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May 19

Welcome to Episode 422 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

SHOW NOTES


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LINKS

IF Podcast Episode 402 

MABP Episode 255 

STUDIES

⁠⁠⁠Intermittent Fasting vs. Regular Exercise: Finding the Best Path to Optimal Health


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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

(Note: This is generated by AI with 98% accuracy. However, any errors may cause unintended changes in meaning.)



Melanie Avalon
Welcome to episode 422 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 Avalon X 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-host, 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 422 of the intermittent fasting podcast. I'm Melanie Avalon. I'm here with Barry Conrad. Barry, how are you today?

Barry Conrad
I'm doing really good actually although not an although and I'm in a selling things mode because I have to move house in like five days.

Melanie Avalon
Oh, wait, what?

Barry Conrad
Yeah, my lease, the lease is running out. So in about five days, the cleaner comes in like six days.

So I've got to, I'm selling some stuff off because as you would know by now, by the time this airs is I am going to America, but before that I'm going, I've got to play in Melbourne called destiny. So have to move offload some stuff, sell some things off. I've got a place to go to for a one bedroom apartment for the next six weeks that I have locked in, but then I have to find one more spot before I head to Melbourne. So kind of in like logistics, boring life admin stuff, but it's, it's kind of, it's kind of stressful trying to sell things like, do you have, do you have a gum tree in America? It's kind of like you sell things like furniture or stuff that you want to get rid of real quick, like, you know, you know what I mean? Like that kind of vibe.

Melanie Avalon
We have stuff like that, like Facebook Marketplace. I don't know. I haven't, yeah. You know what? We might have it. Do we have that? Could I be using that? What's it called?

Barry Conrad
Gumtree, maybe it's just an Australian thing, but gumtree.

Melanie Avalon
Oh, Australia's free marketplace. Number one, classified ads in the UK. Yeah, I don't think we have that here.

Barry Conrad
I've also put stuff on Facebook marketplace it's kind of I've gotten some interest yesterday for a couple things that's good so they might be picking up a like an entertainment. Like a TV unit thing tomorrow and then these coffee tables that I've got I'm also going to sell I basically want to sell everything because I want to start.

It's no point shipping coffee machines and things to America it's just stupid so I'll just start again over there so I'm just trying to basically get rid of everything real quick no that's like my life right now.

Melanie Avalon
Whoa, I can't believe you're like present right now. Moving is so, at least for me, you probably handle it like a champ.

You probably take it the way you travel. Just bring it on. I would be so stressed if I was you is the point.

Barry Conrad
I'm trying not to feel it is a lot because the clock's ticking. So I've got, yeah, just about five days to go. So I've got to really, and on that as well, I got invited to this thing, Melanie. Maybe you can help me decide.

I'm pretty decisive about things, but I'm like, got invited to the show, which you would love to go to. Not going to say what it is just in case I don't go, but I'll tell you off here. It's like a musical, it's like going to be very fancy, high profile, red carpet situation, show after party. And that's in two days. And I have like a styling session tomorrow for that, for my outfit. But now in light of all this, I'm like, ah, I'm kind of like in two minds. Like, should I can that and just focus on this admin stuff or just kind of just go and just maybe that'll take the mind of things, you know what I mean?

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, that's that's hard. Do you know what I mean? How good do you feel about getting everything done with moving and going?

Barry Conrad
Well, either way, I have like the events in a couple of days, but then I have like another 2.5 days to sell stuff or get things done.

So, and it's only at night, but I mean, it's still, I don't know. I think cause there's just so much on my plate right now, you know, when you get in those vibes where you feel there's so much to do, so you kind of feel guilty for doing, even though this has worked technically for me too, you know, but it's still like, I could be using those three, four, five hours for productive things, I don't know. It is productive, but you know what I'm saying.

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, well, moving is such a, it's a rarer occasion, so there's a lot going on with you right now. But my point is if you don't go, it's not like it completely makes sense why you would not go.

Well, I'm sure you will make the decision that is right for you.

Barry Conrad
Yeah, I'm already leaning towards not going so I think, well, I know I've decided I'm not going so after this I'm gonna let them know. Sorry, can't make it

Melanie Avalon
In real-time decision, I was here for it. I was sending you so many good vibes with moving because when I moved in the past, I like to reframe it as like a workout, like a really good workout, you know, because you're constantly like moving stuff.

I don't know, I think it's probably good for the body.

Barry Conrad
It is. And Mel, how do you get like, what's your process of getting rid of things? Because when you move, you realize how much stuff you don't wear or use instead. Like, do you sell things or do you just give it away to donation places? Like, what do you do?

What's your rule of keeping things? If you don't wear it for six months, you get rid of it. What's your, what's your situation?

Melanie Avalon
Well, funny you should ask, this was not planned. I'll put a link in the show notes to the Mindblown podcast episode number 12, declutter masterclass tips and tricks to instantly get rid of anything and clear your space in mind. It was so fun.

We went through literally what you just asked. We just went through ways to get rid of things, how to actually let things go. And there are so many, there's like so many tips and tricks and it's crazy how hard it can be to actually let go of things sometimes.

Barry Conrad
Yeah, I agree.

Melanie Avalon
So something I do, this is not when I'm actually like trying to actively get rid of a lot of things, but I personally have a thing which is throw one thing away every day and I keep track on a calendar with sticker with Lisa Frank stickers. It's my Taylor Swift calendar and then I have Lisa Frank stickers and then every day I throw something away and I put a sticker on.

It's really helpful. It makes you realize

Barry Conrad
So one thing every day, so for example, what kind of things is it? Something small? Something big? It's hard.

Melanie Avalon
for me personally to get rid of stuff. So it can be anything. And it can be, okay, so like yesterday it was a random supplement that a brand sent me that I don't actually want or need. But it's like, I get all these products and I'm like, oh, but maybe I'll use it. And I was like, you know what, no, I don't, I'm not going to take this. So bye.

It can be things like I've slowly gotten rid of a lot of my extras of things like vases or even like silverware. I go through my books and try to get rid of books. Yeah, it's just whatever I can, it's even things like I'll go through my toolbox and try to throw away excess tools. Yeah, there's a lot of really good tricks you can use and listeners should definitely check out that episode. I'm trying to remember what some of them are. It's things like if you threw this away. Oh, this is something I love doing. This isn't exactly as applicable to your situation because this is stuff I try to do ongoing rather than if I'm actually moving. But something I like to do is, especially for clothing, I go through, I have a big trash bag. I put things in the trash bag that I think I can get rid of, but I'm struggling to get rid of. And then I just put them in the trash bag. And then I'm not throwing it away. I'm just putting it in the bag. And then a month later, if I can't remember what's in that trash bag, I just take it to goodwill. And I don't look at it again. It helps you get rid of stuff slowly without feeling like you're getting rid of it right now. Because then if you can't remember a month later, then might as well just take it. If you didn't miss it actively in that month space, does that make sense?

Barry Conrad
It does make sense, because then on that, it also makes me want to ask you, Mel, when it comes to packing for trips. I know you don't like to travel for long, but do you overpack or are you pretty good at just packing the right amount, like minimal situation?

