Episode 424 – Does Breakfast Increase Hunger, Tips For Fasting At Work, Barry’s New Skincare Line, Dopamine And Addiction, Social Fasting Hacks, And More!
Welcome to Episode 424 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 423 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 423 of the Intermittent Fasting Podcast. I'm Melanie Avalon. I'm here with Barry Conrad. And Barry, congratulations on successfully moving apartments.
Barry Conrad
Hey, everyone. Hey, Mel. Yes, I moved places yesterday. It was over the last couple of days. And I was saying before, I feel so tired.
I don't get why because, like, when I go to the gym, for example, like, where I feel like I'm pushing a whole lot of weight, I definitely don't feel like this afterwards. Like, Mel, is it like an emotional weight? Like, what's the why am I so exhausted? I don't get it.
Melanie Avalon
It's so interesting you say that I have the exact same thought whenever I move. I think about what you just said. I'm like, this isn't like, yes, I'm moving a lot. Yes, I'm picking things up, but it's not, you know, it's not climbing Mount Everest and it's not like a workout at the gym. Well, it is a little bit, I think it's, I think it's the emotional part. I really do.
Like, it's just the mental and the psychological aspect of it. And you have so much that you have to get accomplished, like by a deadline, you have to get all your stuff from point A to point B. It's a moment of uncertainty. And we know our brains don't like uncertainty. They register that as a threat. So it's like you're in a stress threat state while also physically moving a lot of stuff, so very true.
Barry Conrad
training. It's training and I feel like like you're right. I think processing all of that at the same time and also kind of maybe grieving in a way like that sounds deep, but you've been in a place for a while. It's like, I'm used to this.
I'm used to that. Now I'm saying goodbye to it really quickly. While the movers are here, packing things up and it's kind of like a low key traumatic kind of experience and also just annoying because moving sucks. But it's also exciting.
Melanie Avalon
I'm pretty sure it's high on the list of top 10 most stressful life events. I'm pretty sure. Let's see. Okay. Oh, maybe not. I thought it was higher up.
Okay. I could have sworn moving was on the list. What's the top 10? Okay. Yeah. This is the official list. It's number one. This is the Holmes Ray stress scale first developed in 1967 and it's a scale of life stressors. What do you think number one is?
Barry Conrad
Your house burning down, is that on there? Like you're losing your home?
Melanie Avalon
No, actually, I'm just confused because I could have sworn moving was like way up there.
Barry Conrad
What about surgeons performing really intense operations? That's a pretty high stress environment.
Melanie Avalon
The closest to that is number six, which is not the same thing, but it's major. Well, yeah, major personal injury or illness is number six.
What's number one? I'm curious. Number one. Number nine is funny. So number one is death of a spouse.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, for sure. That's definitely the number one. I should have said that straight away, losing somebody that you love.
Melanie Avalon
Do you want to guess number two and three because they're similar and they involve relationships?
Barry Conrad
Okay, divorce.
Melanie Avalon
Yes that's number two.
Barry Conrad
And number three, breakups, well, that's the same thing.
Melanie Avalon
No, yeah, similar. What's a breakup where you're breaking up but you're still together? Separation. Yes, marital separation, number three.
Barry Conrad
Wow, okay.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, so relationships cause a lot of stress is my takeaway. The top three all involve the top three all involve the significant other. I shouldn't laugh about the death one.
Barry Conrad
So you're running from all things relationships based on this, this little thing, this survey.
Melanie Avalon
I'm just saying and oh wait, we'll wait to get to number nine. Should I tell you what number nine was?
Tell me. Number nine is marital reconciliation. Really? Yeah. You just can't win. You just cannot win. Oh man. For, unless you want to guess any of the other ones.
Barry Conrad
No, it's all right, it's all right.
Melanie Avalon
So, four is being incarcerated. Wow. Interesting, though, that it's more stressful to get divorced than to be put in jail.
Barry Conrad
There's reason to laugh, but it's just funny. It's just that we're not laughing at anyone.
Melanie Avalon
Humor helps us get through the stress of life, I think. Humor and kindness.
Number five is death of a close family member. Yeah, that's sad and stressful. Six was the injury and illness. Oh, seven. What? Seven, marriage. Oh, my God.
Barry Conrad
Oh my god, it's all relationships.
Melanie Avalon
Amazing. Number eight, being fired or laid off from work. And 10 is retirement.
So I was wrong, moving is not on there, but I would put it on there. My scale, well, my scale, I can take off half of those. So I'll, what would you make your scale? What would your top three be on your scale?
Barry Conrad
Oh my God. I think, okay, losing a spouse, for sure. I would say losing a spouse, my second guess was going to be losing a family member. And then the third, I would say maybe divorce, because I think that's pretty traumatic, because it's stressful based on what I know of friends who have had divorces and stuff.
But definitely family would be way up there for me, losing family.
Melanie Avalon
I feel like for my skill, I need to make like a relationship scale and then a non-relationship skill because then I can do a more accurate skill for my life because if I'm not getting married that gets rid of half of these. So I would say death of a family member and then I think I think I would say what you said like your house burning down, that would be horrible.
And then for me, I think moving. Actually being put in jail would be a lot to deal with.
Barry Conrad
of course it would be but also Mel I was I listened to that episode of the the mind-blowing podcast you know the one you were saying about the decluttering I listened to that like while preparing for like packing things up so I had it on like and I was packing stuff up while listening to you talk and something that you said stuck with me it was the the 80-20 rule like the Pareto principle like how we like in context of belongings how we use 20% of our things 80% of the time I really think that's true
Melanie Avalon
I, I mean, looking around, I mean, it might be like for me, I feel like I use like 10% of my stuff, 90% of the time, honestly.
Barry Conrad
It's because like the same rotation of clothes, shoes, like gadgets, whatever it is, like, I feel like whatever you pack with you to go on trips and stuff, that's kind of like what you use most of the time. What do you think?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, I think we talked about this last week when you moved all your stuff. Did you get rid of stuff?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, I did. I sold stuff. I actually sold like tables, sold like my bed and the bed frame and a coffee machine. Yeah, I actually did pretty good in like a week. I sold all that stuff. So I did it.
Melanie Avalon
Did you get rid of anything that you were inspired to get rid of by listening to that episode?
Barry Conrad
Actually, yeah, because now I have boxes of stuff that I even like I thought that I needed and I'm going to get rid of that as well now. Yeah.
Melanie Avalon
Nice.
Barry Conrad
Minimalist life.
Melanie Avalon
Did fasting help with your move?
Barry Conrad
It actually did. I made sure I didn't eat or break my fastened or I finished packing everything. I just got into this zone, like this intense zone and just went under a packing rampage. And then at the very end, after that mental clarity and exertion, had a whole lot of food, wine chilled out.
It was the best.
Melanie Avalon
That was always how I approached moving, I would, you know, if I had multiple days, I would, I would not let myself, I would not eat until I was like done with that day's, you know, work of moving stuff.
