FAQ and Posting Update

Hi Everyone,

 

Thought I would write up a short post addressing some FAQs and comments I have seen around food challenges in general. A chance for you to get to know me a bit better and see a reason behind my madness :). So, let’s begin.

 

How do you not gain weight or end up obese?

I do gain weight. I am human and actually put on weight quite easily. During my teen years I was obese before losing a lot of the weight. However, I don’t do challenges every day and balance them out with a healthy eating and activity. As much as I wish I could eat epic meals every day and stay in an acceptable shape, I can’t. So in my daily routine I eat a pretty boring and clean diet. Plenty of vegetables, some good sources of proteins and fats. I avoid processed foods where I can (outside videos and challenges) and try to steer clear of things with added sugar. I have yet to find some miracle trick other than getting the basics right, so if you found the holy grail of weight loss, let me know.

 

Do you purge?

Purging is a sensitive topic. Often, on YouTube I see people commenting on challenge videos others have posted that the reason they are so skinny and can do what they can is because they purge. Whilst I can’t speak for others, and don’t get these accusations since I’m not exactly skinny, I don’t purge. What would the fun be in doing a challenge if you push yourself to the point of being sick? Secondly, that seems very wasteful to me, which brings me on to my next point:

 

OMG! What you do is such a waste of food, it could have fed others!

I realise that doing challenges you make yourself an easy scapegoat for people to point a finger at when criticising society wasting resources. As much as people like to point the finger at individuals doing challenges as wasteful, the total I have eaten in challenges is probably less than a supermarket will throw out in a day. Having worked catering for restaurants/events I have seen the scale of food waste. I don’t want to contribute to that, so I make sure to eat everything on my plate and beat the challenge :). Secondly, that food is not wasted when I eat it. I eat it. It fuels me. The day before and after a challenge I will eat less, so the average amount of food balances out, meaning on aggregate by doing challenges I am no more wasteful than I otherwise would have been.

 

It’s gluttonous!

Kind of, but as mentioned above, it’s not a daily activity and on average I balance out my consumption. Also, part of why I do this is to see what the human body is capable of. Some of my research on cultures around the world has come across societies where large but infrequent meals are normal as there are limited methods to preserve it. This overconsume, under consume aggregate method seems to fall in line with what they do and has proven an interesting learning point.

Why do you do it?

It’s fun and I learn a lot about the human body doing this. Also, I like food and trying out new things. My budget is limited. My eating capacity is decent. Combine those factors and you see that doing challenges allows me to try out new places and food without breaking the bank account since often by beating them you get the meal free or some sort of prize. I get to go to restaurants and try insane amounts of food they offer essentially for free. It gives me an opportunity to see if I like the food there and determine if it’s a place I would want to visit again in the future with friends. Times I pay there may be another incentive at work, like an awesome prize.

 

A further note on posting frequency:

Now that I have tackled a great many challenges in London and the area, as well as increased work/life commitments, I will be reducing the posts here to probably one a month :(, at least for winter. I know, it is sad news. But fear not! You can always check out something food related I do every week on my YouTube channel linked on the homepage! This will ensure I can spread out the remaining challenges and get to try out some self-made challenges, so stay tuned to see what crazy things I get up to.

 

That’s it for now, more to come in the future. As always, let me know your opinions or any other questions you have in the comments below.

 

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