Melanie Avalon
So, so, so. I am so proud of myself and my packing habits. I realized I don't ever really like forget anything now because I have a ongoing note. So I use the app EverNote, which is like all these different, you can just have like ongoing notes all the time. So I have my travel note, and I have everything on there that I'm taking. And I check it when I'm packing. And that has been so helpful for not forgetting things.

Here's the thing, Barry. So when you look at what I packed, it looks like I packed a lot, like it looks like a lot. And I use every single thing I packed. Like I don't, nothing is overpacked. It's not like I, it's not like I took something I didn't need. I actually use everything. I just need a lot of things.

Barry Conrad
What do you mean like what what's five things that you have to travel with Melanie Avalon has to have

Melanie Avalon
I mean, there's like 500, but all my supplements, my yeah, my supplements is a big part of it. My dry farm wines.

Barry Conrad
Yo, wines.

Melanie Avalon
Mm-hmm

Barry Conrad
You can follow while you're really committed to the cause well.

Melanie Avalon
Yup, my outfits. There's a lot of stuff. Are you a minimalist traveler? And then my sister, she puts everything in one carry-on, blows my mind. What?

Barry Conrad
Yeah i can do that.

Melanie Avalon
She traveled around like Tokyo on like with like one carry-on how no idea. I have no idea

Barry Conrad
My clothes like a two bullet like that. My it's two. Yeah, it wouldn't fit in the one thing.

Melanie Avalon
Is it hard for you to get rid of stuff?

Barry Conrad
Well, I am just like I'm in the process. It's in real time, Melanie. This is happening at the moment. So I'm just starting to go through everything, getting rid of things whilst selling things, whilst donating things.

I mean, it's not hard. I just think that we're so spoiled in, you know, the Western society. Like, you know, we just have so much that we don't need. So I just want to get rid of stuff that I don't wear and use because it's just it's just clutter.

Melanie Avalon
There's so many just like little hacks, but one I really like is ask yourself, would I buy this now? Like so many things we actually hold on to because it gains value from us having owned it, but like if it was like on the rack now and you're at the store, would you buy it now?

Barry Conrad
Hmm, that's a good question to ask yourself actually.

Melanie Avalon
Or are you keeping things out of guilt? Like, are you keeping something because somebody gave it to you or like, you know?

Barry Conrad
Okay hold on one thing that definitely is hard for me is if someone gives you a gift like if it's from family like little thing I don't know would you throw that away or would you just keep it as like a keepsake even though you don't use it but you feel bad throwing it away or giving it away.

Melanie Avalon
I think it depends. So if it's something that you don't actually personally like, and it's not expensive, and literally all the value is because this person gave it to you, but you don't personally want or need it, then get rid of it.

The moment happened, the giving of it to you was the moment of them sharing the love with you, but it staying with you doesn't signify anything about their love for you now.

Barry Conrad
That was a really good, that was a really good share. Mic drop, sound bite right there. I'm going to use that when I can't wait to post that.

Melanie Avalon
Oh yeah, you can. Please do.

Barry Conrad
That's good. That's good. Well, this is so useful because I need I need all the intel right now to get rid of things.

Melanie Avalon
Oh my goodness. Okay, listen to that episode because we have so many, we say so many things.

Barry Conrad
I think as well, like the things you take on a trip with you, I think usually the things that you kind of need or want most, everything else is kind of like excess, right?

Melanie Avalon
I thought about that. I'm like, Whoa, I'm like, if I what if somebody could just come in and like, get rid of everything except the stuff I take when I travel like I apparently survive on that. So do I need all this other stuff?

Actually,

Barry Conrad
Are you one of those females who have like a billion pairs of shoes and dresses and things like that? Like, what about that?

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, so I'm not I'm not horrible with shoes. Like I'm pretty I have a lot of shoes, but I'm not it's not my vice of having too many of the problem is that the dresses like I have so many black dresses.

Yeah, it's not good to be pretty lightweight, though, the dress.

Barry Conrad
Yeah, it wouldn't take up too much space, no?

Melanie Avalon
A lot of them are like prom dresses because you know, I love going to shows and wearing massive dresses. The dress I wore most recently a few days ago was massive.

Barry Conrad
You love, you actually do. You're right. You do the whole walk down the aisle thing. I know your thing, Melanie. You walk down the aisle. Hey, guys. Hey, friends.

Melanie Avalon
Yes. So here's another one for clothing. If you are, especially with this release of fasting, so say you have weight loss goals or something and you have certain clothes that you're keeping that used to fit you but don't fit you now. So I always say just get rid of them now because then you're turning it into a win-win situation.

Because if you never end up being able to wear it again, there was no point in keeping it. But if you are able to wear it again, that means you hit your weight loss goal. So win. So it literally makes it a win-win and a win-win-win because now you're getting rid of some clutter. Don't keep the clothes that you're going to wear in the future. Keep what you want to wear now.

Barry Conrad
That's good. Yes.

Melanie Avalon
and use the sentimental stuff. So if you have nice plates or china and it makes you happy, use that as your main stuff and get rid of all your other stuff.

That makes me so happy. That's one thing I do.

Barry Conrad
I actually really agree with that, Melanie. I think like, why save nice stuff for like some day, some time, you know?

Melanie Avalon
Use it now. So you have to let us know what you what you find yourself struggling with with getting rid of stuff and what you learn and what tips you would like to share after having moved.

Barry Conrad
I'll let you know. I'll give you the update. This has been helpful. Thanks, Mel. Thank you for your pep talk on the moving and the moving hacks.

Melanie Avalon
Oh my gosh. Oh man, okay. Should we jump into some fasting related things?

Barry Conrad
So I brought a study this week. So the study I'm bringing today is called intermittent fasting versus regular exercise, finding the best path to optimal health. And this is by Dr. Venugopal Reddy, M. Raghgamdam Reddy in the Ovem Woman and Child Specialty Hospital in India. So it's a great study, and it's very on brand for me because I love my exercise, love my working out.

And it's really fascinating for me because it tackles one of the biggest questions in health and fitness. If you had to just pick one intermittent fasting or regular exercise, which one would you give the best long-term health benefits? So this really drew me to the study so much because of that reason. And more importantly, what happens when you combine those two things?

Melanie Avalon
Do they answer that? Do they say which one would be better if you have to pick one?

Barry Conrad
You're going to have to wait and see what I found.

Melanie Avalon
Oh man, okay. Wait, let me guess, combined together is the best, right? That's your guess? That combined is the best?

Barry Conrad
Okay, so you don't think just regular exercise on its own or intermittent fight?

Melanie Avalon
Well, so if the options are just fasting, just exercising or combined, what's best?

Barry Conrad
Uh-huh. Yeah, it's between those two. So just fasting, just exercise, or combining the two.

Melanie Avalon
Yes, I would. I would guess that combining is the best.

Is this resistance exercise or cardio? You're gonna have to wait and see. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, now I have myself questioning everything. So go ahead. I'm losing my sense of self here. Okay.

