Re: how do you do food?
The following is an excerpt from a private exchange. I am sharing it with the express permission of my correspondent, without disclosing their identity. The quoted/indented parts belong to my correspondent.
It just randomly occured to me to ask you how do you food? Because I’m guessing food is also a facet of life that you have simplified. Not necessarily a list of what foods you eat day to day, more like the logistical/pragmatic aspects of it and any other thoughts you have about food as a topic. A few questions are do you meal prep, do you basically eat the same food 80% of the time and if yes, do you cover any micronutrient shortfalls with multivitamins etc. I do all the above.
Yes, I have thought about food and have my opinions about it. The short version of what I do is keep things simple and moderate. Simplicity applies to the work required to prepare a meal and also to the flavours involved. Moderation means to not overdo certain tastes and instead work towards that which occurs naturally in the dish.
A good example of these principles is the Greek-style (or “Mediterranean”) salad: it is easy to make yet also gets the job done in terms of its nutritional value. It consists of common vegetables, like cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, peppers, lettuce, and olives, together with some herbs like oregano and basil, plus a little bit of olive oil and vinegar. I need maybe five minutes to prepare it and do not have to do a lot of work afterwards to clean the place up. Another good example, if I am having meat, is roasted pork chops. They take more time to prepare but the process is very simple: just flip them every few minutes to avoid charring one side. I serve them straight without any sauce or extras.
Bad examples, and thus types of dish I do not consume, are those which (i) involve lots of preparatory steps and (ii) mix together different classes of taste, like milky and oily. The “mousaka” recipe that is part of my local cuisine is a huge problem in this regard. Its complexity is burdensome in terms of the work necessary to produce the meal, of the follow-up efforts to clean up all the tools/spaces, and of the extra processing the body needs to do to break down these overdone/heavy flavours. You know it is terrible because you feel dizzy after eating it. Because I do not want to be a slave of my kitchen and to burden my body with needless complexity, I avoid any meal that blends different classes of taste like that.
The rule of thumb is this: if it is not simple, it is probably not right. There are exceptions, hence the “rule of thumb”.
Simplicity and moderation extend to the cooking techniques I apply. In short, I do not use a frying pan. Anything that is fried will deviate substantially from its natural flavour. Compare, for example, a raw onion to a fried one. The latter is caramelised and, on top, delivers a combination of contrasting classes of taste, namely, sweet and oily. Same idea for marinated ingredients: they are not for me.
Keeping things close to their natural state means that I never cook vegetables (e.g. to make a soup), unless they can only be consumed that way. If some vegetable needs to be cooked (usually legumes), then I will boil it to the minimum viable level. I will not overcook it because then it gets too sweet or is anyhow not the same thing anymore.
By the same token, I never do smoothies or juices. I eat the raw ingredient directly. The reason is two-fold: (i) I want my jaws to continue to work hard the way they were meant to and (ii) I thus avoid overconsuming certain foods. Think, for instance, about the carrot. It is hard to chew on it so you will practically not consume more than one raw carrot. But if you turn it into some barely recognisable blended version of itself, you can take in the equivalent of several carrots without even realising it. In other words, you do not have a natural brake and are thus overdoing it. Juices are exactly the same, especially once you remove the flesh of the fruit and keep its liquids. Instead, peel off the orange and eat it outright. Let your body work with the limits it finds in foods.
I mentioned soups earlier: I would never make one myself but will accept it if I am invited for dinner. The reason I do not like them is because there is always a more natural and easier alternative. Vegetable soup? Do a salad instead. Fish soup? Grill the fish and serve it with some lemon.
I do not eat dairy products. Not because of a principled objection to them, but because their mass production goes together with the debasement of their quality. So-called “Greek yogurt” is not sour anymore, for example. Same idea for Feta, which typically is a toned down cow-milk-like mockery of the real thing. Milk I never fancied and cheese is hit-or-miss in terms of flavour and usually unhealthy in how much processing goes into it.
I also avoid all bread and bread-like products. The only exception is the sourdough bread I make at home. This one I can trust not to have any additives, including common ingredients like sugar, salt, eggs, and milk. Check out the label on an industrial loaf of bread to find all sorts of strange substances there: it is becoming increasingly indistinguishable from garbage.
As you can imagine, I do not consume any sweets or salted foods—and I am strict about it. I have not eaten ice cream in over a decade, for example. No salted peanuts or other similarly served dry nuts. Same for sodas and all heavily processed meals, most of which I quit consuming circa 2006.
