The value of earthing

Every living thing, including human beings, draws energy from the earth’s electric and magnetic fields through its feet, paws or roots. As long as there’s been life on earth, those life forms have charged up their “biological batteries” with electrons delivered through direct earth contact, a natural water body, or some means of conduction.

But that’s the key: whether plant or animal, you have to be touching the earth, or connected through an earthing device, to receive its nurturing benefits. Unfortunately, six decades ago, people started wearing rubber-soled shoes and spending most of their time indoors, disconnected from the earth. Out of the same ignorance, we started insulating our pets and livestock as well. “Coincidentally,” that’s when chronic, degenerative diseases started taking off.

Before that, we went outside and played in the dirt. We swam in lakes and drank from streams. We wore leather-soled shoes (which are moderately conductive). Many worked outside in the fields. We even lived in homes with dirt floors, ages ago. And we were much healthier then. So is electron deficiency and the rise of chronic disease really a coincidence? I say no. Separating ourselves from the earth’s energy blocks the flow of health benefits we used to get when we lived in harmony with Nature.

What happens in the absence of earthing?

Being disconnected from the earth for long periods of time (days, months, or even years) doesn’t necessarily make you sick or kill you right away. You just aren’t as healthy and energetic as you could be. This makes you more susceptible to poor circulation, low energy, unproductive sleep, stress, slow wound healing, hormone imbalances, rapid aging, and weight gain. Your mood suffers, and you aren’t at your best mentally.

Earthing’s biggest benefits

Electron donor. Earthing remedies an electron deficiency we all suffer from in our modern insulated culture. Earthing builds redox potential (primarily net negative charge).

Antioxidant. Earthing is like a limitless antioxidant (reductant, actually). That’s because earthing uses electrons from the earth’s infinite supply to neutralize free radicals that are responsible for cellular injury and aging, when they go unchecked. Alternatively, food sources, as good as they are, have their limitations.

Anti-inflammatory. Building up your supply of electrons and redox potential extinguishes inflammation.

Blood thinner. By increasing negative charge, earthing increases the zeta potential of red blood cells by 270%, which is a fancy way of saying earthing makes red blood cells repel each other with negative electrostatic charge, instead of clumping together. So, instead of your blood being thick and viscous like motor oil, it’s thin and easy-flowing like red wine. This makes it easier for blood to get into tiny capillaries under one blood cell-width in diameter that might otherwise clog from clumping (very common today, for a variety of reasons).

Images credit: Substack author JessicaGenetics. Visit her SubStack.

Most of the time, thinning the blood reduces blood pressure as well, because the heart doesn’t have to work as hard. Thinner blood also improves oxygenation, nutrient delivery, and waste removal. These markers of health are virtually synonymous with life itself. If your body can’t do these things well, you either have a medical condition, or you’re prone to coming down with one. So it only makes sense: increasing blood flow, oxygenation and nutrient exchange improves health across the board.

For these reasons, earthing is scientifically shown to:

• thin the blood, reduce blood pressure, and improve circulation
• reduce chronic inflammation and its plethora of adverse effects
• decrease pain from a variety of sources
• improve sleep in most people
• increase energy levels
• reduce stress and promote calmness by cooling down the nervous system and lowering cortisol levels
• normalize the body’s biorhythms
• reduce muscle tension and headaches
• decrease hormonal and menstrual symptoms
• speed healing and prevent bedsores
• reduce or eliminate jet lag
• accelerate recovery from intense exercise
• slow the aging process.

How strong is earthing?

The effects are strong enough that most people who try earthing see obvious, significant improvements in their life – such as pain reduction, improved sleep, more endurance, faster recovery, or better mood. Many of these effects can be objectively verified by tests such as thermal imaging. And the benefits often begin the first time you earth yourself, continuing for as long as you earth yourself on a regular basis.

How grounding works

For a little background, electrons move from areas of high electrical charge, towards areas of lower charge.

The earth has an effectively infinite supply of electrons that it gently pushes into everything that’s physically connected to it through some sort of conductive medium, whether natural or man-made. Sunlight striking earth then increases electron flow when you’re grounded. Other times, the earth receives electrons from sources of higher charge in brief instances, like static electricity. In other words, grounding moves electrons in whichever direction has a lower charge.

Intentional grounding is thought to have originated in ninth-century China, soon after the invention of gunpowder. Workers manufacturing ammunition and fireworks learned to be extremely careful to dissipate static electricity through conductive grounding straps, before handling the gunpowder they were making. Otherwise, they experienced oxidation so rapid they would not soon forget it (aka an explosion). Same thing with oil and petroleum workers. This is where the term “grounding” comes from.