Barry Conrad
We already know that fasting and exercise have their own individual benefits. So what the study does really well is break down why they work, how they impact our bodies differently, and what's the best situation for optimizing our fat loss and longevity and metabolic health. So let's start with the fasting. So this study, Dr. Van Nuig-Gapal Reddy, he says that when you fast for extended periods, your body burns through its glycogen stores and switches to fat, metabolism, and ketogenesis and ketones. So ketones are more than just fuel. They're actively reducing inflammation. They protect our brain function. We know that they promote cellular repair. So it's not just how a lot of people say, you're just starving, you're just not eating. It's not just about fat loss. It's about metabolic efficiency, insulin sensitivity, and even anti-aging at a cellular level.

We know that, and that's been proven by the science. The study, this study highlights that fasting increases the growth hormone levels and reduces insulin. And it's also huge because high insulin levels are directly linked to metabolic syndrome, linked to obesity, diabetes, and then we know there's that magic thing called autophagy, which is our body's, I guess, natural recycling system. The fasting triggers a deep cellular clean. Listen as if you don't know what that means. It triggers a deep cellular clean, getting rid of damaged cells, reducing oxidative stress. It encourages regeneration. I love autophagy. And it's about basically giving our bodies a reset on a molecular level. Let's look at the exercise. So the study reinforces what we already know. That regular movement improves cardiovascular health, builds endurance and strength, and boosts our mental health by increasing endorphins. But the catch is exercise alone doesn't always lead to weight loss. This study highlights specifically that people unconsciously eat back the calories that they burn, which can stall fat loss or even lead to weight gain. So the big question, which one is better? So what I took away from this is the study found that the real magic happens when you, as Melanie guessed, combine fasting and exercise.

Melanie Avalon
Okay, you're such a teaser. I'm over here having like an existential crisis.

Barry Conrad
Is this going to be wrong? When your body's already primed for fat burning and you add exercise, it accelerates the process while preserving the muscle. So the combo, it enhances something that we call mitochondrial function, which is a pretty big factor in longevity and energy production. So your mitochondria, they're sort of like batteries for yourselves. So the better they function, the stronger, leaner, more energized we feel.

So the study does caution, though, if you're new to fasting, and he listens out there, jumping straight into a high-intensity workout situation on an empty stomach, if you're new to fasting, it might make you feel fatigued or sluggish at first. And I experienced that as well when I started fasting. But here's the interesting part. Over time, most people actually adapt and see improved endurance and fat burning efficiency when training fasted. The body learns to become more metabolically flexible, which means it can seamlessly switch between burning carbs and burning fat. So fasting and exercise, yes, they have their unique benefits. But together, they're seriously next level. So if you're looking to burn fat, maintain your muscle, improve your insulin sensitivity, optimize your brain function, this is the situation worth exploring. And honestly, it kind of aligns with what we see in longevity research so far and athlete performance, like metabolic flexibility, which means our ability to shift between the fuel sources. It's the key for long-term health.

And combining fasting with movement, movement, not just resistance training, not just cardio, but movement, it's basically how to train our bodies to become metabolic powerhouses. Mel, what do you think? And have you noticed a difference in your energy levels when you train fasted versus after eating?

Melanie Avalon
Awesome. First of all, great find, great overview. That touched on so many things. Thank you.

Thank you. One present thought I'm really having about it is the question of, you know, what's better fasting or exercise, although it seems like together is really magical. I'm just thinking about how, A, I don't think there's an answer there. Really, there's not one answer there, but so much of it would completely depend on the individual. Like kind of like the example that you gave with exercise, people could do exercise in a way that actually makes them overeat and overcompensate and, you know, undoes the effects or they might over train or over exercise or with fasting though on the same thing they might, people might fast too much and create negative effects from it or not fast enough, but think they're fasting and then kind of similar to the exercise overcompensate when they eat. So it just is so, so individual.

As far as energy while fasting, yes, a hundred percent. It's so much better for me. It's interesting because I actually first noticed it when I went low carb because before I went low carb, which I'm not low carb right now, but when I first, before I went low carb, the idea of endurance of any sort was not something that appealed to me. I didn't like just like, I always felt like I would hit walls and I didn't have this natural inclination to like go, go, go. And then when I started doing low carb, I was like, Oh, cause then you tap into your fat stores and you unlock this consistent, seemingly unending source of energy when you're doing athletic activities. So that's when I really noticed it.

And then I noticed it even more when I started fasting as well. Now I get, I get tired once I, once I eat now. It's funny that I've like completely switched. I, I, before I started fasting, I used to think that fasting would be like a lethargic, tired state, but I find it to be quite the opposite.

Barry Conrad
It's so interesting because I had 200% agree with that.

Melanie Avalon
And I do think if I had to make generalizations or if I had to guess, I think it's more likely that people overestimate the benefit they're getting from exercise and overcompensate because of it compared to fasting and then overcompensating. Like if you're consistently fasting daily, it's hard to actually overcompensate a lot in your eating window. So, if you're fasting long enough every day with exercise, I feel like it's so easy for people to exercise and then they're like, okay, that earned my calories and then they eat more to make up for it. Like that's just so, so common.

Barry Conrad
You hear it every day you see here to the gym in the locker room you are here from people that i know it's like well now that we can have this you know massive meal now because we just did that workout will you you're kind of undoing all your hard work if you're not fasting and you know on the daily.

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, something I like about fasting is it's almost protective of accidental undoing of it, if that makes sense. The very nature of it is providing a sort of clean slate and setting you up metabolically for when you do eat, which exercise can help with as well.

But I just think, like you just said, I think it's just so common for people to, I know that's what I used to do. I used to like go to the gym for like 30 minutes cardio and that's like, okay, now I can eat all the things. It's like, no, I don't think I was probably better off not even going to the gym, honestly, with that approach.

Barry Conrad
It's so funny because I can't even, not I can't, I can, but it's just I find it really hard to train after eating, you know, a lot of gym bros will be like, oh, bro, you need like have a banana or have like this, have that before you hit the gym, like you need your energy. I'm like, it's not an emergency to train faster, guys.

It's not. You'll be fine, you know?

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, I used to think that I had to like, even if I wasn't hungry, it's like, Oh, I have to like eat to like fuel the run or fuel the the activity. But now that that actually just makes me feel more more sluggish.

Barry Conrad
Granted, Melanie, I am curious. I do think maybe it's a bit different if you're, for example, about to do a marathon or something like that. I think that's a very different scenario than just going to the gym on the daily. Like, I do think, I don't know if I would do that necessarily, necessarily faster. I'm not too sure.

I haven't explored that yet, but that's something that I might approach differently because it's something bigger, more expenditure, you know.

Melanie Avalon
100%. So I mean, like a concentrated endurance run, especially something like a marathon. I mean, that's like a whole nother. You have to have a whole approach to that.

Check out episode 402 of the show that we did. I interviewed Mark Sisson for his book, Born to Walk. And we dive deep into the, uh, the myth of the marathon. It will, it's mind blowing. It will change your mind potentially on a lot of things. What's the longest, have you done like any long sort of races?

Barry Conrad
I haven't done a marathon yet. I do want to take that off my bucket list for sure.

I've done, yeah, so the answer is no. I used to do a lot of long distance growing up. I feel like I'm better now with my hill sprints because of my one and a half long situation, but also I'm not going to make that like put a ceiling on what I want to do. So I'm going to, I'm going to do a marathon one day or half a half marathon. Both. What about you? Have you done any of those half marathon? No, any desire to?

