When people attempt to fix their fatigue or mood problems, they may become dependent on substances or drugs that actually have the opposite intended effect with the added detriment of long-term issues. I recently embarked on a 30-day period of purity that has allowed me to troubleshoot health problems, stabilize my energy and mood, become more in tune with my natural state, and reduce psychological dependencies.
In your physical prime, you are not likely to give a second thought to drinking a couple espressos a day or having fun on the weekend by pounding shots with your friends. Your sexual vitality may also remain high in spite of excessively consuming drugs or estrogenic compounds. This changes once you reach your 30’s. Your old habits start to drag down your energy and mood while masking lifestyle or health problems that need to be resolved.
I wake up and I’m tired so I drink coffee throughout the day. Then I’m too jittery so I drink a couple beers to take me back down. I’m too busy to go out during the daytime so I take vitamin D pills instead of getting sun. I’m bored at home so I watch some porn and jerk off. Suspecting that these habits were harming my natural state, I quit them cold turkey. Here’s how it all went…
No caffeine
The first thing I used to do when waking up was brew a strong black cup of coffee. I would sometimes add a second cup throughout the day or drink a pot of black tea.
As I’ve written before, the withdrawal symptoms of caffeine are quite serious, revealing how potent it is as a drug. On the third day of the purity challenge, I was exceptionally tired, and had to take daily naps for several days. I also experienced bad headaches for more than a week. It took approximately ten days for all withdrawal symptoms to subside.
To substitute my coffee habit, I would drink one cup of green or white tea in the morning, which has exceedingly low caffeine, and herbal tea after that if I craved additional hot beverages. The result is that my energy is more flat throughout the day, without the highs and lows I had before. I also know that if I don’t go to bed at a good hour, there will be no way to relieve my fatigue the next day unless I take a nap.
No alcohol
Over the winter, I developed a habit of drinking at least one pint of beer every evening. This was quite easy to stop from an addiction standpoint, but it was more challenging on a social and dating level.
Whenever I go out at night with my friends, they’re all drinking. I can directly see how the alcohol helps them enter a more relaxed and fun state where they enjoy the loud venue while I remain stiff as a board. I was also reminded how deeply alcohol is integrated into modern dating, since girls insist on drinking copious amounts of booze at night and on dates. It wasn’t a big deal that I wasn’t drinking at the bar while hunting, since my soda water with lemon could easily be confused for a drink, but not drinking on dates ensured the girls wouldn’t drink either, greatly reducing the speed to sexual fulfillment.
I’ve had some experience with “sober game” in Ukraine, where I met girls who didn’t drink, but having to do it on every single date posed a big challenge. The result of sober dates is that you actually have to like each other beyond physical attraction, because your logical mind remains quite strong, ready to dismiss the girl for practical reasons that you wouldn’t have come up while inebriated.
Going completely sober ultimately means that it will take longer to sleep with any girl. The benefit is that you’re unable to bang subpar girls just for the notch and are able to spot genuine connections that don’t require a drug to blossom. In terms of health, the benefits are no hangovers and improved sleep, especially on nights I would have consumed more than two drinks. I can stay out late on the weekend and wake up the next day without feeling any negative effects.
No supplements, medicines, drugs, or cigarettes
My supplement stack was fish oil, magnesium (to counter heart palpitations caused by caffeine), and vitamins B, C, and D. I stopped all of those cold turkey, added more vegetables to my diet, and spent more time in the sun on warm days.
I do think vitamins work in theory, but I don’t believe they get absorbed in the same way as nutrients from food. We also have to be careful about thinking a substance has a benefit for us when it was tested on populations that differ in genetic profile. For example, the benefits of fish oil are heralded as reducing heart disease, but it’s mostly tested on Asian populations where fish is a staple of their diet. The problem is that I’m not Asian. I also didn’t know exactly how these vitamins are made, and whether companies cut corners during the manufacturing process.
I haven’t noticed any obvious changes after stopping all supplementation. This is not surprising since most of their benefits are supposed to be long-term. If you happen to smoke cigarettes or take pharmaceutical or illegal drugs, you can halt those too for the purity challenge.
