Lasik, Fitness After Cancer, Essential Tremor | THRR123

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News topic du jour:

https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/eu-physics-denial-has-come-home-to

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Podcast Questions:

1. LASIK [17:19]
Mark says:
Hi Robb and Nikki,
On last week’s episode Robb mentioned getting LASIK.
I don’t think I’ve heard this mentioned on the podcast before.
I’m short-sighted (-4.00), and have long been considering LASIK. But, something about it just makes me feel squeamish.
Robb, how much research into the procedure did you have to do before getting comfortable with it?
Are there any major thoughts/findings from your research worth sharing?
And, you being someone who’s active and does BJJ, did you consider LASEK (ek) over LASIK (ik), which I’ve read is often preferred by military personnel/police/boxers/the like (anything high impact).
From an article in The Times (UK):
“Unlike the most common form of laser eye surgery, Lasik, the operation used on military personnel, Lasek, does not involve slicing a flap in the cornea because there is a slim chance that a hard blow could dislodge the flap. Boxers, police officers and those with a very active lifestyle are also advised to opt for Lasek.”
How was your recovery – being able to get back into physical activity?
Any and all thoughts that might help me overcome my squeamishness would be much appreciated!
Mark

2. Returning to fitness after cancer [29:48]
Greg says:
Hey Robb and Nikki,
I have a friend who has just finished an extensive round of chemo treatments. He wants to know what would be the best way to pursue getting back in shape and getting his health in order post-chemo. Are there any specific things he should focus on in terms of diet and exercise? Thanks for everything you do.

3. Essential Tremors [32:25]
Sandy says:
I have heard you mention several times on Podcasts that you are finding some relief from your essential tremors with lions mane. I would love to do my own experiment to see if this would help me. What form of lions mane would you suggest? What dosage would you shoot for? How long did it take until you saw some relief? All of the drugs I have tried for my tremors gave me side effects that were worse than the tremors themselves. So I had given up. This is the first time in a long time I have felt hopeful. Thanks for what you do!

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Transcript:

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Nicki: It’s time to make your health an act of rebellion. We’re tackling personalized nutrition, metabolic flexibility, resilient aging, and answering your diet and lifestyle questions. This is the only show with the bold aim to help one million people liberate themselves from the sick care system. You’re listening to the Healthy Rebellion Radio. The contents of this show are for entertainment and educational purposes only. Nothing in this podcast should be considered medical advice. Please consult your licensed and credentialed functional medicine practitioner before embarking on any health, dietary, or fitness change. Warning, when Robb gets passionate, he’s been known to use the occasional expletive. If foul language is not your thing, if it gets your britches in a bunch, well, there’s always Disney+. Hello-

Robb: Welcome back, folks.

Nicki: … and good morning and good evening and good afternoon, wherever you may be, at whatever time you’re listening to this. It’s morning here. This is episode 123 of the Healthy Rebellion Radio, and yeah, good morning, Hubs.

Robb: We were having somewhat of a debate between the difference between a grunt and a belch. I guess there is a-

Nicki: There’s a very distinct difference.

Robb: Internally. Externally, maybe not as obvious.

Nicki: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Are you kidding? Like the guy at the gym the other day that was grunting like crazy, doing his bench, that’s a grunt. If he had been-

Robb: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was like-

Nicki: … belching there, it was-

Robb: … he was trying to father children on the bench, so yeah, it was a total scene.

Nicki: It really was, it was, it was. And I was close to him because I was doing some… What were we doing? Sarah had us doing some single-arm-

Robb: It was a straight arm lap, pull-down deal.

Nicki: It was a single-arm, pull-down thing. And he was on the bench right next to me, and I was feeling the air expelling from him as he’s grunting.

Robb: Dude, I was on the other side of the room, feeling the air.

Nicki: And I was like, “Okay, this is a bit much.” Yeah, good times. How many good gym moments are there every day? I mean, good, in the sarcastic way. Anyway, what else is new? Sagan got her… She got promoted to gray and black belt last week, so that was really awesome to watch.

