Pinnacles: A Journey Back to Life
How Nature, Keto, and Movement Rebuilt My Life at 62 to Aging Adventurously!
The High Reaches hike is nothing short of breathtaking.
As I sit on my truck’s tailgate drinking coffee and watching the parking lot fill up at 8:30 am on a Saturday morning in the 1st week of April, I feel at peace. Spring has arrived and I arrived in time for a parking space! I met a friendly gentleman with the same goal and a cup of coffee in his hands and we talked about hikes and nature and we smiled together felling joy just connecting.
Life has been a journey— with tears, fears, love, laughter, raising my babies and heartbreak of a divorce. But I wouldn’t give up the lessons and the memories as they’ve made me who I am—a strong and determined woman I can model for my daughter. Now I am an FDN Practitioner helping other women come back to life as I have amidst the chaos we had been stuck in. There will always be regrets but we grow with wisdom and pass on the learning to the new generation.
At 62 I find myself recreating not only who I am but continually reclaiming my health—step by step—because it is a journey. One that is my health hobby today.
So I scheduled this 2-day camping trip to Pinnacles National Park to hike, get fresh air and to feel joy as I connect with myself in the moment which is one of the ways I maintain my optimal health.
I took the longer scenic road and drove the coast north. I got extra movement by stopping off at Carpinteria beach for barefoot grounding and sprints which are so much easier on the beach and brings on my brain energy of ketosis–the ultimate feeling–ALIVE. These trips into nature is how I reduce stress.
I also stopped off at Pismo beach because this coastal town had been on my mind and called to me to stop and visit for a moment. I walked the pier and back and got coffee. It was exhilarating! I feel so alive on my nature road trips!
Today I am so much more in tune with myself, my emotions and can let go of the perceived stress with grounding and nature. Nature helps my nervous system get into a parasympathetic state to rest and heal naturally. But it doesn’t happen inside the house so I go out to create this process!
Getting out in nature comes with many benefits: grounding, getting sunlight, getting the red healing light from the plants and getting the essential oils and microbes into our body as information to our body and to support our microbiome.
I can do some of this at home, but I don’t tune into that joy of discovery and movement that nature brings me when I drive out to hike and explore. This has become the 2nd half of the Aging Beautiful process for healing…
Also the hippocampus grows and strengthens when we are on a road-trip and doing novel things. When we are home and stressed our brain shrinks and suffers. So I hike for life; train for longevity. Live life my way as a strong, independent woman alive and thriving.
So here I am Sitting on a rock formation in the high reaches off the High Reaches trail on a little bluff overlooking the hills and valleys. The peace is amazing and the excitement amongst the hikers is high.
We are all looking for the Condors amongst the buzzards who are small cousins to the condors. We are excited. We are amongst friends who are yet unknown. We share information and take pictures for each other to remember this day.
At 1800 ft elevation this hike didn’t feel hard an the cardio felt great! I love this type of movement. It’s one of my joy makers. I’ve noticed over time that this is how to keep the hard earned weight loss off as I build strong thigh muscles
It’s a high of 75 today with the slight breeze and the sun feels so good. Two layers come off pretty quick as the morning was in the 40s and though my fingers were painful with the cold when I woke up, I warmed up quickly and started shedding the layers.
Currently I am down to my sports bra and sunning on a rock like the condor a ridge over that I was honored to see soaring. The ravens are raucous, playing as they fly about. The vultures are soaring amongst them yet the condor sits as I do and we observe.
I am often amazed at my progress from fat to fit and now fabulous in my confidence and feeling beautiful in my body.
I have created a new sense of confidence in myself that feels so comfortable. I feel like I’ve finally arrived and found ME. And the funny thing is at 130lbs which is where I’ve maintained my weight while putting on muscle and living my weight loss lifestyle of aging adventurously, I feel comfortable as a woman.
For the first time in my life I don’t wake up worrying about gaining weight and can wake up in the morning and not have to panic about my weight or my health. My clothes slip on easily and I can choose amongst my pretty clothes what to wear without that fear and panic. This, my friends, is freedom from fear of obesity.
Yet 12 years ago At 50 I felt I was dodging bullets with my health. What was after me, I feared, and how could I create better health and stay out of the sea of sickness and aging sick? Afterall, my dad died at 65, my elder sister passed away morbidly obese and diabetic and cancer is making its way through my family.
Yet, That urge to feel beautiful guided me. I didn’t know how metabolically unhealthy I really was. The need to correct asthma guided me. There had to be a solution. I just needed the weight loss and all would work itself out I was sure. So I never quit. I knew I would succeed. I just had that feeling that there was a bullet after me and I was working on avoiding it–this too guided me.
So I searched for my weight loss & health solutions. Fat free wasn’t the answer, HCG wasn’t the answer and low calorie and vegetarian which made me feel hypoglycemic wasn’t the answer. Was I doomed to always be overweight?
I didn’t know at the time, but those skinny myths for weight loss had kept me sick and overweight most of my life. I now know they don’t work.
Paleo seemed like the answer as I got excited about ancestral health. But it too was still too high carb for me as I was prediabetes and living with inflammation which caused asthma and depression and poor vision.
I never gave up the hope to feel good in my body. To not have to wake with anxiety, mousy and just settling for life. There had to be more than just this.
I am so grateful I am a reader. I found success in books and devouring hundreds and some read twice. I found bulletproof and keto in my searching and in my enthusiasm to find my solutions.
I lost 100lbs! But I also lost so much more…asthma, prediabetes, depression, anxiety, and my risk for cancer. The weight loss was the number one thing I needed to accomplish to be healthy, yes. And keto was and is the solution.
But the number 2 process I discovered is to create a movement lifestyle to keep the weight off and to maintain healthy mitochondria with the correct energy source—ketones from fat. Thus I am thriving at 62 as I use nature to guide me.
Here I am hiking as I reprogram my body to stay healthy and fit. So I sit and contemplate all this as I watch the Condors soar.
As I leave the high reaches, I meet 2 amazing young women at the trailhead to “the Tunnel Trail” that I was contemplating hiking as I was excited to experience the trail. We started chatting away like old friends and I told them they have awesome leg muscles which I admired. They had just come up the tunnel trail and encouraged me to do so as well. So down I went in 15 minutes and through the tunnel and back in 18 minutes to continue to build my thigh muscles! This is training for life for when we are 80!
Love this type of muscle workout. Movement!! Longevity factors.
Lifestyle matters for weight loss and our health. You can’t diet your way to health. You can’t supplement a poor lifestyle. I’ve tried all that. What works is a holistic, adventurous, anti-inflammatory lifestyle. Aging beautifully with low-carb nutrition and vibrant movement is the path that brought me here.
This is why I’m called to Sedona. This is why I’m creating a Health Adventure Retreat there—to inspire and empower other women to discover their own path to thriving, joyful health.
Next stop? The Cook Islands. Then my Sedona retreat in October 2025.
Because we’re not just aging.
We are Aging Adventurously.
If you’re ready to rediscover your energy, release chronic stress, and fall in love with your body and life again—join me in Sedona.
Let’s hike, laugh, learn, and create a vibrant future together.
➡️ Want to Join the Retreat or Learn More?
👉 [Click here for the retreat details]
Together, we’ll age beautifully, boldly—and adventurously.
Lori Balue, A-CFHC, Certified FDN Practitioner and creator of the HLCM for Aging Beautifully and Adventurously