You know I was reading the other day that Google search results are biased. True, everyone is biased including the search engine and what it chooses for you.
Why does it choose the sites that it does?
I’ve learned a lot about that since I started a website about 10 years ago.
But some say Google is politically biased. Google owns Youtube and I’ve heard stories of people’s videos being taken down because they discussed sensitive PC topics.
I think I also read most news media sites out there are left-wing leaning. So that’s maybe something you want to ask yourself.
How objective is this news that I am reading?
I found the article mentioned below about Joe Rogan.
I don’t bow hunt or find myself interested in everything Joe Rogan is or agree with everything he says, but I am interested in many things that he is such as:
health
jiu-jitsu
yoga
nutrition
psychedelics
comedy
art and music
learning
etc.
I think the coolest thing about him is that he’s himself. He’s not pretentious and he can talk about a diverse range of topics including some stuff that’s “taboo” for many.
He’s like a normal guy. He’s not uptight, swears and smokes weed on his show with some of his guests.
He has had many guests on his show like 1,400+ people including: actors, musicians, psychologists, scientists, astrophysicists, fighters, and a whole lot of people with interesting stories.
Some recent shows:
Tony Hawk (He’s like 52 and still skates awesome!)
Jordan Jonas (Lived alone in the wilderness for 77 days with 10 items)
Edward Snowden
Mike Tyson
Dr. Rhonda Patrick
Bernie Sanders
And speaking of Bernie…
I saw this post I mentioned earlier on Vox where the writer Zack Beauchamp quotes Joe Rogan from a video.
I was completely open and liberal about it — until there was a case where a man who had been a man for 30 years became a woman for a little less than two years and then started MMA fighting women. Beating the fuck out of these women, and then not proclaiming that he or she used to be a man … if you ever watch the fights, she wasn’t winning because she was skillful. She was fucking manhandling these women, it was ugly.
Then Zack says…
“This very short paragraph contains all the classic tropes of transphobia: a denial of the authenticity of trans people’s identity, an insinuation that they’re a threat to cis folks, and a claim that they’re using their gender identity to somehow get ahead in life.”
Haha…
I remembered that video. I’ve heard him talk about that and I don’t think that is transphobia. That is just being objective. He’s an MMA commentator and black belt in BJJ and Tae kwon do.
Give him some credit.
He knows something about athletics and fighting.
Why do they have female and male divisions for all kinds of sports?
Is that sexism?
There’s a reason.
Men are typically bigger, stronger and faster. That’s not a mentality that’s a reality.
Call yourself what you want, but don’t tell people what to call you or try to make some rule as to what you should be called.
Your idea is just an idea (or idealogy) and who is to say you are right? There are many people out there in the world that don’t think like you.
And something I read once that I thought was pretty insightful.
Don’t believe everything you think.
That Vox article suggested that since Joe Rogan had some “right-wing” people on his show like Alex Jones, Ben Shapiro, etc. that he was a bigot.
But he’s had a lot of people on his show that aren’t considered “right-wing” not only Bernie Sanders, but Andrew Yang (thumbs up from me), and what’s her name…
Tulsi Gabbard.
A lot of people with different viewpoints.
IT’S MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY.
That’s how I see a lot of feminists, SJW’s or “activists” think. They’re religious.
“It’s still a totalitarian way of thinking… If people don’t comply you’re going after them. That’s everything against being a liberal progressive thinker. Exactly.” – 2 people referring to SJW’s
It extends to food too.
The my way or the highway diet
What?
What’s the most politically correct diet? Would it be the vegan diet? Because you might as well be a savage if you are eating animal products.
But the vegan diet includes carbs and according to the keto (ketogenic) folks…
“CARBS AREN’T FOOD.”
Someone actually replied to me once with that comment. I said to go look up the Blue zone diet.
Food is one example and…
Religion is another
I once read that “brands” are like religions in a book by Martin Lindstrom. The same part of the brain that lights up with religion is associated with brands (on an MRI).
Your political party, favorite supermarket, sneaker brand are like your religion.
So maybe “keto” is a religion and feminism is a religion and ___ is a religion too.
Different people think differently.
Joe Rogan has had vegans, people on the ketogenic diet, atkins diet and carnivore diet on his show. So I say give him some credit for not excluding or censoring people who are not in “his circle” whatever that may be.
“All forms of violent extremism are rooted in this form of in-group versus out-group thinking.” – source
Oh and by the way…
If you were born with a penis and think of yourself as female or want to be called ___.
Or, if you were born with a vagina and think of yourself as a male or want to be called ___.
Then I am black.
And 30% Asian despite whatever my genes say and the fact I might look like a white man.
Nope.
I am not white.
Better make a new box for my ethnicity on that application. I am still working on what I’ll call this new ethnicity.
So I recently completed 21 days with no caffeine. That’s no green tea or cacao for me. It was hard in the beginning. But I realized just how powerful these things are.
You just don’t realize.
Until you stop. Then you’ll see. The 2nd day was the most difficult for me and then it got progressively easier.
But now I have since been drinking tea over the last 3 days, but each day I am drinking less as I see how it is affecting my sleep.
You sleep better without caffeine.
The first day back on caffeine I noticed the effects. Adrenaline. More stress from cortisol. Faster, stimulated, a little more flighty and scattered and more positive feeling.
I also thought I looked better.
It’s a mixed bag.
But once you’re in the habit you don’t notice. It’s the usual and then you might start drinking more and more.
I love green tea.
Before the fast I was drinking a lot of green tea – like for half of the day. I noticed my sleep seemed deeper not on caffeine. I slept better about 90% of the time.
The internet would still eff with my sleep if I use it too late. That’s my next fast.
Previously I’ve done 1, 2, 3, 4, and a 5 day fast.
Day 1 I felt a little less energy and a bit more moody.
Day 2 I felt a lot less energy, very foggy and hungry.
Day 3 and beyond was better.