No porn
Lastly, I quit porn. I’m already familiar with the damaging effects of porn, particularly how it programs you to greatly desire sluts while harming long-term penis function, but what pushed me over the edge was that I was experiencing less spontaneous boners. For years I have been training myself to only get boners when I watched porn or was with a naked woman. Porn also caused me to masturbate not when I was horny but when I was bored.
Masturbating without porn meant that I had to be genuinely horny, enough to imagine sex with my mind, which I haven’t had to do in over 15 years. Since using your mind to masturbate isn’t as fun, the effect is you fap less and have a higher baseline of horniness that helps with your game.
Another big impact in not using porn is that I’m far more sensitive to seeing female flesh or images of girls in lingerie. It’s possible for me to get a half boner right now if I catch sight of a girl out my window in a bikini top. I’m 38 but feel that my penor vitality has gained a solid decade in youth. If you think you’re masturbating too much, you can also add no fap to the challenge.
Lessons from the purity challenge
Even after the 30 days of the challenge passed, I decided to continue because of the strong benefits. Not drinking caffeine has stabilized my energy, forcing me to fix fatigue with rest and sleep instead of the short-term benefit of coffee. Not drinking alcohol has improved my ability to seek a different kind of connection with women while I enjoy better mood and sleep. Not taking supplements has pushed me out the door to get more sun while improving my diet. And not watching porn has given me more frequent boners and higher overall horniness.
Another change is that I’ve become extremely perceptive to tiny changes in my body. Coffee and alcohol tend to mask your natural state, but now I can link a change in energy or mood to either my previous nights’ sleep, a meal I just ate, bad news I received, or a tense conversation I experienced. It has become easy to connect why I’m feeling a certain state with my most recent actions. This has led me to conclude that getting proper sleep is the absolute best way to have a good day. Following that is is avoiding foods that have high glycemic index like pizza, which may cause you to feel sleepy, and steering clear of people who start arguments or drama.
The first two weeks of the purity challenge may be a drag for you as your body copes with withdrawal symptoms, so wait until weeks three and four to observe its true benefits. I’ll certainly backslide when it comes to alcohol and coffee, but at least I’ll remember that their benefits are cancelled out by costs which have a measurable impact on my body, and that existing mainly on sleep, food, light teas, and water puts me close to my most primal animalistic state.
This article was originally published on Roosh V.
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A month without Kratom? NFW!
You need to evolve to the stage where Kratom needs to take you.
Deus Vult.
Box94f
Soviet ROK?
Da comrade.
Nice advice Roosh, and yes, no porn = more sensitive.
Excellent article Roosh – something that could actually be re-posted weekly.
Your statement: “Another change is that I’ve become extremely perceptive to tiny changes in my body” – this is almost the most important point… Once you clean the slate and get back to basics, your body will absolutely tell you what it needs. It’s from that point forward that you develop the ability to “listen” to your body, now you can carefully make the necessary adjustments to improve the quality of your life. Life get’s complicated all on it’s own; no need to make matters worse – Keep It Simple – this can give you a huge advantage over others.
It has been fascinating to me as the scientific community, health and fitness community, and people like Roosh, come to realize the wonderful and physically gratifying effects of living and eating healthy. Particularly avoiding stimulants and unnecessary supplements. Admittedly the religion I have followed has governed my choices in this very topic of discussion, nevertheless, I agree wholeheartedly with the authors comments and that is based on a 47 year life thus far of experience, both with abstinence and at times indulgence in the various stimuli he addresses. Great article
I eat healthy 5-6 days a week and keep one day where I am not as strict. Lot of people have the wrong idea that a healthy lifestyle means exercising 4 hours a day and eating broccoli and kale four times a day.
If you follow this pattern it will be a lot easier to follow long term than a “diet” where you lose weight and ten regain it once you stop.
If you really want to push yourself, try getting rid of meat, sugar, gluten and add meditation also.
I’m not advocating it as a lifetstyle. But it is interesting to listen to one’s mind when practicing these types of abstinence.
I think supplementation is useful as long as you don’t treat it is a substitute for medicine and a cure-all.
