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Attacking Adversity

Go Hiking And See A UFO

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Well, if you don’t get into the mountains there is much less chance you will see anything. Now, if you are snickering or rolling your eyes right now, check out the Joe Rogan podcast number 1361 with Cmdr. David Fravor and Jeremy Corbell. Now that you have listened to that, I will continue.

Oh, you don’t have the time to listen to it? Ok, let’s just think about all this.

The Media and UFOs

Recently I was listening to David Sinclair discuss his findings in the area of anti-aging. Some of the things he talks about are amazing. Then I heard a radio newscast discussing his book, laughing and joking about it. Of course, they do the same thing with the subject of UFOs.

The other extreme is Coast to Coast. Listen to George Nori. He took over where Art Bell left off. There you will not only hear credible stories but crazy nut cases as well. It is great entertainment.

Mountains and UFOs

The first reported sighting of a UFO was over Mt Rainier in the 50s. UFOs like to fly over mountains. Those green guys probably just like the view.

If you hike in the dark as I do, well before sunrise you can see all sorts of things up in the sky that you don’t see during the day. Even if you just hike during the day, keep an eye on the sky, because you never know what might show up.

My Experience

Yes, I saw something that I have never been able to explain. It was years ago at Lake Wenatchee, at night. I was lying on the beach, sober, looking up at the stars. I saw a couple of satellites move across the sky and then I saw something amazing. From four different directions, these white, star-like objects converged on an imaginary point. When they all met in the middle they immediately went back out away from the center. Each one probably just kept going the same direction. They all disappeared. Oh, how fast? Very fast! I have never been able to explain it or have anyone else explain it to me.

As Joe Rogan and others have said, “We are not alone.”

Go Hiking And Climb To Nankoweap

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Apparently, you can access this area via roads, but when I climbed to it, I did it from the Colorado River. It is a decent hike, especially in hot weather. Unlike here in the Northwest, it gets really hot.

It is a historic spot that challenges you in a couple of different ways, but as you can see from the picture I took, the view is worth it.

Narrow Path to Caves

If you are afraid of heights this might be one you want to leave to others. The path becomes very narrow as you approach the caves. Even I had to sit down for a minute to compose myself.

The caves (actually graineries) were made by the Paiute many years ago. It is hard to imagine them working at that height, in those conditions. We are so pampered in today’s society. Those people had to work to stay alive.

Best Way To Get There

When I went, I used Colorado River and Trail and floated from Lake Powell to Lake Mead taking twelve days. There was lots of hiking and I will talk about some of those other hikes in the future. The Toroweap hike was one of the best.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to hire Colorado River and Trail to take you, you will not be disappointed. They use very big boats with motors so although you are shooting Class V rapids, you don’t tip over. In my opinion that is a bonus. You do get very wet and the boat does rise to probably 30-degree angles at times. Lava Falls is the biggest rapid.

And in addition to keeping you alive, this company also cooks for you and provides a portable outhouse for your convenience.

So hire somebody to take you down the canyon. This is not just a white water trip. Go hiking!

Go Hiking And Climb Granite Mountain

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Go Hiking and Climb Granite Mountain, Bandera and Bear Mountain

These three mountains are ones that I climb infrequently so I thought I would lump them together.

Granite Mountain

If you like being in the sun Granite mountain delivers. Most of it is out of the woods so it can get pretty hot in the summer. Bring a lot of water.

It is not a particularly difficult climb, but there are a good number of rocks. I broke both of my trekking poles coming down this mountain a few years ago because they got caught in some rocks.

There are a couple of significant avalanche shoots so take care to stay away in the winter. It is called unnecessary risk.

Lookout

Like all mountains, getting to the top of Granite is the goal. On top of Granite is a lookout. It is not as nice as the one on Pilchuck, but you can sit and look at the view which includes the freeway.

I suppose Granite mountain is not my favorite climb. Maybe it is because it took my trekking poles. All mountains are unpredictable. Still, all the mountains are worth climbing at least once. It is actually a very popular hike and is close by off of I-90.

It has been a while since I climbed it. Maybe I should reconsider, forgive the mountain and give it another shot.

Bandera

The two outstanding things about Bandera are how steep it is and how short it is. It is supposed to be 8 miles round trip. Maybe. It does get steep but has a nice view of a lake at the top. It is right off of I-90 so once again a mountain that is close.

Bear Mountain

Confession, I only climbed this mountain twice, years ago. Like Granite mountain, there is a considerable amount of the trail exposed to the sun. I also remember lots of mosquitoes. But don’t stay away just because I do. Check it out yourself! Go hiking!

