Grill'd Vegan Cheeseburger 2.0

I went to Grill'd today with a friend. I remember having a vegan cheeseburger at Grill'd previously, and it didn’t fill me up, so this time I had two vegan cheeseburgers. Grill'd has changed their vegan burgers (hence the 2.0).

The vegan patties they use in the 2.0 version burger is actually quite nice. I had two vegan burgers because I wanted to avoid the chips because I did’t know if they’re vegan.

When ordering the vegan cheeseburger, you will be asked what type of bun you want. Make sure you get the traditional, panini or gluten free bun because these are vegan. (The low-carb bun contains egg.) I also had a Pepsi Max, which is definitely vegan. 

Grill'd also have a vegetarian burger called Hemp Therapea. However, this contains tzatziki, which contains dairy and so is not vegan. According to the review below, removing the tzatziki makes the burger taste quite bad. Furthermore, when I order at restaurants, I don't like to change too much because it's too much hassle.

All in all, I am quite impressed with the Vegan Cheeseburger 2.0 and would definitely order more. I checked the ingredients used in the burger, and it is primarily pea protein, which is the same protein used in the Beyond Meat burger patties. As such, the Vegan Cheeseburger 2.0 is not only meat, dairy, and egg free but also soy free as well. Each vegan cheeseburger with traditional bun contains 30 grams of protein, so having two burgers gave me 60 grams of protein. The recommended minimum amount of protein to aim for each day is 50 grams.

Nature's Cuppa Rich Roast - Better than Decaf

Woolworths now sell Nature's Cuppa Rich Roast, which tastes like instant coffee but is actually made from barley, chicory root and other plant ingredients. It is significantly cheaper than the real decaf coffees. What I like about it is I can drink it at night and not worry about my sleep.

Domino's Australia Offers Vegan Pizza

Normally when vegans eat pizza, they order a vegetarian pizza and then remove the cheese, but for me a pizza without cheese just doesn't feel right. Thankfully, Domino's Australia now has vegan pizza, which it released on 8 January 2018. I was alerted to this after watching the YouTube video below.

It is quite simple to order. Just install the Domino's app on your phone and then when ordering a pizza simply scroll down all the way until you find the "vegan menu." Alternatively you can simply select a vegetarian pizza and then press a button that allows you to replace the dairy cheese with vegan cheese.

According to the video above, the vegan cheese used comes from Follow Your Heart. The key ingredient in these vegan cheeses are coconut oil, which is interesting because many vegan dairy products nowadays seem to use coconut, e.g. coconut yoghurt.

Quorn Vegan Nuggets Available at Woolworths

Quorn has long been renowned for making vegetarian meat made from mycoprotein, which is derived from fungus.



Quorn is normally vegetarian and not vegan because it contains egg whites. However, recently Quorn has produced a number of vegan products that are now available at Woolworths around Australia.



Quorn Vegan Nuggets are made in the United Kingdom and are free from soy.  The ingredients are below.







My verdict on the product after eating it is that it is too dry, although eating it with avocado seems to help as it adds creaminess.

Aussielent RTD (Bottled Australian Soylent)

I went to the State Library over the weekend. I love the State Library. I love the atmosphere of the place. Most of the libraries near where I live are filled with weirdos, senior citizens, or high school kids, but the State Library is pretty much all filled with university students, and these people are usually very quiet and hardworking. I've also seen lots of digital nomads at the State Library as well.

I love how, when I walk out of the State Library, there is a yard where people play chess and then there are student lying on the grass. It's a very lively place. All around are residential skyscrapers, so it feels like a youthful oasis in the middle of the city. I love it.

Anyway, I arrived at the State Library at around 11 a.m. and I left at around 5 p.m. so that meant I was working for about six hours straight! I was a bit sore from it all, but I was able to do all this work without taking a lunch break simply because I had a bottle of Aussielent RTD on me, and I was sipping on it the whole time. Pretty much whenever I felt hungry, I took a sip. There is no break for lunch or dinner. I just drink when I was hungry. After I was done with it, I threw the bottle in the recycling bin. It is very convenient. No more expensive meals, no cooking, no cleaning. I started drinking Aussielent RTD a few days ago. At first I drank Aussielent Body, which is a powdered version of the meal replacement shake, but the problem with this powdered version is that it didn't taste good and it also wasn't convenient. Having to mix powder with water is so inconvenient that I couldn't bring the product to work or, in this case, to the library.

