***Live Public Draft***
Here continues my 2025 end of year food for thoughts surrounding:
- What I actually eat
- What I actually (would) eat – if “money” is no object.
- Mega Eggs intake! + New inflation-sensitive examples this year
- Supplements I used to take (and much less this year).
So what ~ do I actually eat? CKD+IF
First things first, it’s been well overdue for honesty disclosure amidst my CKD+IF. For context, I recommend those who are new to consider reading my prior write up Expectations Vs Reality. That pretty much explains all the “expectations” part.
This go in two parts – the LCIF / Low carb intermittent fast weekdays then carbohydrate refeed / allowance days. Technically I still do fasts but only shortened amongst weekends.
The LCIF Weekdays
My five days, LCIF, 20-21 hours (on average fasts) meal looks something like these.
- Eggs. On average two. Non negotiable and likely always will be besides choline, but also – lutein and B12,. This year I have been absolutely lucky (I can;’t remember when was the last time I had this much) that anywhere up to six (!) is plenty for me to use to save and as Buffer to save / prolong other meat supplies.
- Proteins: any whole (fats + meat) sources – legs, shoulders, drumsticks / mixed pieces (poultry). Many times I also incorporate marine – but mostly sardines. Quite lately I’ve been incorporating Beef bones (meaty parts that is) as useful protein & fats buffer. Five bucks for huge 3-4kg worth. Shown above is mix of pork shoulder and the bones as a result, pressure cooked for about two constant hours.
- Fats: cheese, butter or mayonnaise (as condiments). If the meaty-beef bones are used, usually its own fats is rich / thick enough for me.
- Other accessory (as condiments) – bone broth complete with softened tendons, fats and sinews. Soy, sauce / crumbled OXO® stock cubes
That is meal #1. 20 mins. Next is meal two.
Cheese, yoghurts, and choice of flavourants or sweeteners. I am using either actual carb based sweeteners – usually sweetened condense milk (this is rather quite sweet, despite only 50-55g of NET foot print per 100g ) or occasionally – jams marmalades. Top with gelatine and/or glycine (more on this below). NNS (non nutritive sweeteners) as whatever is available, but certainly not poly-OLs based eg xilytol, errithritols due to FODMAPs.
For quite sometime with Stevia – I am finding them to have these quite “metallic” , often distracting palate. Pure, grounded green stevia powder on the other hand – at least from memory – does have a strong “liquorice” analogue which despite not really my cup of tea – at least avoids that bitterness. The bitterness reported (see here, and here) appear to have some genetic explanation that which some of us do have both the sweet and bitter receptors over-sensitivity.
Comparatively, I tend to prefer liquid Sucralose based sweetener ~ Splenda, to have less of that bitter or metallic quality.
But I am neither for nor against NNS in general. The only reason why this channel exists, is about finding ways how to incorporate everything in the pantry.
The Weekends
This still follows on another fast. But shortened to around 16-18 hours to obviously allow comfortable increase in calories. Depending how busy I am however ~ this could be yet another 19-20 hours.
Not a totally “rest day” per se, but an additional accessory training day during 5/6PM (on an earlier day), or later at around 8PM or even 9PM though rare depending how busy I am.
After training follows the smorgasbord cheat day. Junk foods. Uber eats. Takeaways. The entire menu.
Except – that didn’t happen. At least very rarely, besides from family dining outs. So what goes on are as follows.
- Sweet meal/s: Either:
- Jam cake recipe prep. 250g flour, 2x eggs, 50-60g worth of fats – butter, bit of milk (to moisten / make sure things are not too thick), choice of jam or sweetener available – minimum would be any jam, lemon or even grounded instant coffee! These with sweet condensed milk as sweetener works well.
- DIY rice pudding (in reality just a batch of : mushy rice, milk 2x eggs, jams or sweetened condensed milk + lime / lemon). 700-1000 kcals easily done.
- Savoury meal: DIY bread. With chicken liver pate / beef bones batch pressure cooked, with whatever proteins available. Extra stock cube / flavourings.
On the sweet feature meal – obviously I’m not able to down the sweet meal in one go, unlike prior years. I’d say in total of around 2,000 kcals (conservative estimate for the higher calorie feature – being the jam cake that is) split into two (2) serves.
Very seldom I resort to fibre heavy oats being easily touted as “healthy” carb cheat days. It bogs me down afterwards. And, in terms of savoury indulgences ~ elaborate DIY’s involving pizzas and all – I don’t quite remember having them unless family dine outs.
Wet vs Dry foods.
I like rich, dense and fluid packed ~ foods. If everyone prefers their bacon burnt to charcoal, I prefer mine just done “enough” in the microwave – moist, chewy, done.
