Welcome to Episode 469 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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TRANSCRIPT
(Note: This is generated by AI with 98% accuracy. However, any errors may cause unintended changes in meaning.)
Melanie Avalon
Welcome to Episode 469 of the Intermittent Fasting Podcast. If you want to burn fat, gain energy, and enhance your health by changing when you eat, not what you eat, with no calorie counting, then this show is for you.
I'm Melanie Avalon, biohacker, founder of AvalonX, and author of What, When, Wine. Lose weight and feel great with paleo-style meals, intermittent fasting, and wine. And I'm joined by my co-hosts, Barry Conrad, actor, singer-songwriter, and creator and host of Banter with B.C. For more on us, check out MelanieAvalon.com and BarryConradOfficial.com. You can submit questions for the show by emailing questions at iapodcast.com or by going to iapodcast.com. We would love to hear from you. Please remember, the thoughts and opinions on this show do not constitute medical advice or treatment. So pour yourself a mug of black coffee, a cup of tea, or even a glass of wine if it's that time, and get ready for the Intermittent Fasting Podcast. Hi, everybody, and welcome. This is episode number 469 of the Intermittent Fasting Podcast. I'm Melanie Avalon, and I'm here with Barry Conrad. Barry, how are you today?
Barry Conrad
Melanie, I am doing really, really great. I actually just signed with a modding agency here in New York, in America actually.
Melanie Avalon
What? Oh my gosh. Were you waiting to tell me?
Barry Conrad
I was, I was waiting to tell you.
Melanie Avalon
When did this happen?
Barry Conrad
This happened literally at the end of yesterday, so less than 20 hours a day. Yeah.
Melanie Avalon
Congratulations!
Barry Conrad
Thank you. I have an agent in Australia and it's been a bit of a hustle to get, you know, to sort of find my fee here with a modeling agent here like a good one because there's so many and there was one that were interested, but then they kind of wanted me to pay them to join. It was just this kind of a scam or was a scam.
So I'm with an amazing agency now and I'm so stoked. I had a great meeting with them about a week and a half ago and they came back and made me an offer and sent me a contract and assigned on the dotted line. So I'm super excited to be getting even more ingrained here in the States.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, that's so exciting. Whenever you post stuff on Instagram and if a brand is heavily featured, does that mean you're working with them?
Barry Conrad
Usually if a brand is fairly featured, it's usually a
Melanie Avalon
like the Calvin Klein stuff.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, because I try to also do it in a way that doesn't say it's an ad or be spooky. And then sometimes I just like to just hero different brands and things as well.
Melanie Avalon
Awesome. Well, that's really exciting.
I actually because I've never done modeling. I don't even know how that works like modeling on like do you audition for you like go in for auditions for modeling or they pick on pictures.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, a lot of the time they pick on pictures or they may get you to do a self tape or something, but it's very different to acting where it's a lot more in depth and involved. Modeling is how you look, you know, a lot of the time.
So as long as they can tell that you look like your photos or look like your comp card, which is your, like your portfolio that the agency has, then you're fine. And that you don't lie about your skills that you have, because sometimes you have to put down things you're good at and stuff. And a lot of people make that up. Yeah, I can pole vault, you know, at an intermediate level.
Melanie Avalon
I can write Equestrian. Exactly. Oh, yeah. What are your skills? Wait, what skills do you have listed on your card?
Barry Conrad
It's mainly just like fitness stuff, sporty stuff. I can speak Afrikaans a little bit, stuff like that. I don't try to be too ambitious for that. It's worked so far.
Melanie Avalon
Exciting. Well, I'll look for you on the billboard on Times Square.
Barry Conrad
Look out!
Melanie Avalon
I'm calling it now.
Barry Conrad
call and speak it into existence.
Melanie Avalon
Yes. Oh my gosh. Congratulations.
Barry Conrad
Thank you. How are you?
Melanie Avalon
I am good. I'm really excited about an event I'm going to this week. It's like my ideal form of event. If you were here, I would have begged you to be my date because you would love it too.
Barry Conrad
What kind of event is it?
Melanie Avalon
it's a gala. It's a theater gala to raise money for a really high caliber theater here. So it's going to be a carpet situation and then reception and then a multi-course dinner. And they're going to have hosted by the local news station person. And then I think they're having some... Well, a lot of performers that are pretty well known there are all going to perform. They're going to do numbers. And then there's going to be a dance at the end. So it's basically everything I love in a night.
I'm going to wear a gown.
Barry Conrad
When is it happening? So it's pretty soon, right?
Melanie Avalon
Thursday and what I'm trying to figure out is the gown I was gonna wear It's a really big gown so it'd be perfect for you know, sneaking in my wine situation But I just realized the slit is fairly high. So now I'm trying to think like I Don't know if I can carry a bag under my legs if there's a high slit on the dress These are the things I worry about
Barry Conrad
Well, it's that sounds like an awesome night. So and if I was there, definitely happily accept that invite.
Melanie Avalon
It would be fun. So that, and then I'm seeing, do you know Sutton Foster?
Barry Conrad
Yes, she's great. She's amazing.
Melanie Avalon
I'm seeing her Sunday.
Barry Conrad
Wow!
Melanie Avalon
I love her.
Barry Conrad
Is she doing a like, what sort of a show is she doing? Is it a one-woman show? Is she in a play or a musical or what's the deal?
Melanie Avalon
a music tour. So like singing stuff. I've been listening to her and so many different musicals since I was little. So little like middle school should be a good week.
Barry Conrad
Sounds very eventful.
Melanie Avalon
It is. Anything else or shall we jump into stuff?
Barry Conrad
Let's jump on in. Let's do it.
Melanie Avalon
Well, to start things off, we are, I have a study. So the title of this study, it is called comparing the effects of intermittent fasting and continuous calorie restriction on eating disorder and mood symptoms and healthy dieters. And it's from 2019 and it was actually a doctoral thesis and it was conducted at the university college London. And so basically the purpose of this study is they wanted to look at two types of calorie restriction diets. So one that was straight up just continuous calorie restriction. So, you know, doing calorie restriction all day or intermittent fasting, an ADF approach, so five to, so, you know, fasting on two days and eating normally on five days, and it was all in healthy adults and throughout the study, which was four weeks, what they were monitoring was they completed an online questionnaire with questions about eating disorder symptoms, food cravings and mood before starting and then at the end as well. And then they also track their diet adherence and their weight loss. And they wanted to see how both of these approaches, which both ended up being calorie restriction, but one was a fasting approach and the one was just straight up calorie restriction, how it would affect any eating disorder type related symptoms. And so they found that over the four weeks, interestingly, so both groups reported a decrease in shape concern, a decrease in weight concern, reductions in binge eating disorder symptoms, lower food cravings and improvements in mood. Both diets led to weight loss.
