Michael569

Would you consider yourself a loner or do you regularly meet up with other people? I assume you'r enot married but do you have a partner? A good mate or two?

Because you are treating your mind as a dumpster (forgive the language) , just dumping down shallow content and expecting it to work 100%. Its like being completely untrained and then attempting to squat 250 lbs or driving while being extremely intoxicated or climbing Everest in your socks and sandals. Your brain is unprepared to handle that because you haven't trained it to, you've trained it to have 15 second attention span and that is what you get in return. Don't worry most of us struggle with this but it can totally be reversed you just have to start taking your attention as a currency, something not to be squandered around for the benefit of shallow content creators. It may take you 2 years to reverse this, not 3 weeks so be prepared for it. Some practical steps for the long run Study Cal Newport's work Actually start reading actual books - any books Treat your body as a temple (solid nutrition, strong sleep routine , clean environment) Start working out Start a meditation habit Uninstall all the apps you don't need and consider investing int some sort of app blocking software Invest some money into creating a focus zone in your house where phones and crap aren't allowed. This is where you'll be purging your mind to start focusing again That's just the beginning but if you can do some of them you'll start seeing major improvement in your ability to focus

Even if you don't directly, as long as you work for some larger corporate entity you are indirectly supporting trade with pharma companies, big oil, cheap clothing manufacturers, offshore exploitative services, greedy auditing firms etc. In some shape or form most of those are connected to defense industry even if only by supplying some form of 3rd party software. You can't avoid it. Even just by shopping at large supermarkets, you're part of that albeit indirectly - those groceries were delivered to you by a vehicle with a fossil fuel emision, that fuel was purchased from company like Shell who buys it from some multinational corporation, who probably also supplies fossil fuels for navy, airforce and military vehicles all over the place. If you want to have a reasonably well paid career, you can't avoid it completely but ofcourse you can always choose to be employed by a highly reputable company like Patagonia, for example who have extremely strict policy on their supply chain and have scored the highest B-Corp rating ever recorded. But businesses like that are extremely rare. Or you can go solo, but even then complete disconnection from this chain might not be possible as you'll likely need 3rd party software, hardware tech, subscriptions of all kinds, payment platforms etc etc. So if the position is well paid and you can maybe offset that "evil footpring" elsewhere such as eating fewer animals, recycling more, composting, driving less & cycling more and just being a better human being. Then go for it and forgive yourself.

This dude's channel is very tiny on YT but his content has completely changed the way I train. His level of integrity and clarity are on another level. He does use a lot of profanity but it is not your typical stage orange bro channel He has more practical content on Instagram https://youtu.be/RxZ4KmVXt1Q?si=5WsBVGOAWt4UCzGJ

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@CosmicExplorer yop! FBW is an absolute beast. I do same 6 exercises 3 times a week, go as heavy as I can for 6-8 rounds and I've had the greatest improvements in strength since my 15s when I started. Went from doing 8 reps of 90kg squats to doing 8 reps of 140kg in about 6 months doing it mostly on plant based diet, i absolutely love it, never before knew this is actually possible. I don't even care about hypertrophy as much but love the competition with myself to get slightly better each week.