Melanie Avalon
Nope. I did used to, so growing up when we would stay in Florida on Sanibel Island, most half of the days of the week, most many days, I would bike like 25 or 30 miles most days. Yeah. Because I would bike around the island, which was, if I went around the entire island, it was like 25 miles, I think. But yeah, I don't do that anymore.

That's my past. Yeah. I would like get the sun and...

Barry Conrad
Yeah, but you got your weight, you wear your weights and you go shopping at whole foods and you get your pounds and pounds of cucumbers, that's resistance training, you know, and cardio.

Melanie Avalon
Yeah. Well, thank you again for finding that study. It was super awesome. I really like how it went into all the benefits of the different ones.

And it's interesting like the overlap and how to get the best from both combines. So.

Barry Conrad
You guessed it though. You're like, so which one is it? I need to know. I was like, Melanie, wait, wait.

Melanie Avalon
I know. I was like, is this going to be a curveball? So confused. All right.

Well, speaking of curveballs, sort of, I posted a post in the Facebook group and the question was, friends, what has been the most difficult aspect of intermittent fasting for you? So I thought we could talk through these and see what, what people seem to struggle with. That sounds great. So most difficult thing for intermittent fasting. Janice says, finding the sweet spot. I began fasting and did great and had great body composition and perimenopause. Am I fasting too much? Too little? What's just enough? I can't keep the few pounds of extra fluff off these days. I'm seeing what people responded to that. And then so many people said that they agreed. Christine agreed. Norine said they experienced it as well. Christine, Norine, Karen, another Christine, like a different one. Meghan, Jane, Nydia, Marianne. Yeah. So it's a lot of people struggling with when they turned older. So like Nydia, when she turned 50. So Marianne suggested that people check out Mindy Peltz. She said she has great books and podcasts on this. We had Mindy Peltz on the show. So we can put a link to that in the show notes. I'm trying to see if we should like address this or just go through all of them.

Barry Conrad
Well, I think it's interesting because you were when you were talking about that, Melanie, I'm not a female, but I hear this so much and I see it so much. But then also the other camp is like, no, age is there's nothing but a number and you should just that's an excuse. So it's interesting how there's both camps.

What do you think? I mean, you're the female, you're more qualified to talk about that. But what do you think about that?

Melanie Avalon
I'll skim through the comments and I'll see if anybody else said this. Megan said perimenopause, I was fasting consistently and it was working and I loved it. And then one day I was like, don't tell me when to eat and I couldn't fast anymore. I'm assuming it was perimenopause because nothing else changed.

Nicole said she learned that fasting did not serve her well during perimenopause. She went from not eating until mid to late afternoon to now eating first thing in the morning and it has transformed her health and body composition. Tina also said perimenopause has really made I have challenging. I'm moving away from fasting and trying to focus on building muscle.

Barry Conrad
I love what Nicole shared down the bottom there. Which one? Nicole Bruce Bleak. She goes focus on protein intake and lifting weight is where the magic happens.

No more. Oh, okay. Maybe not. She goes, no more IFMA. I do think there is value in stopping food intake two hours before bed. Okay. So I just read the first part of that. Yeah, I don't.

Melanie Avalon
So, well, it's interesting. I think those are all the comments about perimenopause specifically.

There's a lot of comments about other things. I definitely think it's interesting because the hormonal changes when women are aging definitely have a huge, huge effect on this. And especially the perimenopause years when the hormones are really shifting around a lot. And we do know that once women intermenopause fasting can actually maybe be even better for them and easier for them to do, but that transition period can be tough. And well, first of all, I think women should do what works best for them. I think personally that there's a lot of good data and studies on fasting and how it helps regulate your hormones, helps with supporting your metabolic health. So I personally would rather than stop fasting, I would tune more into... I would look at fasting as a continued tool to combat that. Maybe you change your window around. Maybe you fast a little bit less. Definitely looking at food choices and supporting protein. I don't think... I guess basically you have to find what works for you, but I don't think you have to stop fasting while perimenopause. And I realize this question is about what do people find most difficult? And it sounds like that transition period is when a lot of women really struggle. So rather than stopping fasting, I would focus on the food choices and the activity and basically what all can you do to help support your hormones. So that's eating really nutritious food, eating whole foods, focusing on protein, getting daily exercise, getting sunlight exposure, social connection, all the things. Again, some people, maybe it's going to work to stop the fasting, but I don't think you have to necessarily.

Barry Conrad
Yeah, it's super interesting as a male to hear about that period that, because Melanie, you tell me, there's a specific age range where the perimenopause starts, right? Or it just varies for different women?

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, it varies. It just depends on your own, like your own body composition and everything. I know some women will say they don't even really experience symptoms. And then some do.

I do think if you're following an unhealthy lifestyle, eating a standard American diet, that that's probably going to make this whole transition a lot worse. I'm not an expert on it. That's why I interview experts like I did, like I said, Dr. Mindy Peltz, Cynthia Thurlow, the former co-host of the show was good at speaking about it.

Barry Conrad
Yeah, super interesting. There's also so many more comments here where people find tough, right?

Melanie Avalon
Yes, so let's see other things we've got we've got weekends. That's a funny one. So

Barry Conrad
with a crying emoji. I love that. That's funny.

Melanie Avalon
One thing I love about fasting is you can really find a window that works for you. And so if you know that weekends are what you struggle with, like how can you take a moment not during the, not on the weekend when you're actually, when you're tempted with all the food and all the things, can you take a moment, you know, during the week, look at, okay, what's a schedule that's going to allow you to quote, you know, have your cake and eat it too.

Maybe you can fast consistently longer during the weekdays and then during the weekend, have your fasting window cover a social outing. So explore a little bit more and eat more food on the weekends with a longer eating window. But that doesn't necessarily mean you have to eat like all day every day the entire weekend. You could still have a, you know, you could still, you could like open up your window a little bit more without the whole thing doesn't have to be a waste if that or, you know, gone. Yeah. Do you have thoughts on weekends? Like, I think you can be really smart about it.

Barry Conrad
Yeah, I agree. I think not for everyone, but a lot of people seem to think weekends, it's like a special occasion, like it's a Christmas or something. And that that's like the time to blow it out. Like it's time to celebrate the week, you know, because I worked all week. So I kind of like this is my treat kind of thing. And that's I love that.

Like, it's great to celebrate the week, but you can also do it in a way that serves you rather than undo your hard work, as Melanie said, you just plan a, for example, maybe fast for a little bit longer. Or just your window during the week have make better food choices during the week. And then you can enjoy those things that you really want to have on the weekend. If you want that, you know, because everyone's body is different, you might react differently to different foods. So you can quote unquote, have your cake and eat it too. But it's got to be intentional.

It's not just a magic pill for blow it out and then just start again on Monday, because that's the mindset. A lot of people have. I'll start again on Monday and we don't need to do that. We work too hard during the week and we're so disciplined. So why throw that all away? Just because it's a Saturday, you know what I mean?

Melanie Avalon
Yes, exactly. And I feel really strongly about this.

