For peptide researchers:
Veratis Peptides: Get 15% off with code melanieavalon at MelanieAvalon.com/Veratis.
Axis Peptides: Get 15% off at with code Melanie at melanieavalon.com/axis. (And free shipping over $100!)
Biolongevity: Get 15% off with code melanieavalon at biolongevitylabs.com.
Reserve Research: Get 10% off with code MELANIE10 at melanieavalon.com/reserveresearch.
Welcome to Episode 498 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
FEATURED RESTAURANT: https://www.buckhorn.com/menus
STUDIES: http://www.dietfactor.com.pk/index.php/df/article/view/201
SPONSORS & DISCOUNTS
LMNT:
LMNT is a zero-sugar electrolyte drink that supports hydration, energy, brain function, and muscle performance with a science-backed blend of sodium, potassium, and magnesium. Staying hydrated is important, whether you’re traveling, spending time outdoors, working out, or following a low-carb or whole-food diet. With clean ingredients and refreshing flavors, LMNT makes hydration easy and enjoyable.
Get your free Sample Pack with any LMNT purchase at drinklmnt.com/ifpodcast.
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a review in Apple Podcasts!
Original theme composed by Leland Cox, and recomposed by Steve Saunders.
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 498 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-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@ifpodcast.com or by going to ifpodcast.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 498 of The Intermittent Fasting Podcast. I'm Melanie Avalon. I'm here with Barry Conrad. Barry, how are you today?
Barry Conrad
Hey, Mel. I'm doing great, but you know what? When you said 498, I just, it hit me. Two more episodes until 500.
Melanie Avalon
I was also feeling that when I said it. I was like, "Oh, that's, that's a lot of, that's a lot of episodes."
Barry Conrad
It is, and how many with me? I'm trying to think. It's been, it's been, like, a little while.
Melanie Avalon
Do you remember what episode was your first one? Like, the number?
Barry Conrad
I actually don't.
Melanie Avalon
It's not in your mind? It's not, like, your favorite memory? You don't dream about it at night?
Barry Conrad
I don't dream about it n- I don't lucid dream about it at night, you know? And nowhere but I'd like to look it up after this now, 'cause I'm really curious.
Either way, it's gonna be a real special time. We've gotta figure something out to celebrate, for sure.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, I know. You could come here to Atlanta.
Barry Conrad
I could come there. You know, you could come here. We could kinda go. We could make it happen.
We could do... It'd be really fun. Listeners, what do you think we should do? You should weigh on in. Do you have any suggestions, ideas, exciting things that you think we could do together?
Melanie Avalon
And we will keep them in mind for episode 1000.
Barry Conrad
Yeah. I know 'cause it's in, you know, by the time you listen, you hear this, it's not gonna be, yeah, it's gonna be in the future. Anyway, how are you? How's your week going?
Melanie Avalon
It's good. It's good. It's moving fast. I feel like life is moving really fast right now.
Barry Conrad
Why?
Melanie Avalon
Just with all the stuff. With all the, I'm still, still doing all the, um, pitches for my dating app, and that's been a whirlwind. Although, I will say, it's been actually very exciting because, so for listeners, friends, I am working on a dating app called Craving where you can have your food and drink preferences in the app. So if you wanna meet a fellow carnivore or vegan or paleo or organic or seed oil-free person or wine lover, et cetera, then you can. And also, it will recommend restaurants for you, so you can, like, find the best first place to go or, like, go on dates. So yeah, it's just been a lot.
But the two, the two fun things are I've never pitched to venture capital before, and we keep getting really good feedback. Like, we just did a pitch the other week with, um, a guy who, like, has a book on venture capital raises, and he was like, "Yeah, that was really solid, like, a really good pitch," which is just nice 'cause I, it's, like, all new to me, you know? So it's exciting.
Barry Conrad
Yeah. Is it, is this something that, were you overwhelmed when you first started pitching, or was it something that felt natural because of pitching in other areas?
Melanie Avalon
It's overwhelming because, well, it, it, the, the pitching part is natural. Like, well, I don't mind pr- like, presenting and talking about things I love, so that's easy.
It's more le- having to very quickly learn all of this terminology, and, you know, I don't know anything. I didn't know anything about that world. So having to quickly learn all of that and then get new questions and hope that I know what they're saying 'cause it's, like, a different language, but it's been good. I feel like I've learned a lot real quick. It's like the school of life.
Barry Conrad
Just like school of hard kno- school of life, just sort of jumping in, into the deep end and swimming, I guess, you know?
Melanie Avalon
Mm-hmm. I feel good though.
I really think we're gonna close it by the end of the year. That's, that's the goal, and now I'm on the street. I'm, like, going into restaurants and, like, closing deals, like, trying to get letters of interest. It's really fun.
Barry Conrad
That's, that's so awesome. That's so exciting. Did you think you'd ever be doing that, or do you think you'd ever expect you'd ever be doing something like this?
Melanie Avalon
It doesn't surprise me, but I don't think I re- I don't think I, I'm trying to think when I first, I mean, not when I was, eh. It's, I mean, it's mm, it's pretty in character. I don't know. Maybe.
It wasn't something I, like, thought about a lot growing up or anything, but it does track. I always wanted to be, like, a female boss.
Barry Conrad
And well, it, well, to me, it's so apparent and evident that you are, even before doing this venture capital pitching and getting to this world. It was just, it's just very obvious.
Melanie Avalon
Well, thank you. Say prayers. Say prayers.
But friends, go to cravingdating.com and, uh, get on the email list because, yes, I plan for it to be the world's next top dating app. So yeah, but how are things with you?
Barry Conrad
Things are so good. I, just before coming on today, I actually, um, someone that I used to sing with back in the day, like a long, long, long time ago, shout out Dee Uluaea. She's awesome.
She's from Fiji. But Australian, but Fijian. She's in town at the moment, so I got to see her and, and get this. The last time we hung out in New York was 16 years ago, so it was so fun to see her walk in. We just had like, like big- the biggest hug, and it was awesome. It was so good to hang out.
Melanie Avalon
That's so amazing. Did it feel like no time had passed, or did it feel like a lot of time had passed?
Barry Conrad
Well, she she came to my play last year, so I have seen her. Like I, I saw her before moving and everything, but we were, we were just reminiscing.
Melanie Avalon
But in New York?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, it was just like, it's so nuts just how life turns out in ways that you don't quite expect, if you know what I mean. So it was, it was really, really exciting, and just to see how people evolve and grow as well but still stay, still have the same essence. Do you know what I mean?
Melanie Avalon
Yes. Yes, definitely.
Barry Conrad
You know when you go to a new town or go to an old town of friends or old school friends, old college friends or whatnot, do you find that strange, or do you find it, like, exciting? 'Cause a lot of times you go back and like, "What are people gonna think?
Are they still the same? Are they different? What are they doing now? Do they think I've changed?" Or do you think it's like an adventure, like, "Cool, this is gonna be exciting to see where everyone's at"?
Melanie Avalon
I think it's super exciting. I used to, um, I used to, like, day- I used to fantasize about that.
I would fantasize about my high school reunion in, like, high school. That's a completely true statement. There's no joke in there.
Barry Conrad
But what do you, what do you fantasize about that you're gonna walk in?
Melanie Avalon
It's kind of like Taylor Swift's song "Suburban Legends." I think that's the one where she talks about coming back to the high school reunion.