Robb: And within SBG, it has become, I think, from very early on, a tradition to Ironman, basically, to roll with each one of the people in the class or whoever shows up. The adult ones can be pretty epic. He can get a hundred or more people to show up, and it can be a bit of a crucifixion. The kids-

Nicki: It’s a celebration, right? You’re worked really hard to reach the next level in your jujitsu journey, and so, the coaches-

Robb: And you can’t do it without your team.

Nicki: And you can’t do it without your team, so the coaches really… They like to focus on the celebration element. And so, she rolled with everyone in her class, and a really big class showed up that day, and Sagan and another classmate of hers also was promoted. And so, it was super fun to watch. She did-

Robb: And she really rallied. It was-

Nicki: … really, really well. It was one of those times when you watch your kid take a step up. She did things during that Ironman, that we’ve never seen her-

Robb: She had never done in-

Nicki: … do in-

Robb: … regular rolling. Yeah, yeah.

Nicki: Not just during regular classes, so it was like, who is this kid? Yeah, so it was pretty fun to see. I’m trying to think of anything else that’s going on, that we want to share with-

Robb: It’s smokey, but-

Nicki: … audience.

Robb: … cooling off here, if we want to talk about the weather briefly, because that’s what folks do when they lack for something better to talk about.

Nicki: We started the first part of our 30-day reset, so the seven-day carb test, which, as you know, if you’ve been listening for any length of time, is an optional week that we do leading up to the 30-day reset, where people can test their unique response to specific carbohydrates. And so, that’s going on this week in the rebellion. The actual 30 Day Rebel Reset begins this coming Monday, September 19th. So September 19th, at midnight, is the final day in time to sign up and participate in this reset that’s going round. So if you’re interested and you want to join us, just go to join.thehealthyrebellion.com.

Nicki: Jessica and Squatchy are gearing up for the food call, which happens Friday, so this Friday, the day that this episode releases, just to get everybody squared away on what’s going on next week. And if you join after Friday, you can certainly watch the video. All of the videos are recorded and posted, so I know it’s impossible to host any type of live thing via Zoom that works with everybody’s schedule, so we make that really easy for folks to watch when they can. I think that is everything up front. What do you have for us, for a news topic?

Robb: So a little something different, our good friend, the Bad Gato, he has a-

Nicki: Boriqua Gato.

Robb: Boriqua Gato. He has a piece, EU physics denial has come home to roost. And again, with this podcast, the goal isn’t to just constantly, incessantly, make everything a politicized topic, but we have some changes afoot in the world that, I’m of the opinion, are driven almost… The ability to drive them forward, to try to make them work in reality, is born of just wanton ignorance of the way the world works. Nobody loves confirmation bias quite like I do, and for ages, I have said that if you don’t have a basic steeping…

Robb: And again, this need not be, specifically, a math-based exposure to this material, although, even a cursory level of math exposure, like algebra, is really going to help you get your head around what this stuff means. But if you have a basic understanding of economics, basically, resource allocation, thermodynamics, the energy inputs and outputs of a system, and in evolution, the way that systems evolve over time, if you have a steeping in that, you at least have a chance to understand things at a pretty good level. Doesn’t mean you’ve got it all figured out.

Robb: And I would also posit that without a steeping in those topics, it is impossible to even ask a good question about this stuff. So when we look across the Atlantic at Europe, and usually, Europe is held up as this beacon of just nicer people and more educated people and-

Nicki: Sophisticated.

Robb: … smarter people… Very sophisticated.

Nicki: Culturally advanced.

Robb: Bougie. And these folks have been shitting the bed for at least the last decade in insistence upon renewable energy. And I am a big fan of employing renewables where they make sense, but one of the primary renewables being used in Europe at this point is wood harvested in North America. And we’ve talked a little bit about this on other shows, and it’s just bullshit that this ticks a box called renewable because wood can be regrown, like the-

Nicki: Well, the main issue also is that you said it’s harvested in North America, so then it’s being shipped via-

Robb: It gets harvested, then shipped across the world. And nobody does any accounting on the energy that goes into doing that, and folks seem to be doing their level… And then, people will say, “Well, what about solar?” Well, solar Is great under certain circumstances, and if folks haven’t been to Europe, a lot of Europe is very, very cloudy for remarkable periods of the year.