What I love about my intermittent fasting protocol is I never actually feel the need to like relieve myself with the weekend and reward myself because I'm so happy with how I'm eating normally. I think if you're like white knuckling it during the week and you're just looking forward to the weekend to go crazy, not necessarily that that's what she's doing, but I think I would look more at how am I eating during the week that is making me have this need to overcompensate on the weekends, if that makes sense. Like what you're doing should feel sustainable and nourishing and fulfilling to you. So if it's a constant struggle to have this weekend time when you go off the rails, maybe you need to look more at what you're eating normally so that you don't have that really intense desire.

Barry Conrad
to relate a little bit to that, not necessarily a weekend, but an analogy could be like whenever I wrap a shoot or anything like that like a tradition that I have is I'll have like a treat that I really want like maybe it could be. Chocolate or chips or something like that or burger and I'll have it. And that's not necessarily a Saturday it's just like whenever you know what I mean so it's not like an occasion.

But also interestingly enough that's changed over time the more I've done intermittent fasting like I actually don't feel like having that I have this instead. Not that I can't have it it's just like your taste buds change do you find that Melanie like your taste and cravings for things can change over time.

Melanie Avalon
Exactly. And the longer I did intermittent fasting, I slowly lost that desire because I just became so happy and fulfilled with what I was eating.

Time can really help, especially if you're new to fasting. Stewart said skipping breakfast sucked, skipping dinner was much better, much. And I think that's really telling. Basically, you got to know which meals work for you because if I were to skip dinner and have breakfast instead, I would be so miserable. But that's me. So yeah. So I think that's an easy fix for people is if they don't like skipping one certain meal, do what works for you. Don't do what you feel like you need to be doing for the meal that you're skipping.

Barry Conrad
I don't know. I just, I don't know, Melanie, I could not skipping dinner. I'd be so sad.

Melanie Avalon
I know. Some of you will love it though. I would like to be that way. Alas, I am not.

Barry Conrad
Like a morning person and like a breakfast person.

Melanie Avalon
Yep. Someday. Someday. Okay.

And then we have Anna Marie said, consistency and finding the best balance to make it stick. I know how good this is, but I just can't find the best window. So that kind of speaks to everything that we're just saying. Like you gotta, it gets easier to stick once you find what works for you. And that does take time for some people to experiment and try different things. So you can find the best window. Like there is the best window out there. And I think, you know, keep trying things and consistency can be required for that. Like you might need to do something consistently to see if it's working. I mean, you do need to do probably something you probably do need to do it consistently to see if it's working.

Barry Conrad
Yeah, and definitely not just a day or two. It takes time. Give yourself a good few weeks to a month.

It's not just going to happen. You need to stick it out. Go through that period where you might feel fatigued or feel not fun in the beginning when you're just starting out. It's not going to be easy necessarily, but you do need to diligently and consistently stick it out, and you will see a change, but you just need to get past that point.

Melanie Avalon
Exactly. Let's see. The next one is Noreen said, I became so focused on the clock that I forgot to listen to real hunger. This has led to binging.

I started IF to lose 20 pounds. It worked until this happened and now I'm still fasting and I have the extra 20 pounds. It took six months to lose. I maintained 1.5 years. I've struggled the past two years. I don't listen to my body's cues anymore. Every day I say I'm going to, I work out hard at the gym, lifting cardio 70-30, I'm strong and lean under 20 pounds of fluff. I think I'm going to say because next week we have a question about binging so I might bring this question back and maybe we can talk about both of those then. That sounds good. Susan said, my hubby eating in front of me. Yes, this is another reason I probably should never get married.

Barry Conrad
Really? Why? Because you'd be too tempted by...

Melanie Avalon
No, not really. It's just the idea of living with somebody. There's a lot. No, no, no. But like, it doesn't bother me people eating at all. Does it bother you if you're fasting and people are eating?

Barry Conrad
No way, not at all actually.

Melanie Avalon
It's interesting.

Yeah, I really thought it would like before I started, but it's Yeah, it's it's not it's not hard for me at all Like i'm so content and how I feel in the fastest state And i'm so looking forward to when I will have my meal that it just doesn't Doesn't bother me

Barry Conrad
Do you know what is interesting now i feel like it's often the other way around where if you say i'm just gonna have a drink or or nothing people then feel guilty or feel worse or bad which is that's interesting to me it's not usually me it's the other way around.

Melanie Avalon
It's yeah, it's I really feel like it's the it's like I can be completely fine. But then people have all this weird social guilt. And that's why I literally had to just I just had to get over that myself personally, I was like, you know what, it's not my responsibility to take on other people's feelings. And me, me not eating doesn't affect it might affect how they feel. That's not my responsibility.

Like if they you know, if it bothers them. Because I mean, all you can really do is like control you and control your actions and how you treat other people and like living with kindness and all the things and worrying about how everybody feels a certain way about your own personal choices if they're not actually affecting them. That's just too much of a burden for me personally to take on and I don't think it's healthy. Yeah, I could go on a soapbox about that.

Barry Conrad
Yeah, totally. And people get so hung up on- It's the whole- I don't know what it is. It's almost like this fire that ignites in people. Like, why aren't you eating? Are you starving yourself? Like, and they get really passionate about it without even having any knowledge about even anything to do with nutrition. It's just something- I don't know. Do you find that all I do anyway?

Melanie Avalon
Mm-hmm. It's I think it's a lot of triggering and projection often not always but I think people are often if you're not eating and they are and if they at all Feel uncomfortable about what they're eating.

It can seem like it draws a spotlight onto it if if you're not eating at the same time So I think yeah I just can't take on other people's feelings like But I realized with susan's thing It's more about like, you know, her husband probably clearly probably doesn't do fasting and so it's you know A thing with him, you know eating in front of her and I don't have any good advice

Barry Conrad
You know especially no I can I can relate especially if he knows that she's trying to perhaps maybe curbs and cravings or whatnot and he's deliberately eating the thing that she struggles with in front of her I think that's could be quite hard. You know could be the things he's eating in front of her not just necessarily just eating could be like the types of food you know.

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, I mean, I think it's a thing, it's hard to know like how much of an issue it is. I think if it's actually like creating a struggle for you, that would be, you know, a conversation to have to figure out how to best address that.

Because one of the most empowering things that you can do is adjusting your environment to set you up for success. So if that's like a consistent thing that is in your environment, that's a hurdle. Like I'm sure there's a solution you guys can come to, which still lets your husband eat all the things. But maybe just not when, you know, maybe, I don't know, I don't know what the situation is. If it's like that there are like dinner, like you sitting at a dinner, or if it's just like eating the things, like it might be a thing where you can just change your, maybe you do, maybe you do something else during that time. You know, that's when you go, I'm the person here talking. I'm like, you don't have to be around your husband all the time. No.

Barry Conrad
But we hear you. Thank you for sending in that.

Melanie Avalon
Yes, we do. Her last name is Cook, too. It's in her nature to Cook.

Jackie says, doctors, nutritionists, etc., saying it's not good for your body long term. Yeah, for that, I would just keep doing your own research. And, you know, that's in part why we have this show, to spread knowledge and awareness. And don't forget that you choose your doctors and nutritionists. They don't, especially nutritionists, do not work with a nutritionist who doesn't support fasting. That just makes no sense. Like you want to find a nutritionist that understands. With doctors, I can see with especially like finding one on your insurance and like who understands your conditions. But don't forget that you choose your doctors. So they don't choose you.

