Welcome to Episode 432 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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STUDIES:
Role of Intermittent Fasting In Starving Cancer Cells
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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 432 of the Intermittent Fasting Podcast. If you want to burn fat, gain energy, and enhance your health by changing when you eat, not what you eat, with no calorie counting, then this show is for you.
I'm Melanie Avalon, biohacker, founder of AvalonX, and author of What, When, Wine. Lose weight and feel great with paleo-style meals, intermittent fasting, and wine. And I'm joined by my co-hosts, Barry Conrad, actor, singer-songwriter, and creator and host of Banter with BC. For more on us, check out MelanieAvalon.com and BarryConradOfficial.com. You can submit questions for the show by emailing questions at iapodcast.com or by going to iapodcast.com. We would love to hear from you. Please remember, the thoughts and opinions on this show do not constitute medical advice or treatment. So pour yourself a mug of black coffee, a cup of tea, or even a glass of wine if it's that time, and get ready for the Intermittent Fasting Podcast. Hi, everybody, and welcome. This is episode number 432 of the Intermittent Fasting Podcast. I'm Melanie Avalon. I'm here with Barry Conrad. Barry, how are you today? How are you recovering?
Barry Conrad
Melanie what's up how's it going hey everyone thanks for tuning in. Everyone if you not knowing what we're talking about melanies asking how i'm recovering because i've just had my two bottom wisdom teeth yanked out.
A few days ago not too long ago so i'm not gonna lie it's it was a situation it was very very painful and lots of force and i was awake the whole time. Lots of thoughts about this cuz melanie didn't you say you like you should try to ask them if they what was the thing the laughing gas situation.
Melanie Avalon
I have so many questions already. Number one, I feel like, wait, OK, OK, I remember you said you're doing it awake. Is that normal? I feel like normally people get that twilight anesthesia stuff.
Barry Conrad
I feel like Americans, you Americans just have this luxury of just like being knocked out for everything. I did actually ask them, I said, hey, one of my friends said that I need to ask, do you have like nitrous?
And the guy was like, hahaha, actually, we just run out. I'm like, oh, awesome.
Melanie Avalon
What you said my friend told me to ask.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, I actually did say that.
Melanie Avalon
I told Barry, I was like, who put me on the phone with them? I'll talk to them. I'll be like, listen, he needs nitrous.
Barry Conrad
I was tempted to call you, actually. I was actually tempted to call you right there. I was like, oh, is this weird? I was about to. And then I was like, ah, maybe she'll think this is a lot, like being put on blast like that.
Melanie Avalon
Oh no, I would have loved that. What time was it my time?
Barry Conrad
This was like, by the time I got in there, I think it was like 4.20 PM my time, so that's probably like, it's pretty late your time, because now it's like 10 AM my time. So it's pretty late.
Melanie Avalon
So, okay, wait, 11, 12, so like six hours later, then now 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, oh, but I was awake, so it would have been like 2 a.m.
Yeah. I would have had my wine, yeah, next time. Hopefully there's not next time, but next time, call me.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, hopefully there's no
Melanie Avalon
It's not a next time melody. But you know what I would have thought? I would have been so excited.
I would have thought that you were calling me on the – oh, wait, no, but I knew you weren't having anesthesia. Never mind. I would have a moment thinking that you were calling me like loopy. That'd be exciting.
Barry Conrad
I was hoping to do that, because that would have been funny, because then you could go, you don't remember, you don't remember this, Barry, but you were like really loopy, like you'd recall it and I'd be like, I don't remember, I was out of it, you know what I mean?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. That'd be amazing.
So, but you, so you were not put under, which by the way is better for your health because apparently, apparently anesthesia is like horrible for your body, like just horrible. So that's good that you don't have that to recover from, in addition to recovering from the situation. So no nitrous. I would have, I would have been like, I'm, I'll come back another day then if that's the case, I wish you had had it buried because it would have made it, it would have turned it into like the most fun experience ever.
Barry Conrad
Well, I feel like I believe that. And also one of a client of mine in America, she said the same thing when I said I just had a wisdom teeth extraction and she said, did you have all the things I'm like, what?
It's an American thing. It's not just Melanie, you all think that you get like this buffet.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, of things to make you feel, to not even make you feel better, make you feel great.
Barry Conrad
By the time, Melanie, by the time that they yanked it out, like he, there were, it was in pieces because it was so tough to get out.
They had to drill, smash, pull, yank.
I feel like they pulled my face and I was, I was awake.
So I had my headphones in the whole time listening to music, but I could still hear the drill going.
I could still hear them fussing over like what's going on.
It was pretty full on.
Melanie Avalon
I'm not going to lie. I'm not glad that you went through this.
I'm glad you're saying this because this further colors my argument, which is being in a stress state when something bad is happening to you is not good for the... Being in that nervous system state isn't really good for the trauma of it, from a health perspective. So I feel like it's not just about the pain relief and the loopiness of the nitrous. I feel like it actually is better for your body to be in a disinhibited state when things happen to you.
Barry Conrad
I agree. I actually do agree because while I was there, I remember thinking at some points during the process, is this actually bad that I feel? Because I caught myself feeling tensed or being tensed up. I'm like, is it bad that I'm not just surrendering to the process? Because even though I couldn't feel it technically, it's still, I was awake, so I didn't feel relaxed. So you're right.
If I was just kind of knocked out, your body can probably just let it happen and just deal with it. You know what I mean?
Melanie Avalon
Exactly. And this is not the same thing at all. And I am not advocating this. And just to further prove this point, it's like how people who are drunk when they get into accidents, they don't suffer as many injuries usually because their body doesn't prep itself for the stress impact. And so they don't get as much of a negative effect. This has been studied.
The concept of it, so I'm not advocating being drunk and getting into accidents at all, that's horrible. The idea is basically that being in that stressed out mental state doesn't help anything for the stuff that's happening to you. I think as far as the implications of the effects and the recovery. So we just need to get to all the nitrous next time.
Barry Conrad
Well, I was going to get like another procedure done, but I'm not too sure if I'll have, we'll see how I go and see how I go, but if that does happen, I'll definitely have to be under for this next thing, but we'll see.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, another yeah.
Barry Conrad
Another situation like potentially on my leg, but we'll talk about that offline until it's TBC.
Melanie Avalon
Oh man, okay. Well, to bring this all to the topic of the show, listeners, Barry has been saying, just in case they're curious about how authentic Barry is in real life about these things, he has been telling me multiple times about his recovery and how much fasting is helping, right?
Barry Conrad
Absolutely. Because, well, the first 24 hours or so, it was pretty rough, but that's to be expected. But after that, even, I felt like really, really good, you know? And I think even like the dentist was saying that you're tracking really well. My mom, who's worked at the dentist before as well, she said you're tracking really well and recovering really fast.
And I can only attribute that to intermittent fasting. I kept up my fasting protocol during the process, leading up to during and after as well. And I feel good. And I feel like my body's pretty resilient. And this even thrown back to when I broke my ankle a while ago as well. Like, I recovered pretty quickly. And so I've got to put that down to my intermittent fasting. So it's not just about burning fat or autophagy or any of these things. It's also about recovery, you know? So I think there's so many benefits to intermittent fasting.
Melanie Avalon
It's so amazing. I cannot agree more.
