What do you eat/drink to optimize your productivity, energy, and/or focus for work or school?

[Rebis]

Would you actually kill yourself if you failed the pact tho

Pacts are made when I'm aware I can achieve my goal, so on that premise I won't fail. If I truly want something I will get it.

I don't make a pact that's absurd.

 

[Puffy]

Would you actually kill yourself if you failed the pact tho

Pacts are made when I'm aware I can achieve my goal, so on that premise I won't fail. If I truly want something I will get it.

I don't make a pact that's absurd.

That roughly translates to 'yes' (from what I can tell?)

Fair enough - take this more as me philosophising as I'm intrigued than advice. Mostly strikes me as curious as it presumes a great deal more control over our lives than it appears we have. I've known multiple people who have experienced accidents that have disabled them from pursuing their goals, as an example. And one who did kill himself, in part, as he was unable to reconcile his (then) unachievable dreams with circumstance.

Sometimes things deviate from what we want despite our drive & inner potential to achieve those things. And yet curiously, I've tended to observe, we end up finding in retrospect that we learn certain things as a result of that that we wouldn't have been able to by following our own scripts. Learning often happens in the breaking points of our programming, that calls how best that program serves us into question and in the undoing of it allows better potentials to emerge.

I think I'd be hesitant to make these kinds of pacts as it'd essentially be me dictating to reality how things must unfold for me to be OK as I know best. Where if I do my 50% based on what I think is best and make room for reality to do the other 50% I open myself to the possibility that reality might provide me with a better alternative.

To me, position A roughly translates to: reality is hostile and unfriendly so I must be in control in order to achieve the best outcome.

And position B to: reality is friendly and has my best interests at heart so I can trust reality to guide me to the best outcome.

No. You shouldn't worry about that.

More curious than concerned. Generally try to avoid being concerned about people on the internet!

 

[Rebis]

Would you actually kill yourself if you failed the pact tho

Pacts are made when I'm aware I can achieve my goal, so on that premise I won't fail. If I truly want something I will get it.

I don't make a pact that's absurd.

That roughly translates to 'yes' (from what I can tell?)

Fair enough - take this more as me philosophising as I'm intrigued than advice. Mostly strikes me as curious as it presumes a great deal more control over our lives than it appears we have. I've known multiple people who have experienced accidents that have disabled them from pursuing their goals, as an example. And one who did kill himself, in part, as he was unable to reconcile his (then) unachievable dreams with circumstance.

We have a lot of control over our lives in terms of the actions we make. The only thing we're close to controlling is ourselves, that's all we have true execution over. I don't make pacts everyday, I've made 1 with a few goals which I achieved, (as you can see). The reason for making a pact is because I cannot aimlessly drift from one subject to another so I force myself to focus on one goal, it's just an ultimatum. I won't achieve anything if I just bounce from one thing to another like an erratic animal searching for new food, it's basically a precedent to combat the Perceptive function.

Sometimes things deviate from what we want despite our drive & inner potential to achieve those things. And yet curiously, I've tended to observe, we end up finding in retrospect that we learn certain things as a result of that that we wouldn't have been able to by following our own scripts. Learning often happens in the breaking points of our programming, that calls how best that program serves us into question and in the undoing of it allows better potentials to emerge.

I understand what you're saying but learning is not the purpose of a pact, it's function is to achieve a goal. The world functions on a complex level and I can't just dart between subjects for simple mental stimulation because practicability comes into question. There is a time to learn and there's a time to achieve. I learn a lot daily as I'm guessing anyone on this forum does. Learning is not omitted in making a pact, the only conflict with learning and making a pact is an investment of time.

You will understand what an ultimatum is when you desire something so much that you must put your life on the line, this ultimatum defines your life. Everyone implicitly understands the concept of an ultimatum it is just attaching divinity to it: People never reason with god, I cannot reason with my pact.

Learning is the antithesis of application.

 

[washti]

I know. And I'm just stating logic in a "womanly" way seemingly incomprehensible to certain men, but mostly those with inconceivably low standards for how to approach women. You can't afford to be self-righteous about your emotional side. Like me, it is the least developed. Some form of civilized manners are important to most American woman, any woman for that matter. Yet, clearly you haven't done your research on what manners are, nor have you attempted to test your basic underdeveloped social and emotional cognition on women in real life.

indeed, i must admit, it never crossed my mind.
im truthfully relying on my inner eye. and ladies do like me, i observed. some way too much. do you have a real concern about me or trying to put my confidence down? I'm starting to feel bad. what a awful time to be a man.