The amount of men (and women) who take steroids these days, per average gym, is higher than you would assume. Once you start to notice the signs, you can't unsee it. Not to mention guys brag to each other about it in the gym locker rooms, it's a bit hilarious. Even guys you would never assume to be on juice...are juicing. The bulging traps, acne all over the back, poor lower body development against extreme upper body deelopment their lousy no-sweat trainig compared to their sick gains, never training core, never practicing any compound lifts with free weights, using predominantly machines and silly exercises like cable pulls and wrist rotations. As a natural lifter unless you include heavy compound lifts with free weights that evoke a little bit of fight or flight response (e.g. this weight is so freaking heavy that there is a small risk it could crush me because I'm not realying on a machine safety") and make most of your trainining based on highly anabolic exercises (squats, deadlifts, pullups, military press, pendlay rows, dips and some functional training such as gymnastic rings) there is a limit to hypertrophy (mostly newbie gains) and even higher limit on how muscular & lean can you get at the same time. That's why split training is a poor way to train for natural lifters who are not on steroids because it is not sufficiently anabolic. Split training was desighned by and for steroid users who are 24/7 in anabolic state from synthetic injectibles and even small volume of training is sufficient to activate muscle synthesis. Most of these guys train for a pump so they can push enough nutrients and blood into the muscle to respond quickly, the rest of the guys who want to do it clean need to go much much heavier and mostly free weights. This is a pretty solid indicator of steroid using, looking like a god while only doing cables and machines. Also a good indicator is, and this might sound silly but lacking the humblness and the natural poise of an experienced lifter. Sometimes you see these super jacked guys behaving like morrons in the gym, yelling at eachother, looking like they are on a cocaine (which some might be) and just acting like children. An experienced natural lifter who has acquired extreme results through decades of commited training is usually humble, solitary and will train in times when gyms are the most empty. Kinda like a lonely wiseman who will only talk wen asked question and will be staring at the ground between sets, usually not using phone as much. Most of these loud clowns with tripods and phones are on juice. There are cases of guys with extreme genetics which violate these rules but most of us aren't that blessed

You know I was thinking this too. Its like the whole keto movement has died out a bit? I don't know its because eventually they all burned out and got back to carbs and disappeared from social or they keep going but secretly lie about their diets because they have two much invested at this point. Even their arguments have always been completely non-creative and not even interesting. Some of the other fad groups at least make effort to sound convincing or lean onto some form of evidence, albeit poor and cherrypicked but with keto it was always like "You don't even believe that yourself mate" From all the fad diets, keto & raw vegan are probably at the bottom of the barrel. Well, keeping a few like Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, South Beach & Atkins aside ofcourse but those have kinda run their course at this point

Are you willing to start somewhere? Some jobs require no prior experience nor prior education. They might not be the highest grade jobs but they will give you a kickstart point. Go online and see what's available in your town by literally googling [name of your city] + jobs. Or translated into your language

I think the question here isn't necessarily about money psychology but more about obtaining some money on regular basis. The easiest answer to question "How to earn money" is to get employed. Are you able to do that or do you have barriers that prevent you from securing a stable employment? If there are barriers, do you know what they are? Simply asked: What do you think prevents you from getting a job?

"you must construct additional pylons No, srsly this was fucking depressing. Feeling sorry for this guy but I'm pretty sure this was a spot on description to millions of life of lonely men. Replace that skateboarding with gym sometimes but other than that...scary

