Thursday, February 23, 2017

EMF Part 2: Measuring The Effects


In Part 1 I discussed how EMFs from modern technology effect water chemistry and tissue/proteins. Hopefully this is beginning to make sense to you.

Now I’m sure a question you might have thus far is: if these microwave frequencies from modern technology heat our tissues and dehydrate our cells, how come we don’t feel the heat from WIFI routers, or cell phones? Great question, I’m glad you asked! Microwave frequencies emit long wavelengths that travel far distances. Sunlight frequencies are of shorter wavelengths, and do not penetrate past the skin (2 mm), thus the thermal energy is absorbed at the skin layer and that's where we feel the heat. This activates our sweat glands to release extracellular water (water outside our cells) to cool the skin to protect from skin damage. Well microwave frequencies of 2.4 GHz (used in WIFI, baby monitors and microwave ovens) can penetrate depths up to 17 mm, thus exerting its thermal effects much beyond the skin layer, and into the organ tissue level.

So if the surface of our skin does not perceive this thermal energy irradiating our body, how do we feel the tissue heating effects of microwave frequencies? One simple word: inflammation. And that’s exactly what these frequencies do to humans: heat and dehydrate your tissues, damage your proteins and increase inflammation. We know that when we are ill with a bad virus, our inflammation levels in the body are high, and we often spike a fever. This is a normal part of the acute immune response. Once you get better, the fever breaks, and your symptoms of inflammation disappear as the body heals itself. Well when you are exposed chronically to microwave frequencies, you will experience chronic inflammation due to increased cell death by tissues exceeding their heat thresholds. Could it be part of why we see a plethora of chronic inflammatory illnesses today such as: heart disease, metabolic syndrome, autoimmune disease, neurodegeneration and cancer? How many people own a cell phone today? And how many people are suffering from a chronic illness? Is it just a coincidence? I think not.

Additionally, there are some documented non-thermal biological effects of microwave frequencies such as calcium ion efflux. Calcium ions are primarily stored in bone tissue, but small amounts are found in the intra and extracellular space. Calcium ions are released into the bloodstream for important cellular signalling usually during a stressful or excitotoxic event. EMFs found in modern technology have been proven to increase the influx of intracellular calcium ions, overloading the cell and increasing cell death mechanisms. Additionally, there is controversial evidence now that points to cell phone radiation having the ability to break individual strands of DNA. More research is required for conclusive evidence, but based on the biochemistry, I am not surprised.

So how do you know if EMFs are negatively impacting your health? I want you to take a quick minute to assess your exposure. Ask yourself how much time you spend in an area that is within reception of a WIFI router, how much time you spend on your cell phone, and how densely populated your environment is. You will begin to realise how easy it is to be chronically irradiating yourself with microwave frequencies in your environment. If you suffer from any chronic health conditions, or experience chronic neurological, or inflammatory symptoms, that should be a clear indicator of EMF toxicity. If you have no symptoms and feel you are in optimal health but still face chronic exposure, I encourage you to get some lab work done. You must realise that disease and illness is not always linear. What I mean by that is that many times, the labs may show unfavorable changes in your health markers before symptoms arise, and on the contrary, symptoms may arise prior to these changes in health markers.


Whether or not you are suffering from illness or symptoms, here are some health markers that may be negatively effected by EMFs:

1. BUN/Creatinine ratio (this tells you the hydration status of your cells). A typical healthy ratio is between 10:1 and 15:1 and anything higher can indicate dehydration.

2. Electrolytes: Sodium and Potassium. Dehydration can cause sodium levels to rise and potassium levels to fall in the blood.

3. Calcium: as mentioned, majority of calcium is stored in bone tissue. EMF exposure can increase the breakdown of calcium to enter the blood, so if levels are high, it may suggest EMF toxicity and dehydration.

4. HS CRP (Highly Sensitive C-Reactive Protein): a marker of inflammation in the body.

5. High blood pressure: associated with high stress levels, inflammation and dehydration.

6. Hormone panel: the stress hormones like cortisol, sex hormones like testosterone, progesterone, estrogen, and thyroid-related hormones like TSH, T3 and T4 can be important health markers as they are usually altered under chronic stress.

