Andrew and Chris attempt to define and discuss Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD), the relations between brain injury and PTSD, along with measures to improve mood, depression, and fitness and nutrition.
Despite the often unfair and inaccurate stigma that steroids and performance enhancing drugs often get, growth hormone therapy has largely found its way into the mainstream. News reports abound of Hollywood actors using HGH therapy to maintain their youthful appearance, many people are turning to injectable human growth hormone for different purposes. Beyond bodybuilders and athletes, we have many women and men seeking to increase their libidos, tighten their skin, and burn fat with the substance.
Some reports suggest that recombinant Human Growth Hormone is completely benign and that users could take it without many of the negative feedback loops that one gets from taking other hormones, like testosterone.
Rather than just rely on the musings of locker room bro science and day time TV, we decided to get one of the top experts in the world to weigh in.
Dr. Gordon was kind enough to sit down with us to discuss growth hormone, and we were able to discuss:
Recently, the United States Military opened up the possibility that members who suffered from Gender Dysphoria could be eligible to receive hormone replacement to help with their transitions. We'll make this clear: this is fine by us as long as it does not inhibit their duty.
What is not fine by us is the fact that military members who are suffering from hormone deficiencies as a result of injuries sustained during service are being denied that opportunity. We discuss this situation along with other subjects including taking responsibility for your own wellness and health, and mindset as it involves success in life.
Tom Campbell began researching altered states of consciousness with Bob Monroe (Journeys Out Of The Body, Far Journeys, and The Ultimate Journey) at Monroe Laboratories in the early 1970s where he and a few others were instrumental in getting Monroe’s laboratory for the study of consciousness up and running. These early drug-free consciousness pioneers helped design experiments, developed the technology for creating specific altered states, and were the main subjects of study (guinea pigs) all at the same time. Campbell has been experimenting with, and exploring the subjective and objective mind ever since. For the past thirty years, Campbell has been focused on scientifically exploring the properties, boundaries, and abilities of consciousness.
During that same time period, he has excelled as a working scientist, a professional physicist dedicated to pushing back the frontiers of cutting edge technology, large-system simulation, technology development and integration, and complex system vulnerability and risk analysis. Presently, and for the past 20 years, he has been at the heart of developing US missile defense systems.
Tom is the “TC (physicist)” described in Bob Monroe’s second book Far Journeys and has been a serious explorer of the frontiers of reality, mind, consciousness, and psychic phenomena since the early 1970s. My Big TOE is a model of existence and reality that is based directly on Campbell’s scientific research and first hand experience. It represents the results and conclusions of thirty years of careful scientific exploration of the boundaries and contents of reality from both the physical and metaphysical viewpoints. The author has made every effort to approach his explorations without bias or preconceived notions. There is no belief system, dogma, creed, or unusual assumptions at the root of My Big TOE.
By demanding high quality repeatable, empirical, evidential data to separate what’s real (exists independently and externally) from what’s imaginary or illusory; Campbell has scientifically derived this general model of reality.
Michael D. Lewis , MD, MPH, MBA, FACPM, FACN is the president and founder of the
Brain Health Education and Research Institute. He is an expert on nutritional and
holistic interventions for brain health, particularly the use of omega-3 fatty acids for the
prevention, management, and rehabilitation of concussions and traumatic brain injury
(TBI). He founded the Brain Health Education and Research Institute in late 2011 upon
retiring as a Colonel after a distinguished thirty-one- year career in the US Army. His
pioneering work in the military and since has helped thousands of people around the
world and is regularly featured in the media, including CNN’s Sanjay Gupta, MD, show
and numerous radio shows and podcasts. He is a graduate of the US Military Academy
at West Point and Tulane University School of Medicine. Dr. Lewis is board-certified and
a fellow of the American Colleges of Preventive Medicine and Nutrition. He completed
postgraduate training at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University,
and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. He is currently in private practice in
Potomac, Maryland (BrainCARE, www.BrainCARE.center ); is a consultant to the US
Army and Navy as well as several organizations, institutes, and nutrition companies
around the world; and is a founding member of the Pop Warner Youth Football Medical
Advisory Board.