One of the differences between the two was for the fasting group specifically, they experienced even greater, larger reductions in their shape concerns, greater reductions in their weight concerns, and they had lower eating concerns after four weeks, meaning basically they were less worried about what they were eating than those in the calorie restricted group. And the calorie restricted group actually saw an increase in dietary restraint, which might sound like a good thing, but it basically means that they were feeling more restrictive of what they were doing. So it's actually correlated to like, that's not a good thing that you want to see. So basically the reasons that they think this happened. So well, A, again, both of them are pretty effective at reducing symptoms, but fasting was more effective. And they think that the reason for this, the researchers speculate wasn't necessarily about the fasting per se, as it was that by doing fasting, it was, and this might seem ironic, but it was more restrictive on the fasting days, and then you can eat normally on the other days. And they're, and so they're thinking that it's actually easier, like an all or none approach, like it's easier to just fast and then eat normally than it is to constantly enforce moderation of a calorie restriction diet, like that is probably harder for people to do. And then in addition, the fasting probably helped the participants improve their insulin sensitivity more. It probably helps with their metabolic flexibility more. So it probably made it easier for them to burn fat, be motivated, shift into a fat burning mode.
Melanie Avalon
It's more likely that they had more beneficial ketone production. And so all of this probably, probably led to more fat loss compared to the calorie restriction group.
So, and it's interesting because there's been a lot of like different studies looking at like fasting and calorie restriction and disordered eating and like, what does what, how do things affect the participants? And they are mixed. So this is definitely not indicative of all the research out there, but I did think it was really interesting that they, in the study, at least for four weeks that they found these effects. So takeaway is that the fasting was a little bit better than calorie restriction and reducing different symptoms related to eating disorders.
Barry Conrad
That's, that's super interesting. What an awesome study mill.
I thought it was fascinating about like how the IF group, I seem to worry less about the food and the weight and the body shape than the daily dining. I do think what you said about the all or nothing, I think that approach, I can see how that would be easier. Do you know what I mean? Rather than trying to carefully monitor every little nibble of whatever you're having or morsel that you're having. And that would play more into, that would probably feed, I'd imagine that would feed more into the eating disorder diet brain, you know?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, because and to that point, it's because you know, a lot of times with the studies on fasting, it will be looking at either maintenance levels of calories with fasting, or like last week, what we talked about with like a surplus with fasting. This was looking at like calorie restricted fasting created through ADF. Yeah, the at least for me, just, and this is the way I've been for so long and like doing a calorie restricted diet as your method to lose weight for like four weeks, like for a month, like, that is so long to not just have to restrict, you know, like constantly, like it's, it's just very overwhelming to me compared to like alternate day fasting, which they were doing where you get to eat normally, the majority of the days, and then on the days when you're fasting, it's easier in a way because you are like, like I was saying, and the researchers were saying, because you are cutting it out completely, you're actually becoming more insulin sensitive, you're in a fat burning zone, you're producing ketones, so hunger is not as much of an issue.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, I think it's awesome.
Do you know if the authors sort of give any inkling of like, whether the any of the psychological sort of changes faded or stabilized or how long or was it pretty much just because that'd be interesting as well to see how long that residue sort of hung around or if they're just sort of went back to their normal, you know, eating plan and they sort of just got over it or if they kind of lingered or if the eye of group stuck with that would be interesting to see like a follow up. What happened after that?
Melanie Avalon
No, that's such a great question. So unfortunately, in this study, the data ended at the follow up. So the last results were at the four weeks.
And then at the end, they actually say they talk about that, they say that, you know, it would be helpful to have longer term effects and studies and look at what happens like do these effects last longer beyond those four weeks that you're in.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, wow. Yeah, I definitely think it's so interesting how, yeah, one perpetuates further spiraling into dieting and the other one just helps to keep that at bay really, even though both are restricted.
Melanie Avalon
Well, what's interesting though, and I think the most surprising thing to me was both groups improved. So I did not expect that.
I thought either both were going to have negative effects or maybe just the calorie restriction have negative effects, but they actually both improved. And that makes, but the fasting just improved more with the symptoms. And something that, it makes me wonder how much of the setup of the study and like who was applying affected the outcome because this might look different if it were done in a different population.
Barry Conrad
I also wonder like how they sort of, you know, sort of told or distinguish between the, you know, like how the normal slash problematic restraint, like how they sort of gauged it or what they looked for, you know.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, I would imagine I wish they had like the questions. I imagine that would all be in the questionnaire. And so, okay, so this is what I was thinking is, so this was healthy adults and healthy dieters without a history of eating disorders. So I think that's really important.
So basically, people who did not have a history of eating disorders, when they go on these restrictive diets, either calorie restriction or fasting, it doesn't seem to further increase, it doesn't seem to create eating disorders for them in this group. And if anything, it actually seemed to help. But I think it probably might look different if you have a history of eating disorders. That might look like something completely different entirely. I would love to see this exact same study, but done in people who had a history of eating, of disordered eating.
Barry Conrad
I think so too, because I'd imagine it would bring up past trauma or past, you know, just be triggering for people, and I don't like to use that word, but you know, be like PTSD if they did have history with it, but if they were just blindly going into it or with no prior reference, that would be interesting to see, yeah, and why they would be lean more towards one than the other if they didn't have a history of it.
Melanie Avalon
And yeah, I would definitely because I, like I said, I read this one and then I realized that there are so many others. So I think I'll probably look for some other studies in the future because I'm, I'm really, really interested by all this.
It says to answer your question about like, how did they determine this? So they took questionnaires and it, it looked at so eating disorder symptoms. So I guess asking them about their weight and shape concerns, their restraint, their binge eating symptoms with a standardized eating pathology questionnaire. They don't list the exact questions, but it's probably things like, do you worry about your weight or shape? What is, what is your frequency of overeating? Do you experience loss of control? Do you like, what is your mood? Like are you experiencing anxiety or irritability? Are you experiencing cravings? So it's all just like questions to see, to see where they're at.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, and also also what you said as well about different people, groups or populations that will also be interesting to see if you copied and pasted to different countries even and just to see what the effects would be.
Melanie Avalon
That would be interesting.
Barry Conrad
culturally and even gender-wise, just awesome study, very interesting, TBC.
Melanie Avalon
Thank you, thank you. Shall we jump into some listener questions?
Barry Conrad
Let's do it!
Melanie Avalon
Okay, so we have some questions from Teresa, and these are kind of fun. I think we answered, I think she had three questions and we answered one of them eons ago. I'm not sure when. And we said we were gonna come back and we never did. So here we are.
We're finally back. So her second question, and I don't remember at this point what the first one was, but she says, Mel, I know before you talked about creating a dating app and mentioned how it's kind of important for your partner to have the same eating patterns as you. Do both of you still feel that way? Like with meal timing or type of food? I'll be honest, my husband and I have entirely different eating pallets and I kind of appreciate it. Just recently, he's starting to eat more whole foods. And while I'm happy he wants to be healthier, it's driving me nuts because he's eating all the food that I eat every day and we are starting to run out so fast. Mel, can you imagine if your partner ate just as many cucumbers, scallops, and blueberries as you? Oh my gosh. Yeah, so berries. So how, and by the way, the dating app is still in development. So you can get on the email list for that at cravingdating.com. Get on that email list, all the announcements will be there. So Barry, how important is it for you that your partner has the same eating patterns?