The good they say (of no caffeine)…
Better sleep
More grounded
Less scattered
Less stress
Less anxiety
I agree with pretty much all of these now. Anxiety I don’t think I get much, but I can see how other people may be affected.
The bad (of no caffeine)
lethargy
depression
headaches
complexion?
dullness
I didn’t get any headaches this time although I have in the past when I went off caffeine. But I definitely felt lethargy and definitely in the first few days.
I found myself more grounded feeling but I bit more depressed feeling actually. On the other hand I felt a little more dull. Towards the end of my 21 days I was asking myself if I was starting to feel more positive. Not sure.
I also noticed my complexion didn’t seem to look as good without caffeine. Actually green tea contains more than caffeine, but also theanine, theobromine, catechins and other stuff.
I also didn’t eat cacao which I don’t everyday because I’ve noticed that is definitely addicting and stimulating.
I think the effects of fasting from green tea and cacao is subtle. I think you will notice how it affects you if you go off of it for a long time and then go back on it.
Initially I was only going to do this for 7 days, but it turned into 21. I think I will do more cycling in and out of using tea in the future as well as varying the amounts I consume.
The effects of it felt quite noticeable after the 21 days and again interrupted my sleep. It also tends to go hand and hand with using the internet for me.
Before I tell you about my fast I’ll tell about my day at the beach today. So I’ve been disciplined lately about going to the beach to walk barefoot in the sand to strengthen my feet.
I was tired from the previous week of fasting, but it was sunny and I am doing 30 days of this at least despite haven’t slept well for the last 3 days. After I got a few food items from the market I rode out to the beach and complained the whole way about the damn wind blowing in my face.
I guess I start losing it when I get tired… complaining, etc.
Then I get out there try to lie down for a bit and decide to take out my mushrooms I bought so they can get some vitamin D too (you know they absorb D like we do? Paul Stamets told me so).
And they stank like these kinds sometimes do when they are wrapped tight in plastic. Hate that smell! So I continued complaining to myself, lied down in the sand for a moment until a big gust of wind blew a bunch of sand in my face.
Then I got up, and I dropped my stinky mushrooms in the sand, picked them up and continued down to one end of the beach. After I got to one end I turned around to go get my bike to head back home.
Then WTF…
As I was walking back all of a sudden something big hits me from behind and my arm.
It was fucking hawk!
It wanted my mushrooms!
I couldn’t believe it. This is a big bird. It’s like twice the size of a crow maybe more.
That’s what I get for complaining!
After he hit me he kept circling above and watching me. I thought he was going to come back. He must of smelled those mushrooms.
I looked it up and maybe it’s called a black kite or honey buzzard and looks kinda like this.
And you know what? I should have just given them to him because they smelled so bad that I threw them out later!
So that’s nature it’s natural state is starvation.
Ours too, but…
It’s supermarkets and comfort foods nowadays. Yet, when you start going back 100 years, 200 years ago, etc. your ancestors were starving at times just like that bird was.
In reality we are all scavengers, just times changed for many of us.
Wow, I got bum rushed by a big ass hawk.
5 days no food.
Previously the longest I ever fasted was about 4 days a couple of months ago. But Sunday I finished 5 days without a bite of anything to eat. I did all right, I just drank tea and lied down when I felt tired.
The last time I did the 4 days I was going for 5 days, but started feeling sick and quit and then made a soup, but was fine.
I will probably post a video about my 5 days in the future, but I did alright then Sunday night I ate things seemed okay but didn’t sleep well again.
Then last night I don’t know… But I got really sick like thinking I was dying sick. I threw up my dinner which was pineapple, grano padano cheese, spinach and fried eggs.
All things I ate the night before without a problem.
So I don’t know why.
That cheese though I think didn’t taste right to me. It was a different kind than I bought last time.
Saturday night the last night of my fast I slept like 4 hours (that time partially my fault for listening to a podcast late at night), then like 5 hours on Sunday and then like 4 last night after like 2 hours of nausea and then finally throwing up.
I don’t know if it was bad food that I ate and a combination of fasting changing my gut or making it more sensitive or the dairy?
Yet earlier in the day I made a curry dish with raw milk, cauliflower, cashews, mushrooms. etc and I was okay.
Plus aged cheese contains almost no lactose so maybe it was bad cheese or you know the pineapple the second time wasn’t so fresh tasting it kind of had that smell like the mushrooms did a little – like it was aging
I don’t know what’s going on though it seems like the food I am buying recently is going bad fast. Maybe I will stop going to the cheap store.
Even this morning my stomach was a little sensitive. On my second cup of tea I started to feel a little nausea so I just went back to water. Since I’ve had a few meals now and seem to be okay.
5 days.
I did it. Hoping for a good night of sleep tonight.
Going to bed hungry is tough. However, days 2 and 3 of this fast were fine for me and I slept well. It was that last night listening to that podcast that disrupted my sleep.
That’s what you get for staying up later on the computer or even listing to a podcast in the bath. You stimulate your brain when your body wants to sleep. My fault.
Perhaps this is part of the reset button of the fast. Let’s see how I feel in a few days.
Despite being difficult there are a lot of benefits to fasting. And more so to prolonged fasts like 5 days or more:
Decreased inflammation
Increased autophagy (which decreases as you age)
Increased stem cells
Increased growth hormone
Increased vascular growth factor
Increased fibroblast growth factor
I have injuries to heal (the above reasons) that’s why I did it.
But people fast for different reasons. Lots of science out there.
Weight loss
Neurogenesis – reduce alzheimers risk and improve brain function
You’ll live longer and healthier if you do it and it’s the same with other living forms: yeast and mice
Valter Longo has a 5 day fasting mimicking FMD diet that’s steeped in science. His stuff is pretty interesting. I might try that in the future or some sort of longer term calorie restriction.
Some of his studies were with cancer patients doing the FMD diet 5 days a month. That would be easier than no food of course.
I think it’s good to cycle in and out of fasting.
It’s like regeneration and renewal.
So I am experimenting. I have done 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 day fasts and alternate day fasts, but really I think if you want results, well it depends on what results you want you have to make it a part of your life.