Other than lab tests, what could be another major indicator of microwave toxicity? Intense hunger and carbohydrate cravings. Why would we crave carbohydrates under chronic exposure to microwave frequencies? What is a carbohydrate (CHO) fundamentally? It is a chemical bond of many Carbon (C) and Water (H2O) molecules. Therefore, carbs hydrate the body. Well since we’ve already addressed the thermal effects of EMFs, we know water is lost in our cells, and dehydration occurs; so it only makes sense that the body would crave carbs to offset this. This is another reason why carbs only exist in nature in warm climates, because they provide mammals with a source of water to stay hydrated and cooled. They do not exist in cold climates in nature, and mammals do not need carbs in winter, because they need to generate heat by burning fat, not carbs. This means that when we live in an EMF toxic world, and it is winter, we tend to hate the cold weather, because our body cannot burn fat for heat when our internal tissues are being heated. Instead, the body chooses carbs to cool our internal organs and rehydrate the cells. This is a complete mismatch when we are trying to thrive in cold climates! This study proves the theory above. It demonstrates a significant increased glucose (carb) metabolism in the brain during cell phone usage. This essentially is the body’s stress response to cool the brain.

Here is another good read. Some evidence confirming changes in glucose metabolism in diabetic and MS patients.

Stay tuned for the final part of this series in which I will discuss mitigation strategies to protect yourself from the toxic environments filled with EMFs.












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Wednesday, February 22, 2017

EMF Part 1: Thermal Effects


Is wireless technology slowly killing us? People don’t believe what they can’t perceive. Human-made ElectroMagnetic Frequencies (EMFs) are all around us today from powerlines, cell towers, WIFI routers, microwave ovens, baby monitors and anything that uses AC power. These EMFs are invisible, and we cannot sense them even though we know they exist.

Let me give you a short lesson on EMFs. Take a look at the picture below:





Sunlight is part of the electromagnetic spectrum which contains frequencies from ultraviolet (highest) to infrared (lowest). Our eye cannot perceive these 2 frequencies, nor can it perceive any frequencies higher than UV (x-ray, gamma-ray), or lower than IR (microwave, radio). We do know however there are biological effects of both UV and IR light and the effects are well documented, so I won’t bother going through them all. In short term, they drive thousands of biological processes.

So if two of the most critical sunlight frequencies (UV and IR) cannot be perceived, then believing that microwave frequencies found in modern technology have no biological effects is a dangerous assumption. Let’s explore the science. The high frequency range of the spectrum emit short wavelength photons that are extremely powerful. These frequencies are classified as ionizing radiation, because they have the potential to eject an electron from matter. The low frequency range of the spectrum emit long wavelength photons that are much less powerful. These frequencies are classified as non-ionizing radiation, because they do not have the potential to eject an electron from matter. They do however have the potential to vibrate electrons in matter producing thermal energy (heat).

When IR light from the sun is shined on water, it moves electrons away from protons, creating an exclusion zone (EZ) which is a battery. This is how humans use IR light from the sun to make a battery in each of our cells that allow us to carry energy potential. UV light from the sun has the potential to further move electrons away from protons, expanding the EZ. The larger the EZ in our cells, the higher our energy potential is. Every cell in our body has mitochondria within that generate energy for the cells, and are sometimes referred to as the powerplants for cells. Mitochondria are actually bacteria that absorb and emit light. Our mitochondria use food substrates to generate energy when we lose energy too quickly in our environment. The food we eat is broken down into the simplest form of matter: protons and electrons which are taken up by mitochondria. They are inputted into the Electron Transport Chain (ETC) within the innermitochondrial membrane. Here, electrons are tunneled through a matrix of 5 respiratory proteins: Complex I through IV, and ATPase (sometimes referred to as Complex V) to generate Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) which is the energy for cells.

I know it seems like I’m digressing, but I want to talk a bit about water chemistry. In physics, when matter is cooled, it condenses or shrinks. When matter is heated, it expands. Water happens to be the exception: it expands when cooled, and shrinks when heated. This is important to note, because as humans, we are made up of water and proteins. IR light plays a very important role in maximizing our energy production because of its effects on water and protein. IR light generates the right amount of heat to shrink the intracellular water in our mitochondria that decreases the distance between the 5 respiratory proteins. This improves electron tunneling that allows us to maximize energy production for the cell. Our mitochondria can alter their function to control the flow of electrons based upon our environment: during a warm sunny day, when there is plenty of UV and IR light present in the sun, the flow of electrons is naturally high as we absorb these light frequencies to shrink the intracellular water to keep the respiratory proteins close together. At night, when the sun is down, we no longer have this ability, so our mitochondria release IR heat from stored fat, to do what the sun does for us at night when we sleep in a cold/dark environment.

