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Food is one of the worst things for you. For most of the summer, I was having a large smoothie with whey protein isolate, egg yolks, powdered coconut oil, and frozen berries. Only for the past several days (I’m recovering from SARS COV-2) have I abandoned this highly caloric, insulin-bomb of a breakfast, replacing it with cold water, creatine, and powdered coconut oil, blended. You wouldn’t believe how much sharper I feel mentally, how much less hungry I am all morning, my neighbors have stopped complaining about my outbursts… the list goes on and on.
Oh, but back to food being bad for you. I really do think eating a ton of food is one of the worst things for you. You can read about this in my book, in which the protagonist, in an attempt to gain weight and become physically more imposing, starts eating a ton of food, and his quality of life suffers greatly. It’s a really clever commentary on masculinity and “improvement culture” in general, actually. You should read it.
I too have gone through periods of regimented physical activity (lifting weights) and eating large quantities of food, and it always leaves me feeling terrible, physically and mentally. Lately I’ve started eating huge portions of vegetables again (bag of Brussels sprouts, bag broccoli, two large zucchini) in the middle of the day and it’s been working out really nicely for me. Skin cleared up, mind feels sharp, face looks more chiseled and handsome, it’s been great.
You (the reader) should probably eat less food, just like, statistically, most people eat too much. I know that might not be true for the target audience of this newsletter, so if you have an eating disorder then you should eat a little bit more (but not too much too fast), but most people should eat less food and replace some of the food they’re already eating with more vegetables. They’ll experience great benefits from eating their first meal as a large bowl of vegetables with ghee around 2pm.
Oct 7, 2024
Related Recs
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your hair falls out. your teeth get yellow and fucked up. your nails weaken and get ugly. you get super cold all the time. your energy gets so low that everyday tasks become extremely difficult.
and you gain all the weight back anyway and then it's ten times harder to lose because you fucked over your metabolism or you die.
i'm speaking from experience. i have starved and i have done crazy shit and i always just gained all of it back. and when i was starving i was so miserable and it just doesn't work long term.
that is harsh but the truth. i'm not going to tell you to not care about the way you look. because everyone cares about that. but the number on the scale is literally irrelevant. you can have two ppl w the exact same weight that look completely different. you yourself can be the same exact weight at different times and look totally different due to muscle/fat ratio. since you say you've let go of the emotional i'm going to keep this advice strictly logical.
when you starve yourself, you trick your body into thinking its in survival mode and then it holds onto fat and lowers your metabolism. you get pushed in a cyclical nature of losing weight and gaining it all back and it gets harder and harder. it doesn't work, has never worked, and just makes you ugly and sad.
the only way to lose weight and keep it off is to stop being scared of calories and instead eat the right ones and the right amount. if you want to fix your metabolism you have to understand calories as a fuel source not as something to be deducted. calories are simply energy. in order to limit your hunger and build muscle, you need enough energy from the right sources.
you need a good combination of protein, fiber, and carbs. you don't need to be perfect lol like i personally dont measure shit bc it's overwhelming and too much work, so just prioritize protein and try to fit in fiber and carbs here and there.
the reason i say to prioritize protein is because that's what builds muscle. building muscle is important even if you don't care about working out because muscle burns fat. when you have more muscle, your metabolism increases and you can eat more because the muscle literally burns the fat and needs more energy (calories).
fiber is important for many health reasons: cholesterol, heart health, bowel movements etc. but since you're still in an ED mindset, the biggest thing for you is that it keeps you full. foods that are high in fiber keep you full for a very very long time. so you can stay in a reasonable caloric deficit without feeling extremely hungry.
carbs. carbs are not your enemy at all. carbs are the body's main fuel source. they give you quick ready to use energy. it also prevents the proteins in your body from being used for energy. so when the body is looking for energy, instead of breaking down the proteins that you want to keep to build muscle the body will use the carbs instead. energy is important because it's what you can use to exercise and live your life.
so, prioritize protein and have a mix of the other two. i think calorie counting can be very triggering and it's easy to get really restrictive with it. so what i did was i had a protein goal (calculated based off my weight) and a fiber goal. i also drink a lot of water and just tried to eat smaller portions. my main issue was i hate food waste and feel a lot of guilt about it. so it's better for me to just start with a smaller plate and add more if im hungry.
speaking of hunger, this next step is essential.
listen to your hunger. do NOT ignore it. if you are hungry, eat. if you are not, don't.
that was the hardest thing for me to do because i always took being hungry as a sign of being skinny. but it completely fucked up my hunger signals and made everything way more difficult. when you are hungry, eat something but just be intentional about what you eat. eat something high in fiber or high in protein. it will tell your body that you aren't in starvation mode and that it is okay to let go of fat. protein bars, yogurts, and fruits are amazing for this. if you continue to not eat when you're hungry then you're fucked. you also don't want to over eat. sometimes when i was stressed or bored, i knew i wasn't hungry but i ate anyway and just made sure to eat something super low calorie. thats a Mistake. because now my body thinks i needed more food and is going to adjust accordingly.
so please, this is the way to healing your relationship with food and understanding that you aren't fighting against your body you need to work WITH it.
next essential step: trust the process.
you have to learn patience and find love in discipline. if you eat the right kinds of foods, listen to your hunger and move your body regularly (literally just walking is so good for weight loss) you Will lose weight. there is so much love in taking care of yourself. there is so much warmth in the discipline of deciding to be good to yourself. you have to get used to slow results because you need to fall in love with the process in order to keep it sustainable.