I like this post. Simplicity, practicality and down to earth. I don't know if you are a video game person; I've been on and off throughout my life. There is a game called Project Zomboid, which is a game where you are basically trying to stay alive and healthy while keeping your mental health in check, in a world dominated by walking corpses. The head stomping of zombies and all the crafting aside, the video game character has to train to stay healthy, stay strong, and maintain good stamina, keep his mental health in check, maintain energy levels, healthy digestion, healthy immunity, stick to a good sleep routine, and interact with his environment in a way that does not deplete him too much. I am saying this because I find the mechanics of that game perfectly match the theme of your question: How do I stay healthy and well in a world that seems overwhelming? But perhaps instead of zombies, you have been fighting with depression. Let's get started. I will deliberately keep this response vague enough not to get lost in rabbit holes but on point enough not to turn this into poetry. Same as the Zomboid game, there are a few things you need to keep your eyes on, if you want to be able to withstand the challenges of the world: Your diet - needs to give your body everything it needs. Without going into too much detail, you should know how much protein you need, eat sufficient amount of healthy carbohydrates, keep your eyes on daily fibre intake and eat some healthy fats to keep your immune and hormonal system happy. Do your best to minimise the amount of processed food and learn some practical ways to make cooking easy and economical for yourself such as batch cooking, shopping in bulk and learning up to 10 recipes you can rotate. Your fitness - According to the wider research, the main predictors of longer healthspan are your V02 Max (your peak stamina), and your strength (as measured by grip strength and lower body strength). These two factors you must maintain across your life at a reasonable level. They not only slow down ageing process but protect you from a variety of metabolic problems, keeping your immune system vital. On top of that, you should put a little bit of focus into your mobility, joint health and some explosiveness to protect your fast twitch muscle from atrophying as they are the first one to go in ageing people. You can google how to train all of this or just throw this whole comment into chat GPT. Your psychological well-being - this may mean different things to different people, but it is about being able to match the demands of your environment without being overwhelmed and without being locked in a sympathetic drive (fight or flight) all the time. Whatever the tool is, this needs to be managed carefully. Regular meditation habit helps a lot of people keep this in check. Sleep is also essential Mental occupation - this is a 4th factor that is important. There needs to be something in your life that gives you a sense of inner stability and a sense of purpose. Something that pulls you out from bed in the morning and that helps you fall asleep at night knowing your life is making the world a better place, at least for someone, or something (the planetary wellbeing, the animals, the climate, the education of the youth ...whatever it is) Social component - Project Zomboid does not have this and it is one of the reasons why managing the character's mental health gets progressively harder as the game goes on. If you spend most of your time alone in a "cave" your mental health will tank. Nobody is protected from this. So figuring out a way to invite people in life will go a longway. Anyways, this is for some basics. You could add more categories and go elbows deep in each of them but if you stay on top of these 5 you'll be doing better than 90% of the population; happiness-wise and health-wise.

Hey, thanks for sharing this. Loss of energy and fatigue can be caused by lots of different things and radical change of your diet might not always be the most viable solution, although sometimes it does help. Mood & focus deterioration are both closely tied to your energy levels. I have seen this over and over in guys I worked with. You fix one, the other follows pretty much instantly. What was your past diet like? Mark Sisson does bring forward lots of interesting ideas and I agree with some of his propositions around the negative effects of processed food and high-flour ingredients like processed carbs. But I don't think he fully appreciates the nuances between different types of carbohydrates. He sort of throws out the baby with the bathwater when recommending keto. Lot of his beliefs about carbohydrates and saturated fat are incredibly naive and show a complete ignorance of wider nutritional evidence. The difficulty with gain of muscle might be linked to low energy & mood and might be linked to diet missing certain components - enough calories, protein, carbohydrates etc. I am deliberately being vague because I don't want to break my ethics and give you generic advice based on little information but at the same time I am almost certain that keto is not the answer. A form of moderate carb, lower fat, moderate protein would probably be the way to go. However without more specifics I can't tell you where to begin.

hey, Can I ask what led you to keto? Is there a desirable outcome you're following? Weigh loss or something of that sort? I have heard this theory before on low carb forums but it not the full story. If your muscle glucose was permanently depleted, say on low carb diet, you would end up paralysed due to complete ATP depletion. Your heart, being a cardiac muscle, would probably stop as well so your body would not want to do that. It is like wanting to deplete your lungs of oxygen. Your muscles will source glucose through gluconeogenesis via other pathways even if you deprive yourself of carbohydrates, in that case it will be sourced from fat or amino acids. it will then be deposited into muscles during sleep and during periods of rest. You can't reverse this. Its basically evolution of species. Humans move by using the leverage between muscle and a bone, all of that being orchestrated through the electrical impulses of your nervous system. For muscles to work, they need glucose derived from food or stored glycogen. Your body will always replenish intramuscular glycogen no matter how deprived (unless extremely starved) even if it has to break down your muscle mass to use amino acids. The failure to supply muscles with glucose would probably be the last thing before heart failure Keto can definitely be done but it needs to be approached carefully with a lot of planning otherwise the most common reason for people to quit is exreme fatigue to the point of depression. Seen it with a few of my past clients. You could start by tracking your caloric intake a see if you're getting everything you need. Gradually, if you do it well and your body can adapt effectively you will start slipping in an out of ketosis. How efefctively that happens is also derived from your genetics but also how long you have been doing this. Some people like to use blood ketone meters or urine ketone strips that you pee on - these can be fairly reliable to tell you how effectively your body is using ketones to meet metabolic demands. There are also breath tests but those can be a bit costly. But again before all of this, please be clear on the "why" before fully embarking on keto. Not everything shared in keto communities is alligned with the principles of human biology and a lot of it is a bit dangerous. A balanced diet with moderate carb intake is an option as well while you transition

