8 ms·

I suggest the following: - Go to the rural coast of Costa Rica - Every day spend an hour or two swimming in the ocean, surfing, etc. - Eat only fresh tropica

I suggest the following: - Go to the rural coast of Costa Rica - Every day spend an hour or two swimming in the ocean, surfing, etc. - Eat only fresh tropical fruit, beans, and rice w/ no added oils, etc. - Try to run 15-45 minutes per day. - No coffee, tea, alcohol, etc. - Minimal sunblock, deodorant, etc. - Drink > 1 gallon of water each day. - Do 30 minutes of yoga per day. - Read for pleasure for 30 minutes per day. - Plan nice projects/surprises for people you care about. Spend 20 minutes per day thinking about these plans. Follow this for 3 months. The food will cost < $2 per day and lodging may cost $10-15 per day if you live like one of the locals. It's your life. Follow these instructions to the letter and I suspect you will feel more healthy and vigorous than ever before.

Vivtek 16y ago
I think I'm feeling somewhat in need of this cure, too... Actually - how does one go to the rural coast of Costa Rica? Do you have any information about that sort of thing?
- grandalf 16y ago
  Just go to Tamarindo first and spend a few days there until you find a slightly more isolated place to go. Tamarindo is touristy but very small and so one does not need to go far to find untouched beaches and very inexpensive lodging.
- hyperbovine 16y ago
  For about $20 a day all inclusive (shared dorm + 3 square meals) you can volunteer in their national parks for pretty much as long as you want. I did this two summers ago and it was fantastic. At night you pretty much have the whole place to yourself. Highlight was sitting on a bench watching the moonlit Pacific ocean and having an ocelot walk right by me.
- mrtron 16y ago
  You just go. There are very few places in the world you can't just show up and get by with no language skills, knowledge of the area with a very little bit of money.
ryandvm 16y ago
Fuck, that sounds idyllic.
- watmough 16y ago
  What's stopping you?
hop 16y ago
Have a recommendation for finding a place to stay? Is it best to just go down there and figure it out? I have heard the internet is very good down there, do you know? I have been thinking about this for a long time, thanks for the post.
mistermann 16y ago
I was camping on the east coast of Oahu in a free campground one time and met these two brothers in their 70's. One of them had some medical condition, something related to being allergic to "everything". They had tried many things, traveling all over the world, and this location, with the wind coming off the ocean, sleeping in open air, no tent, with a canvas (not plastic) tarp as cover from rain, eating only fresh local foods, was the only thing that worked for him. Who knows, if I was in your shoes, I'd try anything.
- gonzopancho 16y ago
  We call it the Windward side, not the East Coast. In addition, there is a sewer line running down most of it. It overflows every time it rains too much. Maybe on Maui, or Kauai, or the "Big Island", but not here.
  - mistermann 16y ago
    lol...Placebo effect then maybe! :)
mrtron 16y ago
This advice is fantastic. I think people are too afraid to take drastic changes in their life and this sort of change will offer many peripheral benefits. I plan on writing some articles about this. In short: This 3 month change will break your daily routine. People are extremely habitual in their patterns. This individual could be extremely allergic to some mould found in the coffee shop they go daily - and have no way of ever knowing. Basically making this drastic change will force the individual to change their entire life, habits and thinking. Consider it a reboot of your entire system. Reminds me of: A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power off and on. Knight, seeing what the student was doing, spoke sternly: "You cannot fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what is going wrong." Knight turned the machine off and on. The machine worked. I would suggest a few small modifications to your points. Oils are extremely healthy. I would have copious amounts of vegetable oils in the diet suggested since it contains no other sources of fats. Coffee and tea can be a fantastic natural stimulant with next to zero side effects. They have been used forever. People traveled at high risk across the world to obtain them - they do have some value.
- grandalf 16y ago
  The nutrition advice I gave is still going to be 10% of calories from fat which is plenty. And, it will allow the person to quickly reach a fairly ideal weight, which may help with a variety of other issues. It's VERY difficult to eat <= 10% of calories from fat, so chances are it would be closer to 20% without any deliberate effort to consume oils. Also, I love coffee but I advised against it for 3 months because it's a fairly powerful drug and I find that when I quit it my sleep/wake balance is improved...
jacquesm 16y ago
Hey Grandalf, while I'm sympathetic to your life-style I think when someone lists a bunch of very serious symptoms that apparently have an underlying clinical cause giving them 'life style advice' that includes traveling to another country and a bunch of mumbo jumbo (plan nice projects/surprises and think about them ?) and to do so for an extended period of time may cause his disease to advance unchecked for another 3 months, which could have some very serious side-effects. Some of the diseases on the 'more likely' list given the OPs symptoms are progressive and the various stages range from 'mildly unpleasant' to 'fatal'. You probably are not going to treat any of them using fresh fruit and yoga, and to advise someone that says he has 'extreme heat sensitivity' to spend time in Costa Rica makes me think this is advice you did not tailor to the OP so I'm modding you down. I dislike doing that without giving a reason, I hope you can find yourself in my reasoning why.
- grandalf 16y ago
  A few points in response: - He's already been to doctors, and if he's asking HN he has probably tried all reasonably probable medical treatments and spoken to at least a few doctors about his concerns/symptom. - The nutrition regimen I suggested is quite similar to one that is used by some doctors to treat a variety of diseases. Don't underestimate the health impact of the lifestyle stuff I suggested. - The projects/surprises angle is my version of mild psychotherapy, and if combined with some vigorous physical exercise and good nutrition will put his emotional system in tip top shape. At best, this will help his body heal itself, at worst having the conditions he describes would be very depressing and it would help with that. Planning nice things for others is a surefire way to cheer one's self up. Generally when you go to a doctor and are otherwise young and healthy and you present with bizarre symptoms they take it VERY seriously. So unless there has been some very poor medical decision making going on he's probably failed all the diagnostic tests for the most severe possible culprits known to his doctors. And, if I had three months to live I could think of worse ways to spend it then with a few good books enjoying surf and sun, and rewarding my physical body with the sort of pampering few of us ever take the time to undertake. Also, it's generally not all that hot right near the ocean. Finally, I thing it's important to realize that medical science is just not very good and most medical treatments are scarcely better than placebos. Also, medicine is often very narrowly focused and very rarely advocates nutrition or exercise because typically the 70 year old with a heart problem isn't considered able to make significant lifestyle changes.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
paulnelligan 16y ago
Good advice ... Lifestyle is THE #1 cause of illness. ESPECIALLY of the type listed here. Detox is the way forward, stop throwing drugs at the problem and trying to put a name on it!!