Purging surplus energies for their own reasons, the cable TV industry learned decades ago how to produce crystal-clear picture and sound by shielding their cables with a grounded casing that carried unwanted EMFs out to ground. We used to see these stray EMF signals as “noise” in our picture years ago, but it rarely happens today because they’ve pretty much perfected grounding in wired communications.

Nowadays, most electrical systems are designed to deplete excess charge into the earth before this “static electricity” has a chance to damage sensitive electronics in the home, or harm patients undergoing open heart surgery, as examples. In other words, the electrical system of buildings and gadgets are “grounded” through the third prong of electrical wiring. This connects to a metallic ground rod stuck in the soil beneath the structure to dissipate static charge through wires, directly into the earth.

Fortuitously, this also provides a path for electrons to travel upward to therapeutic devices (and you) that are plugged into that third prong. So, today, dozens of companies make and sell earthing products such as bed sheets, pillow cases, conductive mouse pads, foot pads, flooring, and lots of other configurations.

But the problem is, dirty electricity and nnEMFs are captured and transported through electrical wiring like an antenna. This can bring alien electric and magnetic fields right into your living space. There are ways to ground yourself safely with an earthing device through the third prong, but you need to shield your space from electosmog, and filter out the dirty electricity first, which may require the assistance of an EMF remediation specialist.

So Nature’s way is still the best way

• As a general rule, most materials made by Nature are good to great conductors, while most artificial materials are poor conductors, if at all.
• At one extreme, you can earth yourself Nature’s way by touching bare skin to grass, sand, rock, clay, or dirt.
• At the other extreme, wood, asphalt, plastic, and most man-made materials are insulators. They do not conduct electrons.
• Between the two extremes, cement and moist clay are slightly conductive when they contain moisture. The more moisture in or on a material, the easier it is for electrons to flow through them.
• Grounding works to some degree through cotton or wool socks – more so if there’s any moisture in them.
• Specially-designed shoes that conduct electrons to the feet keep you well connected. Rubber-soled shoes: not at all.
• The ultimate earthing experience is taking a dip in an ocean, lake, or stream. Water can absorb massive amounts of electromagnetic energy, so it shields you from nnEMFs like a Faraday cage. That gives you full electron flow, with no foreign frequencies.
• Lastly, sunshine (the positive “anode”) hitting the earth (the negative “cathode”) stirs electron mobility. So physically touching earth on a sunny day gives you the very best grounding for your efforts.

What does earthing feel like?

It’s funny but sad that we even have to describe what it feels like to be connected to the earth, because it should be as familiar to us as living and breathing. But that’s “progress” for you. The physical sensation you get from earthing is easily deniable. You almost have to consciously pay attention in order to feel what it’s doing, but its effects and health benefits are not so easily dismissible.

When you set your feet on slightly moist grass, or put your hand on a grounded earthing pad, most people notice a warm, tingly sensation where the flow of electrons enters the body. It’s a warm, fuzzy feeling most people say is mildly stimulating. That’s the nurturing effect our bodies are designed to receive several hours per day. Yet we’ve led ourselves astray since we started isolating ourselves from the planet.

The quick and easy way to experience what earthing feels like is to touch a metal faucet. Almost all bathroom and kitchen faucets are grounded because many plumbing pipes are metallic and run straight into the ground. That’s one reason showers feel amazingly refreshing: You’re getting drenched with massive quantities of negatively-charged water particles. Same thing with throwing water on your face directly out of the tap for a quick ‘pick-me-up’ – lots of negatively-charged particles. Unfortunately for many people, those are the only times they get to experience the benefits of earthing today.

Earthing summary

Earthing is an outstanding way to increase circulation, healing efficiency, sleep quality, and energy level. It’s a potent way to reduce inflammation and increase redox potential. It’s among the cheapest, most beneficial practices you can do for yourself. However, as of 2022, the challenges to earthing yourself as Nature intended have grown considerably.

Risks

Over the past 5-15 years, electrosmog, jump conduction, and ground current have become legitimate risks that make it harder and harder for you to ground yourself safely. Earthing, in principle, is still great for you. But now nnEMFs (electromagnetic frequencies) are corrupting the process – basically using you, and your equipment, as a low-resistance path to get to ground.