As US Soldiers serving in Afghanistan, Griff and Lee saw a problem that they wanted to fix: A country torn apart by war who's young girls had little opportunity for jobs or education.
Their solution: to build a business that helped the Afghan economy and that helped to put young Afghan girls through school.
Combat Flip Flops has grown immensely since it was a three man operation. The group recently partnered with three of the sharks on Shark Tank, and Griff has hit the stage as a TEDX presenter, but their mission is still clear. For every shemagh the company sells, a young Afghan girl gets put through school, and every flip flop is produced by factories in Colombia. Through these efforts they are helping the Afghan economy and helping Colombia to transform its once narco based economy.
The big lesson to take from this episode is that, while they might make it look easy, this is a story of pain and persistence. Things were not always easy for Griff and Lee, and they have been through a lot. But it was their purpose and vision that brought them to where they are today.
Andrew and I got together with our friend Tone Floreal in Redondo Beach, California this past weekend and we talked about why problems and struggle seem like a necessary obstacle in the pursuit of happiness.
This is a completely informal discussion. We basically went out to dinner and started a conversation about this subject and then I thought it might be a good idea to start recording because we started getting into some really in depth conversation that can relate to everyone who listens to this show.
Dr. Anthony Beck is an author, speaker, and a leader in the medical world who is not afraid to tell it like it is. He has advised elite Special Operations Soldiers and has coached some of the world's most elite obstacle course racers. Unlike most medical doctors, Doctor Beck has a proactive approach to healthcare, and he wants to empower his patients to demand a higher standard of care from their health practitioners.
Dr. Beck is a world class expert in designing wellness protocols for individuals based each persons' individual digestion, genetics, inflammatory response, and other idiosyncratic factors that could hold back performance. He has taken elite performers and made them better by empowering them the knowledge they need to break through their barriers.
In this interview, Andrew and Chris ask Dr. Beck about his approach, the Balance Protocol, and it's applications for veterans and others to living their healthiest and fittest lives. We also discuss his advice for those of the younger generation who are still in active service.
As a Special Forces Green Beret, Andrew Marr was used to performing at an elite level throughout his military career.
Andrew's last deployment in 2013 was emotionally and physically taxing. He and his Special Forces team were engaged in constant combat throughout its entirety. As a breacher, Andrew suffered numerous traumatic brain injuries from explosions, which resulted in his medical retirement.
When he returned to the states he began a 6-month spiral downward. Once an elite performer in life or death situations in combat, Andrew couldn't even remember how to drive home. He was plagued by psychological, physiological, and physical manifestations, including depression, outbursts of anger, anxiety, mood swings, memory loss, inability to concentrate, learning disabilities, sleep deprivation, loss of libido, loss of lean body mass, and muscular weakness.
Like Chris and so many other veterans, Andrew turned to alcoholism, developed a massive deep vein thrombosis (blood clot) that broke off into both lungs (bi-lateral pulmonary embolism), and a number of other medically documented conditions. Compounding this situation was that Andrew was also a husband and a father of five children. The medications and treatments that the VA was providing Andrew were not working and actually seemed to be making things worse. He could not be the man he needed to be for his family in this situation, so he decided to do something about it.
He hit the books and began reading everything he could about brain function and traumatic brain injury. His research led him to Doctor Mark Gordon, who had developed a revolutionary treatment that included replenishing hormone production that was interrupted by inflammation induced by brain trauma. Andrew became Doctor Gordon's patient and experienced nearly immediate results. After years of pain and frustration, this man who could not even walk in a straight line in his worse periods of suffering, returned to his elite performance level.
Andrew has since started the Warrior Angels Foundation with the mission of bringing this revolutionary treatment to all veterans who suffer from TBI. Literally one of the only charity founders who is trying to work himself out of a job, Andrew is working to turn this treatment into policy by getting the VA to make it into the standard of care for veterans suffering from TBI related brain conditions.