I got up did some yoga as usual. Turned on my turntables. Did a little scratching. Drank some water.
Then around 11am I rode my bike to the beach (Momochi beach). I did a walk down the beach as I thought it would be good for my feet and a good workout.
Then started my little workout with some leg ups and abdominal exercises then I hopped back on my bike and found a spot with some stones and started the leg part of my work out.
I did some lateral split squats, one legged balancing and box jumps or rather today I jumped up on these rocks. Then I peddled down a little further to the playground and did a bunch of pull ups.
Yes!
Work out was done and it was super sunny.
Next I got some food and went home to cook.
This meal was inspired by…
NT-020.
It’s a supplement said to help proliferate stem cells and help neurogenesis in aged rats. Not an aged rat, but the study sounded convincing to me.
It includes blueberries, green tea, vitamin d3 and carnosine.
So I made a stirfry with mushrooms (D3), eggs (D3), chicken (carnosine), and cilantro.
Then I had some ground peanuts, cocoa, ground spirulina, a little stevia and blueberries.
And MATCHA!
That’s green tea.
It was fantastic.
Got some new ideas for my website and started on those and then more ideas on how to make a mask (not for the stupid coronavirus, but for fun) which I am going to start now!
Awesome, it was a great day.
I wonder why?
Was it the music and scratching?
Was it the beach and getting grounded by walking barefoot?
Was it the workout?
Was it the NT-020 inspired meal?
Was it the cocoa?
Was it the new idea?
Was it all the above?
I don’t know, but I am going to try something similar tomorrow (maybe without the cocoa^^).
I went walking today at low tide on the sand and after I looked at my foot steps. They were rather duck footed (more than I remembered).
So I googled:
how to fix duck feet
The guy said they can be caused by flat feet or tight hips/glutes. One of my feet is flatter than the other and I’ve noticed lately over the last few years that my hips and pelvis area has become more creaky, tight or sore especially when I roll on them.
How to fix FLAT FEET (if you have flat feet you probably want to watch it!)
Been rollin on my feet with my tennis ball in a sock and aluminum water bottle (works good for massage).
I realized…
My feet are a neglected part in my workout especially considering it’s a weakness. I’ve had quite a few knee injuries.
I need to work on them more.
Ian’s upgrading his workout!
Need to level up my feet.
For a long time I’ve done squats for my leg workout, but they don’t do much for your feet. Lately I’ve been doing box jumps where I’ll jump up on a bench or some platform 1-2 feet tall and then step down. Then do that 40-50 times.
And more recently frog jumps with my hands clasped behind my head.
It’s pretty good.
It will work your glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves and maybe feet a little. I like them better than squats as squats hurt one of my knees (not the more recently injured one though).
It hurts the one that also has a tight sore hip.
So got to fix that hip and THOSE FEET.
MASSAGE.
And as I am writing this I am standing on my tennis ball.
It’s really good for foot massage actually. If you put it in a sock it won’t roll away.
It’s kind of interesting how your feet (foundation) can affect your whole body. I used to wear orthotics as a kid, but those don’t work.
I need to strengthen my foot.
Also the flatter foot my right one is more difficult to balance on like mentioned in the video.
Back in high school basketball I used to do a lot of toe raises. And probably had stronger feet then.
Considering this fact that the foot is the most distal part of the lower extremity and acts as a support point through which the body maintains its balance, even minimal biomechanical changes at the support level can affect postural control strategies. If a change occurs in foot alignment, the pelvis changes its position in order to maintain the body’s center of gravity.
I was listening to the Joe Rogan podcast the other day and I learned that the question “where are you from?” is considered a micro aggression.
Fuck you whoever came up with that. Some retarded American SJW.
GO GO GO.
I understand why you did, but it’s really stupid.
I’ve lived in 7 US states, in 4 other countries (7+ years) and traveled quite a bit. Where are you from has been part of my story.
Even if you make it some rule you won’t change what they are thinking.
I’ve lived in Asia for more than 7 years total. And then after around 6 years I went back to the states and I remember asking some people this question.
Where are you from?
And they’d get all touchy and say, “AMERICA“.
No kidding.
To me it’s a conversation starter right up there with how are you?
The whole thing has to do with race.
But isn’t this like the pot calling the kettle black?
The person who has issues with this question has them because they think this is about race, but what if I was the same race as them?
So for them to get offended by me is them taking my race into judgement too.
“Ohh, another stupid ass white boy who thinks I am from Mexico or Asia. No muthafucker I am AMERICAN!”
It’s just a question.
Get over it.
Even if you try to control what they say you didn’t change their mind. You just censored them.
If you were really clever maybe you could start a conversation with them.
No one seems to get offended here in Asia when I ask that question.
When you live in another country people ask you that question too. And let’s say you are white. Some people are going to assume that you are American even if you are not.
I’ve known some people from other English speaking countries that were offended by that.
And some of those people are going to be offended by the word “America” too. I used to say the USA and then many would say, New York, Los Angelos?
Sometimes it could be about your race, but so what… You are not going to change anybody by censoring them.
Is it possible to heal your meniscus naturally without surgery? That’s the question I will answer in this post. Surgery is an option, but you will soon find out that there is some risk involved with that.
I have had a number of knee injuries from sports and tore my meniscus two times in BJJ. I didn’t do surgery on it because all of my research suggested that it was a risky move.
So I took natural, alternative and some definitely non-mainstream approaches to healing and treating it.
So I put some of that research here (in regards to surgery) and a ton (in regards to healing) on a site I made called Healiscus. DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and even if I was you shouldn’t believe everything I say because you should know that the 3rd leading cause of death in the US is medical error. You have to do ample research to determine the best course of action for you.
Now…
In this post first I’ll focus on the studies and outcomes surrounding meniscus tear surgeries. Then towards the end I’ll touch on some treatment tips and there’s an FAQ too.
If you are a big thinker and you want to heal your meniscus (ideally without surgery) so you can get back to your game then this is probably for you.
