It’s been an odd health journey, my understanding continually develops. I’m no expert, my goal is simply to sort the wheat from the chaff. Following are some of the players that have been useful.
Joseph Mercola
Dr. Joseph Mercola wrote a book in 2015 that we found very helpful on our journey. It was simple, clear advice, and then we spent the next 2 years chipping away, just trying to make and embed little improvements where we could.
The book has 9 chapters:
- Eat Real Food: Prioritise whole, unprocessed foods (e.g., veggies, healthy fats) over carbs/sugars. Avoid GMOs and processed junk to reduce inflammation.
- Eat the Right Fats: Focus on saturated fats (coconut oil, butter) and omega-3s, not vegetable oils (i.e. yellow oils in plastic). This supports hormone balance and brain health.
- Eat Right for Your Metabolic Type: Test your carb/fat tolerance (via blood sugar response) and tailor meals – some thrive on higher carbs, others need low-carb.
- Optimise Protein Intake: Aim for 0.5–1g per kg body weight from clean sources (grass-fed meat, free range eggs). Too much/too little disrupts repair processes.
- Eat at the Right Time: Practice intermittent fasting (e.g., 16:8 window) to boost autophagy (cell cleanup) and insulin sensitivity.
- Eat the Right Amount: Use tools like the “Plate Method” (half veggies, quarter protein, quarter carbs) to avoid overeating without counting calories.
- Eliminate Food Toxins: Cut out artificial sweeteners, MSG, and pesticides. Use organic where possible to lower chemical load.
- Eliminate Non-Food Toxins: Detox daily with saunas, clean water, and avoiding plastics/BPA/Aluminium. Focus on liver/kidney support. Manage your EMF exposure; positive from sunlight, negative from .
- Get Regular Exercise: Combine HIIT, strength training, and walking (aim for 10k steps). It’s key for mitochondrial health and fat-burning. Also get sunshine and ground (bare feet on earth).
In 2020 Mercola wrote another book about EMF exposure, and understanding the harm, industry deception, biological mechanisms, and protection.
- EMF Basics & Ubiquity: EMFs are invisible fields from devices emitting “dirty electricity” and microwaves. Daily exposure (phones, routers, smart meters) has skyrocketed 10^9 times since 1900. 5G amplifies risks with denser towers and higher frequencies, untested for long-term effects.
- Proven Health Toll: EMFs trigger VGCCs, flooding cells with calcium leads to oxidative stress, DNA damage, and conditions like cancer (IARC classifies RF as “possibly carcinogenic”), heart arrhythmia, infertility, and neuro-psychiatric issues (anxiety, ADHD). Kids and pregnant women are most vulnerable.
- Industry Cover-Up: Telecom giants fund biased studies (like tobacco did) while suppressing independent research. FCC guidelines (1996) ignore non-thermal effects; 5G rollout prioritizes speed/profit over safety.
- Biological Repair: Your body can heal EMF damage via autophagy (cell cleanup) through intermittent fasting, exercise, and supplements (molecular hydrogen, magnesium). Time-restricted eating (16:8) boosts resilience.
- Practical Protection:
- Minimize: Airplane mode, wired connections, distance (inverse square law – double distance = 75% less exposure).
- Shield: Faraday bags for phones, grounding mats, EMF meters.
- Home Fixes: Ethernet over Wi-Fi, turn off routers at night, avoid smart homes.
- 5G-Specific: Opt out of milliwave towers, support safer tech advocacy.
What's EMF?
EMF is an Electro-Magnetic Field, and can be natural or man-made.
nnEMF is non-native EMF, and it is this to which Mercola refers and suggests is bad and should be limited for health.
The sun delivers natural EMF with a full spectrum from Ultra Violet (UV) through visible light and out to Infra-Red (IR) and beyond.
Ray Peat
Mercola introduced all of our big breakthroughs to the world of Ray Peat, (admittedly via Mercola) who introduced us to Georgi Dinkov, Jay Feldman and Mike Fave (who we nicknamed “the energy boys”), and the Strong Sistas (Ashley and Sarah Armstrong).
Other Influences
Along the way we also enjoyed:
- Jason Fung, talking about mitochondria and diabetes
“Insulin is the drunk driver. Seed oils are the jet fuel he poured in the tank instead of petrol. Same car crash, but now the car is on fire.”