It really makes me wonder, you know, if I had been following a healthier lifestyle, like when I got my wisdom teeth out back in the day, I feel like, I feel like the recovery process would have been better and I probably wouldn't have had as much inflammation and, and we're actually, we haven't recorded it yet. Coming up, we are going to have a special episode with a guest who works with surgery and we're going to talk all about fasting and surgery and recovery, which, which will be great because we get, we actually get a lot of questions about that.
Barry Conrad
That's awesome, very topical, right? Awesome, awesome.
And Mel, I was gonna ask, have you told the listeners, have you talked on the podcast about your wisdom teeth experience and what you had to do the day after?
Melanie Avalon
Have I? Was I telling you that on the show or in real life, like not on the show? Do you remember?
Barry Conrad
I don't know if it was actually on the podcast, but it's a pretty entertaining story though.
Melanie Avalon
don't remember.
Listeners haven't heard it.
I'll tell it again.
This is one of the things where, and I probably told you this when I told you, like to this day, I think my parents made the wrong decision in making me do this.
Like I don't think I should have had to do this, which was, I got my wisdom teeth out like berries.
Mine was actually all four.
They were impacted.
It was a whole like anesthesia situation.
And my sister's graduation from high school was the next day.
And I was actually in college.
So I had come back from college because you know, like when you haven't seen your friends from high school in a while, so it's like, you know, impressions matter.
And so it was going to be seeing like all the high school people.
And my parents made me go the day after my wisdom teeth removal.
And I looked like a chipmunk and it was in a church and I wore sunglasses inside the whole time.
And I hid like in the corner to this day.
I don't think I should have had to go to that.
Barry Conrad
Just the visual of that. It's very funny. I know it probably wasn't funny for you, but it was funny to think about it.
Melanie Avalon
I literally remember having on sunglasses and my mom being like, you can't wear those inside. And I was like, I have to wear these.
And then I hid in the gift shop. Cause like the church is also, side note, growing up, I always thought it was super weird that churches had gift shops.
Barry Conrad
I think so too, because now that I think about it, it is weird.
Melanie Avalon
I mean, I guess it makes sense if you're providing, I don't know, but that never really tracked with me when I was little. I was like, isn't this a little bit, didn't Jesus go to the temple because they were selling things at the temple and he got mad and he like turned over the tables?
I feel like that's a story in the Bible.
Barry Conrad
He definitely turned over the tables and I don't know if he'd be all about gift shops like hey, buy this, buy this, right?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, even though I love the gift shops because they would have like all the stuff and you can hide in them during graduation.
Barry Conrad
That's so funny. But also, you're right. That is really weird to think about, like, you know, selling books, selling CDs, selling little trinkets and stuff. It's weird.
Melanie Avalon
Mm-hmm, but here we are now on the other side of things
Barry Conrad
And outside of gift shops, no hiding with your sunglasses on, and outside of weird gift shops and churches.
Melanie Avalon
But to this day, because I'm all about supporting and like I'm the type of person that would go to the graduation and I don't think parents I should have had to go to that like no, no, no, no, I was at a fragile time of adolescence of like social hierarchy circles mattering and looking like a chipmunk was not good for me.
Barry Conrad
That's very funny.
Melanie Avalon
But and I think we can talk next week where Barry and I also just had a really fun exciting call, but I think teaser we can tease it next week, maybe
Barry Conrad
That sounds good. Let's do it.
Melanie Avalon
Cool, shall we jump into some fasting related things? Also, I'm sending you lots of good vibes that you will feel, 100% very soon.
Barry Conrad
I'm feeling it. Thank you so much for the good vibes. I receive it. Believe it. Take it awesome.
Melanie Avalon
Okay. So are you starting? Yeah, you have a study for us today?
Barry Conrad
Yes, I brought a study today and it is called the role of intermittent fasting in starving cancer cells. Now, we've heard a lot about this. I've read a lot about this over months and years even, just like, is this a thing? Is this even possible?
And the study I'm bringing is it was conducted by researchers from the Department of Biotechnology at the Government College University in Faisalabad, Pakistan. It was published in the journal Current Drug Targets and it explores how IF could actually support cancer treatment by disrupting the fuel supply that cancer cells depend on to grow and survive.
Melanie Avalon
Can you show me the title again of it?
Barry Conrad
the role of intermittent fasting in starving cancer cells. Perfect. Thank you. No worries. And what this paper really digs into is the difference between how healthy cells and cancer cells respond to stress, especially the kind that comes from fasting is the stress from the body. So cancer cells are sort of, in a sense, like metabolic machines. So they're constantly, they need glucose, they're always replicating, basically refusing to rest. Like, they don't want to chill, they just want to keep going. So they burn through energy fast, and that gives us an opening. So because when you limit glucose and insulin through fasting, you actually start to create an environment where those cells, they struggle to thrive.
So now the healthy cells, they don't respond the same way. They know how to slow down, conserve energy and protect themselves and food is scarce. And so this study email, it's referred to as like the differential stress resistance, which I've never read that before, which basically means healthy cells become more resilient under stress. And while cancer cells become more vulnerable, and that's exactly why I have and what I have promotes a kind of sort of biological edge for our body systems, while weakening the enemy. So the study, it highlights how fasting boosts our immune response. So specifically, it increases CDA T cells, and those babies are like our body's frontline cancer fighters. So they lower things like inflammation, which is massive. They make chemo more effective, the cancer cells become more sensitive to treatment, while healthy cells are better shielded.
So not only does fasting slow tumor progression, it also helps to reduce the side effects of chemo, which I've actually always wondered about. Because it can be controversial to just say like a blanket statement, fast while doing chemo or don't do fasting while doing chemo or intermittent fasting does this while doing chemotherapy because it's a big deal. And they also dive into fast fasting mimicking diets, which we talk about on the show as well. And for listeners who don't know what that is, those are sort of like low calorie, low protein plans that stimulate fasting, while still letting you eat a little bit. And in mouse studies, these diets are sort of like they slowed tumor growth, they improved survival, they reduced toxicity of treatment, again, like really good stuff. And again, like that said, as we always say, fasting, it's not for everyone, it's really important to consult your doctor during the treatment specifically, that's the context of what I'm saying here. And researchers are really clear about that. So people who are malnourished, for example, or really frail, really like elderly already underweight, have eating disorder issues, like they need to approach this with caution.
Barry Conrad
So that's something we've got to preface as well. But for those who can implement it safely, this study shows that intermittent fasting could be a really powerful companion to traditional therapies. And it's not just about weight loss, just as we talked about with the wisdom teeth situation, we're talking real cellular level support that could actually help the body fight back against cancer while preserving what's healthy. So yep, still early, more trials needed, but it's headed in a pretty exciting direction.
And Melanie, what do you think of the study?
Melanie Avalon
I love this so much. Thank you so much for finding it.
Yeah, so I've read before about fasting and cancer and it's really interesting because there's something called the Warburg Effect, which is basically that cancer cells. Dr. Jason Fung talks a lot about this and the Cancer Code, which is his book all about cancer. And interestingly, he doesn't actually talk about, I thought he would talk about fasting more than he does in that book because he's such a fasting legend, but it's more just about what actually causes cancer. But the Warburg Effect is essentially this finding that cancer cells, they preferentially burn glucose even in the presence of fatty acids. And even though it seems they actually can burn fatty acids, they choose to burn glucose. And so this idea of turning off that glucose as a source of fuel to cancer makes it a really viable way to actually starve those cancer cells while supporting the body, which is amazing. So it's basically like selectively targeting cancer while boosting the health benefits of your body, whereas something like chemo, which is really important and needed for people, it's attacking everything and attacking your body in the process, which is not ideal. I had read that before, actually way back when I wrote my book about how there were studies on fasting actually helping with the side effects of chemo because there are so many side effects to that. It's really just encouraging because cancer is such an overwhelmingly pervasive thing and we think anything we can do to help is so wanted.