I, because, like, I would... In high school I'd be like, "You know, I'm gonna do grand things, and then there's gonna be a high school reunion and I'm gonna come back and they're gonna be like, 'Hmm, should have been friends with her.'"
Barry Conrad
Whoa. What is the message of Taylor Swift's song, that song that she does?
Melanie Avalon
"We were born to be suburban legends." Wait, let me look up the lyrics. There, there's the lyric that's like-
Barry Conrad
How did I know you were gonna somehow segue Taylor Swift into this answer? Segue.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, yeah. "I had the fantasy that maybe our mismatched star signs would surprise the whole school when I ended up back at our class reunion walking in with you." I used to literally fantasize exactly about that.
I mean, I don't know who she's talking about in this song, but used to fantasize about, like, "And I'll be with some, like, super famous actor man, and we'll go back. We'll go to the class reunion," and people will be like, "Ha ha ha."
Barry Conrad
Speaking of Taylor Swift, did you watch the or do you know much about the Emmys that... This is in the future now, but did you see much about the Emmys this year?
Melanie Avalon
So I just watched a clip about it on Instagram, but I feel, I feel like I missed the plot. What, so, yeah.
Barry Conrad
Well, Taylor Swift was, she made an appearance, so I thought that you'd know that. She made, like, a little cameo.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, so, yeah, I saw the video. Was she actually there too?
Barry Conrad
I mean, like, you know, like, she, she filmed, like, listeners, she filmed, like, a sort of, like, a skit, "Law & Order" skit, and she was in it. And apparently, I read, like, a headline, and it was saying Taylor Swift's using this to maybe drop some, uh, what does she call them? Like, Easter eggs for her fans.
So I thought, "I wonder if Melanie knows anything about this or what she theorizes about what she's saying or doing in this video."
Melanie Avalon
Have the Emmys happened?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, they happened last night.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, okay. That's how much I'm keeping up. I don't know. I actually don't get much into the... It's too, it's too stressful. I don't think about it. I just wait for her to, like, surprise us.
Barry Conrad
And s-surprise us she does.
Melanie Avalon
I know. I need a new album. Please. I was just thinking that.
Barry Conrad
I was listening to L- Lana Del Rey the other day and thought of you 'cause I know that you love her.
Melanie Avalon
Yes. What song?
Barry Conrad
I'm saving that for next week's episode 'cause that's tied to a trip that I recently went on. But I can't remember the name of it, but I just remember someone put it on and I was like, "Oh, this reminds me of my friend Mel.
She loves Lana Del Rey."
Melanie Avalon
Yes, I do. I should be friends with her and go to a high school reunion.
Barry Conrad
I see that. I see the scene.
Melanie Avalon
Yes. You understand now? You understand the fantasizing about the high school reunion?
Barry Conrad
I do actually.
Melanie Avalon
I thought everybody did that, but apparently not.
Barry Conrad
No.
Melanie Avalon
No, I think most people do.
Barry Conrad
I do. Well, I am now. I'm thinking about it now, now that you've spawned my, my imagination about it. And maybe somebody that we know might be there with you.
Melanie Avalon
At, at my high school reunion?
Barry Conrad
Yeah. We're not gonna say who it is, but you know, somebody, somebody special.
Melanie Avalon
I don't know who you're talking about.
Barry Conrad
Someone that you may, someone that you may have mentioned, and we can't mention names or anything like that.
Melanie Avalon
I'm guess... Okay. I think I know what you're joking about.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, yeah.
Melanie Avalon
But that could be a lot of people.
Barry Conrad
That could be. Actually, that actually could be. I'm getting so sidetracked.
Melanie Avalon
Should we, should we jump into things?
Barry Conrad
Sorry, listeners. Let's jump into things.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, man. Okay. So do you have a, uh, a study to start us off with?
Barry Conrad
I have a study, and it's called Exploring the Influence of Social Media-Driven Nutrition Misinformation on Dietary Practices, and it's a qualitative study. I thought this was really interesting. I'm gonna get you the link so you can have a peek. Here we go.
And it was published in Diet Factor, which is the Journal of Nutritional and Food Sciences, in March this year. And I felt, I was, I was looking for a study and I was like, "What can I bring that is not just something that everyone's heard before?" And it's really relevant to what we talk about on this podcast, Mel, because it looks at how, you know, people can make decisions about food and nutrition when they're being bombarded with advice online. Very, very not surprising at all.
This is not, this is not a study testing fasting protocol necessarily, but go with me. It's all gonna tie in at the end here.
It's, it's about... It's, it's not measuring whether intermittent fasting causes weight loss or improves blood glucose or anything like that. It's looking at something slightly different but very important, which is how people decide what to believe about nutrition in the first place.
And so the people involved in the study, the researchers interviewed 20 young adults at the University of the Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan. So there were 11 females And nine males with ages ranging from 19 to 31, according to the methods and results section. So although the demographic table includes one participant that's aged 32, so there's a lone, lone wolf there. The reported mean age was twenty-four point six years with a standard deviation of four point one. Height and weight weren't reported, so we won't get into that. So this is looking at ordinary social media users, not dieticians, not nutrition researchers or anything like that.
And the researchers used in-depth interviews, which lasted between thirty and sixty minutes, and then they analyzed the responses to identify themes, like there were recurring themes and whatnot. And they found five major themes, and the first was that a lot of the participants trusted, surprise, surprise, influencers more than qualified professionals. And the reason wasn't necessarily that they believed influencers had better knowledge. It was that the influencers felt more relatable. So for example, people saw someone on TikTok or Instagram eating the same foods, showing their body, sharing their, their routine, and saying, "This worked for me." And that personal connection a lot of the times carried over more weight than someone with formal qualifications presenting, just presenting evidence.
One of the participants basically said they trusted an influencer because the person seemed to understand them better than a dietician who simply, like, handed them a list of foods. Another said they followed a TikTok creator who wasn't a nutritionist, but whose results looked real and therefore inspired them to copy what she was doing. Spicy. It's a really important distinction because people weren't necessarily evaluating whether the info was scientifically sound in any way.
Barry Conrad
They were just evaluating whether the person delivering seemed believable. And the second major theme was confusion from contradictory information. So participants described seeing one post saying carbs were the problem, carbs are really bad, and then another saying carbs are perfectly fine. And one person saying breakfast was essential, another person saying breakfast was damaging, not knowing what to believe.
So one participant said, "One day I saw it is better. The second day somebody told me on the carbs it is not the problem. I don't know what I take to be true because I read different posts on the same food." And I think anyone, anyone out there who's spent five minutes on the Gram or TikTok or any social media nutritional content is probably picking up what I'm putting down here and knows exactly what that feels like. The third theme was the adoption of fad diets and inappropriate supplement use. This is really important. Participants reported trying things like detox juices, fruit diets, water diets, keto diets, and other sort of, quote-unquote, "trendy" approaches because they were being promoted and flogged online. And one participant said he tried a detox juice just because everyone online claimed it would make him lose weight really quickly.