Barry Conrad
Melanie, on that, did I tell you what happened to me? I think this was early last year where I went to get my bloods done and I got into like a debate with the doctor about fasting because she said, make sure that, you know, before you come in tomorrow morning, like, you know, don't eat, you know, you have to fast as they say. But I said, oh yeah, that's no issue. I do intermittent fasting, I fast 20 hours a day and she immediately stopped writing on her pad and she was like, what do you mean, 20 hours? That's not, that's like, she'd never heard that before and she was like, that's unhealthy.

You shouldn't fast for that much. We like sat there for like a good five, 10 minutes debating this. It was crazy.

Melanie Avalon
How did it end?

Barry Conrad
She came to, she's like, okay, like, you know, I was basically just talking about the science of it and everything in it, in it, trying to become about it so that it wouldn't be defensive. But yeah, it was, it took her a second and I'm so surprised how many doctors and medical professionals just don't know, like, they're not up to speed with the current, like, that's problematic to me.

I don't think that's great.

Melanie Avalon
And it's hard too, especially because the doctors have a sort of power position feeling. So you can feel, I think that's just a societal cultural thing, but it can be scary to push back and actually, you know, show them the data and the literature and everything.

And that's why I think it's so important to find doctors that are open-minded. And that's something that's really important to me with doctors that I work with. Kudos to you to having the debate with her.

Barry Conrad
So I love a good debate because I just think it's a good conversation. I'm like, you want to play ball? Let's, let's, let's play ball. Let's go.

Melanie Avalon
Oh man, yeah. There's a lot more, but maybe ones to end with. Well, here's somebody who just put in some inspiring things. Sheila, Sheila. Is that Australia?

Barry Conrad
That's a very Australian name, hey, Sheila.

Melanie Avalon
She says, five years in and it's the best and easiest sustainable way of living a healthy life at a stable weight. I love that, I love that. I do like this one, maybe this is a good one to end with.

I just saw it. I like this. So Jackie says, the sad reality is you can't eat whatever you want on IF and lose weight. Somehow this has been a strongly held belief. My thoughts there are, I think that's true for a lot of people. Some people will seemingly be able to eat whatever they want and they'll lose weight. A lot of people cannot. I agree that this is like a strongly held belief that I think a lot of people think fasting is like this magic thing and you can always eat all the things all the time and like whatever you want. You still have to make conscious food choices in your eating window.

It might not be like a lot of choices that you have to make. Like it might just be, like you can probably, you might still be able to seemingly feel indulgent, but if you are fasting every day, but then you're eating 10,000 calories, I mean of junk food, that's going to have metabolic effects. I do think it's a commonly held misconception. What do you think?

Barry Conrad
I 100% agree with this. This is something that I do feel passionate about as well, because a lot of people struggle with food in general.

It's not just fasting or any diet. It's just the self-control around food, and that can be very personal and can be from the past issues with food as well. So knowing yourself is very important when it comes to intermittent fasting or any kind of protocol that you take on, because for example, I'm very happy to eat the way I do throughout the week. I know that if I have a treat, just being aware that if I eat this type of food, I know that tomorrow I'm going to carry more water weight, I'll look more puffy, I won't feel as great, but it's the knowledge of it. So if you're aware and educating yourself about the types of things you take into your body, what it's going to do, and how it's going to make you feel, that's very important, and not being afraid or panic about that. But if you ignorantly just eat, like as Melanie said, 10,000 calories and just think that fasting is protective of that, or it's going to mitigate that, that's not reality or how that works. So I think the biggest thing here is knowledge of what different types of foods, how they affect your body. It's very, very important on this journey, because you can enjoy the things that you want, but you need to know how it affects you first, so that you don't panic when it does happen.

Or if the scale goes up, if you do weigh yourself, that's something that you do. It could just be water. It's not possible to gain two pounds of fat overnight. It doesn't work that way. So just being aware, but yeah, it's tricky because we don't want to prescribe like you have to eat these specific foods. This is not what the show is about, but it's just important to know how different foods affect your body. Sorry if I repeated myself too much there, but it's important. You need to know that.

Melanie Avalon
Exactly. And at the same time, like that doesn't mean fasting didn't work. And what you're not seeing is say you do eat like the 10,000 calories of processed food and gain some weight with fasting. If you hadn't fasted, you probably would have gained even more. So, you know, that you're still getting benefits.

It's just, it doesn't necessarily quote, cover everything you could ever do in your eating window. Speaking of, shall we have our proverbial hypothetical in our minds, breaking our fast moment?

Barry Conrad
It sounds good to me. I'm ready. Let's go.

Melanie Avalon
Okay listeners, so every episode we like to pick and showcase a restaurant and talk about what we would eat because so many of the benefits of intermittent fasting actually come down to what you're eating or that you're that you're actually eating like you're having the um the feeding window not just the fasting. So

Barry Conrad
As well, I actually got some feedback two days ago from someone saying I have listened to the show because I told them I was the new co host and they specifically said I love the restaurant thing I love that you're talking about food as well so it's not just.

Melanie Avalon
Oh, really?

Barry Conrad
Yeah, and that's awesome. I love that it's so great. Yeah

Melanie Avalon
I know. I'm like wondering, I'm like, is this just completely self-indulgent?

Because I have so much fun doing it. But I know for me, I love looking up restaurants anyways, like personally. I like looking at menus and I like hearing people talk about it. So OK, I've had a moment with myself where there are so many Disney restaurants I want to talk about. So I'm like, maybe I can like alternate and do a Disney one and then another one.

Barry Conrad
I'm all for it. Bring the Disney ones. I'm about it.

Melanie Avalon
Because I read Disney food blog and I'm obsessed with all the restaurants there and they have so many cool restaurants.

Barry Conrad
There's a Disney food blog? Wh-what?

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, it's a really cool website. It's DisneyFoodBlog.com. It's been around forever and they send out, they call them reporters, but they do reviews every single day of all the restaurants, all the new food throughout the park. I read it.

So it's funny. I haven't been in a while. I can tell you about all the restaurants there. Oh, actually that's the restaurant that we could do today. It's funny because my parents just went for my dad's birthday because they like go to Disney without us for fun. They're like, we're going to this new Japanese restaurant there. And I was like, oh yeah, I know all about it because I did, because I read this blog. Should we do that one?

Barry Conrad
Let's do it. I love Japanese food. Also, I love that your folks go to Disneyland without you. That's great.

Melanie Avalon
I know they go to Epcot all the time and then they just go and I'm like okay well wish I was there.

Barry Conrad
EPCOT? Mm-hmm. Hold on. What is... Do you know about this? I'm lost. Are you confused? I'm confused, yeah. EPCOT is... I'm looking it up.

Melanie Avalon
So Disney World is made of four different parks. There's Magic Kingdom, which is what you think of when you think of Disney World or Disneyland. And Magic Kingdom is very similar to Disneyland in California.

