Welcome to Episode 471 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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Featured Restaurant: Antoine's Restaurant
STUDIES: Intermittent Fasting: A Metabolically Focused Therapeutic Strategy for Obesity
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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 471 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 B.C. 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 471 of the Intermittent Fasting Podcast. I'm Melanie Avalon. I'm here with Barry Conrad. Barry, how are you today?
Barry Conrad
Melanie, I'm doing really, really great. I have decided to, well, it's taken a while, but back in Australia, I used to do volunteering at this place called our big kitchen. And basically, you know, because I love my food, like the cook was just like a bit of a kitchen hand in the kitchen, helping to prepare meals and whatnot for homeless people or less fortunate people. And I finally found a place here that I could do that at. So I'm super excited to get, super excited to get started this week. So I'm excited.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, that actually relates to what I was going to talk about.
Barry Conrad
Yeah. So yeah, I guess no one really mind me saying North Brooklyn angels. So it is, I was just walking down the street and this blue vans slash bus that were parked handing out meals to people. And I was, I stood there and I was like, this could be a place I could ask about volunteering.
And then this man kindly goes, would you like a meal, sir? I'm like, Oh, that was really nice. Like, no, no, I just want to,
Melanie Avalon
I can see the light there.
Barry Conrad
Yeah. It's like, oh no, I mean, it looked really good, but it's just like, I'm here to, I'm here to see if I can volunteer, like how can I get involved?
But it was so nice. I just love, I just love seeing people and helping people help other people. It's just, it's awesome.
Melanie Avalon
Oh my goodness, this is so great. So first of all, I love what you're saying about like as volunteering in general is awesome.
And if you can combine it with something you're passionate about, like, you know, that's even better. Because you you know, you love food and all the things. Do you actually cook the meals?
Barry Conrad
Yeah. So you can either do what I saw them doing, which was be parked at different points of the city handing out the meals, or you can actually go to the kitchen.
So I'm going to go to the kitchen to help repair the food and pack the meals. Cause I like that too.
Melanie Avalon
And so, like I said, this literally relates to what I was going to talk about in the beginning, which is I was going to just have a reflection moment of appreciation because, you know, this show is all about intermittent fasting and the benefits of fasting. And also, so much of the importance of that is the food aspect.
And I so appreciate how talented and into food you are, because I wanted, like, this is the type of, I'm just going to read, I'm going to paraphrase, I'm going to read like a small part of the text. This is like the type of text I get from Barry. He was talking about like a party, like a dinner party. And he said, quote, I made homemade ricotta and honey ravioli, followed by crisp skin salmon with burnt orange butter emulsion and arugula and then tiramisu. Like, what? That's so intense. I think it's so cool that you, you know, OK, when you're doing these meals that you do at home, do you like, where do you get the recipes? Do you get them online? And like, how long does it take you to do you have to go? Do you have most of the ingredients for them already? Or do you have to go shop and like get all the ingredients? I'm just like curious how it all works when at your home.
Barry Conrad
Well, thank you so much for the compliment. That's really sweet that you would say that. And genuinely, I just love it.
I love cooking. I love preparing food. It's relaxing for me because I have to focus on just that, so that's great. Lately, we've been getting butcher box. Shout out to butcher box. And so there's lots of quality food in there and then sort of design the recipes around that or order butcher box according to the recipes you want to do. And then yeah, just go for it. It doesn't take that long. It depends on what you're doing, but I love it. I love hosting. I love food and hosting. I love it so much.
Melanie Avalon
Do you, while you're cooking the food, struggle with, like, being hungry during your fast? Or do you, like, do you taste as you cook?
Barry Conrad
Well, if I'm cooking for a dinner party, I'm, my window's open. I'm not going to do like, luckily I'm not a chef where I have to work all day.
And if I was fasting, it would be quite tricky. So as soon as I start cooking, I just start my window, like opening my window. Then I don't try to wait until a certain time, depending on what it is. But most of the time I'll just start eating. It's fine.
Melanie Avalon
amazing yeah i just want to see this process oh wait i'm sorry just one more question how long does it take to to cook everything
Barry Conrad
Well, for three courses, you know, something like that can be like maybe up to a couple hours because there's lots of waiting and maybe stopping and then storing and chilling something and putting it back, all that kind of stuff. It depends what it is, but between an hour and two, but it's fun.
There's music playing. There's wine in hand or cocktail in hand. I might duck over to the piano and play a little piano, go back to the food, all that kind of thing, you know, it's great.
Melanie Avalon
Does it ever not turn out like what you cooked?
Barry Conrad
Not yet, thankfully, but not yet. But it's also, yeah, it gets like crunchy sometimes.
It's like, oh man. Like maybe especially if you run out of time where you think everything's gonna take a lot shorter than it does, and sometimes the oven lies to you and it's not gonna take the temperatures wrong or whatnot and you have to just adjust.
Melanie Avalon
This is so cool. And are you still filming Banter with BC now that you're over here?
Barry Conrad
Yeah on that, so launching season 4 here in New York, I finally actually applied.
Melanie Avalon
Oh wow, season four.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, so I have a place that I'm actually going to on Thursday, which I don't know if the time even matters, but our Thursday email this week, and then Aussie owned hospitality group. So they have a couple of different venues because I wanted to keep that Aussie connection, Aussie in America connection, not just like just an American place. So that's exciting.
It took me a while to find a venue, but I think I've got my videographer and if I like this place in Thursday, then I'm going to use that. So yes, back into it.
Melanie Avalon
Yay, congrats! How can people best watch it and follow it?
Barry Conrad
Yes. So Bantu at BC, you can find on Spotify, Apple Music, all podcast platforms, also on my Instagram, which is at Barry underscore Conrad, or YouTube as well.
So I love if you could watch it as well, because you see us eating and breaking bread literally and talking and drinking and just, you know, all that messy stuff, just the human connection, you don't just have to listen to it.
Melanie Avalon
amazing are you gonna be do you have guests lined up already or
Barry Conrad
I've got a guest list. Let's see if I can... There's some people in mind that I really want.
And it's exciting here, Mel, because it's people in America. There's just so much more people here that I could invite to be on the show. So it's going to probably look a lot different. So I'm really excited for the coming weeks, I should say, coming weeks and months.
Melanie Avalon
I'm going to have to brainstorm because, you know, I've had so many guests on the show and I think a lot of them live in New York, so I'm going to have to brainstorm. Really? Yeah. People who might be good for you.
Barry Conrad
who are fun and who would eat with me as well and eat and drink with me.
Melanie Avalon
Yes. All the things. Awesome.
Barry Conrad
What about you? Also, thank you so much. That was very sweet. How's your week been? How are you doing?
