The thing with a vegan (especially raw) diet is...

Not only do your poops happen like they were engineered by a Japanese car company, they smell... vaguely plant-like.

@rl_dane

That sounds like a raw thing; the process of cooking improves your body's ability extract nutrients from food, so it follows naturally that when your body is extracting less value, it produces more waste.

I, at least, when eating vegan (non-raw) have not had this issue.

@amin @rl_dane Although, raw food tends to have more vitamins and stuff. There's no free lunch

@OpenComputeDesign @rl_dane

Most vitamins and minerals don't seem to be significantly affected, but I guess if you have a deficiency of folic acid? https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80400525/Data/retn/retn06.pdf

Just judging that from a brief look over the data; I'd have to do more in-depth analysis to be sure.

@amin @rl_dane I'm not an expert personally, I just know my mom and brother have mentioned eating raw rubarb, and iirc carrots and tomatoes? give you more vitimins than eating cooked

@OpenComputeDesign @rl_dane

Sure, very likely. RL's currently eating only raw food, though.

Reality Check: 5 Risks of a Raw Vegan Diet

Misconceptions of the philosophy of the raw vegan diet include the claim that raw foods are detoxifying and contain more "life energy"

Scientific American

@OpenComputeDesign @rl_dane

"But cooking breaks apart fibers and cellular walls to release nutrients that otherwise would be unavailable from the same raw food. Cooking tomatoes, for example, increases by five-fold the bioavailability of the antioxidant lycopene. Similarly, cooking carrots makes the beta-carotene they contain more available for the body to absorb."

@OpenComputeDesign @rl_dane

The conclusion of the article in terms of the nutritious value of vegetables appears to be that you should be mixing cooked/uncooked to get everything you need.

@amin @rl_dane Darn it, how dare the solution always be "It depends, probably somewhere in the middle"!!!

@OpenComputeDesign @rl_dane

Heh, indeed.

As for the idea of raw food as "detoxing"—that seems to be very unfounded, at least in the way of actual toxins.

Now, what I have seen evidence for in my exploration of the research is related to the gut-brain axis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gut%E2%80%93brain_axis

Put very simply, the bacteria in your gut is able to tell your brain what you're hungry for (Pavlov won a Nobel prize, discovering this). But which bacteria are present in your gut is dependent on your diet; if you eat a lot of junk food, bacteria that feeds on junk food flourishes in your gut and gets a bigger say in your cravings. So I could see a vegan diet (not necessarily raw) helping to foster a different set of bacteria, which in turn retrains your cravings to make you hungry for healthy food instead of unhealthy food, creating an overall positive effect on your body.

I don't think that raw veganism, specifically, would have any greater effect on that, though. Eating healthy should be enough, whatever the form that takes.

Gut–brain axis - Wikipedia

@OpenComputeDesign @rl_dane

Dangit, RL, you got me researching food while fasting again. XD

@amin @OpenComputeDesign

OH NOEEEEES!!! XD

Wait, what was it last time? XD

@rl_dane @OpenComputeDesign

It's not your fault, I was actually already spending this morning thinking through how to record a podcast while cooking. (Yes, I have an awesome new idea for how to continue Verbose Guacamole in an actually interesting and sustainable way.)

@amin @OpenComputeDesign

Dear God, please make an episode of #VerboseGuacamole while MAKING GUAC. XD XD XD

Ok, I'll stop talking about food now, I'm sorry. XD

@rl_dane @OpenComputeDesign

That will likely happen, yes, though I haven't experimented with making guac yet. ;)

(the biggest barrier being that I have no clue how to tell the ripeness of avocados while in the grocery store)

The basic idea of the new format would be to record a podcast while cooking. To some degree it would be about cooking, but it's also just a way of capturing "mealtime prep conversation" and publishing it.

This would address both my concerns about having time to record and having unique ideas that don't steal from my other projects/blogs.

(I'm also tickled by the idea of making an audio show about food, when food is typically seen as involving every sense except hearing.)

@rl_dane @OpenComputeDesign

I did order a new lavalier microphone to use with my portable recorder, so I can leave it in my pocket and just talk. I also got a system of rechargeable AAA batteries because that recorder eats up batteries like no-one's business and if I'm gonna use it regularly I wanna deal with that.