Nicki: Denmark, anyone?

Robb: Germany. I think that in Mediterranean climates, I think being used as a means of actually not heating a home as much, so like rooftop solar collectors and whatnot, but there’s still massive issues with batteries and the rare earth minerals that have to be extracted to get the materials to make solar panels, and the limited life cycles, and on and on and on.

Nicki: Is wood being used because of the claim of renewable, or-

Robb: That’s it.

Nicki: … is it-

Robb: Nope, that is it.

Nicki: Really?

Robb: That is it, that is it.

Nicki: Because, gosh, in the ’90s, the claim that wood was renewable was…

Robb: Again, this is-

Nicki: During the whole spotted owl craze and whatnot, that was the claim that people were dismissing, no, it doesn’t matter, it’s-

Robb: Well, and this is some of-

Nicki: … damaging to the environment.

Robb: … the irony, is that in the United States, the EPA regulations around wood-burning stoves… Basically, in Europe, they have made lax the wood-burning stove regulations to allow for more of this because it ticks the box of renewable.

Nicki: It’s mainly because they don’t want to be using… well, they have no access, or limited access to gas, and-

Robb: Their access-

Nicki: … they don’t want to use coal.

Robb: … to gas has been curtailed. They are wanting to shift away from coal. Coal is still a lesser carbon input than wood is in the short run because it just produces more energy per unit of carbon release. Now, you-

Nicki: And especially when you account for the fact that the wood is being shipped across the world versus harvested on their own continent.

Robb: And then, everybody seems to be doing their level best to just ignore nuclear energy, including small modular reactors and thorium, which thorium is just this side note. If you like solar and you don’t like thorium, you’re an idiot, and here’s the reason why. This is why. It behooves you to educate yourself. And I try not to be a dick with this stuff, but I mean, people are going to die over this. People are going to freeze to death over this stuff. But in the process of extracting the rare earth minerals that are necessary for solar panels, a massive amount of thorium is extracted. And even within the whole nuclear energy scene as we’ve experienced it over, say, the last 80 years, 50 years, plutonium is more rare, I believe, in the Earth’s crust than gold, and uranium. They’re remarkably rare. They’re right in the ballpark there.

Robb: Thorium is three orders of magnitude more common than uranium or plutonium. There’s something like 5,000 years of energy worth of thorium that is stored in the Nevada desert because of other mineral processing, that this stuff gets super funded, and stuck into a barrel, and then stuck underground. Fuck, this thing has gone way longer than what I really intended on this, but the thing is, is, as important as it is for all of us to be healthy, and to eat well, and to sleep well, and have community, and take care of our local communities and whatnot, we really need a grassroots effort of people who are educated about the realities of energy. And that energy then feeds into food systems, and the food systems start pushing back against globalization of the food systems and row-crop-centric processes that destroy top soil, that destroy sovereignty, that don’t allow for nutrient-dense foods, and it just-

Nicki: On and on and on.

Robb: … dovetails, and on and on and on. The real central crux to all of that is energy. And we have a chance within the next 30 years to lift all of humanity out of abject poverty, and that’s only going to happen if we have adequate energy. There are folks out there that are like, “No, we need to go backwards. People need to just learn how to live with less.” I do not agree with that. When people run different numbers one way or the other, I think that that is a complete misnomer. And also, when we look back at history, whenever… I’ll concede one thing, if that is true, then we’re super screwed, because whenever civilizations have hit an energy bottleneck in the past, the civilization collapses in an absolutely epic fashion. So one, I don’t think that that’s true, and to the degree it is true, it’s being driven towards truth because people are making really poor decisions around energy.

