Arsenic from rice, risk assessment

- 0.01 mg-As/kg-water : is around the US safe limit

- 0.1 mg-As/kg-dry-rice-grain : is about the best-case scenario

- 1 mg-As/kg-dry-rice-grain : is about the worst-case scenario

- 0.03 mg-As/d/kg-bodyweight : long-term exposure, is where trouble seems to start

So for a 55 kg body, I should aim to ingest no more than 1.65 kg-dry-rice-grain/d ... which seems like a negligible risk. Even that is under the assumption that this was the worst, pre-monsoon-grown, As-rice in the world. Whereas if you go to rice packager websites in Malaysia, you'll see they boast of testing to ensure safe limits.

Creatine is the Bottleneck in Vegan Proteins

( Or, how to save money on food, without sacrificing cognitive performance. )

Home economics breakthrough: I've cracked it.

The main cost of food, comes from meat. Roughly, 

Firm Tofu / Chicken / Beef : source

1x / 2.4x / 2.2x : gross protein mass yield, A

1x / 0.98x / 1.2x : essential amino acid mass yield, B

1x / 2.7x / 6x : raw price, C

1x / 1.125x / 2.72x : price per A = ( C / A )

1x / 0.42x / 2.27x : price per B = ( C / A / B )

... so tofu is cheapest for gross protein, but chicken is cheapest for essential amino acids; however ...

0x / 1x / 1.8x : creatine mass yield, D

∞ / 2.7x / 3.3x : price per D = ( C / D )

... ergo, tofu is useless for creatine, and chicken is again cheapest for creatine.

FOR MOST PEOPLE, ESSENTIAL ACID LIMITATIONS IN VEGAN DIETS ARE A RED HERRING. The real bottleneck for performance is dietary creatine. The goddamn molecule was named after meat, in the first place.

I should have known better. I wish I'd figured this out way back in college, but at least I'm glad to have figured it out before I turned 40. Onward to further optimisations.

So for now, tofu + creatine supplementation will be tested for cognitive performance. Targeted essential amino acid supplementation only when building muscle.

I've used creatine for years. Didn't figure it was the veggy protein bottleneck.Also checking the doses, I now understand better why the "standard doses" are too high for me. Athletic products are dosed at 5g ... which is like 800g of beef equivalent. I usually took less than 2.5g ... today tests have been closer to 1+g which feels just nice, no overreactions ... About 150g beef equivalent.

Otherwise, the body synthesises it at 0.04-0.08g/hour ... much slower than shots.

Discombobulation in Reaction to Advice

I was discussing child development with my friend. Children who have been given only orders and punishment have no preparation for the processing of advice. They may be good at following orders, but may be bad at receiving advice - the implications of bearing responsibility for decisions about advice can make them uncomfortable, to the point of fury. The moral here is, if you want to give anyone useful advice, it is best to first check on their track record of capability in processing advice. Otherwise, such advice may be largely wasted in emotional reackage.