 

[Tenacity]

Your question:

@Tenacity where i start then. could you be so kind and show me a bit? i feel lost, lossst, losssss

My response:

I know. And I'm just stating logic in a "womanly" way seemingly incomprehensible to certain men, but mostly those with inconceivably low standards for how to approach women. You can't afford to be self-righteous about your emotional side. Like me, it is the least developed. Some form of civilized manners are important to most American woman, any woman for that matter. Yet, clearly you haven't done your research on what manners are, nor have you attempted to test your basic underdeveloped social and emotional cognition on women in real life.

indeed, i must admit, it never crossed my mind.
im truthfully relying on my inner eye. and ladies do like me, i observed. some way too much. do you have a real concern about me or trying to put my confidence down? I'm starting to feel bad. what a awful time to be a man.

 

[Tenacity]

do you have a real concern about me or trying to put my confidence down? I'm starting to feel bad. what a awful time to be a man.

Not trying to put your confidence down.

I'm actually concerned for people here. If that is somehow so odd, I guess that is my problem.

 

[washti]

why did you answer it in another thread? thats confusing

 

[Stigmata]

have you considered meal prepping?

Spoiler

View attachment 4494

remember that different types of candy bars and drugs all contain different nutrients so it is better to include a rotating diverse range of them in your diet to ensure optimum nutrition and personal actualisation

I make sure to occasionally throw in a Snicker bar to make sure I get adequate protein and fiber.

 

[redbaron]

i recently changed my diet entirely, after crippling chest pain and nausea that turned out to be acid reflux. i was prescribed medication but determined not to rely on it.

i now avoid salicylates and amines in food as much as possible and limit intake of chemicals, overly rich foods and sources of natural MSG

i've felt a lot better and healthier than in a long time, both physically and mentally. plus i don't need to take medication

 

[Perfectly Normal Beast]

I make sure to occasionally throw in a Snicker bar to make sure I get adequate protein and fiber.

ah, i see you are already well educated on the topic so i'll just end with this valuable tip: found crumbs can be an excellent source of random obscure nutrients which may be lacking in your diet and can often liven up an otherwise tedious social occasion or bored meeting

 

[sushi]

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[digitalbum]

From a nutritional standpoint, sustained energy really depends on how you combine fuel sources. Complex carbs, healthy fats, and targeted supplements make a big difference.

For beverages, I’ve shifted away from coffee dependence toward more functional energy drinks, things like beetroot or green tea-based blends. Also, this article on the top 7 natural energy drinks helped me evaluate which ingredients actually support mental performance versus just giving a temporary high

 

[Bluehalite]

Right now, I find the items that help with energy include:
Ginseng Drops (half dropperful mid day picks up my mental energy).

https://a.co/d/eFnSALH

Vitamin B Complex really helps me function/think/feel more active:

Amazon.com

Nice quick boost that lasts three hours and methylfolate cleans up toxins: B12 with Methylfolate:

Amazon.com

Reminds of the nursery rhyme where Little Miss Moppet is eating curds (kefir) and whey:
A few ounces of Peach Kefir in a glass, mixed with a teaspoon of Bobs Red Mill (non gmo) Protein Whey.
This helps keep actual muscle strength from deteriorating, the kefir feeds gut /probiotics to make them happy.

And I haven't done this in a while, but it helps the entire body:
Make fresh raw juice from one fresh peeled beet, 2 carrots, one red apple, three stalks celery, pea greens, swiss chard or kale, parsley, & cucumber in a Breville Bluicer. The raw juice helps the body repair itself.
https://a.co/d/aKPLqjD

Occasional filtered water with lemon, honey, vinegar or sea salt.

Also, I cook dinner at breakfast with something very high protein so I do not have to get hungry or low blood sugar.

I have a kayak and a canoe (too heavy for me really) but there if I really need to go fishing in the marshes.

And just a few hamstring exersizes like marching as high as possible (upper thigh) and stomach tightening exersizes (walking with tightened stomach muscles) to keep my core just strong enough to get by. I should do more, I just need to get this routine in long term practice.

Coffee too. I have Starbucks Espresso made in a great big coffee press each morning.
Trying to have something green from my garden tent each day. One or two mustard green leaves, basil, bok choy, mint will help keep the magnesium levels ok. It still only makes about three cups per pot though. Sometimes I want more later in the day, but I do herbal tea instead. https://a.co/d/hpXGYiC

 

[dr froyd]

in order to optimize productivity i spend as little time making (and thinking about) food as humanely possible. So obviously, this will be things like fast food, microwave food, sushi, takeout food, etc.