Robb: Certainly, just being energy efficient is a smart move, and there’s all kinds of cool things that you can do around that. But then, this topic of, should we be burning wood versus reinvesting in smart nuclear energy, and if you’re a fan of solar, you need to understand some basic concepts, like base load and storage and the limitations of batteries, from stem to stern. How the fuck are batteries made? What are the materials that go into it? How toxic and dirty are they to be-

Nicki: Are they-

Robb: … made, stored, decommissioned? What is their life cycle? If you are not a fan of nuclear energy, of all the varieties, can you explain the difference between, say, a three-mile island reactor, which is a gen-one reactor, thorium reactors, as they are proposed, small, modular gen-four, gen-five reactors, which can actually use the unused or the un-fizzed material from gen-one reactors as input for this stuff? If you can’t explain any of that stuff, you’ve got no goddamn business having an opinion on it, but we need everybody to have an opinion on it because this thing’s going in an absolutely clusterfuck-ish direction.

Robb: So I really encourage people to read this article. It’s phenomenal in the way that it breaks down this energy, story, and people. Again, if you don’t like math, if you don’t like science a ton, okay, I get it, but for the love of God, invest some time and energy into getting up to speed on what this stuff means. And don’t just take my word for it. I mean, I just have a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from a state school best known for being Playboy’s top-

Nicki: Party school in America.

Robb: … party school 1987, so what the fuck do I know? But unfortunately, I’m way better educated on this than the vast majority of people are, and we really need a groundswell of folks to know about this, care about this, and make it important, because it will affect every angle of your life, your children’s life, future generations’ lives. There’s this just full court press on poor energy policy, poor food policy, poor medical policies, and we really do need to be armed with credible information to be able to push back against it. And again, that was way longer than I expected. Apologies. But it’s important stuff.

Nicki: And it’s important stuff. All right, the Healthy Rebellion Radio, sponsored by our salty AF electrolyte company, LMNT. If you’re feeling low energy, don’t reach for another cup of coffee or other caffeinated beverage that’s probably loaded with a bunch of other stuff, including lots of sugar. You might just need some electrolytes. LMNT has a flavor for everyone, citrus salt, raspberry, orange, watermelon salt, and don’t forget, mango chili and lemon habanero if you like the little bit of extra kick. The cool weather is coming, which is when I move to my lemon habanero hot water. That’s my favorite, so I’m looking forward to that. It’s starting to be brisk here in the mornings. Fall, I think, is officially here. But anyway, you can grab your LMNT-

Robb: So smokey, we can’t see it.

Nicki: We feel it, we feel it. You can grab your LMNT at drinklmnt.com/robb. That’s drinklmnt.com/robb. And we have three questions for you today, the first one, on the topic of LASIK, from Mark. Hi, Robb and Nicki. On last week’s episode, Robb mentioned getting LASIK. I don’t think I’ve heard this mentioned on the podcast before. I’m shortsighted. How do you say that, minus four?

Robb: Yeah, the diopters, yeah, yeah.

Nicki: Okay, I’m not familiar with eye readings.

Robb: I remember, vaguely, what it means, yeah.

Nicki: Okay. I’m shortsighted and have long been considering LASIK, and he’s writing LASIK with L-A-S-I-K, but something about it just makes me feel squeamish. Robb, how much research into the procedure did you do before getting comfortable with it? Are there any major thoughts or findings from your research worth sharing? And you being someone who’s active and does Brazilian jujitsu, did you consider LASEK, L-A-S-E-K, over the I-K version, and I didn’t even know there were two versions of LASIK, which I’ve read is often preferred by military personnel, police, boxers, and the like, anything with high impact.

Nicki: And then, he cites an article from the UK Times, quote, unlike the most common form of laser eye surgery, LASIK, with IK, the operation used on military personnel, LASEK, E-K, does not involve slicing a flap in the cornea because there’s a slim chance that a hard blow could dislodge the flap. Boxers, police officers, and those with a very active lifestyle are also advised to opt for LASEK, which is the E-K ending. Then, Mark says, how is your recovery, being able to get back into physical activity? Any and all thoughts that might help me overcome my squeamishness would be much appreciated.

Robb: So Mark, in all honesty, when I decided to do this, and this was-

Nicki: This was 2008, I believe, because-

Robb: Yeah, close to 15 years ago.