Melanie Avalon
I am good. So by the time this comes out, because this comes out end of April, right now I'm in the last hurrying, finishing up to launch Glow Coffee. So speaking of food and drinks that should hopefully be available by the time this airs, I mean, I'm sure it will be by April, knock on wood. So friends, you can go to glowcoffeeco.com. This is the ideal fasting coffee. We found beans that are super high in CGA, which is the primary antioxidant in coffee. It's organic. It's from a completely female-led farm in Colombia. It's super sustainable. It tastes so delicious. It is the way to glow inside and out.
So to get it, go to glowcoffeeco.com. I guess the only reason it might not be up is if we launch and then we realize... Because that's something I'm really nervous about. So with my supplement line, I was working with a production company. So I didn't have any concerns about order fulfillment and the mechanics of everything. But this is the first... And same with my EMF Blocking Products line. Everything I've done has been working with brands or my brands have been working with pre-existing production partners. This is the first time me and my product. So we're literally going to be order fulfilling ourselves at the beginning until we move to a 3PL. So it's... I'm scared. No, I'm not scared. I have a lot of anticipation.
Very excited anticipation, but it's going to be... It'll be interesting to see how it works with order fulfillment and everything. So my point is if we launch and then we're like, oh wow, this is not what we thought. And we might have to recalibrate. That would be the only reason that there might be like a lag, but it should be up glowcoffeeco.com. And assuming it's not still the launch special, you should be able to use the code IF Podcast to get a discount on that. Which speaking of discounts, ButcherBox, I love ButcherBox. I'm obsessed with them. They make it easy to get affordable access to sustainable meat and seafood, you know, organic chicken, grass-fed beef. It's delicious. I love, love, love their steaks. So for that, go to ButcherBox.com slash IF Podcast and there you will get whatever awesome special they're having right now.
So for right now, for example, they're... Right now, if you were doing it while we're recording, you could get free steak for a year. Free top sirloin steak for a year. Oh, they have top sirloin steak? I haven't tried. I'm going to have to email them. See if I can get some of that. Free chicken breast for a year and free ground beef for a year. I'm going to literally email them.
Barry Conrad
That's so good, aren't they, Melanie? They're really, really good.
Melanie Avalon
It's so good. I'm a steak. This is funny. Okay, this is really funny to me.
So not to go on too much of a tangent, but people will talk about restaurants and how it was the most amazing steak or not good steak. But a lot of times, they have the best steak and they make it about the restaurant. That said, it's really the sourcing of the steak that is the driving factor. I mean, assuming you can cook it correctly, it's where the steak is coming from that really determines what it tastes like. So I always just find it interesting that the focus is so often on the restaurant having good steak when really it's ripe, but where is the steak coming from? What farm did it come from? Is it organic? Is it regenerative? And why does it taste that way? Where's it coming from? So I think it's really important to have transparency of what you're eating, which again, butcher box, it's traceable with their meat.
Barry Conrad
Also, Mel, can I just say, it's so good to finally be able to be having all these things that I've heard you talk about for so long now, you know, butcher box elements, like it's so good. Optimizes.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, because when Barry was in Australia, it was a little difficult to get stuff over there. Yeah, no, it's really exciting. Shall we jump into some things?
Barry Conrad
Let's do it.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, so to start things off we have a study and I'm so excited about this study
Barry Conrad
I'm excited that you're excited because you talked about this last week.
Melanie Avalon
Yes, I did. I teased it. It is called Intermittent Fasting, a Metabolically Focused Therapeutic Strategy for Obesity. And by the way, that title tells nothing about what it's about.
So basically, this study was published in Nutrients, January 23, 2026, so relatively new. The purpose of the study is they were looking at the role of intermittent fasting and how it affects weight loss, obesity, all the things. And the three types of intermittent fasting protocols that they looked at was alternate day fasting, ADF, periodic fasting, 5.2, which sounds kind of similar to ADF, so not sure what the difference was there, and then time restricted eating. And so what they talk about is they start by giving an overview of fasting and why it's really beneficial for weight loss, in particular, the whole metabolic switch that we talk about. So basically, it makes our bodies switch from using glucose or, quote, sugar to fatty acids and ketones. And this switching back and forth is one of the main reasons that people talk about intermittent fasting working. And they talk about how there's all these studies about how intermittent fasting yields weight loss. I'm just laughing thinking about the study last week where, okay, so this is like a study that came out literally within a couple weeks of that other study from last week, which listeners go check out episode 470 if you want to hear me going on the soapbox. But that study was talking about how intermittent fasting has no benefit and doesn't create weight loss. And yet we have this other review here saying the complete opposite. So kind of silly.
In any case, the thing that made this study really unique is they talk about something that is another reason that intermittent fasting is so good for our metabolism and helps us lose weight. And it's not any of the things I just mentioned.
And that is its effect on fat tissue remodeling. So we've talked before on the show about the difference between white adipose tissue and brown adipose tissue. So that's white fat and brown fat, essentially. White fat is what most people think of when they think of fat. So it's the fat that stores energy. It can be very inflammatory. It releases inflammatory cytokines. An excess of it is connected to problematic health outcomes. We don't want a lot of it. Brown fat is also fat. However, it kind of does the exact opposite because it actually helps you burn calories rather than store calories. So the way brown fat works is it's super high in mitochondria, which are the powerhouses, the cellular... See, there we are, the cellular... See, if I'm going fast, I can't say it easily. The cellular energy production part of our cells. And brown fat actually creates heat to burn calories and it warms us up. So that's why cold exposure can really increase brown fat because you need brown fat to keep you warm. It actually works by doing something called non-shivering thermogenesis, meaning one way to make yourself warm is to shiver, like physically shake.
Melanie Avalon
But if you have brown fat, you don't shiver. The fat itself just literally burns calories and creates heat. So we love brown fat because it helps with your body composition. It helps with weight loss, all the things.
And what this study talks about is that intermittent fasting seems to cause white fat to start to turn into brown fat. It actually becomes this in-between state called beige fat. So the browning of the white fat can create beige fat, which is like half white fat, half brown fat. Basically what they propose is that this thermogenic metabolic response of intermittent fasting could be one of the main reasons that we have all these weight loss benefits and these metabolism benefits. And nobody really talks about this. So that's why I love that. And then what I also love is it doesn't even end there. That would have been enough for me.
I would have been happy. And yet the second part of their article or the study is they talk about the importance of the feeding window with this. And they say that basically, so yes, you can get this thermogenic effect from fasting, from brown fat, and you can support a thermogenic effect when you eat. Because there's also diet induced thermogenesis, meaning when you eat, you burn calories from creating heat from digesting the food. And there are certain foods that you can eat to increase this. So they are protein rich food. So out of all the macronutrients, which is carbs, fat, and protein, protein up to 20 to 30% of the quote, calories and protein is released as heat just by digesting it. So that's diet induced thermogenesis. So again, a high protein diet. So again, this shows that a calorie isn't a calorie because if you eat like a hundred calories of protein, like 30% of that, you might burn just digesting it compared to other macronutrients where it's way less.