Barry Conrad
When you when you get into your new place, for example, do you wait like because you're so tired like to get in there, the boxes and stuff are still there and you chill first, or do you just straight away get it all unpacked and then chill?
Melanie Avalon
Okay. So listeners, I'm glad you brought this up because you said you unpacked everything.
It takes me like three weeks to... I'm not kidding. When you said like you unpacked everything that day, I was like... I did. Everything? Yeah, because there's so many boxes and so much stuff. And then I like to, I feel so... Literally, I get dopamine hits just thinking about it. I get so excited to unpack the stuff and like put it in its proper place. Oh, it feels so good. Feels so good. So I savor it and I do it over a couple weeks. Yes, weeks.
Barry Conrad
but also i don't know if i believe that because you know i also heard you say you know you have the thing where you put you throw something away get rid of something like one thing a day and you have a stickers and stuff so how much stuff do you have.
Melanie Avalon
I don't have, I'm like a normal apartment.
Barry Conrad
but you just want to take your time unpacking it. I get it. I get what you're saying.
Melanie Avalon
And and okay, okay, here's the other thing. Here is the other thing. I've slowly been like when we moved out of our childhood ish house. A couple years ago, we had to go through everything. That was a lot.
And I kept a lot of stuff from that like I got rid of a ton of stuff but I kept a lot of stuff. And I have a storage unit here. So I have I basically, I am proud to say that I everything from my life that I have kept I now have with me, like in my apartment or my or my storage unit, rather than it being like all different places like there at one point. And so at one point, I had stuff in my childhood home, I had stuff in a storage unit in LA, I was like living here, like I was like, oh my gosh, like I don't everything's not in one place. But I can say now confidently that everything is either in my apartment or in a storage unit. And it's not that much. I don't think
Barry Conrad
That's pretty impressive to have everything that I get I get that feeling of disarray cuz I I'm in that previous position right now where I have some in like an older house still in boxes which I need to I need to consolidate that for sure.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, it's yeah, it's a lot so
Barry Conrad
Anyway, what about you, other than my moving debacles?
Melanie Avalon
This, this will have happened quite a while ago, but finally I've mentioned it, I think every single episode, the past few episodes. So apologies for that.
But I'm finally launching my EMF blocking product line on Friday, this hour Friday. Awesome. So I'm very excited about that.
This will be my first non supplement physical product, just as a brief recap for listeners, EMFs, we are way overexposed to them today. We were not exposed to them in this way in the past. And I actually just re interviewed our blank, my business partner, and revisited all the science of it. And it does not look good for how they affect our health.
And I didn't know this. I didn't know EMF sensitivity is actually a medical diagnosis. Like there's codes for it. Really? Yeah. I did not know that. That's exciting. It's exciting to know that the medical community is taking it seriously.
They are classified by the IARC as a group to be carcinogen and you can reduce your exposure by not using wifi. If you can not using Bluetooth as much as you can, not holding your phone up to your head, which the iPhone actually suggests that you use speakerphone in the legal section of the iPhone. And so I have created EMF free headphones because even normal headphones can conduct their digital so they can conduct EMFs into your brain. So mine are completely free of that. So listeners, they will be out by the time this comes out. So you can go to Avalon X EMF dot us and use the code Melanie Avalon to get 10% off.
And that code will also work for 10% off site wide because what happens when you go to that, that website, it's my website, but then you'll be directed to my partner shield your body, their website. And so that code will work on my products and all of their products as well. And if listeners would like to get all the updates on those products and future launches and sales and specials and all the things, you can go to Melanie Avalon.com slash EMF email list. Okay. Yes, I'm excited.
Barry Conrad
Congratulations, Melanie. That's amazing.
That's honestly so incredible. And the fact that I love that you said it was like a medical diagnosis and you you're kind of ahead of the curve because I haven't heard of anyone else doing this in this way. So that's amazing. That's awesome. Seriously.
Melanie Avalon
Well, thank you so much. And also shout out to my partner, our blank is his name. And he owns shield your body. They also make emf blocking products. And he's just so knowledgeable on this topic. I really respect him.
And he's been incredible to work with creating the products together. So shout out to him. And thank you for the kind words means a lot coming from you.
Barry Conrad
Very exciting.
Melanie Avalon
Awesome. Well, shall we jump into some fasting related things for today?
Barry Conrad
Let's jump right on in.
Melanie Avalon
Let's do it. Also, wait, before we do that, really quick question. So are you, so when you sent me that message about being done and unpacked and everything in one day, which I'm still, I want a picture of your apartment. I just need to see this.
But in any case, I listened to that and I was like, like, is he gonna be okay to record? But look at you, you're here. Are you really tired? Are you good?
Barry Conrad
I'm actually fine like I'm good like my back is a little bit janky I think probably lifting stuff but that's fine that's just normal but I feel really good I had a really good sleep and I'm gonna hit the gym after the show I mean after we record so I feel good.
Melanie Avalon
Awesome. So do you have a study to start us off with?
Barry Conrad
I do have a study to start us off with and the study I'm bringing today is called the influence of ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting on the change of body fat rate. This was done by Pu Yuan Yu from the College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Jilin University in China. I know it sounds like a pretty clinical title, but the findings are really, really exciting.
It's sort of about something a lot of us are already curious about, about how effective is IF alone and how does it stack up against keto and what happens when you combine the two. This was a 12-week randomized control trial, which is sort of like the gold standard when it comes to research. So they took 120 overweight or obese participants and they split them into four groups. So one stayed on their normal diet, aka the control group, one went full keto, one practiced intermittent fasting, and the last group did both keto and intermittent fasting together. So Mel, see if you can rank those four groups for me of who had the most change or none at all. Four being no change, one being the most change.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, and it's checking. You said it's checking for I was going to ask you to say it again. The title is checking body fat, you said.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, to change your body fat rate, you know.
Melanie Avalon
So like how fast they lost weight.
Barry Conrad
or how much body fat they dropped.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, it's interesting because it's similar to the other study you found where it was fasting, exercise, or fasting plus exercise. The options are normal diet, fasting, keto, fasting and keto.
Barry Conrad
That's it, you got it.
Melanie Avalon
Did it talk about what they ate exactly?
Barry Conrad
They didn't talk about what foods they had, they just, yeah, they didn't specify that.
Melanie Avalon
Did it talk about the macros? Like actually, because sometimes the studies they'll say is keto and it's not keto.
I saw this in a study recently and it drove me up the wall. I was like, you can't know, like you can't do this study. It was like, they said it was keto, but it was like 30% carbs. Like that's not keto. That's not keto.
Barry Conrad
So that I sent you the link so you can check it out as well. But they, from what I can see, they're not, they controlled like the age and the sex and the starting weight, but they didn't, they're not talking about the exact diet or even how long people are fasting for, they just have 120 overweight or obese participants and split them into those four groups.
Melanie Avalon
I'm gonna guess keto and fasting lost the most. And then, oh, this is so hard. And then fasting and then keto and then normal.
Barry Conrad
Almost.