Great article, read something by Tony Robbins, called the energy challenge, where he challenged people to give up or significantly reduce acid addictions(coffee and junk food), dairy products, alcohol, and animal products(meat). Also commit to regular exercise and some kind of flexibility and strength training.
A lot of changes like this help you with energy and fitness, also helps you lose weight without supplements and special diets because you are changing your lifestyle.
Good article. I have a question for the 40-50 crowd. Have you done anything differently to keep your energy up?
I just turned 46 in July. Never done anything differently – literally just the same thing for over 25+ years… I have yet to experience a reduction in muscle-tone, strength, sex drive or energy.
If you devote your life to healthy living, it pays huge dividends. It may seem boring to some, but it’s highly effective… A healthy, bodybuilding lifestyle, the same basic “whole” foods, plenty of sleep, adjust your nutrients/calories to your daily output, etc. Simple and effective – no need to complicate things, as it should become second nature. It’s worked all these years for myself and countless others, no need to change anything anytime soon. However, with that said, as you get older, your recuperative ability may diminish, so a little extra rest/sleep can go a long way as well as developing more of an instinctive lifestyle – learn to listen to your body and adjust accordingly…
1,000 TUs dude. 65 here, eat clean-no crap, absolutely no fast food, gym almost every day, good swim or bike session once or twice/week. Yeah, I like a couple glasses of vino or an occasional cigar but I monitor my health closely with blood tests 2 or 3 times a year, no gut & BF around 17%, still enjoy frequent intimacy with my wife and like you, I lay it all on a healthy life style.
One very key part of a smooth running machine is doing something for a living that you love and I’ve had a passion for what I do since I first started when I was 18. Can not imagine a life without it.
“I’ve had a passion for what I do since I first started”
The benefits of this are greatly underappreciated.
I’ll second a healthy diet. No more fast food/junk food, and a simple breakfast (no sugar cereal) and some protein. At work I stay away from those office sweets that people always bring in, and I no longer keep any food at my desk, and as a result I’ve lost 10#s since winter.
I also take a walk over lunch, go to the gym, and gladly work on outdoor projects in the sun (gardening is great). I feel my age in my legs and hips the most. Last, I see a chiropractor twice a month, which IMHO is very much worth it as he takes care of keeping me lined up.
Fasting brother. It’ll give you the hormones that are dropping off.
I”m 41, and I’ve gradually improved my diet over the years. That’s the only thing I’ve changed, and now I’m more ripped than ever, and my energy is as high as always.
Cut out all chemicals and industrial seed oils (corn, canola, etc). Keep sugars to bare minimum. Carbs are good for big exercise days; otherwise, avoid those too.
I drink coffee and alcohol and sleep 8 hrs a night perfectly well.
Put effing soybean oil at the top of your most wise list. Soy too. Really check it out, it’s in almost everything. Fermented soy tho is good, like soy sauce or miso. Tofu will shrink your coconuts(I’m not kidding)
And man, it’s only instant but I do love my morning cup of coffee too.
Cold shower in the morning (do not matter if outside is below cero celsius, do it anyway): huge start in the morning. I do not lift, but swimming works for me. Also: manage your energy.
starting this tomorrow. I’m more or less addicted to caffeine and weed-it’s like a hippie speedball. Interested to see how I feel this time next month.
ditch the green Snake, you’ll feel 10 times better
Im a very light sleeper, been using earplugs for years and still some random noises might wake me up. Anyone else been struggling with this? I have no clue how to solve my sleeping problem.
Exercise heavy for an hour until maybe an hour before you need to sleep. Then take a shower and get your dinner in. Maybe not in that order. After the shower and you get ready to go to bed, make sure to not put on the television or bring a book with you to bed as those will keep you awake. Turn off the lights and play some ocean noise in the background. If your room is big enough, find a Youtube channel that has this playing for an hour and turn off the auto play feature. The noises should recharge your cells while calming you enough so that sleep becomes a natural calming sensation. Certain megahertz have the same affect as does classical music. Try one or all of them and see which suits you best. You’ll be getting higher qualitative sleep in no time.
Sounds like luxury, Hood. Had a heat wave here, sleep’s been hard to find. Gonna take some of your advice.