 

[Drvladivostok]

I don't, I try to minimize food consumption when I have to focus on work, I've noticed that when I'm slightly hungry I become less easily distracted and my mind can concentrate better, it's like my body subconsciously feels threatened by the lack of calories and tries its best to solve the next problem with the hope of getting food.

When I'm full I just feel sleepy.

 

[sushi]

caffine, there are beneficial foods alike almonds and alvocados and rich in vitamin d, which helps fight exhaustion.

or rich in omega 3 acids.

 

[Bluehalite]

Found an easy fast way to make do when you don't want to cook, or when you want to diet.
Buy two large cartons of eggs (18 packs), and a Dash Egg Steamer $14 on amazon with the seven slots for Hard boiled eggs.
Eat two HB eggs for breakfast, one or two for lunch. Put extra eggs in the deli drawer of fridge.
You can eat cheaply, feel satisfied on just HB eggs, and make life easier. Anyway, I'm sure its not a long term solution,
but if you have busy moments or just don't feel like cooking in the heat, thats one idea to try.
You just poke a hole in the wide end of the egg (it comes with the piercer point) and put them in wide end up, press the button and in 12 minutes you have perfectly done eggs. Plus you can do soft boiled or omelets or just sunny side up with the accessories in the same box.

Dash egg maker, it lasts maybe six months but I just buy a new one twice a year, they are pretty good to have.

https://a.co/d/7pBkMEN

Oh, egg yolks have choline which are healing for the liver too.
18 pack of eggs $6.99 divided by 18 = .38 cents per egg.

 

[kuoka]

Simple meal prep. I'm a home cook and I learned some 20 recipes to have a variance of tasty food. I tend to add a new recipe once or twice a year so the library is expanding. Over time I make different variations of the recipe and improve how well I make it. Imo at this stage I make my favorite food that tastes better than restaurant quality and is way healthier. For someone starting to do it it's sufficient to learn 1 nutritious soup and 1 stew recipe. Like cauliflower soup with potatoes or beet soup with legumes plus french stew or curry.

Let's say I make Japanese Curry Rice. I take a big 10 liter (2.5 gallon) pot and gather enough ingredients (meat, home made vegetable stock, veggies, ginger, spices) for 15 or more servings.

I prep and season the ingredients and have everything ready for cooking and do everything in one go. With practice the processing time will go down to 1 hour. But actual per serving time is like 60minutes/15 servings = 4 minutes per serving which is faster than making frozen fast food.

After I'm done I serve the dinner and keep servings for the next day and freeze the rest in small boxes that are as easy to clean as possible.

So after one cooking session I have 5+ days worth of delicious stew, soup or anything else that I make. For variety we eat the same thing 2 days in a row and then unfreeze something else that I had prepared earlier.

This saves time and does not compromise on the taste or quality. With time you learn tricks like substituting ingredients, reinforcing food with more protein or swapping rice to potatoes that are way healthier in a curry.


For caffeine I made a simple rule. It's based on one key fact that caffeine's metabolic half-life is 5 hours. This means that if you ingest 100 mg of caffeine there will be 50mg still active after 5 hours and 25mg after 10 hours.

This means that if you want to have good restful sleep at around 10pm or 12pm you don't want to drink caffeine with less than 10 hours remaining to your sleep time. So for me I take in all of the caffeine for the day one hour after waking up and it's usually less than a maximum of 100mg because one usually doesn't need more. This gives me the next 4 hours of my most productive time and the next 2-3 hours are diminishing effects so I make sure to use all of my caffeine time productively.

 

[dr froyd]

@kuoka that is an impressive system

do you have a suggestion for a low-effort recipe without gluten that doesn't taste like prison food?

 

[Bluehalite]

Kuoka's posts are smart and interesting.

Emerils Fresh Fast Food is quite good.
I'll come back and add something from it.