I want to explore this theory a bit because to me this is where the rubber meets the road. I like your reasoning and I think we can take the nerdy theory one step further What you are describing is indeed pathophysiology of atherosclerosis which I am no expert in but from literature on CVD I have read, this is roughly how it works. Given that, here is the next question: The penetration of ApoB containing particles (namely - LDL, VDLD , LP(a)) through tunica intima is, to my understanding, partially unavoidable as it is one of the imperfections of the human body.It is not the penetration itself that is the problem (they can escape back in the flow and this happens all the time same way electrolyte particles penetrate between extra and intracellular space inside the axon of the nerve cells) but it is their irreversible binding to the proreglycan structures, (these proteins hanging around between tunica intima & tunica media) that cause those particles to stay there. Once they are locked, they are fucked. So then Is it that ApoB particles (LDL, VLDL, Lp(a) ) get oxidised before they enter the subendothelial space? Or is it that they get oxidised after they get in there through their immobility? - I dont' understan the mechanism tho Is there something that makes oxidative particle more prone to entering the subentothelial space? This is what I am not clear about, maybe you have some insights to share. Are we 100% sure that oxidation does not happen inside subentothelial space rather than inside the circulation? Purely because those particles, after attaching to proteoglycans trigger immune response - macrophages enter the subendothelial space, trigger chemotaxic response, more immune cells are called on for, and all of that and they trigger inflammation. Inflammation is prooxidative - oxidation creates fallout and increases the odds of ApoB particle oxidation (those that are locked to proteoglycans because they can't escape). Macrophages gobble up the dead oxLDLs, they grow, turn in foam cells, get too "fat" and get stuck in the subendothelial space, they die & accumulate like a puss but in this case the puss can't get out - plaque starts building up - typical atherosclerosis right? Its kinda like a cyst but it builds in a space where it obstructs blood flow and can kill a person. Maybe this is the greatest imperfection of the human body and the reason most of us die as a result of heart disease? Because it is not 100% avoidable? So what if, the oxidative ApoB particles are actually the ones that are already locked in to proteoglycan structures? Are we really looking at the right space when we are testing patients for oxidated LDL through standard blood test Shouldn't we instead be looking at oxLDL content inside the subendothelial space? - where you would be more likely to see oxidated particles? (for obvious reasons that would be extremely hard to test without arterial biopsy which would be difficult, dangerous, unethical and expensive as heck). But isn't that what we see from tissues of post-mortem studies? Docked in oxidised ApoB particles inside subendotheliual space? @undeather might know more about this form his clinical practice & research Given that maybe the total LDL count that common tests are looking at is indeed the correct way to study this? Plus you want to know how many VLDLs and LP(a) you have so testing for ApoB and for LP(a) is a good idea for those who want to go deeper Interestingly this connects us to Pomegranate juice. To my knowledge, there are not very successful medication that can dislocate ApoB particles from proteoglycans but I think Punicalagins in PJ actually can. I have been toying around with idea of starting that consumption as well so I absolutely agree with you that there is somethign going on there which helps offset this damage. Maybe PJ is part of the answer. I don't think it can reverse plaque but maybe there is a timespan, say 72 hours (made that up) before those locked particles can still be dislocated before they trigger an army of macrophages? But what if that's not the right perspective to look at it? What if looking at it through the lenses of oxidative theory is again looking at consequence and not the cause? Maybe we need to be looking at , what increases the risk of ApoB particles (LDL, APoB, Lp(a) penetration into subendothelial space in the first place? Since it is not 100% avoidable, how can we minimise it? I would say, it starts with reducing the volume of ApoB particles in blood. There are 3 of them: LDL, VLDL & LP(a). Lp(a) is mainly driven by genetics to my knowledge so that one is hard to control without medication & strict lifestyle management (weight control etc.) I am not sure to what degree LP(a) is derived form diet. Maybe you know? LDL & VLDL are more likely to be impacted by diet and genetics for peope with familila hypercholesterolaemia. So then the ways to control isn't just to focus on antioxidant status but to focus on the penetration factor (as quirky as that sounds Blood pressure is an obvious one - control for blood pressure and you reduce the force driving the APoB particles through the arterial walls into subendothelium. Exercise, stay lean, don't smoke. Helps protect the arterial walls from stiffening, that's good and that's important. Reduce the total ApoB in diet mainly by reducing highest sources of APoB containing lipoproteins - animal foods with highest saturated fat content. (might be more complicated) control for total bodyweight, waist circumference and common antropomethric factors associated with hypertension take medication if diagnosed with FH I appreciate that this theory has holes but it makes sense to me that this is they key trigger and this is where it starts. Oxidation should be minimised through diet and I think we should actively be researching substances that help dislocate APoB particles from proteoglycans (such as pomegranate juice), I think PCSK-9 Inhibitors can do that too (and frankly I think this is where the future of cardiovascular medicine lies). Statins are helpful fro people who are unable to take control or who have genetic disorder - they prolong life but they do cause other issues, I'm with you on that and don't love them. I don't yet know where seed oils come into the mix. I also agree with you that human outcome data based mainly on prospective observation isn't perect but I'd say given the complexity, is the best we have. Maybe seed oils cna be treated as doubkle edged sword? They are more likely to oxidise but because they displace saturated fats (people more likely to eat more PUFA will usually eat less SFA) they decrease the probability of excessive LDL migration into subendothelium? Just a speculation. Honest answer here is I don't know and I haven't yet come to final consensus on seed oils. I'm interested to keep this debate going, this is a topic close to my heart as I, same as you, have seen people close to me, succumb to it. I think you make a lot of good and interesting points. Agree with some, disagree with some but overall I love this discussion.