And it's really great that there's this lifestyle tool that a lot of people can utilize. And I will say as a disclaimer, I think there's a few types of cancers that actually can feed on ketones. So obviously we're not saying all the people do fasting all the time for cancer, but just in general, these findings seem to be really supportive. So I love that you found that. And we will have already, by the time this comes out, we will have aired. We actually recently got a partnership with Falter Longo's fasting mimicking diet prolon, which is something where people can actually buy a kit and try out that diet. So I don't have the code yet for listeners, but we'll have to add it to the show notes because we should have a discount code. If people ever want to try a fasting mimicking diet, I would imagine it's probably going to be prolonlife.com slash I have podcast with the code I have podcast for some sort of discount, but we will have to confirm that.
Barry Conrad
How good is that for timing? Look at that little connection.
Melanie Avalon
I know, I know I was looking up to see when like when we actually are running a spot for them. And I think yeah, it will have happened. It will have happened last month, I think. So yeah, but thank you for finding that.
Do you have cancer in your family, by the way?
Barry Conrad
Yeah.
Melanie Avalon
I do too and it's crazy because it's one of those things that, and I was reading a stat about this, but I think basically, I mean, pretty much everybody probably knows somebody directly affected by cancer. So it's so nice that there's something that can have such an overreaching effect that can potentially benefit so many people.
Barry Conrad
Definitely very personal my second mom passed away from cancer and by the time she found out i was just too late to even you know it was just too far down the track and. You know there's so much more knowledge that we have now and as the science keeps evolving like people can become better equipped to help manage whatever.
They going through which I think is the most amazing thing about science in general, like you know, the more we know, the more we can do and that's powerful.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, could not agree anymore. And yeah, I'm so sorry to hear that. So we will keep spreading things that might help. All right, shall we jump into some listener questions?
Barry Conrad
I think we should do that now, let's do it.
Melanie Avalon
All right, would you like to read the first question from Sabrina?
Barry Conrad
sure would. So Sabrina from Facebook says, can diabetes really be reversed with diet or is it just controlled with diet and you will never be able to eat normal again? My husband was diagnosed last September. He chose to do the diet and not take drugs and his numbers are great.
His average is 120 but maybe once a month he just wants to try something and then his sugar goes very high quickly and drops pretty quick. Also wondering how that is affecting him when he has these little treats. Melanie, what do you reckon?
Melanie Avalon
All right. Sabrina, thank you for your question. So it's such a good question. And I'm going to start by addressing this concept of, you know, can it be reversed or is it just controlled? So there's type one versus type two diabetes. It sounds like your husband likely has type two diabetes. Type one diabetes is an autoimmune-related condition where your pancreas just doesn't produce insulin adequately. People are usually born with it versus type two diabetes, which is where it's induced by diet. And it's where the pancreas essentially gets overwhelmed with having to produce too much insulin all the time. Your cells become resistant to listening to insulin because they're getting hit with insulin all the time. And the reason this is all happening is because of the constantly high blood sugar levels. And then ultimately it can lead to, you know, failure of the pancreas, you know, increasingly other health conditions. So it's just such a problem.
What's really interesting about this idea of can it be reversed versus controlled? So people will say that once you have any sort of condition that you're always just in remission, that you're, you know, that you that it never is gone, you're just managing it essentially. And what I find really interesting about this, and this is kind of like a little bit of an esoteric approach, but you could have two people who are controlling their blood sugar levels through diet. Let's say one person had type two diabetes in the past and then came back and the other person never had type two diabetes. Both of those people, presumably, if they were to follow a diet that constantly raised their blood sugar levels and constantly led to a situation that could create type two diabetes, like they're both vulnerable to that. And it's all being affected and managed by diet. So I find it really interesting that we would consider these two people who, let's say right now, like I said, have normal blood sugar levels, they're controlling it through diet. One has had type two diabetes, the other has not. Yet we consider one of them to be in remission and controlling their type two diabetes and the other person not. But they're both equally, I mean, they're both susceptible to type two diabetes. So in a way, it almost doesn't matter to me, it almost doesn't matter this terminology around reversing, controlling, managing remission, because type two diabetes is something that's going to be created by or started by or restarted by your diet and lifestyle.
So to me, the terminology doesn't really, I don't want to say it doesn't matter, but it almost doesn't matter because it doesn't change the facts about if you do this, you might trend towards type two diabetes. And if you don't, you won't. So as far as your husband and doing the diet, he's not taking the drugs. I'm assuming the drugs might be something like metformin or insulin. It's hard to know, probably metformin. And now his numbers are great. But now he's experiencing this thing where once a month he wants to try something and his sugar goes very high. I'm assuming, I would like to know more about what he's eating.
Melanie Avalon
I'm assuming he's doing a lower carb diet, probably. And this actually is pretty common where people are following a low carb diet, a whole foods diet, a keto diet. They actually can get this sort of physiological insulin resistance, like a temporary insulin resistance. And it's because the body is accustomed to not having a lot of blood glucose around and blood sugar around. So when it does get it, the cells actually are resistant because they want to preserve that glucose for the brain. So basically people who are not eating, who are on a low carb diet or keto diet might experience this effect where when they have some carbs, their sugar goes super high and then drops. So it's something where it could be temporary because of the diet he's following.
The only way to know if it's a quote beneficial adaptation would be if he were to continue following a whole foods diet inclusive of carbs, so have a higher carb intake. And then when he has glucose, sugar, whatever it may be, does he have the same response? That would be pretty telling as to whether or not it's like a temporary thing now where his body is just kind of preferentially not taking in glucose? Or is it that his cells still are insulin resistant across the board, which is possible? And he just, you know, it's gonna have issues taking in sugar. It's also a thing where like if, especially if he's following a keto diet, and it's really high fat, if he's in that state, and then he adds in a sugar dose, it's even harder for his body to process that because those are two competing fuel substrates. There's something called the Randall cycle, which speaks to this idea that basically the body is preferentially burning carbs or fat, not both at the same time. So if he's following like a high fat diet, and then he adds in sugar, it's not a good situation. And that might be also causing this really high number.
And then what can happen is it goes really high, the cells aren't taking it in. And then eventually that the pancreas pumps out a lot of insulin to bring it down. And then you get reactive hypoglycemia, where you actually the blood sugar goes too low. So that might be what he's experiencing. To answer thoughts and responses, how is it affecting him when he has these treats? So it's not good. So even though his sugar sounds like it's low, and he's keeping his average low, any sort of really massive spike is not good for the body. It does lead to it is taxing on the pancreas. So it's not ideal is the point.
That said, if it's literally once a month, and it's just once, and his blood sugar is good the rest of the time, I personally wouldn't be as concerned about it. But the question is, is it really just once a month? Not to say that I don't believe you, but I'm just saying the frequency is probably important there. And something he could do, so I know he doesn't want to take drugs or pharmaceuticals. He might be taking berberine. If not, I would suggest it either way, because it's great for blood sugar control. There's so many trials that actually compare berberine to metformin, which is that pharmaceutical that helps manage blood sugar levels.