Aussielent RTD is in self-contained in a bottle, so you don't need to mix it with anything. When I started drinking Aussielent RTD, I wasn't a fan of the taste, but I think I've gotten used to the taste now, and I do like it. It is important, in my opinion, to keep it chilled in the refrigerator because warm Aussielent does not taste good! 

One if the main problems with the taste of Aussielent RTD is that it feels like drinking paint. It has a very plastic and artificial taste.

Whenever I go to work or whenever I go out of the house, I throw a bottle of Aussielent RTD in my bag. It has very sturdy wrapping, so I don't need to worry about leakages. Then when I am hungry, rather than waste $10 to $20 eating out, I drink one bottle of Aussielent RTD. If you bulk buy four bottles at once, each bottle of Aussielent RTD works out to be about $4 each, so if you take it to work and drink it for lunch you will save money because one bottle is about the cost of a latte (and about five times the calories).

Another benefit of Aussielent RTD is that it has been engineered to include all the nutrients you need to live, so you don't need to worry about nutritional deficiencies.

Aussielent RTD can be purchased online via aussielent.com.au.







 

Avocado with Coconut Sugar

I am not sure if it's healthy, but I have just discovered that avocado goes very well with coconut sugar. Give it a try!

Soy Milk is Healthy

There's nothing wrong with soy milk. The studies show that soy reduces the risk of prostate cancer in men, and in women it reduces the risk of breast cancer. The cancer risk reduction is caused by the phytoestrogens in soy. The scare that phytoestrogens feminize men is also overblown given that the affix "phyto-" means "plant" and plant estrogens have weak to no effect on humans. It is animal estrogen such as estradiol in dairy milk that has been shown to reduce testosterone levels in men, and there are many studies that suggest dairy milk may increase prostate cancer risk although this is not conclusive. Bottom line is if you're really concerned, just drink almond milk.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20378106

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19496976

Review of Aussielent Body (Australian Soylent)

Many years ago, a Californian software engineer named Rob Rhinehart invented a product called Soylent, which was a powder that contains every nutrient needed to survive and thrive. Soylent is not only available in powdered form but also in bottled form, food bar form, and there is a coffee-flavoured version as well.

The idea behind Soylent is that you do not need to bother with cooking or cleaning. You just eat (or drink) Soylent, throw away the packaging, and get on with life. You save time not having to cook or clean.

Soylent is unfortunately not available in Australia. However, different businesses in different countries have similar products: Huel in the UK, Joylent in the EU, and Aussielent in Australia.

As of writing this, Aussielent has one vegan product called Aussielent Body (it is also low-FODMAP as well, if anyone has irritable bowel syndrome). You can buy a week's supply for A$82 (US$61) but if you buy a month's supply you pay A$320 (US$240). To me this seems extremely cheap.



The Aussielent came in transparent resealable bags (see image above). Each bag contains four servings and each serve provides about 25% of your RDI.

According to the instructions, you mix the powder with water in a protein shaker. I have tried this and personally find the taste to be boring. It tastes a little bit like oatmeal. Having read reviews about Soylent all over the internet, I know that this bland oatmeal taste is a common complaint given to Soylent, but supposedly Soylent is meant to be bland because it is meant to be a staple like rice. You can add flavoring to the product if you like. As such, I like to mix my Aussielent in a mug with coffee or cocoa powder, soy milk, and hot water. I sometimes even mix in chocolate flavoured protein powder (Earth Protein) if I have run out of cocoa powder. I find Aussielent Body is tastiest when mixed with instant coffee.


Aussielent Body mixed with instant coffee and soy milk in a mug just before boiling water was added.