Barry Conrad
or hey Teresa, first of all, thanks for the question. It's pretty funny. I had to laugh when, can you imagine if your partner ate just as many cucumbers, scallops and blueberries. I do get that. You know, this is the thing people just deal with on the real like day to day and thank you for opening it up to both of us.
I think relationships, food, and routines are always an interesting mix. Interesting quotation marks there. You know, I don't think you need to eat the same way as your partner to be happy or healthy. I mean, I don't think I would need to. I do think that certain things can make it easier. So for example, if my partner was not healthy or was bringing home McDonald's or all these things all the time, it'd be harder to be around that because that would be, you know, just not great or vice versa. And I also do think if you do have different eating palates, eating patterns, that's also okay. As long as there's a mutual respect, let me zoom out and say something like if one person's vegetarian or one person's, you know, it doesn't like pasta or something like that. It's different to one person being like a 180, just ultra processed food and you're not, I think that'd be really hard. You know, fasting is part of my life, but I can't, I guess I can't really expect someone to copy me. I think what matters most, as I said, is not being pressured to eat what I don't want to eat or when I'm not ready to eat and not feeling like I have to explain myself, which I don't think it sounds like you do because your, your significant other is doing what you're doing now. But if someone understands that we're all good. You can eat breakfast while I'm fasting or vice versa. You can snack when I'm having my water or my coffee, my glow coffee or my wine. So it doesn't bother me, but it's a good thing to have differences.
Noah, what do you think? How does, do you think it'd be harder to have a completely different sort of eating vibe to your partner? Or do you think you need to kind of be in sync for like, for it to be successful? What do you think?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, so I think the most... Okay, a few things. I think the most important thing is a mutual acceptance of each other's eating choices, kind of like you were saying. You don't want somebody to tell you what to eat or judge you for eating, and then vice versa. So I think that's number one.
As long as everybody is accepting of everybody, I think everything can be okay. That said, I like the first thing you opened with, which is that if you're following a whole foods type diet, eating, quote, healthy, and then you're with somebody eating fast food, junk food all the time, if that's difficult for you because now you might be craving it, or it's like a temptation, I don't think that's a good situation to be in. Especially because one of the most powerful things you can do for your own success and anything you're doing is to optimize your environment. So one thing I love about living by myself is I can completely optimize my environment to best suit my goals and everything. So if I were living with a partner, and if they had habits that were in conflict or contrary to my personal goals, that could be a little bit taxing on willpower or just goal completion and things like that. So I think it's definitely different in a living with a person versus going out. So if you're not living with a person and you're dating somebody or a boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever, it may be way easier to go to a restaurant and you get what you want, they get what they want, and then you go home and then it kind of ends there. But when you're living together, I think it can be more, on the one hand, what I mentioned and what we both mentioned with where it's the food you don't want all the food that you want to eat.
But in general, I'm trying to think about, like with all the people I've dated, how often does it align with what I eat? I think honestly the most important thing, the most important thing for me has been, can I go with this person to a restaurant and are they not going to freak out and be like concerned or judgy or will I feel safe and not weird to, you know, because I eat interestingly. I make a lot of requests and edits to the food and I eat a lot of meat and I get chicken and salmon for dessert. So are they okay with that? And if they're okay with that, more the merrier. And I actually like, and this is what I tell Barry all the time, but I like when people get things I'm not eating because I really appreciate other dishes at the restaurant, even if I'm not actually eating them. I like to see what they look like. I like to ask people questions like was it good? Like what did you like? What did it taste like? So I actually can enjoy it. Like I can enjoy really different tastes with people at restaurants as long as they're not judging me for what I'm eating.
Barry Conrad
Yeah. It's, it's really, and it does keep things interesting.
You know what I mean? And I think, yeah, as long as we can just all just respect each other's vibe and not tell each other what to do, eating wise, as long as it's not, you know, going to kill us.
Melanie Avalon
And that said, the reason I still think it's amazing for a dating app is I think when you are the same, so like if you're paleo, you're the person's paleo, you're vegan, they're vegan, you're keto, they're keto, you're organic, they're organic, whatever it may be, gluten-free, I think it often goes beyond food, A, one, now you can enjoy the same foods together and like really appreciate them and appreciate each other's, you know, limitations, but what they like. Or like does not, it doesn't have to be like a restrictive diet type thing.
It could be like you're just a foodie in general or you're like a wine lover or a coffee lover, whatever it may be. I think the mutual interest there can lead to compatibility because I think it often goes beyond food, like people who are existing in these certain spheres often have a lot of other things in common. So like when I have dated and it was people who ate kind of similar to me, it's never been as crazy as me, but if it's kind of similar to me, we tend to have other things in common as well. And especially with like intermittent fasting, we tend to have other things in common. So that's why I think it's actually a great jumping off point for compatibility, even if it's not the be all end all.
Barry Conrad
You know, Mel, I can totally imagine like, you know, if you have a future partner, like eating all of your cucumbers and scallops and blueberries. And I think that might actually be the ultimate compatibility test.
Like they're eating like what you eat, but they're eating all your stuff. It's like, stop eating my stuff to see if you had to react to that.
Melanie Avalon
Reason number 27 that I'm never gonna live with somebody. Oh, wow. I'm not joking. I mean, I'm joking with 27, but I...
Barry Conrad
Oh my gosh.
Melanie Avalon
I need my space.
Barry Conrad
It's a reason we hope that we sort of answered that, but yeah, let us know how, like the rest of this adventure, like this story, how it goes, like, does he, does he end up buying his own or does he keep eating yours?
Melanie Avalon
Awesome. Okay.
And then she has another question. And this was inspired, I think, because we had talked about this in the Facebook group and I think we talked about it on the show. So we might be revisiting it, but she says, you're on a road trip. Your only options for food is to stop at a fast food joint. Where are you stopping and what are you getting? You cannot say you will just fast.
Pretend you're going on 72 hours or something. And then her examples are, what is that first one? I've never been there. Cordoba?
Barry Conrad
Qdoba? Qd- Qdoba? I've never heard of it.
Melanie Avalon
I mean, either Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, McDonald's, et cetera. What would you do, Barry?
Barry Conrad
If I had to choose Teresa, I'd probably go Chipotle first. I haven't tried Qdoba, but I reckon Chipotle might be like a pretty good place to still build something that kind of feels like real food because you can go like a big old ball of like double protein, situation, chicken or steak, vegetables, rice is always good, some salsa, that'd be good.
And then I reckon McDonald's, secondly, because I could just get a whole bunch of the burger patties, like a whole bunch of plain patties, and maybe even like a couple sizes of tomato or lettuce to wrap it in, and I'm not trying to make a gourmet, that'd just be purely fuel. And then Chipotle, even though I love it so much, it probably would be my last resort, chicken nuggets, grilled nuggets with a grilled chicken sandwich, not the healthiest of the three, but I still wouldn't be mad if it was the only option, so I reckon, yeah, I reckon I could make either of those work if I had to, had to.
What about email?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. So I do think out of the list of like, what do you think would be the best option? And it's probably the worst. And I know, I know we talked about this on a podcast, but Chick-fil-A, it is shocking the list of ingredients for their chicken. Like it's, yeah, it's shocking.