Nicki: … we went to Nicaragua at the end of… Did we go to Nicaragua in 2007 or 2008? Was that before or after we-

Robb: Maybe ’07. Let’s just say ’07-

Nicki: … got married?

Robb: … for the-

Nicki: Okay, I can’t remember. We went to Nicaragua, and Robb had glasses, and so I remember snorkeling, things were blurry. This was the first time we’d gone snorkeling together, and he couldn’t see very much under the water, which was awful. He’s wanting to spear fish and stuff, and it’s like, everything under the water is blurry.

Robb: Yeah, and at the time, LASEK was not on my radar. I don’t know how new that procedure is, but we started poking around, and there was a guy… So we were living in Chico at the time, and there was a guy down in the Sacramento area who had three clinics. He had one in Sacramento, one in New Mexico, and one… maybe Los Angeles, or something like that.

Robb: And I’ll throw on my, or jump up on top of my libertarian soapbox. This is one of these examples, and I use LASIK as an example of how things get cheaper and better over time, nobody accepts insurance for this stuff. It’s a hundred percent cash and carry. It’s insanely competitive, the advertising that goes into it and the success rates and all that type of stuff. There’s a Moore’s Law deal to it. It’s half as expensive as what it was in the past when you inflation adjust, tends to get better and better and better. And so, we found this guy. He was topnotch. I really wasn’t looking for a bargain basement person, but it was still far less expensive than what-

Nicki: He had done-

Robb: … it had been previously.

Nicki: … LASIK for several people on the Sacramento Kings basketball team, and so that was also compelling.

Robb: Pretty compelling, yeah. So we gave him a shot, and then when I decided to do it, I ceased researching the topic. And Nicki, before going in and getting this thing done, she started asking me all these questions. I’m like, “I don’t want to talk about any of this. I’m just going to do it.” And-

Nicki: I think if you understand a lot, then it is easy-

Robb: It is far more-

Nicki: … to get really squeamish.

Robb: Yeah, so I just committed to it. I am chagrined. They give you some Valium before. They gave me five milligrams. There was this tiny little Asian woman who came up, and she was like, “How much Valium can I get?” And they’re like, “We can give you up to 15 milligrams,” and I’m like, “Oh, God, what about me?” But it was too late for then. They gave me a little-

Nicki: Teddy bear.

Robb: … stuffed animal, teddy bear, to hold onto while they did it, and they’re just like, “Just relax.” And it-

Nicki: It took five minutes, or-

Robb: Took five minutes.

Nicki: … 10, I don’t know. It was really, really quick.

Robb: I sat up and, immediately, could see better than what I had ever been able to see in my life, absent glasses, a lot of fogginess immediately afterwards. Definitely some non-trivial discomfort immediately afterwards, but I think it was just-

Nicki: We went back to our hotel-

Robb: … over-the-counter-

Nicki: … room, and-

Robb: … pain meds. Yeah.

Nicki: You had to wear these really dark glasses, and I don’t know if you had to keep your eyes closed or not, but you had these-

Robb: I mainly did, yeah.

Nicki: … dark glasses, and we stayed in Sacramento overnight, and-

Robb: And then, part of the day, the next day. Driving home was uncomfortable.

Nicki: Yep, I drove, obviously.

Robb: Clearly, Nicki drove in that. It was one moment when her driving was safer than my driving.

Nicki: Oh, come on, come on.

Robb: I kid, I kid. And gosh, what else is important about that? My vision improved dramatically. Prior to the surgery, I had an astigmatism in both eyes, particularly pronounced in my left eye. When I was in first grade, I almost needed, or underwent surgery because I thought I might go blind in the left eye because of how problematic it was, but wearing glasses seemed to stop some of the degradation that it had in the vision. I was eating a ketogenic diet at the time, which feeds into the next piece.

Robb: When we went back for the follow-up, the doctor was a really funny dude. He was just young, happy-go-lucky guy. And he sat down, and I had my face in the apparatus where he could look at my eyes, and he looked in it, and then he looked around the side at me, and he looked in it, and he looked around the side at me, and he’s like, “You don’t have a twin, do you?” And I’m like, “No.” He said, “You have no scarring, none. I can’t tell that I’ve done surgery on you, and I know it’s you.” I’m like, “Well, I eat a low-carb diet, ketogenic diet, and I-“

Nicki: And again, this in 2008 or ’07, and-

Robb: It was 2008.