what I noticed is that there is a tendency among women (but also men) on the internet to almost try to create self-suffering where there isn't one. It is almost as if the demand for suffering has far outweighted the supply of it in western societies where the basic anxieties of survival are fully covered. Hence all the gender wars, Gaza discussions, constant cries about inquality, intolerance, opression of masculine patriarchy. Its like we have run out of problems and we are trying very hard to create them so that we have something to bicker about?

it would make sense that it happens the same way the oxidised particles do? Sheer randomness and through the pressure of the pumping. Maybe the progression is identical to the way oxLDL gets there and what happens after is exactly the same - monocyte adhesion, inflammation, foam cell accumulation etc etc. In that case the main determining factor would be, how many particles per ml of blood do you have and what are the odds of them ending up in subendothelial space. Do we know anything about the size and the ease of luminal penetration? That would be an interesting factor to study.

Thank you for sharing! First time I heard about microplastics connected to anything other than endocrinology. I wasn't able to find the full paper but curious is there is a chance of correlative factor? What did they control for? For example we could proabbly make the assumption that folks with worse lifestyles overall will be more "full of" microplastics due to buying a lot of takeaway drinks, heating up plastic containers, not filtering their water, eating from takeaway containers , eating more processed food etc etc. Curious if that was looked at? Either way, this is scary! Dod they explain the suspected pathophysiology?