I actually, I agree. I think like something like Chipotle, I actually, because I actually would like to go to one of the burger places and just have like a meat fest and just order like 50 million like burgers, like without buns, that would be actually kind of fun. It wouldn't be obviously like organic or grass-fed or anything, but it would be yummy. I mean, if I was in California, in and out, they have really, I think higher quality beef. So I could just get like, in and out, like 20 burgers. Otherwise, otherwise, I think I could make, I don't really know, I do know, I think the gluten contamination can be a problem at the fast food joints. So I do have that concern.
I could get like all beef at one of the, one of the places. I think also, I think like Arby's has some options for not too many additives with their meat, but I'd have to like look everything up.
Barry Conrad
I haven't tried RVs yet actually.
Melanie Avalon
I actually haven't either, but it's like roast beef. Oh, yum.
So let me go back. Shall we go on to our next question? And thank you so much for the fun questions, Teresa. And so sorry we took like hour, like days and months to get to it.
Barry Conrad
So this next question we have is from Jennifer and she asks, benefits of a longer fast.
Melanie Avalon
All right, Jennifer, thank you so much for your question. So first of all, we need to do some definitions here or defining of what do you mean by longer fast? So is that extending your fast during any given day? So, you know, rather than, you know, 16 hours compared to 12 hours or 20 hours compared to 12 hours. So I'd be curious what length of fast you're talking about, or are you talking about multi-day fast?
I'm assuming you're probably talking about multi-day fast. To answer that, so with intermittent fasting daily, you're going to get the benefits of switching on metabolic flexibility, getting better at burning fat, dipping into autophagy, lots of really healthy benefits, weight loss, energy levels, all the things. For an even longer fast, that's where, and I've actually, I think the longest I fast it is 48 hours. But a lot of people will do like a three-day fast or a four-day fast or a five-day fast, you know, either annually or a couple times a year. And that's where you're going to get some of the benefits that we see. And Dr. Balter Longo has done a lot of studies and work on this. That's where we see things like really, really intense autophagy. So doing deep cellular cleaning that you might not, quote, get to in your daily intermittent fast. People will share experiences about like old injuries healing or just experiencing a deeper level of healing that they might not have achieved otherwise. Dr. Longo also has a lot of fasting studies on the immune system resetting after extended fast. So there is the possibility that the immune system basically has its own form of autophagy in a way and that we lose these dysfunctional or older immune cells and we can actually kind of reset the immune system. Also, a lot of people just do it as a, like a more for like the mental experience of it. So just to like be more present with yourself and like what is it like to do hard things and do something like fast multi-days. So that experience can definitely, I mean, definitely make you more in tune with yourself and to not eat for three days and really see what is the difference between appetite versus hunger. I do think, again, like I actually haven't done that long of a fast. So I think it's all very unique. And I think if you are doing it, you need to make sure that you're properly hydrated and have electrolytes and all the things. And it has to be something that's going to work for you and your life. But it's basically, it's basically the benefits of fasting emphasized even more or potentially taken even farther. But then again, there is the possibility of overfasting, not getting enough protein after potentially losing some muscle. So what are your thoughts, Barry?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, Mel, you answered that so great, like all those points. And she's right, Jennifer, in terms of the why and what the definition of longer is. Yeah, I like to err on the side of caution of this as well, because not everything is like, you know, more is more kind of thing, especially when it comes to fasting.
A lot of people think I'm feeling so great now, I'm seeing all these benefits. And so they think let's kick it up to even longer. It's not necessarily helpful to keep pushing the fast. Myself, personally, I've done 36 hours max only ever, maybe twice, once or twice, and that's it. And I just wanted to kind of experience it, you know, and just to sort of have a bit of a reset. But it's not the biggest benefit of a longer fast isn't about chasing extremes necessarily, Jennifer. I mean, longer fast, they do tend to quiet the noise in general around a lot of things. You get clarity mentally, certainly the noise around food and things like that. And you might also definitely start recognising that, you know, what's real hunger versus being bored, you know, and the mindset shift. But again, I don't see them as something you need to do often. They're more a tool, not a requirement, unless you're under medical supervision and you have to do something like that. You know, Mel talked, mentioned as well about them acting like a reset button occasionally. And but I do think only if they're supportive and not stressful, stressful in the worst way, meaning of that word. So my take is it's more like, yes, they can offer a deeper mental benefits, metabolic benefits, but if they're done sparingly and you never feel like it's like a badge of honor to push to keep going for longer. You know, it's about fast things about partnering with our bodies, making sure that we're working with it and feeling supported. And our goal is to always have better health and clarity, not just as long as we can go. It's not a fasting marathon. So we'd love to know more about the context around your question and for you to share more. Jennifer, but thanks so much for your question.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, shall we answer Kelly's question?
Barry Conrad
Let's do it. So Kelly Klink, I love that name. Kelly Klink on Facebook. She wants to know, what are your favorite supplements?
Melanie Avalon
So clearly, all the supplements I make in my supplement line are favorites of mine because I'm slowly making all my favorite supplements. And people often ask me, like, what supplements can you not imagine your life without? And hands down, the first one I made for Avalon X, Serapeptase, like, I can't... And that is something really common I hear from people who take it, which is that if they're taking it and they stop taking it, they really radically notice a difference.
And so basically what it does is it's a proteolytic enzyme that breaks down problematic proteins in your body. So speaking earlier about the immune system, like reacting to things, the immune system is often reacting to protein buildups in our body. So it helps clear sinuses, inflammation, reduce cholesterol, brain fog, it can even break down amyloid plaque, all the things.
So I really, I literally, it clears my mind like none other and clears my sinuses like none other. So I think most people can benefit from magnesium because most people are deficient, because our soils are so deficient. I love my magnesium nightcap, which crosses the blood-brain barrier. You take that at night.
And then the reason I love spirulina is that it is, it's like a multivitamin in a whole foods form. You're getting all of this massive array of such a nutrient dense food, like so nutrient dense that NASA studies it for the astronauts.
And it's insane. You can get like the entirety of your daily vitamin B12, for example, in a vegan form. It's got like vitamin A, it's got iron, even things like superoxide dismutase and antioxidants. It's really, really powerful. So I love that. I love my berberine for blood sugar control. Whenever I wear a CGM, I notice a big difference with that.
Okay. So those are like the like kind of optimizers. And then like when I'm eating, I benefit so much from HCL, Betaine HCL, hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes. So I currently have a digest enzyme blend. I don't have my own HCL, so I use the pure encapsulation form of that. But those are all both radically big game changers for me and my digestion and digestion is so important.
And then when I, okay, so also timeline, they make a urolithin A supplement, we've had them on the show. I take that every single day and it's wild the effects I've seen on my energy levels because people notice it different ways. But for me, I really credit not needing naps as much anymore to taking that supplement.
The way it works, urolithin A is it's a byproduct, a postbiotic created by our gut bacteria, but only like 30% of the population has the gut bacteria to create it. And even that said, when they've done studies, most people don't, even if they are producers, they probably don't make enough to see the clinical benefits that it's been studied for. It really encourages mitophagy. So we've been talking about like autophagy. Mitophagy is breaking down the mitochondria, so breaking down dysfunctional mitochondria, which are basically like the powerhouse, like parts of our cells.