fall in love with the process and the results will come.
please trust that. it's what changed my life and how i lost 15 pounds and kept it off after 4 years of back and forth disordered eating losing weight and gaining it back.
you also need to remember that your body's purpose isn't to fit a specific standard it's to literally keep you alive. your body is doing it's best every day to keep you alive. once you understand that and feel true gratitude for that, you will really love the process of working with your body.
i have lots of emotional advice i can give but the main logical takeaways:
- starving doesnt work
- stop being scared of calories
- protein, fiber, carbs
- listen to your hunger cues
- trust the process
- patience and love is everything.
specifics:
proteins: meats, tofu, eggs, greek yogurt, lentils, almonds, cottage cheese, black beans, broccoli, cauliflower
fiber: avocado, oats, raspberries, artichoke, pears, apples, strawberries, kiwis etc. othe grains too
carbs: bread, pasta, rice, lentils, chickpeas, etc.
let me know if you have any specific questions. sending you all my love, i know this is a difficult thing to get through.
sending you love and care and patience and strength 💓
Jul 11, 2024
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Right now i’m pacing around my kitchen head banging to incubus embarking on a fruit and vegetable power eating circuit. I’m taking straight up frozen broccoli and doing sets of 10x florets like it’s chin-ups or something.. switching of it’s 10 x Brussels sprouts.. I can barley even taste what i’m eating.. in between, I'm drinking cups filled with frozen cherries, blueberries, raspberries etc (taste like candy) … sure i enjoy the popular.. casual.. communal.. ritualistic.. aspect’s of preparation dining and what not.. but i think for even just 20 min out of your day it’s important enough to give an approach like this a try.. and i think there’s something to standing and moving while chewing and digesting that dials in your metabolic rate.. because before you say it, yeah.. i know about smoothies
You’re not only consuming multiple servings of fruit and vegetables in such a small window of time, but produce that is flash frozen on sight often retains more nutrients than fresh produce..
“It’s not so much about what you do eat, it’s about what you don’t“ - Me
Jan 24, 2024
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I think some lifestyles choices are very unnecessarily politicized right now because bad actors have captured the entirety of the discourse surrounding them for their own rhetorical purposes and twisted them to fit their biases. I’ve actually been attacked recently and accused of being an alt-right nutjob by someone who knows the way I eat which saddens me!
It’s also difficult to talk about your own dietary choices sometimes without making people feel personally attacked so when I say this keep in mind it’s just what works for me ❤️
I avoid seed oils as much as possible and choose to use butter, olive oil, coconut oil, or avocado oil instead (if you would like to hear a coherent, logical, data-driven argument for this check out this video). I don’t eat a lot of chicken and rarely if ever eat pork; if I eat them it’s usually pasture-raised chicken and forage-fed heritage pork from the farmers market because the meat is higher quality due to their diet and better animal welfare standards. Same with eggs; I would never buy eggs at the store when I can get the best quality eggs I can buy for like $6 a dozen from my favorite friendly farmers. I eat fresh produce in season but I honestly love organic frozen vegetables because they’re cheaper and easier to manage.
I eat a lot of grass-fed beef and grass-fed New Zealand butter. I go through wedges of aged parmesan absurdly quickly. I love organic pasta imported from Italy and try to buy organic for almost everything. Lots of black espresso. fresh bread from my neighborhood bakery and dessert about once a week. I don’t like to carelessly or mindlessly eat sugar; if I’m going to do it I want it to be a real treat! Love carbs.
If I buy processed food I prefer that it has a short ingredient list and you could say I live in an ‘ingredients household.’ I don’t eat until I’m hungry (usually somewhere from noon to 2:00 pm) at which point I’ll eat a snack with protein and fat. I eat one big meal at the end of the day.
I’ve tried a lot of different dietary lifestyles. I was a vegetarian for about a decade and a vegan for a good portion of that time. I ate keto and fasted regularly. I didn’t eat any sugar for a couple of years. I’ve incorporated elements from all of these and found a way of eating that I enjoy! I feel good in my body and I’m never stressed about what I’m going to eat.
Food is a joyful thing for me and my dream is for better nutritional education and the ability to buy healthy foods (whatever that looks like to them) to be accessible to everyone 🙏
Nov 12, 2024
Top Recs from @matthewdavis
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the second city. it’s kinda beautiful here.
Mar 20, 2025
I’ve been blown away by rewatching Family Guy Season 4. It’s really impressive, but falls off hard about 10 episodes into Season 5. There’s a subversive and unpredictable quality to these episodes that’s unlike any other show I’ve seen. I had these all recorded on my TiVo as a child and would watch them over and over, so it’s part of a dangerous regressive pattern (see my earlier recommendation of “chilling”), but I think these are some of the most creative episodes of comedy television ever made. They’re bursting with energy and the pacing is mind boggling, joke after joke after joke. I had forgotten how smart the show used to be. In my head it was kind of a dumb show for middle schoolers and adults with tattoos who work at vape shops, but I was wrong, I’ll admit it.
Oct 7, 2024
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was about 2 in the morning, patrick and I were talking about how we hadn't had it in years. I told him I would get it sometimes as a kid, not too often, it always felt like a treat. so I opened up doordash and we just went for it. biscuits were the best part. chicken kinda got cold.
Jan 12, 2025