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[UpRiverMatt]

Alright, I’m changing my answer to “this too shall pass”.

Zoom out, realize everything ends and use your short time as best you can.

When you zoom out, the things that stop you from acting seem trivial. You’ll regret things you didn’t do more than things you did. Like Nike, just do it.

When you zoom out you learn to let go; don’t cling to things, let them pass for new growth to come. That gap between one thing and the next that you feel causes growth, and it’s noble. Tune into, not away from, the feelings that come with change, and let them pass through you.

When you zoom out, you can be patient and trust in something larger, faith in a higher force guiding things. You’re a part of things, not the centre of them and you only control so much. Ride the wave. Surrender to what you can’t control, it’s often the only path forward.

This too shall pass. Pain, love, beauty, power, status. Take it in and pass it through you like a good meal. Let it change you and let it pass. Don’t grasp for it. Embrace it, even love it. It’s all happening as it should.

[UpRiverMatt]

Such a good answer.

I would say like Nike, just do it. Whenever I have something I’m unsure of, just move forward and learn as you go. A certain amount of bravery is needed, just like rooming with a guy like you ;).

This relates to your answer I think too. A lot of the time, people know what they want to do, they just don’t do it because they worry it won’t work out. Paralysis by analysis.

[UpRiverMatt]

It’s an interesting ethics question, and I don’t find I have an easy answer to it. I liked Greg’s response looking at the competitors viewpoint and a social healthcare side.

I see four viewpoints:
-Athletes
-Fans
-Societal impacts
-Non-athlete steroid users

Some athletes will want to remain biologically natural and still compete, others will want to push themselves to the limit using all available tools. If I were competing as an elite athlete, personally, I would be ok taking a certain amount of risk to really maximize my performance. However, I would want a lot of regulation for quality and purity as well as plenty of research on health effects. Combined with stringent testing, this would hopefully eliminate pressure from managers on their athletes, who may treat them expendably. Right now, I think the regulation, research, and testing could be improved, as a certain amount of steroid use can slip through the cracks like we discussed last meeting.

Consumers ultimately drive the industry by paying to see events, and this is what drives change in everything, including steroid use. The reality is, people watch the strongest, fastest, most skilled athletes because they are the most entertaining. If we were to split athletics into natural vs. drugs-allowed, I think more people would watch the drugs-allowed super humans duke it out.

When it comes to societal impacts, I don’t think healthcare should have to pay for reckless use of steroids, and I don’t think having steroids widely and easily available would be good for people. I think it should be quite regulated, like other drugs are. This should minimize the amount of steroids that get into our drinking water too, like it should with birth control. Yeah, the birth control thing is pretty terrible, I don’t want to become a soy boy because the water is full of estrogen-mimicking compounds! As it is: “Testosterone levels today ranges from 270 ng/DL to 700 ng/DL, one hundred years ago the range was 800 to 2000”.

I think steroids should be available for use for consenting adults like Dwayne Johnson who want to get huge and rely on that hugeness along with a dashing smile to make a living. So, I’m siding with the libertarian argument there. When people want to do drugs of any kind, they do them. If they’re not legal, they do them illegally and then comes problems with contamination and uncontrolled distribution etc. It seems having some legal avenue to purchase steroids would be a good thing, similarly to the argument with fentanyl and other contaminants in illegal weed.

So, I don’t think steroids should be illegal, and I don’t think they should just be given out willy nilly.

[UpRiverMatt]

Fun fact from Wikipedia:
“In Internet culture, the 1% rule is a rule of thumb pertaining to participation in an internet community, stating that only 1% of the users of a website add content, while the other 99% of the participants only lurk. Variants include the 1–9–90 rule (sometimes 90–9–1 principle or the 89:10:1 ratio),[1] which states that in a collaborative website such as a wiki, 90% of the participants of a community only consume content, 9% of the participants change or update content, and 1% of the participants add content. This also applies, approximately, to Wikipedia.”

[UpRiverMatt]

Hi Gus,

Great ideas, I often think about what products I’m putting on my skin and it would be good to have a sort of “green light” for certain products that I know won’t pump me with estrogen mimicking compounds. I don’t know much about them either, but it would be a good one to research. We’ll let you know when we have some research on this on here!