Melanie Avalon
And they find it to be pretty equal in their effectiveness. And it's all natural. And it only has really been like has beneficial effects. In addition to blood sugar control, it's great for cholesterol. It can have a beneficial effect on the gut microbiome. It even stimulates AMPK, which is an anti-aging longevity pathway in the body.
I love berberine. I take it every day. You could take it in the fastest state. You can take it before meals. I have my berberine, which I made to be the best on the market. And I've tested it with CGMs, which I want to come back to. So I would highly recommend that he get some berberine. So if he goes to avlonx.us and checks out my berberine there, you can use the coupon code IF Podcast to get a discount on that. Speaking of CGMs, oh, actually other things he could do to help with these spikes when he's experiencing them. So say he just wants to do it, he's going to have these treats. There's a lot you can do to help mitigate that blood sugar spike. So take the berberine before the meal, taking apple cider vinegar before the meal can help, adding cinnamon to the meal can help. And definitely, definitely, well, A, if you can like exercise before and then walk after, that also really helps. So anything that you can do to help mitigate that is really great.
And then I would also suggest getting, I mean, he knows that his, okay, I'm guessing maybe he's testing his blood sugar with like a glucometer. He might want to try a CGM, a continuous glucose monitor for two weeks. And that would give him a better picture of how his blood sugar is responding basically all the time to everything. And that might help help give a better picture. Although you say you know that his average is 120. So I don't know if that's just from him doing a glucometer all the time, or it might be from maybe he's already wearing a CGM. But if listeners are interested in a CGM, they can go to Nutrisense.com slash I have podcast. That's n-u-t-r-i-s-e-n-s-e.com slash I have podcast and use the code I have podcast. It should get you $30 off and one free month of nutritionist support.
So that was a lot of thoughts. Barry, do you have thoughts?
Barry Conrad
No, I think that you summed it up wonderfully. The thing that I only had a question about was exactly what you talked about as all which is, is this just an occasional? If it's a one-off, I don't think there's anything to worry about, but it sounds like it's not. What did you think about that, Mel?
Like the occasional treat? Like, you know, because once in a while, it's not a concern, I don't think. To me, anyway.
Melanie Avalon
So she said he does it like once a month, right? You want to enjoy your life, you know, you want to do the things. And if it's literally once a month, and it's good the rest of time, I wouldn't worry about it. I just know it's a slippery slope for some people.
And once a month becomes once a week becomes, you know, more often, it's never good having that massive spike. But I think you have to take it into account with the cost benefit of the entirety of your life, you know, like you want to live a satisfying life. And it's awesome that he's addressing his blood sugar levels through diet. Like that's amazing. So kudos, bravo to him. And I would definitely say try, try the berberine, for sure.
Barry Conrad
Try the brethren!
Melanie Avalon
So Okidoki, shall we go on to our next question?
Barry Conrad
Let's do it.
Melanie Avalon
So our next question comes from Susan, and this is from Facebook. And Susan says, I've reached a lull. I'm leveling out and I wonder what is good to jumpstart myself again, definitely for weight loss. I got down to a point and crept back up.
We have a big event in two weeks. So starting again strong today, I know that it's eating too early and too much. I hope, is what she says. So what are your thoughts for Susan?
Barry Conrad
Hey Susan, how's it going? Thank you for your question. First off, I know exactly how you feel and respect for, I think, being self-aware. Sometimes the hardest part is just admitting that and just being honest with ourselves and naming where we're at without sugarcoating it. So let's start there.
You've already won half the battle there by acknowledging that. That lull you're describing is totally normal. It's something that almost everyone who's been on a fasting or health or weight loss journey experiences and has experienced. You're going to have plateaus. You're going to feel like you're going backwards, forwards, stalling. You're cruising along, feeling great, maybe even dropping weight consistently. And then suddenly you hit this flat patch or worse, things can feel like they creep back up and like you've lost ground. But the truth is, it doesn't mean what you were doing isn't working anymore. It just means your body's adapted. So the human body, it's so good at keeping us alive and when we're doing something consistently like fasting or following a certain way of eating, our metabolism catches up on that. So it adapts. It's pretty clever. It adapts. It adjusts. And sometimes it slows things down to maintain a balance. And that's where you experience that sort of plateau situation. But you can shake things up without going too extreme as well or going to extremes. So since you mentioned eating too early and too much here, that's a good place to start.
OK, so if your eating window has been creeping earlier, just be intentional about pushing it back even maybe even by 30 minutes or an hour. Like you'd be surprised how much impact that small tweak could maybe make. And on the you said too much. So on the too much side, it's not it's not always about restriction. It's about maybe sorting out your portion sizes, recalibrating those, checking in on whether you're you're eating to nourish or to soothe or to distract or to reward. So really checking in about being mindful about you eating and what you're using there for too is is something that could be helpful. One of my personal go to resets like when I want to feel tighter and leaner or just to get the momentum is I keep my meals pretty simple. And Melanie will say the same thing, like I'm a bit of a creature of habit. And I think you are too. Like we like to eat a lot of the same things, lots of high protein. And I like to keep my meals super simple and protein forward for a few days. So think think lean meats, eggs, greens, healthy fats and maybe dial back to the carbs a little bit for a little bit and and stay away from anything that could make me make you blow it. You don't have to cut everything out. It's not about being extreme. Just reduce the food noise for a period and see how that if it affects you in any way. So the simpler you eat, the easier you can maybe listen to your body, sort of like an elimination diet, but not really.
Barry Conrad
But just just to see tweaking it, if that might help. Also, I reckon don't underestimate sleep, the basic sleep, hydration and keeping stress low stress is a part of life, but keeping stress low because all three of those things, they mess with like a hunger and insulin. So if you're trying to reset, treat those things like non-negotiables because they're like a foundational thing. So hydrate, hydrate, aim for for sleep.
Take a few minutes each day to do something that brings you joy to like switch off decompress whatever that looks like for you. And with this big event coming up in a couple of weeks, that's that's pretty good motivation. But don't let it stress you out because I know how that could be. You feel like this thing is looming, like I need to look a certain way for a certain outfit instead, use it as a focus point. I reckon like get consistent for you, not just for the event. You want to be you want it to be your lifestyle rather than just to live from event to event and let the event be a bonus and not necessarily the reason.
You know what I mean? And if your weight crept up a bit, don't sweat it. You know, your body remembers the scale keeps changing day to day anyway. It wants to just get back to a place I reckon where it feels good. So you just need to go out and gently not punish it. So you're starting pretty strong. You know, that's what matters most. So let the momentum do its thing. You got this. Now, what do you reckon?
Melanie Avalon
That was so incredible and so comprehensive. And I agree with everything you said. Yeah, I like that you pointed out about how it's normal to plateau or have lulls, especially when, like you were saying, when you do lose weight, your metabolism does adjust to the new weight. And it's not because your metabolism is slowing down negatively like you harm your metabolism. It's just that when you weigh less, you literally require burning less calories to maintain your body. So it's just a natural thing.
So kind of like on the flip side, when you gain weight, you now have a higher resting metabolic rate. So something that does need to be accounted for with weight loss is that you might have a lower resting metabolic rate at a lower rate. One of the great things about fasting is people often find that it's protective of weight regain and can really help support that whole process. I always find this really interesting.
I feel like we get a lot of questions or we have throughout the years where people ask the question and then in the question, they give the answer. Like they already know the answer. It happens a lot. And it's kind of like they need to hear somebody else say it back to them.