Then there's Epcot, my favorite, stands for the experimental prototype community of tomorrow. And it's very, you would love it. It's 11 different countries. Each country is set up to look like the country. The people who work at that country are from that country, and they wear the outfits. And then there's restaurants, there's shopping, there's rides. So you get to experience the world. And it's around this beautiful lagoon. Then they have Future World with other rides and the land. There's another part of the park that's not the countries, but it's amazing. And the music's incredible and it's amazing.

Barry Conrad
Melanie, you are blowing my mind, mind-blowing podcasts, blowing my mind, everything just to like all these things I've never heard of before.

Melanie Avalon
You would love it, like you would love it, love it, love it.

Barry Conrad
We'll have to go to one of them at some point.

Melanie Avalon
Yes. So like last, no, no, two episodes ago when I was saying that I wanted you to perform at the candlelight processional.

So in the American pavilion, which is America, they have a like an outdoor amphitheater. And they do shows there during like normally, but at Christmas time, they do a candlelight processional, where they I think they read like the Christmas story, and they do music, but they have like celebrity performers.

Barry Conrad
I'd love that I've done something called Christmas Coca-Cola Christmas in the park in New Zealand, which is like a like a televised carols things I've done that like for like three years. That was fun.

I don't know if it's the same sort of a thing, but I love Christmas music. So it's my it's my vibe.

Melanie Avalon
I adore Christmas music. And Christmas at the parks is so magical.

The other two parks, so there's Hollywood Studios. So that's all movie themed. And then there's Animal Kingdom, which is like a massive zoo on steroids with rides and immersive safaris and etc. They have an Expedition Everest roller coaster where you go up Everest. How did I not know about this at all? I don't know because it's like my favorite place in the world and I literally read about it every night.

I'm trying to find the restaurant because I don't know if they're gonna have the menu online because, let me see if I can find it.

Barry Conrad
There has to be a menu now because now I'm just all in.

Melanie Avalon
All right, well, now that we're having this conversation, I was going to do a different country's restaurant, but I feel like should I do the country, the restaurant that my parents went to?

Barry Conrad
I feel like you should. Let's do it.

Melanie Avalon
Okay, so this restaurant, I'm bad at pronouncing things. It's called Takumi Te. So T-A-K-U-M-I-T-E-I. It's new-ish. It's newer. It's an Epcot in the Japanese pavilion. It's a set price menu, so it's very pricey. It's $250 per adult.

But my parents sent me pictures of their food, and it was wild. So basically, they make a... It's a set price menu with a lot of really nice stuff from Japan. And they change seasonally with the seasons, which is cool. So I will send you...

Barry Conrad
That sounds amazing. Sounds like my kind of place.

Melanie Avalon
It would be hard, I think, for me to fill up here because it is like a set price menu and you get lots of smaller things. This is gonna be hard if we go through the whole thing. Did you get the menu?

Barry Conrad
I got the menu now, oh wow, okay. So 250 adult, but it's got like all the stuff. I'm all about that. I love a good set menu because it just takes the thinking out of it. Just give me the best that you got.

Melanie Avalon
Whoa, it's a lot. There's so many things. So we can do the, I think we would probably get the traditional menu, right? So the omakas, wait, how do you say it?

Barry Conrad
I can't say many.

Melanie Avalon
Omakasi menu, Kiku. They also have a semi-course which looks like it's it is a a smaller version of the menu and then they have a plant-based version of the menu and then they have Lots of sake.

Do you drink sake?

Barry Conrad
I actually love sake. Yeah? Yeah, it's really good. Do you drink it or not?

Melanie Avalon
No, have you tried it? I'm getting flashbacks.

I have definitely been somewhere where there was a very expensive sake and like the thing to do, like whatever the experience was, like I should have drank it there because that was like the thing to do. I don't think I did.

Barry Conrad
You gotta try it. Okay, okay. That's something we need to try then. Sake.

Melanie Avalon
Okay, well, we can go here maybe. Okay, so the first course you get, and this is so fun because literally I have pictures of a lot of this from my parents.

So the first course you get sea bream sushi with, I can't do these words.

Barry Conrad
kungbo jim yeh

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, do you want to read it?

Barry Conrad
The first course you get sea bream sushi with kom bojimye, pickled radish, egg yolk vinegar, chives, deep fried tofu with white miso broth and salted cherry blossom, seared bonito with ponzu jelly, chopped chives and shiso flour. It sounds so good.

Melanie Avalon
So I think I'm gonna just like pick at that one and you can probably have the majority of it.

Barry Conrad
What do you mean pick? What does that mean? Like?

Melanie Avalon
I don't even, I don't know what these, so sushi with, do you know what that is? Come that word.

Barry Conrad
It's a technique used to enhance the taste of sashimi fish through aging the fish between again between two sheets just like to. Lesser meets between two sheets sorry.

Melanie Avalon
That's a flashback to episode 420 for listeners.

Barry Conrad
between two sheets of kelp. Wow, interesting.

Melanie Avalon
There you go. Okay, so that's the first course. And then the second course is called...

Barry Conrad
I want to say Hasun.

Melanie Avalon
Pass soon? Oh yeah, you're so much better at this.

Barry Conrad
Yep, so it's eight meticulously crafted selections thoughtfully curated by Takumi Te.

Melanie Avalon
Okay, so basically curveball. We're not sure what it's gonna be. I can tell you what let's see if I have it for my parents

Barry Conrad
Look at the photo. I reckon this would be so good now. Did they say it was really young?

Melanie Avalon
Yeah. Also, let me tell you what they sent us pictures of.

Actually, we can go through the rest of the meal and then I'll tell you what they sent pictures of because maybe after we read it, I might identify the pictures more appropriately. Okay. So the next course after that is, do you want to go with this?

Barry Conrad
It's called Shizakana. So it says here, please make your selection from the following options.

Melanie Avalon
Yes, we get to make a choice. Okay.

Barry Conrad
Okay so a five japanese wagyu and mini zucchini tempura pickled purple cabbage special leak sauce served with carrot chips or. Use you and grilled flounder i think i feel like you can like the founder with many zucchini tempura and had you can be accompanied by pickled purple cabbage uses salt and the aroma of japanese cedar or.

So that's one choice by the way guys or japanese wagyu steak with special leak sauce mini zucchini tempura pickled purple cabbage and carrot chips so that's a much shorter choice for an additional thirty five dollars i reckon i'm gonna go the first one what about you.

Melanie Avalon
Okay, I'm going to go the second. The second sounds like more, the second sounds more meat focused.

It's like a steak, you know, and the first one is like tempura and a lot going on and it's a five Japanese white. And this is like the real so shout out Danielle and I on the Mindblown podcast did an episode on the world's most expensive foods. And we talked about Wagyu. So this is probably like the actual Wagyu not like you can get Wagyu in the US, but it's not the actual like from Japan stuff that's really expensive. Yeah, so okay, so you're going to get the first one, I'll get the second one. Yeah, and I'm going to get it kind of this is like the first thing I think I can like maybe eat easily. I'm going to get it like plain. Can I put all the stuff on the side? Okay, next one.

Barry Conrad
So sashimi, sashimi, seasonal fish sashimi served with an assortment of garnishes. That sounds pretty good. Okay, I'm down for that one, yeah. Down for that always.