The ground turkey meatloaf can be swapped for ground beef. Mix ketchup with a T brown sugar and a teaspoon sriracha. Make twice the amount of ketchup mixture it calls for. Put 1/4 c in the meatloaf and the rest on top of the meatloaf before it goes in oven. Omit panko crumbs if you can’t have gluten. I add frozen mixed vegetables too.

emerils essence
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/emerils-essence-3645101

emerils cookbook

Emeril 20-40-60: Fresh Food Fast (Emeril's) - Kindle edition by Lagasse, Emeril. Cookbooks, Food & Wine Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Emeril 20-40-60: Fresh Food Fast (Emeril's) - Kindle edition by Lagasse, Emeril. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Emeril 20-40-60: Fresh Food Fast (Emeril's).

a.co

Here is a tasty one, you buy a London Broil steak, slice it into thin slices, and I've added a small amount of sugar and brocolli and carrots, but those three are optional. The ginger, garlic, onion, hoisin and soysauce make it quite tasty. Serve on hot rice.

 

[dr froyd]

the stir-fried beef with broccoli, ginger etc is almost exactly what i ate today lol

great dish, a long-running goto dinner for me

 

[Bluehalite]

Love it, I need to do it again. Griiled pork chops marinated in terriyaki sauce also good.

 

[Hadoblado]

Curried spaghetti featuring whatever I find in the cupboard, 2 hours before physical exercise.

The currying is important because otherwise I don't want to eat it (and won't).

 

[Bluehalite]

one curry dish I know is easy.
Fry onion and bell peppers, then fry peeled shrimp with diced garlic.
Open can of cream of celery soup. Pour undiluted soup over shrimp and peppers. Stir in 1/4 c white wine, a little milk, add a few tablespoon's curry spice. Stir, serve on rice. ,

 

[Bluehalite]

Dragon Tonic with 91 superfoods:

https://a.co/d/4h6RVJt

Protein Greens:

https://a.co/d/eB4ASnK

Omega 3:

https://a.co/d/ibna6pU

Collagen Peptides:

https://a.co/d/0EwfzRe

Thorne products are good: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Thorn...ef_=ast_bln&store_ref=bl_ast_dp_brandLogo_sto

Seeking Health products are good, Mercola products are good.

 

[kuoka]

@kuoka that is an impressive system

do you have a suggestion for a low-effort recipe without gluten that doesn't taste like prison food?

If you haven't cooked before then I recommend a simple chicken vegetable stock (other names chicken broth, boullion etc.). It's an ingredient used for a lot of more advanced cooking and is in itself a simple and tasty meal.

If you want to make it all-in-one nutrition, meaning that a meal has carbs, protein and fat then choose a gluten free carb source you like. I'd recommend sweet potatoes or chickpeas because they go well with the overall profile. You can just add them 30 minutes before the cooking is finished (but after you remove the meat)

You can find a recipe online or just do this (I didn't realize it's going to be this long, but I decided to finish the recipe anyway):
Must have:
- 4 liters of water
- minimum 1kg of meat (any poultry, beef, pork), let's go with chicken leg, or any fatty part, you can do 2kg for more flavor and fat. You can add chicken breast too if you want to eat it later.
- 2 onions, you can add up to 4
- carrots, at least 5 medium ones, you can add more, up to 10
Should have (can go without, but the taste will suffer):
- celery stalks, as many as the carrots
- celeriac, one medium root
- salt, 2 flat teaspoons and then salt to taste at the end

Optional ingredients that make it better (can skip these, but each of those elevates the flavor):
- Leek, adds nice flavor, you can eat the white part
- Allspice/pimento, 4 pieces for seasoning
- Bayleaf, 4 leaves for seasoning.
- Garlic, 2 cloves for flavor.
- Parsley, both root and green part. You can add the green part diced 5 minutes before soup is done
- Dill, the green aromatic part. Add fresh straight to your serving for flavor
- Lovage, another aromatic green that you can add for flavor. It's the main natural ingredient used in artificial seasonings of all kinds.
- There are other edible and flavor add-ons that work. Experiment and make your own version

Preparing the ingredients:
- Shocking trick reveal: No veggie peeling required . Simply wash all veggies in cold water and scrape it a bit with a sponge. Cut the bottom and top parts that are too tough to eat. If you see dirt on the veggies then peel only that part off. (You can eat most cooked veggies without peeling and you get more nutrition this way, just use common sense. For example if you plan to eat celeriac then I would peel it because the skin is tough.)
- Dont peel the onion, wash it outside and put it with the brown peels. It adds a nice golden color to the soup. If you want to, you can eat the onion, then simply remove the brown peels after cooking.
- You can, but probably don't have to wash the chicken in cold water. Depends on your common sense and the state you see it in.