By joining Warrior Soul, Andrew is also working to expand this mission by delivering knowledge in addition to treatment. Healing the brain and the body only solves part of the problem. His work with Warrior Soul is centered around getting men to develop the leadership, knowledge, and habits that will help them to live their best lives through health, wellness, abundance, and happiness.
We fail at fitness, over and over, because we attach our goals to things that don't mean very much. This podcast goes into changing your mindset from one of fitness for luxury to one of fitness for life.
Serving in the military can be hazardous to your health, not just because of combat or job related danger, but because of what Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen put themselves through on a daily basis. Lack of sleep, stress, constant physical wear and tear, along with a steady diet of MREs, chow hall food, and in many cases tobacco and alcohol can lead to significant health risks down the line. These include lower sex drive, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, along with increased severity of the symptoms of PTS, Traumatic Brain Injuries, and depression.
If you've been listening to this podcast, then you already know a lot of this. What I wanted to do in this episode is to speak to you about some potential solutions, so I brought in an expert. Ben Greenfield is widely known as one of the best personal trainers in the world. His New York Times bestselling book Beyond Training approaches a similar problem to what members of the military face: triathlon training. Ben has coached hundreds of triathletes and noticed a trend in the triathlon world: very fit and high performing people who were suffering from significant health problems, low sex drive, depression, and early deaths. His book highlights the reasons for this that evolve from overtraining and popular high carbohydrate and high grain diets that increase inflammation and decrease health and longevity.
In this episode we discuss these issues as they apply to those who serve in the combat arms, ways of mitigating the health risks service members phase before and after their discharge, along with some amazing tips for living a long and happy life.
Back from the 2016 Olympics and I wanted to get out a quick episode about my experience and some of the lessons I took from it. Also wanted to highlight some things we will be touching on as far as nutrition and living your best life.
Back from the 2016 Olympics and I wanted to get out a quick episode about my experience and some of the lessons I took from it. Also wanted to highlight some things we will be touching on as far as nutrition and living your best life.
Sometimes the reason why the road ahead looks so hard is because we forget how far we've come. If you're in a bad state right now, the best thing you can do for yourself is to realize what you do have and what you have accomplished. We all go through ups and downs, but the problem for many of us is that we focus too much on the downs. This keeps us from living in the moment and realizing what it is that we can do to make ourselves better now.
In this episode I had the opportunity to interview Joe Crane from Veteran on the Move. Joe is a retired US Marine Corps officer who uses his podcast as a platform to interview veterans from around the country. He does this to inspire veterans to take their own entrepreneurial journies.
Joe's podcast is amazing for many reasons, but the biggest reason is this: it connects you with veterans who've been through the trials and tribulations of opening their own businesses, and it gives you ideas you might not have come across yourself.
This is important because, as we know, you are the average of the people you surround yourself with. You may not have successful entrepreneurs around you every day, but, in this wonderful day and age, you can connect with their ideas and their stories.
You can find Joe's podcast Veteran on the Move at: http://www.veteranonthemove.com/category/podcast/
In this episode, my good friend, fellow podcast host and veteran US Navy FMF Corpsman Joey "Devildoc" Martinez comes on the show. We discuss everything from fitness to medical cannabis to entertainment. A word of warning, this episode may piss some people off. It's ok if it does and you are 100% free to disagree on anything we talk about. Joey is also hilarious, so sit back relax, and grab a cup of coffee or your favorite beverage and check this episode out.
Andrew Marr is a veteran Special Operator and the Founder of the Warrior Angels Foundation.