I do not live off Aussielent. I don't even bring it into work because it is simply too much hassle to mix powders at work. I am afraid of the mess I'd be creating. Having powders flying everywhere is not something you want at the office. There is a bottled Aussielent available but unfortunately the vitamin D in this bottled Aussielent is not vegan yet. Vegan vitamin D is supposedly difficult to source in Australia. I have seen other companies struggle to find vegan vitamin D, so I don't blame Aussielent. Vitasoy unfortunately was unable to make their Calci-Plus soy milk vegan because they were unable to find a vegan vitamin D source. Soylent in America was able to easily procure vegan vitamin D from the Dutch biotech company DSM (see Vitamin D - Soylent FAQ).

Aussielent was able to find vegan vitamin D for Aussielent Body in the form of "high vitamin D mushroom powder," but this form of vitamin D cannot be put into an aseptic container for the ready-to-drink Aussielent.

Nevertheless, I am confident that Aussielent will deliver a vegan bottled Aussielent soon as I would happily bring bottled Aussielent to work to drink for lunch, which will save me from the hassle of making a sandwich every night.

Something that I find puzzling about Aussielent is whether there is any omega 3 in the product. Soylent in America makes a big deal about the algae oil in its product. There is an interesting Vice article about Soylent's plans to replace all food with algae. The reasoning is that algae is a highly efficient and sustainable way to produce fats. Algae can be grown cleanly and quickly in bioreactors in factories. Omega 3 DHA and EPA in Soylent comes from algae oil. However, the ingredient list of Aussielent Body (as well as the non-vegan Aussielents) make no mention of any algae nor is there any mention of any animal omega 3 source (i.e. fish oil).

Nudie Coconut Yoghurt

I purchased coconut yoghurt (spelled "yogurt" in the US) from Woolworths a few days ago. At first, I didn't like the taste but over time I started to like it. It definitely has a coconut taste. The ingredient list also claims that it contains "cultures" so you'd be eating good bacteria as you would with dairy yoghurt.

It's winter here in Australia, so eating coconut yoghurt is not ideal. I prefer to eat baked beans, but I haven't seen vegan coconut yoghurt in the supermarket before, so I felt I had to give it a try.



Given it is made of coconut, it is low carb, low protein, and high in fat, and the fat in the coconut yoghurt is mostly saturated fat, so if you care about heart disease then you may want to eat this in moderation. Mainstream dairy yoghurt such as Yoplait contains less than 2% fat whereas this coconut yoghurt has 14% fat. However, mainstream diary yoghurt is higher in carbs and higher in protein.

According to government guidelines, you should be eating about 20% of your calories from fat anyway. A diet high in vegetables and fruit (rather than nuts and seeds) would naturally be low in fat, so throwing in fatty vegan food can help increase your fat intake. Other good sources of vegan fat are avocados, peanut butter, as well as other nuts and seeds.

There is a popular misconception that a vegan diet is low in fat and high in carbs, and many people who criticize the vegan diet criticize it for its low fat levels (that is, not reaching the 20% fat recommended by health authorities). A vegan diet can be low in fat, but it all depends on what you eat. An omnivore diet filled with low-fat milk, lean meat, and low-fat yoghurt can have lower fat than a vegan diet filled with avocados, peanut butter, macadamia nuts, coconut yoghurt, etc.

Low-Carb Diet = Low Testosterone

High protein diets are very popular now. There is a belief among many that they must eat protein in every single meal and that they cannot have too much protein.

However, a high-protein diet may lower testosterone levels, especially if the calories from protein replace calories that would otherwise have come from carbohydrates.

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which is the hormone that basically starts the whole cascade of events that eventually leads to testosterone synthesis, adjusts its pulsation rate according to the glucose levels of the body. When there’s high amount of glucose present, the hypothalamus inside our brains releases more GnRH, and thus your body synthesizes more testosterone. And when there’s low amounts of glucose present in the body, the brain releases less GnRH, which slows down testosterone synthesis.

http://www.anabolicmen.com/carbohydrates-testosterone/

Research consistently shows that people who exercise regularly need to eat enough carbs or their testosterone will fall while their cortisol levels rise. This is a sure-fire recipe for losing muscle and gaining fat. Incidentally, it’s also a marker for excessive training stress. In a study in Life Sciences, men who ate a high carbohydrate versus a low carbohydrate diet for 10 days had higher levels of testosterone and sex hormone binding globulin, and lower levels of cortisol.

