One Meal Per Day

After I read that some extremely focused individuals like Nikola Tesla and James Franco ate only one meal per day, I unsuccessfully tried to emulate their diets; however, I recently figured out a way to do it. It turns out that if one drinks immediately after eating, the drink causes a "valve" in the stomach to open that releases the food into the intestines before the body has time to extract the nutrients from the food; consequently, some physicians recommend that one should wait approximately fifteen minutes to eat after drinking and about thirty minutes to drink after eating (i.e. The 15/30 rule).

I discovered that if I followed the 15/30 rule, I could go for hours without having the urge to eat anything and more specifically, I found that I could write without taking a break every forty-five minutes to go to the refrigerator to look for a snack; thus, like Tesla and Franco, I was more focused.

Here's a general example of how I've been eating for the past two weeks and as you'll see, I'm not literally eating once per day, but eating one full meal per day.:

• Seven small  dates for breakfast
• At least thirty minutes later - a small coffee
• A banana for lunch
• At least thirty minutes later - water
• An apple for a snack
• At least thirty minutes later -water
• Dinner including a salad
• At least thirty minutes later - tea
• Popcorn
• At least thirty minutes later - herbal tea

Following one aspect of the 4-Hour Body Slow-Carb diet, I take every Friday as a "pig-out" day while maintaining the waiting time before and after eating and drinking. I believe that Telsa was in a more Csikszentmihalyi-like flow, and was not waiting thirty minutes to drink after eating, but until I can reach that level of focus, I will avoid alternating between eating and drinking during meals. Now I just need to figure out how to sleep only three hours per day without precariously falling asleep while standing on the subway and in class.

Update: There is one exception to this rule. It is acceptable to sip on a drink immediately after a meal. I would recommend that the drink be hot tea or coffee. That way you will not be tempted to gulp down your drink. Have you ever seen an elderly person order a soda with their lunch or dinner? I haven't. I usually see them order a coffee. Does that mean that if you're in the habit of ordering sodas with your lunch and dinner that you will not make it to old age?