

Hacker fuel (can't live without it) - Ultrapreneur

Alright, so everyone know the life of an entrepreneur/hacker is a 24/7 gig and there are certain foods/drinks an entrepreneur can't live without.<p>What gets you through the long days... cold pizza? energy drinks? loud music? cheap noodles?<p>share your "can't live without" diet
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mrevelle
Balance (protein, carbs, vitamins) and variety. To save money (and keep the
girlish figure) eat half of large-portioned dinners and have the leftovers for
lunch the next day.

Coffee in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, just to get revved up. A
liberal nap-taking policy, because sleep is the best cure for fatigue.
Exercise and sunlight, go running/cycling/tree-climbing outdoors for
efficiency.

And oatmeal! Plain old oatmeal is cheap, healthy, and filling. Try it with
bananas or blueberries.

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SwellJoe
I'm also a big fan of oatmeal with some fresh fruit or raisins/craisins, some
crushed walnuts or almonds (raw, not smoked or roasted, as any kind of cooking
breaks down the healthy fats in tree nuts), and a little brown sugar usually
makes for a nice solid day of pleasant work.

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Scramblejams
Ginormous amounts of h2o, and quick access to a bathroom that isn't unpleasant
to visit. I dig red meat, but for long sessions, more vegetarian-inspired
faire. Progressive trance if I'm insufficiently disciplined to choose the
better option: classical music.

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Riley
Green tea. I get the good stuff from a Chinese grocery store nearby.

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SwellJoe
Me too. Yamamoto Jasmine Green from the asian grocery on Castro street here in
Mountain View. Two or three cups per day (more and I get jittery rather than
alert).

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rms
Jasmine tea is delicious. You should try brewing it from real jasmine tea
pearls (a small ball of green tea with a jasmine flower hand-wrapped around
it). Most (all?) of the bagged jasmine tea is basic green tea with jasmine
flavoring added.

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SwellJoe
I've tried all of the gunpowder/pearl teas at the two asian markets on Castro,
and have been underwhelmed. The tea tends to be too bitter and the Jasmine
overpowering. The price also offends my delicate sensibilities--between 9 and
18 bucks for one tin, which makes twenty to thirty cups of tea. My girlfriend
drinks Mighty Leaf Earl Grey, so I can become accustomed to spending crazy
prices for tea, but only if I enjoy it more than the cheaper alternative.

~~~
rms
My supply of Jasmine pearls came from a trip to Beijing a while ago... the
department store had two varieties of Jasmine pearls; I got the better ones. I
don't remember exactly how much it was, but it was definitely a lot less than
a dollar an ounce.

Especially when cost is a concern, you can reuse the leaves at least two or
three times. The only problem is figuring out how to store the wet leaves. I
never figured that out, in fact.

Enjoy your tea, the convenience of bags is enough that it's really rare for me
to actually make it from leaves.

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ericb
Coffee in evenly spaced doses is key for me. Too much and I go up a tree. It's
about staying at peak alertness. I take naps too. Coding while
tired=expensive. When I'm tired, solutions come slower, code-quality drops off
and I end up fixing it later.

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bct
The _good_ ramen. The imported stuff with big thick noodles, recognizable
chunks of dehydrated vegetables and the kind of spice that our pathetic
Western palates are unused to.

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cdr
Caffiene doesn't do it for me anymore, so I've been experimenting with energy
drinks. They seem to work better, but generally taste awful (Red Bull is the
prime offender).

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cstejerean
I never understood why redbull tastes the way it does. It reminds me of bad
bubble gum. Other energy drinks seem to have gone in the same direction? Is it
required for energy drinks to taste the way they do?

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kirubakaran
It is probably the taste of Taurine (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurine>).

Taurine was originally extracted from bull's balls and hence when you drink a
RedBull, you are giving a bull a ... lets say, doing a bull a favor :-)

(Taurine is not extracted from bull semen nowadays, of course ( probably coz
this is not scalable :-p ) and it is claimed that the whole Tauine-Bull thing
is a myth... but myths are fun to propagate)

<http://www.google.com/search?q=taurine+semen>

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euccastro
A similar post:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40651>

[P.S: Not that I condone messing with your brain chemistry. You can see my
opinion there.]

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herdrick
I've found there's no net benefit to caffeine. A little bit can make me a bit
more alert and optimistic, but then I pay for it with interest on the caffeine
hangover / comedown. Besides, more than a little bit of it makes me much too
restless and chatty to program anyway.

Junk food is a lose for me too. Anything that causes a blood sugar spike hurts
productivity. I like peanut butter on bananas, red leaf lettuce, cheese, ...
and of course burritos. Water to drink.

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christefano
The best fuel for me is having a healthy physical life away from the computer.
I've noticed that being in good shape helps a lot when pulling long shifts on
the computer.

As far as beverages go, I usually drink more tea than water (mate or cold-
brewed ginger and green tea). For a hard boost, espresso is the way to go but
it doesn't last long and puts my metabolism into hyperdrive.

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Hexayurt
DMAE - it's a plant extract they sell at health food stores which is
apparently metabolized into stuff that feeds your brain more oxygen. Commonly
used with autistics because they often start to talk more fluently when
they've been taking the stuff.

Best cure for programmer's burn out ever invented.

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stuki
Coke Zero, Diet Coke with and without caffeine, milk, oatmeal and cinnamon. If
I exercise, I also get cravings for meat, veggies, fruit and pasta, which
helps confirm the healthiness of exercise. I wish I could get caffeine free
Coke Zero, to reduce my caffeine intake.

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dfranke
Tea. Irish Breakfast when I can find it, Earl Grey when I can't. No milk, no
sugar.

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nmeyer
Grilled chicken + bacon calzones, loud music, and Propel. Gotta stay hydrated.

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jpalacio486
Usually loads of water, some pizza, the occasional energy drink, and my
Beatles catalog keep me awake.

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gwenhwyfaer
www.digitalgunfire.com, cheese on toast, and instant coffee. (Every so often I
think "real coffee is great! I must drink more of it", but as a result I'm
building up a collection of filthy abandoned coffee makers...)

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cstejerean
mountain dew (regular or code red). caffeine is like a legal performance
enhancing drug for coding. Outside of that I try to keep hydrated by drinking
lots of water (and keeping a restroom nearby).