Like I think the thermogenic effect of fats is zero to 5%, so way less. So fats, you might not burn anything or you might burn like 5%. Carbs are five to 15%. But then again, like I said, protein is 20 to 30, which is crazy. And then they say that you can add in thermogenic bioactive compounds. So you can add things to your food that will further increase the thermogenic effects. So that is capsaicin, which is chili peppers, so like, you know, hot foods. And so those increase fat oxidation and energy expenditure. They talk about, okay, so green tea, catechins and caffeine, both increase energy expenditure and fat oxidation. And then they talk about a compound that actually also activates brown fat. And I hadn't heard of it before, but it's called grains of paradise, extracts of grains of paradise. Yeah. So there are some extracts you can add that will increase brown adipose tissue. And then two more categories of things that we're eating. So the type of fat can, I was mentioning that fat has like a zero to 5% thermogenic effect. The exceptions here are medium trained triglycerides, so MCTs that we talk about a lot on the show, those are rapidly oxidized and they have the highest probably thermogenic effect of fats.
Melanie Avalon
So their thermogenic effect, oh my goodness, some studies have shown over a 50% increase in diet induced thermogenesis when paired with foods like chili, they basically really can increase the overall thermogenic potential of the meal. And then when it comes to other types of fat, so polyunsaturated fats, especially omega-3s, while they aren't necessarily like super thermogenic, they support the mitochondria as efficiency and fat oxidation.
So they actually encourage your mitochondria to burn fat rather than store it compared to like omega-6s, which can do the opposite. And then lastly, polyphenol rich and anthocyanin rich foods are, they also might increase energy expenditure when you're eating. So I mean, when I think of polyphenol rich foods, I think of things like blueberries and like red wine. The example they give was something like something else I hadn't heard of, which was McCreeberry, but that actually also induces browning of white adipose tissue in animal bottles. And then if you want to avoid things for thermogenic effect, so highly processed and refined foods, those make digestion really easy. So they don't have a very high thermogenic effect and not easy, not in a good way. They're just so quickly digested that you don't really burn much doing it. And they also make you not as full. So high glycemic foods suppress fat oxidation. They do mention alcohol, which I thought was interesting because they said minimal thermogenic effect and pairs fat oxidation and promotes liver fat accumulation.
My one caveat here is I think that's a little bit misleading because alcohol is actually highly thermogenic in that when you're having it, it requires a lot to burn it. That said, it does stop fat oxidation while you're having it. So it is going to put you into while you're having a fat storing mode rather than fat burning. And then again, they say large late night meals. But the reason that they don't like that is they say it misaligns with circadian rhythms and reduces glucose tolerance and thermogenesis. But like we talked about before, I think in the context of a one meal a day situation where this is what you're doing daily and that's your fasting pattern, I don't think that's the same thing as eating and then also having large late night meals.
So yeah, so basically long story short, fasting itself helps turn white fat into brown fat. So that you burn more energy. And then when you eat, you can make conscious choices with what you're eating to further increase thermogenesis. So you can just be increasing fat burning like all the time, essentially. So that was a lot.
Barry Conrad
What a study, what a fine, awesome study Mel. I think one of the things that really stood out about this was the thermogenesis situation that the idea that I have, you know, isn't just about the burning the stored fat, but like increasing the heat production in the body and even that, you know, the talking about the brown fat activation and even the white fat becoming more thermogenically active is amazing. I never ever thought about that before.
I also loved the protein angle, of course, and that essentially, you know, you're, if you break your fast with a high protein meal, you're not just refueling, you're increasing the energy cost of that, of the digestion, which is amazing. I wonder if that's one of the more clinically relevant sort of pieces compared to like, like, you know, the chili, the chili situation, I wonder what the percentage of that is in terms of like adding chili and stuff for your food. How, because I've heard people say that before, like, if you add chili to your meal, you increase your metabolism or like spicy food, boost your metabolism. I wonder how real that effect is in the context of fasting.
Melanie Avalon
Do you mean like how much you have to add to the meal or what do you mean like in the context of fasting?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, like, you know, how much you have to add to a meal in terms of like breaking your, when you break your fast and you add that to your meal, that first meal after opening your window, if that, you know.
Melanie Avalon
I would assume it's like normal amounts that you would be like, if it's like a spicy meal, like normal amounts. They don't give the exact, let me see if they give them the amounts here.
So capsaicin from Chili Peppers, let me see what they, I'm gonna look at the study that they referenced. Let's see. The study they referenced was called Could Capsaicin Always Help to Support Weight Management? And it's from 2013, November. Let's see. Oh, it's a review study. So their analysis showed that ingesting it prior to a meal reduced, oh, that's interesting, reduced energy intake by 309 calories. The minimum dose, here's the answer for you, minimum dose of two milligrams of capsaicinoids is needed to contribute, which appears, let's see, to.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, because even like how much if you if you're throwing on some chopped chili or even some ground chili powder or some
Melanie Avalon
So it looks like two milligrams of capsaicinoids in a jalapeno would be one average jalapeno or a cayenne pepper. It would be 0.3 to 0.7 grams of cayenne powder, so not that much. And berry hot peppers like habanero, it would be like 0.1 to 0.2 grams, so just a tiny sliver. Yeah, so it looks like it's about small amounts.
I think it's like normal amounts that people would be adding to their food.
Barry Conrad
Wow. The thing about the meal timing in terms of later, that was interesting again, how that's come up, you know, and that it seems to prefer the early time restricted situation rather than later for better metabolic effects kind of thing.
So that, I wonder how, yeah, if that's just the circadian thing they're concerned of, or do you think it, I don't think it really matters if, yeah, for someone like you and I are doing a OMAD situation on the consistent basis.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. And I can actually all expand more on what they said about that before I leave that section, because I was mentioning that one I hadn't heard of before, the Grains of Paradise. So that's a part of the ginger family. So that's good to know, because when I think of these thermogenic compounds, I was hoping like the ginger family was there because I eat so much ginger.
Let me see what they say about the late night. So they just reference one study, they say large late night meals misaligned with circadian rhythms. Oh, so you know what, this is interesting. Okay, so this is so helpful. I'm glad you asked that. And that we're looking into this more because when I was saying that I was assuming they were talking about it in the context of intermittent fasting, but they're not they're referencing this other study, which was called metabolic effects of late dinner and healthy volunteers, a randomized crossover clinical trial. And in that study, there's no fasting in this study, they're looking at a late dinner versus a routine dinner. That's all they were looking at. So basically, they're looking at people who are okay, so what they're referencing for the late night dinner is looking at eating all throughout the day, and then either eating like your dinner earlier or your dinner later. Like that's what they're referencing. So that's a very, very different situation from an intermittent fasting one meal a day situation. I'm actually surprised that they would reference that when they're all talking about, you know, a fasting context, it's kind of weird that they would reference a non fasting context for that. But because like literally the section starts with not all foods support fasting induced benefits. So if you're talking about fasting induced benefits, and then you're going to say what doesn't work, the studies I think should be in the like context of fasting.