Another participant reported buying high-dose vitamin D supplements because an influencer promoted them without knowing even if, whether they were deficient or whether the dose was even appropriate or correct. This is where we can tie it all back to intermittent fasting, because fasting itself, especially nowadays, is often, it can be often presented online in exactly this kind of environment. You'll see someone saying, "I fast for twenty hours and I've never felt better." Me, case in point. And then someone else could say, "Fasting destroyed my metabolism. It's one of the worst things I've done." Another person could be saying, "You must eat every three hours or you'll lose your muscle and your metabolism will really slow down." So the issue I reckon isn't that people are exposed to different opinions. The issue is that they don't often have the tools to tell, to distinguish a personal anecdote from a-actual evidence.
And the fourth theme was limited digital health literacy. In plain English for people out there, that means people weren't necessarily checking where the information came from. They were judging credibility by things like likes, comments, shares, appearance, and popularity, all of which can be easily manipulated these days. It's like, who do you trust? One participant said, "If a post has lots of likes and shares, I automatically think it must be true." Another one said they rarely checked who had written the information and just followed what everyone else was doing. And the fifth theme was social validation. So once people adopted dietary behavior, getting likes and positive comments encouraged them to continue even when they weren't sure whether their behavior was even safe. And the researchers also noticed some patterns with-within the sample. So female participants more often reported trying fad diets, diets than male participants.
Barry Conrad
All six participants who used social media for at least four hours a day, that's a lot, reported significant confusion from contradictory nutritional information. But the authors were really clear that they said that the sample was too small to draw really, really firm conclusions from those differences. The biggest limitation is that there were only twenty people from this university. It can't tell us exactly how all young adults in the world behave, and it can't establish that sort of, you know, um, social media misinformation directly, that it can cause poor health outcomes.
But it does tell us what these participants experienced and how they described their decisions. The takeaway for me, it was surprising, but also not. The problem isn't that misinformation exists, because we know it does. It's, it's that people can end up treating popularity as proof, relatability as expertise, and repetition as, like, evidence and fact. And that's really relevant to fasting because IF has become so massive online There is legitimate research behind it, which Mel and I try our hardest to present to you guys. But there's also a, a lot of personal testimony, exaggerated claims, fear-mongering out there, and advice that gets repeated so often that people assume it's true, even if it's wrong.
So the study's message I hope that you can take away is not that social media's bad. It, it acknowledges that these professionals can use platforms to distribute genuinely useful evidence-based nutrition information. The issue is whether the person consuming that knows how to assess it correctly, interpret and understand it. So if you're listening to this and your practical question isn't just who has the most followers, it's rather what is the evidence? What population was studied? What were the actual results, and does this claim apply to me? Because someone looking amazing on Instagram is not by itself a trial. Mel, what do you think?
Melanie Avalon
So this is crazy timing that you picked this article because this is, like, very-- I, like, what are the odds? So literally last night I was working on some potential press articles about my supplement line. The idea that I was floating and researching and writing about was should you trust influencers' supplements or not. And so I was literally thinking all about influencers promoting, you know, supplements, health topics, all the things, and I was just thinking about everything you were talking about, about how people just seem to, you know, trust them. And it's like how do-- like, how do you-- but how do you trust them? So like my, my, my thoughts on it and my takeaway was-- 'cause you, you could go, like, black or white. You could say, "Oh, don't trust influencers because, you know, it's not real science" or you don't know what they're doing or whatever it may be. Or you could go on the flip side, kind of like the things that you were finding in this study where people just go all in and, and want, and want the things and believe what they say because they like the influencer. And my takeaway was it really does come down to what you were saying. It comes down to liking the person. That's why we're listening to them. And then that's why I think the most important thing is do you trust them or not.
So, like, do you trust that they're doing their due diligence when it comes to-- like, like what is their why? Why are they talking about what they're talking about? Why are they sharing the health things? You know, why did-- why XYZ? So like for me, it's like I think my audience really trusts me to create the supplements that they know I'm gonna like, the supplements that I personally wanna take and I wanna put in my body, and that's why I'm making them. But yeah, my, my, my, like, word of caution was, like, it's not necessarily bad to listen to advice from influencers or buy their products or whatever it may be. It's just do you-- are, are they doing their, their homework? So do you trust them or not? So yeah, I was literally thinking, thinking about this last night.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, it's, it's really-- You know, I was talking to someone about this topic in a more general sense the other day, and we're talking about products and business things or, or services and products, you know, that people offer, whether they're famous or whatnot. And I said, and I really believe this, people buy into you.
People buy into the person. It's really important that you know how to speak to your audience. The, the, the product and the service is secondary because, you know, so many people have products, so many people have businesses, so many people have-- It's, it's not an original thing necessarily, but you're original. I'm original. People buy into the person first, so it's-- that's why it's really important that once you have people's trust, that you are not leading people astray, that you are actually d- doing-- you are, on the flip side, doing your due diligence to give the best possible service or best possible product because these people follow you for a reason. So it goes both ways too. It's in- yeah, it's an interesting thing, but I, I do always think that people buy into the person first. I think so. What do you think about that?
Melanie Avalon
Oh, 100%. And, and that's even with, like, the, the dating app Raise, that's been, like, a major takeaway. It's like, oh, I'm really selling, like, myself here. You know, like, like you said, like, they're really interested in the founder, like the person behind it.
Yeah, but it's very-- So there were two reasons that this article was really resonating with me when you were talking about it. So, so that was one, like, talking about, like, the, the trust and, um, and where the information is coming from and people needing to do their, their homework to-- before, you know, just blindly accepting health facts and nutrition and s- and products and supplements from influencers. And then number two was I was thinking about this a lot recently, so, um, 'cause there was part of the article you were talking about how the people-- What were you saying? It was saying something about how, um, casually people will, like, take supplements or, like, do things and not even really, like, know what they're doing. So I have-- and this is a whole nother topic. I have started microdosing GLP-1s.
Barry Conrad
You have?
Melanie Avalon
Mm-hmm. I, uh, I was like, if I read one more book-- I feel like every, like, recent book I have read and guests I've interviewed, and it's all people, like, in the biohacking sphere.
So like the last, the last time it came up, the last book I was reading about it was, um, you know, Dr. David Perlmutter's new book and, like, the, the benefits of it at-- for neur- neuroprotection and preventing, like, cognitive decline and such. But I feel like every book I read, there's, like, something in there about the bene- the potential benefits of microdosing them. But I was thinking about this topic because I-- And for listeners, if you would like, I do have-- I have resources for you. So get on my email list because I'm gonna send a-- I wonder if I should just-- I could just say the, the links here. I'm actually gonna send an email with multiple resources and links for getting not just GLP-1s, but getting peptides in general because- You can really-- speaking of trust, you've really gotta trust where you're getting them from
Barry Conrad
Yeah. I'd be, I'd be keen to see that as well, 'cause I've been thinking about-- I've been hearing all about the benefits of it, so I'd be interested.
Th-this is such good timing again, 'cause I've just been thinking about that the past few weeks.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. I, uh, I have s- like, I have so many thoughts about it. So for listeners, if you go to melanieavalon.com/stuffilike, I have a section there of resources for you.
But, so, like, the one, the one-- the brand I'm using right now or the... And this is all for research purposes only, is, uh, called Res-Reserve Research Peptides. So if you go to melanieavalon.com/reserveresearch, the code Melanie10 will get you ten percent off. Next up, I'm gonna try Axis Peptides for research purposes only, of course. So for that, go to melanieavalon.com/axis, A-X-I-S, and the code Melanie will get you ten percent off there. But the reas- the reason I'm bringing this all up-- Oh, and get on my email list because I am gonna send, like, a guide. I tried to post about this in my Facebook group, Facebook group, and I got banned of my own Facebook group. I'm on-- I'm, I'm in the, um, I'm on-- I'm in timeout right now on Facebook.
