Tactile

Thanks for the Daniel Reid tip. He seems to give thumbs up for the coffee. I decided that 3 times a day is a bit over the top, so I will probably do once a day. Also for the last days I think I will book the local colonic clinic to make the cleanse thorough. a general lack of energy is the main problem. The guy I'm seeing noticed that the right side of my colon was blocked somehow so that's one reason he recommended the juice fast. This protocol is something he uses quite a lot so it should be OK. Thanks broken for your input too. I don't know how I would categorize the guy, he draws his methods from different sources. Our first session was mostly fascial work and cranio-sacral therapy and general looking at where I am right now healthwise.

Oh, the link http://www.heartscanblog.org/

Conventional approaches to high cholesterol are in short: bullshit. If you want another perspective, I can recommend reading a blog of this US cardiologist who continually has great success with a dietary and supplementary (meaning mostly vit D) approach to heart-health. The information is spread out to the blog so a little reading is required, but that's really the best way to get the big picture.

Oh, and one more thing. Meridians do not end and start at the same point, there are points which are simply called entry & exit points and they are connected on different meridians. Check: http://www.yinyanghouse.com/acupuncturepoints/theory_entryexit

There shouldn't be any confusion about the points if you just have a proper source from where to look. Some points have alternate locations (for example the jing-well point of PC/HG meridian (PC9) has alternative locations on the other corner of the nail and in the middle of the tip of the middle finger and I think the points have a little different indications) For exampe the site joeblast posted is good.. Also, studying the anatomical aspect of the body (mostly muscles & bones) makes finding the points much easier.

Moi

What you are referring about is called the 'chinese clock' and it describes the flow of 'ying qi' in the body. 'Ying qi' means basically constructive qi or building chi and it circulates through all the main meridians maintaining the structure & function of the organ system and meridians. The two hour period is the time ying qi is especially active in a specific meridian, not really so that it's _only_ active there, as you said..

I had heard his name before, but hadn't gotten into his stuff until today.. seems really interesting so I wanted to give a heads up here.

I'm quite certain that a vegan or a raw vegan diet wouldn't work for me despite how much I tried. I have experimented with food quite a lot and read a shitton about nutrition, and have come to the conclusion that in order to keep my body functioning so that it doesn't give me trouble, I need to feed it animal products. My constitution isn't that strong as with some people so that might have something to do with it. Also I've found that many vegetarian/vegan promoting "scientific" books (Fuhrman's stuff & the China study come to mind) are quite heavily laced with ideology due to which they make some very strange claims about animal products in general. Of course I don't have anything against veggies & berries & etc. , and they are a big part of my diet. I just don't thrive only on them..

different perspective: http://paleodietlifestyle.com/how-steve-pavlina-almost-killed-me/ There is no reason from a biological point of view why vegan raw food diet would be good to us. For some people it seems to work very well, at least for a while. Just don't get too dogmatic about it, because for some people eating that way leads to deficiencies down the road and then you will need to reconsider your diet. I myself do much better with high-fat paleo style diet so each of us is different I guess..

yeah that's me .. actually I heard that when I was travelling in Europe this summer. Not really where it was, tho. Somewhere east.. Slovenia maybe ?-)

Right now I'm living in the center but I've lived in Jollas about ten years Moved away like 6 years ago. Small town eh .. Somehow I thought that you were from that school , I know about it. I considered it also at some point but then decided upon ISA (http://www.akupunktioklinikka.com/). I just started there so not much stuff yet, but seems good up to now .. But yea, nice to see you here. I'm also more of a lurker but definately appreciating the vibes of this place ..