Melanie Avalon
Other way around, then keto and then fasting? Yeah. Okay, so fasting and keto and then keto and then fasting and then normal.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, so the control group pretty much nothing happened. The weight and body fat stayed the same.
The keto group saw really strong results, losing an average of 3.5 kgs and 4.8%. And 3.5 kgs and 4.8% body fat. Intimate fasting group saw 2.1 kgs down and 3.2% drop, but the combo of intermittent fasting and keto, they lost 4.7 kgs at a massive 6.3% of their body fat. So that's more than any of the other. And there wasn't just like, what's crazy, the group wasn't just better. Like statistically, it was more effective because the regression analysis showed that doing both together had the strongest impact on fat loss even after controlling their age and starting weight in sex. And they also said here that movement, the movement helped because the more participants exercised each week, love exercise, the more fat they lost. So exercise still played a massive role, especially with IF or keto or both.
And they also said, what I loved as well is like, they checked in with participants about how they were feeling afterwards, which I haven't really seen at other studies. So they, the people doing keto reported being hungrier at first, but that improved over time. Those doing IF said they felt hunger most on the fasting days, which kind of makes me think, are they doing ADF?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, maybe.
Barry Conrad
and that they were fine otherwise, and then the combo group found it the most challenging to stick to, but were the most satisfied with the results.
From what I can see as well, they also have a few caveats because the study did mention possible risks like hypoglycemia and ketoacidosis, especially for people with certain conditions, or if they're jumping in too quickly, too fast, so... I would say to listeners, if anyone's thinking about giving something like this a try, please talk to your healthcare provider first, because it's not a one-size-fits-all and we're not doctors. But I think my main thing, Mel, is, as we can see, both IF and keto have their own fat loss mojo, but combining them, it's maybe that's the cheat code. I don't know, like, for reducing body fat, because I've never tried keto, personally.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, that's a conversation, really. Oh, wow, I did not know that, never.
Barry Conrad
Have you like what's
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. Did you ever, did you ever, that surprises me actually. Uh-huh. Did you ever like contemplate trying it?
Barry Conrad
I think you know what I actually think it was more my opinion of it became such a such a thing a few years ago like Keto. And I think my natural disposition is like to not jump on like a fatty kind of thing. It seemed more like diety and I was like I don't want to do that because everyone's talking about just like losing weight and it seemed more diety to me so I kind of veered away from it.
But I know that's not true. I've done paleo though, which is kind of close ish.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. What about you?
I did not realize that. Yeah, keto was my gateway into fasting because I first tried it before it was popular. I mean, Atkins, I did Atkins. Well, so I guess Atkins was popular, but I didn't do it during the heyday of Atkins, so I did it in a lull period. But that's when I discovered the science of ketosis and ketones and became obsessed with the science of everything. And then that's how I found fasting, was through that obsessive rabbit hole internet searching.
Barry Conrad
What's the difference between Atkins and Paleo?
Melanie Avalon
Well, it's very, it's very different. So, Atkins is more similar to keto. Atkins, you can eat anything as long as it's a certain amount of carbs. It's what made keto popular originally and there's no limitation though on like the quality of food, the type of food.
Like when I was doing it, I was eating literally this like carb quick stuff that was low carb and it was literally like the first ingredient is like gluten. There's something about diet quality. There's something about like whole foods. It's, they have all these Atkins bars and that are made with all these, you know, processed ingredients. So, it's keto without any, yeah, stipulation about that. Compared to paleo, which could be keto if you eat ketogenic foods on paleo, but paleo would be about, you know, whole foods based, no, well, so no dairy and a lot of paleo and Atkins is often high in dairy. No dairy, no grains, no legumes, you know, no sugar, processed foods, et cetera. It's interesting. We should make like a painting of like how they all overlap.
Barry Conrad
You know carnivore is carnivore quite similar to keto then because it's like protein and fat.
Melanie Avalon
Really? Carnivore is keto. So like carnivore is keto, but keto isn't necessarily carnivore.
What do you mean? So if you're keto, sorry, if you're carnivore, you are keto because you're not taking in any carbs. Keto was just about the carb number. So you could do, you could do keto and be eating leafy greens and dairy and well, like a dairy's carnivore. So you could be doing keto and eating a lot of leafy greens and be keto, but you wouldn't eat carnivore because you're having plants.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, I get you. Okay. But I've never, yeah, I've just maybe, I don't know how I, how I'd go with Kiro.
Melanie Avalon
I'm dying to know what that would, yeah. Well, you have done it when you do, because you've done like PSMF, right?
Barry Conrad
So i have actually done it without really not like intentionally doing it so just cut cut carbs stick to protein and and fat or animal protein with the phone rather than trying to externally like try to find fat you know.
Melanie Avalon
So that's keto. Okay. Have you done it like multiple days in a row or would you do it as like, like a day, like a, you know, like a one-off type thing? I've done it like who?
Barry Conrad
a few days in a row, like maybe a couple, but not like a whole week or two weeks or anything like that.
Melanie Avalon
Okay. Yeah, I think that's probably the difference. You've had days that are keto, but you haven't done a keto diet where you're living in that world for an extended period of time.
Barry Conrad
like consistently to see what the results could be if I gave it a chance properly.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, because I remember when I first started doing it, I was so excited because and this is the reason it was the gateway for me into an obsession with the science of diet and fat burning. I was so excited that I could get those keto urine sticks and measure ketones.
Hello, what's that? Keto urine sticks? Wait, is this new to you? Oh my goodness, I'm so excited to tell you. Okay, so when you first go into... When you first start a ketogenic diet or fasting, this can happen too, and you start producing ketones. At the very beginning, your body is not very efficient with those ketones and it actually wastes a lot of them rather than converting them into a type of ketone that you use for fuel. So you actually excrete a lot of... When you first go into ketosis, you start excreting ketones in your urine. So there are these urinary test strips and they show you if you're making ketones or not. And it can be confusing for people though because when you first start, it'll be really high and then the longer you do it, you might stop... It'll be less in your urine or you might even... I mean, to probably still register it, but you might not. So people think that they're not in ketosis as much or they're not burning fat and that's not true. It's just that your body isn't wasting the ketones anymore. It's using them.
Barry Conrad
Do you know what my initial thought was when you told me about the urine strips?
Melanie Avalon
I literally have no idea. Wait, I'm trying to think, like, what...
Barry Conrad
like to do like a pregnancy test that's like the, you know, it's just, it's just funny. It's a funny visual for, I don't know why that may be laugh.
Melanie Avalon
Yes, glad that now everybody has this visual of me taking it. Well, it's funny. So one of the shocking moments I have, because at the beginning, okay, well, let me backtrack. The reason I thought it was so exciting was it was like, oh, now I don't have to question am I burning fat, I can literally check. Like I can see on this test strip. So that was very exciting.
And, but then I remember one time I got, so I was doing a keto diet and I would be testing my urinary ketones all the time. And then I went to, oh wait, do they have IHOP in Australia? They should. It's international.