So what happens when we expose ourselves chronically to the microwave frequencies in modern technology? We absorb these low frequencies as thermal energy with NONE of the benefits of IR light that create an EZ in our cells. As a result, the EZ is diminished, the intracellular water shrinks, and the respiratory proteins become dehydrated, and swell. When this occurs, electron tunneling slows and we become energy deficient as our mitochondria fail to produce ATP at the required rate for the cell. When a cell becomes energy deficient overtime, it takes up less oxygen leading to a state of pseudohypoxia. This leads to an acidic state that activates the body's programmed cell death mechanisms (apoptosis or necrosis) to rid the body of the cell. The body would much prefer to recycle components of a damaged cell rather than have it replaced with a new one. That process is called autophagy, and it occurs during sleep. The only way it can occur during sleep is if we allow our mitochondria to release IR light, which it will only do when there is a complete absence of light. Any unnatural EMF present during sleep will disrupt this.

Here is an analogy for you: if you put a cup of water in a microwave, and nuke it on high for a minute, you will have the water boiling. As mentioned, when water is heated, it shrinks as it evaporates into thin air. If we put the same cup of water in the microwave on the lowest power, we can still heat it enough to boil, although it will take longer. Now, let’s imagine this is your life: you wake up, get ready for work, and put your cell phone in your pocket. You sit at a computer for 8 hours in an office building surrounded by all your colleagues who also have cell phones in their pockets. You are also within the vicinity of several WIFI signals. Then you get home from work, eat dinner, and go to sleep with your wireless router, and your neighbour’s emitting their signals, not to mention your cell phone by your bedside, and maybe a cordless landline phone. Your intracellular water is the cup of water in this analogy.

Here's another analogy for you: suppose you are going to cook frozen veggies on the stove. What do you need to add to the veggies before heating them? Water. You throw your frozen veggies into a pot, add water and bring to a boil, then let simmer until cooked. Why do you have to use water to cook the veggies over the stove? Because without water, the veggies will burn. Think of your intracellular water as the water that surrounds your proteins (tissues) in each of your cells. If that water evaporates from heat, your proteins are dehydrated, and are damaged from heat much like cooking veggies without water.

Stay tuned for Part 2.




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Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Tick Tock On The Clock


If you’ve been following my blog posts thus far, you may recall that our body has clocks. We have a clock in the retina of the eye (the eye clock) that communicates directly with the central clock in the brain, and then we have all the peripheral clocks that control day/night activities like digestion, activity/exercise, immune function, endocrine function, growth & metabolism, sleep, etc. The eye clock wakes up the brain by absorbing light through photoreceptors in the retina, and passing it through the optic nerve reaching the Suprachiasmatic Nucelus (SCN) in the hypothalamus of the brain. From here, the SCN (central clock) communicates with all the peripheral clocks in a 24 hour cycle known as the circadian rhythm that is completely yoked to the natural light cycle of the sun.

Before I go any further, I want you to ask yourself an important question. Based on the above paragraph, what is more important: the food you eat, and the exercise you perform, or the light you are exposed to? It seems today everyone, including medical professionals are completely ignorant to the impact of light on our health. We have forgotten that all peripheral clocks (i.e. the ones that control feeding & activity) are controlled by the central clock (the SCN), and the central clock is entrained by light. So if we are missing the proper light signal, our peripheral clocks will not run properly and we can't achieve optimal health no matter what we do.