I share your predicament somewhat. I'm a few years younger than you and I've had post ejaculatory fatigue after I was 18 or so.. I've made some improvement regarding this issue but I'm still not happy on how this issue affects my life. Some things that have helped me: A stricter diet. Cutting away the crap which is basically sugar, industrial vegetable oils and grains & other empty carbs. I also started eating meat again after being vegetarian in my teens. My fat % of calories is pretty high (compared to avg. joe) and it seems to be working pretty well for me. It's a kind of paleolithic diet. A summary can be found here. http://www.paleonu.com/get-started/ . Forget the nutrional propaganda that fat is bad for you. It's not. Clean animal products (and fat) are best foods for building yin in the body. I've also experimented with superfoods (like bee pollen), and I think they're nice, but maybe a bit overrated (pricewise). Some people really seem to swear by them tho' Acupuncture seems to have helped also. The effect for me has been happening more in the long run. You might want to try different practitioners if you have $$$ to experiment with, because it's also a matter of finding the right person. Also I feel that if I would be just a little less lazy and would really get some serious meditation / energy work done, I could push this thing forward quite a bit. Maybe someday ...

Some stuff from the top of my head I've enjoyed greatly.. Waves by Virginia Woolf is awesome.. prismatic and beautiful. Not the lightest read but really worth it when you get into it. Other author I really dig is David Mitchell. I'm just reading his newest book, "Thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet" which seems good but I maybe wouldn't recommend that as the first one of his to read. "Cloud Atlas" or "Black Swan Green" are really nice reading. He has a kind of witty and strong style of writing and likes to play with genres a lot also. Haruki Murakami is also one author I would really recommend. Especially his books "Norwegian wood" (kind of cult classic in Japan and a bit different style than his other books) and "Kafka on the Shore" are especially good. Also "Wind up Bird Chronicle", "Dance Dance Dance", "A wild Sheep chase" and "Hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world" I would recommend. His style is kind of plain, quite eas but it has a lot of stuff happening underneath it and it mysteriously draws you in. A certain vibe which some people really like (me included) .. not anything particularly spiritual here, just some great fiction which I think people here would enjoy.

I would advice against it. Unless you have a strong constitution, going vegan is asking for trouble in the long run unless you really know what you're doing because human body isn't really adopted for eating just plants. And eating only vegan stuff in that sense is going against the tao.. in any case for you to live something else must die. If you don't want to eat meat I suggest eating at least plenty (2-6 daily) eggs, maybe some fish and raw milk if it suits you (organic/pastured butter is also good). There are a few fundamental problems in your average vegan diet. First of all it generally has too much wrong kinds of carbs, mostly meaning cereal grains. Wheat is the number one enemy, but rice & its buddies should also be used sparingly. It's ok to eat them sometimes, but it should be just a small part of the meal. Most of the stuff you want to be putting in your mouth are vegetables. Berries and a little bit of fruit is ok too. Second problem is an adequate source of protein. Eggs are really good if you eat them, beside from that almost every other option is not ideal. Soy should be avoided completely (exept fermented versions such as soy sauce, miso, etc.), here's a summary: http://www.westonaprice.org/soy-alert.html . Lentils and beans also have some stuff in them which you don't want inside you. If you ferment them they might be OK though (see for example http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/11/real-food-ix-idlis.html). Also one good option could be this product (http://www.iherb.com/Sun-Warrior-Protein-Raw-Vegan-Natural-2-2-lbs-1000-g/23101?at=0) . It's pretty good tasting and probably the best option next to the real thing. Third question is fat. It's not a problem because extra virgin olive oil and (organic) extra virgin coconut oil are both very suitable for optimal nutrition. EVCO is something you want to be eating a lot every day.. it's a great source of energy and a perfect replacement for those calories you got before from those cereal grains. It also makes killer asian-type foods when used as a cooking oil. Almost all other vegetable oils should be avoided (exept maybe avocado oil) because they tend to contain shitloads of omega-6, which is not good for you in any way.. Hmm I probably most of the bases covered here.. I didn't explain everything in 100% detail so if you have questions, please ask.

Well I'm mostly gonna add to what others have already been suggesting. Intuflow would be just great for you I believe (you might want to check demonoid or youtube if you're feeling poor ..) Also, for trigger point massage, which is also invaluable for problems like this, you can find an inexpensive self-help book on amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-Treatment/dp/1572243759/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266879084&sr=8-1 For diet I the best thing (as always) would be to eliminate the major crap that drives inflammation ie. grains (especially wheat), sugar and vegetable oils exept for EV olive oil and EV coconut oil and maybe a little some other cold pressed seed oils. Also make sure that your animal products (if you eat them) come from clean sources. Good luck with helping yourself.