Barry Conrad
I do like it. I do love IHOP. But why were you there? Why were you there? That's not a melody.
Melanie Avalon
Because I, okay, because I went, I wasn't paleo first, paleo didn't come into later, I was keto and Atkins, which like I said, you can eat anything as long as it's certain amount of carbs. So I was still eating like, my order of progression was keto and Atkins, then I found fasting, I wasn't paleo yet, then I found paleo.
So I didn't clean up my, like, quote, clean up my diet for non-processed foods until the third era of my dietary evolution. And honestly, I remember I was, I was fasting, I was doing keto, I was like, it's not going to make much difference if I only eat whole foods, like, what difference will that actually make? Middle, big difference.
Barry Conrad
So hold on, so when at IHOP, what would you like give us an example of what you would have then versus something you definitely wouldn't like even consider now?
Melanie Avalon
So this is the thing. So when I was in my keto Atkins phase at IHOP, I ordered an omelet, which is like eggs, bacon, cheese. Like it should be very keto, right? Like you would think.
I ate the omelet. I went home, I tested my urinary ketones and they were gone. And I was like, what happened? And that's when I found out that IHOP puts pancake batter in their omelets.
That's so dumb. Why would they do that? Make them taste better, I guess. But I was like, how do they not tell you? I mean, I wonder if they tell you that now because I haven't been in IHOP in forever. But back then you could just I mean, maybe they say it on the menu. But I just remember thinking I was like so safe, so good with my keto omelet. And then.
Barry Conrad
Nope. Yeah, because the omelet, it's like, it's definitely keto. That's what I think of as keto.
Melanie Avalon
Not when you add pancake batter to it, sneakily.
Barry Conrad
That's so funny that i can just pick because i'm picturing you sitting in an i hope it's just fun it's a funny visual cuz it's just not is not a melanie place now the melanie i know anyway.
Melanie Avalon
What's funny is all my memory, like when you say IHOP or Denny's, all I can think is 3am, probably wearing like a sparkly cocktail dress, being high on life with my fellow early 20 year olds, living our best lives and eating horrible, greasy food at, you know, a diner in LA. That's what I think.
Barry Conrad
You said Denny's, we had Denny's in New Zealand and it's the best ever. It's like exactly what you said. It's like 24 hours and it's like the whole two AM, three AM thing. Same thing.
Melanie Avalon
after the parties and that food tasted so good and so bad for you. Like just the memory I'm getting hit with right now is I remember, so when I went to USC, there was a Denny's like right by all of our housing. So the memory I have right now is it was at my film fraternity party, it was a dinosaur themed party. So it was me and my two friends all in dinosaur outfits. I think I painted my face with like green glitter and was wearing like a glittery green cocktail dress and something else to look like a dinosaur. So I just have a memory of that.
And my friend Matt and his like yellow dinosaur outfit, he actually got like a dinosaur outfit. And then I don't think Carmen was dressed up. And then we were just at Denny's. Like that's what I get hit with. Good times.
Barry Conrad
Do you have, is there photo we need to see a photo of?
Melanie Avalon
There is a photo. Yeah. Do you want to see it? I'll send it to you.
Barry Conrad
I do wanna see it, that's funny.
Melanie Avalon
Actually, do I not have my photos anymore? Because I lost my Facebook. Oh, no. Well, it's in my scrapbook. So I'll take a picture of it for my scrapbook and send it to you. Do you have a scrapbook?
Barry Conrad
I don't have a- is this an app where you're talking about an actual old school scrapbook?
Melanie Avalon
That's such a cute question. And so sad.
It's such a sad question. Like, it's so sad that now we are in this world where something like scrapbooking it's like, is it an app, you know, like just how far we've come from like the visceral, tangible, these are real, these are real scrapbooks like books, because they can't take that away from me.
Barry Conrad
You know, I used to always keep like a diet, like a diary, like a not not just like a diary, like, you had to plan out things I used to like write at old school, but now I just someone gave me one for Christmas. I'm just I'm just not going to use it.
So I did the whole Melanie, Evelyn mind blown decluttering thing and just tossed it out. I'm not going to use it.
Melanie Avalon
Okay, wait, you throw you throw away the unused one, not not like your one with writing in it. Yeah, the unused one. Yeah. Do you have diary like journals diaries that have writings in them?
Barry Conrad
I actually think you know how we talked about how I had some stuff at like an older house. I think there's a box full of older diaries still there. I'm pretty sure.
Melanie Avalon
It is the best when you find those. When I was going through all my stuff moving, I found so many journals and diaries from my five-year-old self, middle school self.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, it's like a time a time capsule like I thought this like I had this it's so weird in a good way
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, it's.
Barry Conrad
It's wild. If I interrupted you, Holden, you said scrapbook, so tell me about scrapbook.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, no, just I can take a I'll take a picture of my dinosaur outfit. Oh, I was asking you if you scraped books, if you had scrapbooks.
Barry Conrad
No, no, no, it's not, it's not a BC thing. It's not, I don't know. I just, I don't know.
Melanie Avalon
You don't have a whole set of scrapbook materials. You should see my scrapbook material closet. There's a lot.
Barry Conrad
You have a scrap material closet?
Melanie Avalon
yeah, paper, stickers, all the photos. I'm sad because I finished my college scrapbook, college one, like it's done.
And I have a Disney one that's like pretty much done. And then I have a life one that I never finished and then like life got too busy. And maybe I need somebody to do it for me, but I get really into it.
Barry Conrad
Maybe this is a sign that you haven't thought about it in a while, so maybe you should get back into it.
Melanie Avalon
I just don't think, I don't know if I have time. Sad day.
Barry Conrad
What about during your cry?
Melanie Avalon
I'm like, bring all my little supplies with me.
Barry Conrad
Habit stacking, you know.
Melanie Avalon
Yes. Awesome. Okay. So does that all make sense now? Like Atkins, keto, paleo, carnivore? Are you going to try keto? Are you going to get some urine sticks?
Barry Conrad
No, no, I'm not going to hit the urine sticks. No, that's, that's a no for me for that, but you know, but I will, I will say that I'm going to intentionally now more approach it and see how I go.
See if I feel any different for starters and then see if it physically affects me like in terms of like how quick I drop weight or water or whatnot over like a longer period of time, we'll see.
Melanie Avalon
Well, you'll have to definitely let us know. Okay, sounds good. How did we start talking about this? Oh, because of your study that you found. Yeah.
Barry Conrad
but no keto urine sticks for me. I'm good.
Melanie Avalon
Barry is not in. Well, if you do want some, I can send you some.
Barry Conrad
I feel like a package from Melody.
Melanie Avalon
hear you. Wait a minute. Okay. I have ideas.
Barry Conrad
That's really funny. I'd probably laugh if you did send it to me like, Okay, I guess I have to try it now.
Melanie Avalon
Surprise. So OK, shall we jump into some listener questions? Let's do it. To start things off, we actually have two related questions. And it relates to a prior episode we did. Last episode, we went through a Facebook post from my group, IF Biohackers. And it was everybody commenting on things they struggle with with fasting. And a few people said that binging was a problem for them. So we wanted to address that here and then also read some questions we've also had about that.