And you might want to read this if you are considering surgery.
If your tear is in the red zone it has a chance to heal. And if your tear is in the white zone then you are out of luck and you probably need a partial meniscectomy to “fix” it.
But is it really that black and white?
There is some truth to that to say that the white zone is not vascular.
But to say it can’t heal there…
Not true.
In fact here is a study that says cells were able to migrate from the red zone to the white.
Explant studies revealed that migrating cells were mainly confined to the red zone in normal menisci: However, these cells were capable of repopulating defects made in the white zone.
And you have to consider, how did it grow in the first place?
How did it grow in the 1st place?
You’re not getting the most up to date information when you consult your ‘average’ orthopedic doctor.
You’re not getting the best medical advice or attention you could receive. It’s not up to date.
You’re getting OLD information and practices.
Conventional medicine.
How many years do you think it takes for medical findings (science) to reach practice?
You’ll soon find out.
Do you want to heal your meniscus without surgery?
Chances are you can.
However, if your tear is displaced or it’s completely torn in half then maybe you do need surgery. If it’s catching or locking then maybe you do need surgery.
Although that ‘could’ also be inflammation from trauma and not just a piece of torn meniscus.
I’ve torn my meniscus in judo and jiu-jitsu 2 times (according to the MRI). Aside from that I’ve had countless injuries from snowboarding, basketball and even drunk bike riding at 2am in the morning 20+ years ago.
A torn MCL, fractured arm, fractured clavicle, fractured finger, torn cartilage, torn rotator cuff, dislocated finger, bruised tibia and ribs, and plenty of undiagnosed injuries.
And maybe you too.
So how does your knee feel now?
Does it feel like someone sliced up the inside of your knee with an x-acto and then kicked it?
Are you limping?
Well, I can teach you how to heal it (most likely without surgery) and/or if you decide to get surgery I can even help you recover faster and better from it.
The most common ‘fix’ for a torn meniscus is a partial meniscectomy.
And…
Chances are if you get a partial meniscectomy that you will develop osteoarthritis (OA) in that knee.
One source suggests that if you cut out as little as 10% of your meniscus that it increases joint stress by 70%. Your chances of developing arthritis increase exponentially the more they remove.
If you remove part of your meniscus then you change the biomechanics of the knee.
Some people can quickly return to sports and activity within a few weeks after partial meniscectomy.
Like Bigjitsenergy…
A partial meniscectomy often removes the symptoms (pain) now.
“Nearly 63% of knee meniscus surgery patients developed knee arthritis in the meniscectomy knee within 8 years, on average, following surgery. Compare this to the opposite knee that was not operated on: 28% developed arthritis in that same time period.”
Here’s another…
“Early after surgery, 92% of patients had excellent or good results, in term of knee pain, swelling, ROM, squatting, but at a mean of eight years after surgery, only 62% of the patients rated their knees as excellent or good.” – Source
92% said they felt ok after surgery, but then 8 years later 38% didn’t.
Your odds of needing a knee replacement in the future increase 3 fold when you get a meniscectomy according to this study.
Yeah, but what about a ‘partial’ meniscectomy?
“Partial meniscectomy, the most common orthopedic surgical intervention, is recognized as a strong risk factor for knee OA.” – Source
“However, meniscectomy is not ideal because it disrupts the normal anatomical structure and function of the meniscus.” – Source
Any sort of meniscectomy (partial or full) removes the torn bit before it has any chance to heal.
And of course they’ll tell you that it won’t heal…
But you should be very careful about what any orthopedic surgeon tells you because you are likely getting dated information and practices.
What about meniscus repair vs. partial meniscectomy?
Is repair better?
Yes, it can be. Definitely lean towards this if you are thinking surgery.
But know it is not without risk.
And many surgeons will not decide what treatment they will do until they go inside your knee with a scope. So even if you lean towards repair many will not be able to guarantee you that they will do a repair and you could wake up with less of a meniscus.
In the BJJ forum on Reddit someone commented on their stitches.
“Meniscal repairs have a higher re-operation rate than partial meniscectomies, although they are associated with better long-term outcomes.” – Source
Meniscus repair failure rate?
In this study the failure rate for 25 year olds and older was just 15%.
In this study 96% were said to regain their pre-injury activity level.
It is mentioned here that in one study the failure rate was 29%.
And the weird thing is that many doctors may only try the repair surgery if you’re of a certain age or if the tear is in the red zone.
But if it’s in the red zone why even try to repair it?
It doesn’t make sense.
They say your meniscus tear won’t heal because there is no blood flow to part of the meniscus and tears in the red zone have a better chance of healing.
So if it could heal there why even mess with it?
IDK.
But doctors have financial interest$ to mess with it. Your torn meniscus is no tragedy to him – it’s probably money in the bank.
Your doctor is biased like everyone else including me (and more on me later). And while he may be good at using that trimming tool…
BZZZZZ…
There goes your meniscus…
You’re not getting the big picture when you go see an orthopedic surgeon for your knee.
You’re getting a particular orthopedic ‘surgeons’ view on how to fix your meniscus which is routed in dated practices.
Most orthopedic doctors look at the body as if it’s a living organism machine which is just part of it because unlike a machine you are alive.
They don’t all agree and they don’t all use the same practices to surgically repair your meniscus either.
There’s not necessarily one way to heal your knee, but he is likely practicing one way.
And he is working for a slow changing institution – MEDICINE.
Even if you find a great surgeon working privately he still has to confirm to certain ‘standards’.
Medicine like education, government and religion is slow to change.
“Changing clinical practice is a difficult process, best illustrated by the time lag between evidence and use in practice and the extensive use of low-value care.” – Source
And I can guarantee you that the medicine and treatments for a torn meniscus will be very different 50 years from now.
DO YOU THINK I AM TALKING NONSENSE HERE????
Check this out.
“A staggering 36,000 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are published each year, on average, and it typically takes about 17 years for findings to reach clinical practice.” –Source
17 years.
Like I said…
You’re getting ‘old’ medicine.