Sounds like you have it down to a science. Heavy exercise will release endorphins and have you tired but feeling really good-when I would finish up from soccer at 8:30PM at night I’d go straight home for a shower, meal and then fall right asleep with a huge stupid grin on my face because I’d be on a high having gone full on in training.
I had a spat of insomnia toward the end of my 30s and what Red Hood suggested below helped me tremendously.
Use white noise… it’s quite effective at filtering out sounds. I put on simplynoise.com every night before going to bed.
Try binaural beats. The science behind them is interesting. Free on YouTube.
Caffeine is something I’ve fallen back into to keep me going. I can however cut it out at will so that’d be no problem.
Otherwise, I rarely drink, non-smoker, never taken recreational drugs, not on medication-I need to however cut back big time on sugar as I have a sweet-tooth and modify my diet.
agree with the sugar Hammer, very hard to escape sugar these days though, its in everything now.
Tell me about it. It’s nigh impossible to escape so I try to limit it as best as I can.
Nice one Roosh, I like. I’ve rarely had caffeine throughout my life and tend to stay away from it so I never really knew what it’s like to micromanage your energy like that. Haven’t watched a single porn image for months now. Don’t masturbate and only get my orgasms from girls. The drinking though, is quite tough to avoid if you go out a lot. I tend to bar hop (or pub crawl for you tea-timers) and limit myself to one drink per bar, but of course that adds up at the end of the night. I don’t want to go full on sober (even though i’ve done that numerous times before), but I’m aiming to find a way of consuming less than half an ounce per bar with good mixed drinks so as to make the girl feel like she can drink too. Maybe non-alcoholic beers? We’ll see
I’ve found a lot of clarity and energy from fasting. After several months of intermittent fasting, I just found myself accidentally slip into 34 hours of fasting and I was sharp as a tack, upbeat and full of energy. Maybe I should see if there is an article on its benefits here and try a submission if there isn’t.
I’d even say any easy dopamine spike is bad.
You got it. The strenuous life is the only satisfying one.
Indeed. Long term-satisfaction isn’t found by chasing short-term satisfaction.
All the good things require work and that makes them even more valuable.
Great to have someone here who thinks alike in this type of society.
Everyone needs to read the damages of porn on the brain! It kills your confidence and self esteem and leads to depression and social anxiety.
https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/doing-what-you-evolved-to-do
https://www.rooshvforum.com/thread-12879.html
I appreciate Roosh’s honesty about the subject as it’s not easy to admit, and personally, I have a beautiful wife that originally just took the thought of to get me going. Mix in porn, and it was taking more. So that’s done with, and I’m feeling like the old self again.
Nation97i
Now I am really depressed. It was all I had to look forward to besides working ALL the time, everyday….Who has time to screw around with peoples flaking out and playing games and gold digging. Got to have something fun to do in life that doesn’t cost anything.
Video games are another poison for the brain, it helps promote antisocial and violent behavior.
I’ve quit soda again. I still stay up too late. I had beer a week ago, and it was such a miserable next-day, I want to say I quit for good. I have had Kratom 3 times this week. When I remembered to take it. I read on here porn stars are free prostitutes, as if I needed another reason to dislike porn stars. I’m a no-fap advocate, and I’m not just the president, I’m a member. No pun intended. I’ve also taken the red pill every day this week, one way or another. AWALT, is how things are looking.
by soda you mean stuff like Coca Cola, Pepsi and Dr Pepper right?
how much do you drink of this soda stuff?
None now.
You should also add “No mainstream media / Talmudvision / Schmovies / etc” that stuff will really fuck with your mind and imbalance your moods.
I take it as an assumption that not many guys here are sitting in front of the TV all night.
The trick to coffee is drinking it when stress levels are low.
On the list porn is the worst. Less porn in your life the better.
http://time.com/3903826/coffee-early-morning-worst-time/
Lets see:
Caffeine: yes definitely
Alcohol: once in a blue moon
Supplements: does a multi-vitamin daily count?
Porn:Plead the 5th
Junk Food; rarely
Fast food; cant afford it, rarely
whole fresh foods: yep, home prepared
Low Fat/No fat and fake sugars: avoid for the straight poison it is.