To illustrate, which would you rather have: electromagnetic frequencies pass through you to get to ground, as earthing methods do? Or to have them hit you and stay in the body? The answer is neither. Passing nnEMFs out to ground may sound a little better for you. But, ideally, you don’t want any nnEMFs to be hitting you in the first place, because any electromagnetic pollution touching you can’t not harmfully affect you.

Word to the wise: A building’s electrical system picks up ambient high-frequency EMFs like an antenna, in addition to low-frequency dirty electricity riding the power lines. It sends those frequencies throughout a building’s wiring to every grounding port on a circuit (the third prong). In doing so, earthing equipment can inadvertently transmit nnEMF pollution into you. In fact, Dr. Dean Bonlie actually measured earthing equipment increasing the amplitude of nnEMFs going into a person’s body by 300%.

Earthing Rx

By far the best way to ground yourself is to get outdoors and touch the earth with bare feet and hands. In most places that’s still a good idea. However, it might not be that way for long – particularly as 5G ramps up and stray electricity pollutes the land as ground current.

The second-best way to earth yourself is through a dedicated ground rod and wiring, placed as far away from electrical service panels as possible (such as a smart meter). Much more problematic is earthing yourself through your home’s ground wiring. It’s almost never free of unwanted frequencies.

Bottom line: Whether through dedicated earthing equipment, or through your house grounding wire, you can earth yourself indoors safely when electrical body voltage is under 0.1 volts on your skin, and when radio frequency fields are under 0.001 microwatts/cm² (peak). If your room exceeds these levels, earth yourself with caution.

Effects of earthing on COVID-19 (syndrome), link to study.

Conditions for which the Magnetico have shown huge benefit

Note: This section references both the Magnetico and the clinical-strength machine, the Magnetic Molecular Energizer (MME), which is no longer in use.

Enhanced, earth-type magnetism has helped alleviate the root causes of fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, arterial plaque, low back pain, congestive heart failure, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, neuropathy, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, stroke, PMS, arthritis, allergies, migraines, sleep problems, cancer, autism, ADD, and heavy metal toxicity. Of course, the Magnetico is not approved to treat these diseases directly, and makes no claims to that effect. Instead, it supports the body with more healing resources.

Goodness gracious; a miracle cure for everything! I know it sounds that way. But when you act on the most foundational levels of biology – which are subatomic energy, electron exchange, ATP, redox potential, and biochemistry – then those symptoms of energy deficiency listed above disappear to the best of the body’s healing ability.

Over-supplied with the basic natural resource of magnetism, inconceivable healing becomes possible, even commonplace. In simplest terms, without magnetism, you’d be dead in about three hours (read about the research that led to this conclusion in The Mitochondriac Manifesto).

I got COVID-19, but couldn’t prove it

To illustrate the power of the Magnetico Sleep Pad, I came down with the symptoms of COVID-19 in mid-2020. However, in order to get paid-time off, my former employer required a positive PCR test. Despite trying to test positive, I tested negative twice with PCR tests and once with a blood test.

Yes, I tested negative three times, though I’m certain I had SARS-CoV-2 because my symptoms exactly matched those expected and it was like nothing I’d ever gotten. To my knowledge, I’m the only person who has ever had COVID-19 which could not be reflected on a lab test. After some back-and-forth, they eventually made a special exception on the sick time.

Conclusion: I believe the Magnetico strengthened my immune system to the point where I had COVID-19, but it was not even registering on PCR tests (cranked up to 40 cycles or whatever) because my innate immunity was mitigating symptoms so well that I didn’t have to change my daily routine at all. I exercised, as normal, and everything.

Equally informative, during the day, my lungs felt constricted taking a full breath. But I could feel my breathing returning to normal after 15-30 of laying on the Magnetico each night. I woke up each morning feeling perfectly fine, and regressed throughout the day. Now back at it, I feel like my blood oxygenation is optimized every single night sleeping on the Magnetico, judging from how slow and productive my breathing is each morning.

You need maximum ATP to push heavy metals out of cells

Non-toxic metals leave the cell at around a 40-50 millivolt differential at the cell wall (58 millivolts is normal), and even easier when the cell divides. But brain cells don’t divide. So to get toxic metals out of the brain, you need maximal electrical charge of 80-110 millivolt differential. That high a positive voltage is needed to push positively-charged heavy metals out of the cell with electrostatic repulsion, while negative charge outside the cell helps suck the metals into the blood, lymph, and interstitial space (space between cells).