Barry Conrad
Why?
Melanie Avalon
'Cause I posted about peptides.
Barry Conrad
That's so crazy.
Melanie Avalon
I know. I know. So in any case, I'm being very careful with what I post on Facebook.
Check out those two, those two, uh, companies. The reason I really like them, I've spoken with the founder of both of them. I've drilled... speaking of, like, trust, I've, like, drilled them on, like, "Where do these come from? Do you have COAs? Like, what is the purity?" Like, all the things, and I feel very good about both of these companies. So Reserve Research Peptides, Axis Peptides. What am I saying? Oh, so when I finally got the-- I'm trying Retrotide, and you have to, you know, reconstitute yourself and all these things, and I was, I was doing it and I was thinking, like, "This is really complicated, even for me," and I feel like people are doing this left and right, and they're probably-- There's gotta be so many people just, like, completely misdosing themselves. So that, that's what I'm thinking about when you were saying that people so casually today just do stuff with, like, supplements and everything, and they see it on the influencer, and then they, they do it themselves. So people will see different influen-influencers doing peptides, and they'll just do it themselves. And friends, it t- it was complicated to, like, figure it out. So...
Barry Conrad
And are you finding, are you finding benefits, or how does it feel? Is it too early to tell, or is it more something happening in the background?
Melanie Avalon
I've noticed-- I've definitely noticed a decrease in inflammation, for sure. I do think it's affecting my mood a little bit. I have a theory about that. Not in a, not in a good way, necessarily.
I think it kind of-- 'cause it def- it definitely affects people's... Like, it's weird 'cause if you Google it, it says that it usually benefits mood. But my theory is that it probably regulates your neurotransmitter system. So if you tend to be, like, on the high side, then maybe it tones you down a little bit. So I think I've noticed that maybe, but not, not egregiously so. And yeah, I mean, I don't know. I'm, I'm just so... I, I swear, like, every book I read, and it's all, like, biohacking people, they all-- Whatever the topic is, it's like, oh, and GLP-1 seem to be good for this. Like metabolic health, inflammation, the brain, your hormones.
Barry Conrad
It is also one of those things, even me, you know, and, you know, if I'm tired or even if I'm not tired, if I'm just scrolling through social media, through social media, and I see some jacked guy, da, da, da, and, and he says some claim, even though I know it's not true, it's so funny how your eye goes to the visual and goes, "Oh, well, they look like it backs up what the, like, what they're saying tracks." But it's-- that doesn't necessarily mean it's true. Anyone can take anything to look a certain way, or you have the genetic advantage, and it's just, you know, it is what it is, like show and tell. People often just believe what looks credible, you know, what feels credible, what maybe sounds familiar, all those little tools and tricks. So it is hard.
You have to really do your research, as you were saying. You know? Like, you can't just take things as fa- at face value online. You really can't.
Melanie Avalon
Do you know what I think is the best example of that? This is something I have thought about, speaking of my high school things that I think about.
I have thought about this since middle school every time, and it's that every time-- 'cause I used to have really, really bad acne in middle school. Did you ever have skin problems?
Barry Conrad
You know what? I had, like, I think, like, the typical amount of zits and stuff, but not, like, crazy.
Melanie Avalon
I did. I had acne, and it was the bane of my existence, literally the bane of my existence.
So I would always watch all these skincare ads, and I was like, "These are so stupid," because they're hiring people with perfect skin, you know? Like, because it w- 'cause it would be like, "Do this thing to make your skin glowy." I'm like, "No, these are just people who have perfect skin, so it doesn't matter what you put on them. They're gonna look great." You know? Like, now, if they took somebody like me and then put me in the commercial and then did it, and then it was like, "Huh," then that would be telling, but you don't ever see that. So just saying.
Barry Conrad
That is actually such a good point because it's like it's the whole thing like the chicken or the egg. Do, you know, big dudes play-- start playing rugby because they're big, or do they play rugby and then get big? Or it's like the whole thing, like you-- I don't know. Do you know what I'm trying to say by that? Like what comes first.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. Yep. So I guess takeaway is, friends, do your research on your own and make sure you trust the people you're listening to. Yeah, do some fact-checking.
The good thing is it's pretty easy to fact-check stuff now with AI, like real quick. I'm obsessed now. I have like s- I'm creating so many websites right now. It's crazy. It's so easy.
Barry Conrad
You are?
Melanie Avalon
Mm-hmm. I just relaunched my avalonx.us. People, let me know what you think.
I redid-- I redid that myself. Then I launched the Purevine app that you guys know about, where you can find organic low-alcohol wines. You can scan wines. You can save, make notes, save lists, et cetera. That's at purevine.app. And then I'm, um, redesigning a websi- a wine site Online wine retailer that I really like that I'm gonna partner with, and I'm actually helping them redesign their website. And then last night I was redoing my glowcoffeeco.com, and then I made a craving beta app. It's so fun. It's so easy now
Barry Conrad
It's scary. Scary how easy it is. It's just, just at the tip of your... Yeah
Melanie Avalon
It's like magic. Shall we jump into some fasting questions?
Barry Conrad
Let's do it. So the first question that we have here is from Linda, and she says, "Okay, I know weird subject line. First, thank y'all for your podcast. I just discovered it a few weeks ago, and I'm trying to catch up. I am up to episode 46 now, which is the keto episode. I know I just listened to both coffee episodes, but I have a question about Elevacity Smart Coffee. I have been drinking this for almost a year now and love it. I drink one cup every morning, and after I read DDD and started clean fasting, I have not put anything in it.
My question is, will it break my fast? I'm putting a link to the website here so you can take a look at it. Currently, I'm drinking the Nitro. It has no flavor in it at all. If you can research it and look at the ingredients and let me know. I dub it my happy coffee because it is mood enhancing, appetite control, and nootropics and nitric oxide promoter. My next question is about giving blood. Do you think it's safe to give blood while fasting? That is, if my hemoglobin is good enough when they check it. I never have had issues giving blood before, but I've not given it since doing 24 or more. Usually it was 16/8, which I had been doing for a year and a half with a few thirty-six hours and one seventy-two hour fasts in there. I'm loving the OMAD, and during the week I'm usually only eating in a two-hour period because I work out after work and eat after that at about eight PM.
So I'm full and I go to bed around nine thirty PM. Anyway, I just wanted to see if anyone else had ever given blood while fasting. If not, then I will try it and let you know. Thank you again for all the research y'all do to help others. I still have to read Feast Without Fear and Want, Wine, and Wine, and I will say I love me some red wine. Keep up the good work and keep laughing." From Linda.
Melanie Avalon
Awesome, Linda. Well, thank you so much for your question. And yeah, if you like red wine, get my purevine.app so that you can find all the good ones.