The next one is called hiyashi hachi. This is chilled inanewa udon noodles. I love udon noodles. With A5 Japanese wagyu served in a special white sesame broth accompanied by simed eggplant, cabbage, yellow bell pepper, grated radish. That actually sounds really good.

Melanie Avalon
I think I'm gonna struggle a little bit at this restaurant. Why? Because it's a lot of, it's a lot of small portions of a lot of ingredients.

I wonder if I talk to them, I'm like, listen, can you just send, can you just, it's Disney. They're like all about, you know, being accommodating. I'll be like, can you, like, I'll do the menu. Can you just give me like the meat and fish aspects of each one by itself?

Barry Conrad
Or you could actually say, can you just deconstruct each dish for me?

Melanie Avalon
Yes, can you deconstruct average?

Barry Conrad
So you can have like you could just like basically put things together that you want kind of thing.

Melanie Avalon
Yeah. Okay. The last entree part of it is...

Barry Conrad
Last but not least is called the Gohan Mono Simid A5 Wagyu Chirashi Don with Sushimi served with red miso soup or bluefin tuna and a homemade pickled white radish Chirashi sushi with chopped shiso leaf and wasabi served with red miso soup. So there's an option there.

What are you going to go with there?

Melanie Avalon
I'm gonna go with more I think Wagyu. I'm just gonna like stock up on Wagyu here. Well actually, I would like to try the tuna. I get worried about the mercury levels.

Barry Conrad
How about you get that? I'll get the tuna and then you can always pick it. Have a little taste. Okay. Thank you. Sounds great.

And then we'll migrate to the... And then the dessert. Yes. So it's called the matcha and kanmi.

Melanie Avalon
And I'm already going to say because you pick something. So no, no, you have to select something. So we can just get one of each and you can have both.

Barry Conrad
Sure. So please select from the following.

So these are the two options listeners. So match a rare cheesecake with strawberries, blueberries, floral, crunchy chocolate, yum, and gold leaf or melted or melted sweet potato pudding with strawberries, blueberries, caramel whip and gold leaf or fresh seasonal fruit with homemade lemon, honey and gold leaf. Wow. So there's three options there.

Melanie Avalon
Oh, so we have to so we're gonna have to pick two. Which two are you picking?

Barry Conrad
I'm going to go with the first and the last, that's my two that I would choose.

Melanie Avalon
Solid choice.

Barry Conrad
What do you think?

Melanie Avalon
Well, I don't want any of it. So you get two choices because you can have one of mine. I'm going to try to get more meat for dessert. We'll see how that goes. We'll say a prayer.

Barry Conrad
I feel like you've got a lot of wagyu already, right?

Melanie Avalon
I want more, maybe they'll give me more salmon like sashimi.

Barry Conrad
Did your parents say how, like, based on the photos, are they quite big washens or they-

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, I'm looking, okay, so the photos they sent me that I have from when they went, so, and they said that when they went, so like I said, it's a seasonal menu, and they, they re-themed, I think they re-themed the entire restaurant to that season, and then they changed the menu for it. And what's also cool about it is you can see the fireworks from the restaurant if you're in there during the firework show.

But this is one of the newer upscale restaurants, and this is one of them.

Barry Conrad
Sounds amazing

Melanie Avalon
Yeah. So maybe for next week, I'll do the other really, really upscale restaurant. There's a few, but there's one like this where it's like very, very upscale and it's in a different country and I like the menu a lot better.

But from the pictures that my parents sent, so I have a picture of my dad smiling and there's, it looks like actual steak. So it might be the wagyu steak. It's surrounded by like veg. Oh yeah, this is it because it says, yeah, it's surrounded by purple cabbage like in the picture and carrots on top. Yep. So it's that one. Yeah. It looks, it looks good. Yeah. Then they sent a picture of my mom with a whole thing of sushi and then the dessert, they sent a picture. I have a text saying, oops, we already finished this course and it's just empty plates and like an empty, like an empty seashell. So thanks. Thanks guys. And then there's a picture of the dessert and it's, it looks like a marbled cake with, there's like a strawberry and there's little like flowers. And then there's a, whoa, there's like a, I don't know what that is. It's like a jelly dessert thing.

Barry Conrad
It does that so it's...

Melanie Avalon
Oh, and then the server brought out or made origami for them. Yeah, apparently the servers are like very into it and like educate you and like tell you about how it's done and make origami and things like that.

Barry Conrad
Where is this one based again, Mel? So this is in which city?

Melanie Avalon
So this is in the Japan pavilion in Epcot.

Barry Conrad
And so they just went there for like a trip or.

Melanie Avalon
Oh, my parents? Oh, my dad's birthday. Oh, wait. Yes, my dad's birthday.

Yeah. They said they decided to go really last minute. And I guess they could get reservations because it is it's probably the most expensive restaurant in Epcot. So because it's so expensive, there's reservations available. So they didn't have any other choice. But yeah, okay. Oh, I'm so excited to do more Disney restaurants on the show, especially because I because I'm going to get you so excited about Epcot. And then then we can like actually go

Barry Conrad
I'm totally I'm all for it like I love Disney and I love this. I actually love a set menu. You know when you go out with friends and they're like, ah, no, like that's too much. I just want to order things, but it's just like easier. Just let's just order the set menu and just like chill, you know, when I think about it.

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, this is how we're so different.

Barry Conrad
Okay, hold on, let me zoom out for a second.

Melanie Avalon
I like stat menu. Bye!

Barry Conrad
It depends though, like if it's if it's not a great one, no, but if it's like a good one and I haven't been there and I just want to catch up with someone sure, you know, it's fine.

Melanie Avalon
I think if they can adapt to my craziness, it's going to be wild when we actually go out to eat and you can experience me doing this stuff. No, but I'm very, I'm very, this is what I'm trying to empower and encourage listeners. Like you can be very nice and kind and order things the way you want and it's all fine. I promise it's all fine.

Barry Conrad
It is fine. It's actually not bad to ask a question. You just have to do it politely.

Melanie Avalon
Yeah, and I would rather have a customer that has requests who treats me nicely and is kind than no requests, but just not pleasant. So I think it's really important how we treat the servers.

Barry Conrad
Honestly, Mel, I especially know in light of me going to actually be, I actually can't wait to go out to eat with you. It's going to be fun.

Pressure, no pressure, pressure. You can't cover your mouth too much. You can't look away too much.

Melanie Avalon
Wait, Barry, I have an idea now. I feel like we should make a podcast where we just talk about Disney restaurants. Just saying. That might actually work really well.

Okay. To-do list. We could do like a whole show. We could like, wait, we could move to Orlando and... Okay, sorry. I get excited with ideas.

Barry Conrad
You are a Disney princess, essentially. I mean, look at the dresses you wear to your shows. I wish.

Melanie Avalon
Yes. Well, this has been so, so fun for listeners. If you have your own questions for the show, please email questions at iapodcast.com or you can go to iapodcast.com. You can submit questions there.

You can follow us on Instagram. I am Melanie Avalon. Barry is Barry underscore Conrad currently based in Australia, but soon to be in the US. And we are iapodcast on Instagram. So this is so fun. I will talk to you next week.

Barry Conrad
Talk to you next week. Thank you so much for tuning in everyone and we'll catch you very soon.

Melanie Avalon
Bye. Bye.

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.

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