The Egg, Cheese and Bean diet

 My target macros are 100g of protein, 110g of fat, and 25g of protein totaling 1490 calories, and this hits it almost exactly.  I previously told ChatGPT that I bought a pack of mozzarella cheese sticks and each one is 80 calories, with 6g of protein, 6g of fat, and 1g of carbs.  The baked beans are Bush's Best zero sugar added, and each 4-ounce (130g) serving has 120 calories, with 7g protein, 1g fat and 26g carbs with 12g of those from fiber.

Can you calculate the nutrition for a day of eating 12 mozzarella cheese sticks, 3 boiled eggs, and 130g of baked beans, with 1 ounce of butter?

Sure. Using your mozzarella and bean numbers, and standard values for 3 large boiled eggs and 1 oz (2 tbsp) butter, here's the approximate day.

Food	Calories	Protein	Fat	Total carbs	Fiber	Net carbs
12 mozzarella sticks	960	72 g	72 g	12 g	0	12 g
3 large boiled eggs	~234	~19 g	~16 g	~2 g	0	~2 g
130 g baked beans	120	7 g	1 g	26 g	12 g	14 g
1 oz butter	~204	~0 g	~23 g	~0 g	0	0 g
TOTAL	~1,518	~98 g	~112 g	~40 g	12 g	~28 g
Your target	1,490	100 g	110 g	—	—	25 g

That's almost comically close to your targets:

• Calories: 1,518 vs. 1,490 → +28
• Protein: 98 g vs. 100 g → −2 g
• Fat: 112 g vs. 110 g → +2 g
• Net carbs: ~28 g vs. 25 g → +3 g

Given normal label rounding and variation in egg size, that's effectively a bullseye.

Nutritionally, the eggs are a meaningful improvement

I actually like the eggs considerably more than simply eating additional cheese. They diversify your protein and provide nutrients that the cheese/bean combination doesn't provide as well—particularly choline, along with B12, selenium, vitamin A and some vitamin D.

The beans contribute the 12 g fiber, along with folate, potassium, magnesium, iron and other nutrients that you'd essentially miss on cheese + eggs alone.

Butter is the least nutritionally important part. It's mostly there because your unusual macro target calls for a lot of fat relative to protein. One ounce conveniently supplies about 23 g of fat without adding protein or carbohydrates.

So your hypothetical diet has evolved into:

12 cheese sticks + 3 eggs + ½ cup beans + 1 oz butter

and, purely from the standpoint of calories and macros, you've engineered something remarkably close to your target.

National Debt hits $40 Trillion!

 

Hurrah, a great milestone was reached yesterday, the National Debt just hit $40 trillion!  The number is $40,047,425,768,420.22 to be exact.

We first hit $39 trillion on 3/17/26, so this took almost exactly 5 months. Only 5 months before that it first hit $38 trillion (on 10/22/25).  And only 7 months before that it first hit $37 trillion (on 8/13/25).  So the National Debt has increased $3 trillion in only 1 year.  

Why are we celebrating debt?  Because it also represents wealth to the holders of it.  And this debt is created out of thin air and never has to be paid back and it can be increased to infinity!  (What could go wrong with this plan?)

We are doubling the national debt every 9 years.  It was $20 trillion on 9/11/2017 , and $10 trillion on 9/30/2008.  At this pace, we will hit $80 trillion by 9/30/2035.

The National Debt will hit $50 trillion by July 2029

 I thought I was pessimistic but an economist is thinks the situation is much worse.

In the coming days the U.S. national debt is set to breach $40 trillion for the first time. Soberingly, Bank of America’s chief equity strategist, Michael Hartnett. predicts that the next milestone, $50 trillion, will be reached in July 2029. These worrying landmarks reinforce a market perception that fixed-income investments are losing bets, a sentiment Hartnett summarizes as “Anything But Bonds.”

See https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/economy/ar-AA2a79gF

Also: https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20260814117/the-us-national-debt-is-about-to-reach-40-trillion-milestone-and-its-likely-to-hit-50-trillion-soon

My forecast puts in sometime in 2031.

The deficit in July 2026 was a whopping $431 billion

 See: https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2026-08/61983-2026-07-MBR.pdf

Why so much?  

In July 2025, the deficit was $289 billion [or $291 bn], and in comparison to that, July 2026 had $5 billion less of revenue and $135 billion more in outlays.  

The biggest changes in the outlays were:

■ Outlays of the Department of Housing and Urban Development increased by $20 billion. 

■ Outlays for net interest on the public debt rose by $19 billion (or 22 percent).

So it seems like a pretty normal month, they just happened to spend $135 billion more than they had planned.  Oops.

The Sardine & Egg 72-Hour Challenge

The 72-hour Sardine Fast was invented by Dr Annette Bosworth.

 Sardine fasting was invented by Dr. Annette Bosworth, aka Dr. Boz, who specializes in reversing medical problems through healthy ketogenic living. She first implemented sardine fasting when she was traveling with her family and wanted to find an easier way to stick to a keto lifestyle. During this fast, you can only consume sardines, water, and black tea or coffee. There is also no eating routine or window, a person can eat whenever they are hungry.  Sardines are highly nutritious. They are high in omega-3 vitamin D, free vitamin E, calcium, selenium, and many other minerals and enzymes. The high protein and fat content within them often makes you feel fuller.    https://www.newsweek.com/3-day-sardine-fast-keto-diet-impressive-results-1817004

Only buy Sardines in olive oil, not soybean oil.  The ones in water have a stronger taste and different texture, and you need to add fat to them anyways, so just get the ones in olive oil.

The egg fast was invented by a blogger.  It involves eating only eggs, butter and cheese.  It is a strict, short-term ketogenic diet plan used to break weight-loss plateaus.  Eggs are cheap and very filling.