This second topic is at the top of our list in an area we’re calling self-quantification. Blood work is one of the best ways to see what’s going on in you body, but most panels you get from your doctor are very limited. There are many more informative tests we’ll have to cover with guides on how to understand them. It’s a big area and something we’ll get into in the next year I would think.

Thanks for the suggestions! Feel free to add more, we’ll keep a list 😉

[UpRiverMatt]

I like the take Spencer, I’ve noticed when seeing a movie or a picture from a couple years ago with a crowd or group of people – something that was always considered normal – there’s a weird aversion. It’s unhealthy to be adverse to other people and I think as a whole, people have been worn down by all of the forced isolation and just want to be able to live their lives again. Of course this makes sense, as Spencer points out that it is natural for human beings to collect together. I like the reasoning that in a year we can adjust back to having a healthy mindset towards socializing again, though I think it will take several years since we’re not out of the woods yet with restrictions unfortunately.

I, personally, have become a lot more cynical because I am confronted daily with the fact that our society is rampant with corruption and lies, including everything around covid. I won’t go into things more than that here, but suffice to say I have grown very, very sick of the way things are run. My reaction kind of reminds me of how George Carlin (the comedian) started to call himself an observer of society rather than a participator in it since he saw how corrupted it was and felt morally unable to be a part of it. I’d recommend checking some of his performances out. If truth and justice would emerge triumphant on the world stage, I’d be a lot happier.

That’s been my reaction to things over the last year, though things don’t get better when you stay in a bad mindset. And, things aren’t all negative. Sometimes it takes a lot of bad to motivate change, which is something we’re sorely in need of. Something that makes me happy is that millions of others are in the same boat as me, sick of the lies, and ready to change things. Just like Michael Jackson would say, I’m looking at the man in the mirror. People keep on waiting for the world to change, but it doesn’t work. Taking a stand for something positive as an individual (rather than being cynical about what’s negative) is what helps my mindset most, so that’s where I’m trying to take it. Whenever I practice a piece of advice from UpRiver, I get step closer to that – especially nailing down my habits and meditating.

I’d be down to make this a continuing discussion, rather than stopping at the usual two replies if you guys are interested.

[UpRiverMatt]

Yeah it’s quite a contentious issue in nutrition, like many things.

It seems that fibre isn’t necessary. I’m basing this off of studies like the one below, from the fact that many societies like the Inuit live on zero fiber diets with zero colon cancer, from groups like Zerocarb on Reddit – which has 150k members or so who feel better digestion-wise on zero fiber diets, individuals like Viljalmur Steffanson who lived past 80 years old with no issues on a meat-only diet, and from my own personal experience.

Taking an excerpt from the Carnivore Diet article on UpRiver:

“In an interventional study (causation), those with constipation were randomly put on zero, low and high fiber diets to see what happened. The low fiber diet essentially cured constipation. After one and six months, each group was asked about how often they had a bowel movement, how difficult they were to pass, whether they had anal bleeding, abdominal pain, and bloating:

-In the zero fiber group, 100% showed improvement in bloating, in the low fiber group, 31.3% showed improvement and in the high fiber group, 0% showed improvement.
-Average bowel movement frequency in the zero fiber group went from 3.75 +/- 1.59 days to 1.0 +/- 0.00 days and there was no improvement in high fiber group [4 Ch.9]
-On the zero fiber group, everyone stopped having to strain to pass a bowel movement
Abdominal pain only improved in the zero fiber group, the fiber groups showed no improvement
-On the zero fiber group, everyone stopped having anal bleeding

The results of this study are so clear cut that it is hard to argue against it. For more information, check out this YouTube video by Dr. Paul Mason, or some of the anecdotes about digestion improvements on the communities listed in the “more resources” section above the references.”

4. Ho, K. (2012). Stopping or reducing dietary fiber intake reduces constipation and its associated symptoms. World Journal of Gastroenterology , 18 (33), 4593. doi:10.3748/wjg.v18.i33.4593

[UpRiverMatt]

That’s good to hear! Hearing that is making me wonder about my temperature at night, I may have to check out that Bed Jet. Carbs on carnivore is also a really interesting thing I think I struggle with. I had a bowl of popcorn recently after a long time on no carbs and just devoured it. I realised just how much my body needed it – it felt more like a need than a craving to me. I’ve been sleeping better too since adding carbs, and I think feeling better as a whole, especially after workouts when I really feel I need it.