All my years eating this way (more wet over dry) made me look at other things worthwhile. Mitigating AGEs/ Glycation End products and hydration emphasis for instance.
Then, there’s the cleaning. Who really wants to scrub away all that dried up grime? Cleaning my IKEA (not a poster boy here, given their shady history) $60 pressure cooker from 1.5kg+ worth of boned / gelatine pork legs/shoulders/knucles takes about <5 minutes vs 10 minutes scouring away the stainless steel pan.
Obviously, certain meat proteins are meant to be cooked with plenty of water. I certainly wouldn’t cook chicken or beef mince in a pressure cooker. That ~ is where microwave comes in.
Mega Eggs Intake!
Reason why I’m putting together pics of EVOO and eggs is for a little (sober) humour. Come to think of it for the very first time this year – I had very instance where I incorporated EVOO. Just three or four years ago – you could buy One Litre for $5AUD. But one day, it might reach to macadamia oil territory ~ maybe up to thirty dollars per litre.
But eggs? What a marvellous opportunity. Not a poster boy nor am I paid for writing this but who would say no – for two packet of 600g eggs for $8 AUD? A deal unheard of in all my history. Actually I have seen two for as low as six dollars.
So I spent a good two months or so increasing on egg intakes. And expecting a significant change.
Alas, not much difference, if at all. At least on the subjective side ~ sleep, fitness training, fasting blood sugars included. At least from what I can attribute, from egg intakes alone.
But there is something oddly satiating about eggs. The most I remember eating was five within the usual three hour window.
3x during savoury feature and 2x on dessert meal. On the latter if anyone is curious – DIY yoghurts, 3x eggs on the microwave, desiccated coconut and gelatine / glycine if the latter is available. Bit of jam + sweetener within <50g net carbs. Done.
Cost-no-object, rewarding meals?
For nearly ten years, I have not quite yet shared what I’d really indulge, besides from family or Christmas dine outs.
So what would those be, without actually spending $40AUD for a single meal? But expensive enough ~ I would only eat like this perhaps once every two or three weeks ?
To make things easy I’m going to just give two (2) examples – savoury and sweet.
Savour – OX TAILS
Gone were my younger days of downing Udon(s), Chicken Karage(s), Honey Beef, Honey Chicken from all Chinese restaurants. It’s all the regret(s) afterwards – the MSG / glutamates and the PUFA N6 vegetable oils ~ all which made me thankful that I’m off them.
As I grow old. It’s about being patient. Despite this – taking a very, very, long time on the pressure cooker.
I thought ox cheeks already took long enough, that is – (TWO) 2 hours of constant pressure cooking, plus re-filling in with NEW BOILED water throughout at leaset TWO checkpoints.
Oxtails take almost three (3!) hours. From just a one (1) kg batch.
And perhaps only two and half good serve(s)….and that’s it on LCIF, 20-22 hour fasts. Twenty Dollars. For effectively only two (2).
I imagine, “charcuterie” or “slider” would also fit here. A serve of cointreau as digestif entree. Gouda cheese block. Grilled octopus and oysters. Then of course the ~ oxtails together in its rich (but not too syrupy with other things) ~ stocks.
Finish with Baileys / Irish cream, on the rocks.
Adding all up….I think I made a mistake. It does and would cost around $40 AUD if I were to prep and source everything myself (except baileys and cointreau – both are extremely expensive).
Sweet / carb refeed cheat meal? An entire cheesecake.
I used to “celebrate”, humbly, that is once in a while back when whey proteins were just relatively affordable (~ $25 per kilogram).
Now obviously – no more. So “an entire cheesecake:” is just hypothetical.
Though I should clarify portion size. Maybe not an entire in one sitting (that would be an impressive feat courtesy of Martin Berkhan). For me – probably 1/3 off entire block of “Large” size Cheesecake Shop in each sitting. With liquids maybe, lactase-added Milk. Wait at least around few hours until I’m hungry again. Then repeat. Damage =around $30-$35 AUD .
As I am a slow COMT methylator (Met variant) I would take caution from anything that is excessive in copper, so I would have to say no to anything chocolate. But “cookies and cream” would be my pick. Except ~ if there is a cake I would not eat that would be pavlova – too sickeningly sweet for me (think one of those fruity-loops cereal – literally shoots up to the head).
But here’s the catch. I am actually yet to have one, at all this year. Hence the stock image ^.
I’ve been content instead with weekly refeed / allowances with DIY rice puddings and DIY jam cake recipe for many years. 200g plain flour, 40-50g of butter, 150-200ML milk, choice of jam, 2 tbsp of condensed milk, up to 4x eggs (if I’m rich). Oven bake at 175 deg for 30 mins then stand by for at least 20 mins.