Okay, so this question is actually very old, and I don't think this company-- I can't find it, them now. However, I wanted to include it and it, this ties in so perfectly to what we were just talking about. Oh my goodness. I wanted to include it because I think we can talk generally about the concept of looking up things like this and what to consider. So again, I can't find it now, but what she's talking about, the Elevate Smart Coffee Nitro by Elev- Elevacity, whether or not it breaks the fast. So one thing, and I've been like on the, uh, the fence about this in a while. So apparently it was instant micro ground coffee powder. Instant coffee I've always been suspicious of with breaking the fast because you're literally, you're not brewing it, you're not seeping and brewing it. You're literally like putting physical powder into water. So I've always been like on the fence about that, even if it's just like pure black coffee. Interestingly enough, apparently this product, it got flagged by the FDA because it had dietary ingredients in it that were not stated and that were unapproved stimulant compounds. So it contained 2-amino-5-methylheptane and also something called DMHA. The thing that to be aware of here is that this is, this speaks to what we were just talking about, the importance of like doing your due diligence. So like if you're gonna take a product, whatever it may be, clean, fast or not, it's good to like research it and make sure, you know, that you trust the company and that there's nothing dodgy going on.
So, um, because the way the product was marketing itself was that it was like clinically branded polyphenols that would promote nitric oxide production and it was a proprietary blend, so we don't actually know like what's in that. But then, like I said, if you, if you look them up, the, there's actually FDA letters about ingredients in it that might not be safe. So I would not personally take that. And anything that has like a, a proprietary blend in it, I would not assume to be clean, fast, friendly, because you don't know, you just don't know what's in there. So that's my thoughts on the, the coffee and if you want the ideal coffee for your fast, I was not , um, I was not planning this, but I forgot for a second that I have a coffee line. I literally forgot. So if you go to glowcoffeeco.com, I tried to make the perfect coffee for your fast.
So coffee is very high in antioxidants, which are very beneficial for you, but it depends where the beans come from and how they are roasted. So we source beans that are naturally very high in antioxidants. We roast them. They come from this beautiful, stunning farm in Colombia that's all female led. Yeah, so you know where these beans are coming from. And, and actually I got so excited because the other night I was, um, out with a friend and did not know that this friend was a coffee connoisseur.
Melanie Avalon
Um, and I gave him some coffee and some of the Glow and he, he's won like awards from Starbucks and stuff for his like barista skills and he knew all about the coffee beans and we analyzed the beans and I learned how to analyze beans. And um apparently these beans are, they stand up like they're incredible. So I like, I found it for the health benefits, but apparently if you're a coffee lover for like really high quality coffee, it is that as well. Which actually makes sense now that I think about it because So much coffee on the market is like cheap and, um, you know, adulterated and like poorly grown and pesticides and chemicals and all these things, so of course that's not gonna be a high quality coffee.
How would you get a high quality coffee? Well, you probably want one that's grown in an elevation that supports like robust antioxidants. You probably want one grown organically and regeneratively and, you know, roasted to precision, and that's what Glow Coffee is. So go to glowcoffeeco.com, use the code IFPODCAST to get a discount, and that is the coffee that I recommend for your fast. And now you don't have to do any research, you can just listen to me. Kidding. You can also, you can also double-check what I'm saying. Um, but we have links on the website to like the cooperative that it's from, and we post the testing that we have done on the toxins on the website so you can see it's over like 70 toxins that we tested for. So you can see those results on the website.
And then as far... Well, before going on to the blood, do you want... Barry, what are your thoughts on, on coffee since I like waxed poetic for so long about that?
Barry Conrad
No, Mel, like honestly, keep going. Please. It was, that was really interesting.
And I find the same thing about this product. You know, she was talking about how, you know, New Zealand's Medsafe issued a warning in, in 2020 about, you know, versions containing that polyethylene amount and, and are controlled. It's a, it's a, it's a compound. It doesn't automatically mean her product's identical, but it's, it's, it's really important to be cautious and to know what you're having, you know? So yeah, I totally get, I totally get that. And, uh, about instant coffee, yeah, I feel the same way. Yeah, you, you never quite know. Yeah.
Melanie Avalon
It's like something physical too. It's not like... That always confused me. I'm like, there's, we're putting something physical into this water. It's not just brewing.
Yeah. And then how do you feel about donating blood? Barry, do you, do you donate blood?
Barry Conrad
I actually was talking to actually someone about this two days ago because I got my, I got my blood drawn to test levels of different things, which we can talk about later.
Melanie Avalon
Me and you or on the show?
Barry Conrad
You, you and I after the show. Yeah, I was just saying how I like giving blood because, A, I, I like helping people, and B, 'cause you get the trinkets afterwards, you get the snacks afterwards, you know, 'cause you-
Melanie Avalon
Oh my gosh, that's why you like donate blood?
Barry Conrad
But that's not the first reason. The first reason is to help people.
Melanie Avalon
They give you snacks? I've... Barry, if I were to donate blood, I would be passed out.
Barry Conrad
Really?
Melanie Avalon
Oh, yeah.
Barry Conrad
You've never given blood before?
Melanie Avalon
Oh, no. I mean, just like, just when I was just not on my own accord, like lots of, like lots of blood tests all over and over in the hospital. But yeah, I haven't like given. I would be out.
Barry Conrad
Why do you say that?
Melanie Avalon
Because I already am susceptible to fainting with like just drawing a normal blood amount.
Barry Conrad
Really?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. I, one of the things that really helped me if people have issues with fainting was one time a guy was drawing it and he was like, "You know," and this is not like for donating blood, this is like just like getting your blood drawn. He was like, "The amount of blood that they take out for like when you're getting your blood drawn, it's..." I don't remember what he said, and I, hopefully this is accurate, but he said something like, like the percent of what it is to your whole body, it's like minuscule. So like you're just psyching yourself out.
It's not, you're not like actually... But that's very different from like donating blood, which would for sure I would be, I'd be gone. Gone. I'm thinking about it right now and yep, nope, gone.
Barry Conrad
I've given blood quite a few times and-
Melanie Avalon
Really? Do you get faint?
Barry Conrad
I don't get faint. You, you do feel a little bit like weak or like, oh, like a bit depleted, but I've never felt... I've never fainted from giving blood and I, I don't... I'm not scared of needles because my mom's a nurse and I've been around.
Yeah.
Melanie Avalon
I'm not-- That's the weird thing. That, that's, that's... You know what? This is like one of the things where I think that's what's so problematic about it for me. I'm not scared of needles.
I, the amount of blood draws I have done over the years, friends, being a biohacker, all the time, hundreds. I've, I get my blood drawn all the time, so it's not like I'm scared of like the needle or like giving blood. The, the problem is that the two times I fainted, I just fainted, so it's, it's like, it's like I can't control it. It's like my, if my body just decides to faint, then well, there's no going back. So it's like this weird, it's like complete lack of control because I... And then, and then I, and then I psych myself out because I'm like, "What if I faint again?"
Barry Conrad
Why don't you try... Okay, why don't you try it as a challenge?
Melanie Avalon
To faint?
Barry Conrad
Not to faint.
Melanie Avalon
No, 'cause that might work. That actually might be, that actually might work.
Barry Conrad
To donate. To, I mean, it's, it's safe to donate.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, no, no, no, Barry, I'm not, I'm not kidding. I would faint. I-it's n- I'm not kidding. I would be dead.
Barry Conrad
It does- You don't give away all your blood. It doesn't work that way.
Melanie Avalon
How much is it? How much blood?
Barry Conrad
Actually, I wanna, I wanna look this up because I wanna get this right.
Melanie Avalon
Speaking of giving the correct information to the listeners.