18 months ago Andrew was dealing with a living hell. Once an elite performer, Andrew had slipped into a pit of alcoholism and depression. His once sharp brain was now foggy to the point where he would forget even the simplest things. As a lifelong athlete and elite soldier, Andrew always had amazing coordination and balance, but was now struggling even to walk. The medications he was receiving from the VA hospital were not helping, and even seemed to be hurting him. At the end of his rope, Andrew decided to make a change. He hit the books and researched everything he could about TBI and found Doctor Mark Gordon. Dr. Gordon's treatments changed Andrew's life for the better almost immediately. Today, Andrew lives a highly productive lifestyle, competes in athletics, and he's made it his life's mission to help other veterans who's lives have been paused by traumatic brain injury.
In this episode, we get into Andrew's story, his experience with Dr Gordon, his recovery, and ways that veterans can connect with Warrior Angels to receive treatment. In my opinion, this is the most important episode we've ever done. I apologize in advance for some of the microphone popping as I am still in the amateur phase of this podcasting adventure, but please bare with me as this will be extremely valuable to any veteran who listens.
Andrew Marr is a veteran Special Operator and the Founder of the Warrior Angels Foundation.
18 months ago Andrew was dealing with a living hell. Once an elite performer, Andrew had slipped into a pit of alcoholism and depression. His once sharp brain was now foggy to the point where he would forget even the simplest things. As a lifelong athlete and elite soldier, Andrew always had amazing coordination and balance, but was now struggling even to walk. The medications he was receiving from the VA hospital were not helping, and even seemed to be hurting him. At the end of his rope, Andrew decided to make a change. He hit the books and researched everything he could about TBI and found Doctor Mark Gordon. Dr. Gordon's treatments changed Andrew's life for the better almost immediately. Today, Andrew lives a highly productive lifestyle, competes in athletics, and he's made it his life's mission to help other veterans who's lives have been paused by traumatic brain injury.
In this episode, we get into Andrew's story, his experience with Dr Gordon, his recovery, and ways that veterans can connect with Warrior Angels to receive treatment. In my opinion, this is the most important episode we've ever done. I apologize in advance for some of the microphone popping as I am still in the amateur phase of this podcasting adventure, but please bare with me as this will be extremely valuable to any veteran who listens.
Tone Floreal is a good friend of mine and an expert on achieving the "Flow State." That state of mind we achieve when we are living in the moment and truly present in what we are doing. It's also called being "in the zone" and it happens when we are joyfully immersed in what we are doing. Top performers have put a lot into getting into the flow state and science has delivered evidence that Flow is actually a real thing and not simply a mystical belief. We speak about the flow state, how to achieve it, and ways that we keep ourselves from getting into Flow. We also talk about Tone's background in being hearing impaired, how veterans and members of the military could benefit from flow, and Tone's experience as a practitioner of the Wim Hof method that allows him to endure extreme cold.
Over the past few decades people have become extremely conscious of what they eat. First we saw the low fat, high fiber craze. Recently, carbs and sugar have been deemed the enemy. We are often told that "we are what we eat." If you want to look good and perform well as a human being, then you need to eat a healthy diet.
I could give you a whole lecture on what this entails but I'm not writing this blog about food. Today I'm writing about something that is equally vital, and that is our psychological diet.
Just as your body and physical health are affected by your nutrition, the people, ideas, and information you surround yourself with every day with impact your mind and what your mind considers possible. This is your psychological diet, and it will impact your happiness, your ability to get through hard times, and your success in this life.
The more narrow your psychological diet is, the more narrow your possibility to be a resilient, well though out, and successful human being. Here are three tips to ensure that your psychological diet is up to snuff:
1. Never let a negative person bring you down.
At one time I was in a long-term relationship with a woman who hated her job. She came home from work every day complaining, and whenever I went to try anything new, she would become jealous. As I worked extra hours to try to open my own business, she would say things like, "why are you even trying at this?" and "there's no way you'll be successful at that." Eventually I stopped working to open that business up, and I didn't start again until the relationship eventually ended. I often think of the months I wasted because I listened to her negativity, but I'm also grateful that I got myself out of the relationship.