So Michelle sent us an email. And the subject is binge eating. And Michelle says, long story short, I lost approximately 90 pounds last year. Wow. Working out two to three times a day and eating around 1,500 calories under 50 grams of carbs and 20 grams of sugar. That reminds me really quick, Barry. I don't think I define the amount of carbs that qualifies as keto. So Atkins considers it 20 grams or less of net carbs. And net means you subtract fiber. But sometimes it's put in percentages and people say different amounts. But in general, it's usually around 20 grams. So that's nothing. Yeah, it's not much. Oh my goodness. I'm getting so many flashbacks to my keto Atkins days. Like the recipes I would make, I would get like blocks of cream cheese.
Barry Conrad
I love cream cheese.
Melanie Avalon
I know and put like Splenda in them because this was pre-paleo and just make like icing.
Barry Conrad
just eat it? That sounds good. That sounds really good.
Melanie Avalon
And I would make like, I would get cream cheese and I would make like Alfredo type sauces and just eat like chicken and Alfredo. Oh, so good.
Oh, and I would get these Shirataki noodles. Do you know about those?
Barry Conrad
I do. They're really delicious.
They're really good. You like them? And there's actually a store, literally, I'm not even lying, like downstairs from this apartment block that like an Asian grocer and stuff, and they sell all of that. I just had a look yesterday.
Melanie Avalon
Do they, the ones in Australia, do they smell, because like for me, when you open the bag, they smell like formaldehyde. Like literally smell like formaldehyde.
Really? Yeah, do the ones there smell like that?
Barry Conrad
Not not from what I can remember. I don't think so. Maybe here of a sensitive nose.
Melanie Avalon
This was a thing because I because you had I'd like Google it and people talk about how to get rid of the smell. You had to like dump the water, boil it like a lot and then coat it heavily.
And maybe maybe it's gotten better now.
Barry Conrad
Maybe they've improved. Sniff it in the store. People are like, are you okay, sir?
Melanie Avalon
You know what that would wreck my gut if I had those right now They're like basically just indigestible fiber
Barry Conrad
Yeah you changed your diet up a lot from what you said so no stay away from those.
Melanie Avalon
Oh my goodness. I remember I used to get, okay, so similar to sirotaki noodles. Have you heard of konjac flour or glucomannan? Okay, wait, there's two different things. They might be the same thing. I'm not sure.
It was this powder that you could add to liquids and it would gel it up and I would get these Atkins shakes that were like no calories but like chocolate or vanilla and then I would add this powder to it and it would turn it into like a pudding and it would be so good and then I would literally be in pain for like a day and then I would get over it and then I would just rinse and repeat like it was so so messed up.
Barry Conrad
Like you're self-sabotaged but you just can't get away, you just can't jump off that train.
Melanie Avalon
So in any case, keto tends to be like 20 grams of carbs.
Barry Conrad
You're a real chemist. You really made all these recipes.
Melanie Avalon
I would make my own version of chicken teriyaki, and I would get liquid Splenda and make teriyaki sauce. I did a lot.
Barry Conrad
Splendid though, is that like the sugar alternative? I've never actually tried that before, ever.
Melanie Avalon
artificial sweetener. I thought it was the best of the best back before I realized how toxic they all are.
So Michelle says she lost 90 pounds working out two to three times a day, eating around 1500 calories, under 50 grams of carbs and 20 grams of sugar. I was mentally and physically the healthiest I ever had been. When I started my first year teaching, I started getting out of the routine. By the time May of this year came around, I was burnt out. I was dealing with a burnout, a breakup, a job transition, and applying for grad school. As a person with generalized anxiety, I thrive on consistency. This summer put a huge toll on me and I believe I fell into a depression. I started rewarding myself with bad meals frequently and became too tired to work out. I've gained about 20 pounds back, but overall my issue is binge eating. I will eat when I'm not hungry and make myself miserable. Sometimes I feel like I do it because I'm scared it's not going to be there later on. I'm not sure why. I didn't grow up neglected or it's emotional eating, feeling a void, and overall my family is very overweight. I also take Vyvanse to help with binging. I'm just at the point where I am feeling defeated. My gut health is in terrible shape and I know I just need to get back into getting healthier. I used a 16.8 window on and off last year and I believe it helps. Any advice on binging? And then Noreen, she posted in Facebook, she said, oh and I think this was from that chain we went through. She said, I became so focused on the clock that I forgot to listen to real hunger. This has led to binging. I started IF to lose 20 pounds. It worked until this happened and now I'm still fasting and I have the extra 20 pounds. It took six months to lose. I maintained 1.5 years. I've struggled the past two years. I don't listen to my body's cues anymore. Every day I say I'm going to. I work out hard at the gym, lifting and cardio, 70-30. I'm strong and lean underneath 20 pounds of fluff. So binging. Barry, do you have thoughts on this topic?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I, I like to like addressing kind of both individually. Can I do that? Or do you want me to summarize what I? Sure. Yeah. I mean, Michelle, like what you're saying, it's, it's stressful, like the emotional toll of everything, like the burnout, the transition and everything. And it makes total sense that your team's gonna, it's gonna get thrown off. You're human. The fact that you're even thinking about how to get back on track shows just how much you care about your health.
So don't underestimate that. I mean, binge eating is super tricky because it's never, it's never just about the food. It's a combination of a few things is physiology, psychology, the habits that are built up over a long time. And what I'm hearing you saying is that you were in such a structured discipline place before, like you're working out two, three times a day, eating a very specific way, keeping your carbs and your sugar pretty low, and then life just sort of hit you pretty hard. And when that kind of structure suddenly disappears, Michelle, like your brain tends to swing the other way to compensate. And it's like, hold on, you know, we're operating under all these tight rules. And now things just feel like way out of control. So let's just grab whatever we can eat on the go. So I think the key here is to look at why the binging is happening. And you mentioned sometimes feeling like you need to eat because the food might not be there later. I've had thoughts like that before as well. Like maybe let me just sort of eat for the future. And that's just not, you don't need to do that, even though you didn't grow up in a food insecurity. That right there tells me like your brand, it's still wide in a scarcity mindset when it comes to eating, which is something a lot of people experience after, especially a long periods of restriction. So it's not even necessarily a conscious fear. It's just this like a deep rooted drive that says stock up now while you can. And then, of course, there's the emotional side, which is like filling a void and using food as a comfort mechanism, which again is is a big thing for a lot of people, especially when stress and exhaustion piles up. So I guess where do we go from here, Michelle? I guess one of the biggest things is shifting the way you're looking at structure. So it sounds like you thrive in a routine. Same. And fasting definitely gives you some of that. So maybe bring back that 16 eight window, for example, maybe that could help, but not in a restrictive way. So instead of thinking of I can't eat outside this window, try reframing it as this is when I feel my best eating. This is when I can eat. That small shift in mindset makes a huge difference. And within that, focusing on nourishment rather than restriction is going to be your friend. So if your meals are built around protein rich nutrient dense foods, that's going to help stabilize your blood sugar and and actually help with those binges.