Barry Conrad
For a six-foot male, okay, during a standard whole blood donation, they'll typically take one pint of blood, which is approximately four fifty to five hundred milliliters.
Melanie Avalon
Barry, I would be dead. I, okay, so like I even, um... So multiple times I have done, like I said, I, I give blood a lot. I've also done a ton of at home like blood pricks where you have to like fill up the card with blood. Those make me wanna almost pass out, like at home.
Like, and you're supposed to do it, it's like supposed to be easy. And I'm like, "I gotta lay down."
Barry Conrad
Okay, so basically it's the same standard amount for everyone regardless of height. So they say it affects people different heights differently, so if the person's five two, donating blood affects their body much more intensely than a six-foot-tall individual because their total blood volume is significantly smaller.
There we go. Okay, so that makes sense about like you probably would feel more depleted but not necessarily faint. That's... I don't know.
Melanie Avalon
Yes.
Barry Conrad
I'm so surprised we haven't even talked about this before.
Melanie Avalon
I know, me too. I, I would bet A million dollars
Barry Conrad
That you, that you'd faint or wouldn't faint? That you would faint?
Melanie Avalon
That I would faint.
Barry Conrad
The universe is gonna... I don't know. There'll be co- come a time where, "Melanie, would you like to donate your blood for this person?"
Melanie Avalon
And then, but then I feel, I feel, I feel really bad. So, like, when I had anemia in the hospital, I had to get a blood transfusion, and I was like, "Oh, that wa- I, I will not," I'll never forget that 'cause I was like, "Thank you." So I just felt so grateful to, like, all those humans who donate blood. I was like, "This is so... Humankind is so nice that they donate blood, and now I can be here and get their blood." But I will not be giving it back. I'm sorry.
Barry Conrad
That's so interest- So yeah, to answer your question along with a way of me answering, answering it is saying that they do give you trinkets or regular water snacks for that. They give you, like, little biscuits and chips and things to, especially during school, I'd be like, "I'm gonna give blood. I'm gonna help people and g- get food."
Melanie Avalon
Do you wanna know about the first time I fainted ever giving blood or, or wh- when, what, like, the first time it happened?
Barry Conrad
When did it happen?
Melanie Avalon
It was in college. I was at the, like, the university health clinic. I w- clinic. I was getting some, I don't know, just like a normal test, and I had take- I... And I had no fear up u- That's when the fear started because I had never fainted before. So prior to that, I never had fear.
So when it, the first time it happened, I was not, like, in a scared state. I was just, like, you know, they were taking blood, and then the woman was like... I forgot about this. The woman was like, "You look pale. Do you need some water?" And I was like, "No." I was like, "I'm fine." She was like, "Do you need to lay down?" I was like, "I'm fine." And then I was like, "Oh, I'm at the beach." Like, I literally thought I was at the beach. And then and then all I heard was, "Pull the curtain." And, like, I thought I was dying. I was like, I literally thought I was dying. I was like, "Something happened and I'm dying right now in real time." And then after that, after that, I had fear. The fear never left of fainting. But yeah, thought I was at the beach, then thought I was dying.
Barry Conrad
It might change. Who knows?
Melanie Avalon
That was how long ago?
Barry Conrad
This is new memory unlocked for me. This is, like, a few years in now, and I'm, again, I'm so surprised we haven't talked about the blood situation and fainting.
Melanie Avalon
I will never forget that. "Pull the curtain."
Barry Conrad
Do you faint any other time, any oth- under any kind of conditions? 'Cause someone asked me today, "If you, if it's too hot, do you faint?" or something like that.
Melanie Avalon
I have, knock on wood, I have not fainted from anything else. The second, the second time I fainted it was upsetting because she hadn't even taken any blood yet.
She j- she just put in the needle, and it wasn't working. So she was like, "I'm gonna try it." She's like, "It's not really working." And then bam, I was out. And that's when I learned it's your body having a whatever, vaso whatever reaction. That's when, like, there's no, there's no... Like, basically, my, my body just, just, like, the, the needle, the body got that signal, and it was like, "Nope. We are fainting right now." And that's why it's so powerless. Like, you can't stop it.
Barry Conrad
Oh my gosh. I, I don't know what it's like for all the fainters out there. What does it feel like to faint?
Melanie Avalon
It's so scary. See, if you had fainted, I think you wouldn't be trying to make me go give blood before.
Barry Conrad
I fainted before as a kid. That's it.
Melanie Avalon
Do you remember it?
Barry Conrad
Yeah. When it, when it's too hot, I, we get lightheaded and faint, but it's n- not like... Yeah.
Melanie Avalon
Okay. So y- and yeah, so you do. But do you remember, like, the all, the horrible panicky feeling when you come, when you, like, wake up from it?
Barry Conrad
Not really.
Melanie Avalon
Oh. Are you sure you've fainted?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, but it's more like a, it's not like a knocked out kind of vibe.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, I know. It's not good.
It feels like, hmm. So to answer the question, I would not do, I mean, I would not do fasted giving blood. I would follow what they say to do because the protocols, giving blood ha- the protocols have been developed, and this is, well, this is, like, fact. They've been developed based on, like, certain you're supposed to eat, right? Like, that's my point. I would do what they say to do, which is eating and being hydrated. You're supposed to eat, you know, iron rich foods, get good sleep and hydration, drink extra water before it. So I, I would follow that. Mm-hmm.
Barry Conrad
I agree. It's, it's one of those things, like, you know, if you d- if... This is an area where we don't need to be unnecessarily hardcore.
Like, you know, like, yeah, we're committed to fasting, but you can absolutely maintain your IF lifestyle while making sensible exceptions. Like, EG, if you're donating blood, eat, drink water. If you're sick, recover. If you're training hard, fuel your body appropriately. It's not about, you know, wearing a badge of honor by pushing through.
Melanie Avalon
Unless you want an excuse not to give blood, in which case, sorry, I'm fasting. I can't.
Barry Conrad
That's so funny, Mel. I thought you'd be gung ho. I thought, I, I don't know why I thought you'd be like, "Yeah."
Melanie Avalon
I feel bad 'cause I, like I said, it's a good cause. It has saved my life. Thank you to all the blood donors out there, and I will give to the world in other ways. Not this way.
Barry Conrad
We hope that answers your question.
Melanie Avalon
On that note, speaking of food, shall we have our proverbial breaking of the fast?
Barry Conrad
Sounds good. Let's do it.
Melanie Avalon
All right, friends, listeners. So the purpose of this part of the show is that the benefits of fasting are not just the fasting. It is also the eating, the eating window. So we like to pick restaurants to profile and talk about what we would eat to break our fast, and this is also perfect because literally, and I'm, I promise I'll stop talking about it, but with this dating app craze, I am literally thinking about restaurants, like, every day.
Like, I can't. It's, like, on my mind. So this is great. So I'm gonna give, so I'm picking the restaurant, and Barry, I'm gonna give you options.
Barry Conrad
Okay.
Melanie Avalon
You have three options, okay? So one, I'm gonna give you the teaser. One is a place that is a, a very unique vibe that's, like, very cool and very hard to get to that I used to go to when I was young. The noth-other one, the next one is, it's one of the oldest restaurants in a certain state, and the menu is very in tune with the types of things that we like to usually talk about and reflect on. And then number three is a restaurant here in Atlanta that I actually haven't been to, but I have a meeting set up with a VC guy, so we could look at it and I could figure out what I'm gonna order. So those are the, uh, the three options.