I have never taken supplements in my life and always strive to have decent variety in my meals. I have also not been on any kind of medication and have rarely visited doctors. Not to imply anything here: it just is how things have worked out, in large part due to financial constraints (doctors cost a lot, so the conditions force me to be healthier and simpler). This has worked nicely for me over the decades, but I cannot know how much is down to my constitution and my habits or even the environment I am in. I always have energy for work, for long walks, and other activities such as intellectual pursuits. My consistency is my greatest asset and my resulting availability to do stuff is my best ability. For example, last time I had flu-like symptoms was in my early teenage years.
Finally, I have long now quit alcohol consumption, while I never did any other substance abuse. I never smoked a cigarette, for instance, even though virtually all of my friends were smokers. I consider it a bad sign when I need some boost to do my work, like caffeine. It means that something is not right and I resort to a short-term solution that will most probably develop into a long-term problem. I have been athletic throughout my life and consider it essential to remain at the peak of my powers for as long as possible through disciplined daily routines.
For me, the key is to keep things bland and not seek excitements in food. Otherwise, you will continue to pursue the intense flavours which inevitably lead to complex recipes, overdone techniques, absence of natural brakes, and thus abusive consumption. This applies to life in general, but let’s keep it to food for now.
Do you eat eggs? That’s the only thing I use a frying pan for because I found it difficult/unsustainable to eat 4 boiled eggs daily (not about the taste; more like the digestive load it generates) so I have to consume it in omelette form which I find is a lot easier to digest.
To me, the omelette falls in the same category as the example I gave with the carrots. It is very easy to consume large amounts of egg in this way. One boiled egg every other day is fine, unless you are doing some really intense physical work or have such a need, in which case one or two a day sounds okay.
Taking a step back, I notice how the search for variety effectively regulates overconsumption. If, for example, I had an egg one day, then I do not need to also eat meat or tuna. Those are for the days after. If I had legumes one day, then the next day can be something else.
1 What percentage of your food is meal prepped ahead of time and what percentage is prepared and eaten on the same day?
I prepare the meal and eat it right away. I only do enough for one time. It is easier because I do not need to be concerned about its storage and preservation. This is especially important during the summer, as it gets really hot here and so it is riskier to keep food around for longer.
2 Do you track your calories and macros? If yes, what’s your daily protein intake?
No, I do not track anything. I have a lay person’s understanding of what the different kinds of food give you and so I take a little bit of everything. This is the variety I mentioned.
I do not track any data about my life. For example, I do not measure how many steps I took on a given walk or exactly how many glasses of water I drunk. If I walk enough to feel tired, then I am good. If I drink enough water to feel hydrated, then everything is okay. If I have the vitality to keep pursuing my interests and doing all the tasks I want, then everything is in order.
Not tracking data saves me from the pitfalls of overthinking but also of the deception that is overoptimisation. When we try to optimise too much, we think we operate on a fully understood system, when in reality there are lacunae in our knowledge. I thus choose to remain generic in doing the simple things simply, which effectively means that on the topic of overoptimisation I err on the side of caution.
3 What is your main form of exercise? Low intensity cardio (I saw some titles in your YouTube of you going on long walks) or do you also do strength training?
I do calisthenics at home because that is the simpler option. No gym commute/money/clothes/logistics.
I hike a lot. These mountains are quite steep and I go up and down multiple times a day. Then there is all the physical work I do in and around the hut. It involves the hammer, the sledgehammer, the pickaxe, and power tools, all of which demand strength and endurance. Those tools are hard to wield for long, but also the impact they have on whatever you are working on adds to the difficulty of the task. Then there is the duration, which tests your strength over time. For example, one of the most physically demanding forms of farming is to work the land with the pickaxe, which is what I do. Try it for 5 minutes to get a feel for how challenging it is. Then do it for 2 hours under direct sunlight… Oftentimes the work I do for the hut demands that I lift heavy burdens, like the balcony door I installed recently. Those are challenging as well.
If I do not do any physical work, then I will do calisthenics and stretching. Again, variety is the way to avoid exaggerations.
When I was playing football, I did go to the gym for a little while, but ultimately did not like it. There is something about the highly controlled closed space that does not inspire me to be active. With football, you train on the pitch (we would play on dirt and gravel most of the time) so you get exposed to the weather: it is more rugged and feels authentic as a result. Same for my life in the mountains, which awakens in me the wild animal that thrives in open spaces and in the sense of danger+adventure. Saving money is a bonus, of course.