Melanie Avalon
So by breaking down old dysfunctional mitochondria, it just completely can fix how your cells produce energy. And the studies that timeline has done are crazy. So they've actually found that when people take it for, I think, six months, they actually gain muscle with no dietary change and not muscle size, but muscle strength. So in their study, they actually found that it significantly improved muscle strength by up to 12%. which is crazy, and endurance after four, oh, only four months, after four months.
So I love, I love that supplement. And for that, listeners can go to timeline.com slash ifpodcast and you'll get 20% off, which is amazing. So timeline.com slash ifpodcast for 20% off. And then supplements for when I'm going out, I don't know what I would do without my transdermal glutathione and transdermal NAD. I use ion layer. You can go to melanieavilon.com slash ion layer to get $100 off. Those are game changers for me for going out, drinking all the wine and still feeling really sprightly. So glutathione is your body's master antioxidant. NAD is basically, it's a coenzyme in your body involved in every single metabolic process. So declines in NAD are linked to a lot of the side effects of aging. So a lot of what we experience as aging is possibly due to declining NAD levels. And it's depleted by things like stress and partying and alcohol and all the things.
So wearing those patches can really be a game changer. And another supplement I haven't started taking, I'm gonna interview him. I met this guy, Sam Shepard. I met him through Andrew McConnell, who's my good friend, who I've had on the Melanie Avalon Biohacking Podcast. And he is the guy who made, again, I haven't taken this yet, but it's just like fresh in my mind. He is the guy who made astaxanthin popular, which people might've heard about it. It's like in shrimp and salmon and things like that. So he did studies like 20 years ago, trying to find what was the compound common in all animals who don't get cancer, because there's only five animals that don't get cancer. Barry, do you wanna guess which animals don't get cancer?
Barry Conrad
Oh my gosh, Melanie, oh man.
Melanie Avalon
I only guess one, well, I would have probably guess the other one based on the supplement, but.
Barry Conrad
Man, can you give me a clue of what?
Melanie Avalon
Three of them are pink, or can be pink, and they're kind of known for being pink. Well, one is definitely known for being pink.
And then one is like, if it's not pink, that's a problem. So they'll make it pink or orange.
Barry Conrad
Elephants?
Melanie Avalon
Actually, that is one of them, but they aren't pink. Oh, I mean, like, there are pink elephants, like, the concept of pink elephants. Elephants is one of them. Yes.
Barry Conrad
Definitely something in the water has to be.
Melanie Avalon
Actually only two of them. One of them is not in this list, but
Barry Conrad
Not lions. That's wrong, right?
Melanie Avalon
No.
Barry Conrad
No! Rodents? Like mice or rats?
Melanie Avalon
So one is a rat, and this is the one that I knew because Rick Johnson talks about it a lot in his book. Nature wants us to be fat, I think is what it's called.
He has a different theory for why it lives so long, but it's a... Do you want me to tell you? Yeah, tell me. Tell me. Naked Mole Rat.
Barry Conrad
and they can more.
Melanie Avalon
Mm-hmm. They live like insanely long and they don't get cancer.
Neither do elephants like you said. You can guess the pink one. It's something that's always at the zoo and they're like very pink. Like the kids like to go look at them and they're pink. They're a bird. No flamingos. Yeah. Flamingos.
Barry Conrad
Wow, I was not expecting that at all. What's the reason why they don't get cancer?
Melanie Avalon
Well, it all goes back to this one common thing that is in all of them, at least that's what he thinks. So the other two are sharks and salmon.
Barry Conrad
Wow, I was going to say the same because of the pink, you can make them pink.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. And so salmon, because I know farm-raised salmon, a lot of people know that they actually add astaxanthin to them to turn them pink because otherwise they don't get it from their diet and they're not naturally orange or pink, like orange-ish.
Yeah. So he did studies. He worked for the government and the military. It's like a whole thing. I can't wait to have him on the show. But he found that these five animals, he tested them. He did biopsies to see was there a compound in all of them and it was this astaxanthin. And then he literally reversed. He put his cancer into cancer. That's what made him search for this. And then he started high dosing, growing this astaxanthin, which comes from a blue-green algae. And he put his cancer into remission and started, I don't know, all these crazy stories of people getting rid of their cancer and all these things, taking this supplement. It got so bad that the government got involved. He's had people try to kill him, try to take him out. Oh my God. Yeah. The FBI called him up because somebody tried to kill him. It's intense when you start talking about natural health things that may actually work. That could be a threat to powers that be. And again, that was a whole tangent, but I haven't taken it yet. He's going to send me some. I'm going to have him on the show, but I'm very intrigued by it after talking to him. Sorry for that whole tangent.
Barry Conrad
No, I can't wait to hear what your findings are when you talk and that sounds super fascinating.
Melanie Avalon
He was so fun. And then at the end of our call, because we were doing a meet and greet, he was like, oh, and if you ever want to go dinosaur hunting, you can come with me.
And I was like, what? He was like, yeah, I go dinosaur hunting. He goes dinosaur hunting with like, I guess there was some dinosaur hunting TV show on Discovery or something, and they asked him to be in it. I don't know why he didn't actually end up doing it, but he goes hunting with those guys, like digs up dinosaur bones.
Barry Conrad
That's so cool. Yeah, sign me up for that. That's so fun.
Melanie Avalon
So that's my long list. And again, for AvalonX supplements, they're all highest of quality glass bottles, tested multiple times. You can get them at AvalonX.us and use the coupon code I have podcast for discount.
But yeah, I think those are my, and there's more, but I think those are my favorites. How about you, Barry?
Barry Conrad
Well, Kelly, I have to, you know, admittedly say I'm not a massive supplement take up slowly, but surely changing that, for example, so I will say electrolytes are the big one for me right now, Kelly, and I've been using element a lot, like, pretty much every day, especially now that I'm training for this half marathon.
Melanie Avalon
Yes, what what flavors are you using?
Barry Conrad
I love the citrus salt with the raspberry salt, it's really good and just kind of gives me that kick, especially when I'm feeling flat after my runs. It helps me with the sodium makes a massive difference and especially with focusing energy is really good.
And I never thought that I'd be, I didn't know if it really like taking electrolytes would affect me this much here because in Australia it is a bit different as well the way that they sort of make them. Sometimes over here it's like, oh wow, I had a good reaction to them and then I can't speak of more highly of elements. So I'm so excited to be having the drinks there, but I know in my fridge they stocked up so good.
Melanie Avalon
especially while you're training for your half marathon.
Barry Conrad
Exactly. So it's just so timely. And then I will also say, and Melanie already knows this, but my digestion is pretty solid anyway. But I started taking bioptimizers probiotic breakthrough, which listens, you might know that it used to be called P3OM. And honestly, I honestly will say that my digestion feels better than before. Like I'm feeling like it helps me keep things smooth, consistent, especially with all the protein that I'm having. I definitely feel different in my gut. And I can only put that down to two things I've changed, which is element and bioptimizers, the probiotics. So that's really good.