Be wary of the people you surround yourself with and how they affect you. Try to surround yourself with positive people who want you to succeed at whatever it is that you choose to do. You want people around you who are going to constructively criticize you and challenge you to become better, but do not entertain the ideas of someone who is flat out negative.
And remember, as Jim Rohn says, "You are the average of the five people you hang around with the most." Hang out with five negative people who have nothing going for them, and you will be the sixth. Seek out positive people who are working to better their own futures and they will help to better yours.
2. Seek out friends from different social circles and value the opinions of others.
I am a big fan of befriending people who do not think the same way I do. I lean on the conservative side of the fence politically, but I have many friends who are liberal. I am a Catholic, but I have friends who are Baptist, Mormon, Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu.
This allows me to see things from multiple perspectives and helps me to avoid narrow and limited thinking. This does not mean that I am not principled in what I believe. To the contrary, I am able to formulate many of my arguments more effectively because I better understand what others think. It also keeps me from being being "dug in" on any one particular issue that might lead to me making a serious mistake in judgment.
I myself am wary of anyone who demonizes an opposing viewpoint because that tells me that they have not considered anything and that they do not have the power to understand things from alternative perspectives. People like this are actually very easy to control. You can simply manipulate them by saying things that they'll agree with (think of presidential politics at the time of this writing).
All politics aside, do not allow yourself to fall into narrow minded behavior. Understand opposing arguments, and this will allow you to think more independently. It will also allow you to understand people. Understanding people, and how they think, is a key attribute of being a leader. None of us, even those of us in the military, can be tyrants if we are leading humans. The only true way to lead is to get people to want to follow, and to do this, you have to understand how they think.
3. Read
I say this over and over again, but if you want to be successful you need to read. Not all of us may be able to travel the world at the moment. We may not be able to get mentors who are multi millionaires or who've held leadership positions, but any of us can fork out a few dollars for a book.
Books are important because they give us perspective. Reading about the lives of successful people can help us to understand that the difficulties we go through in life are part of the process of becoming successful. Books like these keep us from feeling sorry for ourselves and they help us to realize what is possible in our lives. Above all they help us to realize that we are not resigned to any particular fate.
And just as with people, do not just read books that you agree with. Read books about opposing view points and books about people from differing backgrounds than yourself. Read books about other religions, books about people from other times and places, and books about people who you may not like personally. Every perspective contains something you can learn from.
Conclusion
To sum all of this up in one big phrase: don't allow yourself to become narrow minded. When you are narrow minded it opens you up to being manipulated and held back from your true potential. Surrounding yourself with positive people, understanding opposing opinions, and reading books from multiple perspectives are three keys to having a healthy psychological diet and a life without limits.
Strength has nothing to do with a single act. Strength is actually a series of choices that you've committed to making throughout your life. You have to choose to be strong, and you have to choose it consistently. The second we begin to make choices that do not allow us to be strong is the second that we cease to be strong.
Whether you are a veteran, or a civilian, there is one thing you can do to ensure your success: volunteer to be strong.
Throughout history, warriors who were exposed to the horrors of combat have had to face the prospect of returning to their communities, and throughout history warriors have had to see to their own healing processes.
In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Adam Magers of the Warrior's Ascent. Adam is a US Army veteran of the war in Iraq. Warrior's Ascent teaches returning warriors how to heal their minds, bodies, and souls through holistic healing practices. Utilizing mindfulness and depth psychology, the Warrior's Ascent does not take the modern approach of merely seeking to fight the symptoms of PTS. Rather, they teach practices that allow the veterans they help to achieve mental and physical wholeness.
I've gone through a lot of ups and downs in my life. I got to serve in the United States Marine Corps, I graduated from college, and I've opened several businesses. But I've also suffered from depression, survivors' guilt, and massive financial hardship.
Even when I've been more stable in my life, worries were still on my mind. Fear of loss and failure has chased me through all of my years. As a Marine it was always related to fear about whether or not I'd be good at my job. As a civilian, I feared loneliness, and whether or not I'd be able to find the right person. As a self-employed entrepreneur, I lie awake at night wondering if I'll be able to keep business up and support my family.