To reach about twice the voltage as normal, mitochondria must be running at full blast. Mitochondria need to oversupply the sodium-potassium pumps with ATP (their fuel) in order to raise voltage at the cell wall from 58 millivolts to around a hundred. Some things that crank up ATP production:

• unidirectional magnetism
• IR and UV sun exposure
• low deuterium level
• low heteroplasmy rate (mitochondrial productivity)
• a ketogenic diet (periodically)
• exercise
• and cold thermogenesis.

The Magnetico is masterful at getting heavy metals out of the brain

There is nothing more powerful at mobilizing heavy metals out of hard-to-reach areas like the brain than a strong one-way magnetic field. Chelating agents alone aren’t able to access heavy metals in the brain. But a Magnetico Sleep Pad can. It’s able to increase ATP production, and voltage at the cell wall, so heavy metals are released from the brain.

The challenge then, once mercury, lead and cadmium are mobile is to capture and remove them from the bloodstream before they recirculate and cause a Herxheimer reaction. Meaning, people with a high heavy metal load (particularly MS and Parkinson’s) can get sick if you don’t bind up the heavy metals as they’re released from cells. DMSA (dimercaptosuccinic acid) and chlorella are Dr. Bonlie’s chelators of choice.

Conclusion: Standard chelation methods can get heavy metals out of the lower body. Good going. But if you want to get heavy metals out of the brain, where they cause a plethora of chronic diseases, you need special help. You first need more earth-type magnetism to help push heavy metals out of brain cells. Then you need a chelating agent such as DMSA or chlorella to bind the metals so detox organs can spot them and escort them out.

The difference between a one-way magnetic field and a two-way

The earth’s magnetic field is so big it’s effectively unidirectional to the life forms living within it. Meaning, the magnetic field travels in one direction through you because the lines of flux come out of the planet in the Southern hemisphere, and they go back in in the Northern hemisphere.

An interesting implication here is that exposing yourself to a unidirectional field that’s directed against the earth’s own field will indeed slow down your valence electrons and deplete you of energy and healing capacity. This actually happened to Dr. Bonlie early on when customers first used the Magnetico in the Southern hemisphere.

They stopped using it after one night because they felt it was killing them. Meaning, they were getting the wrong polarity, at 20 times the intensity. He put on his thinking cap to figure out why this was happening. Once he understood the problem, the solution was simple: He told them to turn the sleep pad over, and that fixed the problem.

With the polarity now traveling in the same direction as the earth’s magnetic field, the Magnetico was then adding energy to the user’s valence electrons, instead of taking it away. The lesson learned here for everyone is: polarity matters; direction matters.

In contrast, a magnet you could hold in your hand is two-directional. The magnetic field it produces is small enough so both its positive and negative poles radiate through you at the same time. Generally, you get 60/40 exposure, because the field must loop around and return to its other side as the opposite polarity. This is what we call a bi-directional, or bipolar, magnetic field.

At first, the body is stressed by the disharmony of a bipolar field. A “wrong way” field upsets the body’s own delicate electrical system by reducing ATP, and charge on the cell wall. So, if they’re able to, astrocytes (brain cells) send more voltage to the area to regain control and give it extra resources. Blood flow also increases. However, the effect is limited because it robs from Peter to pay Paul.

Simply put, the way bipolar fields act on the body are not natural. But that’s not to say they’re without benefit. They just act differently and temporarily. Bipolar magnetic fields can work well initially. But they deplete the body’s electrical resources when you use them too much. The benefit goes away the more often you do it, and the longer you do it. For instance, adrenal fatigue happens a lot when you overuse bipolar magnetism. Keep pushing the stress button over and over, and pretty soon, your adrenals do an on-the-job slowdown, if not a strike.

For context, bipolar magnetic fields operate on very much the same principle of action as acupuncture: they aggravate the electrical system, and cells notice the disturbance. The body then responds by sending more electrical current and blood flow to overcome foreign frequencies and revitalize the area. It’s basically a call for help that reroutes resources to an area of need. For this reason, acupuncturists are trained to treat patients no more than once a week, or else the benefit goes away.

But, even worse, are oscillating magnetic fields and chaotic fields, like those produced by electricity running through your walls, wires, and devices. Faulty wiring creates the worst magnetic fields. Oscillating magnetic fields from AC power and wireless sources can devastate a person’s health like few other exposures in the modern world – in both totality and timeline.

There are good magnetic fields and bad

Copycat magnetic pads, in an effort to save money, contain far fewer magnets. By constructing the pads with fewer magnets, they have to space them farther apart. And that makes each of the small magnets create its own bipolar magnet field on the body, as opposed to acting like one big (single) magnet, as the Magnetico does.