Barry Conrad
I reckon we should go with the second one.
Melanie Avalon
The one where we... It's the old- It's the oldest restaurant in a state? That one?
Barry Conrad
Is that the one that was things we talk about a lot?
Melanie Avalon
Mm-hmm.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, let's do it.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, actually, it's not in the state. It's in a city, the oldest. But it's still cool. Okay.
Barry Conrad
That's still cool.
Melanie Avalon
Okay. It's Denver's oldest restaurant.
Barry Conrad
I love Denver. Great.
Melanie Avalon
So it's Denver's most historic eating and drinking establishment, founded in 1893 h- by Henry H. "Shorty" Scout Zeets, who was one of the most colorful figures of the Old West.
Oh, wow. In 1875, at age 10, that guy met Buffalo Bill. I didn't know Buffalo Bill was a real person. I thought Buffalo Bill was a fake person. I'm learning so much. And by age 12, was a full-fledged member of his hard-riding, straight-shooting band of scouts. And, um, let's see. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay, there's actually a very long story about this. Um, so it opened in November 1893. It drew cattlemen, miners, silver barons, railroad men who built the wa- the Wild West. And, um, what's really cool is the actual restaurant... Oh, President Theodore Roosevelt was one of the early diners there. And, okay, so apparently the, the walls are, it's like all these rare 500, like, taxidermy collections of, like, rare game. So the walls is, like, deer and moose and buffalo and mountain sheep and fowl, and they even have a two-headed calf. Oh, and a jackalope. They have a prized gun collection. So yes, it's called, sending it to you, it's called Buckhorn Exchange. And the menu has, like, really cool stuff on it. So it's essentially the Wild West.
Barry Conrad
It definitely gives out that vibe. Buckhorn Exchange, Denver's oldest restaurant. Let's look at the menu. Oh, wow. I can see.
Melanie Avalon
Did you see a picture of the actual restaurant, though?
Barry Conrad
Oh, yeah. You know what? Hot t- hot take. Do you... Taxidermy-
Melanie Avalon
Are you not about it?
Barry Conrad
I don't know why. I'm, I'm kinda not about it. A little bit.
Melanie Avalon
It's kind of... I would never have it in my home.
Barry Conrad
Why not, Mel?
Melanie Avalon
That would be really scary, actually, I think. I would think, I would think that it's, like, watching me.
It is, it kinda, it is a very weird concept. It's like, oh, this was a real animal, and now it's still there, but not.
Barry Conrad
Like, what if you dated a guy who had that all over his living room?
Melanie Avalon
Oh, man. That might be a, a red flag. Unless it was a unicorn.
Barry Conrad
A taxidermy flag.
Melanie Avalon
Oh my gosh. Yeah, so would you still go to this restaurant? The walls are, it's lots of, lots of, lots of taxidermy.
Barry Conrad
Yes, def- definitely. D- also, so definitely go. Yeah, of course. Also, what, also, why do they call it that? It's such a weird name, right?
Melanie Avalon
Taxidermy. Yeah, that's a good question.
Barry Conrad
Anyway, getting distracted.
Melanie Avalon
Okay. So dinner, or do you see the appetizers?
Barry Conrad
I do. Ah, look what I see at the top of the list.
Melanie Avalon
Those are not, those are not what you think they are.
Barry Conrad
Rocky Mountain oysters?
Melanie Avalon
Mm-hmm.
Barry Conrad
What do you mean?
Melanie Avalon
Those are not oysters.
Barry Conrad
What do you mean? They're not... Hold on. What are they?
Melanie Avalon
Do you wanna guess?
Barry Conrad
Oh, what? That's not, that's not what I was imagining at all.
Melanie Avalon
For listeners, they are deep-fried testicles of a bull, bison, or lamb.
Barry Conrad
Oh my... Well, we are gonna bypass that.
Melanie Avalon
Apparently, apparently they're a delicacy in the Wild West. Would you get that?
Barry Conrad
No.
Melanie Avalon
I don't know. I thought, I mean... No, they're fried too. No, no. Mm, no. Mm-mm, no.
Barry Conrad
What if we got it to try it? Just as, but we'll get it, like, on the side and just so both-
Melanie Avalon
I like now that you're trying to convince me. No.
Oh, man. I wish I hadn't told you, Barry, 'cause I wish then you had gone to a restaurant sometime and, like, ordered, 'cause you would have ordered them.
Barry Conrad
I would have, yeah. But also, it's false advertising. Oysters.
Melanie Avalon
Do you think the, the servers always tell the customer, like, they clarify?
Barry Conrad
They would have to, right?
Melanie Avalon
I mean, maybe not.
Barry Conrad
Maybe not. Maybe s- they're expected to know that.
Melanie Avalon
It might be, like, well known in Denver that that's what that is. I already knew, I already knew that 'cause somebody had, like, done it as, like, a fun fact, like, a year ago to me. So I was very much aware already.
You know what? I'm really glad I knew that, because if I hadn't known that, we would have never known, 'cause I wouldn't have, you know? We would have ordered them.
Barry Conrad
Does anything else... Well, actually, what, what is just jumping out at you from this, these appetizers?
Melanie Avalon
So I love that they have grilled duck breast on the appetizer menu. That's so cool. So I want that, rubbed with lavender and pepper and served with a raspberry red zinfandel sauce. Everything on the side, please.
And then sirloin game tips, choice cuts from our beef, buffalo, and elk, sautéed with fresh mushrooms in a different sauce each day. Oh, well, if the whole point of it is being sautéed, then maybe I shouldn't get that, because I don't wanna ask for it on the side.
So maybe the, the duck, and then... Are you gonna get alligator?
Barry Conrad
You know what? I was eyeing that. I would actually try that just to see what it tastes like. It's center-cut tail with seafood cocktail sauce. Fried alligator tail. Hmm. So unusual.
Melanie Avalon
You know what I'm looking up, right?
Barry Conrad
What? The, a picture of it?
Melanie Avalon
Well, alligators- Oh, they don't eat fish. I was like, I was looking up if they're high in mercury, but they are apex predators, so... Oh, farmed alligator. They farm alligators? Most commercially sold alligator comes from farms.
Lower safe levels of mercury. Oh. Wild alligator can have significant mercury loads. I'm actually really surprised that it's legal to eat alligator. It just seems like that would be an illegal thing. If you get that, can you cut out, because it's fried, can you cut out, like, some on the inside where it's not fried, and I'll taste it?
Barry Conrad
I would do that, but that's not all I'm having. I would also have, uh, the chilled smoked salmon.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, good. I wanted some of that.
Barry Conrad
Served with a caper and onion seasoned cream cheese and sourdough toast.
I actually would... I was gonna pull a Melanie and say ask for the onion seasoned cream cheese on the side, yeah, 'cause I like the chilled... I just love smoked salmon so much.
Melanie Avalon
It's so good, like, on its own too. Yeah. Okay. Dinner menu now?
Barry Conrad
Dinner. Let's do it.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, so they have the beef section, they have the taste of the wild section, the ribs, the buffalo. See, it's, like, all by the different types, the game and fish, combination plates.
Okay, how should we do this? It's basically just, like, a meat fest of, like, everything.