Old beliefs and old practices.
I can’t say all orthopedic surgeons will do you in and mess up your knee.
You may have good luck and get a great surgeon.
Some people do.
Yet many people don’t.
Here’s another study…
Do you know the search related to feature on the bottom of the Google search results page?
Look how these people faired after meniscus surgery.
This is like a study in itself.
Those blue links are what people are searching for.
These ones stood out the most to me.
knee pain one year after surgery
knee pain two years after surgery
You read above that the chances of getting arthritis after partial meniscectomy are fairly high and that there is a sizable chance of repairs failing.
And what that image just showed you was another metric of what might happen if you get surgery.
Can you heal the meniscus naturally without surgery?
As you can see surgery isn’t going to necessarily ‘fix it’ and in fact it’s possible that it will make it worse.
Those doctors may have told you “it can’t heal”. And it may be slow or difficult to heal, but you can regenerate cartilage and you can boost your bodies ability to fix itself, but you’ve got to intervene and most likely change some of your habits.
How long does a torn meniscus take to heal without surgery?
That entirely depends on the severity of the tear and what you do or don’t do to help it heal. It could take any where from a month to a year or more to fully heal. You can’t be passive. It’s also possible that the tear may only partially heal.
Can a meniscus tear heal on its own?
Yes, it’s possible however, your best bet is to take action and do a complete rehab program that covers all angles (see below for more).
A severe tear may not be able to heal well on its own. But I would be very skeptical of any doctor that states, “it can’t heal”. It’s possible that it could get worse with re-injury or it’s possible that it could get better with time.
Here’s a study that shows that 37% of the people with defects in their cartilage showed an improvement and 31% showed a worsening.
Can you walk around with a torn meniscus?
Yes, sometimes you can, however it’s advised that you take it easy initially for a least a few weeks and totally minimize movement as lots of movement may cause further injury and then progressively add motion.
If it hurts stay off it.
Can a torn meniscus get worse over time?
Yes, it could. If it’s a severe displaced tear then the tear could get bigger. On the other hand studies show that some people have asymptomatic tears. In other words they had tears they didn’t even know about.
In the last few weeks I have done quite a bit of fasting. Feb. 22 I started some alternate day fasting then most recently completed a 4 day fast.
Fasting starting from February 22 – March 6th, 2020.
66 hours then 2 days of eating
41 hours then 1 day of eating
39 hours then 1 day of eating
36 hours then 1 day of eating then…
97 hours (4 days of no food)
279 hours over 2 weeks
Why did I do this?
To help heal injuries namely my knee and shoulder. I tore my knee close to 10-11 weeks ago and the shoulder was probably from November when I did that last judo competition.
I received some damage in that one in my shoulder and eye.
I think my knee is getting better, but shoulder is really sluggish.
I often eat within an 8 hour window. And the longest fast I’ve done prior to this was 3 days (83 hours) in San Fran.
Anyways WHY FAST?
People fast for different reasons like to:
lower inflammation
improve metabolism
promote cell turnover
decrease your risk of cancer
improve your immune system
increase your life span (if done regularly)
lose weight (but it will come back if you don’t change your eating habits)
improve cognitive function (decreases chances of or symptoms of Alzheimers)
But I did this mainly to help heal injuries.
Because…
It increases stem cells (24, 48, 72 hour+ fasts have all proven to increase stem cell regeneration in different systems in the body).
It increases growth hormone (1 day, 5 days or more will send your daily GH levels up higher than if you were eating, but lowers IGF-1.)
And some other things…
More details on those in my course named Healiscus. That’s about how to heal your knees if you injured them and (especially a torn meniscus).
Anyways…
After that 66 hour fast I felt some improvement in my knee.
In the past since 2015 I’ve done a handful of fasts around 66-81 hours, one day a week fasts, and for the last year+ eating usually within a 4-8 hour window.
The 4 day fast (97 hours)
This is the longest fast I have done so far, previously it was 83 hours.
So I had been doing an alternate day fast (which probably made it a little more difficult to do) and kept reading about the benefits of a 5 day fast or fasting mimicking diet. I was going for 5 days, but didn’t make it as you’ll see below.
I didn’t eat on Sunday and then I ate on Monday and stopped around 9pm. I was planning on just the alt day fast but, decided to push.
A little further…
Day 1
Rode my bike down the river towards the south of Sawara-ku and then up the mountain to Bozu waterfall (13km). Felt ok.
Never realized it was that far, but it’s mostly a nice ride if you go down Muromi river as there is a bike path along the river.
The last part of it was up hill so with one speed bike I was walking. I almost turned around several times, but kept saying let’s go a little further.
Needed a dose of nature.
Saw a quirky house and a cool little bamboo forest.
Most of the mountains in Fukuoka are covered in Cedar trees that look like they were planted.
Saw signs of Kanayama, Mt. which was 6km and another for Bozu falls which was 1 km so I went that way.
Here’s a picture.
Here’s another…
But I think cause I had been doing this alternate day fasting I was feeling a little hungrier and lower energy than I normally would on a 24 hour fast.
I didn’t eat but I drank green tea.
Day 2
Today was low energy. All day I have felt low energy. Noises were loud and people annoying.
I didn’t drink green tea which also might have had an effect. I didn’t get a headache though which is a typically caffeine withdrawal side effect.
I went for a few walks down the river and out once looking for lactase and then a little hike to a temple on a hill which is nearby and less than 1/2 mile or so.
Lied down a bunch.
Felt dizzy and wobbly at times.
Day 3
Now it’s like 62 hours into a fast. Been up for an hour, feel o.k. It’s sunny. I’ll probably go out for a walk and do some yoga first.
Yoga was somewhat more difficult than usual. Thinking about the foods I want to eat. Thinking of walking to the store to get some green tea.
Then drinking it maybe decaffeinating it. If you let the tea soak a bit (some say for a minute) then dump it out and then infuse it again it will have less caffeine. The first infusion has the most caffeine.