Barry Conrad
Michelle, because binging isn't just mental. It's also literally blood sugar and satiety issue as well. So if your body isn't getting what it needs on the regular, it's going to push you towards those massive cravings. And I have to mention gut health as well, because you said your guts is like a mess right now. And honestly, I think that could be playing a bigger role than maybe you realize, because there is a big gut brain connection. And when your microbiome is off, it can actually increase stress and anxiety. And it becomes the cycle where like, if your gut health fuels your mood imbalances, which feels binging, which then leads like to gut issues. So bringing in maybe like fermented foods, you know, omega threes, making sure you're giving your gut that right environment is going to help. I mean, finally, I would say like, back on track, you know, that same back on track, like it doesn't mean going back to where you were a year ago. I mean, you made so much progress. It's about creating something that fits into your life now, Michelle, and that supports you instead of like controlling. You already know what works. Now it's just about finding a way to do it that doesn't feel so extreme and constricting. And Melanie, what do you think about that? I mean, what are your thoughts?
Melanie Avalon
I love everything you said so much. So I love that you touched on the part about having the eating for the future. I think that happens a lot with people, not even just with binging, but with people with intermittent fasting. They think that because they're fasting, yeah, they have to stock up on food because they're going to be fasting. So having a reframe there of, like you said, this is when you feel best to eat, and you get to eat again tomorrow, like the next day, if you're doing a fasting protocol, just remembering that I think is so important.
The gut health piece, so I'm glad you brought this up because I wanted to mention this. I interviewed, again, Dr. Stephen Gundry. I'll put a link to that episode in the show notes that was on the Melanie Avalon Biohacking podcast. One of the things I really liked that we talked about, and this was for his newest book called The Gut Brain Paradox, and it's about the connection between our microbiome and our gut. He makes the case that the concept of intuitive eating, for example, might not even be, I don't want to say not possible, but our gut microbiome largely determines our cravings. So the intuitive thing to do if our gut microbiome is out of whack and used to eating things that are not in our favor, the intuitive thing is to eat those things because that's what the microbiome is telling you. So if you get into a binge type cycle where you're binging on a lot of unhealthy foods, your microbiome is going to start craving that and tell you to eat more. The way out of that is to stop eating those foods and change what you're eating and your microbiome will actually change. It can change pretty fast. So I guess just knowing that these cravings you're having for certain foods may, like Barry said, and I just touched on, they may be coming from a gut microbiome that's a little bit out of whack, but you can definitely change it for the better. And we'll put a link in the show notes to that episode with Dr. Gundry. One thing else that I think is really important is on the one hand, I do think that there is usually behind binging habits, it's a psychological piece like Barry was saying. So could be something from your childhood, some sort of trauma, like it's probably coming from an emotional place. At the same time, I love the work of Glenn Livingston. He originally wrote a book called Never Binge Again. His newest book is called Defeat Your Cravings. And I've had him on the shows a few times, but most recently we had him on this show for episode 356. So either go to show notes, which will be at ifodcast.com slash episode 423, or go directly, so it uses link instead, or go directly to ifpodcast.com slash cravings. And you can get his book for free there. But his whole thing that I love so much is that yes, even if there are these emotional things behind everything, even if it's from childhood, like it literally doesn't, not that it doesn't matter, but to make change, you can you can quickly and rapidly make change if you have a mindset shift where you just say no.
Melanie Avalon
His whole thing, I've talked about it a lot in the show before, but he calls it like the pig. So you call this, you call this voice inside of you that's telling you to eat, you call it something else that's not you. He calls the pig, but you can call it whatever you want. You basically learn to that you don't have to listen to it.
And I know it sounds so simple to say you just stop binging. That's the concept. Like you don't like you don't like contemplate it. You don't like wonder where it's coming from. You don't like try to reason with it. You don't try to like logic your way out of things. You literally just say no. And I'm way oversimplifying it. But it's an incredible approach. And it has radically changed so many people's lives. So I would definitely, definitely get his book ASAP. Again, you can get it for completely free. Just go to ifodcast.com slash cravings, and you can get it there. So that might help I think for both of them.
Barry Conrad
It's awesome, Mel.
Melanie Avalon
Yes, all right any other thoughts for those
Barry Conrad
you know with yeah with Noreen I you know thanks for being so honest and vulnerable about this you know I think a lot of people relate and the fact that you lost 20 pounds and maintained it over like a whole year is massive and one of my personal mentors that I actually use in life is I have done it I can do it and I will do it again so you don't have to worry about that but I know that the last couple of years I felt like a struggle so take a breath in let's zoom out for a second you know you you mentioned that you're strong and you'll lean but underneath that 20 pounds and first of all that's amazing the fact that you you're lifting and doing cardio you're showing up for your workouts that's great it says a lot but I reckon it might be time to maybe shift a little bit like starting to ask again reframing things like am I hungry right now am I just watching the clock rather than paying attention to how I feel you know and with binging as Melanie and I bursted before it's it's often from restriction physically or mentally especially for too long and you're trying to white knuckle your way through it and at what might help us maybe go into a 18 maybe go from 18 6 to like a 14 10 even for a little bit like give yourself permission to eat when you're hungry focus on that because you're you're also lifting a lot and doing cardio and gymming like that put stress on your body the good kind of stress but you need to feel yourself properly as well you know so under feeling or inconsistent feelings gonna spike those cravings and when you prioritize protein healthy fats and carbs after that's gonna help you I mean last thing I would say Noreen is just give yourself some grace you know like the hardest part is showing up and just be willing to change things just change your mind reevaluate reset you've got this you know you're more in tune than you think so keep us posted with how it goes now what do you reckon
Melanie Avalon
I love everything you said so much yeah people you really do have this and i love what you said about i do the same thing so when you're saying that you. You can do it because you've done in the past something i often tell myself is.
You only have to do something once to do it a million times because if we haven't done something before it's scary and i might seem like we can't do it but once you've done it once you can do it a million times cuz you know you've done it so. You know tackling these things in your own at your own pace and one thing at a time just know that you you've done it before you can keep doing it going forward so definitely let us know both Michelle and arena how it goes.
Barry Conrad
Please do. Good luck and keep us posted. We're rooting for you.
Melanie Avalon
Awesome. Shall we have our hypothetical, magical, not real, fake, but also real breaking of our fast?
Barry Conrad
I'm so ready and I'm hungry too. It's now Melanie and Phyllis is out there just to give you some inside baseball.
It's 12 p.m. here in Australia right now. Melanie, what time is it where you are? Nine o'clock p.m. That's so crazy. There you go. Just a bit of insight.
Melanie Avalon
I know I call you Australia when I'm, if I'm like saying that I have a, if I like can't do something with somebody, I'm like, I, I'm like, I'm, um, got my Australia tonight.