Nicki: … so, wasn’t-

Robb: None of this stuff-

Nicki: … popular or common or well known at this point.

Robb: Not to the degree that it was, and it still isn’t, I think, well appreciated that for wound care, a ketogenic diet is magic. The low glycemic index prevents or minimizes advanced glycation end products, which is really important for the eye, reduces inflammation. And again, ketogenic diet isn’t the right move for all people, but for me, it was amazing. He was just blown away. He was like, “Wow, I have never seen recovery that good, that fast, like you.” And usually, one of the hallmarks of LASIK is chromatic aberrations, where if you see the sun, or particularly, at night, headlights, there’s a haloing effect. I have none of that. I have absolutely none of that. I do have some diminished night vision now. I don’t really like driving at night, but I’m 50 years old, and apparently, that’s common. This doctor said that by… This was 2008, so I was-

Nicki: 14 years ago, so 36.

Robb: … 36. He said that by the time I was like 45, that I might need to do reading glasses or something, 40, 45, I might need reading glasses because the near vision stuff would become problematic. I do have some problems with near vision stuff now, and I do occasionally need to put on some reading glasses. I don’t do striking combatives anymore. If I’ve done any type of Muay Thai or anything, it’s just hitting bags and pads. I try to avoid any type of head impact. I’m not too big of a knucklehead at jujitsu, and I really try to pick people who are smart to train with at jujitsu.

Robb: So yeah, I haven’t had any problems. I think that my results were atypical, in that maybe it just worked really well, like I was a disproportionately good candidate because of the… I know for a long time, LASIK wasn’t an option for me because they weren’t able to adjust for the astigmatism, but then in this surgery, they were. And again, that was 15 years ago. I’d be shocked if this technology hasn’t dramatically improved even since then. I’m not, honestly, super familiar with the LASEK option. All I would say is, if you do any type of stuff like this, I would do a low-carb diet, I would eat lots of blueberries and colorful… to the degree, consume plant materials, lots of antioxidant-rich, highly colorful foods, like blueberries, and tomatoes, and carrots, and stuff like that. I really do think that, potentially, makes an impact, particularly on eye recovery. And then, probably just don’t read too much about the specifics of a laser going in, carving part of your cornea off, and all that stuff.

Nicki: Just go in there and just be like, “I trust this person, they’ve done this thousands and thousands of times.”

Robb: Oh, and you know what? I did do one thing, because my right eye wasn’t that bad, comparatively. It still would benefit from adjustment. My left eye was terrible. What I did do, is I said, “Hey, can you do the left eye first? And then, I’m going to take a peek, and if I’m blind in the left eye, I don’t want to do the right eye,” and he’s like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally, no problem,” so I did do that. And so, we did the left eye, and I mean, this is right after this thing has cleaved part of my shit off and everything. And I blinked and looked around, and it was uncomfortable, but I could actually see. I’m like, “Fuck, yeah, let’s do the other one.”

Robb: So hopefully, that helps. I’m forever grateful that I had the opportunity to do this, that there was a doctor that’s available, that the… Thank God that insurance never got involved in this angle of this thing, otherwise, it would’ve never been the innovation, it would’ve never become as inexpensive as it was, he wouldn’t be as good of a doctor because there’s not the incentive to become a totally kickass doctor and have three different clinics around the West, the way that he did.

Robb: And if people are like, “Oh, that’s bullshit,” just compare the innovation trajectory of, basically, benefits of LASIK versus bypass surgery. Bypass surgery is a good one. Oh, another good one is all of the obesity surgeries. Compare those and look at the prices. All of the obesity surgeries are 100% insurance reimbursed, and they’re dogshit, comparatively, with regards to innovation, cost controls, competition, and this is a pretty good illustration of a way to completely screw up a medical system, is guaranteeing that everything is insurance bound. So the folks that don’t like that, similar to the physics and all the rest of it, do a little research on it, and then get back to me on it.