So shout out to both of those brands. And outside of that, I keep things pretty basic. So I supplement protein as well. And I'm trying to help meet my protein targets and also creatine occasionally. I need to get some more of that for training and recovery. And then I do take a weekly vitamin D pill that I've been prescribed since moving here because that always comes up lower in my labs consistently. And so I just take one pill a week and that is like some higher dose pill. So that's it for now, but what's the space? There'll be more. I don't know if I'll ever catch up to Mel's level of supplement taking, but I'm being intentional about it this year. So what's the space?
Melanie Avalon
Okay, so a few quick questions. First of all, well, how did I forget by Optimizer's probiotic breakthrough? I am obsessed with that probiotic. It's the most amazing thing. When they were talking to us about sponsoring the show again, I was like, can we talk about probiotic breakthrough? Like I'm obsessed with it. Can we just like focus on that? Cause I am obsessed, obsessed.
It's actually a proteolytic probiotic, meaning it breaks down protein. So kind of like what I was talking earlier about the benefits of seropeptase, but this is different because this is going to help you break down like your food, your digestion, and I just, I love it. So the code for listeners there. So if listeners go to buyoptimizers.com slash ifpodcast and use the code ifpodcast15, you will get 15% off site-wide. So that's B-I-O-P-T-I-M-I-Z-E-R-S.com slash ifpodcast with the code ifpodcast15 for 15% off site-wide. I'm also, how can I forget element? And by the way, Barry, okay. So I've been like really nervous, I guess, cause there are these products that I love so much. And so Barry has been trying some of them for the first time and I've been like, oh, I hope he likes them as much as I do. So it's amazing to hear that you love element and probiotic breakthrough. And listeners can get a free sample back to try multiple flavors. If you go to drinklmnt.com slash ifpodcast, again, so that will be free with any order. You will get to try multiple flavors. So we cannot recommend them enough. And then just to like echo what you said, I really like how you use the word intentional. I know I just mentioned a lot of supplements. I also don't want to like exist in this world of like supplement overwhelm, where like you're taking like 500 things and like what's doing what. And in the end, I wish we could get everything we needed just from like sleep and whole foods. And maybe we could in the past, but with today and our modern lifestyles, the food environment, the stress, the light, all the things, it can be really helpful to optimize what is important for your own body's constitution to be optimized by being intentional with what you supplement with. So I'm really glad that you said that and I echo it as well. So don't feel the need to like have to take all the things Barry.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, well, definitely, no, it was more like ingest, but yeah, it's just, I think it's so impressive that you, and I always learn so much when you're sharing about that, because it's like, oh, I didn't know that about that, and this about this, so it's really great. And, you know, and that's also the beauty of us being co-hosts, because, you know, you have all this extensive list of supplements and I'm more, you know, minimal and open to more.
Melanie Avalon
Yes, we get to learn new things from each other. OK, well, shall we have our proverbial breaking of the fast?
Barry Conrad
Let's do it.
Melanie Avalon
Okie dokie. Well, for listeners, the purpose of this part of the show is that the benefits of fasting are not just from the fasting, the eating window is equally as important because that's where you're nourishing your body, fueling yourself, preparing yourself for the next fast, recovering, getting in those nutrients, all the things.
And so each week we like to pick a restaurant that we think looks cool or nifty or fun to profile and talk about how we would break our fast because we both do one meal a day. So Barry, what have you found for us?
Barry Conrad
I'm really excited about this week's restaurant. I feel like I always am, but this week's particularly more because I went there on the weekend.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, during restaurant week.
Barry Conrad
Yes. So I'm sending it to you now.
And this restaurant is called Del Menico's in New York City. And why this place is special, Mel, it's one of the most important restaurants in American history. Del Menico's helped invent fine dining in the US and set the template for the modern restaurant as we know it. This is where legendary dishes like Del Menico steak, Eggs Benedict, baked Alaska, and even the idea of a printed menu refers popularized actual culinary history.
Melanie Avalon
Whoa, they started the printed menu?
Barry Conrad
Yes, it's fully ala carte, classic, big steaks, pristine seafood, rich sources, all the things you want when the restaurant itself carries this wine list is meant to be celebratory, serious, old school, built for grand tables. And the vibe I can attest is this grand old world, unmistakably iconic vibe, high ceilings, a real awesome ambience, like such warm service, but felt really classic inside, like had such a good time. Seriously.
Melanie Avalon
Did they start a chain from them or is it just them? Cause I feel like I hear about that name is of a restaurant a lot, but is it probably not.
Barry Conrad
No, I think it's just, hold on a second, let me have a look here.
Melanie Avalon
America's first fine dining. Wow crazy, right?
Yes. I'm looking at it right now. Oh, it's like one of those corner situations I don't know why but I love that This is just like a like a little thing about like an architecture thing I've loved for so long and I think I just associate it with certain places that I really love but like I Don't know how to describe it. How would you describe it? It's like the corner vibe where there's like two streets on both sides
Barry Conrad
It's like right on the intersection kind of thing, like on a corner.
Melanie Avalon
It feels like Europe or like Beverly Hills or New York.
Barry Conrad
There's a, inside there's a massive painting, no, a massive photograph of what it looked like back in the like ages ago. And it's still in that corner and it looked exactly like what you said, now like European, like the streets were kind of more bare and people were all dressed up.
It was awesome.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, I see the painting. Is it massive? That painting? Yeah, everybody's wearing like suits and where people dressed up.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, well, it's a nice, it's pretty nice place. A good dressed up and the servers are really dressed up nicely. Really, really great service. Like I can't speak more highly of them. Really good.
Melanie Avalon
Well, this is definitely my, oh, they have a dress code. Guests are encouraged to dress for the occasion.
Smart, casual, emphasis on polished and elegant attire. Jackets are not required, but appreciated. Okay, yeah, this is already, I can tell completely at my alley. I love that they, I'm like fixating on that, that they kind of invented the printed menu.
Barry Conrad
That's crazy. Let's go to the dinner.
We won't do the restaurant because that's very limited menu, but let's go to the dinner menu and dive on in. What do you, what is jumping at you? There's so many things there.
Melanie Avalon
Well, we're back to the correct terminology of things. Okay.
So from the raw and cold section, Oh, okay. Uh, well, I definitely want smoked steak tartare. So has marinated egg yolk, nori, Asian pear, grilled sourdough. I'll get that all on the side.
And are you going to get oysters?
Barry Conrad
I'm gonna get oysters, you already know. Cause I haven't had oysters in the past couple of days, so I'm doing oysters.
Melanie Avalon
Did you have oysters when you went?
Barry Conrad
We didn't we didn't actually this time, but
Melanie Avalon
Do you remember what you had? Okay, great.
And do you see it on? You'll have to let me know. Okay, when we do each section, you'll have to let me know after what you pick what you got. Sounds great. So what are you getting from raw and cold sections?
Barry Conrad
So I'm going to get the oysters and I'm going to get the seafood plateau. That looks pretty awesome. Daily collection of raw bar seafood and shellfish add king crab $50.
Melanie Avalon
Are you a king crab fan? I just, I just love.
Barry Conrad
Honestly, I love crab, lobster, mussels, oysters, prawns, shrimp, octopus. I just love it all, seriously.
Melanie Avalon
all the seafood all the time.
