Posts made by peatlegal

@Corngold said in Time, Progress, Despair / Recovering from Stress:

He also seems to have this "boiling point" stress where he just wants to unleash and fight people, find easy girls, etc, but suppresses most of this with pot. Maybe boxing / fighting is a good avenue.

Oh and full disclosure, I'm a lady and sort of constitutionally averse to physical violence, but I could probably stand to find some old pottery to smash or, idk, ask my uncle to teach me archery or something.

@Corngold said in Time, Progress, Despair / Recovering from Stress:

On joining stuff, I'm not really into softball "drinking leagues." I can't really stand gyms either, it's a stressful / serotonergic environment. I guess I'm somewhat comfortable with the idea that I'm a difficult person, the caveat being we have to consider what modernity considers "difficult" if you catch my drift.

I like the calm clarity you seem to have about this. I don't think I'm there yet. I've thought I had that sort of clarity and acceptance of myself in the past, but honestly starting in on Peaty living threw that for a loop. I'm somehow not able to accept the coping mechanisms I've relied on in the past to avoid thinking critically about my own life, falling into comparing what I've been able to do with what others appear to have achieved, my failings, etc. This kind of rumination mode is not a healthy one at all, and I have to hope that with time, diligence, and effort it abates, but from my current vantage point at least it seems to be part of the process.

That brings me to the time and patience part of this that prompted me to post to begin with. I've had a sort of schizoid response to these dietary and lifestyle changes, because once you see how profoundly it is possible to shift your way of thinking, living, being, you also see how possible it would have been to do so in the past. If you're not that young (I'm not) that produces a great deal of frustration. If I believed in god/a higher intelligence guiding my path, this issue might be obviated, but I can't will that kind of faith into existence. I don't think.

@Corngold said in Time, Progress, Despair / Recovering from Stress:

Whether it's cortisol/adrenaline or serotonin, it's like an instant flash of how your body and mind were perceiving things in a haze or exclusively subjective view.

Yep. I think "exclusively subjective view" is a good way to put it. Or a sort of collapsed, extremely partial, impoverished view. It always looks stupid when I'm able to reflect back on it from a better position...which is usually in the summer when I'm out in the sun, swimming in the ocean, looking back on the depths of February. So there's the chemical component, the environmental/contextual component, but then my basic understanding of working toward the high metabolic state is reaching a point where the internal energy is sufficient to allow the organism to continue self regulating, and not falling into the deranged/skewed state, even when the environmental conditions are not favorable. It's sure tough though.

Abundance leading to high energy/low stress states, curiosity, cooperation, interaction. What I've gleaned so far from the bits and pieces of his critique of Darwinism.

@Corngold said in Time, Progress, Despair / Recovering from Stress:

I'm now mentioning Dr. Sarno, who studied the mind/body connection and back/muscle pain, and thought many pains stemmed from repressed rage. I mention this because physical pain can keep someone from overcoming stresses (true for me). His belief was that rage can't be eliminated, but its expression can be managed. In this view, rage targets certain body parts, depriving them of oxygen. Well, I wonder if rage or x factor is targeting certain brain parts and depriving them of oxygen / stressing them.

This is interesting. I've been thinking about rage for the last day or two, actually, then read your reply in a most synchronistic fashion. I wonder if I have a tendency to direct the rage (justifiable, accumulated over a lifetime and painstakingly repressed) entirely at myself, basically committing constant ego harakiri, becoming mired in my failings. Then the whole thing manifests in psychic pain (treat with substances) or physical pain--indeed, I have chronic neck pain that has been, at times over the last few years, totally debilitating. So you're blowing my mind a little. Maybe I need to find something to wreck or punch, or simply yell at people when they deserve it rather than smiling in a stilted way.

@Corngold said in Time, Progress, Despair / Recovering from Stress:

It seems like the anticipation of the high is the culmination of the stress one wants to unload. So instead of someone punching a wall or a lifting a barbell, they're hitting themselves in the head and lungs with weed.