Dr. Jason Fung
- Mindy Pelz wrote “Fast like a girl” about women’s cycles – watch Diary of a CEO interview here.
- Perry Nickelston “Stop chasing pain” and his big 6 massage of key lymphatic drainage sites.
- Gary Brecka gives insight that perhaps many people cannot convert all the precursors to active forms of vitamin B due to methylation defects (that he proposes are genetic, and owns a genetic testing company).
- Patrick McKeown and James Nestor propose that mouth taping is a simple hack to train nose breathing during sleep.
- Joshua Leisk has a website called https://bornfree.life/2024/protocol/ – he has a microbiome-centric view of health, where disease stems from dysbiosis. He believes that “bad” (opportunistic) bacteria, fungi, and parasites thrive in biofilms (mucus/slime layers), so we need to restore balance by starving the bad guys and feeding the good ones.
- Paul Saladino was a hard-core carnivore for a couple of years up to 2020 and then he added fruit too, in 2025 he’s an interesting guy to follow too.
Jack Kruse
Then we found Dr. Jack Kruse, he brought us sunlight and circadian rhythms, as well as attacking Calley Means on the Danny Jones podcast, which was both uncomfortable and hilarious, and educating Andrew Huberman (on Tetragramaton) which was lovely.
Let’s be honest, Kruse’s articles are hard to read, he is not modest or particularly kind, but he has brought me to reading Gary O. Becker, Nick Lane, Gerald Pollock and Jim al-Khalili amongst others. Kruse’s understanding of the world is fascinating and it constantly evolves, so his thoughts from even 3 years ago are almost out of date.
Jack’s insight is that:
- Morning sunlight (first 30–60 min after sunrise) is the single most powerful health lever, it sets leptin, dopamine, melatonin, and every mitochondrial clock.
- All artificial light after sunset destroys health. LEDs, screens, and streetlights lead to zero melatonin and ultimately obesity, cancer, brain fog.
- Fix: red bulbs only at night, or
- Fix: blue-blockers + strict sunset cutoff.
- Full-spectrum sunlight is a drug we’re all deficient in. Makes POMC, vitamin D, dopamine, and opsins that run every cell. No substitute (not even Vitamin D pills).
- If you live above ~37° latitude (most of Australia in winter) UVB is too weak to make vitamin D or opsins.
- Fix: Move closer to the equator, or
- Fix: Cold exposure (ice baths, ocean) so that the body makes its own light (biophotons) to compensate.
- EMF (Wi-Fi, 5G, smart meters) is the new smoking. Keep phone on airplane mode, router off at night, wired everything.
- Health = light + cold + magnetism. Food is third or fourth on the list.
Australia has some specific challenges, being some of the oldest rock on the planet (the tectonic plate is slipping over the North Island of New Zealand, which is itself being reborn as a new volcanic island).
- Core Issue: Australia lacks strong natural magnetic fields from volcanic magma or tectonic activity (it’s one of the most geologically “stable” continents – no active volcanoes). This means weaker Earth’s magnetic flux for grounding/electron donation, which Kruse says disrupts mitochondrial function, water structure, and opsin signaling (your “internal light”).
- Ozone Hole Amplifier: The Antarctic ozone depletion lets in higher solar wind/EMF (ionizing particles), thinning atmospheric protection. Result: Altered water chemistry (more deuterium, less EZ water), higher skin cancer rates (despite sun), and chronic issues like autoimmunity/autism (he links it to EMF-water interactions).
- Health Impacts (Kruse’s View):
- Poor grounding → electron deficiency → oxidative stress, poor sleep, leptin resistance.
- Combined with high nnEMF (urban Wi-Fi/5G) → “electrical scars” in cells, mimicking high-latitude problems (your note).
- Australia = “arid continent” because magnetic weakness affects atmospheric water retention (QED physics tie-in).
- Kruse’s Fixes (2025 Update):
- Grounding: Barefoot on beaches (salt water conducts better).
- Cold Therapy: Ocean plunges to “make your own light” (biophotons via deuterium depletion).
- Magnet Hacks: Neodymium magnets or Schumann resonators for home.
- Big Picture: Move towards the equator and magnetic hotspots (e.g. New Zealand North Island with its volcanoes), or use tech like red light panels.
We have tried to incorporate Jack’s thoughts at home: we have coffee on the balcony just after dawn, and in the evenings we use incandescent bulbs rather than LEDs, and then at night before bed it’s all red light.