Winding down in some way for like ten minutes, such as stretching or lying on an acupressure mat or just relaxing for a bit helps me a lot too before bed. If I try to jump in bed right after being on my computer or doing something, I toss and turn.

[UpRiverMatt]

I find fish or sea food in general is expensive, so not sure I can help out there, except maybe canned salmon, which you can often get wild caught, that’s pretty convenient and not too crazy expensive. It’s pretty good if you use it to make a recipe. Salmon fillets are also my go-to. Another dish I want to try to make is ceviche, which I had recently and it was incredible. Sometimes frozen fish can be pretty reasonably priced too and maybe better quality.

Non-fish choices: Scallops wrapped in bacon, mussels, and garlic shrimp.

I’m cooking a tuna steak right now, never done that before so we’ll see how it goes!

[UpRiverMatt]

Hey Spencer, have you stopped waking up at night? If so, any notes on what helped or what caused the problem?

[UpRiverMatt]

Yeah standing for something seems to be more effective than standing against something I would agree. It seems the information is more constructive that way for people’s actual health.

Having truth be a priority is also all-important now since there is so much noise and unhealthy practices recommended by the mainstream.

Consolidating good, true information that is constructive seems to be a place to add value in the community. I would add to that reducing fluff and creating a state of clarity in the noisy arena of health advice would be valuable as well.

What else are health websites missing? I think there is more to dig into here. What sets UpRiver apart, and what will set UpRiver apart? The world doesn’t need more average health websites. What specifically do we or can we offer beyond articles, beyond a forum, which already exist elsewhere? Is it a blend of many ingredients? Which ones?

[UpRiverMatt]

A lot of the time with restrictive diets, it seems best to start fully strict for like a month to establish a baseline, then add things in slowly so you can see the effect of each new food.

I personally found with carnivore, for example, going completely strict for a month gave me a good feel for what the pure diet felt like, and then as I added things I saw changes that I actually liked because I felt less restricted and had a better appetite. For others though, I read many people feel best on 100% strict carnivore. I think each person has a different strictness that’s optimal for them that can only be found through experimentation.

[UpRiverMatt]

I’ve heard of a couple things, but haven’t really researched much. One is something called zinc ionophore blockers like hydroxychloroquine, a more natural alternative to that is quercetin. I hear combining quercetin with zinc can help reduce covid symptoms quite a lot. Vitamin d I hear is very good for prevention, maybe not as much for curing.

Another thing that seems to work very well is red light therapy. See this study, which I covered in the article on light: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32865522/. I summarized it in the article:

“Then, there are recent studies that look into applying light therapy to COVID cases, like this study [13] on a 57 year old with a severe case that improved drastically with red light therapy. He was put under red light at 808nm and 905nm for 28 minutes each day for four days.

The results were striking. His severe case, which would usually require a ventilator and emergency treatment with a chance of death, completely resolved. Findings included an increase in blood oxygen saturation from 93-94% to 97-100%, oxygen requirements reduced from 2 – 4 L/minute to 1 L/minute, and C-Reactive protein decreased from 15.1 to 1.23. He recovered in a few days. Imagine if all COVID patients were treated with some red light therapy!”

3. Light Therapy

Then, there is a newer thing I heard of from Greg called Ivermectin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=u21N8Vu4kOk&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1s9Xc9ynVrtakIGQKOt6g6uFXDPLGBjYCeeFM_5wmri0yfr2dODxoJSQM&ab_channel=ChristyRisinger%2CMD

[UpRiverMatt]

Can’t go wrong with cold showers, meditation, and gratitude. I like what you pointed out about the cold showers, it’s more about the practice of demonstrating control than it is the physical benefits.

Apparently one of the most famous mantras is by a chemist from France, and his phrase, “day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better” caught on to millions in France and abroad during the 20s around the time he died. It seems like a pretty good one, but to your point I do think it should be personal. It makes sense to use the mantra as a way to supplant negative thoughts that bother you personally with their opposite.