This too. I do have a knee jerk "find the right substance" response to stress and pain. Absolutely. I have addictive tendencies and was raised by a hardcore addict. I often feel like I am desperately waiting for that "culmination" of stress you mention--I'm treading water, treading, treading, and I get this feeling like I'm gasping for air (o.k., maybe this swimming-related metaphor has started to fall apart). I'm waiting for the moment when the constant stress will suddenly break apart and find complete release. It's possible to induce a feeling akin to this through various physical and drug-assisted methods, and so I guess I've depended on those in the hope that the experience will somehow transfer over to daily life, but maybe it just does not?

I'll note also in response to both your points on being with people, but being selective about those on whom to expend energy, what I struggle with here is judgement. I distrust myself in this regard. I become paranoiac and invent multiple explanations for interactions I have with people. Exhibit A: my very old friend whom I love has never actually cared for me enough and is abandoning our friendship. Exhibit B: my very old friend whom I love is busy taking care of a kid and misses me too. Seeking out new people and new places is one thing, but how to ferret out the places and the people where/with whom one can be entirely genuine? Again, a tall order. It seems that stress/serotonin poison the very centers that allow one to have any kind of clarity about judgements and the core substance of human interactions.

@LetTheRedeemed Thanks, I appreciate this and I think there is a lot of truth to what you say. The circularity of the problem means that it's obviously not solvable through diet and attempts to correct course on health alone, and actually the fixation on diet, or orthorexia, is paradoxically much easier to fall into when poor diet and lifestyle have already created the high-serotonin state. So frustrating.

That said, I'm not one for organized religion. I sometimes envy my friends who grew up in that world and can easily re-enter it, but it's just not psychically possible for me. I think a lot about Ray Peat saying in an old GE podcast that a fundamental key to living well is being surrounded by people with whom you share a sense of reality. It's absolutely right but also such a tall order in this world. I feel lucky to have a few. I'm very selective about who I spend time with and, thankfully, do not (at least in my personal life) expend energy on people who are dull, lifeless, brainwashed, predatory, etc.

So while I think this is an excellent piece of advice--what could possibly be better than being part of a small community of like-minded people who grasped, or at least desired to grasp, reality in its fullness?--it makes me extremely stressed. Being integrated into any social world has to be better, from a bio-social standpoint, than being integrated into no social world. But as you become more alive and alert to the vast propaganda apparatus, to the systems that hold people pinned like butterflies, it also becomes more difficult to sustain patience with well-intentioned but also confused people. Do I just have a very jaundiced view? I don't know--I live in the belly of the beast, the decaying US, so that probably sways my view of the possible.

Hoping some of you who have been at this for a long time can share your internal and spiritual progress and what your timelines looked like.

In my case, while my diet and lifestyle before were Peat-adjacent--shared a lot of the same concerns about light, truth, industrial food, etc.--it's only been about a month and a half of serious commitment. By this I mean, re-introducing lots and lots of carbs (juice, fruit, ice cream, candy, honey), milk, making sure I get my protein and gelatin, and using diet and supplementation to focus on shifting away from serotonin and toward dopamine.

This was the profound realization for me right off the bat. In December, I abruptly cut out all the things I thought were helping my chronic insomnia and anxiety (melatonin, 5-HTP, prescription sleep aids and antidepressents, copious amounts of weed) and stopped compulsively restricting sugar consumption (plus progesterone and, now, a little cyproheptadine). Immediately, I was able to sleep deeply and felt a sense of profound calm and exhaustion. Based on all my reading of/listening to RP, and reflection on my history and internal state, I feel convinced that I have been hypothyroid, high serotonin, and fueled solely by stress hormones for a very long time. My energy is still low, as are my temps, and so I probably now need to figure out my thyroid.

My brain works better now too--thoughts are clearer, keener. This is great in the sense that I am more productive and creative with work and have more hope for the future. At the same time, I'm coming out of a zombie state. Years of anhedonic living driven by stress demons. My reaction to stress (perhaps a bit like IkeIkeforever noted in a recent thread--maybe why I'm thinking about all this) is to retreat, and so I've retreated for ages.

Now I have to dig myself back out. The physical, spiritual, social are all of a piece. But when you wake back up, and your brain comes back online (along with emotions), that can also make pain more acute, make the things that are missing more acute.