Okay, enough recipe elitism aka “food porn”. Now, back to reality.
Other supplementations I neglected (sort of).
I still have quite few I once believed to be essential. To name a few ~ Chromium GTF, vanadyl sulphate, and among others. TLDR; I almost no longer rely on insulin mimetic / partitioning agents support throughout later half this year, given my expenses needed to be focused elsewhere just to stay on top..
Nonetheless, I don’t usually throw away supplements that easily. I believe there is always some remote chance I’ll find a use for it.
Magnesium and Potassium Citrate(s) for instance. In case anyone is wondering why I bought these back in 2024 as I was troubleshooting the mysterious upper left flank flare(s) on daily basis ~ and left me very much in pain (even as I walk around). Thankfully fast forward to this day I have no flares. But the how or why behind it all frustratingly still remains unknown, even after $500+ worth of scans and (almost worthless) ordeals dealing with GPs.
For a while I get curious with other antioxidants than the usual Vitamin E, K2, COQ10. Since 2024, I still have a bottle (Piping Rock brand) ~ oil of oregano. As an occasional reader (but not entirely follower, as I am impartial when it comes to being influenced by nutritional group) Ray Peat Forums included. Oil of oregano was praised several times within for gut health. However, studies suggesting its testosterone lowering effect does make me pause at times; albeit limited to animal model evidence suggesting a “U” curve implication. Besides from not much of an effect that I can sort of derive, albeit taking these only in brief sporadic periods – I decided not to use it much throughout this year.
Another in the list (not pictured) is Creatine (basic Monohydrate version). I, for quite a long time, thought it is one off those overly hyped and dare I say at times, unnecessary on top of my meat heavy diet. Strange as that may sound from someone been training for 20 years, but this year made me realise something else that made me returned to it, which reminisced a period long, long time ago – where I needed – injury & recovery mediation. Creatine – does help with the feeling and providing more mobility. I still have mine sitting the above for months. I know I should replenish at some stage as I grow older, but other priorities sadly, gets in the way.
Lastly, the ever elusive Niacinamide. I always have mixed feelings about Vitamin B3. More NAD must be always good, right?…. Right?
On some days I felt I “should” supplement for its somewhat energising, ergogenic aid. Particularly on refeed days where large amount of calories are expected I had some inclination it does help me from getting overly encumbered head, and gut wise. Other times however? Mixed bag. General literatures / evidence seem to suggest it depletes methyl groups and as consequence – leaves homocysteine hanging around in the blood for a little too long….unless mitigated with other helpers – B6, B12, folate. Also given its questionable effects on metabolic health, made me very seldom taking it consistently as what most in the alt-health / “bio-hacking” circles advocate.
Supplement Spotlight on Mental Stress
Mental stress, in addition to all other stressor(s) environmental, social and fitness training wise ~ has been recurrent theme yet again throughout this year.
I think treating the “brain” alone for mental health is only half the picture. Liver health apparently is just as important as it is logically, next to kidneys – regulates catecholamines clearance. I had to look back in my supplements inventory as not just nice-to have, but as whatever “insurance” policies I could think of that may help. Of these, and among others I’ve written before in the past (Gingko, ALCAR, L-DOPA – the latter I think is way too expensive and don’t think it’s safe for long term use) – is Milk Thistle and N-acetyl cysteine. Both have been touted as protectants, but milk thistle is the more confusing one, at least in terms of its estrogenic (I presume / speculate) modulating effects
Despite short term experiment between the two I am yet to draw either one as the more protective or “better” coping agent in times of mental stress. Despite milk thistle’s being widely classified as an estrogen agonist (meaning it incites more activity) than it is a blocker does raise a question whether it is safe long term use. NAC – being a newer addition to my supplement line ~ does not seem to have any direct concern with hormones per se, but its effects so far on mental stress alone have been mild, to say the least.
If, and only if – there is one new reaction that I find interesting perhaps coincidentally in the timeline where I incorporated these liver support….is that I seem to have increased tolerance to alcohol.
The above is very, very surprising given that I generally am not by any means a “strong” drinker per se. For so many years I do enjoy a glass of red, baileys on the rocks (and if one could afford its VERY high price tag) ~ the “functional” Contreau – the spirit for digestive support. But since then ~ just one drink would be “enough” for me to call it a day. But recently – just one drink generaly I find myself more okay. Obviously I will and still experience the hang over but I definitely do not consider these liver milk thistle by any means a permissive ticket to knock myself out.
Besides, I don’t consider either NAC or milk thistle to have any no-tropic effect per se, unlike Gingko, ALCAR or Choline Bitartrate.
Gingko, is I would say another one that benefits, but the propensity from getting (very slight) light headedness detract me from relying on them frequently .