I had a lavalier mic that came with it but I can't find it now and I don't remember it actually being very good…

Anyway that stuff is supposed to arrive on Tuesday, at which point I can start experimenting! :D

It remains to be seen if I can capture the actual sounds of food cooking with a lavalier mic or if I'm going to want to upgrade my recording setup to the point of having two microphones, one for the food and one for my voice.

@amin @OpenComputeDesign

Can the Tangara record? Does it have a sneaky input like the iPod did, using the TRRS jack?

@rl_dane @OpenComputeDesign

Um, maybe? Probably not, without some hardware modification.

What I have is this thing: https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/handheld-recorders/handheld-recorders/h1n-handy-recorder/

H1n

Zoom H1n handy recorder features an onboard stereo microphone that lets you easily record two tracks of high-resolution audio

@amin @OpenComputeDesign

Zoom makes some cool stuff. Is there a possibility of jury-rigging a LiPo? Maybe just using rechargeable AAAs? (That has its own disadvantages, of course)

@rl_dane @OpenComputeDesign

As I said two posts up in the thread, I've ordered rechargeable AAAs. ;)

It can also run off of USB power, which is what I've mostly done in the past.

@amin @rl_dane Everyone _needs_ to use ni-mh AA and AAA batteries. "Primary cell" batteries are capitalist propaganda

@OpenComputeDesign @amin

Why nimh? Why not LifePo?

@rl_dane @amin Because it's got the right voltage out of the box, you can buy them anywhere, and any charger you find will probably work.

I've tried a few times, and if I actually do find a lifepo that meets my needs, they won't ship. And chargers are harder to find, too

Amazon.com: TENAVOLTS 1.5V AAA Lithium Rechargeable Battery, 1.8h Fast Charge, USB Charger, Constant Output at 1.5V, 1110 mWh, 4 Counts with Charger : Health & Household

Amazon.com: TENAVOLTS 1.5V AAA Lithium Rechargeable Battery, 1.8h Fast Charge, USB Charger, Constant Output at 1.5V, 1110 mWh, 4 Counts with Charger : Health & Household

@amin @OpenComputeDesign

Yeah, an audio show highlighting the sounds of cooking sounds utterly delightful!

@amin @OpenComputeDesign

That's really fascinating, and explains a lot.

I will say that when I sample foods outside of the diet (I haven't tried cooked vegan foods specifically, but stuff like one little french fry, I had a can of diet coke, and some assorted salted nuts), they're all very moreish, while the vegan (raw) food I'm eating is usually very satisfying.

What I don't know is if the moreishness of the junkier foods is inherent, or an adaptation of my previous lifestyle.

@rl_dane @OpenComputeDesign

It could definitely be some of both. There are definitely foods that are easier to just… keep eating past what your body actually needs. That's part of why when my family asks if I want seconds I always say I'm gonna let the food I've eaten sit for a bit, first; I wanna give my body a chance to feel out if I actually want more food than what I've eaten so far.

@amin @OpenComputeDesign

Yeah, the funny thing is that I honestly enjoy the food I'm eating now, it's just that I don't usually care about seconds.

I think one thing is that your taste buds can get accustomed to a certain level of flavor and whatnot, and you can become content (to the point of enjoyment) while eating relatively bland foods that won't be tempting to overeat.

My mom was trying to explain this to me several times over the past few years, but I wasn't listening. I wanted my sriracha. XD

A big part of the program (at least for me), was to sit before your food in contemplation an thankfulness, and to eat very slowly, purposefully, and meditatively. It slowed down the food-shoveling reflex, and I think it actually increased the enjoyment of otherwise pretty bland foods.

Maybe I'm ready to live in England now, HEY-OOOOOOO!!!!

@rl_dane @OpenComputeDesign

Not caring about seconds is healthy, I think. I'm usually the same way when I cook for myself; I have a pretty solid grasp of what a "serving size" is.

@rl_dane @OpenComputeDesign

Another good point though, is that ground spices are a phenomenal way to add some delicious flavor to your cooked meals. I use my Indian spices in most things I cook, at this point. Oh, and cumin in everything, of course. ;)

@amin @OpenComputeDesign

I think what I meant to say is that when I'm eating THIS (raw) food, I don't care about seconds.

Normally, I'm all about seconds and/or huge portions. :P