It seems a theme of the discussion in this thread it taking control of your mental state in some form or another like cold showers, gratitude, how you conceive of things, and meditation rather than letting it take control of you or go on autopilot. I guess whatever works best for a person of these strategies is best determined through experimentation.

If you’d be interested in a newsletter, we might just have to make one. You’ll be the first to know!

[UpRiverMatt]

Hey Gus,

Good to see you on the forum!

Here are three things that I think work best.

1. Exercise: I think exercising is even more important for my mental health than physical. I even forget this sometimes and after I workout, and especially when I don’t feel like doing it in the first place, I get a bit of a high after and see everything in a better light. For me, it’s either weight lifting, or a jog recently. We adapt to demands placed upon us, if you do hard things you get strong and strength breeds a healthy mind I think.

2. Doing nothing/relaxing: I have to agree with Greg here. I see this like eating. If you are constantly stuffing yourself with food all day and never stop to digest, you’ll be very sick very soon. The mind needs time not to do “nothing” but to process all the something it already has taken in. I HATE the idea of doing nothing, I feel like if I stop doing things I’ll lose my lift like an airplane and start falling, falling into a black hole and fall for eternity, but when I actually do nothing and just sit there with a little Buddha smile, I realize that is an unfounded fear. Blocking off inputs into your brain is a necessity to allow you to digest and assimilate the information you take in all day.

3. Conception: How you use the imagination/perception muscle of your mind dictates your life. How you view events, other people, and especially yourself are what determines how you feel about these things. We can pretty simply control our feelings and thoughts towards a thing, including ourselves, if we practice. Anyone can be negative, it takes practice to be positive.
This includes:
-Gratitude practice: actively appreciating the good about things. You can’t feel bad when you feel grateful. This is a shift in perception. Like Shakespeare says, “there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Bad and good stuff happens, we often focus on the bad too much.
-Self-image: I read in the book Psychocybernetics something that struck me about how we view ourselves: “The self image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment”. You act according to who you think you are. A loser often acts like a loser because he thinks he is one already, and further reinforces his loser self image. Replace images you have of yourself in your mind with ones you want and you will automatically aim for them.
-Imagination = target outcome: A lot of pro sports athletes conceive of victory before they win and swear by it. Imagine or perceive victory before it happens and your body tries to make it happen. It acts on this image you make. Imagine failure and your body acts on that image all the same. The nervous system sees imagination like a goal, “oh ok you must want this then”. It’s the same with the self image, and the same with gratitude. You get more of what you focus on.

Conception all has to do with the image we form in our minds of things. We have levers we can use to move that shift this image, and our entire being aligns with this image, our nervous system acts upon it like a heat seeking missile. Images create an understanding which creates emotions which dictate our state of mind. We cannot actually tell the difference between a real thing and an imagined thing, which tells me the power of imagination. Conceive of what you want, become pregnant with the good images not the bad ones.

Exercise, do nothing sometimes, and conceive good things.

What are three things you would recommend Gus?

[UpRiverMatt]

4 electrode EEG (Muse) $499.99 USD: https://choosemuse.com/muse-s/

16 electrode EEG kit (OpenBCI) $1599.99 USD: https://shop.openbci.com/collections/frontpage/products/openbci-eeg-electrocap

[UpRiverMatt]

I honestly haven’t researched optimal protein consumption a whole lot. I feel I know when I’ve had enough protein, and don’t feel that protein hunger anymore. Usually for me this happens around 100g – 150g of protein, and I’m 170lbs, maybe 10% body fat, so 153 lbs lean mass. This would be between 2/3 and 1 gram of protein per lean lb of body mass.

I hear around 1 g / lb of lean is pretty good for active people. I don’t know if lightly or inactive people need as much as that even. I also hear though that pretty high protein diets are quite good.

[UpRiverMatt]

Seems like a good resource: https://github.com/woop/awesome-quantified-self

[UpRiverMatt]

Cool, who did the analysis? What made you decide to go with this geneticist over another’s? I’ve seen another one called Strategene I think by Ben Lycnh which seems interesting and I had that one done a while ago. It’d be interesting to compare!

[UpRiverMatt]

Photopuncture seems interesting, didn’t really get into it in my article.

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