Barry Conrad
they reassured, but you know, they already know. Yeah.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, so like she says she knows she's eating too early and too much a I don't I agree with Barry though that we don't want to make this about restriction so we don't I wouldn't even focus on you know that you're eating I think it's great like Barry said you have awareness of what the issues might be so now you have a lot of tools to address that and it isn't necessarily like Barry was saying it isn't necessarily meaning that you have to start you know eating way less I love the idea so the eating too early I feel like I'm just echoing back what you said but it's what I it's what I think if you've expanded your eating window and now it's not as tight of a windows it used to be you know can you just go back and tighten up the window again and see what that does I think people get they get overwhelmed or upset when they regain weight and so they feel like they have to do like all the things when maybe you can you know make a tweak here a tweak there and that can actually have a massive effect it's the it's the things we do consistently that really really affect us so tightening up your eating window and then again for eating too much so yes a you could just try eating less or b you could do a lot of fun hacks like Barry was saying these are actually some of the hacks I wrote down I didn't write down the one about eating simply but I agree so much about that one it works so well for me like I just love eating I love eating the food I eat and when you don't bring in a lot of variety to your meals you you don't tend to overeat as much especially when you're focusing on protein that's why bodybuilders you know they pretty it's not the only reason but it's a reason that bodybuilders will eat like two foods because it's harder to overeat when you're doing that but the thing is you really want to make sure that you're getting all your nutrients so you really want to make sure it's nutrient dense and things like that you can also try tweaks like so Barry suggested like lowering the carbs I guess we don't really know what she's eating normally so trying I don't know what her carb intake is like normally trying either a higher carb low fat approach or a low carb higher fat approach and I'm being very intentional in where I put the er versus the not er and the point of that is because I think if you do like a um a low fat approach and you want to see magic from it actually making it low fat is key so it wants you you want it to be low fat and then have higher carbs so like not adding and like and if you do it like in a whole foods type situation it's pretty easy to do so that that would basically look like just eating whole foods and not adding oils and fats to your meat or to your sorry to your meals and not eating like super fatty meat and that will pretty much bring you to a a low fat higher carb approach or on the flip side if you want to try low carb higher fat and the reason I say higher fat is because you don't necessarily have to eat all the fat on a low carb high fat approach you can go low carb and eat fatty foods but not like drown everything in butter to to tomorrow so I think eating in a changing around the macros is something to try doing what Barry said with you know trying to eat more simply even throwing in a few days where you do like quote like a PSMF type day like so a day basically where you eat just lean protein not even necessarily counting calories but having a day here and there those will be really stimulating metabolically stimulating for your body because they're so high protein and then they actually end up being a pretty big calorie deficit so so basically if you have a day where you eat you know just lots of like lean chicken this is something that Maria Emmerich talks about a lot a lot yeah I think there's a lot of a lot of things you can try I love the idea about starting strong and just be kind to yourself and supportive of yourself and just remember that this is what I used to tell myself in the past was if you so choose it could in theory only get better from here like you can choose to make every decision about the lifestyle choices you make and what you put in your body be beneficial going forward so in theory it could only go up from here you don't have to be on this on the swing what is it the seesaw
Barry Conrad
So good.
Melanie Avalon
All right.
Barry Conrad
Well, we hope that was helpful for you, Susan, yeah.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. Susan and Sabrina, some alliteration there, let us know how it goes. And yeah, shall we have our proverbial breaking of the fast? What was that word that you wanted to start using?
Barry Conrad
Ah, dude, take a station.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, what is it?
Barry Conrad
Shout out to Damon in the Facebook group he mentioned because I posted some sort of a photo and I said it was a digestation and then he said maybe you and Mel should use that as the word for the restaurant segment.
Melanie Avalon
Still don't know this word, though. What? Wait, you don't know it.
Barry Conrad
D-E-G-U, so, degustation. I mean, I'm so surprised that you don't know this word, because I feel like- Maybe it's Australian.
Really? Because I feel like it's like, it's a very male-coded thing. I don't know.
Melanie Avalon
is the careful, appreciative tasting of various food focusing on the gustatory system that senses high culinary art and good company.
Barry Conrad
Mm-hmm, but how we kind of use it like typically it's like the digger station is like Multi-course sort of experience kind of thing. Does that make sense?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, that Merriam Webster, so that was Wikipedia, Merriam Webster says, the action or an instance of tasting, especially in a series of small portions. Yeah, I had.
Barry Conrad
And Mel, actually, one of the best digestations I've ever had in my life was in Monterey, California a couple of years ago. It was so good.
I have to find the photos and send them to you. It was amazing. A place called Coastal Kitchen, on the water, incredible wine, incredible food. Like, yes, small portions, but by the time you're done, you're pretty satisfied because there's a lot of them.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, okay, so it's like a yeah, it's like a thing it's like a digestation menu is a tasting menu Oh, it's a tasting menu. How do I not know?
Barry Conrad
this word. That's what I mean. I was like, I thought you'd be like, oh yeah, take a session.
Melanie Avalon
because I don't like tasting many.
Barry Conrad
That's actually true. Listen as Mel, you've said this before on the podcast, like, I don't like set menus or like, you know, you'd like to be able to choose.
Melanie Avalon
I would like, okay, there is a Degas station that I would like if it was a Degas station and it was just different meats.
Barry Conrad
Okay, that tracks for sure.
Melanie Avalon
So shall we have our proverbial breaking of the fast, which may or may not include a devastation, but will and spirit?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, let's do it. I'm ready, especially after this wisdom teeth situation. Like I'm feeling even more into the segment today.
Perfect. Okay. I wonder if there's a good, I wonder if there's a degustation specialty place in Atlanta that you could check out to experience it.
Melanie Avalon
Well, if it's just a tasting menu. Okay.
Barry Conrad
Okay, no, it's, I feel like you're making it seem like
Melanie Avalon
If it's a synonym for tasting menu, that is a thing.
Barry Conrad
No.
Melanie Avalon
It's got to be more special than that. I'm going to see it now, though. I'm going to go somewhere and it's going to be like, Degas Station, written really big.
Barry Conrad
Does your sister know about this word? You should ask her.
Melanie Avalon
I'm going to ask her. Oh, also I'm supposed to tell you hi from her. She says hi.
Barry Conrad
Uh, hey, Danny.
Melanie Avalon
She said before we started recording.
Barry Conrad
I call, listen, this is not very interesting, but I call Melanie sister Danny, and Melanie calls her Danielle, like very, you know, full word.
Melanie Avalon
I'm the only person who calls her Danielle. Everybody else calls her Danny.
She self-identifies as Danny, but I've never called her Danny like my entire life, so I can't start now. It's too, that ship has sailed.
Barry Conrad
with the Digistation Tasty Mini.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, it's all gone. Okay, so in keeping up with the spirit of my Disney World restaurants, I'm actually going away from Epcot this time. And I sent you the restaurant. This year, 2025, Disney World was awarded two restaurants with Michelin stars. Wow. Yep. And there's only 31 Michelin starred restaurants in Florida, I think. And two of them are at Disney World.
One of them is actually a Degas station restaurant. Come to think of it, I think. Victoria and Albert's, maybe we'll do that sometime. I want to do that one, but the mini is not really. I don't think the mini is online. So the other one though, the God of Michelin star is this restaurant at the Four Seasons Orlando at Disney World. And it's called Coppa.
Barry Conrad
Love the four seasons.