Wasn't there this study in which they examined some monks who were active meditators and found out that they have more gray matter in their brains compared to your average joe? Anyway, the idea you're proposing seems quite counterintuitive to me and founded on kind-of-logical-linear thinking (and thus sounding more convincing to some people) but totally hitting off the mark. Where do you get this theory from anyways?

Thanks! Great thread, too..

I really dig veggies lightly cooked in coconut oil + rice wine vinegar + spices to taste. I usually add just enough oil to cook properly and when it's finished I heap the rest of the oil (1-2 tbsp) in. Easy, delicious, healthy & cheap. You don't even need any rice (which I wouldn't use anyway - you can just always add more veggies) so the whole thing is ready in under 15 minutes. Ideas for veggie choices: cabbage, sweet potato, chinese cabbage, mushrooms, pepper, zucchini, avocado etc. Also shrimp is really good with this and also some meats.

Here's one anti-soy perspective: http://westonaprice.org/soy-alert.html OTOH, I remember recently reading about a new meta-study on soy which concluded that there were at least no hormonal side-effects from soy protein consumption. But I'm not sure how high I would rate that info because I think it all comes down to that soy isn't a very natural food for humans to consume. It needs lot of processing to be even semi-edible so I'd recommend you get your proteins from somewhere else if possible..

I'd suggest looking into paleo/low carb style nutrition if you feel that that kind of diet would suit to you. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the best way to lose fat is to eat fat. Insulin spikes that follow carbohydrate consumption are the main factor in weight gain. With a high fat diet (what is proper fat? check http://www.westonaprice.org/Know-Your-Fats/ ) your body stays in the fat burning mode most of the time. Hi fat meaning up to 15-20% calories from carbohydrates and the rest from fat and protein (max around 30%) When you look at it from an evolutionary perspective it makes quite a bit sense. Major carbohydrate sources were available only during a time of 1-2 months and rest of the time the main energy source was animal products. During these 1-2 summer months the body went in to energy storing (ie. fattening) mode from the sugar from all the fruit for the winter when the food was scarcer. Another very effective weight losing method from the paleo community is Intermittent Fasting (IF). It means that you try to narrow the time of the day when you eat to only 4-6 hours (ideally) so you are in fasting mode all the time. With carb-based diet this is much more harder to accomplish as your blood sugar levels fluctuate, but with paleo style diet (at least after your body has adapted to a different kind of eating) the state of fasting is no biggie. The benefits from a paleo style diet are many. It's a very easy and natural way of losing weigh. Inflammation in the mostly caused by non-paleo foods (wheat (grains), sugar and industrial vegetable oils) so cutting them away is really good for the body in general. Oh, and coronary disease? Unknown to at least those paleolithic civilizations (inuits and masai) who ate a very high % of animal products and saturated fat in their diet. And they got old too. Also, blood sugar control improves dramatically, you don't have to eat every 3-4 hours if you don't want to. More energy and better health in general is at least what I've experienced eating paleo style.. some resources if you're interested http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ http://paynowlivelater.blogspot.com/ http://www.paleonu.com/ http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/

Where do you get this? Seems like an unfounded statement as it lumps all fat into one category. Maybe there could be that kind of effect with factory farmed meat because of all the hormones feed to the cattle? At least in the paleo community the wisdom is that the natural way of eating low carb (and thus hi fat as you can't increase protein much more than 30% of total energy consumption) and avoiding polyunsaturated fat (because of the omega-6) curbs inflammation boosts growth hormone levels and testosterone. I can at least confirm this with my own experience.. also if you want I can dig around to look for some references.

Saturated fat is not a problem, refined carbs and grains are the real culprit. Actually eating sat fat from natural sources is quite beneficial for reading I'd recommend http://westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/index.html http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008...eath-brief.html http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008...alth-brief.html http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/ is also an interesting blog from the same scene, but is also quite technical sometimes