In other words, imitators expose you to bipolar fields that may give you benefits when you first start using them. But the benefits wear off over time, until you’re back to where you started 6-12 weeks later. Indeed, you can even go backward after that. Most bipolar magnetic bed pads then end up gathering dust in the user’s garage because of this blunder of basic premise.

Conversely, the Magnetico’s patented design acts like one giant magnet, because it’s made of an array of small magnets placed an inch apart. Its field is so large that it acts just like a stronger version of the earth’s own magnetic field. For this reason, you place the Magnetico underneath your mattress, on top of your box spring, and not on top of your mattress like some cheaper knock-offs. Their field is too small and weak to reach you through a mattress.

When you (try to) pick up a Magnetico Sleep Pad, you’ll feel what I mean. It’s extremely heavy. Their king size version, for example, is made of four pieces, weighing 99 pounds each. The sheer mass and strength of magnets is why the Magnetico affects the body in subtle to stunning ways other brands can’t touch. It’s just that powerful at enhancing the earth’s own essential magnetic field. Think of it as an earth’s magnetic field, enhanced.

Conclusion

Everyone might need to sleep on a Magnetico in the coming years just to maintain their health, and fend off disease. The earth’s own magnetic field is getting to be that feeble, while non-uniform magnetic fields are that pervasive and offensive to your person.

Fortunately, the Magnetico has the distinct advantage of putting time on your side. Just think: Most therapies you do for wellness require you to carve out time in your schedule. Think hyperbaric oxygen chambers, cold thermogenesis, sunbathing, massage, red light therapy, yoga, acupuncture or exercise. Even preparing healthy meals, making shakes, or ingesting supplements takes time. These are big expenses of resources you may not have considered.

But sleeping on a Magnetico is entirely effortless and automatic. You get the benefits whether you’re actively pursuing them or not. It’s always present when you are. Consider shielding your sleeping space for the very same reasons: passive benefits.

Update: I just did a challenge-rechallenge test for the third time with my Magnetico Sleep Pad to confirm my beliefs. After sleeping many months on 30-gauss, earth-type magnetism, I tried sleeping without it. Result: I woke up repeatedly through the night for no reason, which is unusual for me. I’m now 100% positive that the Magnetico, as claimed, is one of the very best modalities you can use to improve your sleep quality, recovery, and biochemistry.

Visit Magnetico website.

Productivity of the kidneys is synonymous with their ability to concentrate mineral salts from the blood. As mentioned, salts upset the zeta potential of most people. The body responds by constricting blood vessels, raising blood pressure, and increasing heart rate to compensate. Hence, Riddick recommended that we drink more water to get the electrolyte concentration of our urine closer to that of blood, thereby giving our overloaded kidneys a helping hand. This, he argues, is one of the biggest reasons that ample hydration is so important to bodily function.

To explain that effect a different way, sodium makes you thirsty specifically to help the kidneys. In contrast, mainstream medicine thinks you get thirsty after a salty meal in order to: (1) grab excess salt so it leaves with the water, (2) prevent water from being sucked out of cells by salt outside the cell, or (3) simple dehydration. As evidence, just think of two common side effects of weak kidneys: fluid retention around the ankles and high blood pressure – just what you’d expect if the kidneys can’t remove mineral salts from the blood and put them in the urine.

Pro tip: When drinking water to help out the kidneys, Riddick recommended distilled water because, being devoid of minerals, it can hold more of them for excretion. Mind you, he did this for therapeutic benefit, so you may consider drinking mineral water periodically to balance out your mineral intake – perhaps when fasting. Key point: Doubling urine output does way more than halve the kidney’s workload. It cuts it by a factor of six!

Specific Conductance (SC, which indicates mineral concentration) of blood is normally 12,000 micromho, while urine is 30,000, for a concentration ratio of 2.50 (30,000 ÷ 12,000 = 2.5). That number, 2.5, represents how hard the kidneys are working. On the other hand, doubling urine volume cuts its electrolyte concentration and SC in half to 15,000, while the blood stays at 12,000, resulting in a 1.25 ratio (15,000 ÷ 12,000 = 1.25). The net result being, the actual work (i.e., concentrating) being done by the kidneys is 1.5 in a dehydrated state (amount of concentrating above 1.0) vs. 0.25 in well-hydrated state.

Figures from “Control of Colloid Stability through Zeta Potential” by Thomas M. Riddick.

For reference, Riddick estimated that the load originally intended for the kidneys is 15,000. At the upper extreme, the specific conductance of seawater is 60,000 micromhos. This is why seawater is lethal in modest doses. Therefore, concentrations above 40,000 micromhos are increasingly hazardous to a person’s health.