Vivtek 16y ago

I think I'm feeling somewhat in need of this cure, too... Actually - how does one go to the rural coast of Costa Rica? Do you have any information about that sort of thing?

grandalf 16y ago
Just go to Tamarindo first and spend a few days there until you find a slightly more isolated place to go. Tamarindo is touristy but very small and so one does not need to go far to find untouched beaches and very inexpensive lodging.
hyperbovine 16y ago
For about $20 a day all inclusive (shared dorm + 3 square meals) you can volunteer in their national parks for pretty much as long as you want. I did this two summers ago and it was fantastic. At night you pretty much have the whole place to yourself. Highlight was sitting on a bench watching the moonlit Pacific ocean and having an ocelot walk right by me.
mrtron 16y ago
You just go. There are very few places in the world you can't just show up and get by with no language skills, knowledge of the area with a very little bit of money.

ryandvm 16y ago

Fuck, that sounds idyllic.

watmough 16y ago
What's stopping you?

hop 16y ago

Have a recommendation for finding a place to stay? Is it best to just go down there and figure it out? I have heard the internet is very good down there, do you know? I have been thinking about this for a long time, thanks for the post.

mistermann 16y ago

I was camping on the east coast of Oahu in a free campground one time and met these two brothers in their 70's. One of them had some medical condition, something related to being allergic to "everything". They had tried many things, traveling all over the world, and this location, with the wind coming off the ocean, sleeping in open air, no tent, with a canvas (not plastic) tarp as cover from rain, eating only fresh local foods, was the only thing that worked for him. Who knows, if I was in your shoes, I'd try anything.