Barry Conrad
Yep. It's just easy to digest. I have no issues with it anymore. So it's good.
Melanie Avalon
Well, you know, the thing is, it's all really delicious and good. And then that's like oysters.
And it's like, what happened? Did it's like, it's like they didn't get the memo. Like there was like the tasting room memo, like of like, we're going to taste amazing and like, you're going to taste like this. And then the oysters were like, I want to taste like that. And they're, they like picked the adjectives that were not good.
Barry Conrad
I feel like it's going to, there may be hope for that to change. We'll see. You'll, you'll try out. You'll have a good experience. Nope.
Melanie Avalon
Nope. Oh, I also want to add on chilled jumbo prawns because I don't tempt me with a shrimp cocktail a prawn cocktail
Barry Conrad
Yeah, that would be good.
Melanie Avalon
Appetizers
Barry Conrad
Okay, so I am going to get what I actually got and honestly, this is one of the best things I've ever had, ever, which is a big thing to say.
Melanie Avalon
kind of guess what it was. Was it the caramelized bacon? No. No, the crab cake.
Barry Conrad
It wasn't a cake. It was like, it was like a ball picture, like a planet on your plate. Like it was a, an actual like cricket ball size ball or bigger cake. It wasn't like a flat little cake and it was honestly filled with crab. And it was incredible.
It was like one of the best things I've ever had. It was so good.
Melanie Avalon
Nice. Did it come with potato strings and tarragon dill tartar?
Barry Conrad
It's sort of like made, picture like the ball is made of these strings of potato covering this ball of crab inside. That's how it was.
And then the tarragon dill tata is just like sort of garnished on the plate. So it's sort of like perched on the plate, but it's this planet of crab, it's so good.
Melanie Avalon
Can I ask you the question that was probably, so like, I know I'm always talking about my server stories, but I get flashbacks doing this game with you with these restaurants. So there was a question that is very specific, but I would get it a lot.
Interestingly, and it's whenever there was a crab cake on the menu, do you want to guess what the question is? This is like a very specific and common question, I think from people. If they're crab fans, do you want to guess or should I tell you?
Barry Conrad
Tell me.
Melanie Avalon
They always want to know if it's big crab chunks. Like they want to know if it's like more crab forward or more like breading forward.
Barry Conrad
That's such an interesting question.
Melanie Avalon
It's a common question. I got it all the time. So was the crab cake, was it big chunks of crab, or was it more like breading and potato?
Barry Conrad
No, it was again, like picture, like just picture like a giant little ball on top of a plate and inside the ball is this, all this crap. So it wasn't like little chunks along the plate. It was like just one little like massive ball that was really filling and really good and Barry Conrad approved size wise. Yeah, it was delicious.
Oh my gosh, Mel was so good.
Melanie Avalon
Oh my goodness. Here it is. You're saying ex benedict invented invented. Wow. Did you get ex benedict? No.
Barry Conrad
No, because it's more it's more breakfasty, but you know what, I will go back.
Melanie Avalon
So I wonder I wonder when it turned into a breakfast thing like you know like I wonder when they first invented it it sounds like it was not like a breakfast thing.
Barry Conrad
You're right. That's actually a good point.
Melanie Avalon
So theirs comes with, so Delmonico's royal eggs, Benedict poached duck egg, duck egg, king crab and lobster, terrine, brioche, black truffle, hollandaise, and you can add caviar, a certain type of it that I can't pronounce. Would you get this this time around?
Barry Conrad
You know, I would, I probably would just to see why, like, you know, where it all started. Yes.
Melanie Avalon
one of the things they're known for.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, I can't imagine that it would be too filling, you know, so I probably have that to try it.
Melanie Avalon
I might ask if they could just give me a poached duck egg because that sounds really fun.
Barry Conrad
one lone egg, um, maybe.
Melanie Avalon
or we could get it and we could ask for an extra poached duck egg on the side and then that will be my my duck egg.
Barry Conrad
That's so funny. Yes, that's another option.
Melanie Avalon
Look at us continuing with the correct terminology. Entrees and steaks.
Barry Conrad
I feel like I know what you want.
Melanie Avalon
What do I want?
Barry Conrad
I reckon the filet mignon.
Melanie Avalon
Yes, I will have a filet mignon, please, and I will have it. What did we learn last week? I will have it blue.
Friends, if you missed last week's episode, we have a very fascinating conversation where you will learn so much about why it is okay to have steak blue and not other things. And by blue, I mean like basically very rare, briefly seared.
Barry Conrad
and medium rare, medium rare too, medium rare.
Melanie Avalon
So, yeah, yep, that's what I want, how about you?
Barry Conrad
Well, Melanie, I'm happy to confirm that I had that filet mignon.
Melanie Avalon
Oh my gosh. Whoa. Okay. Wait, this is a moment. This is a moment where I pick something and you've actually had it.
Barry Conrad
I've actually had it and this is the steak I told you about, I think last week where honestly, it's the best steak I've had. It's honestly so good.
It sounds like I'm just hyping it up, but it was delicious. It was so good.
Melanie Avalon
So this was you were this was the steak and it was like just like melting your mouth Just you just like cut through it like butter
Barry Conrad
perfectly prepared and big. It was just really, really good.
The taste was amazing. The quality of the meat was really good. I'd probably get another one just to have it on the table, but I would probably have to try at least another one of their cuts now, because if that's anything to go by, wowzers, so good.
Melanie Avalon
Did you have it medium rare? Yup. I want a picture. Do you take a picture? Do you tape? Do you take pictures of your food when you go out?
Barry Conrad
I kind of do sometimes, but I think as well as some places, I think they're kind of funny about...
Melanie Avalon
I think they like to promote.
Barry Conrad
I took a photo of the dessert, actually, which I posted on my story, which I may choose the same dessert as well. But I don't know, I think some places are like, they maybe frown down frown upon photos like oh, that's kind of tacky, but maybe I should just take more photos of the food.
Melanie Avalon
I know I said filet mignon, that said, they do list for each stake where it comes from. So like some are from the Brant family farms, some are from Demkota Ranch, the filet mignon is from Allen Brothers. So I might actually, if I was there, I might actually like ask the server or like research the different ranches and I might change my choice. If one of the farms was known for being, you know, have certain like sustainability practices or you know, like I might are like more grass fed. So I reserve the right to change my mind.
What was I saying? Oh, no, about taking pictures. So I don't like, I don't, okay, I don't like phones at the table. Like that's like one of that makes me shudder like phones on the table. I don't like the phones being out. When I'm with people, I take all my selfies. But beyond that, like I don't like phones out. And so at restaurants, I do though, every dish that comes out, I take a picture and I feel like if you take like one picture, I don't think it really bothers anybody. And I actually think the restaurant likes it if you post about them normally. So that's just my experience.
Barry Conrad
Okay. Yeah, and I will. I'll take more.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, so start taking the pictures, sending them to me. So what would you get this time?