Here’s another question to ponder: why did mother nature put a clock in our eye that activates all other clocks in the body? Because our eye is above all other organs in the body, and is ALWAYS within the closest proximity to the sun. Why does this matter? Because the eye is the FIRST pathway for light to travel. This means that our eye clock is meant to run faster than any other clock. This is so crucial to our health because the eye clock is our timekeeper, and constantly needs to sense our environment in order to pass along the information to our peripheral clocks so we can thrive in said environment. So what happens when we consistently alter our environment by avoiding the sun during the day, and using artificial lighting at night? Our eye clock is unable to distinguish between night and day, and this sends mixed signals to peripheral clocks thus creating a mismatch. For example, if you spend most of the day indoors with a lack of natural sunlight, and use artificial lighting, you will not get a strong enough stimulus to run your eye clock at the right speed to coordinate daytime activities. That is because natural sunlight provides an illuminance of over 100,000 lux. Typical office lighting provides about 500 lux. Even the cloudiest day provides a higher illuminance than that (i.e. 1,000 lux). On the contrary, when we use artificial lighting at night, we are overstimulating the eye clock creating another mismatch and confusing the body by turning night into day. That is because moonlight (from a full moon) is less than 1 lux, while artificial light as mentioned is somewhere around 500 lux. When you extend your day beyond the natural light cycle, overtime, you are burning out your peripheral systems, and phase shifting your circadian rhythms, and lose the ability to sense the environment. When you cannot adapt to an environment for any reason, you will not do well period. This is how disease begins because you essentially disrupt the regenerative pathways that are activated in us that require darkness and sleep.

Let’s examine how our bodies are designed to function in harmony with the sunlight cycle. At sunrise, light hits the retina of our eye, and travels to the brain via the retinohypothalamatic tract (RTH). Within this tract lies retinal ganglion cells that contain a photoreceptor known as melanopsin. Melanopsin is most sensitive to the wavelength of light in the 460-480 nm range which is blue light. When this light reaches the SCN, there are two signals sent: 1) to shut off the pineal gland and 2) to activate the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland then releases its hormones that control endocrine function to help prepare us for the day, and start up the peripheral daytime clocks. An important question is why would melanopsin respond to blue light? Well it just so happens that the short blue light wavelength scatters more than all other wavelengths of light. Therefore, when the sun is up, blue light is scattered across the atmosphere making the sky appear blue. Because we cannot perceive a full spectrum of light in the sky (unless there is a rainbow), the blue sky is an indicator to our eye clock that it is daytime.

A few hours later, UV light appears from the sun. We have another photoreceptor known as neuropsin found in the cornea, and it has a peak response to 380 nm light which just so happens to be in the UV range. Neuropsin is used for the creation of biogenic amines which are synthesized from the aromatic amino acids tryptophan and tyrosine which all absorb UV light. Trytophan is the precursor to serotonin and melatonin and tyrosine is the precursor to dopamine. Additionally, when UVB light appears closer to "solar noon" in spring and summer, our skin absorbs these frequencies to make Vitamin D from cholesterol. Vitamin D plays a critical role in immunity, protecting us from infections, managing allergies and other immune reactions (i.e. autoimmune diseases) as well as cancer.

It should now be clear to you just how critical UV light is to our health. Without it, we cannot regenerate the melatonin or dopamine cycle let alone optimize immunity via Vitamin D. That’s why wearing sunglasses and sunscreen makes no freaking sense to me whatsoever. The UV light scare tactic is used by optometry and dermatology industries to make profits. Check out this study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22213311. It appears that UVB exposure protects against nearly all forms of cancer. People tend to overlook the regenerative properties of UV light, and it is that irresponsibility of avoiding UV exposure to the eye and skin that is creating an eruption of neolithic disease.
　
As the day goes on, and the sun begins to set, we lose the short wavelengths of light including UV and blue light, and see a shift to orange and red light (as seen in a sunset). These are longer wavelengths of light that emit less energetic photons, thus it only makes sense that we feel a sense of relaxation as the sun sets, because our energy levels are steadily falling. Serotonin is now being released in the brain. Because it comes from the aromatic amino acid tryptophan which is regenerated during the day under UV light, the more sunlight you were exposed to during the day, the higher the serotonin release will be (hint: there is your natural cure for depression). When darkness sets in, serotonin begins conversion into melatonin released by the pineal gland, which peaks after 3-4 hours of complete darkness. Melatonin is the most potent endogenous anti-oxidant that we have, and it protects our body from oxidative stress during sleep. While melatonin is slowly rising, leptin is now being released from our fat stores (as long as we don't eat late at night). Once melatonin peaks within a couple hours of falling asleep, our body temperature is lowered, and leptin enters the brain which upregulates the thyroid to uncouple proteins in the mitochondria to burn off excess fat as heat. Additionally, our body releases a massive surge of growth hormone at this time which facilitates a regenerative process known as autophagy. Autophagy allows us to recycle damaged proteins, so we don't have to replace them with stem cells.