A few years later, another study took this research a step further. This time the subjects included men and women who exercised regularly. And in addition to considering the effect of their diet on hormones, researchers put them through some performance tests. Once again, when the subjects ate a low carb diet, their testosterone (and other anabolic hormones) went down, while their cortisol went up. And, after following a low carb diet for just three days, only two of the six participants were able to complete the cycling test! Meanwhile, when following the higher carb diet for three days, all six participants were able to complete the test.

In 2010, researchers reconsidered the same question — this time in relation to intense exercise. In this particular study, subjects eating the low carb diet (where 30% of their calories came from carbs) saw a drop of 43% in their testosterone to cortisol ratio. Not good. Meanwhile, the control group (who got 60% of their calories from carbs) saw no change in their testosterone/ cortisol ratios.

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/low-carb-diets

That being said, protein is important, but consumption of protein shouldn't distract you from consumption of carbs and fat. All three macronutrients have important roles to play.

How much protein is recommended? Aim to consume between 1 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.

Thanks to smartphone technology, counting protein is fairly simple. Simply do Google searches to see how much protein is in certain food, e.g. Google "protein in chickpeas" or "protein in pumpkin seeds." Otherwise, you can read how much protein there is on the nutrition label of most food.

 

Marmite Has Vitamin B12

I went to the supermarket and purchased Marmite today.



Marmite is fortified with vitamin B12 as well as iron.



It's important that vegans get vitamin B12 from supplements or fortified food because there is no vitamin B12 in plant food.

If taking supplements, aim to take between 100 to 300 micrograms of vitamin B12 per day.

Although plant food can provide vitamin B12 if it has been contaminated with bacteria from soil, plant food nowadays is washed clean thereby removing vitamin B12.

Meat from grass-fed animals contain vitamin B12 as the bacteria that produces vitamin B12 from the dirt on grass is consumed by the animal. However, nowadays livestock is fed with processed grains, and meat from factory farms typically do not have vitamin B12. As such, 90% of vitamin B12 supplements are fed to livestock, not humans.

http://baltimorepostexaminer.com/carnivores-need-vitamin-b12-supplements/2013/10/30

Linda McCartney Vegetarian Sausages from Woolworths

I was browsing through the local Woolworths one day and noticed vegan sausages on sale. These are made by Linda McCartney and these sausages are suitable for vegans, meaning they have no meat, no dairy, no eggs.

Six sausages cost about $6, so that is about $1 per sausage. This strikes me as expensive, but I'm not too sure what the market price of sausages are given I don't normally buy or eat sausages.



I checked the ingredients and noticed it was mostly made from wheat protein. It is also soy free. The protein percentage at 22% is quite high. As a comparison, chicken is 27% protein.



I had the sausages cooked up with a salad. When I first saw the sausages, I was concerned about how rough the surface of the sausages were. Normally sausages are smooth.



Even since I became vegan, I've never had sausages, so this was a big moment for me! In fact, when I was a meat eater, sausages were my favourite food. If there is anything I hated about meat, it's bone. Fish was the worst because often fish is laced with small bones. I'd have nightmares about getting small bits of bone lodged in my throat and I'd need to get my neck cut open in a hospital to remove the bone. Lamb or beef was usually too hard for my teeth to tear. Chicken was usually dry. Sausages, on the other hand, were uniform and because they were packed with herbs and maybe some other questionable chemicals (such as ammonia and nitrates) they tasted good.



When I tasted the vegan sausages, I was surprised at how good they were. If I were to serve this to most people, I'd be sure most of then would not know that it is meatless.

The texture was very nice. It has a very nice sausage-like taste.





Eating a salad with vegan meat was very nice. I think there is something very satisfying about having something warm (sausages) mixed with something cold (salads).

Most people, in my opinion, do not want animals to suffer. This is why slaughterhouses are hidden. People do not want to look at the atrocities that occur in these factories. However, people often want warm food that is high in calories and meat is the cheapest, tastiest, and most convenient product for that.

However, vegan meat, in my opinion, is now tasty enough that most people would switch if the product were more widely available, if it were marketed better, and if it were cheap enough.