Melanie Avalon
I love the Four Seasons as well. Actually, I have a Four Seasons gift card that I've not used. Maybe we need to go to Disney World and go here and use it.
Barry Conrad
I'm about it, I'm down for that.
Melanie Avalon
want to. I've been saving it. I've been saving it for something and this is it, I guess. I actually have not looked at the menu yet. Actually, I literally forgot that I had it because it's in the Apple Wallet. I have so many tickets in there for theater and it's way at the bottom. I forgot about it.
This restaurant is called Kappa. I know nothing about it. I'm looking at it now. It looks cool.
Barry Conrad
I'm pulling it up right now, it looks pretty, I'm looking at the dinner menu, clicking in. Yeah, it's got already, it's already a hit with me because look at that.
Melanie Avalon
what is the first oh my goodness gracious i didn't even i'm experiencing this in real life the first thing on the menu is oysters the first two things on the menu if you read horizontally
Barry Conrad
Happy about that.
Melanie Avalon
It says, indulge in our Michelin star rooftop steakhouse and bar, boasting the best of Spanish influence cuisine in a romantic setting. Reserve now.
Okay. I'm sold. Crudos. What are you going to get for your starter?
Your crudos. I don't speak Spanish. What does crudos mean?
Barry Conrad
I'm just guessing that it's like small things or like starter, but I could be wrong.
Melanie Avalon
It means raw. Oh, there you go.
Wait, no. A dish, that's one thing. A dish of sliced, seasoned, uncooked seafood. Okay. Uncooked fish or seafood, which equals sea creatures with shells. Okay. So what are you getting?
Barry Conrad
You know what, this is, listeners, when you, hopefully looking this up, looking up this with us as well, it looks amazing. I'm going to actually go for all of those raw items.
I'm going to go for the.
Melanie Avalon
Do you see what they have? They have the caviar that we talked about.
So on the Mindblown podcast, we did an episode on the most expensive foods in the world. And we talked about the Royal Beluga caviar.
Really? Uh-huh, it's like the most expensive caviar. They have it.
Barry Conrad
far out. Okay, we'll see. Well, that's definitely happening. So definitely, it's the, how do you say it, the Trojan Royal Beluga caviar that's happening during the attune. I hope this is being sponsored by the restaurant. Yeah. Imagine that. I wonder what it tastes like too, like, and how much you get of it, like how, how big a serving.
Melanie Avalon
This is what we learned about it. So I think they, there's only one place in the U S that has this caviar. And it's because I think it got, I hope I'm not telling this wrong. I feel like it got like import, you could band import it. You couldn't import it here anymore, but there was this one farm guy that had it already. So he got like grandfathered in. So like he has it and that's why it's so expensive. I hope that was not the wrong story.
I think that was the story that was the case with something that was expensive and I'm pretty sure it was this.
Barry Conrad
It's a pretty good thing to have though. I imagine that like, yeah, it's, I've got it. You got to come through me like this. I can set the price, you know, it's good.
Melanie Avalon
Wait, you're really getting everything? I just want the shrimp cocktail.
Barry Conrad
No, I knew you were going to get that. I'm going to get everything.
Because the oysters, to me, if you actually had oysters, Melanie, you'll realize that they're actually not that filling. They're just delicious, so they don't really... Are you getting both oysters? Because there's two. Yeah, so I'm getting the mediskada, which is oysters, crab salad,
Melanie Avalon
That's like comes with everything.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, cocktail shrimp tuna crudo, so that's like a mixed situation.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, so you could get that.
Barry Conrad
And the other side, then the oysters are like extras, like oysters, cocktail sauce, megan net. And then the shrimp cocktail, which is the Camaron cocktailero, the attuncrudo, which is tuna caviar. Oh man, this looks amazing.
Half dried grapes, agio blanco. And then of course, Melanie, the caviar that you talked about before, the Royal Beluga.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, yeah, I think I understand the menu better. So like the Mariscotta includes the other three things so you can try all of them.
And then there's the caviar section is what it looks like. Okay, I'll just get an extra shrimp cocktail and I'll taste the caviar, please.
Barry Conrad
Okay, sounds good.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, now we're on to more words we don't know. Para picar. Yeah, do you know what that means?
Barry Conrad
I don't, but let me look it up actually when I find out. It means to eat, to nibble on. Oh, that's cool.
Melanie Avalon
for nibbling to snack on. How adorable. Tapas. Okay.
Barry Conrad
So it's still pretty small, we're still in the small part of the meal, not too big yet.
Melanie Avalon
What are you going to get from here? From the tapas.
Barry Conrad
I'm going to get some bread, which is the panerstico. I'm going to get some croquettas, because I like croquettas. That's jamo and serrano, bichamo, onion, subice. I'm definitely going to get the serdó, which is beer, brine, pork belly. Love pork belly. Do you like pork belly well? And then, oh, man, there's just too many things. There's also, I'm not going to do the don't love dates. I'm not going to do the medjool dates. I'll do the gambas, which is shrimp, egg, yolk, chili, celery root chips. So that's what I'm getting.
I'm going to get the panerstico, croquettas, serdó, and the gambas. What about you, Mel?
Melanie Avalon
I might skip this course. You get to skip it. Well, you got four things, so I do like pork belly, but I don't like beer brined pork belly.
Barry Conrad
And I don't think that they can put the beer brine on the side. Yeah.
Melanie Avalon
What is the shrimp egg yolk? What is that? Shrimp egg yolk, chili, agambas? You were getting that, right?
Barry Conrad
It's celery root chips. So okay, so but what is the year gummus? I wonder...
Melanie Avalon
I'll get that no chili or on the side and the root chips on the side, basically just the shrimp and the egg yolk. So I get another course of shrimp. Yeah.
Barry Conrad
Again, this is a good menu by the way, good find, I'm loving the choices so far.
Melanie Avalon
Now we're still in the world of small. It's a small world. After all, small plates. Rastione.
Barry Conrad
Gracionias, what do you what do you reckon you want from the smell? What's looking good?
Melanie Avalon
I'm figuring out what raciones means. It means larger portions of food typically meant to be shared. Oh, okay, oh my goodness, I got the order now. I can't believe I didn't know this.
Tapas are small individual bites, that's what we did. Then there's para picar, which we also did, which is small snacks to nibble, which can include tapas or smaller items. And then there's raciones, which is this, which is larger share plate. Think of a full dish of something. Oh, it's like a full dish that you share. So, but it's still like a small plate it says, so that's confusing. Okay, oh, there's something here I like. Roasted bone marrow, the tuetano.
Barry Conrad
I wonder, have you heard that before?
Melanie Avalon
But it comes with Chistora gratin and an oak-toasted pan. So yeah, I'll go for that. Oh wait, have you had octopus before?
Barry Conrad
Hell yeah, I love octopus. Love it.
Melanie Avalon
It's not fried, right? You've never had octopus. Are you looking down at me for my lack of what?
Barry Conrad
Okay, Melanie, have you never had octopus before?
Melanie Avalon
Okay, I have a distinct memory of being somewhere at a restaurant and my parents, and there were tiny little octopuses. I'm pretty sure the plural of octopuses is octopuses.
There were tiny little octopuses.
Barry Conrad
Okay. Well, to answer your question, you can fry them, but they're often not fried. Sometimes they're just cured or grilled. They're really delicious.
Melanie Avalon
I'm kidding. You know, I'm feeling in my body viscerally right now, you know, and you know me, I love my meat and seafood, and the feeling I get about oysters, I'm like getting that feeling about these octopuses.