Nicki: You’re awfully long-winded today, Hubs.

Robb: I am. This was supposed to be quick. I’m late waking our kids up already.

Nicki: That’s all right. Okay, question from Greg about returning to fitness after cancer. Hey Robb and Nicki, I have a friend who has just finished an extensive round of chemo treatments. He wants to know what would be the best way to pursue getting back in shape and getting his health in order post-chemo. Are there any specific things he should focus on in terms of diet and exercise?

Robb: I would recommend tracking down some sort of a HRV platform. Oura is good. I really like the Morpheus platform. I do use it, but I have no financial ties to it, but I’m really impressed both with the HRV score that it provides, and then also, the insight that it gives me while wearing the heart rate monitor while exercising. I think same rules apply with the exercise. Find something that you like, that this person’s going to stick to, some zone two cardio, some strength training. That seems like absolute magic as far as all this stuff goes.

Robb: And then, because of bouncing back from chemo and radiation, that heart rate variability monitor, particularly the way that the Morpheus rig works, when it does the HRV in the morning, it gives you a sense of your readiness, and it’s not perfect, you have to divine the tea leaves a little bit with that, but then it also sets a work output upper limit for that day, based off of your perceived recovery. And one thing that I noticed was that I was probably training too lightly, too often, and I wasn’t taking advantage of being able to improve my fitness. That zone two cardio, I had improved enough that I should have been operating at a higher heart rate and still being in zone two. It’s just a great platform and I would recommend checking that out.

Nicki: Okay. And the main thing with that is not to dig himself into a hole.

Robb: Don’t dig a hole, yeah, yeah. You don’t need CrossFit right now, or if you’re at a CrossFit place, it needs to be a place where the folks understand how to not just fucking scale, but really program for somebody in an aerobic-paced, mixed-modal activity, great, sign me up. A poorly watered-down CrossFit variant on somebody coming off of cancer rehab, no, no. And there’s a big difference there, and if you don’t understand the difference, then maybe you shouldn’t be coaching folks in these situations.

Nicki: But the goal is just to slowly ramp back up, take-

Robb: Build that-

Nicki: … your time. There’s no rush.

Robb: There’s no rush. Yeah, yeah.

Nicki: Okay. Sandy has a question on your essential tremors. Rob, I’ve heard you mention several times on podcast that you were finding some relief from your essential tremors with lion’s mane. I’d love to do my own experiment to see if this would help me. What form of lion’s mane would you suggest? What dosage would you shoot for? How long did it take until you saw some relief? All of the drugs I have tried for my tremors gave me side effects that were worse than the tremors themselves, so I had given up. This is the first time in a long time I have felt hopeful. Thank you.

Robb: Yeah, so I had tinkered first with CBD, which I think is a little bit helpful. It maybe takes 10, 15% of the tremor down. If I’m doing a public speaking gig and I’m nervous, which can-

Nicki: Exacerbate.

Robb: … exacerbate the tremor, it maybe takes 10% off the top, and it’s immediate. Ironically, a good whack of alcohol, like a drink consumed quickly, knocks the tremor down to maybe 5% of the normal tremor, but I can’t just go through my life mildly drunk all the time. Some people do. I’m not really going to do that. Funny enough, even on the essential tremor websites, if you’ve got a public function or something you need to do and you can get away with having a little bit of alcohol, it’s a way to mitigate the tremor. But we are looking at other things.

Robb: I remembered reading about lion’s mane and its effects on some other neurological conditions, and I was like, “I’ve got nothing to lose.” And I started taking it, and I mean, it was two days later, I was like, “Holy shit.” And even Nicki, she’ll cut my hair, and under different circumstances, it’s pretty noticeable that I would have the tremor,” and she’s commented. She’s like, “Wow, your tremor is a lot better.” It’s funny because I still use the nicotine mints a little bit. The nicotine mints make the tremor much worse, but it also helps my gut. And so, I’ve just reduced the use of the nicotine mints to just immediately post-meals, and that seems to be a win. I don’t use them nearly as frequently as what I did. I’ve tried a couple of different lion’s mane products, but the real mushrooms, just lion’s mane powder, I’ve been using two level teaspoons per day. I may try stepping that up, but that’s been pretty good so far, and-

Nicki: And some people mix it with water, but you just put it right-

Robb: I just put it-

Nicki: … in your mouth.