One reason why vegan meat is not cheap is because few of it is sold. For companies to make back their expenses on low quantity sold, they need to raise prices. Vegans should support vegan meat producers because more demand for their product should increase competition, lower prices, and bring vegan meats into the mainstream.

Another problem vegan meat faces is the fact that the meat and dairy industries in many countries are heavily subsidised by governments. A significantly amount of taxpayer money goes towards propping up the meat and dairy industry ($38 billion in America alone). This is a problem that needs to be fixed at the political level. When you vote, think of the animals.

Supercharger Emporium

I was feeling hungry for lunch and so decided to try eating at Supercharger in the Emporium food court in Melbourne.

This was the first time I'd been to this place. The menu looked complicated. They presented two pieces of paper. One allowed you to make your own meal. Another piece of paper had four different set meals. However, the set menu was set up in a way that was very unclear. When it was all explained to me, I understood it. I actually thought that the menu was referring to many different meals when really they were just referring to different aspects of each meal (did that make sense?). Have a look at Supercharger's menu at Zomato to see for yourself.

Anyway, for newbies, I recommend you get a set meal. They have names like "immunity" or "strength" depending on what you want the food to do to you. I assume the "immunity" meal makes you immune to sickness.

You pay around $14 and you get a number. After waiting around a bit, you receive a tray usually with three bowls. There is usually a soup, some creamy mixture, and a big main bowl with salads, edamame, noodles, and all sorts of other things that I don't know the name of (luckily I took a photo).

All in all, it was very tasty and definitely very filling! I highly recommend it.

Do Carbs Make You Fat?

Do carbs make you fat?

Not necessarily.

You gain weight when you eat more calories than you burn. It doesn't matter whether those calories come from carbs, protein, or fat.

However, most food that are high in carbohydrates (e.g. fruit) tend to have lower calorie densities than fatty foods (e.g. butter, oil, nuts, and meat). Fruits generally are not high in calories.

100g of blueberries has 57 calories.
100g of mango has 60 calories.
100g of banana has 89 calories.
100g of beef has 250 calories.
100g of mixed nuts has 607 calories.
100g of butter has 717 calories.

Pier 19, Queenstown

Eggs Benedict and Big Breakfast at Pier 19, Queenstown, New Zealand. 

Sitting outside gives a great view of the beautiful blue-green New Zealand waters. The smog from the nearby boats can be a problem. 

The bread used can be a little dry and hard, so an Eggs Benedict, which uses muffin rather than bread slices, is preferable. 

Greenmax Yam and Mixed Cereal

It's great having breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but in between these meals there is always the need for something quick to tame hunger. Something quick that can fill me up include the following: coffee, tea, instant noodles, and Milo. The problem with coffee and tea is that they have caffeine, which is not good when you want to be able to fall asleep at night. Instant noodles have too much salt, which can lead to high blood pressure. Milo is essentially 60% sugar, so stay away if you want to avoid obesity, tooth decay, and diabetes.

I have recently discovered Greenmax Yam and Mixed Cereal. It can be prepared simply by mixing the powder in the satchel with hot water, and you have a very warm soupy beverage. It tastes very nice and fills you up. According to the nutrition information, it is high in fibre and low in salt and sugar. It is an excellent beverage if you are feeling hungry but aren't willing to spend a long time cooking a full meal. It is healthy, tasty, filling, and convenient.

Getting Tired of Sandwiches

I am so tired of bringing sandwiches to work. The problem is that when I eat the sandwiches at lunch, most of the components of the sandwich has already deteriorated. E.g. the salad is dry, the bread has become soggy, and the ham smells. The alternative is to eat at restaurants. The problem with this is that it often costs quite a lot to eat out and I feel guilty not saving money.

What I need is a simple-to-prepare lunch that is tasty and healthy. I am thinking of bringing to work sandwiches with Vegemite on them. I have heard that Vegemite has too much salt in it. However, the New Vegemite contains less salt and apparently it tastes better.

Trusting Others for Food

I have read a news article about a Subway worker who was fired for stuffing lettuce up his nose before putting it back into the serving tray. If you ate at Subway there is a slightly chance that you ate lettuce contaminated with some kid's snot.

The article goes on to claim that this is not the first time this sort of thing has happened.

