The first four topics are covered more extensively in The Mitochondriac Manifesto. Leptin and deuterium are individual breakout chapters. More widely-recognized reasons for weight gain, such as poor food quality and toxins, are covered at-length in this book’s predecessor, Gut-Brain Secrets.
The sneaky 6 reasons people gain weight (not in order)
Here are the six biggest secret reasons people gain weight, and gain it back after losing it. However, you probably haven’t heard much about them because the science is still being developed as we speak.
- Microbiome lacking diversity.
- Leakage of light.
- Electron deficiency.
- Weak mitochondria.
- Leptin resistance.
- High deuterium level.
1. Microbiome lacking diversity
Research into the microbiome tells us there’s a strong connection between obesity and a narrowing of microbial species in the gastrointestinal tract. So most gut-health experts now agree that when certain bacteria strains dominate the gut, they promote weight gain, while diversity does the opposite: it normalizes weight.
However, the very latest research by Jeff Leach strongly suggests that classic risk factors, such as diet and antibiotics, don’t narrow microbial diversity in the gut by themselves. Instead, it’s chronic exposure to an altered light spectrum that leaves the door open for poor diet and antimicrobial threats to corrupt the microbiome. It’s both non-native frequencies and ingesting toxic substances that damages the microbiome.
And how did Jeff Leach figured that out? He took an indigenous tribe of hunter-gatherers that live near the equator, the Hadza. He fed them a standard American diet – with soft drinks, candy bars and antibiotics. He examined their feces for microbial content. And you know what he found? Their microbiome didn’t change at all. Once again, consistently excellent sun exposure protected their microbiomes from corruption, despite a crappy new diet.
So Dr. Jack Kruse and Mr. Leach now firmly believe the many colors contained in natural sunlight protect diversity of the microbiome. Native light frequencies are the microbiome’s best defense against functional decay. On the flip side, they believe our microbiomes in the West lose diversity mostly because of artificial blue light and lack of real, full-spectrum sunlight on our eyes and skin.
The big a-ha for us all: No other hazard in the modern world narrows microbial species in the gut chronically as much as the wrong light signals do – meaning too much blue light, too much wireless radiation, and not enough real sunlight. Lack of diversity in the microbiome then sets the stage for obesity to occur.
2. Leakage of light
Every cell of every organism emits extremely low frequency UV biophotons while it’s alive. But when cells are stressed or diseased, they release more biophotons than they would normally. Obesity is one such condition that’s associated with biophoton loss.
That means when your internal electric and magnetic fields are weak, your cells can’t retain light as well as they should, and you leak energy out of your light “gas tank” – energy that would have, should have, and could have been used for productive purposes. Basically, those with excess fat leak more light – all kinds of light, including biophotons, IR/heat, and frequencies released from food electrons, as they hop through the ETC.
If the loss of light is happening below the neck, the circadian system motivates you to eat more in an effort to compensate for the energy loss. Unfortunately, if you don’t fix the sources of the problem – which are bad mitochondria, poor redox potential, chronic inflammation, and a toxic environment – your internal programming leaves your appetite in the ‘on’ position, which undermines your best efforts to lose weight.
3. Electron deficiency
Low electron intake. We’ve already talked extensively about electron deficiency, so we’ll just recap here: Whatever your diet may be, all food ultimately breaks down into electrons, protons, and light. So that’s what you need to focus on: the quantity (and quality) of electrons, protons, and photons that a food offers. That determines how much energy your body can extract from the calories you consume.
In other words, focus on how many electrons the macronutrient can send through the electron transport chain, relative to its calorie count. Whole foods and natural foods are naturally higher in electrons, whereas processing depletes electrons, especially in carbs. Electron density tells you how many units of ATP your mitochondria can make in relation to calories consumed. That, right there – ATP per calorie – is much more on-point as a basic philosophy for weight loss than the conventional ‘calories in, calories out’ belief system.
Prescription for a wireless world: Eat more good fat, as it yields almost four times as many electrons as carbs per unit density. That amounts to more net energy for every calorie eaten. Fat is designed to store energy, after all. In contrast, carbs produce less ATP energy, and they contribute fewer electrons to healing and repair, hormone reception, increasing alkalinity/reducing acidity, circulation, hydration, and reducing inflammation – all things that electrons and negative charge bring to the body.
Electron loss. An inability to retain electrons is another way you can find yourself electron-deficient. You can lose electrons through blue light, microwaves from tech devices, high heteroplasmy rate (the first three usually go together), and low DHA. And what happens when you are electron-deficient? You can’t capture and use as much light.
The less connected you are to earth and sun, the more food you need to eat to make ATP
Radical concept: One-third of the electrons needed to make ATP are supposed to come from the food you eat, and two-thirds are supposed to come from grounding and sun exposure! That’s right: we’re biologically designed to have 66% of our electrons supplied by grounding and sunlight (along with DHA and being properly-hydrated).
The simple act of touching the earth (directly or through earthing equipment) gently pushes electrons into your body, because the earth is an electron donor. Grounding is even more effective when your eyes and skin are getting sun exposure (i.e., without sun-blockers like eyeglasses, sunglasses, sunscreen, window glass, and clothing).
Like a solar panel, skin turns sunlight into electrons and electric charge. Yet how many people today ground themselves daily, or get full-body exposure to the sun? Hence, we need to make up the deficit by eating more calories. And that’s big reason #3 that people are fat: We’re making up for the lack of sun and grounding by eating more food – particularly carbs – to get our fill of electrons.
4. Weak mitochondria
We’ve discussed mitochondrial productivity in previous chapters. So, to summarize, the strength of your mitochondria is the single biggest factor in when and where disease strikes you, and the speed at which you age. When your mitochondria are strong, you make a lot of ATP relative to calorie consumption, with little waste. But when your mitochondria are struggling to make ATP, more calories are essentially wasted in ATP production. Hence, you need to eat more.
So it’s not so much an excess of calories consumed per se that makes you gain weight. It’s inefficient conversion of one form of stored energy (such as calories, protons and electrons) to other forms the body can use (such as ATP, electrical charge and magnetism) that is largely responsible for weight gain. You’re basically not getting enough sunshine and grounding on the front end, while electrons and protons are leaking out of the electron transport chain. This lack of energy into, and out of, mitochondria is a primary cause of weight gain.
It’s this conversion inefficiency – this “decoupling” – combined with signaling and regulatory breakdowns (involving leptin, hormones, and infradian rhythms) that creates surplus energy and weight gain. Encapsulated in one phrase, weight gain is the result of poor “metabolism management.” And fixing this metabolism mismanagement is the future of weight loss, as you will soon learn.