Go Hiking And Feel Powerful

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Hiking does make you feel powerful. Just the physical movement gets your blood flowing and then as you climb higher and higher you feel stronger.

Sure it is hard, but deep inside you feel power. It grows as you climb. Wait! Stop! How can the be? Ok, here are some ideas.

Mantras

Mantras keep you focused on the task at hand and not how difficult it might be. Here are my favorite, all of which I stole from somebody else. You can steal them from me if they fit.

Life is good. I am strong. I can do this all day long.
I’m strong and powerful. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
My body is my home. My home is my temple.
I’m strong, I thrive, at 165.
Measure your day by what you sow and not by what you reap
Find happiness in the short term misery of discipline so you don’t suffer the long term pain of regret.

When I am hiking I am saying these six mantras over and over again. They help me focus and I believe they get drilled into my subconscious.

Micro Goals

I may have talked about micro goals before. In the Unbeatable Mind community which Mark Divine began they are a staple. When it comes to hiking they are perfect. You feel a little tired or maybe a lot tired. So you pick a rock or a tree up ahead and just tell yourself you are going to go as far as that tree. Of course you keep going after you get to it. Then set another micro goal.

Eventually after you have set enough micro goals you will reach the top. Then it is time to back down and that is not as easy as it seems at first. So set some micro goals then as well. Now go hiking!

Bookish Weapon Number Nineteen

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This book, “Boundless,” by Ben Greenfield will not be available until January 2020 so no, I have not read it yet. However, it is a way to help promote his book for him and provide me the platform to tell you about some of the things I have learned from listening to his podcasts for several years now. This will be a bit longer than my typical post.

Of course, I recommend you read his book and even his older book called, “Beyond Training.” And don’t forget the podcasts! Yes, I know some of you don’t listen to podcasts or read books, but just things that summarize all of that. So let me jump around a bit and see if I can give you a little bit of everything. But remember, this is really an overview and based on my experience and opinion so please research this on your own. It does give you a starting point.

Anti-aging – The Number One Supplement

It surprises me somewhat that younger people have so much interest in not getting old. I would think that you’re so busy you don’t start to think about that until you are, well, older. Yet, this is a hot topic.

Under this subject there are a whole lot of things to discuss. First, supplements. The most popular and well researched supplement for anti-aging is an NAD precursor called Nicotinamide Riboside Chloride and sold by two main companies, Elysium and Chromadex. Elysium sells a product called Basis and Chromadex sells one called Tru-Niagen. I will let you decide which is best. I do take one of them now and have taken the other in the past. Where did I hear about these two products? On the Ben Greenfield podcast!

Wait, I went too fast. You may be asking what, pray tell, is NAD? NAD stands for Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide. As we age NAD levels deteriorate so the idea behind this supplement which is basically Vitamin B-3, is to increase NAD levels in the body. Research has shown that it indeed does just that. So why is that important? Because NAD energizes your cells so you have more energy. You can climb mountains when you’re 74!

There is another product that is supposed to increase NAD levels, but has no research behind it that I know about and that is Nicotinamide Mononucleotide or NMN. David Sinclair takes it.

The Others

Other Ant-Aging supplements recommended by Sandy Kaufman in the Kaufman Protocol (one of Ben’s guests) include Resveratol, Pterostilbene, Astaxanthin and Curcumin for those over 45 years old. There a slightly different recommendations for other categories of people.

Sleep

This is my favorite subject. So I want to pass on what I have learned from Ben’s guests and Ben’s recommendations. Then tell you my experience.

First, getting to sleep can be difficult for some people. Ben recommends Dr.Parsley’s Sleep Remedy, CBD oil and Quiksilver Melatonin. He also recommends a product called Circadia. Think it is expensive? Well NuCalm is almost $5000. He recommends it too, but Circadia is less than a thousand.

Let me throw my two cents in as well. I have had great results with CBD oil and Dr Parsley’s product, but now I am using a product called Mag R&R which helps me with tight muscles and prevents night cramps from long mountain hikes. It contains melatonin, 5-HTP, Rhodiola, Ashwagandha, Gaza, ad Oasis Flower.

Dr. Steven Gundry in his recent book on anti-aging recommends that you do not eat anything for at least four hours before you go to bed. He claims that in order for your brain to be “cleansed” by something called Glymph, your body can’t be focusing on digestion.

Another recommendation from Ben is a grounding mat. It is supposed to eliminate pain while you are on it. Get it from Ultimate Longevity. Why? Listen to the podcast that features the owner for the answer to that.

