Hacker School Gourmet

Diff

• Trader Joe's Oat protein replaced with whey isolate and a few vitamin supplements.
• Hershey's replaced with Scharffen Berger unsweetened cocoa powder (reviewer's claim a richer flavor and that it mixes very well in water). Amount of chocolate also increased to make up for some of the fortified minerals in the oat protein.
• Replaced brown sugar with coconut sugar, which has a much lower glycemic index and many helpful micronutrients we lost from the fortified oat powder.
• Olive oil replaced with Hazelnut oil, flax oil, fish oil (pill supplement), and heavy cream. More on this later...
• Added Kelp-based iodine supplement. Again, more on this later.
• Added mixed (animal/plant) source vitamin K supplement; studies suggest the variety in plantlife is less beneficial.
• Added Gummy calcium supplement because my wife refuses to eat tums :P

Glycemic index

Three major changes affect the glycemic index of this recipe.

1. Trading brown sugar for Coconut sugar.
2. Replacing some of the oat flour with Coconut sugar.
3. Replacing overall carb calories with more fat and protein calories.

While I've had some trouble finding data on coconut sugar's GI; there seems to be consensus that it's significantly lower than ordinary sugar. Because of this I decided to decrease the amount of oat flour in order to cut down on manganese, which results in absolutely terrifying, and permanent complications when taken in excess. I also increased the whey powder and Hazelnut oil. I'm not looking to run on exclusively on ketosis, but this adjustment should help level out unhealthy/unpleasant sugar spikes.

Goodbye Olive Oil

Olive oil is great, but it tastes like olives; especially the healthiest, cold-pressed varieties. It also lacks a good omega ratio unsaturated fat balance, and its manufacturers can be a bit sketchy.

Hazelnut oil, on the other hand, tastes like Hazelnut, which goes great with chocolate (though it's also significantly more expensive). Additionally, Hazelnut is 78% monounsaturated fat, compared to olive oil's 73%. Monounsaturated fat is generally believed to be the healthiest form of fat, and Hazelnut appears to have it in the highest concentration of any food oils. This high concentrations allows us to use the amount as hazelnut as out daily calorie intake thermostat without having to be as wary of the saturated and polyunsaturated daily limits.

Adding flax oil and a fish oil pill supplement ensures that I get enough omega polyunsaturated fats, and in the right ratios.

Finally, adding heavy whipping cream gives us our daily dose of saturated fats. I realize that this perishable, animal-based, cholesterol-containing elixir of deliciousness might be an unpopular choice. However, there's some research to support that small amounts of animal fat might be essential, or at least optimal for health. Personally I think that meat/animal fat, (like salt or super concentrated sugars), were originally hard to obtain, but essential, nutrients, which explains why they are so prized by our tastebuds. Thus, I'm not ready to cut them completely out of my diet.

Sidenote: coffee lovers can continue to drink coffee on this recipe. Just add about a tbsp of heavy cream to your coffee and sweeten it with some of the coconut sugar. You can even add some of the cocoa for a nice mocha in the morning!

Iodine supplements (optional)

Iodine is a somewhat controversial nutrient. We all know we need some, but there are medical researchers who advocate for an optimal daily value that's orders of magnitude larger than the currently supported RDAs. I'm compelled by this research, but hesitant to take mega-doses of iodine because it can really mess up your thyroid. I've decided to take low concentration supplement instead until the effects of long term mega-doses of iodine are better understood. I would strongly discourage anyone from going on high-dose iodine supplements without first consulting your doctor. If you want to avoid excess iodine you can up the salt content another gram or two and get the RDA of iodine without exceeding safe sodium levels.

Misc. Notes and Tips

• If you order the linked flaxseed oil from Amazon you should pour half of it into a mason jar and freeze it for use later. You won't use up the flax oil before a 32 oz. bottle starts to go rancid, even in the fridge.