Some say caffeine may interfere with some of the effects of fasting and others don’t. Some studies say green tea promotes autophagy, yet I don’t know about the stem cells and growth hormone.
Although a quick Google search shows autophagy helps stem cells.
And that’s what I am after. Yesterday was no green tea. Today we’ll see.
So we got some tea, and I decaf’d it pouring off maybe 70% of the caffeine so they say. I feel slightly more crisp or sharp.
I feel better.
So I learned that if you fast and you normally drink tea or coffee then if you want to do a water fast then the best thing to do would be to cut out your caffeine intake a few days before you food fast otherwise you are going to have 2 shocks to your system.
Or just drink it.
The other thing I have been doing the last 2 days is a lot of massage with my aluminum bottle (kinda like a foam roller) and tennis ball.
These are very neglected.
Things I should be doing way more often. I realized all the effin’ pain I have locked up in my legs. Muscular tightness, pain and imbalances.
After a few sessions I feel like I am walking different.
I feel like I got some things done today. I wrote quite a bit. I’ve been working on a new ebook. And I updated some other stuff on ESLinsider.
The feeling I’ve had is somewhat of an aversion towards people noises etc. Kinda like how I usually feel, LOL, but a little more extreme.
Kinda like when you are sick or I was also reminded of psilocybin mushrooms – how I felt averse to people, but without the paranoia.
Now it’s 10:47pm and I feel o.k. Not struggling or feeling very weak. Going to get off line here soon and sit in my little DIY sauna I made with a small electric heater and the built in heater in my room and a tarp.
Yes, it’s kinda ghetto.
But works o.k. not quite hot enough actually a third heater would be better. See you tomorrow.
Oh I forgot to say I noticed I have a bit of acne which is surprising as I haven’t eaten in 73 hours. Some suggest it might be the hormones in fat since I am now running on fat.
Glycogen gets burned off most say in around 24 hours.
Day 4
Today started at 3:00am. I woke up at 3am and couldn’t go back to sleep. It was very cold. So I browsed the internet a bit and tried to go back to sleep, but didn’t work.
Was it the caffeine from yesterday?
Maybe partly. So I decided to go for a walk. And I hiked up Atago temple and a took a picture about 10 minutes before sunrise.
A few minutes before sunrise
Going to write a bit, drink tea and then probably take a nap.
I tried and we dozed for about 10 minutes and then that was that. Did a little yoga, a sweat, a little work, and some massage.
My DIY massage tools… they work pretty good. That’s a tennis ball in a sock.
Also got some buckwheat tea. It’s quite nice. It tastes a little like genmaicha with that roasted rice flavor, but there is no green tea in it. I like it.
Flavor.
MMM…
And no caffeine.
That’s good.
Because I need some sleep.
Felt very annoyed with people today when I went to the store. I wonder is it some sort of intuition or is it just hunger? I saw some guy say on Reddit that he felt more intuitive while fasting.
Hmm, I wondered, but was skeptical.
I feel definitely more irritable. I have no desire to talk to people or be near them. It’s 3:31 and it’s been about 91 hours. This is the farthest I have been.
Still shooting for tomorrow night 9pm. That will be 5 days.
And then we eat.
Food sounds orgasmic. Yet, I am kinda o.k. now. Stomach is fine.
It’s 9pm and I took a nap for a few hours. Less than 24 hours to go. 96 hours completed. Feeling kinda ill.
Day 5
I was intending on fasting today, but last night I started to feel very sick. I tried meditating and couldn’t really do it. I couldn’t maintain my focus.
I felt nauseous and I couldn’t sleep. I noticed whenever I have a bad night of sleep during a fast it makes it much more likely that I will break that fast the next day.
Could have been caffeine in the tea from the day before because I drank some later in the day even though I ‘decaffed’ it.
So at about 10pm (97 hours) I was craving salt and I took a handful of spirulina and then I made a soup with: nori, wakame, spinach, shiitake mushrooms, fresh parsley, salt, pepper, MCT oil and olive oil.
It was very delicious.
But I had to take it slow as I was afraid of throwing it up.
Fortunately I didn’t. And then a little while later, I made a stir fry with chicken, eggs, some of those same vegetables and nori.
It was great.
Then some milk, blueberries, and ground peanuts.
Bit by bit I started feeling better.
I slept o.k.
Woke up a few times once at 3am and had a little milk and berries.
And this morning I went and got some good grano padano cheese. I got a craving for it last night.
I felt a little weak riding my bike and I had to go a few miles down a noisy busy road to get it. The local places don’t have good cheese like that.
In Japan and everywhere else I have lived in Asia you’ve got limited options for good cheese.
And then for breakfast I had:
Grano padano
Matcha
Blueberries and walnuts in milk
A grapefruit (tis the season here for white grapefruit, mmm)
Ground peanuts
Cacao and stevia
Yum, looking forward to more food today. Fasting gives you an amazing appreciation for food. It’s like that saying…
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Another benefit of fasting
This is purely subjective. People do fast for spiritual reasons, but I think an extended fast can give you some insight on your problems.
I did a Google search for:
spiritual benefits of fasting
Then I got a whole page of results with titles “god” this and “god” that. So to get rid of results that you don’t want to see you put a “-” in front of the word like “-god”.
So I did.
And then got a bunch of “allah” listings, so I put a “-allah”. Searched again and that got rid of the “allah” results.
Like this:
I guess to some people spirituality is synonymous with “religion” although most of those people (with a fixed mentality) would never call it “religion”.
Anyways one thing I realized is that for a prolonged fast it would be best to be somewhere tranquil. Kind of similar for psilocybin.
Not the kind of thing you want to do in a busy place. I don’t think so.
I found people and noises to be annoying.
I found myself crossing the street to avoid people.
Lately I really enjoy watching the ducks. There are lots of different kinds of sea birds in Fukuoka that are nearby and that I see everyday.
But I have a new appreciation for ducks.
And in Fukuoka there seems to be different kinds of ducks.
