When we think about plagues, we normally think about diseases from viruses or bacteria. We don't think about these diseases coming from medicines. Someone in this country dies from an opiate overdose every 19 minutes. That's pretty startling, but here's something even more startling: 91% of those who survive an opiate overdose end up going right back on the drugs that nearly killed them.
Chris Bell is a documentary film maker who is tackling this issue head on through his work. Initially known for his film on performance enhancing drugs, Bigger, Stronger, Faster, Chris decided to tackle the prescription drug abuse epidemic with the movie Prescription Thugs after being affected by it personally. His brother Mike, who was featured in Bigger, Stronger, Faster, was an addict who died shortly after the film was released.
Chris also had a secret that made it even more personal - he was also an addict. Affected by years of pain from arthritis and hip surgeries, Chris was popping prescription pills like crazy.
Today, Chris is sober, largely because of a plant based product called Kratom. Kratom is a plant grown in Thailand that is used to aid in opiate withdrawal. It's also currently on the target list to be scheduled as a schedule 1 drug by the Drug Enforcement Agency. Chris is also currently working to ensure that Kratom stays legal and we cover his current project: a documentary on the legal battle to keep the plant legal.
In this episode, Andrew and Chris sit down with biohacker and nutritionist, Matt Cooper of Bluprint Nutrition. Matt has dedicated his life to understanding and maximizing human performance. He specializes in making nutrition plans to help people to become better at everything they do and works with high level executives and professional athletes to increase their mental and physical performance. Matt is also a specialist in working with people who have autoimmune diseases.
This is a fantastic episode and we cover everything from nutrition for active duty service members, to wellness for those of us who may have lived hard in our youth with drinking and tobacco use.
Why we need to stop outsourcing our health to the medical system.
Why we need to stop outsourcing our health to the medical system.
Why we need to stop outsourcing our health to the medical system.
Blayne Smith, Executive Director Bio:
Blayne works closely with Team RWB’s board members, staff, and volunteer leaders
to develop and implement programs that serve veterans across the country. He
provides strategic and operational guidance to the organization while building and
managing key partnerships. Blayne is a West Point graduate and former Special
Forces officer with combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Upon leaving the
military, he worked at Quest Diagnostics while earning his MBA at the University of
Florida. Blayne currently resides in Tampa with his two boys and leads the Team
RWB Tampa chapter.
Team RWB Mission: Enrichment is defined as creating quality relationships and experiences that contribute to life satisfaction and overall wellbeing. The concept of enrichment consists of three core components—health, people, and purpose—that define a rich life.
Enrichment Equation: Enrichment = Health + People + Purpose
People: Creating authentic connections (defined as genuine, quality, supportive relationships that generate mutual trust and accountability), reflected in an increased number of close relationships and improvements in teammates’ sense of belonging, purpose, and community engagement.
Health: Creating frequent opportunities for team members to connect through fitness, sports, and recreation to improve physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.
Purpose: Engaging members in meaningful team and community-based experiences such as leadership and service that, beyond physical and social activities, renew self-identity and purpose in life.
We accomplish our mission via our two core programs: our Chapter and Community Program (CCP) and our Leadership Development Program (LDP).
Keith is one of those few lucky souls who has been able to completely transition out of corporate America and dive headlong into his passion for bettering lives by teaching the art and science of physical culture. He not only “walks the walk” on a day-to-day basis, but his economic well-being hinges on his precepts of “proper exercise, stellar diet and lifestyle, and intelligent “hacks” and supplementation” forming the bedrock foundation for a long, healthy and prosperous life.
Keith, together with partner Mark Alexander, have molded Austin-based Efficient Exercise into one of the most highly regarded fitness venues in the nation. Keith’s mix of intelligent and highly effective exercise programming, coupled with Mark’s business savvy and proprietary equipment genius have made Efficient Exercise the preeminent wellness authority.
The very essence of Paleo f(x)™ is rooted in the idea of putting theory to practice; an idea that Keith is heavily invested in, having been blogging about these issues since early 2007. And his “30-thousand-foot view” for the Paleo f(x)™ enterprise serves as the movement’s guiding, north star.
And with a belief that intelligent “hacks” can help bridge the gap between our elegant evolutionary programming and sub-par environmental surroundings, Keith is continually ferreting out and backing the most promising of technological enhancements. As a founding partner of ID Life, Keith is helping to usher-in 21st century, optimal supplement dosing.
It might be said that Keith lives by the credo written by the Greek poet and soldier, Archilochus, over 2,600 years ago – “We do not rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training”. And his vision for Paleo f(x)™ is that of a battle-tested warrior, preserving the right of everyone to fully, actively and enthusiastically engage in the human experience.
Veteran Resource Podcast was created to introduce veterans to Veteran Service Organizations. There are literally thousands of VSO’s out there, each with a different mission. The one thing that they have in common is that they want to help veterans in their own way. Some might help financially, some might help emotionally, some might help with homelessness, and others might help by providing the opportunity for veterans to serve their community and help others in need. Each week Jeremy will interview a different VSO to find out what their mission is, what projects they have going on, what challenges they face, and the type of veteran that is in their wheelhouse. With thousands of VSO’s there has to be something out there for every veteran.
Jeremy Paris was born in Buffalo, NY and joined the US Army immediately after graduating from high school. After ten years as a Personnel Administration Sergeant he left the military to become a government contractor performing computer support to the Department of Defense. Although the initial plan was to be a contractor for two years and then split, he spent the next 16 years supporting the same customer within different rolls. Jeremy has been on the staff of Veteran Artist Program (VAP), a non-profit Veteran Service Organization since 2010. While at an event in Washington DC with VAP Jeremy shook hands with people representing so many veteran-focused organizations that he was blown away. It was the realization that most veterans had no idea that these organizations existed that prompted Jeremy to start this podcast. The new mission of the Veteran Resource Podcast is that every single one of the 20,000 veterans transitioning out of the military each month will have the opportunity to learn about the veteran organizations that are available to them.
http://veteranresourcepodcast.com
https://www.facebook.com/VeteranResourcePodcast/
https://www.instagram.com/jeremysparis/
http://veteranartistprogram.org
Veteran Resource Podcast was created to introduce veterans to Veteran Service Organizations. There are literally thousands of VSO’s out there, each with a different mission. The one thing that they have in common is that they want to help veterans in their own way. Some might help financially, some might help emotionally, some might help with homelessness, and others might help by providing the opportunity for veterans to serve their community and help others in need. Each week Jeremy will interview a different VSO to find out what their mission is, what projects they have going on, what challenges they face, and the type of veteran that is in their wheelhouse. With thousands of VSO’s there has to be something out there for every veteran.
Jeremy Paris was born in Buffalo, NY and joined the US Army immediately after graduating from high school. After ten years as a Personnel Administration Sergeant he left the military to become a government contractor performing computer support to the Department of Defense. Although the initial plan was to be a contractor for two years and then split, he spent the next 16 years supporting the same customer within different rolls. Jeremy has been on the staff of Veteran Artist Program (VAP), a non-profit Veteran Service Organization since 2010. While at an event in Washington DC with VAP Jeremy shook hands with people representing so many veteran-focused organizations that he was blown away. It was the realization that most veterans had no idea that these organizations existed that prompted Jeremy to start this podcast. The new mission of the Veteran Resource Podcast is that every single one of the 20,000 veterans transitioning out of the military each month will have the opportunity to learn about the veteran organizations that are available to them.
http://veteranresourcepodcast.com
https://www.facebook.com/VeteranResourcePodcast/
https://www.instagram.com/jeremysparis/
http://veteranartistprogram.org