Once these important regenerative processes are completed, we start to see a sharp rise in cortisol in the early hours of the morning to prepare us for the most stressful moment in a 24 hour period: awakening. Once the sun rises, we are back to the beginning of the cycle: pineal gland shut off by blue light, halting melatonin release, and the pituitary is activated to release cortisol, testosterone, progesterone and estrogen which peak around midmorning.

So a few considerations here. A lack of bright light in the early morning causes a delay in turning off the pineal gland and melatonin. This results in waking up groggy and needing a coffee as a stimulus to get your dopamine boost and cortisol release. Additionally, when you spend most of the day indoors, or use sunglasses outside, you are blocking the UV light in your eye, thus disrupting your ability to make the biogenic amines (dopamine, serotonin, and melatonin) which means you will feel less relaxed at night, and eventually depressed from low serotonin, your sleep will suffer due to a lack of melatonin, and you will be groggy and unmotivated in the morning from low dopamine. Additionally, when you wear sunscreen and cover your skin from the sun in summer, you will lack Vitamin D, which opens the door to cold/flu, allergies, intolerances, autoimmune diseases, and cancer. On the contrary, when you use artificial lighting at night (especially from LED technology, i.e. LED bulbs, laptops, phones, tablets, TV or fluorescent lights) you will activate activate melanopsin, and suppress melatonin so the regenerative processes that occur in the "window of darkness" will be disrupted. If this becomes chronic, our body will degenerate and we will age quickly, and succumb to preventable diseases.

Do you still believe you can fix your health by ignoring the effects of light on our circadian biology? Do you still think diet, supplementation, exercise and meditation will dig you out of the hole you're in? It all starts with light folks...
　



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Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Leptin: Your Fatloss Friend



Imagine there was a way to control your appetite, and lose weight without restricting your calories or exercising and eating as much as you want?

Introducing your new best friend: leptin. What the heck is leptin? It is a critical hormone that is produced by your fat cells, and binds to receptor sites in the hypothalamus of the brain to indicate energy storage status. It is responsible in regulating energy homeostasis, so that the appropriate amount of energy is stored; no more and no less. As fat storage increases throughout a day of feeding, leptin levels rise, indicating increased energy storage. Once the brain receives that signal, a secondary signal is sent to the thyroid to upregulate the metabolism. When fat storage does not increase due to a lack of feeding throughout the day, leptin levels remain low, so the receptor in the hypothalamus is not activated, therefore no signal is sent to the thyroid to upregulate the metabolism. This is how humans maintain bodyweight and prevent nutrient excess, or nutrient deficits. Leptin also regulates hunger for this exact purpose; when leptin levels are high and reach the receptor in the hypothalamus, hunger is decreased, and when leptin levels are low, hunger is increased.

With this mechanism in place, we do not need to count calories, because leptin already does this for us. What happens when you become overweight, and can’t seem to lose excess fat? Something is blocking leptin from reaching that receptor in the hypothalamus to send that signal to the thyroid. This means you will feel hungry, and eat an inappropriate amount of food, with no ability to upregulate your metabolism to burn off excess fat that your body does not need. If this describes you, you need to re-establish your relationship with leptin, your new best friend.

In the 1990s leptin was discovered through the identification of a genetic mutation found in obese mice: the ob gene. Mice with this mutation had chronically low leptin levels, leading to a decreased metabolism and insatiable hunger levels resulting in obesity. These mice were successfully treated by administering synthetic leptin. Upon this discovery, it was thought that leptin was the miracle cure for obesity, only there was one problem: obese humans had their serum leptin levels measured as high, not low. This lead to the discovery of leptin resistance, meaning that leptin levels were high in the blood, but it was obviously not reaching the brain to activate its receptor to carry out its action: to suppress appetite and burn off excess fat.