Barry Conrad
Oh, no, we're going to change this. We're going to experiment with octopus, octopi.
Melanie Avalon
I'm checking the plural form. I'm pretty sure I'm correct. Hold on, octopuses. What is the plural form? The plural of octopus is octopuses. Really? Uh-huh.
Barry Conrad
It doesn't sound right, does it, like octopuses?
Melanie Avalon
It's the most widely accepted and grammatically correct English plural. People often say octopi, but it's technically incorrect.
And it's because octopus is from Greek, not Latin. So using a Latin plural form doesn't apply.
Barry Conrad
Okay.
Melanie Avalon
Interesting so you're getting are you getting octopus is
Barry Conrad
Okay, I'm getting the, the Polpo, it's this paprika marinade octopuses and the mojo verde. It's just one octopus though, but yeah, this is normal.
Is it like one little small octopus? Is it like, yeah, hopefully not. It might be a big octopus. It could be. And they're also getting patatas bravas because I actually, Mel, fun fact, I make these, my own version of these crispy potatoes and they're really good.
Melanie Avalon
Oh my goodness. Amazing. You'll have to compare it to your recipe.
Barry Conrad
Would you taste it though, or would you be like, I'll look at them and see if I.
Melanie Avalon
I will look at them.
Barry Conrad
I think I'm going to try the, I'm curious about your choice to a tunnel because I've never had roasted bone marrow. So yeah, I'll have those three.
Melanie Avalon
You've never had roasted bone marrow.
Barry Conrad
I feel like you're looking down on me.
Melanie Avalon
I know that was my, my getting back at you. No, but here's the thing. I feel like it's much more common to have bone marrow than octopuses.
Barry Conrad
No way! What do you mean?
Melanie Avalon
Yes way, do they not eat bone marrow in Australia?
Barry Conrad
In Australia, pretty much every restaurant, like seafood salad, octopus salad, octopus in the salad bar, it's like a thing.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, we don't. But bone marrow is on a lot of a lot of restaurants here, not like a ton, but it is a common, like it's not surprising to see it on a menu. If you're at a nice restaurant.
Barry Conrad
Okay, well, so to answer your question, no, I mean, I have had bone marrow in a bone, like, you know, but not a roaster. I don't know. What does it look like? Roasted bone marrow.
Melanie Avalon
You probably have roasted them i mean how else. How have you had it cooked.
Barry Conrad
It's more like when there's marrow inside a bone, you suck it out. That's what I mean. Is that wrong?
Melanie Avalon
You're talking about like, you're talking about like you're eating like, like a chicken carcass and there's like marrow inside of it.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, or like a lamb shank and you suck it up.
Melanie Avalon
Have you had it as a dish?
Barry Conrad
No, I've never had bone marrow as a dish. So good. Really?
Melanie Avalon
It's it's okay. It's one of those foods that does not taste like what you think it's gonna taste like
Barry Conrad
Do you know what else?
Melanie Avalon
Octopuses.
Barry Conrad
Exactly. I was going to say it's one of those foods that it tastes like you don't think it's going to taste in a good way. So that's why you should give it a chance and oysters.
Melanie Avalon
I'm just being upfront about the my premonition bone marrow because it sounds, I don't know, it sounds like not approachable, like something funky, like an or it sounds like an organ meat or something. No, no, no.
It is just this most delicious tasting fat ever. It's like, oh, like the angels like sing.
Barry Conrad
Sounds good, sounds delicious.
Melanie Avalon
So, okay, now we are still in the world of smallness. We're at the Spanish charcuterie and cheeses. Oh, this is easy. I know exactly what I want here.
This is so easy. What are you gonna get? The acorn-fed black hoof, jamon, Iberico, the jamon, I'm probably betraying this, no pun intended, jamon de belata, belata. Iberico acorn-fed, it's like prosciutto. It's so good. It's probably not prosciutto. I'm probably using the wrong words, but it's so, yeah, that.
Barry Conrad
I'm getting all three.
Melanie Avalon
Oh my goodness, we ordered the whole new name.
Barry Conrad
A confetti black hoof jamon eberico and then also the other one is the chef's selection of cured meats which is has to happen and then the next one down is the chef's selection of artisan cheeses so I've got to experience the whole thing I can't just have the one thing.
Melanie Avalon
So I thought my gift card was going to cover this. I'm where we might be like reaching the limits.
Oh my goodness. I, I'm glad you're getting though the artists and cured meets because I'm curious, I would try those as well for sure.
Barry Conrad
There also might not be the quantity might not be massive because if it's Spanish style, it's probably not massive.
Melanie Avalon
Salads, we're still in the world of small. I'm passing on salads. Do you want a salad?
Barry Conrad
The one that sticks out to me would probably be the, I love tomatoes, so probably something fresh like the halon tomatoes, cucumbers, smoked garlic vinegar, and black sea salt, because it's just fresh. Have one of those on the table, thanks.
It sounds very fresh.
Melanie Avalon
I'm having flashbacks to... I've told this story before. We went to Paris with my family and my dad ordered the tomato salad at one point. It was literally just a tomato. That was it. I think it was a tomato with some cilantro. My family was laughing about it for eons.
Now we are to the grill. Long time coming. I'm excited to be here. They have a Wagyu flight. That's cool. You get to try five ounces of American, five ounces of Australian, and three ounces of Japanese. It was made for us. Oh my goodness. We have to get that. I don't even like the super fatty meat, but we can't not. That must be received by the table.
Barry Conrad
I have an idea. What is your idea? How about we get that for the table and then we get our own selection of another choice? Because I feel like we should sample.
Melanie Avalon
that could be dessert. It's not dessert. Okay. For the table. Okay. And then what, what are you going to have for your main
Barry Conrad
Okay, looking at now, I'm going to go for the grass fed lamb rack. I just, I'm in the mood for lamb.
Let's do it. Comes with pumpkin, pepita, and cocoa crust. It's Fletcher, New Zealand. So that's, yes, time is delicious.
Melanie Avalon
I really like that they say where every steak comes from. I don't think I've seen this on a menu before.
So every single steak, they put the town it's from. Like one is from like Creekstone, Kansas. One's from Jackman, Fort Davis, Texas, et cetera. So they have my favorite kind of steak here. So that's what I'm getting. Do you know what that is? Oh wait, how are you gonna have your lamb cooked?
Barry Conrad
I'm going to go medium rare vibes.
Melanie Avalon
Solid.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, because I feel like with lamb, I don't go as rare with lamb as I do with beef. Beef, I can go pretty rare.
Melanie Avalon
Do you want to know a fun fact about Wagyu that I recently shared on a mind blown podcast episode? Tell me.
So you know how they say it melts in your mouth. So Wagyu actually melts in your mouth because the fat composition of it is different from normal steaks. It's higher in monounsaturated fat and it has a melting point that is lower than our body temperature, sorry, yes, lower than our body temperature. So when you have Wagyu steak, it literally melts in your mouth.
Barry Conrad
That's amazing. I never knew that.
Melanie Avalon
That's why I'm here. Fun facts. Okay, so do you know what my favorite cut is?
Barry Conrad
Is it where is it where you know.
Melanie Avalon
No, no, no, too fatty.
Barry Conrad
OK, no, it's the filet.
Melanie Avalon
Mmm, which one which one there's there's two
Barry Conrad
I'm going to go for the, is it the prime filet?