How do you handle the slow progress when, recognizing that everything is an interconnected whole, that means everything needs to be reevaluated? I feel like following Peat's precepts has brought parts of my being back to life, and in my best moments I'm deliriously thankful for that. But how does the reanimated creature deal with waking up in a cramped, malfunctioning, husk?

Or, like, (more prosaically) what are some good pro-metabolic substances that promote calm, confidence, and fortitude for the long journey ahead?

Yeah, I'd also appreciate getting a little more by way of explanation from people who have a better understanding of electromagnetic frequencies than I do.

I have one of those faraday fabric canopies for my bed with a sheet that's supposed to go underneath, creating a tent. When I use my EMF meter inside though, the RF reading is dramatically reduced (I live in a big city, 3rd floor apartment, cell towers and routers everywhere), but it's not at zero. My guess would be that there are little gaps In the tent system. Healthwise, is it actually worse to be inside the faraday cage with slight leakage, basically like being getting cooked inside a microwave with RF bouncing around everywhere, or outside the tent where the readings are consistently high?

@IkeIkeforever Have you looked into whether there are any free/low cost places you could take Japanese classes in person where you live? Easier said than done, I know, but you might really get something out of doing the activities you're enjoying alongside other people. Language classes are an excellent place to meet people in a natural, engaging way. You're all struggling through something together, and that sometimes produces a comradely feeling. Also, the instructors are often from elsewhere, and then you get to meet interesting people with varied life experience/backgrounds. Just a thought. It sounds as though you are being very diligent with your diet and health and may want to incorporate gradual environmental changes in a complementary way.

Ray Peat always talked about the importance of finding like-minded people with whom you can share a sense of reality--a tall order in the hell world we're living in, but ya never know what new and interesting humans are out there. At the very least, you know they're not in your house.

Also, progesterone is very safe, especially in small doses, and RP consistently recommended it to everyone, for just about everything. It has a calming, stabilizing effect and might be helpful if (like me) you're dealing with trying to tip the scale away from serotonin and toward dopamine. You could always try just a tiny bit and see how you do--easier and safer than experimenting with thyroid, IMO. Just make sure you're getting it from a very good source. I'd recommend idealabs or Kenogen.

@Rah1woot Agree. I'm sure there's a more technical/bioenergetic explanation for this, but I think when I have something nice and sweet it sends a reminder to my brain that life has nice, sweet things in it. Then the next thing it signals is oh, there will be more of these--that's something to look forward to. If I have an abundance of nice, sweet things, it tells my brain that life is full of abundant pleasures, and that I should stick around and remain curious. Then the next leap is to the beginnings of generosity. If the nice things are abundant, we can all have them. No scarcity mentality.

Anyone have thoughts on whether the benefits of carrot salad are lost if one eats the ingredients together rather than assembling a proper salad? I happen to love whole raw carrots, scoops of coconut oil, and shots of ACV. And I'm lazy.

@DavidPS What's the reason for the green tint as opposed to orange or red on your goggles though?

Thanks for the elaboration above. I've always been careful about blue light (or really, non-red) light at night, but had bought into the idea that blue light, and especially unfiltered sunlight, during the day plays an important role in regulating mood. I'll have to read through that Peat citation carefully. Any thoughts on using red-tinted vs. orange-tinted glasses to protect eyes from various unwanted spectra?

@risingfire Out of curiosity, how do you adjust your dosage when you take it transdermally vs. sublingually?

@DavidPS Can you expand on this? Sunglasses seem to be a very fraught topic.

I do one sublingual drop at night, wait a bit, swallow. It makes me feel sleepy within half an hour and has helped over a period of weeks with anxiety (feeling of cold dread that used to hit mid morning) and digestion. I find it makes me groggy if I take it right before bed so I aim for an hour before bedtime and might experiment with moving it earlier.

@Ecstatic_Hamster But conceivably one can think of eggshell as precisely that, a food rich in calcium. Just because it's being used as a supplement doesn't make it less of a food--just take a look at my dog when I give her a whole egg. She treats it like it's cadbury. Crunchy and delicious.

I haven't tried eggshell powder yet but I need a non-dairy calcium source so I'm happy to hear this.