So how does leptin resistance occur? What blocks leptin from activating the receptor? A very wise neurosurgeon named Dr. Jack Kruse has solved this riddle for us. He defines obesity as an inflammatory brain disease; and leptin resistance is what can lead to obesity, therefore inflammation in the brain is the root cause. He has developed a treatment known as the Leptin Rx, which he describes as conducting brain surgery on yourself without a scapel. He used this Rx on himself many years ago to lose 133 lbs in 11 months by strategically reducing inflammation in the brain to resensitize the leptin receptor so he could burn off his excess fat. He achieved this success by eating more and exercising less, which is completely counterintuitive to conventional wisdom. The key was not to restrict calories (how are you supposed to eat less when you are leptin resistant and have an unsatiable appetite?) but to re-establish his brain’s relationship with leptin. This was achieved through resynchronizing the circadian rhythm by controlling WHEN to eat rather than WHAT or HOW much to eat as well as abiding by natural light cycles. Additionally, he unburried an ancient, evolutionary metabolic pathway that is induced by cold exposure.

I won’t get into this "secret" pathway in this blog, but you can read all about it here. I will however outline Jack Kruse’s Leptin Rx below, although you can read it here.

STEP 1 – The BAB (Big Ass Breakfast):
-Eat within 30 minutes of rising
-Eat 50-75g of protein
-Limit carbs to 25g
-Eat as much fat with your protein as you want
-Do not count calories, just aim for your protein

The goal here is to crush hunger before it hits. When you are leptin resistant, you are always hungry, and protein has the most satiating effect. A sample meal would be: a 5-egg omlette with veggies and cheese cooked in butter or coconut oil, and 5 slices of bacon. That should crush your hunger pretty good!

STEP 2 – NO Snacking:
-You really shouldn’t need to snack if your breakfast was big enough

STEP 3 – Remaining Meals:
-You can eat lunch, but follow your hunger cues (if not hungry, skip it)
-Make sure to eat dinner before sunset, and allow 4-5 hours between your last bite and bed time
-Focus on fats and proteins and go low on carbs

Carbs are not the enemy, but you will not handle them well when you are leptin resistant, so it’s best to go easy on them, and focus on fat and protein.

STEP 4 – Exercise:
-Exercise can hurt you when you are leptin resistant
-If you must exercise at all, do so just before dinner

As you improve and become more leptin sensitive, exercise becomes more beneficial. Use your judgment on when you feel it is safe to exercise (listen to your body).

STEP 5 – Light:
-Get as much natural light as possible during the day
-Minimize artificial lighting at night, and make your room as dark as possible when you sleep

This helps resynchronize your circadian rhythm so leptin can function normally.

STEP 6 – Cold:
-Begin a cold thermogenesis protocol:
-Start with face dunks in cold water
-Once you are comfortable with this, try cold showers (start warm, and gradually turn knob to cold)
-Once you can tolerate a full duration of a cold shower, try cold soaks in the tub
-Work your way up to 30 mins in the tub, and once tolerable, add ice
-Incorporate these cold thermogenesis sessions 3-5x per week

Becoming cold adapted allows you to activate an ancient pathway that is built in to all mammals. It is a hibernating pathway that allows us to burn massive amounts of fat. As Jack states, the cold empties fat stores quicker than an evacuation of a building on fire.



　
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Thursday, February 2, 2017

Energy Flow and Stuff


So I was out for a walk just the other day. It was chilly outside, but the sun was out. I’m not sure if anyone really takes the time to observe these types of things, but oh man how amazing it feels to be cold and warm at the same time. The cool, crisp air with the warmth of the sun brought upon a pleasant euphoria. I then began to think about why this occurred, and I realised I was using light and magnetism simultaneously to increase my energy flow. Light from the sun shining down on me, entering through the retina of my eye, delivering electricity throughout my body, with the help of the increased magnesium due to the cold air (cold increases the strength of a magnetic flux). Of course I am always well hydrated, so there’s the water aspect in light, water and magnetism.


In my last blog post, I wrote about pH and what it truly means. The more electrons we have, the more potential energy we can have. And when we lack electrons and have too many protons, we have less potential energy, higher acidity levels which is essentially inflammation. Therefore inflammation and illness is due to a lack of energy flow in the body, because we are lacking light, and/or water, and/or magnetism.