Sleep: definitely not enough
Talmudvision : I DVR certain intelligent programs, local news
I work physically demanding job, and when work slows down workout at a gym
I’m no model lifestyle, but i’m also no average American male either. I haven’t hit the half century mark either. Basically I work and sleep because I am neither independently wealthy through work or inheritance.
All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.’” (Genesis 3:16-17)
Some one has to hold down the other extreme end of the scale from those who only know leisure and lottery wins.
One soda a day? Try one a week.
Great advice. I’d also recommend other things. First, if your body rejects something, it’s sending you a message. I love meat and despise vegetarians. But…my body can no longer handle certain meats. So I avoid. Second, if you have a medical condition, don’t try to see how long you can go without meds. I may have royally screwed up my sinus cavities this way and am now having vision problems related to this. Sometimes you need meds.
Excellent write up, Roosh! Giving up alcohol is a hard thing to do. Like you stated it’s just so ingrained into dating and a lot of women (and even some guys) will look at you like you’re some kind of alien when you tell them you don’t drink or that you’re trying to give it up. It’s as if people don’t understand that you can have fun without alcohol.
Fantastic article. I would add that, if you’re going to try to cut out medicines that you need to function daily (e.g., I have a disorder that causes me to produce excessive stomach acid even when eating the blandest of foods and drinking water; therefore, I have to take Prilosec every day), definitely talk it over with your doctor or other health professional you trust.
That said, Roosh is absolutely right, and I’ve been on a similar journey for nearly a month myself, coincidentally. The hardest part for me has been to wean myself off caffeine. I started by cutting out all soda, which worked wonders. It’s going better; as I type this, I’m on my first cup of coffee for the week (and it’s Friday). So I’m making strides.
I encourage anyone to get on this, though, male or female. My wife has been a terrific support system for me in this endeavor (and for her part, she’s making great progress on her own separate program). I would have fallen off the wagon weeks ago if it weren’t for her.
That’s a blessing you have a wife who’s on the level about fitness. You’d be surprised how many westsrn wives become idle and blimp out without a care in the world. Too many wives let themselves go and pig out into the most wretched proportions. A fat slob wife will take you down with her. She will eat and eat, taking and ingesting trans fatty yummy bites of snack food, grazing all day on the shit like a chain smoker and she’ll expect you to do the same. A shit food eater is addicted like a drug addict. They need locked up with water and minimal raw green fibrous foods in a dish sprinkled with protein powder. “num num num”. And a candle and bible to read. Again commend your wife for being straight with the food.
The critical question for so many married men is if your wife is pool worthy or not. Can you take her swimming? A self respecting woman looks respectable at a pool and she gets her respect returned. Would you be respectful towards a glutton? Would you be seen poolside obliging a fat sow, rubbing suntan lotion like it was tire shine on a stack of radials and then running to fetch her a tray of nachos while she watches you to see if you’re looking at the other 99% hotties at the pool? I once knew of a lifeguard that wore one of these stag horns around his neck next to his whistle:
http://www.wallyconger.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Tradition-Viking-man-blowing-a-horn-by-Edwin-H-.jpg
He would blow the horn when a diver was about to dive and land on other swimmers. A big fat lady who was a regular at the pool always made such a big splash, she made floaties fly out of the pool and he would always blow the horn before she dived. “BOOOOMF”
One day she showed up dragging her hubby along and as she entered the gate, the lifeguard blew a big “BAOOOOWF”. The hubby turned around to get something and didn’t come back. I guess he had something he had to do. Yeah.
Military base wives too often turn into snack food processing machines. They retain the trans fat and shit out the good part. How ass backwards is that? It’s the unlimited food stamps coupled with 24/7 idiot TV.
Again you’re really lucky bro that you have a wife that’s programmed to maintain fitness and stay smart about food. Also a hot wife that is worthy of taking to a pool is win win. Other men respect you and other hotties will socialize.
Dependapotomuses…..(shiver) and entitlement runs in their veins…..sickening unjustified entitlement. Most military are huge simps of the worst kind while their whore wives cheat in the clubs while they are deployed. Former military so I know and can speak from being there. Some military men are huge cheating sluts too and then the small percentage that are alternative lifestyles perverts….I’ll leave it alone at that.