Barry Conrad
That's pretty funny. That's hilarious.
Melanie Avalon
talking with Australia. I love it. Works well. Works well with our, it's a good thing I have such a crazy circadian rhythm.
Barry Conrad
Yeah. Otherwise you'd be like, it's too late. Can we do like one PM my time?
Melanie Avalon
I don't know what we're going to do when you move to the US, so I have to figure that out.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, what are we going to do? We can do it.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah we'll figure it out okay so well I'm inspired because our last our last episode you gave me the green light to do Disney restaurants.
Barry Conrad
Of course, let's do it. I was hoping that you'd bring another one.
Melanie Avalon
I'm going to like slowly, I mean, I know you're already on board, but I'm going to make, I'm going to turn Barry Conrad into an Epcot like fanboy by the time we move here and then you're just going to have to go. So let me send you the link.
Actually let me explain first. So this menu is not, okay, let me explain. One of my favorite restaurants in Epcot, which to recap, Epcot is the experimental prototype community of tomorrow, one of the four Disney World Parks. And it has an area called the World Showcase where there are 11 countries in a row. Each country is, it looks like you're in that country. The people who work there are from that country, they're dressed up, there's like restaurants and stores. Some have rides. It's incredible. And the restaurants are just really amazing. And they're very authentic. So actually I'll save it. It's like the Mexican restaurant, for example. It's like authentic Mexican. It's not like Tex-Mex, like American food. One of my favorites is called the Beer Garden Restaurant. It's in Germany. And it is set up to look like, it looks so cool, Barry, like you could Google it. It looks like you are at an outdoor, like in Germany, outside, but you're inside. But it looks like it's outside and it looks like it's nighttime. And it looks like there's like buildings and everything and then there's a big stage. And they do like a show every night, like multiple times. And they do like a beer garden show with like music and Lederhosen and singing and like cheers and it's the most best time. And then there's a buffet of German food that you get food from.
Barry Conrad
I'm looking at photos right now, Mel. It looks awesome. It looks epic.
Melanie Avalon
Doesn't it look so cool?
Barry Conrad
All the lights in there, it's amazing, it's awesome.
Melanie Avalon
And it literally feels like you're outdoors, but it's indoors. It's so cool. I love it. It's wonderful.
And then the show. So I set you the list of what they have on the on the buffet. So what all would you eat from the buffet here? Let me turn it to dinner.
Barry Conrad
Lunch menu. Okay, let's turn to dinner.
Melanie Avalon
And it's a partial listing. So these are like the main things that they always have, but then they'll have, they probably have like double this, but they'll have specific things that night. So these are the staples.
So actually I can read the staples. So like the staples, they have seasonal salads, rotisserie chicken, potatoes, schnitzel, traditional sausages, sauerkraut, schnitzel, noodle gratin, and assorted desserts.
Barry Conrad
What would I have? I would, I would have all, I don't know what's that's all is and noodle grats and what are those smells, you know?
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. So this is so funny to me. So my family is German. We would go to Germany a lot growing up, and my dad took me to Germany when I was five. And I remember being so upset because like when I first went with my dad, all he fed me over there in Germany was bratwurst, like bratwurst and vice first, which is like white bratwurst. And I mean, I liked bratwurst, but I didn't like love bratwurst. Like it wasn't my favorite thing.
And then I realized when I was older that they had this thing called schnitzel. I know you asked about schnitzel, but they have schnitzel, which is basically like fried chicken and it's delicious. And this was before my like dietary changes. And like half of the time it's like stuffed with cheese. And I was like, dad, how, like parents, how are you like only feeding me bratwurst when I could have been having this like amazing fried chicken and fried ham schnitzel or like schnitzel, which is like a pasta dish. It has like eggs and flour and milk and butter. It's usually when I've had it, like when I had it there, it was always warm. Sometimes it has like a sauce on it. It's really usually really yummy. Sometimes it has like a cheesy sauce. It's really good.
Barry Conrad
I'm Googling a photo of it. Ah, this looks really good. It almost looks like macaroni and cheese vibes, like in terms of creamy, ta-da-da, na?
Melanie Avalon
It's like that without being super cheesy but it's like very creamy and I wasn't sure what noodle gratin was. I looked it up and literally Disney World comes up so I feel like they came up with it.
I don't know. It looks like it's um potatoes or gratin but with noodles instead.
Barry Conrad
So I would go off this buffet list, pretty much everything there. I would try everything there.
So the seasonal salads, rotisserie chicken, potatoes, schnitzel, for sure. By the way, Melanie, schnitzels are massive in Australia.
Melanie Avalon
Oh, really? Yeah. Wait, is it the same thing?
Barry Conrad
Yeah, it's like chicken snitty. You want to get a chicken snitty? We said chicken snitty.
Melanie Avalon
don't have that here in the US. Even when I say fried chicken, I realize I'm glad you I'm glad you're saying this because when I say fried chicken, it's not what Americans are thinking up.
It's like, it's like a fried patty like, like a fried no, how do I say it?
Barry Conrad
It's like breaded as well, right? It's not like, yeah.
Melanie Avalon
It's like taking a chicken breast and breading it. So it's flat and square, usually. It's not like fried chicken, like Kentucky fried chicken. It's not like that. It's like pounded, usually.
Barry Conrad
It's actually really good. Actually, you saw right. I've never seen it in America. It's not a thing there.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, which is like so weird because it's very in line with what we would like here. Something strange that it hasn't taken off.
Barry Conrad
I also didn't know you were German learned something again about you didn't know i did not know that till now there we go.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, I just think it's so funny, though, that my parents, like, why were they making me eat bratwurst the whole time when I could have been having schnitzel and spatzel?
Barry Conrad
traditional sauce, just sauerkraut nuts, so I mean, it could take it to leave it for me. I want to try the spazzle and I want to, out of curiosity, try the noodle gratin, whatever that is. Yeah, what about you?
Melanie Avalon
Well, what's funny, it's funny how far I've come with sauerkraut. So I remember being again, growing up German, being so grossed out by sauerkraut and thinking like how horrible and disgusting it looked. And now I'm like, I think it's like the best thing ever.
And it's so good for your gut microbiome, you know, fermented. I would eat probably eat the, well, they have allergy friendly options. So I would ask for allergy friendly versions of, I probably just eat the chicken and sauerkraut.
Barry Conrad
Really? What about the traditional sausages? Is that too much from your past? No more. I'm done with that.
Melanie Avalon
I would like to try it. It's just with the sausages, you don't really know what all is in there. So I wouldn't know if it had a lot of like sugar added and stuff. If I knew it was like just sausage, I would definitely like to try it.
But the good thing, the one thing I love about Disney is they are very good at working with dietary restrictions. They're like all about it. They'll like give you a tour. So like when you I've been given the tour at the buffet, they'll like come out and they'll tour you through the buffet and point at what is on your diet or not. It's crazy.
Barry Conrad
That's really good. I like that.
Melanie Avalon
I do too, but they're Disney.