Robb: … put it in my mouth. I think it tastes really good. But yeah, you could put it in water, you could put it on coffee, you could make a tea. Four Sigmatic has a lion’s mane product, but honestly, it ends up being way more expensive than the just plain Real Mushrooms-

Nicki: The Real Mushrooms-

Robb: … powder.

Nicki: … is the brand.

Robb: Yeah, is the brand. And that has been profound for me, like I don’t know, 40, 50, 60% reduction in tremor syndrome. And then, if I don’t do caffeine, if I’m judicious about not doing the nicotine mints, if I do some breathing and some meditation and all that type of stuff, it definitely improves it.

Nicki: The only time I really notice it is if there’s a lot of emotion. If you were dealing with a frustrating situation or whatever, and you’re a little heated, then that definitely-

Robb: That’ll fire-

Nicki: … kicks it in, for sure.

Robb: … it up, yeah, and there is some sort of a… Do I still have it here? Focused ultrasound treatment centers. I’m looking into this. It’s some sort of transcranial ultrasound for both essential tremor and Parkinson’s, and I haven’t done this yet, but I’ve had this tab open for two months and I keep reading up on this thing. The main deal is, I’m going to have to get on an airplane to go do this, so that has been-

Nicki: They don’t have-

Robb: … stinging me on it.

Nicki: … one of them things up here in-

Robb: Not up here-

Nicki: … Northwestern Montana?

Robb: … in the great white north, no. I think the closest one, airport-wise, for us is going to be either Utah or Colorado. But I am going to look into that, and the reports I get back from that seem to be really good. I’ve talked to Chris Kresser and a couple other people, and he’s of the opinion that a ketogenic diet is probably good for essential tremor. I’ve been really, really hardcore ketogenic, and then I’ve been more loose with a hundred grams of carbs a day, and I honestly haven’t noticed much difference one way or the other on my tremor symptoms under that circumstance. But that’s just a thing to think about.

Nicki: Did you start with the two teaspoons a day, or did you start with less-

Robb: I started with one-

Nicki: … and ramp up? Okay.

Robb: … and noticed benefit, and then I’ve gone to two, and I’m not even entirely sure that the two is better than the one. I just do two.

Nicki: Okay, so Sandy, maybe start with one teaspoon and just see how you feel.

Robb: I’m on a subscription and it breaks down to, basically, two doses a day, 30 days before the next, so-

Nicki: Gotcha. That’s how you figured it out?

Robb: … that’s why I’m doing it, yeah, yeah.

Nicki: All right. And then, it sounds like you saw relief in a couple of days, so hopefully, Sandy, you find similar-

Robb: And we’d love to hear back from you about this, and I promise I will do a writeup on this with more details. I just haven’t had the wherewithal to sit down and-

Nicki: It’s been a hopping few months folks.

Robb: Yeah, yeah.

Nicki: Yep. All right, I think that’s a wrap for this week’s episode. Please check out our show sponsor LMNT for all of your electrolyte needs. You can grab yours at drinklmnt.com/robb. That’s drinklmnt.com/robb. And if you want to get in on this fall 2022 30 Day Rebel Reset inside the Healthy Rebellion community, you can join us at join.thehealthyrebellion.com. Remember, the deadline to participate is Monday, September 19th, at midnight. And I think that’s all. Hopefully, you’ll have a fabulous weekend, and we’ll see you next week.

Robb: Bye, everybody.

Nicki: Bye.

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Robb Wolf

Robb Wolf, author of The Paleo Solution and Wired to Eat, is a former research biochemist and one of the world’s leading experts in Paleolithic nutrition. Wolf has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world via his top ranked iTunes podcast and wildly popular seminar series.