When an individual had a specific conductance between 40,000 and 50,000, Riddick saw it as an emergency situation indicating the kidneys were struggling to keep up and the blood was sure to be dangerously coagulated. When specific conductance stayed this high, his experience told him that the individual was a prime candidate for having a fatal heart attack fairly soon.

These numbers represent how hard the kidneys are working to keep mineral salts out of circulation, thereby thinning the blood, and protecting against clumping, clotting, and cardiovascular disease. This is why refined salts – particularly in additive form – are bad for your heart and kidneys: They are quicker to enter circulation, and they’re available in greater quantity, thus burdening the kidneys with each standard American meal we eat.

Add that to a higher sugar content, and it’s easy to see why prepackaged foods are bad for you. On the other hand, if the blood and urine are both at 12,000, the kidneys don’t have to do any work concentrating filtrates, at least as far as minerals salts are concerned.

In light of the preceding information, I now believe the absence of added salts and sugars is a big reason that people feel so good when they first start fasting, cleansing, eating vegan/vegetarian, or otherwise avoiding salts and sugars. I used to think the metabolic burden of processing carbs (insulin), additives, and undesirable ingredients was what made people feel icky. But it probably has more to do with blood flow than anything else – particularly the brain and endocrine organs.

Bottom line: Improve zeta potential and blood flow – whether by exercise, sun, sauna, or cutting salts and sugars – and your body thanks you by restoring lost performance.

Frequent urination (polyuria), diabetes, and blood-salt level

Medical “experts” say that many diabetics have to urinate frequently (polyuria) because the kidneys need to get rid of excess glucose in the blood, so they flush it out with extra water. In this paradigm, water is incidentally used as a medium of excreting glucose – meaning, water is just a transportation vehicle.

Unfortunately, most of the glucose that the kidneys collect from the bloodstream goes right back into circulation – in a wasted effort. This would mean the body erred twice: It asked for a whole bunch of extra water that really didn’t do much, then it compounded its error by putting the glucose it captured right back into the bloodstream (very hazardous).

You know what I say: Nature doesn’t make mistakes. The primary reason might be that poor blood flow has clogged significant portions of the kidney’s vasculature, thereby restricting its ability to filter and concentrate electrolytes from the blood. Recall that sugar zaps your zeta potential, causing agglomeration in end vascular areas of the kidneys, for example.

In a compromised state such as this, the kidneys might demand more water from you in order to ease their job of concentrating mineral salts from the blood, as per the description above. Therefore, polyuria is an effort to give beaten up kidneys some much-needed assistance.

So, if this theory is correct, diabetics are focusing their attention, first and foremost, on glucose in the blood. However, the entire medical field may be overlooking a situation that’s almost as important to a diabetic’s long-term wellness: keeping blood salts low to avoid overstressing the kidneys.

The solutions then would be to (1) cut down on dietary intake of added salts and problematic chemicals in processed foods, (2) eat more fresh, whole foods, while at the same time (3) increasing the quantity and quality of the water you drink. Let’s call this new health metric your “blood-salt” level.

Figures from “Heart Disease: A New Approach to Prevention and Control” by Thomas M. Riddick. The chart above (from 1970) shows that canned vegetables typically contain 150-300% of the mineral salts as fresh vegetables.

Conclusion: Kidney failure is not specifically caused by diabetes and high blood pressure, as medical educators say. Instead, the kidneys malfunction because we are working them too hard as a result of (1) intravascular coagulation blocking up watershed regions of the kidneys, (2) high intake of added salts (all kinds) in the diet, (3) and/or chronic dehydration… especially relative to diet, in addition to (4) pro-inflammatory exposures such as MASS, heavy metals, omega-3 to omega-6 ratios, microwave nnEMFs, and water contaminants such as fluoride and chloride/chloramine.

Warning signs: When your kidneys work well, they are able to keep up during the day so that overnight urine concentration goes down. But, when kidney function is impaired, they may need to work nights or extra shifts to catch up on removing mineral salts from the blood. In fact, Riddick once saw the kidneys take more than 48 hours to excrete 32 grams of minerals salts (a huge input).

The lesson: While the kidneys are backlogged, you may suffer cyclical periods of high blood-salt level that drain your zeta potential, blood flow, and health bank account. This is a core component of the disease process for a large percentage of the population that finds themself in this condition often.