Barry Conrad
It's like a protein and fish fest. I love it.
Oh, man. I don't think that we're gonna do the taste of the wild, because that's, like, a tasting sort of, you know... Like, you know, combination thingies. Don't you usually... You don't usually like that, right?
Melanie Avalon
I like it when you're getting all of the different meats. You're just getting lots of different meat.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, that's different.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, it's not a tasting menu. It's like, it's, like, a lot of different... It's, it's served family style. Yeah, so it's like they just, they just, um, bring out the meat.
Barry Conrad
I like that. We could get it for, like, s- four, maybe the six guests. They're like, "Where, where are the other four guests?" I'm like, "They're coming. They're coming." It'll just be us two.
Melanie Avalon
I know. That w- So that, see, that comes with 8 ounces of elk, 12 ounces of buffalo prime rib, three quail. How do you feel about quail?
Barry Conrad
This the bird thing again? Oh, man. I would try it. I would try it.
Melanie Avalon
Does it... It's... Does it... How does it compare to pigeon for you?
Barry Conrad
You know what? I'm slowly starting to expand my thinking around this.
Melanie Avalon
Okay. So quail, and it also has three lamb chops. It looks like that's always the combination.
So maybe it depends on... 'Cause they have, like, combination platters at the bottom, where it's, like, elk and Cornish game hen, elk and two quail, quail, duck, and Cornish game hen, buffalo prime rib and salmon, beef tenderloin and quail. This is so... Maybe let's just go... I think I'm just gonna tell you what I want, and then they can, like, bring it out.
Barry Conrad
Okay, what do you want?
Melanie Avalon
Elk, for sure. Uh, do they have... They don't have elk as, like, an à la carte.
Well, prepared rare, please. And then buffalo. I want the buffalo tenderloin steak prepared rare, please.
And then they don't ha- They, they don't have antelope. Then maybe some quail.
Barry Conrad
Okay. Well, that sounds really good. I'm actually gonna get the High Plains buffalo prime rib. It's slow roasted to medium rare. That sounds really, really good. I'm gonna do that.
I'm gonna get some Colorado lamb. I love lamb so much. Succulent chops marinated in olive oil with rosemary and thyme and broiled to your liking, served with a side of red currant Madeira sauce. I'm gonna go with the three chops instead of two, so that's gonna be so great.
And then, oh, what else can I have that's different? Cornish game hen. Roasted semi-boneless hen served over wild rice with orange Chipotle sauce. Let's go. That sounds great.
Melanie Avalon
So Cornish game hen does not bother you?
Barry Conrad
No, 'cause, like, hen, chicken, kinda, you know... It doesn't bother me.
Melanie Avalon
So hen and chicken are okay. Pigeon is not okay. Quail is maybe. We could create, like, a Venn diagram.
Barry Conrad
Crow, definitely a no.
Melanie Avalon
Can you order crow? How about vulture? Have you, have you seen vultures in the wild?
Barry Conrad
No, no, I haven't, but I would l- I would love to see one.
Melanie Avalon
I was driving home, like, a year ago, and there were vultures on the road, and they were so scary looking and fascinating, and they don't care. They... I, I, I, like, drove right up to them, and they weren't... They made me move.
They have no fear. They're really scary looking.
Barry Conrad
They're very powerful looking animals.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, they're really, really scary and powerful. Okay, and then all dinner e- entrees include your choice of soup or a fresh garden salad or a Caesar salad.
Barry Conrad
What kind of soup is it? I wonder.
I'll ask them what the soup is, 'cause if it's a nice soup, I wouldn't mind it, but if it's something just creamy and just full of stuff, then no. If not, then I'll get a little fresh garden salad. Why not?
Melanie Avalon
Okay. I don't want any of that. Do you want any of the sides?
Barry Conrad
I'm gonna do, uh... Hmm. I do like baked potato. If I had to choose between mashed or baked, I'll go baked. The Saratoga chips looks good too. Hmm. Yeah, baked potato and some chips.
Melanie Avalon
Awesome. Shall we look at the dessert?
Barry Conrad
Yes, definitely. Let's go dessert.
Melanie Avalon
Do you want three things?
Barry Conrad
Oh, I actually kind of want all of that, all four.
Melanie Avalon
That's kind of like a Barry menu almost.
Barry Conrad
It kind of is. It actually kind of is because, listeners, if you, if you haven't pulled this up already with us, there's double chocolate Rocky Road brownie, cheesecake, Häagen-Dazs ice cream or sorbet, and hot Dutch apple pie. I love all of those things, and ice cream to me doesn't count as, like, a dessert. It's more, like, accompanies another dessert rather than on its own. So I would get all three for the table, thanks.
Melanie Avalon
And then I would get more of some... Whatever meat was the most Like that I want a round two of
Barry Conrad
What do you reckon it would be looking at it?
Melanie Avalon
Maybe elk. I love elk.
Barry Conrad
I've actually never tried elk before.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, it's so good. It's like lean and s- kind of sweet, but it's, it's really good. It's, yeah, it's one of my favorites. Whenever, whenever it's on a menu, I get it, so.
Barry Conrad
It's a delicious menu. Like, I'm actually really hungry now.
Melanie Avalon
I know, me too. I, uh, I don't think, I don't, I think this might be a bring my own wine situation.
I don't think they're gonna have... I'm not feeling so confident in their, uh, wine list, which I don't see anywhere, but.
Barry Conrad
I'm sure we could sneak one, sneak something in there.
Melanie Avalon
What is this? What is-- Wait. Go to, like... Okay. You see above the menu how the picture keeps changing?
Barry Conrad
Yeah.
Melanie Avalon
What is this, the thing on the right?
Barry Conrad
Oh, the little potato-looking thing?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. What is that?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, it looks, it doesn't look very appetizing.
Melanie Avalon
It looks really scary.
Barry Conrad
It kind of-- Yeah, what is that thing? It just looks like a, an inflamed, looks like, I don't know.
Melanie Avalon
It is, it is the Rocky Mountain oysters.
Barry Conrad
Oh, nah, that's not for me.
Melanie Avalon
So I'm confused because it's fried on the, it's fried on the left, but on the right-- I just looked up a picture on Reddit, and it's a picture of... That's, yeah, that's, that's what it looks like not cooked. Why is it in the picture?
I'm confused.
Barry Conrad
No, I, I can't do that. I can't do it. There's no way.
Melanie Avalon
Do they bring it out also not cooked as well?
Barry Conrad
That's not for me. Not for me.
Melanie Avalon
Okay. I'm just confused why on the website they have that picture.
Okay. So yes, listeners, friends, on that note... Oh my gosh, that picture. On that note, um, we hope you enjoyed your time with us. The show notes for today's episode will be at ifpodcast.com/episode498. That will have links to everything that we talked about, so definitely check that out. And you can get all the stuff that we like at ifpodcast.com/stuffwelike. That also will have links to all of the, the peptides and all the things. And you can follow us on Instagram. We are IFpodcast. I am MelanieAvlon, and Barry is Barry_Conrad. Anything from you, Barry, before we go?
Barry Conrad
No, just thank you all so much for tuning in. We really appreciate you all, and we'll catch you next time.
Melanie Avalon
Talk to you next week.
Barry Conrad
Talk to you next week. Bye.
Melanie Avalon
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 recomposed by Steve Saunders. See you next week.