~~~
motoko
Mountain Dew is probably one of the worst things you can put into your body
that comes in a can and can be bought under the age of 18.

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extantproject
As a recovered Mountain Dew head, I agree. The sugar in Mountain Dew is the
worst of it. I used to require five or so Mountain Dews every day. When I
slowly stopped drinking it (I switched completely to coffee to avoid caffeine
withdraw) I stopped getting really hyper then crashing five times a day. My
concentration is much better without Mountain Dew. It took me about five weeks
to switch (one less can per week).

Not too long afterward I got my caffeine intake down to whatever is in two to
four cups (or shots of espresso) of coffee a day, where it's been ever since.

Now, a few years later, I'm in the process of limiting myself to two cups (or
shots of espresso) a day. I'm down to three, but it's fairly difficult to go
lower -- which sucks.

Don't drink all this shit! Drink water and sleep when you're tired; maybe have
a cup of coffee a day. Your concentration will be much better. There's natural
variance in energy levels throughout the day. Stimulants just make the highs
higher and the low lower -- but they also make the highs shorter and the lows
longer. Check up and really pay attention to yourself through the day --
you'll likely want to reclaim your energy back from all these supposed "energy
drinks" and other garbage.

~~~
stuki
The way I learned it is the natural alertness cycle is sinusoidal, and by
taking stimulants strategically timed one can square it off. That way one can
increase total hours of close to peak alertness, as well as make sleep deeper
and heavier.

~~~
extantproject
I generalized my personal experience. It may be different for different
people, but I'm tired longer the more I use stimulants. But I've also had one
to two cups of coffee in the morning every day for about four years now. If I
drink more at other times I generally feel worse for a longer period of time
and don't gain much in the way of concentration.

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henning
carbohydrates, a good night's sleep, coffee in the morning, Rockstars in the
afternoon (not at night -- makes me sleep poorly, even when I go to bed
tired).

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dlweinreb
Iced tea. (My employer provides it for free...)

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german
Redbull ;)

(I'm drinking it right now) :P

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mariorz
cold arizona green tea :D