Barry Conrad
I reckon if someone's total daily energy expenditure, for example, is 2,000 calories, I wonder how much of that can realistically be influenced by, when you were talking before about thermogenesis and stuff, I wonder what that looks like from a daily caloric intake, how much of that can be affected by just your dietary choices rather than just your resting caloric expenditure. Like if you can really affect it and tweak that.
Melanie Avalon
Wait, what?
Barry Conrad
So, just say if you had like 2000 calories, that's like your maintenance calories. I wonder if beyond just like you're resting and you're not doing anything physically, if you can impact or influence greater fat burning just by your nutritional choices then, like things like chili or things, you know what I mean?
Like I wonder.
Melanie Avalon
Well, you can because I mean, that's what it's that's what it's showing. So like just by changing the food choices, now you're going to when you eat, you're going to, quote, burn calories that you wouldn't have burned if if you hadn't made that dietary choice.
So like, yeah, with all with all those choices. So so when people are eating like refined foods. You're basically just, you know, storing that it's it's so easy for your body to process. And then when you switch over to like a high protein diet. So OK, let's like come up with like a meal that would be super thermogenic. If you had a meal that was like protein and then maybe you made a like a MCT oil based pepper like sauce. And then if you had an add some ginger and then for dessert had like blueberries. I mean, you're going to be like off to the races.
Barry Conrad
I definitely feel hot, like really hot when I'm eating lots of protein. Me too.
Melanie Avalon
Do you? Oh, yeah. For sure. Some nights, I eat only meat, basically, and I'm really hot that night. And if I add MCT oil, that makes me really hot. Do you ever add MCT oil to food?
Barry Conrad
I add a lot of spice to food, not so much MCT oil, but honestly, lots and lots and lots and lots of chili. People will be shocked. I just love spice. Yeah.
Melanie Avalon
So like when I mentioned those amounts, like how much chili do you use?
Barry Conrad
No, I'm like, you know how sometimes if, for example, if it's in a bottle with, you know, the kind of like a pepper shaker kind of a thing that those kinds of spices, I'll take the lid off and take a teaspoon or two and throw it into the pot rather than like just shake it in like I really like like I'm taking coffee out or something like I'm really I smash it.
Melanie Avalon
You're like the way I am with my ginger and turmeric and lemon powder.
Barry Conrad
Really? The lemon powder, I've not really doubled it that much.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, I add lemon powder, ginger, and turmeric, and I do it in massive amounts. Like you said, like spoonfuls.
Barry Conrad
I love too much, but it just kind of stains things. That's the only thing I need to hack for.
Melanie Avalon
My hands are yellow from it. My teeth used to be yellow from it before I had veneers.
Barry Conrad
I love, but I do love ginger as well. It's so good, but yeah, ginger's amazing.
Melanie Avalon
Ginger's so good. I've what I've started doing because I do use ginger powder, but now and I still use it now though Because I interviewed I interviewed dr.
Erica Siegel. She has this Stunning gorgeous book called the nourish me kitchen. It's it's like a two book I'm just laughing because it's so heavy. I think she said it's 10 pounds the books and When I met her I was that have I told you this story before no I was at eudaimonia conference the first year they had it and I was at this like vip Like it was like the party like thrown by the founders and like cocktail dresses and wine and and so I met her there And she was carrying around The book we started talking. I was like oh i'll have you on the show and she was like Here's the book like I can give it to you She's like or I can mail it to you and I was like, oh no I'll like take it now It was like 10 pounds and then the whole night I was like and we we we walked far like later we went out to like The the breakers and like it was a long night. So I was carrying around this like Massive book like all night like 10 pound weight essentially. Why am I talking about this? Oh, so in her book, she talks about like the all the benefits of ginger and Like using it fresh and I've started doing that. Do you ever grind fresh ginger?
Barry Conrad
I actually love to get some ginger and just chop it up nice and fine. Just fresh ginger. I love that.
Melanie Avalon
I want to find, cause it's hard. So I've been chopping it and grinding it. I want like listeners, if you know, like the perfect spice grinder that can grind ginger, let me know. Cause I need to get that so that I can more easily.
I've been using my coffee grinder to grind it at night. Really? Yeah. Cause then it makes it into like a, like a paste almost so good.
Barry Conrad
Sometimes you use like the, um, it's not a blender. It's the thing, it's like a tool where you hold it and you sort of, you know, I'm talking about and you can kind of, it has a thing at the end of it. It's like a blend, like a handle mixer thing.
Melanie Avalon
for garlic.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, sometimes I do that.
Melanie Avalon
So that's that a garlic press. Yeah. Yes. Okay.
So actually that's what she said in the book was use a garlic press. So I started using a garlic press, but ginger is so hard that like it's very, I mean, it's a good test of your grip strength because, but yeah, I started using the electric one instead, but yeah, it's pretty cool how much agency like you can have over your weight and your metabolism just by making these conscious food choices, you know.
Barry Conrad
I think it's amazing. And also now I'm going to double down on all of the things.
On the pepper. Yeah. On the peppers and the spices on the, on the protein. Cause all of these things help so much thermogenically.
Melanie Avalon
It's so funny. So that's how we're different that way.
I don't like pepper. Really? I don't like spicy stuff. I mean, I love ginger and turmeric, but I don't like, like, I don't seek out. I actually don't remember the last time I had. Maybe I do like it. Maybe I just think I don't.
Barry Conrad
I think you'd like even like hot sauce like just hot I love hot sauce hot any kind of spice It's just so good and satisfying to feel that burn
Melanie Avalon
I do love ginger and turmeric, so maybe, I mean turmeric's not that spicy, but I love horseradish. That's hot. I think we talked about that. That will blind you when you make it, when you grind it.
Barry Conrad
But you were saying something about spice in the past where it's the only, like, animals don't have that, like, they can't taste spice or something.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, humans are the only animals that seek out spicy foods for pleasure. No other animal does this.
Barry Conrad
So fascinating.
Melanie Avalon
Isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, it's like why? We like pain? Endorphins?
Barry Conrad
I like it. I'm not mad.
Melanie Avalon
Would you eat the like, you know, like the ghost pepper and like the ones where it like wipes you out?
Barry Conrad
I have eaten like a whole full on like chili, big pepper before I've done that, just as a dare.