It is the latest incident in which fast-food chain employees have been caught out on film after teenage girls working at a KFC in the US were punished after taking a bath in the mammoth kitchen sink - and a male Hungry Jack's worker was sacked for the same offence.

I also have anecdotal evidence of this sort of thing. My aunt told me that, if someone hasn't finished his meal, some restaurants collect the leftovers from the guy's plate and serve the leftovers to someone else. Other person I know works in a sausage factory. He told me that he has seen sausages being dropped on the floor and then picked up again and put on the conveyor belt.

The problem is that there is an incentive for food suppliers to use contaminated food because throwing the food out is wasteful and not profitable. People who eat at restaurants, however, cannot see how the food is prepared.

One way to fix this problem is perhaps to grow your own raw ingredients and then bring them to a chef to make food. Then you watch the chef make the food with your own eyes. Another way to fix the problem is to simply grow as much food as you can from your own backyard and simply eat that.

Using Precious Metals to Protect Against Rising Food Prices

Now that we are in a new year, the world is going through what looks like a deflationary recession. Deflation is feared by economists because there is little they can do about it. If we have inflation, the central bank can raise interest rates or increase taxes. When there is deflation, central banks can lower interest rates, but once interest rates hit zero, it can't go any further.

Now that everyone is worried about deflation (and some people worried about future hyperinflation), I am still worried about stagflation, which is a combination of economic stagnation and inflation. This means that you are likely to lose your job, the share market performs poorly, and to make life difficult, the price of everything goes up.

Personally, if the price of luxury cars go up, I am not bothers because I don't buy luxury cars. But if the price of necessities like food and petrol go up, that is going to hurt.

The chart below compares for the last two years the price of oil (measured using USO, the oil commodity ETF), the price of food (measured using DBA, an ETF that tracks the prices of wheat, soybeans, corn, and sugar), as well as the S&P500 index (GSPC). To measure the performance of the real economy, I should probably be using GDP figures, but using the S&P500 I think is good enough.


At about May 2007 what we see is a divergence between the S&P500 and the price of oil and food. Oil and food go up while the S&P500 stagnates. This is stagflation. Just about everyone was complaining about expensive food and oil. Many were talking about peak oil.

Then at about October 2008, we had a violent transition from stagflation to deflation. As the chart shows, everything went down. The share markets tanked, food prices fell, and oil prices especially plummeted from about US$160 to around US$35.

How can we protect ourselves from stagflation? One method suggested is to buy precious metals like gold and silver. Below is a chart of oil and food prices against prices of gold (measured using GLD, the gold ETF) and the price of silver (measured using SLV, the silver ETF).


What we see, interestingly, is that silver and gold would have protected us very well during the stagflation era of 2007-08. The price of silver and gold seems to move together with the price of food. The price of oil went even higher than the price of food, silver, and gold, but I believe oil was way overvalued and because oil went up so high, a hard fall was inevitable.

What is also interesting is that during the transition from stagflation to deflation, silver prices went down with food prices. However, gold prices seem to have held up. Gold investors don't seem to have realized that stagflation is over now.

Could gold be overvalued? Perhaps it's time to short gold.

Grow My Own Food?

For some people, growing their own food is not worth it. This is because producing, say, 10 kg of food for them may require 20 hours of labor. If they had instead applied that 20 hours of labor in something like accounting, engineering, or office administration, they may make enough money to buy 100 kg of food.

However, some people are not able to increase their hours easily. For example, last week at work I asked the supervisor if there was any extra work the next week. She said no. Thus the next week I stay home and do nothing. I may as well use this time to do something useful, such as grow my own potatoes. At the moment I don't need to do this because my parents fully subsidize my food costs. However, if I am at home and I am bored and I wanted exercise, why not use this time and effort to grow my own potatoes and then try to sell these potatoes to a local store?

The reason why I am interested in growing my own potatoes is because I hear that they are easy to grow. Rice and wheat require lots of labor. This is an area in which I am not an expert, so don't quote me on what I have just said. Of course, I won't just eat potatoes all my life. Potatoes will be my core food. I will buy other foods for the sake of diversification across different nutrients and also because of taste and variety.