Barry Conrad
What about the assorted dessert? What kind of desserts do they have, do you know?
Melanie Avalon
It's been so long. I'm trying to remember if I remember anything. I've been there so many times though. I do know I feel like there was like a pudding that was good, but they probably change it now.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, because I wonder like I'm part German, but don't really know it. Yeah, but I don't know anything about that, but it's not really a cultural thing.
So I don't know what sort of desserts to expect the German type motif. I don't, you know.
Melanie Avalon
Well, so I'm looking at pictures and it looks like they have, these are just pictures on Google. I see some, let's just look up common German desserts, because that's probably what they have, common German.
So common German desserts are things like, I don't know how to say these words, chocolate, lebuken. There's some sort of chocolate cakes, plum tarts, cookies, stolen, they probably have that. It's like a bread that has fruit in it, kind of like fruit cake, but not really. It's harder, has fruit and nuts and spices and then icing on it.
Barry Conrad
They got cheesecakes. I'm looking at, there's quite a few German cheesecakes. Is that a thing there? Quite big? Yeah. I'm all for the dessert, so let's do it. I'll try the assorted.
Melanie Avalon
I will watch you have them. I will, this is what we can do. I think this will be fun.
You can get all of them, and then I will tell you which ones I think I would like. And then you can try them all and let me know which ones you like, and then we'll compare notes.
Barry Conrad
And then you'll try some too? Okay, what else would you like to try? There's some beverages there. How about beverages?
Melanie Avalon
So they do have a Pinot Noir from Germany, I would have to look it up and see if anything's organic. Would you get some beer?
Barry Conrad
I would in the theme of being at this place for sure, and I'm not normally a beer guy, but I'm definitely gonna have some beer here because I saw it in the photo too. So I'm like, yeah, I'll do that.
Melanie Avalon
You've got to have it because during the show they do this whole thing where they like sing and then they're like Broast and everybody like like broasts and everybody sings the thing together. Oh and they do that.
They do the um The chicken song what's that like that? Dada? Dada? Dada? Dada? Dada? Do you know that song? Yeah, I have cool it. Dada. Dada. Dada. Dada. Yeah, they do that and like everybody sings it Apparently, it's I guess it's german. I don't know
Barry Conrad
Would you get a beer as well to try it on up.
Melanie Avalon
No, no, no, no. I, yeah, I don't like beer. I like active, not only, I mean, it has gluten in it, but I actively dislike beer. Like I dislike it.
Barry Conrad
Whoa, why? Why actively? It's like quite, you know.
Melanie Avalon
I know. And I like most foods and drinks.
I just don't like the taste of it. Well, what's interesting is I do have a gluten and a wheat sensitivity. And so it's literally just brewed wheat. So I think my body is telling me that I should not be eating it.
Like my body does not like wheat. Fair enough. So I don't like the taste.
Barry Conrad
You know, Mel, I don't like, I'm not a beer guy, but while I was moving, I bought, I bought a six pack. That says a lot, right? You got to. I did it.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, it like blows my mind like I can't wrap my mind around enjoying the taste of beer and I like I know people like crave like a cold beer on a summer day and like literally that sounds miserable sour beers. If I had to, I do a sour beer.
Do they have a sour beer? What's that? It's kind of more like wine.
Barry Conrad
Is it a brand or is that a type of beer?
Melanie Avalon
No, it's a type of beer. I don't see one. So I actually, I worked in a beer bar. That was my first serving job.
So I learned a lot about beer, which was helpful, even though I don't drink it. So sour beers are kind of, they're very like fruity and they're, yeah, they're more like wine. You would, you should keep your eyes if you see, like next time you go to a restaurant, like that has a lot of beer, see if they have a sour beer.
Barry Conrad
I did a couple of years ago when I went back to New Zealand for Christmas, this hotel invited me there for this beer tasting situation. It was really fun actually, because I don't normally drink beer, but they had like six to eight beers, and we just went through them all, and it was actually pretty interesting.
Melanie Avalon
Do they have one that was soury, kind of fruity?
Barry Conrad
Not sorry, but there were there were fruitier ones. Maybe it's maybe that's just a thing. I'm sure there is, though. It's Australia. Australia, we love our beer here. I'm sure there is.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, Australia, I just find Australia so like interesting. Really? Yeah. Feel like everybody's like happy and hot and drunk and.
Barry Conrad
That's so funny. And what's the alternative in America? Like what? Everyone's like at IHOP?
Melanie Avalon
Okay, because you guys seem like genuinely happy. Here, we're like happy, but also like have like a lot a chip on our shoulder, and our petty and then lots of different seasons.
So not just hot drinking on and off.
Barry Conrad
We have different seasons, but it's not just like so I feel like you feel like it's somewhere here all the time and everyone's like running around and like board shorts.
Melanie Avalon
I do feel that. That's probably completely wrong. I realize I have completely wrong perspective, but I'm just telling you my stereotype from my head.
Barry Conrad
So you wouldn't get so you wouldn't get a base on this menu here would you have a wine maybe a pinot noir.
Melanie Avalon
Maybe. I have to look up the two. They only have two right now. So maybe the Pinot Noir, this might be a sneak in my wine situation.
Barry Conrad
I really want to see this happen like the compartment, how you do it.
Melanie Avalon
Yeah, well, I will I will show you I'm not right now when I'm thinking about I'm thinking about because I haven't been to Disney since I started this. I'm trying to think about the security at the front. How that works.
I think I could do it. The bad that I'm telling like thousands of people this it's too late now. I'm just doing it to support my health. Yeah, it's health reasons.
Barry Conrad
Yeah, I would get the Pinot Grigio, by the way, I get a glass of that
Melanie Avalon
Yeah. I might have to look at the whites here. Yeah. So and to emphasize, friends, the importance of the eating window because the benefits of fasting are not just in the fast. You need that eating window to actually get all of the benefits.
So cheers to everybody. This was so, so amazing. Listeners, friends, if you would like to submit your own questions for the show, you can email questions at ipodcast.com, or you can go to ipodcast.com. You can submit questions there. And the show notes will be at ipodcast.com slash episode 423. To get that free defeat your cravings book, go to ipodcast.com slash cravings. And you can follow us on Instagram. I am Melanie Avalon. Barry is Barry underscore Conrad. And we are I have podcast. So I think that's all the things. Anything from you, Barry, before we go
Barry Conrad
No, thanks again so much for tuning in everyone. You're awesome. Have an amazing rest of your day and we'll see you next time.
Melanie Avalon
I will talk to you next week.
Barry Conrad
I think I'll talk to you then, bye.
Melanie Avalon
Bye. Thank you so much for listening to the Intermittent Fasting Podcast. Please remember, everything we discussed on this show does not constitute medical advice, and no patient-doctor relationship is formed.
If you enjoyed the show, please consider writing your review on iTunes. We couldn't do this without our amazing team, editing by podcast doctors, show notes and artwork by Brianna Joyner, and original theme composed by Leland Cox and recomposed by Steve Saunders. See you next week.