Melanie Avalon
Like a ghost pepper?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, it's pretty bad. That's just silly though, because that's not fun. It's just like thought.
Melanie Avalon
Fascinating.
Barry Conrad
Or maybe more spice and heat in your diet to come to try, maybe.
Melanie Avalon
spice things up, so fasting will be adding heat to you by turning your white fat into brown fat, and then when you eat, you can keep it going.
Barry Conrad
So great. What a great study, seriously.
Melanie Avalon
So, thank you. All right, shall we look at our listener questions?
Barry Conrad
Let's do it!
Melanie Avalon
So we have a question from Charlotte, and this is from Facebook. You can ask questions, by the way, in our Facebook group, IF Biohackers. She says, what are the best high-protein meals to bring to work?
What are the best ways to keep food hot or warm so that I don't have to heat up food in the microwave? I wake up at 5.30 a.m. to get ready and commute to my office. I don't get home till 5.30. I find it hard to get home, prepare a meal, and eat so that I can close my eating period by 7 p.m. since I go to bed by 10 p.m., and I like to have a few hours fasting before I go to bed. I also try to get in a quick wait workout and hour walk in the evening. I guess I'm just trying to figure out the best way to manage a typical commuting work day.
Barry Conrad
Wow. Well, Charlotte, first of all, like reading your schedule may be tired in the best way, because that's a monster of a day. Up at 5.30, commuting, working all day, trying to train in the evening, getting your walk-in as well, eating while closing your window by 7, bit by 10, that's a full day, full life.
So, let's start there, I reckon. It's about what's going to be sustainable for you. I do love that you're thinking ahead, though, instead of just winging it every day, which is really good. And, okay, let's tackle the protein meals for work first, I reckon. When you've got that big, long commute and really tight eating window, protein's going to become non-negotiable because it's going to keep you full. And we've talked about this before, the satiety that protein provides, it's going to really, really support your weight training, and I love that you weight train, and it's going to help stabilize your energy, Charlotte, so that you're not crashing at three during those long days. And some of my favorite portable, high-protein meal options, for example, are things that don't feel sad when you're eating out of a container. Like, think like grilled chicken thighs or grilled chicken breasts with some veggies in there, maybe some rice, some steak slices, butcher with a side of salad and some olive oil, some turkey meatballs is a good one. Hard boiled eggs are always something that I love to bag up, and I drizzle some olive oil in there, some salt and pepper with avocado. Greek yogurt's always a win with some blueberries, a scoop of whey protein, some great protein they're mixed in. Cottage cheese is really practical with salts, pepper, even some hearty lentils and chicken soup sort of thing or a chicken bowl. These are all things that can hold up pretty well throughout the day and don't really rely on being super piping hot to be satisfying. So those are just a few things. If you prefer, if you really do have to have warm food, Charlotte, and you don't want a microwave, which a lot of people don't, a good sort of... There's thermo food jars that could be a good thing, the kind that you sort of preheat with boiling water or something like that before you can add it to your hot meal. If you put properly heated food into a preheated thermos in the morning, it can really stay hot for a while. So chili, throwing back to what Melanie's study was about, chili-threaded beef, curry, stir-fry, scrambled eggs even can hold up surprisingly well in those. And that can kind of get rid of the whole microwave situation. Another thing is sort of like flipping the script a little for yourself. So instead of thinking... So Charlotte, instead of thinking like dinner has to be this main prep situation, this main window, what if you maybe batch cook once or twice a week maybe? You could try doing that. Maybe a Sunday evening, you can cook a big tray of protein of sorts. So salmon, beef, chicken, whatever you'd like. And then maybe just portion it out so your weekday doesn't...
Barry Conrad
Your weekday self doesn't have to make these decisions. You know what I mean? Because decision fatigue is real anyway and fasting takes decisions now. But when you're working that much, there's still a lot of decisions to be made, especially after a long commute.
So Charlotte, you said you leave early and get home at 5.30. If you're trying to close your window by 7 and you want to lift and walk in the evening as well, something has to give a little bit. So I reckon either maybe try prep food so it's ready the second you walk in or maybe shift one of those variables a little bit. One idea could also be like having your main meal at work. Is that an option? That could maybe mean breaking your fast around like early afternoon and your biggest protein meal focus meal could be there. If that makes you too tired though, maybe not. But then when you get home, you can train, go for you, walk and have a lighter second meal. That could be something like a protein shake with Greek yogurt and berries, eggs, some spinach. Again, I guess you don't have to do everything every single day, but these are just sort of ideas to help just kind of preempt your massive schedule that you have. Sustainability is going to always beat these massive, heroic efforts daily. That's going to burn you out, Charlotte. So hydration and electrolytes will help as well. Again, it's not about perfection as we always say. Doing something that's sustainable, batch cook, adjust your timing slightly if you need to. Your life is so full. Your plan should support that, I reckon. So if you build a rhythm that works in your busiest days, Charlotte, everything else is going to become much more manageable. Mel, do you have any thoughts?
Melanie Avalon
That was such an epic answer. Thank you.
Yeah, I was actually confused and I've read her question like five times. I'm confused if she is asking us how to eat after or if she's saying that she doesn't eat after and that's why she wants more high protein meals for work. Like I wonder if she's already decided not to eat at home.
Barry Conrad
Yeah. I think in the question where she says, I find it hard to get home, prepare a meal and eat so I can close my period at seven.
I feel like so. That's why suggesting, I was suggesting some maybe an earlier time or maybe preparing the food ahead of time so that when she gets home, she doesn't have to cook it. You know what I mean?
Melanie Avalon
Well, that's my question. I think maybe she's saying that she doesn't eat when she gets home. That's what I'm wondering. I'm wondering because she's saying what are the... I don't know. I've read it like 10 times and I can't figure it out because she's saying she opens with what are the best high protein meals to bring to work. And then she explains that she gets home and she can't really fit it in. So maybe she's already just eating at work. I'm not sure.
But yeah, if she does want to eat still, that's a great idea what you said about preparing ahead of time. Okay, I love... Oh, quick question for you. I haven't really thought about this before and I'm really curious. So because she's asking about ways to keep food hot or warm. I'm so interested in food temperature and why do we like food at certain temperatures. So for example, eating steak, I will be... Well, I eat it blue. So it's basically cold. I'm just as happy eating a warm steak as a steak the next day that's completely cold. I like it just as much. Do you prefer... With meat, for example, or chicken. I don't mind it being cold. Do you prefer it warm? I'm just curious.
Barry Conrad
If I know that it's been prepared properly and it's just cold, you know, if I'm being in the fridge or it just hasn't been heated again, I don't mind that it's not warm. Of course.
