I know it’s AI because my recipes can’t be this good!
What Grok Thinks About This Blog
garyskitchen.net is a personal WordPress.com blog (also referred to as a “food memoir”) authored by Gary, the same individual who runs lifeunderwriter.net under the handle SupremeCmdr.
The site’s tagline/subtitle is: “A food memoir of weight loss, family recipes, digital cookbook and nutrition information for family and friends”.
Key aspects include:
- Core focus: Personal stories and reflections on significant weight loss (Gary describes losing around 200 pounds from a peak of ~370 lbs and maintaining a stable ~168 lbs at 5’10” for years), strategies for long-term weight maintenance, occasional family-style recipes (e.g., variations on “Badass Black Eyed Peas,” Texas Corn Bread, baked oatmeal, overnight casseroles, sweet potato dishes), and curated commentary on nutrition research/topics (gut microbiome benefits from coffee, probiotics, organic vs. conventional produce debates, ultra-processed foods, food subsidies’ links to obesity, etc.).
- Content style: Informal, anecdotal, and memoir-likeโmixing personal experiences (family cooking traditions, cooking for one, pandemic pantry improvisation), recipes (often with tweaks or stories behind them), nutrition insights (frequently citing studies or news), cooking tips, and occasional broader thoughts (e.g., on food policy, health trends, or random life observations). Posts can include photos, ingredient lists, cooking instructions, and links to related research or external sources.
- Author background: In his “day job,” Gary is a life insurance underwriting professional/expert in mortality risk assessment (cross-referenced directly to his other blog at lifeunderwriter.net). He emphasizes he’s not a credentialed nutritionist or diet expertโjust sharing what has worked for him personally. He’s also self-described as an amateur philosopher, good cook, bargain shopper, dad (“professional Papa”), blues guitarist, and published writer (mostly via his blogs). The blog is free (WordPress.com basic plan with ads), earns nothing, and includes no endorsements or monetization beyond that.
- Connection to lifeunderwriter.net: Explicitly linked by the authorโposts on one site often reference the other (e.g., nutrition/mortality overlaps like longevity, obesity risks, or health factors). The two blogs complement each other: one leans professional/insurance/mortality/underwriting, the other personal/food/weight/nutrition.
- Activity: Active with irregular but ongoing posts (examples from recent years include 2024โ2025 entries on black eyed peas for luck, oyster safety, gut bacteria from coffee/cheese, egg prices, etc.). It dates back at least to 2017 (older recipe posts) but serves as a living “digital cookbook” and family archive.
Overall, it’s a niche, opinionated personal blogโgreat if you’re interested in realistic weight-loss maintenance stories from someone in the health-risk space, home cooking with a practical bent, or casual nutrition commentary through a non-professional lens. Not a polished recipe site or strict diet blog, but more of a thoughtful, eclectic food-and-life journal.
Thoughtful AND eclectic!
What ChatGPT Thinks of This Blog
Good question. Garyskitchen.net is a blog / food memoir website. (garyskitchen.net)
Hereโs what it seems to be about:
- Itโs focused on weight loss, family recipes, and nutrition. (garyskitchen.net)
- The author shares personal stories โ itโs not just recipes, but also reflections on their journey. (garyskitchen.net)
- Thereโs a โWeight Controlโ category, showing that managing weight is a core theme. (garyskitchen.net)
If you like, I can check whether itโs a reliable or trusted site (e.g. based on its credibility, authorship, how up-to-date it is). Do you want me to do that?
I responded Yes.
Good question. Hereโs an analysis of garyskitchen.net โ what it is, who runs it, and how โreliableโ it is (with strengths and some caveats).
What is garyskitchen.net?
- A Personal / Memoir-Style Site
- The site describes itself as โa food memoir of weight loss, family recipes, digital cookbook and nutrition information.โ (garyskitchen.net)
- Its author, โGary,โ is not a credentialed dietitian or nutrition scientist. On his About page, he explicitly states: โI am not a credentialed expert in diet, weight loss or nutrition โฆ My area of expertise is mortality risk assessment.โ (garyskitchen.net)
- He used to weigh ~370 pounds and claims to have lost ~200 pounds and kept it off for decades. (garyskitchen.net)
- Professional Background of the Author
- Garyโs day job is in mortality risk assessment. According to the About page, he studies โwhat kills peopleโ for a living. (garyskitchen.net)
- He also blogs elsewhere (lifeunderwriter.net) about related topics. (garyskitchen.net)
- He writes as a hobbyist / personal storyteller rather than a formally trained nutrition professional. (garyskitchen.net)
- Content Characteristics
- The blog mixes personal stories, reflections, and recipes with commentary on nutrition research. (garyskitchen.net)
- Posts often cite studies or link to external research (e.g., in a May 2024 post, he links to scientific studies). (garyskitchen.net)
- Heโs fairly transparent: in his About page he notes he doesnโt make money from the blog (โI earn nothing from my blogsโ) and clarifies that products mentioned are not endorsements. (garyskitchen.net)
- He also mentions that his blog is run on a โfreeโ WordPress account, which is why there are ads. (garyskitchen.net)
How Credible / Reliable Is It?