How do these 3 natural forces interact? Well, light from the sun contains photons, which have very high energy potential. Photons can act as both waves and particles and travel at the speed of light. Einstein’s photoelectric effect states that when a photon hits matter, it interacts with electrons, creating a photoelectron. Basically, when an electron absorbs a photon, it becomes "powered" building momentum and essentially generating a current. This current drives all the biological processes and feedback loops in the body to keep us well. Water is the key conductor of electricity; it is essentially a battery and used to capture energy and hold a charge.


So back to the whole purpose of this blog post. Why did I feel so good on my stroll the other day? Because the cold increased my intracellular water density, expanding the exclusion zone in my cells. A larger exclusion zone means more electrons, and the more electrons you have, the more photons you can absorb and the greater charge you can hold in your battery. Well that high powered battery of mine gave me a nice release of dopamine in my brain resulting in the euphoria I experienced.

We are all creatures of light. Everything that exists on this planet is solar powered. All we need is water, electrons and photons. The more we can get, the stronger our energy flow and lifeforce will be.
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Wednesday, February 1, 2017

What is your pH level?


A popular concept in modern health and wellness, especially amongst holistic practice is balancing the body’s pH level. It is believed that a healthy body is one that is slightly alkaline. If you recall from science class in school, pH is a measure of acidity/alkalinity of an aqueous solution i.e. water. pH stands for "potential of hydrogen" and is associated with the concentration of Hydrogen ions (H+) in a solution. A pH of 7 is considered neutral, and anything lower than 7 is considered acidic. On the contrary, anything above 7 is known as basic or alkaline.

If you don’t know about protons and electrons, then you don’t truly know about pH. That is because pH is determined by how many free protons vs free electrons are contained within a solution. More protons than electrons = acidic = lower pH (low potential of hydrogen). More electrons than protons = alkaline = higher pH.

So if a low pH/acidic environment is associated with illness and disease, then does it mean we have too many protons and not enough electrons? If so, how do we fix this? We need to get more (and lose less) electrons. Where do electrons come from? The earth’s magnetic field (the ground), mineral water, and food. The more electrons you get from grounding (think about trees) and the more clean water you drink the less you need to eat.


People today for some reason like to use food as their sole source of electrons. Perhaps because most people live a disconnected life from nature, and don’t frequently make bare-skin contact with the ground, or drink nearly enough pure water. Additionally, they put themselves in an environment that causes them to lose electrons rapidly, leading to an acidic state in the body (i.e. chronic exposure to blue light frequencies, and microwave/radio frequencies found in modern technology). These artificial forces slowly remove electrons in our intracellular water by shrinking the exclusion zone essentially dehydrating and acidifying us. When this occurs excessively, you cannot fix it with food, although your body’s instinct is to try (hence chronic hungry).

Analogy time: suppose you have a live plant in your home. You keep it by the window so it can absorb sunlight, and you water it twice a day. Your plant thrives. Now, suppose someone punctured a dozen holes at the bottom of the flower pot, and you notice your plant is starting to look a little dry and droopy. So you decide to water it 3 times a day, but it still doesn’t seem to help. This is the equivalent of a human in a chronically shitty environment, causing a loss of electrons faster than they can be restored, leading to an energy deficient state.

pH is not just a number that tells us if we are acidic or alkaline. It tells us the status of electrons, and our energy potential. The more energy potential we have, the healthier we will be.
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Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Biohacking Carbs (Part 2)


In Part 1, I discussed biohacking carbs using light. Part 2 of my biohack is about manipulating the circadian rhythm using exercise.


 Part 2: Using Exercise to Biohack Carbs


The key to this component of my biohack is to understand the circadian rhythm of 2 important hormones: glucagon and insulin. Additionally, it is important to also tie these hormones into leptin to get the bigger picture.


 Insulin is a hormone released by the pancreas in response to consuming carbs. It’s role is to transport glucose from the blood to muscle and fat tissue as energy storage. Glucagon does the inverse; it mobilizes glucose from muscle and fat tissue into blood circulation to be delivered to where needed. A simple way to put it, is insulin is a glucose storage hormone, and glucagon is glucose burning hormone.