Like if it's dinner, I would, I would just love cause I associate dinner and like a hot meal. That's just more like a psychological thing. You know?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, that's true. That's true.
I guess I'm thinking about the different things I eat every night and how I get a lot of shrimp and I eat it cold, kind of like shrimp cocktail. Again, steak, I'll just briefly, oh yeah, we learned this a few episodes ago, how fast you have to keep it on to sear it. And then it's cold inside. But no, I love all of the examples that you gave there. Those are all really great. And I actually looked up, I'm glad that you mentioned, because I didn't know this. So you were saying you could bring it in a thermos. So definitely look those up. I have not been in a situation because I've been fasting for so long. I haven't really been in a situation where I was bringing food to work that I needed to keep warm. So I don't have a thermos for this, but apparently I had no idea. You get a Stanley or hydro flask. Apparently there's a protocol. So you preheat the thermos and Barry mentioned this, but just to go into more details. So you preheat the thermos with boiling water for five to 10 minutes, and then you heat the food very hot in the morning. So hotter than you would normally eat it. And then you immediately put it into the thermos and then you seal it and then you keep it closed until mealtime. And apparently if you do that, a properly preheated thermos can keep food hot for six to eight hours. So do you ever bring food in thermoses places?
Barry Conrad
I have not in a long time, but I definitely have used that before and I definitely have been around other people who have brought it around with them and the food's pretty warm still, pretty hot. It's a solution for people that need to meal prep and bring their meals around with them.
Melanie Avalon
Awesome. Apparently they also make electric heated lunch boxes. I didn't know that. If there's an outlet, then another suggestion was, but this seems like a lot, bring a portable food warmer. That's a commitment.
Can you imagine showing up with like, I mean, that's something I would probably do honestly, or insulated lunch bags with heat packs. But I really like the thermos idea. If you want a high protein thing that would be good in a thermos, like ground beef, like a ground beef bowl situation, get some grass-fed ground beef, add some stuff to it. But yeah, I like all the examples you gave. Some things I think are better cold. Like, well, like salmon can be hot, but also people like salmon cold sometimes. Like the salmon they have, like the pre-made salmon at Whole Foods, which by the way, do you go to Whole Foods now?
Barry Conrad
No, I don't yeah, she's calling me out again Do you go yet? Do you go yet?
Melanie Avalon
I'm going to start, I'm going to go, you know, I go every day, I'm going to start to like blowing up your phone. You're going to get like a video of me and Whole Foods every day.
Barry Conrad
You should. I want to see you going down the aisle, get you a cucumber and stuff.
Melanie Avalon
although I have like an awkward situation at one of the Whole Foods I go to right now because they don't want you to, they don't want you to put the food. I bring, okay, when you, oh wait, so do you even go to the grocery store or do you always,
Barry Conrad
Yeah, like, yeah, I do. Yeah, yeah.
Melanie Avalon
Who are you? Do you bring your own bags?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, I try to, I try to bring like a couple of my own and then if it's not enough, I'll just grab, you know.
Melanie Avalon
So do you shop in your bag? Do you put the food in? Yes. Do you have like an insulated one?
Barry Conrad
It's just like, like, honestly, it's just like a, like a can, is a canvas the right, it's like almost like a tote bag. It's just like, it's just like the, you know, one of those.
Melanie Avalon
So I have a massive insulated bag. It's massive.
And so I fill it up with frozen stuff and scallops and meat and chicken. And then I have another massive bag that's not insulated and I fill it all up with water. You're not supposed to do that. You're supposed to put it in the cart. I know this, but I need to put it in the bag. And I already got called out on it once by this guy who works there. And so now I avoid him at all costs. If I see him, I run away.
I'm not normally a rebel, but... Yeah.
Barry Conrad
It's like, leave me alone, I'm just shopping, like do your own thing.
Melanie Avalon
I know. Well, they think you're going to steal it, I guess, or something. But yeah, it's really awkward though now.
I avoided that man. So yeah, so Charlotte, hopefully that was helpful. And I echo what Barry says about like, that's an intense schedule.
Barry Conrad
Yes.
Melanie Avalon
Wow. And 5.30 a.m. and you get home at 5.30 and then you work out and you do a walk. Wow.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, props to you, Charlotte, and also let us know what you decide to do. Like, what do you find a new normal? Let us know your situation.
Melanie Avalon
Awesome. Awesome.
Shall we have our proverbial breaking of the fast moment? Let's do it. And so Barry, I'm actually really excited about, I mean, I'm always excited about this part, but today in particular, this really relates because half of the show we talked about the power of your food choices, further supporting the benefits of the fast. So friends, listeners, we are going to profile a restaurant and say how we would break our proverbial fast at that restaurant, and Barry is picking today's restaurant, and it is what?
Barry Conrad
And the restaurant today is Antoine's. It's Antoine's restaurant in New Orleans, Mel. And I've just sent you the link, you can have a look. And this restaurant was founded in 1840 and it's the oldest family-run restaurant in America. It's still in the French Quarter where it began.
Also, Melodie, here's a fun fact that you're gonna love so much. This is where Oisse's Rockefeller was invented, yes. Not recreated, invented.
Melanie Avalon
Wait.
Barry Conrad
They're also fully a la carte French, the Creole French classics that feel celebratory. The windlass is apparently really amazing and old world leaning. And the vibe is like a chandeliers and private Mardi Gras themed spaces. Like, apparently it feels like stepping into living Southern history.
So if Delmonico's define New York, Antoine sounds like it defines New Orleans. So you've got to check this out.
Melanie Avalon
Really quick fun fact for you. So I have in my phone, like a tab and it's restaurants. And so every time I find restaurants, I add it to the tab and it's for the show so that I can like find them for here. So I was going back through restaurants I've been collecting over the like year or so. And I had Delmonico's in my list, not once, but twice.
Like back, like way back in the day, I'd like, I'd like come across it at some point and it was like pending. So I'm so happy that you picked it for, for listeners. We featured it on episode 469. So if you want to check out that episode, but this I'm looking at pictures of the venue. Oh my goodness. What a vibe.
Barry Conrad
Yep, it looks amazing.
Melanie Avalon
I love Southern vibe things, even though I've actually never been to New Orleans still.
Barry Conrad
You got to go. It's honestly so culturally rich. It's like no other place you will go to here in America. It's really amazing.
Melanie Avalon
How many times have you been?
Barry Conrad
I've been twice and that's where I also tried frog legs for the first time.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, how was that?
Barry Conrad
Pretty good. I was in a gumbo type situation. A lot of spice, speaking of spice and chili and whatnot, a lot of spice, sauce, flavors, lots of protein in their dishes as well.
Melanie Avalon
Well, I definitely want to go and I love like I love the like haunted vibe of New Orleans and stuff.
Barry Conrad
The music's good too, live music vibe.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. Open drinks, right? Everywhere? You just like...