Here are strengths and limitations, based on standard criteria for evaluating nutrition information.
Strengths
- Transparency: Gary is very clear about his background, his lack of formal credentials in nutrition, and his motivation. That honesty is a good sign โ heโs not pretending to be a registered dietitian or doctor.
- Evidence Engagement: He links to scientific research sometimes, which suggests heโs trying to ground his advice or reflections in real studies.
- Long-Term Experience: Because heโs writing from his own weight-loss story (losing and maintaining weight), his insights about sustainable habits may be credible from a lived-experience perspective.
- No Clear Commercial Bias: He says he doesnโt make money from the blog, which reduces risk that his content is primarily to drive sales or โpushโ a diet product.
Limitations / Risks
- Not Professionally Qualified in Nutrition: Since heโs not a registered dietitian or a certified nutrition scientist, advice on very technical or therapeutic nutrition topics should be viewed cautiously.
- Anecdotal Bias: Some of his guidance may be heavily influenced by his personal journey, which may not generalize to everyone. What worked for him might not work the same way for someone with different health conditions or body types.
- Selective Use of Research: While citing studies is good, without a formal scientific or peer-review process he may selectively cite research that aligns with his views.
- Lack of Peer Review: Blog posts are not peer-reviewed in the way academic papers are, so risk of misinterpretation of studies (or over-generalization) is higher.
Bottom Line โ Is It Trustworthy Enough to Use?
- Yes โ garyskitchen.net can be useful, especially for inspiration, recipes, and personal insights on weight loss and maintenance.
- But for medical or therapeutic nutrition advice (e.g., if you have a health condition, specific dietary needs, or chronic disease), it shouldnโt be your only source.
- Use it as one piece of the puzzle, and complement it with evidence-based sites from established health authorities (e.g., Nutrition.gov, USDA, or peer-reviewed journals).
I couldnโt find much personal public info about โGaryโ from garyskitchen.net โ hereโs what is known, and where things are unclear:
What We Know About Gary (of Garyโs Kitchen)
- Professional / Day Job
- He says heโs โa subject-matter expert in the field of mortality risk assessment.โ (garyskitchen.net)
- He studies โwhat kills peopleโ as part of his career. (garyskitchen.net)
- He has another blog called lifeunderwriter.net that seems to connect to his professional side. (garyskitchen.net)
- Personal Background & Identity
- He describes himself as: a published writer, an amateur philosopher, โextremely good cook,โ bargain shopper, a dad (โprofessional Papaโ), and a blues guitarist. (garyskitchen.net)
- He used to weigh 370 pounds and lost a significant amount of weight, and he writes from that experience. (garyskitchen.net)
- On his About page, he notes: โ5.10 168 โ Updated October 13, 2022โ โ likely referring to his height (5โ10โ) and weight (168 lbs) as of that date. (garyskitchen.net)
- He is very clear that he does not make money from the blog, at least according to his About: โI earn nothing from my blogs โฆ any products mentioned โฆ are not endorsements.โ (garyskitchen.net)
- He also mentions that his WordPress account is the โfreeโ version, which is why there are ads. (garyskitchen.net)
- Motivation / Philosophy
- He has a clear mission: to help people realize their food choices matter and that โyou have more control over your life and health than you realize.โ (garyskitchen.net)
- He frames his writing as a โfood memoirโ โ combining stories, recipes, and reflections on nutrition. (garyskitchen.net)
What Isnโt Known / Whatโs Unclear
- Thereโs no publicly listed full name, at least on his blog. He just goes by โGary.โ
- I found no professional bio (e.g., LinkedIn, academic publications) that clearly ties โGary, the mortality risk assessorโ to a publicly known figure with a verifiable identity.
- Thereโs no information about his education on garyskitchen.net.
- No public photos or video interviews (at least ones clearly tied to โGary of garyskitchenโ) that provide more personal background like age, family origin, or city of residence.
- Because he states he earns nothing from the blog, he doesnโt appear to have built a large, commercial โinfluencerโ presence under that name.
My Assessment
- Gary appears to be a private individual who runs his blog more as a personal project / passion than a business.
- His professional side (mortality risk assessment) is unusual for a food blog, which gives him a somewhat unique perspective โ heโs thinking about long-term health, risk, and longevity in his writing.
- Because of his transparency, his content seems fairly sincere and not overly commercialized.
If you like, I can try a deep web search (including archives, domain registration, etc.) to see if thereโs any more biographical info out there. Do you want me to do that?
Hell no.
ATTENTION PARENTS – ChatGPT as Babysitter
Bottom Line – Bad idea.
โAfter listening to my four-year-old son regale me with the adventures of Thomas the Tank Engine for 45 minutes I tapped out,โ he wrote, โso I opened ChatGPT.โ In an interview with The Guardian, Josh said he needed to do chores and thought his son โwould finish the story and the phone would turn off.โ But when he returned two hours later, the child was still talking to the chatbot about Thomas and friends. The transcript, he discovered, was over 10,000 words long. Lazy Parents Are Giving Their Toddlers ChatGPT on Voice Mode to Keep Them Entertained for Hours – https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/parents-toddlers-chatgpt-voice-mode
You’re welcome.