Look up Marks Daily Apple, the dude is probably 60’ish and still rocks it, on a healthy lifestyle.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
About coffee, I dont agree. Coffee makes training easier and studies have shown that it actually increases the testosterone if you train and drank coffee prior to the training. Coffee is something I wouldn’t give up. It’s all about moderation.
Oh Roosh. All these years and yet things like porn and alcohol still affected you? I’m disappointed. The advice given by the instructors of Real Social Dynamics contrasts very strongly with this.
This is just my two cents, but if you aren’t already an expert at alcohol-free game, that speaks to the failings of your own personality and social skills. Alcohol is a crutch. I know a lot of women are braindead sluts with attention spans like flies, but finding lasting success at socializing, pickup, and dating without alcohol is a crucial test of one’s character.
And porn, that stuff fucks your brain up good. Absolutely get that smut out of your life, I can’t believe that for a guy like you, going one month without it was a challenge. Try 6 months or a year.
https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/
You’re better than this Roosh, and we all know it.
Congrats on moving towards a more Sufi way of life!
Porn? No need for it. I consider myself more of a participant than a spectator
im about to go down the pharmaceutical road very soon. Testosterone, dutasteride, anastrozole, tamoxifen, modafinil. lsd for self enhancement tho
If it’s still ok to be a food nazi here, the blood type diet is food nazism literally. According to Dr D’Adamo, coffee is beneficial in moderation only to blood type A. One cup a day helps immunities and reduces suceptability to diseases.
O’s shouldn’t drink coffee at all. Coffee will wreck type O (coffee components aggravate disease suceptability), and AB (coffee flocculates blood serum and precipitates out AB serum proteins). I can’t think of an analogy for AB other than pissing in your car motor oil crankcase. The uric acid for one would break the oil bead against the piston walls. Your blood is like your motor oil and your heart is like the oil pump.
But for A’s, 1 cup a day is fine. Treat it like aspirin. 1/2 aspirin/day thins the blood when taken therapudically but a whole bottle of aspirin isn’t humanly survivable. A whole jar of freeze dried Folgers eaten in one setting spoonful by spoonful isn’t humanly survivable either. Just 1 cup or 1/2 cup.
I would also recommend doing a Weston A. Price or Primal/Paleo diet for a while. Bone broth for a week is good for restoring nutrition from a lot of bad habits.
I will never stop drinking coffee. It makes me dynamic and positive. Coffee is underestimated. Drink it only in the morning and attack the day like a wolf.
cold shower works to have a huge startup for me. no need for cofee, just mate
I do both. Five minute cold shower everyday. Usually I do it before I hit the sack, I sleep better, or after training. Coffee is still sacred in my life, always will be.
Roosh, you need to look a bit deeper into the behavioral traits of no fap/fap. While you’re on the right path overall – masturbating even when imagining scenarios (no porn) can risk releasing endorphins which is the same hormone released during porn consumption (or any drug consumption as well). It has to be by sensation and sensation only for a truly natural, healthy reaction.
I used to drink supposedly healthy green tea for 20 yrs…it fucked up my stomach in the end.
Now I drink medium strength coffee (with milk) 2 times a day
A world of difference.
As for cigarettes I would recommend not inhaling the smoke (if you can’t quit)…it still does the trick but you may need to smoke stronger brands, to have the same effect
I recommend mate. argentinian beverage.
Porn is mainly a psyop to make men thirsty and to view women as Sex Goddesses and not as humans that you never put on a pedestal.
I actually met a porn star a few years ago and what took me back was she was just a person, she clearly looked different without the makeup and lighting.
A partial solution to the porn situation:
1. Make sure you get a good ZMA supplement. I definitely notice the difference if I don’t use it for 3+ days sleep wise. I also notice fapping without it drains me more the next day.
Not really sure about the psychological situation, but I have never been addicted to it. I keep my watching to normal stuff (regular sex scenes) and no weird fetish crapola.
I never have issues when I do it with a girl in real life.