Barry Conrad
Yeah. Open drinks everywhere. Walking down the street, hearing all this live music playing. Amazing.
Melanie Avalon
Is it like messy or like smelly?
Barry Conrad
No, not that I can remember, no, no.
Melanie Avalon
I guess I'm just picturing like party college city. I mean, it's not a college city, but like the vibe of like the perpetual like parties and like open.
I'm just like, what is the vibe? Is this like a frat house situation?
Barry Conrad
Nah, not the way we were, I don't think.
Melanie Avalon
Well, looking at this menu, oh, and look at the terminology, appetizers.
Barry Conrad
Look at that.
Melanie Avalon
Should we start with that or with what it wait? What is that word? What is the word above the rock the oysters?
Barry Conrad
Okay, so you say, oh, well, it says it's Weetra.
Melanie Avalon
What does it mean? Does it mean oysters? Yeah. Oh, it's the French word for oyster?
Barry Conrad
That's so great. I love that.
Melanie Avalon
How did I know it? Is that, that's the French word for it? Yeah. How did I not know that? How in my entire history of like learning French did I never come across the French word for oysters?
Barry Conrad
Well, I'm definitely starting with that.
Melanie Avalon
You're going to start with your French oysters.
Barry Conrad
And because oysters Rockefeller was invented at Antoine's I'm getting a dozen of those for sure and then also the appetizers what looks really good to me Mel is that shrimp remoulade that looks really good golf shrimp Antoine's zesty and red remoulade sauce that looks really good.
Melanie Avalon
So you're going to, I'm surprised you didn't get the oysters 2-2-2 because you get 2 of each.
Barry Conrad
a sampler. But then I'd still want a dozen of the Oysters Rockefeller. Maybe I can get the Oysters Rockefeller and the Oysters 222.
Melanie Avalon
perfect. And I have actually, well, yeah, I've not had Rockefeller sauce created in 1899 by second generation chef and proprietor Jules Alcia Torre.
Okay. Well, I will not be having the oysters. However, I will entertain you and taste one and not like it. Appetizers. So the remoulade, I think I would ask, can they bring me some shrimp? Is that like a shrimp cocktail with sauce on the side?
Barry Conrad
Maybe, but yeah, I'm not too sure how they, how do we get down over there with that? Like if it's a cocktail glass, or if it's a bowl, I guess maybe it's a shrimp cocktail vibe, maybe.
Melanie Avalon
I think I would just ask if I can get some shrimp, please, with the sauce on the side.
Barry Conrad
Of course. What about the, there's soups and salads there. There's another French onion soup, Mel. There's another French onion soup there.
Melanie Avalon
There we go, French onion soup represent. Would you get, they have a seafood gumbo, gumbo represent.
Barry Conrad
Definitely doing the gumbo. Have to New Orleans. I'll do the seafood gumbo
Melanie Avalon
Oh, you have to read what's in it because there's something in there that I've told you about before.
Barry Conrad
Gulf shrimp, wheat trout, which is oysters, lump crab meat, blue crab and shrimp stock, trinity, and okra and filet. Are you talking about the okra? Okra. Okra, yeah.
Melanie Avalon
Remember we talked about this?
Barry Conrad
Remind me, what were you saying about it?
Melanie Avalon
It's like a Southern classic staple vegetable, but it's very weird. It's like mucus on the inside. It's often served fried. If you look it up, you might remember, like fried okra. And it's so specific to the South. I don't think they really eat it anywhere else, but everybody here knows what it is. But it's really just like a Southern thing.
Barry Conrad
It looks southern, yeah.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, but it's like weird, like it's like slimy on the inside. Is it good? I mean, I used to eat fried okra all the time. I haven't had it in my adult life.
I should probably try it, like not fried and see if I like it. Try it out. I will. I'll report back. In this situation, it's like inside of a gumbo. So yeah, I'm going to pass on the soups and salads.
Barry Conrad
Okay, and now venturing into the classic entrees, the mains, what would you get?
Melanie Avalon
Probably the, well, we're gonna do a lot of editing to it.
Barry Conrad
I knew you were going to say that.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, so I've never heard of Pompano and apparently it's a low mercury fish. Wait, don't tempt me with a low mercury fish I've never heard of.
A mild flavored fish consistently listed among the lowest mercury levels. What? And it is a highly priced small to medium size marine fish in the Jack family. Okay, well, I think I want to try the Pompano Panchar train. Would you have guessed that?
Barry Conrad
No, I initially I'd the filet mignon, but then I did see those fish and like, she might feel adventurous with that. I would like to request to forget about a bite of your pon cha train just cause I've never, it's so unique.
I've never heard of that before.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. Again, I've never heard of this fish. And to find out that it's highly prized, delicious, and low mercury, I'm down.
So it's grill pompeano filet, butter poached crab, white wine reduction, onion rice. Okay. So I would ask if I could get it like that, but can I get the butter poached crab on the side? And I like the crab so I can have crab. And then the sauce on the side. And then if possible, the onion rice situation, does it look like they have like spinach? I might see if they can do spinach. If not, you can have my onion rice.
Barry Conrad
This creamed spinach, maybe they can do it without the cream.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. Okay.
So then I would sub that for, oh, you're right. So then I would sub that for spinach. Oh, and then entree add on. I think I went to entree. So I think I want that. And then I want the, oh, and it's gluten free, which is great. And then I think I also want to filet Marchand da Vin, which is grilled center cut beef tenderloin, Marchand da Vin sauce, which I will have on the side braised cremini mushrooms. Oh, I do like mushrooms. And then Yukon golden mashed potatoes. So I would probably want to see if I could get just mushrooms, no potatoes. And then I think I want to add on maybe bronzed garlic scallops.
Barry Conrad
Nice.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. Oh man. Crab, scallops, this incredible fish I've never heard of in my life that I'm excited about and steak. What? I'm in a happy place. How about you?
Barry Conrad
I'm going to do the filet mignon Oscar, which is butter poached crab meat, truffle hollandaise, Yukon gold mashed potatoes. And then I'm also going to get the mushroom bougignon, which is herb roasted fingerling potatoes, burgundy reduction, mushroom ragu.
And I'm going to add some jumbo lump crab meat. Yeah. Jumbo.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, wait a minute. The set price, like the set course, they have the option of a veal chop. I love veal chops.
I wonder if they, and they have salmon. Wait a minute. Do you think they, do you think they'll like give those to you or do you think they'll like make you do the set price?
Barry Conrad
You have to do it separate. They probably do that because it's set.
Melanie Avalon
maybe we could like get one of those for the table. Oh, because then oh, oh my goodness, Barry, Barry. Oh my goodness. We can do the set pricing because first course you get the oysters one, one, one. So then we could get that for the table and then you could not have to get the two, two, two, and you could get just the Rockefeller, you know?
