Have an awesome week, everyone, and don't be shy. Get at us on social media. We'd love to keep hearing from you what you're up to, what your fasting's like, what you'd order. And yeah, we'll talk to you next week.
Melanie Avalon
Alright, I will talk to you next week.
Barry Conrad
Bye!
Melanie Avalon
Bye. Thank you so much for listening to the Intramusian 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, editing by podcast doctors, show notes and artwork by Brianna Joyner, and original theme composed by Leland Cox and recomposed by Steve Saunders. See you next week!