Eating food raises insulin, while fasting, sleeping and exercise decrease it. Once insulin is released, the body cannot burn fat until the insulin levels drop back down. Insulin sensitivity is associated with a relatively quick return to baseline post carbload. People who have good insulin sensitivity will be able to transition more quickly from fat storage to fat burning, while people with poor insulin sensitivity (diabetes) will not. Naturally, in healthy individuals, insulin sensitivity is highest in the morning and day, and lowest in the evening. Also, temperature has an effect on insulin sensitivity: higher in warm weather, lower in the cold. This means that if carbs are eaten during the day, blood sugar levels should return to baseline relatively quickly because muscle and fat tissue absorb them well. But carbs eaten in the evening will result in a longer duration of insulin secretion and a slower return to baseline blood sugar levels. If you have high blood sugar going into the evening, your ability to use leptin to burn fat in your sleep will be compromised (more on that later).


What happens when we exercise our muscles? We significantly increase insulin sensitivity in muscle tissue. Therefore, if we exercise in the latter half of the day, can we increase insulin sensitivity in the muscles, while insulin sensitivity is low in fat tissue? Yes. This is the concept of carb backloading by John Kiefer. Basically, you exercise an hour or so before dinner, and then load up on carbs. The best carbs to consume are ones that will spike your blood sugar very quickly, so simple sugars work much better than complex carbs with lots of fibre. The idea is that you are triggering a massive increase in glucose uptake to the muscles, without increasing any uptake to fat tissue. Basically in theory, your muscles are soaking up all that sugar via the action of insulin, and it's virtually impossible to gain fat. With the increase in insulin sensitivity following exercise, blood sugar levels should return to baseline relatively quickly, allowing for normal levels going into the evening, so you can burn fat in your sleep while your muscles are well fed.
 
Here is the complete biohack I tested last week:

1. Went tanning for 12 mins, and used UVA light for 4-5 hours
2. Exercised Back and Biceps at 3:30 PM
3. Consumed 150g of carbs for dinner
4. No blood sugar issues, no fat gain, and no other signs of inflammation that would normally occur when eating a massive amount of carbs in the evening, let alone winter

Blood Sugar:

It's important to know what your fasting blood sugar level is on average. Mine is usually somewhere between 4.0 and 4.5 mmol/l. My first meal of the day is always a high fat/moderate protein/low-no carb meal that has no effect on my blood sugar. This meal was eaten around noon. My workout went until just after 4:00 PM. I took my blood sugar immediately after the workout and it was 6.5 mmol/l. WOAH, what happened?! Am I a pre-diabetic? No. Exercise temporarily induces insulin resistance. Why? Because when you exercise, you are mobilizing glucose, not storing it. If insulin levels were high during exercise, you would experience hypoglycemia and probably pass out. So insulin is essentially shut off during high intense activity, and glucagon is upregulated in addition to growth hormone that actually increases your blood sugar which is burned off (oxidized). After finishing exercise, there is a delay period where glucagon and growth hormone slowly fall, and as this occurs, insulin sensitivity is actually enhanced, and your blood sugar should normalize within an hour. So I took a second reading around 5 PM, and sure enough, my levels dropped to 3.5 mmol/l, and I felt great, and ready for my feast!


I went into dinner with a low 3.5 mmol/l blood sugar level and pounded back 150g of carbs from a steak sandwich, sweet potato fries, and a DQ blizzard. YUM! I finished my last bite by 6 PM. By 8 PM I was ready to determine if this biohack was a success or a fail. For a more accurate result, I probably should have waited until 9 PM, because in a normal, healthy, insulin sensitive individual, it should take about 3-4 hours for blood sugar levels to return to baseline after a carbload. None the less, my glucose reading was 4.9 mmol/l. Not too shabby! I went to bed around 9:30, and my guess is by then, I was probably closer to 4.0 mmol/l.

My sleep was pretty good, but I definitely noticed I was radiating heat throughout the night! This can easily be explained by leptin entering the brain during sleep as the mitochondria uncouple from ATP production to burn off any excess calories I consumed as pure heat (hence why calories don't matter if you know how to maximize your leptin sensitivity). 

The next morning, I looked fuller in the mirror, but tighter. I stepped on the scale, and what do ya know? Down 1 lb! Success!

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