And then for the second course we could grab that veal chop, which is pan seared veal chop, P and J cornmeal fried oyster. Here we go again. P and J cornmeal fried oysters, sauceboard delay, tomato basil oil. So we could get that. And then we have a dessert that we can like add on in addition to any other desserts. How do you feel? Like this is like a table, like a for the table situation.
Barry Conrad
That's a great situation. Let's do it.
Melanie Avalon
Oh my gosh. I'm so happy. It just got even better. And the veal top is gluten free. Have you had fried oysters?
Barry Conrad
I actually have, but I don't prefer them. I prefer just natural, just raw.
Melanie Avalon
In general, do you like things fried more or less?
Barry Conrad
It depends what it is. Something's, yes, if I'm going to have it, but something's like, no, not really more grilled or baked. Do you know what I mean? Pan fried, but not like fried fried, you know?
Melanie Avalon
Okay, so desserts. Well, we're getting the set price. So we get to pick one of those. And then what would you get between the... Which dessert would you pick?
Barry Conrad
I would do for the set price the Creole Cream Cheese Cheesecake. That's black cherry compote and whipped cream. Wow.
Melanie Avalon
Compote yeah, okay. I've been saying that wrong in my head like for so long. I thought it was compote
Barry Conrad
That sounds more... Melanie.
Melanie Avalon
So that and then desserts, what are you, anything else you want?
Barry Conrad
Yes, the flourless chocolate torte, which is candied pecan. Do you say pecan or pecans?
Melanie Avalon
That one. Okay. Why do I know that tort is tort? Okay. Why did I think tort was tort? And you're saying torte and then compot or compote, I thought was compote, but
Barry Conrad
Yeah, it's I don't know. Okay, plus chocolate talk candied pecans salted caramel dark chocolate and meringue Ah, and then but there's also a crème brûlée. Oh man
Melanie Avalon
And there's a baked Alaska.
Barry Conrad
Oh my god. You know what? I'm going to take away the flourless chocolate torte and I'm going to have the baked Alaska. Thank you, Delmonico, for inspiring me again.
Once again. French vanilla ice cream pound cake. Torch meringue. Glocage. Dark chocolate sauce. Yum. Let's do it.
Melanie Avalon
oh wait this is funny 14 per guest two guests minimum so if it's just you then they're like we can't give it to you or they're like two of you you are now two people
Barry Conrad
Yep, that's it.
Melanie Avalon
So they don't have what I would want them to have. Although I am very alert by the baked Alaska. But I feel like when you're in New Orleans, you got to get the New Orleans dessert, which would be king cake. But they do have king cake ice cream. You could try that.
Do you know about king cake? No. Wait, Barry, this is like a major moment, education moment for you. So king cake, you should, can you Google it? So you'll get like a visual. So it's like really known for New Orleans and Mardi Gras. And it's purple and green and yellow. And it's a cake. And then inside of the cake, are you ready? They put a baby Jesus.
Barry Conrad
Oh my gosh, it's kind of...
Melanie Avalon
There's like a little plastic like baby Jesus figurine and they put inside and then whoever gets the baby Jesus, I don't know, they're like king for a day or something. You want to get the baby Jesus. That's like the goal.
Barry Conrad
That's so funny. I've never heard of that before. That's crazy.
Melanie Avalon
You're going to see it now somewhere, especially with Mardi Gras coming up for us. That's so crazy.
Barry Conrad
Well, maybe I'll try that as a cocktail, just because it's... They have a king cake cocktail? They have like a Mardi Gras cocktail and a king cake is there. King cake martini.
Melanie Avalon
Comes with Smirnoff vanilla vodka, frangelico, rum cha ta, and Mardi Gras sprinkles. Sounds like a vibe.
Barry Conrad
What are you vying for of wine situation? There's wine there.
Melanie Avalon
So, I pretty much know every wine on this menu, which is not good. It's not good when I know every wine in the menu.
This might be like a, this would be a, I don't know what this is, this is a bring my own bottle corkage fee situation for sure.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, sounds like it. But how good is this restaurant, Mel? It's so amazing.
Melanie Avalon
I know. It looks amazing. I want to go.
Okay, so there's been a lot of restaurants and a lot of vibes and things I'm really excited about. This is, I think, the most excited I've been about, or one of the most excited I've been about the combination of the entree situation. That fish, the scallops, the steak, the veal, I'm feeling it. I'm feeling good.
Barry Conrad
Sam, it's pretty exciting and I'm starving as well, looking at it.
Melanie Avalon
I know, me too. Well, good thing we get to break our proverbial fast in a bit.
Barry Conrad
So good.
Melanie Avalon
So good find did you find it by googling where were oysters Rockefeller invented.
Barry Conrad
I like to include oysters in my search a lot of the time, but this was an accident. This was the next day I just stumbled on.
Melanie Avalon
Well, nicely done and listeners. We hope you enjoyed your time with us today. The show notes for today's episode will be at ifodcast.com slash episode 471. We will have links to everything that we talked about, so definitely check that out.
And if you would like to submit your own questions for the show, you can directly email questions at ifpodcast.com, or you can go to ifpodcast.com and submit questions there. And you can follow us on Instagram. We are ifodcast. I am Melanie Avalon. Barry is Barry underscore Conrad. And another quick shout out from the beginning. How can people follow Bantroid BC, Barry?
Barry Conrad
Yes, you can follow and find bandwidth VCE on Spotify, Apple Music, all podcast platforms, YouTube, my Instagram, which is at Barry underscore Conrad. And yeah, please check it out.
Season four is coming. Check it out.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, if you like food, you know what, Barry, we should start pitching that or like pitching it. We should start mentioning it at the end every time because if people like food, like if people like what we just did, check out Barry's Bantworth, BC.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, absolutely. Because it's pretty much what we're doing. I mean, I'm not interviewing Mel, but it's just we're talking about eating and drinking whilst connecting. And you love it so much.
It's so festive, so relaxing, so interesting and fun. So check it out.
Melanie Avalon
I don't think we actually like mentioned the setup like you you interview like really cool people. It's like cool like established people doing great things.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, so I basically talk to leaders in their field in entertainment and beyond, and we get into their careers, their health and wellness routines, you know, what their goals are, how they got started. It's really inspiring, informative.
It's great. And these people are killing it at the top of the game. So, yeah.
Melanie Avalon
So friends, check it out. It's the vibe. And thank you so much for spending time with us. I think that's all the things. Anything from you, Barry, before we go?
Barry Conrad
That's it. I'll talk to you next week. Thank you so much for tuning in, everyone.
Melanie Avalon
talk to you next week. 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. 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 re-composed by Steve Saunders.
See you next week.