But after all of these years, I've discovered something about fear. It's never really done anything for me. My fear of being good at my job as a Marine led me to make dumb mistakes in the field as a team leader. It tarnished my leadership ability and seriously held me back from being the Marine I know I could have been.
In my dating life, fear of being alone often led me to womanize, and womanizing led me to really bad relationships. There is nothing I can think of that has held me back more in my life than choosing to be with someone just because I was scared of being alone. This led me to a really bad marriage and a bitter divorce that left me living out of my car.
In business, my fear of failure has always caused me to focus on the wrong things. I've often found myself doing things just to hold ground rather than doing things to grow.
But here's the biggest bitch about fear, most of it is made up. Fear is a big old fucking lie. The only thing it does is keep us from being who we truly want to be. Fear is that thing that will keep you on your couch because it tells you that doing anything positive, like working out or putting work in on your dreams, is useless. Fear is that thing that will tell you that you need to hit the bars tonight and get shit faced because you're scared of reality. Fear is the lie that will tell you that you just aren't capable of great things. Fear is what will keep you from having meaningful relationships because fear keeps you from trusting anyone else.
How do I know that fear is a lie? Because of death. If there is one truth in all of our lives that makes every person on this planet equal, it is death. One hundred years from now, everyone listening to this will be dead. Everyone you know, everyone currently living in your family, will no longer be living.
You know what that means? In the grand scheme of thing, fear means nothing. Whether we are rich or poor, happy or depressed, successful or stagnant, death will touch us all one day. The question becomes this: if death is going to happen to us all one day, then what's the point of holding onto fear? If this is all going to end one day, then why are we not doing everything we can with the limited time we have to make every effort possible to live the lives we want to live? Why would you spend any minute of that time in misery?
Fear is a lie my friends. And it's the single biggest thing in this world holding you back. It's not the world, it's not the government, and it is not any other person on this Earth that is preventing you from living the life you want to live except for you.
The good news is that you can stop it from ruining your life at any moment. You just have to commit to stopping it.
So what I want you to do is this:
Take 30 minutes out of your day and go to some place where you can be alone. Take a notebook with you and maybe some earphones and a radio and an MP3 player. Turn on some of your favorite music and write down what you want your life to look like five years from this day. This is your life vision, and I want you to write it as if anything were possible. Don't think about anything that could hold you back.
Then I want you to take that vision and write down a list of goals that you need to accomplish to make that vision come true. Start with the final goal, and work backward all the way to the first goal that you need to accomplish. Set dates for when each goal is due.
Take this piece of paper and hang it up some where that you will see it every day, and work on those goals one by one until all of them are accomplished.
When difficulties arise in accomplishing any of those goals, I want you to assess what's keeping you from accomplishing them. What have you been focusing on? How have you been spending your time? Yeah, you might work all day, but could you sacrifice an hour each day of your free time to make that goal happen?
If the answer is no, then think about this, whether you are sacrificing an hour of sleep or an hour of television, how much could that little bit of suffering each day for this short space of time be worth if it changed your life forever?
The truth is that none of us have anything to lose by pushing harder. Many years from now you will never say, "hey I wish I spent more time watching Game of Thrones" or "I wish I spent more time in bed." You'll be thinking about the dreams you didn't accomplish and the life you didn't lead.
Kill your fear, and dominate life.
Semper Fi,
Chris
Thirteen years ago, I had a young Marine in my fire team named J. Manuel. At the time J. was a quiet kid who didn't have much to say, but he was an excellent Marine, especially while we were running security missions up the Euphrates River in Iraq. Well that quiet kid became a lawyer and a scyfy author and he's on the podcast to talk about his new book From Filth and Mud.
We talk about his experience in transitioning out of the Marine Corps, dealing with law school, and everything he went through to make his dream of writing a scyfy novel a reality.