Ducks can fly, swim, go under water, walk a bit and they’re cute especially when they stick their heads under water and their butts up in the air^^.
And I wondered about the ducks life as I watch them float out on the sea. What are they tuned into?
And speaking of search results…
I found this to be funny.
If you start doing a lot of research into fasting then you are likely to find Valter Longo who is well known for his research on fasting and cancer and his 5 day ‘fasting mimicking’ diet (calorie restriction).
So I did a search with his name and at the bottom of the page looked at the search results which I found to be funny.
Searches related to are search queries that are based on what people are searching for. And I thought the “valter longo wife” and “valter longo married” were funny.
Why were people searching for that?
HAHAHA.
Ian’s over and out.
Feeling better.
Shoulder, legs and knee. The combination of massage and fasting have me feeling rejuvenated.
Green tea (especially matcha) and cacao have some things in common. And these can be used to help heal your injuries, burn fat, increase strength and kill cancer cells.
But it’s probably going to take large quantities.
Green tea contains something called EGCG.
And this study says (if I understand correctly) that EGCG found in green tea helps grow new bone.
If it can help bones and skin maybe it can help cartilage.
Matcha since it’s the whole plant is considered by some to be 3x higher in that compared to normal green tea.
Also…
Green tea and cacao both contain epicatechins which are said to be good for arthritis, building muscle strength and burning fat.
Yet the amount in both is much lower than in supplement form. I’ve heard doses ranging from 150mg to as high as 500mg (said Tailormade Compounding) of epicatechin will show some results in strength and fat depletion.
I’ve read that some studies show that consuming 150mg of epicatechin could improve your strength (possibly grip strength) by 7%.
Maybe if I consume that much my judo and jiujitsu game will improve since your grip game in grappling is so important.
Or if you’re a carpenter it might improve your hammer game.
I read a cup of green tea contains about 10mg.
So you would have to drink 10-15 cups of green tea or maybe 5 cups of matcha.
Matcha might contain 3 times as much. So a cup might get you 30mg.
Cacao is high in epicatechins too.
Cacao powder is the best form.
So can you eat a bunch of chocolate?
Cacao (not chocolate) is what is good for you. Chocolate contains sugar and milk+.
Milk chocolate contains the least amount of epicatechins.
A dark chocolate bar might contain 46mg.
“…these effects are ‘markedly reduced’ when the chocolate is consumed with ‘milk’ or if milk is incorporated as milk chocolate.” – Source
As a test one day I ate the whole box of these cacao bits (95%) as an experiment which is a total of 60 grams and the next day I felt kind of hung over.
But that’s probably not epicatechin.
There’s caffeine and theobromine and other things in cacao.
I’ll have to try it again sometime.
I do think it’s kind of addictive so I don’t eat it everyday and I sometimes vary the amount because if I eat the same amount everyday and then suddenly stop I feel withdrawal.
So maybe supplementation with epicatechins is the best way to get high consistently high quantities.
I love green tea and drink it everyday.
I probably easily drink 10-15 glasses a day recently although I reuse the tea and probably get 5-6 small cups out of the same tea so maybe not close to a 150mg of epicatechin.
And recently in the same day I will drink both matcha and green tea.
Recently I haven’t but in the past I would pour off the first cup to reduce the caffeine, but when you do that you also reduce the epicatechins and phenols.
How does cacao compare to green tea?
Green tea is an infusion and cacao is a whole food.
This PDF says cacao has 3 times the phyto chemicals, but it’s not an equal comparison.
A more equal comparison would be cacao vs. matcha powder. Matcha is green tea leaf powder.
I first heard about BPC 157 in this thread I started about my torn meniscus and what to do. Someone there mentioned it then and it didn’t sink in.
At first…
But I kept on looking into surgical options, PRP, stem cells, etc. and kept running into BPC 157 and other peptides. So I decided to give them a whirl as they sounded pretty good.
I ordered BPC from an Alibaba shop.
Then I got it about Jan 24th and did my first injection.
Yeah, so needles are weird.
I never thought I’d be injecting my self with anything. But when you’ve got pain and you know that it will help then you do what you got to do.
So I injected it everyday about 3 times a day for 2 weeks. A day anywhere from about 700-1000mcg.
I mostly injected it in my knee (knee capsule), around my knee (sub cutaneous) , and then my shoulder and a few times in my belly fat.
But you don’t want to inject the same spot many times. And BPC has a short half-life that’s why you have to inject it more often.
I even combined it with blood on a couple of occasions. Yeah can you believe that.
Withdrawing your own blood is super hard.
Recently I have taken it orally by squirting it on my gums that are receding. And wonder if that has had a different effect.
If you take it orally it needs to be twice the amount and a bit more according to Jean Francois Tremblay.
Did I have side effects?
Not really. The first time I injected it I got a bit of anxiety or fear after, but I think that was psychological.
After that not.
I got a little burning sometimes immediately following the injection.
For 2 weeks I felt fine and then the last 2 days or so after injections I felt some pain and inflammation where I injected so I stopped and took it orally.
Could have been because the needle was dull. I reused the same needles after cleaning them. I would typically use one needle a day, but those last days I might have used one needle in 2 days.
I would either boil them to disinfect or wipe with an alcohol wipe that contained ethanol, paraben and benzlkonium chloride.
But IDK something caused irritation in the last two days.
Of course best practice is to use a new needle every time.
Also could have been the bacteriostatic water went bad or something and caused irritation like the alcohol.
I made my own.
Which is normally .9% benzl alcohol and water, but I couldn’t find benzl so I got ethanol and used about 1%.
Like I said I was fine for 2 weeks.
I think a dull needle was part of the problem especially in the one location that caused the most pain – the skin over my patella tendon.
But I always used a ‘new’ needle when I would inject in the joint space.
Anyways those were my minor side effects.
Dosage?
What’s the right amount?
IDK. If you look online you will see 250-1000mg a day suggested or common is 250mg 2-3 times a day.
But one of the more popular studies that you will see is the one about rats that had their ligaments sliced up and then repaired with BPC.