Basic cooking structure (2 hours 15 mins total. Always on low setting, just simmering):
1. Add the chicken to cold water and get it to boil lightly, half-cover or full cover if the lid has an opening
2. 1 hour, cooking the chicken until it releases most of the flavor (You can remove the brown scum that builds on the surface from time to time, not required)
3. Take the chicken out and keep it for later.
4. Fill the pot with carrot, onion and other veggies that require longer cooking. You fill the pot until you can't fit any more veggies and they start sticking above the surface. This gives you intense flavor.
- If you're planning on adding carbs leave space for them.
- (Greens like dill or parsley leaf don't require cooking and can be added at the end)
5. 1 hour, cook the veggies and you are done. (30 minutes into veggie cooking you can add carbs. Sweet potatoes for example.)

Preparing the dish:
- Add the chicken meat that you removed earlier. Adds taste and is good protein.
- Cut the cooked carrot into pieces that you like and add them in. Add any veggies that you want to eat. Recommended to eat: Carrots, Leek white parts, onion white parts, parsley root.
- Fill the mug/bowl with broth
- Garnish with greens like Parsley leaves and Dill for flavor, they are edible.

Storage:
- Don't sue me, but you can keep the broth and veggies for up to 7 days in a fridge in 6C. Meat can be refrigerated for 3 days.
- Freezing, 2 months in negative 18C is safe. Use common sense ofc.


Once you know how to make this you can make any kind of western soup or stew. Any soup on a stock of your making instead of water will be better than restaurant quality and more tasty.

A broth like this is so flavorful and nutritious that you can eat it every day whole year and you will not have any issues, it has all macro nutrients and you can control vitamins by selecting the veggies you need. You can make a fat free version if you remove the meat or just use the fat-free parts like chicken breast.

Kuoka's posts are smart and interesting.

Thank you and likewise I find your posts enjoyable to read. They offer practical advice and valuable perspective on things

 

[dr froyd]

@kuoka that looks like something right up my alley, i might quite possibly give it a try. Thank you!

 

[kuoka]

I should mention something more advanced about meat broths that I skipped in the recipe.

Some theory. Cooking vegetables decreases their acidity, the longer you cook it the sweeter it will taste because there's less sour flavor left, but you lose texture. It can actually make things taste too sweet and cloying. It's good to reintroduce acidity and salts after cooking in some form because it enhances existing flavors and makes them more distinct even lemon juice can work. Texture is important when eating, nobody likes eating overcooked pulp, but texture should also be varied. It's good to have soft and hard texture in food both, it's just better.

If you are not on a diet then pasta goes really well with this kind of broth, best pasta is probably capellini, pici or simply spaghetti.

Nutritionally, cooking destroys up to 50% of the vitamins by evaporation, dissolving and breaking the chemical bonds. It's not a big deal, just put more vegetables to begin with. It's also the best, easiest to process for your digestive system. (Try eating raw veggies lol, you get 100% nutrition and a stomach pain )

How to make the broth better; do it on turkey not chicken meat. Also the meat you want to eat you can just cook for 30 minutes and the fatty parts that you use for flavor you can overcook for up to 90 minutes or 2 hours to release all and then you can throw them away or give to your cat/dog just don't give them the bones (cartilage tissue is fine). Avian bones are dangerous to eat because they break into sharp pieces that can pierce from inside.

If you're using beef or pork you can generally cook for 2 hours or 3 hours easily if you're not planning on eating the meat. These kinds of meat have a lot more flavor to release and take longer to give flavor.

You can do the same with veggies. Most people like al dente veggies, so use half carrots for flavor to overcook them and a few carrots you cook for 8 minutes so they don't lose structure, but then you should cut them into smaller pieces so that increases complexity.

A note on reducing waste. If you don't eat a vegetable or meat part from this broth then you can use it to make pate, croquettes or various stuffed dumplings or other things that require filling, hell you could make a vegetable tart pie the possibilities are endless. If you want to use everything; you can eat or make dishes with 95% of the ingrediends except the hard celeriac and onion peels, avian skin or bones (There are bone meal recipes that I won't go into, but just know it's possible)

Composting: If you have a garden where you grow your own food and want to improve soil quality then you can use all of the peels, bones and leftover stuff for that. You will achieve 0 waste in this way.

Growing food: If you have unused garden space and are interested in growing your own food then start with potatoes and celeriac. They are very resistant and grow without much help. It's almost plant and forget very easy process. (Just make sure your soil toxicity is low, some areas can have soil contamination from nearby industry that would make the food you grow toxic to eat or alternatively grow it in a pot)

 

[Drvladivostok]

Marlboro White