A Sardine & Egg Fast just combines the two.  The main reason for not doing a strict sardine fast is that they are very expensive, about $4 per 4-oz tin.

I am going to start this soon and will document my results.  I bought 5 tins of sardines and I have about 2 dozen eggs and 2 sticks of Kerrygold butter.

Rules of the Sardine 2.0 Challenge

1. The clock starts when you open can #1.  Unlike a water fast where you eat a meal and start the timer, this timer starts when you eat the first bite of sardines. The timer stops just after you eat the final can.

2. Eat at least 1 can every 24 hours and ideally eat when you are hungry.  She recommends King Oscar brand.

3. Toppings include mustard, hot sauce and black pepper. No ketchup or any condiments with carbohydrates.  No crackers or bread, even keto bread.

4. If you cannot stomach sardines, you can substitute mackerel or herring (kipper).  But try sardines first.  And the same rules, only buy it if it is in olive oil.

5. If you are allergic to fish, then do the egg fast.

Modified Military Diet

 Modified Military Diet

This is modified to make it similar to an Atkins Induction diet, and to fit with what is easy for me to prepare.  I think the original diet is very complicated with a wide variety of foods.  This is simpler.

Day 1

Breakfast (190 calories)

• 1 whole grapefruit (instead of ½ grapefruit)
• 1 slice Hero bread
• 1 hard-boiled egg (instead of 2 tablespoons peanut butter)
• Black coffee or tea (optional)

Lunch (250 calories)

• 1 can tuna (instead of ½ can)
• 1 slice Hero bread
• Black coffee or tea (optional)

Dinner (320 calories)

• 4 oz tofu (instead of meat)
• 1 can green beans with soy sauce (instead of 1 cup)
• 1 grapefruit (instead of 1/2 banana and 1 small apple) 
• salad with light dressing (optional)
• 1 small container Kroger Carbmaster yogurt (instead of 1 cup vanilla ice cream)

---

Day 2

Breakfast (190 calories)

• 1 whole grapefruit (instead of 1/2 banana)
• 1 slice Hero bread
• 1 hard-boiled egg 
• Black coffee or tea (optional)

Lunch (400 calories)

• 1 hard-boiled egg
• 1 slice Hero bread (instead of 5 saltine crackers)
• 1 can tuna (added)
• 1 small container Kroger Carbmaster yogurt (instead of 1 cup cottage cheese)

Dinner (500 calories)

• 1 small can of Vienna sausages (instead of 2 hot dogs) with mustard
• 1 cup broccoli (or broccoli slaw)
• ½ cup carrots (optional)
• 1 whole grapefruit (instead of ½ banana)
• salad with light dressing (optional)
• 1 small container Kroger Carbmaster yogurt

---

Day 3

Breakfast (300 calories)

• 1 whole grapefruit (instead of 1 small apple)
• 1 slice Hero bread (instead of 5 crackers)
• 1 oz cheese stick (mozzarella or cheddar, instead of 1 slice cheddar cheese)
• 1 hard-boiled egg (added)
• Black coffee or tea (optional)

Lunch (310 calories)

• 1 hard-boiled egg
• 1 slice Hero bread
• 1 can tuna (added)

Dinner (320 calories)

• 1 can tuna 
• 1 can green beans with soy sauce (instead of 1 cup)
• 1 whole grapefruit (instead of ½ banana)
• salad with light dressing (optional)
• 1 small container Kroger Carbmaster yogurt

Every item on here is very low calorie, except for the cans of tuna (200 calories each) and Vienna sausages (290 calories)

Shopping List

• loaf of Hero bread
• 5 grapefruits
• 5 eggs (to be boiled)
• 4 cans of tuna
• 1 container of tofu
• package of broccoli
• carrots (small bag of baby carrots)
• 2 cans green beans
• 4 Kroger Carbmaster yogurt
• 1 small can of Vienna sausages
• 1 cheese stick, mozzarella or cheddar
• package of mixed greens or lettuce

GDP is now $32.5 trillion

 See https://bea.gov/news/2026/gdp-advance-estimate-2nd-quarter-2026

They make it hard to find the actual numbers, so follow the same instructions as last time.  Note the actual GDP is 32,475.2 billion, but I am rounding it up to emphasize that it is not nearly as exact as they say.

Debt Held by the Public just hit $32.0 trillion, so the Debt to GDP ratio is 98.5%.  One year ago, this number was 97.4%.

One danger signal is if the Debt to GDP ratio increases more than 2.0% in a year, and we are not there yet. However, this may happen as soon as 2030, according to my last forecast (which is now obsolete).

Debt Held by the Public hits $32 billion

 As of 7/30/2026, Debt Held by the Public was $32,035,731,397,438.63. This was about 5.5 months after it first hit $31 trillion.  

I have a theory that this is no big deal that the debt is growing only arithmetically, not exponentially, and to prove it, we look at milestones in 2 year increments as they grow 4 trillion.

The debt held by the public first hit $28 trillion on 8/13/24, which is just under 2 years ago.

It first hit $24 trillion on 8/29/22, almost exactly 2 years before that.

And it first hit $20 trillion on 6/3/2020, slightly more than 2 years before that.

The opposite argument is that the debt is growing exponentially and doubling about every 8 years.

When did it first hit $16 trillion? On 11/30/2018.  So it has doubled in less than 8 years.

When did it first hit $8 trillion? On 3/1/2010, slightly more than 8 years before that.  

When did it first hit $4 trillion? It was $3.99 trillion on 10/31/2003, about 6.5 years before that.

 ===========================

So what will this number be on 9/30/2034, which is the end of the fiscal year 8 years from now.  Under the first theory, it would be $48 trillion.  Under the second theory, it will be $64 trillion.