Melanie Avalon
The options are prime fillet or prime bone end fillet.
Barry Conrad
I think the prime fillet.
Melanie Avalon
No, no, bone in. I love, I'm a carnivore. How did you not, if you thought about it longer, you might have.
Barry Conrad
Yeah maybe I should have thought about but also I didn't picture you you know picking up the bone because it's not your thing you know you would like cover you say to people look away I don't I can't eat the bones or
Melanie Avalon
I wouldn't tell people to look away, I would just cover my mouth. That's what I mean.
Yes, no, bone and fillet, you get all that extra flavor from the bone. Whenever we had it, when I was working in fine dining, when we would have a bone and fillet, I would sell that. I would sell so many bone and fillets. Really? Yes, because I passionately believe what I say about them, which is that it's like the best of all the worlds. You get the really lean, tender cut because the fillet is essentially maybe the leanest cut and also the most tender, best of both worlds. And then you get all the flavor from the bone as well. So good.
Barry Conrad
Delicious. I really am craving... Do what? You're craving what? Meat. Now. Oh. Sorry, what were you saying? And you also get the what? You also get the...
Melanie Avalon
I was just gonna say that like, if you're like, wait, how is there still an entree section? I'm confused. I thought we were done. Wait, now there's an entree section. Oh, it's like non-stakes.
Barry Conrad
Mm hmm. This is going to be a very long dinner in a good way.
Melanie Avalon
Do you want any of the entrees from the entree section?
Barry Conrad
Guess what I'm gonna get, see if you can guess it.
Melanie Avalon
Is it one of the paleos? Which one? De marascos. Yes. Si, I know you well.
Barry Conrad
Paella dei Marescos. It's bomber rice, mussels, calamari, head on shrimp, baby scallops, and saffron. That sounds like a, that sounds amazing, actually.
Melanie Avalon
Got the saffron. See, I'm seeing all the most expensive ingredients in the world on this list. The Iberico ham, the saffron, the Wagyu, the Beluga caviar. Yeah.
Barry Conrad
Melanie, guess what? I don't think that the gift card's gonna get past the first section of this menu.
Melanie Avalon
It is a very big gift card.
Barry Conrad
Okay.
Melanie Avalon
Hmm, I know I don't think so, but it'll it'll help. It'll help
Barry Conrad
Okay, are you going to get anything from the intro section?
Melanie Avalon
I think I would, oh, because there's additions. I might get, hmm, let me look. No, I think I'm good.
Additions? Additions. I think I would like to add a lobster tail. Same. You can also add bone marrow. If you really like it, you could get some more.
Barry Conrad
sources I don't I feel like you're gonna pass on the sources but I'm asking anyway
Melanie Avalon
Are you gonna get a sauce?
Barry Conrad
I'm gonna get the cap of steaks for us. That sounds delicious on the side.
Melanie Avalon
If I, it's Berenesa, Berenese, but written in Spanish. That's what I would get if I was eating more sauces. I love Berenese.
Barry Conrad
Okay, what about vegetables?
Melanie Avalon
We can get some broccolini. How about you?
Barry Conrad
Frockoline is good to have on the table. I also do like the idea of the Calabaza, the roasted winter squash. I don't have a lot of squash normally. That sounds quite nice.
Melanie Avalon
I like what they say at the end, they say our mindfulness and contribution to sustainability are connected in our efforts to make a difference by sourcing locally and seasonally when available, only cage free eggs, sustainably certified fish and reducing waste to minimize while minimizing environmental impact.
Barry Conrad
I love that. That's great.
Melanie Avalon
Do they have the dessert menu?
Barry Conrad
I think you have to go back to the thing. Is there one? There is.
Melanie Avalon
Okay. Oh my goodness. Okay. Are you gonna do, are you gonna do the tasting flight of drinks?
Barry Conrad
Oh yeah, that's happening for sure. Oh, there's four different ones though. Oh, they're all different. Okay, I'm going to get the tequila tasting flight for sure, which is Sin Cora, Ana Gia, Casa, Dragana, Yovan, Don Yulio, and Petron Grand Platinum for sure, the tequila, and then I'm going to get the... You know what?
Because in South Africa, we drink a lot of brandy, so I think I'm going to try the Taurus brandy. 10 year, 15 year, 20 year, Jamie one. So those two... No, I'm going to be having a happy, relaxed, vibey time.
Melanie Avalon
I'll just get another, I'll get more wine.
Barry Conrad
What about the dulce's, the sweet treats?
Melanie Avalon
This is where I'm going to bring, okay, so we've tried so many things for dessert. I'm going to get another round of whatever I liked the most.
Barry Conrad
Savor, you mean?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, so I don't know what that's going to be or am I or am I try like another steak cut But something savory. There's been so many options.
This this actually might be this might be one of my favorite menus that we've looked at
Barry Conrad
Honestly, it's pretty extensive and not just for filler. Like it's all looks really good and really detailed. So I'm about that.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. Let me guess. You're going to get... Oh, they... No, wait, hold on. I keep looking.
Are you going to get the... What is the... Oh, chocolate churros. I don't like... Even when I ate sweets, I never really liked churros. Do you?
Barry Conrad
I mean, it's pretty hit and miss, like if it's really fresh and like, if they're not too hard, like I'll have it, but it's definitely not like, or like, let me get it, you know, like, that's my last thing that I get, you know.
Melanie Avalon
So what would you get?
Barry Conrad
I would probably because there's no chocolate cake which is my favorite or red velvet cake or something.
Melanie Avalon
Are you going to get the delica exotica?
Barry Conrad
Yes. Delica Exotica, so it's 33% opal is white chocolate, which I don't, I don't love white chocolate, but I'm going to go for that because it's the only chocolate cake with coconut sorbet and mango passion center, which sounds pretty good.
Awesome.
Melanie Avalon
Well, we actually do have to do this because it's at Disney World, it's a Michelin star and I have the gift card. So we actually have to.
Barry Conrad
We're going. We'll just have the reservation from 6 to 8.30 because there's a lot to get through, a lot of food.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, what are their hours? They're open 6 to 10. There's a live Spanish guitarist on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 6 to 9. We have to go on a Wednesday or a Saturday.
Barry Conrad
Saturday for sure more vibey
Melanie Avalon
We have to go on a Saturday. It sounds good. Yay, well that was fun.
Barry Conrad
That was really fun.
Melanie Avalon
Good find. Thank you. I saw I was reading the article about the Michelin stars and I was like, Oh my goodness, this is perfect. Okay. Oh, and I didn't even tell the reason the purpose of that section, which was because fasting. It's not just about the fasting.
It's also about the eating and enjoying the food and nourishing your body and so many of the benefits of fasting actually happen from the eating. So, all right. I think that's all the things if listeners would like to submit their own questions for the show. They can directly email questions at I have podcast.com or they can go to I have podcast.com. They can submit questions there. You can follow us on Instagram. We are I have podcast. I am Melanie Avalon. Barry is Barry underscore Conrad. And I think that's all the things the show notes out the show notes will be at I have podcast.com slash episode for 32. Anything from you, Barry, before we go.
Barry Conrad
No, thanks so much for tuning in everyone and we'll catch you next time.
Melanie Avalon
I will talk to you next week. Bye.
See you. Thank you so much for listening to the Intermittent Fasting Podcast. Please remember, everything we discussed on this show does not constitute medical advice and no patient-doctor relationship is formed.
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