To improve the situation, avoid refined salt (blood-salt level) in packaged foods, drink more water, and use zeta protocols to unblock your kidneys’ filtering capacity. This gives your kidneys some relief, independent of what’s happening with your blood-sugar level. And don’t be fooled by how simple these suggestions appear to be. It’s just basic physiology that’s come to light.

Better yet, make this your new mantra: Low-salt diets are not just for those with high blood pressure or heart disease. Everyone that eats processed food needs to watch their sodium level because high blood-salt can cause clumping and clotting, as well as kidney decline, which is large part of the aging process.

Sodium-potassium ratio

Another reason that processed foods are bad for you is because their sodium-potassium ratio is reversed from Nature’s design. You see, potassium predominates in most foodstuffs that come from Nature, relative to sodium. Potassium is usually in the majority; sodium is in the minority. Whereas most processed foods are the opposite: sodium is added in processing, while potassium may be depleted, so that food then contains more sodium than potassium.

As you may have noticed, sodium use is virtually ubiquitous in savory foods because it’s an incredibly cheap and easy way to enhance flavor – so much so that our palates have built a tolerance to it. We are addicted to salt, at the expense of potassium.

Chart from “Heart Disease: A New Approach to Prevention and Control” by Thomas M. Riddick.

Riddick did not know precisely why this inversion antagonizes cardiovascular function the way that it does – potassium adds mineral salts that need to be excreted too. But nutrition educators today would say potassium helps control fluid level inside the cell, nerve signaling and muscle contractions, as well as blood pressure. Consequently, inverting nature’s sodium-potassium ratio is stressful to our (electro)biochemistry – like putting the wrong kind of gas in your car. This then forces the body to do extra work bringing these abnormal inputs back into balance.

To put this in perspective, Riddick estimated that our sodium intake was about “twice Nature’s intended load on the kidneys.” Therefore, almost everyone today needs more potassium in their diet. The need for more potassium: almost universal.

Which compounds help zeta potential and which ones hurt it?

Thomas Riddick measured his urine during, and after, an attack of paroxysmal tachycardia (rapid heart rate), seeking to understand the body’s needs. The high urine output through these episodes indicated which substances the body wanted to get rid of and which ones were helpful to retain.

His measurements strongly suggested the blood-kidney system was desperate to purge sodium, while retaining potassium. It discharged calcium, while holding on to magnesium. High valence cations such as aluminum and phosphate were expelled as soon as possible. This proves the kidneys are smarter than we think. They selectively excrete substances that hurt zeta potential in a crisis situation, while retaining those that help it.

Chart from “Heart Disease: A New Approach to Prevention and Control” by Thomas M. Riddick.

Hydration

“…In every case, the proper use of distilled water containing appropriate electrolytes has produced a significant and measurable improvement in the individual’s cardiovascular state… In addition, our sclerascope has always revealed a significant reduction in intravascular coagulation. Anginal pain has in some cases been greatly reduced; in others, it has completely disappeared.” — Thomas M. Riddick.

Disclaimer: The chart below is for illustrative purposes only. It should not be construed as a recommendation or prescription. As far as I know, Riddick never published a hydration protocol.

Chart from “Heart Disease: A New Approach to Prevention and Control” by Thomas M. Riddick.

Deuterium ranges

Geologic records tell us deuterium in the environment was 10-15 parts-per-million (ppm) lower 15,000-20,000 years ago. That would have to mean human physiology is evolutionarily adapted to handle that concentration of deuterium with no problem. At that rate of exposure, you would expect our detox systems to be fully competent to remove it fast enough to keep us in a healthy range.

This then is a sensible goal we can all aspire to as a general guideline: 10-15 ppm lower than our current level – both in the body, and from the food, water, and air we’re routinely exposed to. Unfortunately, society’s ways, and the trend in geology, have raised non-threatening Ice Age levels up to the more problematic levels we get today.

To our biology, that means the higher up you go above that historic baseline (127-137 in the body), the harder it is for your depletion systems to get rid of deuterium fast enough to avoid energy deficits and organ dysfunction. Don’t forget: dose makes the toxin. And toxicity increases rapidly for every 5 ppm above the 130 range, because our deuterium-depleting mechanisms get overwhelmed above a certain threshold.

Deuterium levels in the environment and food today

• Average deuterium level at lower latitudes and elevations – both oceans and rainwater – is 145-155 ppm.
• Glacial melt water averages about 125 ppm.
• Extremely low levels from snow or spring water at high altitude is 25.
• Unsaturated fat is 110 ppm.
• Animal fat 118 ppm.
• Butter 124 ppm.
• Olive oil 130 ppm.
• Table sugar 146 ppm.
• White wheat flour 150 ppm.
• Some refined vegetable oils are as high as 250 ppm.