To anyone who has taken the time to understand the nuances of nutrition, statements like these are just laughable because it shows your own ignorance. I don't mean that in any negative way but you just haven't explored enough. You got complacent too early. Trust me I have been there when I discovered Robert More and then Veganism, suddenly everything made sense and I though I had answers to everything. I was buying herbal tinctures, doing enemas and convincing myself that iam detoxing my parasites and viruses and what have you. Then I realised all these extreme diets are mostly bs stemming from experiences of a few people who have been very sick and have found some help and then decided that they would be a wise commercial opportunity or that everyone should follow it. But guess what, life isn't that black and white. Things aren't just bad or good just because a guy on the internet says so. You don't need to eat raw diet to be healthy and to stay healthy. AV had a myeloma and a few other major health problems, maybe he had to....maybe. I don't know. But most people certainly don't have to eat raw meat. In fact it would be highly detrimental to the society if that turned out to be the case. You can be perfectly happy on a balanced diet and your life does not need to slide into this monotonous misery where you will just disagree with everyone and this new thing becomes an obsession that completely clouds your judgement so that you end up trying to convince the internet that it is wrong. We had AV topics here many times and we had many carnivores and vegans and raw meat eaters. We had people drinking piss around here. We had folks gazing at sun at the midday. We had insaney crazy vegans, rude and ruthless carnivores. The forum has seen it all. This is nothing new, these topics are argued all over the internet. But for heaven's sake don't be so lazy with your health and keep digging and keep researching, you will be surprised that the further you go, the simpler the answers become and you get to a stage where you realise what you have been told by others isn't mostly all bad. Wishing you well man, don't settle so easily. You only have one health, don't wreck it needlesly

It's all good man, it takes a lot of willpower, education and support to get oneself off that stuff. A lot of people are vulnerable and easily exploited not just by unhealthy food manufacturers but also charlatans on the internet. As a fellow health therapist, it is one of the things that fuels my desire to do better. All the best to you and your practice

Adjusted HR 5.04 Low vs Elite V02 Max fuuuuuuck !! . That is absolutely insane, I've not seen this stat before. What constitutes low and what constitutes elite? Also what constitutes High & Average in this chart. is this for ACM?

Ofcourse. Diet is a paramount component of a healthy body. That is debatable. For example being skiny with a low BMI does protect you more from things like cancer and heart disease (to some extend) but makes you more prone to osteoporosis. After the age of 65, about 20-25% of people who fall and break a loading hip or a loading bone die in the hospital. Of those who make it out of hospital (often resulting in major loss of muscle mass and further loss of bone mass) about third die within 12 months as a consequence of prolonged immobiity, infection or heart problems. Of all those who make it past year 1, almost 100% will suffer chronic consequences such as limping, pain and higher risk of infection, falling and another fracture. Falling and breaking a hip is one of the most common ways to die after 65. And the main risk factor for osteoporosis besides being female, old or postmenopausal is low body weight.

@Yousif Don't forget that the rest of your body suffers wear & tear as much as your muskuloskeletal system does. Let's take an example of a person who does not exercise and they end up with hypertension (high blood pressure). Because their heart has to work harder all the time, there is more sheer pressure on the lining of their arteries and this is causing progressive damage which leads to inflammation and a deposition of a plaque (complex topic simplified). On the other hand, you have a very active individual with normal blood pressure in whom this is not happening but yes, his joints are under more wear & tear and he might need surgery in his 50s or 60s for knee or pelvic joint. Maybe the argument should be - which poison are you going to choose? Would you rather that your heart and vascular system works extra hard or that your mobility aparatus does. Which one is easier to reverse and repair? Which one will kill you faster? What @undeather is saying is that exercise won't necessarily make you live longer (it might) but it slows down the first onset of health problems and helps you age better without less pain and less disease

That's true, overweight & obese people tend to eat a lot of processed food which is heavily based on processed wheat flour, sugar and fat. Granted, no argument at all there. But as a therapist & a professional you need to be precise and accurate when demonising major food groups for your clients otheriwise it makes you seem like an amateur. That's all I'm saying. The answers are probably deeply rooted in people's environment, habit, psyche and upbringing rather than sugar addiction which is more like a consequence of somethign else. Anyway, I'll let this go, thanks for the response.

^ nice comment