After MCL transection BPC 157 was effective in rats when given once daily intraperitoneally (10 microg or 10 ng/kg) or locally as a thin layer (1.0 microg dissolved in distilled water/g commercial neutral cream) at the site of injury, first application 30 min after surgery and the final application 24 h before sacrifice. Source
“Rats and mice ingesting BPC 157 in their drinking water, the typical dosage ranged between 10 nanograms to 10 mcg (micrograms) per kg.”
Which kind of looks like the quote above, but in the study above they were injecting or applying with a cream.
Jean Tremblay said that if you take it orally you need 2 times the amount and a little more.
So I am about 155 or 71kg or so normally.
So I guess the dose would be around 700mcg a day.
So how has it helped?
My knee feels a bit more stable and stronger than it did before. I had pain for a good 6-7 weeks especially standing still and after about 3 pm.
Walking was o.k. for a while early in the day but then later in the day would start hurting more.
And I had to move more cautiously.
Now I feel it is more stable and stronger at about 9 weeks post injury.
But it still has a way to go and I will be trying some other peptides and continue using this until finished.
I haven’t noticed it helping my shoulder much although I injected it there less often. Jean Tremblay says it doesn’t actually matter much usually where you inject it because the peptide will find it’s way to the injury.
He says it’s systemic.
Although if it’s in a place like your knee: meniscus, acl, pcl, etc. then it’s going to travel around your blood stream before it makes it’s way into the joint and the knee is a capsule so really if you have an injury there you should inject into the joint space.
Of course you ‘shouldn’t’ do it yourself they say. You ‘should’ get a professional.
But I knew I had to do that to get the best results so I did.
In the course I created I share more details on how I did that amongst other things to heal your knee.
I think TB500 which I ordered would be a bit better for that one perhaps or used in conjunction with because it has a longer half life.
I heard maybe 7-10 days vs. BPC’s 4-6 hours.
I don’t want to inject everyday into my knee capsule because the space is small and it’s not good to keep injecting into the same area.
Other people suggest injecting it locally near the injury.
So I’ve also done 2 blood injections of about 2-4ml into my knees. One time my left and right and 2 times into my right and one time with BPC.
Oh, there was another time I tried blood, but it coagulated in the syringe and wouldn’t come out. I did managed eventually to squeeze out most in the sink and it had a little residue left and then I added BPC to that and injected that.
One time my left knee was hurting in the morning when I woke up more than my injured right knee.
In the past my left knee was the worst of the 2 (old MCL injury+patella tracking issues), but has been compensating for the right as I have been limping around.
So I injected both knees inside the joint and I felt a little burning feeling for about 30 minutes in my left knee and then the pain was gone.
And actually since then that knee has also bothered me less.
One of the times I did DIY blood injections was also about 1ml of blood and bpc in that knee.
Anyways…
I think the BPC does have some anti-inflammatory response like is said.
Most other times I noticed no immediate relief and the process of pain reduction and improvement has been slow.
One thing I noticed is that since I’ve taken it orally (last 4 days or so) yesterday I drank ‘raw milk’ and this time it did not cause any sort of tummy rumble like it often did in the past.
Can’t say for sure if it was the BPC. But it is supposedly good for your gut.
I’ll try it again and see if I get the rumble.
I will continue to use it until gone and then update this.
The placebo effect
I’ve wondered about the quality of the BPC I got because I got it from China (Alibaba) from a vendor that a few people recommended on Reddit.
They say 95-99% of the peptides out there come from China. Even most of the sites that sell them in the US or UK are still selling peptides from China.
They buy them in bulk and then raise the price a lot.
So if you are savvy financially you might just buy them from China.
But…
Then if you start researching you may hear that they may be fake or under dosed or have bacteria or ____.
There is probably some truth to that but I think there is a lot of fear mongering out there and a lot of the people saying those things have self interests.
Also the the bacteria one was an isolated case as far as I know.
So it’s like bad news and fear.
You fear the water and sharks more than you do driving your car, but in reality driving your car is way more dangerous.
If you want to get USA made peptides or Canadian made peptides you could try Tailor made compounds or Canlabs.
But you are going to pay 5-10X the price.
The placebo effect I think can go both ways.
You start to think ok these peptides are from China and they don’t work or the fragment is broken or it’s under dosed or maybe there is bacteria in it.
So it becomes true.
Or what the anti-doping organization in Australia made some claim that 80% of peptides are fake or under dosed.
Maybe, but I don’t really trust that bit of news because it’s in their self interests to say so.
And possibly the people who keep saying it.
So if you want to get the most out of the placebo effect then you can buy from one of those places that do regular testing in North America.
But is it possible that what you can buy on Alibaba is the exact same thing?
Yep.
All of the vendors on Alibaba try to make it look like they are the factory, but they are not.
I found two companies on there that used the same building with their photoshopped name on it to make it look like it was their factory.
Those sellers there are definitely not transparent as to who they are. A good business would be to be a seller there who is.
Make a video about who you are and what you do, but they don’t.
From what I’ve learned from Jean Francois Tremblay is that there aren’t that many factories in China that make peptides, but the vendors on Alibaba all probably buy their peptides from the same few factories and then resell them.
And there are rules and regulations in China.
It’s the middle men you got to watch out for.
There is a lot of fear out there (sinophobia) about China too. And maybe some is true, but perhaps I am less fearful because I lived in Asia and China for like 8 years.
Sometimes if you feel that you got fake peptides it’s possible that it’s from a bad batch. Like the peptide fragment chain broke and wasn’t that they were trying to make a fake peptide.
It’s that they are big factories selling lots of peptides to resellers and they probably don’t test every batch.
So you may be getting inert amino acids.
Could there be factories out there making and selling fake peptides?
IDK. Maybe little ones, but you know they won’t be in business long. And the cost of setting up a factory just to make fake look alike peptides is too high I would think.
I also recently ordered from Canlabs a couple peptides and will see how they go and I will probably get a better placebo effect too since I know more about who made them.