The Center for Deuterium Depletion breath and saliva deuterium guideline levels:

• Their “red” zone is over 150 ppm.
• Their “yellow” zone 130-150 ppm.
• Their “green” level is 130 ppm and below.
• Average deuterium level in a human today is 137-147 ppm.

Generally speaking, it gets exponentially harder to achieve and maintain a level below 130 ppm in the body; 100-74 ppm is very low to extremely low. On the other hand, the more you exceed 130 ppm, the exponentially worse off your mitochondrial fitness and overall health are likely to be.

A level of 150 ppm and above is cause for concern, because that’s usually a sign you have an underlying medical condition that’s preventing your system from getting rid of it. That means you’re retaining it through some combination of poor metabolism, excessive intake, and toxic environment.

Conclusion: Deuterium accelerates disease and aging because it cuts ATP production in the mitochondria. The deuterium molecule’s neutron also inhibits the formation of charge-separated e-zone, thereby reducing electrical charge in cells and bodily fluids. To combat these conditions, low deuterium water is now being sold as a wellness hack for health seekers and a performance-enhancing supplement for athletes. It ranges from $7 per liter for 85 ppm, all the way up to $50/l for 5 ppm. Read The Mitochondriac Manifesto for a more detailed description of deuterium.

Hourly effects of fasting (time since last calorie intake)

4–8 hours

• blood-sugar falls
• stomach is emptied
• insulin production stops.

12 hours

• all the food you’ve eaten has been burned
• the digestive system goes to sleep
• the body starts healing processes
• human growth hormone increases
• glucagon

14 hours

• the body starts using fat stores for energy
• human growth hormone increases dramatically.

16 hours

• fat burning ramps up.

18 hours

• human growth hormone

24 hours

• autophagy begins
• glycogen stores are depleted
• ketones are released.

36 hours

• autophagy increases 300%.

48 hours

• autophagy increases 30% more
• immune system resets and regenerates
• inflammation response is turned down.

72 hours

• autophagy maxes out.

Exercise benefits the body by enhancing oxidation, reduction and redox signaling

Exercise is oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is like exercise. At the same time, the ability to sustain exercise is determined by mitochondrial production capacity, antioxidant capacity, and a balance between oxidation and reduction. Most important of all its functions, exercise is controlled oxidation. Meaning, exercise produces a cleansing and renewal effect at a cell level. That’s why it’s good for you, and how it benefits the body. It leads to very important mechanisms of cell regeneration, aerobic capacity, and speed of recovery.

You see, exercise makes mitochondria burn fatty acids or sugar along with oxygen to power cells. Through this process, energy production in the mitochondria makes large amounts of reactive oxygen species (aka ROS or free radicals) that act as both universal cleansing agents (that need to be neutralized) and immune-system messengers.

Exercise, oxygenation, and the resulting capacity for oxidation and reduction also help improve electrical charge and pH balance. Electrical potential improves cell wall permeability, hydration, nutrient exchange, and detoxification. In conjunction, breathing from exercise balances pH because O₂ alkalizes, while CO₂ acidifies. These factors promote either a high state of health and healing when they’re present, or disease conditions that favor pathogens and breakdown of cells when absent.

The point is, exercise, oxygenation, and oxidative activity are precious to your wellness. But the other half of the story is that it takes time to build up a capacity for exercise, which is largely dependent on antioxidant capacity and completion of the redox cycle. Otherwise, you experience extended recovery time and overuse injuries pushing yourself too hard when you’re out of shape.

Through redox molecules (reactive oxygen species and reducing species), exercise dramatically increases protection of cells, healing of cells, balance, and a laundry list of good things. When well-controlled, oxidative reactions represent most of the body’s mechanisms of healing and anti-aging. Conversely, when those systems are overwhelmed or fail altogether, like ROS not being neutralized properly, then oxidative damage becomes the mechanism of imbalances, exposure to genetic weaknesses, breakdowns, and rapid aging.

To sum it up, exercise is oxidation. Exercise is cleansing and rejuvenation on a cellular level. But exercise needs to be matched up with an equal amount of aerobic fitness, which is determined by your mitochondrial strength, your body’s capacity to neutralize free radicals, and balance between oxidation and reduction. You need all that to sustain aerobic exercise. Otherwise, you get too much breakdown and not enough repair. So, basically, aerobic capacity is brought about by a redox signaling system that performs well under load.