gonzopancho 16y ago
We call it the Windward side, not the East Coast. In addition, there is a sewer line running down most of it. It overflows every time it rains too much. Maybe on Maui, or Kauai, or the "Big Island", but not here.
- mistermann 16y ago
  lol...Placebo effect then maybe! :)

mrtron 16y ago

This advice is fantastic. I think people are too afraid to take drastic changes in their life and this sort of change will offer many peripheral benefits. I plan on writing some articles about this. In short: This 3 month change will break your daily routine. People are extremely habitual in their patterns. This individual could be extremely allergic to some mould found in the coffee shop they go daily - and have no way of ever knowing. Basically making this drastic change will force the individual to change their entire life, habits and thinking. Consider it a reboot of your entire system. Reminds me of: A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power off and on. Knight, seeing what the student was doing, spoke sternly: "You cannot fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what is going wrong." Knight turned the machine off and on. The machine worked. I would suggest a few small modifications to your points. Oils are extremely healthy. I would have copious amounts of vegetable oils in the diet suggested since it contains no other sources of fats. Coffee and tea can be a fantastic natural stimulant with next to zero side effects. They have been used forever. People traveled at high risk across the world to obtain them - they do have some value.

grandalf 16y ago
The nutrition advice I gave is still going to be 10% of calories from fat which is plenty. And, it will allow the person to quickly reach a fairly ideal weight, which may help with a variety of other issues. It's VERY difficult to eat <= 10% of calories from fat, so chances are it would be closer to 20% without any deliberate effort to consume oils. Also, I love coffee but I advised against it for 3 months because it's a fairly powerful drug and I find that when I quit it my sleep/wake balance is improved...

jacquesm 16y ago

Hey Grandalf, while I'm sympathetic to your life-style I think when someone lists a bunch of very serious symptoms that apparently have an underlying clinical cause giving them 'life style advice' that includes traveling to another country and a bunch of mumbo jumbo (plan nice projects/surprises and think about them ?) and to do so for an extended period of time may cause his disease to advance unchecked for another 3 months, which could have some very serious side-effects. Some of the diseases on the 'more likely' list given the OPs symptoms are progressive and the various stages range from 'mildly unpleasant' to 'fatal'. You probably are not going to treat any of them using fresh fruit and yoga, and to advise someone that says he has 'extreme heat sensitivity' to spend time in Costa Rica makes me think this is advice you did not tailor to the OP so I'm modding you down. I dislike doing that without giving a reason, I hope you can find yourself in my reasoning why.

grandalf 16y ago
A few points in response: - He's already been to doctors, and if he's asking HN he has probably tried all reasonably probable medical treatments and spoken to at least a few doctors about his concerns/symptom. - The nutrition regimen I suggested is quite similar to one that is used by some doctors to treat a variety of diseases. Don't underestimate the health impact of the lifestyle stuff I suggested. - The projects/surprises angle is my version of mild psychotherapy, and if combined with some vigorous physical exercise and good nutrition will put his emotional system in tip top shape. At best, this will help his body heal itself, at worst having the conditions he describes would be very depressing and it would help with that. Planning nice things for others is a surefire way to cheer one's self up. Generally when you go to a doctor and are otherwise young and healthy and you present with bizarre symptoms they take it VERY seriously. So unless there has been some very poor medical decision making going on he's probably failed all the diagnostic tests for the most severe possible culprits known to his doctors. And, if I had three months to live I could think of worse ways to spend it then with a few good books enjoying surf and sun, and rewarding my physical body with the sort of pampering few of us ever take the time to undertake. Also, it's generally not all that hot right near the ocean. Finally, I thing it's important to realize that medical science is just not very good and most medical treatments are scarcely better than placebos. Also, medicine is often very narrowly focused and very rarely advocates nutrition or exercise because typically the 70 year old with a heart problem isn't considered able to make significant lifestyle changes.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

paulnelligan 16y ago

Good advice ... Lifestyle is THE #1 cause of illness. ESPECIALLY of the type listed here. Detox is the way forward, stop throwing drugs at the problem and trying to put a name on it!!