Barry Conrad
So this time maybe I would try, I do like a sirloin, even though it's a, it's a fattier cup, you know what, I would probably try the Miyazaki strip loin, the slow edge Japanese Wagyu A5 Miyazaki strip loin.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, so that's gonna be a little bit fattier because of the wagyu yum, okay also medium wear
Barry Conrad
Also medium rare. What about you? Sorry, so you're gonna maybe change your mind, see how you go.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, depending on where they come from. Like, did you get... Okay, so for example, this is why I think I want to change. So when I briefly... Yes, I'm changing. So when I briefly Google the ranches, the filet is the Allen Brothers Angus. It looks like that's more like premium Angus beef, but more like conventional.
They have these stakes from the Brandt family farms. And when I briefly look it up, it says regenerative agriculture. So that's my vibe. So that means I'm probably going to get one of those. Oh, it's the ribeyes. So I might switch. I wonder what the Delmonico eye is.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, I don't know.
Melanie Avalon
I think is it a, oh, it's a Chuck steak. Oh, that's interesting.
So they, I wonder if they came up with that. Okay, so like apparently a Delmonico eye is a Chuck eye steak, a highly flavorful, tender, affordable steak cut from the shoulder, often called the poor man's ribeye. But I'm guessing it got, cause I know the name Delmonico as like a steak name. I'm guessing it got named from here, like from this restaurant. Unless or the restaurant is named after it.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, I'm not too sure, but that is interesting.
Melanie Avalon
Okay. Yes. So I just looked it up. So Delmonico's restaurant is credited for creating and popularizing the Delmonico steak in the mid 19th century. Originally, it was a signature high quality thick cut steak, often a ribeye or a strip designed to represent the finest beef available. That's wild because now, like I said, it's known as like the poor man's ribeye.
That's so interesting. So I think I'm going to get that, the Delmonico eye, because it's from regenerative farm and like doing it Barry Conrad style. I'm getting the thing that represents the restaurant. There you go. Awesome. Did you get any butters or sauces with yours?
Barry Conrad
I got the shallot beef yew. That was great. Shallot beef yew.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, the shallot, beef.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, it was so good. Yeah. Do you want any dessert or sides?
Melanie Avalon
Did you get any sides? Do you want any sides?
Barry Conrad
I don't want any sides.
Melanie Avalon
It's kind of wild how insanely similar we are, but also very different with our, like you and I could both go and get like all the meat, no sides and be like happy camper, but also like you would get all the other things as well, but like you would also get what I get. Like I get something kind of crazy and you would get that too, which is works well.
That is interesting.
Barry Conrad
In sync, the dessert, I did try two of these.
Melanie Avalon
Oh my gosh, two of them. Okay, so while I would guess, and I'm going to guess, the thing is though, I know it was a set price menu. So was everything available on this menu?
Barry Conrad
three of the four things that were of the main, not the sole, but the main situations.
Melanie Avalon
Did you get the baked Alaska?
Barry Conrad
Yep, we got the bait the last cut.
Melanie Avalon
Have you had it before? No. Okay, I haven't had it, and I mean, I read about it. Like, I know it's... So, did it come out like, was it like, flaming? Like, how does it...
Barry Conrad
Yeah, they set it on, they put like a set on fire sort of thing with the flame. It's so good.
It was so hearty and delicious. It's almost like banoffee-esque, like the taste, like with the banana, gelato, walnut cake, the crunch. It tastes almost like grandma could have made it. It's just so like homey, like delicious. Oh man, like my mouth is both watering.
Melanie Avalon
also created there in 1867. They created so many things. Did you know going in that they created all these things? No. Did you know like during it or did you find out after?
Barry Conrad
Yes, Turing was like, what?
Melanie Avalon
Wow, that's so cool. I love it. Okay, so you had that and then did you have the chocolate symphony? Sure did. Dark and white chocolate mousse, malted chocolate ice cream and how was it?
Barry Conrad
That was great. That's the one that I put on my story. It was really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really chocolatey and really good.
Melanie Avalon
Amazing, oh my goodness.
Barry Conrad
It's going to be hard to top the last restaurant this coming week. So we'll see how we go. But yeah, massive hit. You have to go here when you come to New York.
Melanie Avalon
No, definitely this is like my vibe completely like for dessert. For me, I would get a repeat of something from earlier.
So many options, maybe some more steak tartare or shrimp prawn cocktail or whatever it may be. Did you get drinks?
Barry Conrad
Yes.
Melanie Avalon
now that you're no longer in dry slash damn January.
Barry Conrad
I actually got a, just a spicy margarita. I know that's super basic, but I wanted the margarita, you know, cause I'm still in my celebrating era of drinking again.
I didn't love, you know, some things I like what I like and that was that. And then I also had, you know, I think I just had a few of those margaritas, spicy margaritas. Yeah. Yeah. That's it.
Melanie Avalon
No Delmonico's Martini for you?
Barry Conrad
No, I just wanted to kind of, usually I would do the thing, but it's just like, I just felt like a margarita.
Melanie Avalon
I hear you. They don't have their wine list online, I don't think. So I would have to check out the wine list. I'm sure they probably have a good one though.
Barry Conrad
They do. There's a lot. It's like quite a big fat one.
Melanie Avalon
Amazing. I'm so jealous that you actually have been there.
Barry Conrad
So first, one of us has been to actually, well, you've been to one of, yeah, several.
Melanie Avalon
a ton of the ones because I do a lot of Disney ones, but nicely done. How far is it from where you live?
Barry Conrad
It's in FIDI, so maybe 45 minutes in the subway, like it's not that far.
Melanie Avalon
Did you take the subway? Oh my gosh, do you take the subway? Is that how you like get around?
Barry Conrad
Of course, because it's very New York, like Uber sometimes, but you know.
Melanie Avalon
Oh my god, I know, I know, I just, I don't know very, I don't know how, okay, so like, I feel like I would do well in New York except, I don't know how I would do with like, subways, like situation all the time.
Barry Conrad
There's honestly people like dressed up in suits, gowns, it's just like every like people are moving furniture, everything happens on the subway, it's just like what it is, people just accept it.
Melanie Avalon
moving furniture on the subway.
Barry Conrad
like we'll carry like all this. Yeah. And people just kind of don't even blink. It's just New Yorkers just used to whatever.
Melanie Avalon
That's what I liked about LA was I could just do whatever and nobody really looks twice. They look twice because everybody's looking at everybody, but it's not like you don't feel weird about, like I could wear whatever I want, wherever, and it's no big deal.
Awesome. Okay. Well, Del Monaco's We Must Go, creator of so many things that exist still today. So, listeners, friends, thank you so much for hanging out with us tonight or today, whenever you're listening. If you would like to submit your own questions for the show, you can email questions at ifodcast.com or you can go to ifodcast.com and you can submit questions there. The show notes for today's episode will be at ifodcast.com slash episode 469. And you can follow us on Instagram where I'm encouraging Barry to start taking more pictures of his meals to post so we can watch, look at the posts. And that is Barry underscore Conrad. I am Melanie Avalon and we are IF Podcast. And I think that is all the things. Anything from you, Barry, before we go?
Barry Conrad
That's all the things. Thanks once again for tuning in everyone and we'll talk to you next week.
Melanie Avalon
So much fun, I will talk to you next week. Bye.
Barry Conrad
K, bye!
Melanie Avalon
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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