Blood Tests

When you get your annual physical your doctor orders the standard blood tests. Pretty basic, but what do you really need to order? Here is Ben’s 11 Best Biomarkers:

RBC Magnesium
Estrodiol
High-Sensitivity- C-Reactive Protein
Tryilyceride to HDL Ratio
Full Lipid Panel
Omega Three Fatty Acids
IGF-1
Insulin
Complete Blood Count with Differential
Iron

Toss that at your doctor next time you see him or her. If you want a lengthy explanation for each one visit Ben’s website and search for 11 Best Biomarkers.

Recovery

Hopefully, some of you the read these posts are hikers or engage in some kind of regular exercise. If so, then you are gong to have times when you tweaked or injured something. Maybe it is just being extremely sore which I guarantee if you go hiking with me.

So it is with that in mind that I am introducing you to something called BP 157. Yes, I heard about first on the Ben Greenfield podcast. You can now take it orally, but before this the only way it worked was by injection. There never was an oral BPC 157 that worked. However, Greenfield had the owner of Dr. Seeds dot com on his show and they discussed their oral product. Ben tried it and said it worked, but that because it is oral it took three weeks before you felt any difference to an injury for instance.

What exactly is this stuff? BP 157 is a peptide and it works with your blood to help heal injuries faster. What I didn’t know was that it also dramatically reduces soreness after a workout or training session. I used it for two months and discovered, to my delight that Ben was right. The stuff is amazing and there are no side effects. Dr Seeds sells the only (so far) oral product that works. He calls it Body Protective Complex (clever, right?). If you decide to try it know that the black bottle is the higher dose. That is what I used.

Other Peptides

Peptides are a huge topic. BPC 157 is only the beginning. There are peptides for energy, better sleep, etc. You can dive deep. However, as far as I know all these other peptides require an injection.

For example, there is DSIP or Delta Sleep Inducing Peptide. If you try this let me know how it works as I have not as yet. I tend to stay away from injections.

Surface Scratching

This post has only scratched the surface of what is in Greenfield’s books and podcasts. I hope you will start listening, because it could have a huge impact on your health.

Now, at least you have a place to start. It is a fast changing world of bio-hacks and everything to make you better so you can go hiking of course.

Go Hiking And Get Interested In Exercise And Health

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When a person puts as much effort into a pastime as I do with hiking or someone else might do with Spartan Racing, for example, they become very interested in how they can keep the body going, avoid injury, recover from injury, etc.

In the corresponding Bookinsh Weapon post number nineteen, I dive into some of the things I have learned from listening to the Ben Greenfield podcast. However, there is so much information that I thought I would continue up this trail. Joe Rogan’s interview recently with David Sinclair covered anti-aging. So a lot to discuss. Let’s get going.

Hardware

I thought it would be fun to discuss some of the hardware that is available to improve everything from sleep to performance, to eliminating pain.

The new NuCalm device that sells for a little less than $5,000 does a lot. The company spent twenty years researching to develop this product. It can give you two hours of deep sleep in twenty minutes or improve you regular night time deep sleep and much more. Greenfield has tested it and it does work

The Circadia device sells for less than $1000 and helps you fall asleep. This is Greenfield’s suggestion for folks on a “budget.”

The Grounding Mat (you sleep on it) brought to you by Ben’s guest Clint Ober, is supposed to eliminate pain. Twin size is only $129.

The Chilly Pad gets high praise from a wide range of sleep experts. It allows you to keep your mattress cool while you sleep which helps you sleep better. It sells for about $600.

So I guess you would put the grounding mat on top of the Chili Pad or…

The Halo Sport helps you learn any motor skill quicker. It could be guitar playing or lifting weights.

The Joove Light – Red light that is good for you. Benefits: muscle recovery, joint pain, sleep optimization, testosterone, inflammation, bone health and skin health. I want one! Maybe more than one since they have a portable device as well.

More About Supplements

In the Bookish Weapon post I listed some anti-aging supplements, but here are a few that didn’t necessarily fall into that category, but as you will see, I think they are great!

Atantril – If you have gas, this one is great.
Restore – Protects against Glycosides. I’s great!
Lean – Helps you avoid glucose spikes (from Ben Greenfield’s company Kion). It is great!

Fixing What’s Broken

In Joe Rogan’s podcast with David Sinclair they discuss the progress being made in the field of genetics when it comes to fixing the body. For example, they shot a virus carrying a reprogramming genetic code into the eyes of old mice who had eye problems. All the mouse eyes were reprogramed to have brand new eyes. So within the next year they will begin human trials on people that have Macular Degeneration and Glaucoma.

It will get even better. Later they are planning to use the same technology to heal spine injuries and other serious problems. This is so exciting! In the next ten years health care as we know it will be changing dramatically.