“The fabrication of energy and free radicals sets the internal clocks that command our everyday rhythms-waking, eating, sleeping. Mitochondria run the show.” From the January 2019 issue of Advances in Anatomy, Embryology, and Cell Biology (Mitochondria Inspire a Lifestyle)
“Maple syrup comes from a tree that makes it from CO2, water, and sunlight using photosynthesis. That process is now known to be fully quantized. In fact, the entire food chain is based upon photosynthetic webs. Most food gurus ignore that formalism, for business concerns. Moreover, a mitochondrion samples this quantized process, by breaking all foods down to electrons and the light photons that have excited those electrons. Anyone who believes wellness really begins with food has a deep philosophical problem with Mother Nature, and her design of mitochondria, and its place in a cell.” Dr. Kruse, from one of the many articles on his site mentioned in today’s post.
“If you are doing things correctly, you should never need to exercise to lose weight.” Something I have said many times and in many ways on my site.
If there is one thing time continues to beat into my head it’s that a significant portion of what I was taught in school is tee-totally backwards. So, when someone writes a piece titled, “Obesity Starts in the Eye,” or says that when you eat (circadian rhythms) is far more important than what you eat —- at, of all places, consecutive annual meetings of the WESTON PRICE FOUNDATION; an organization based almost entirely on WHOLE FOOD NUTRITIONAL PRINCIPLES (videos below) —- my curiosity is piqued.
When that person happens to be a practicing neurosurgeon (not to mention, like both Price and ROYAL LEE before him, a dentist as well as an oral / maxillofacial surgeon), I know that a trip down the rabbit hole awaits. And when that person puts their money where their mouth is and loses 77 lbs in three months and 135 lbs in less than a year using a protocol he created after teaching himself quantum physics, I realized that I really need to dig deeper. Enter Dr. Jack Kruse.
I’ve come to the conclusion that Dr Kruse is either crazy or genius, quite possibly with equal parts of both. Although he certainly has his detractors, his unique ideas are being increasingly supported by peer-review. One of the best examples of Kruse’s thinking comes from the opening paragraph of his paper called Why Perspective Matters.
“Circadian biology is so fundamental to sleep and metabolism but few people realize just how important it really is. It is more important than your macro or micronutrients. Most of you reading this really do not buy this because of the questions I get asked and all the comments I have seen made on FB, twitter, blogs, and on internet forums. The blogosphere is tied to macronutrient ratios. It is a fact that our neolithic mind has burned into our conscious beliefs. This post is about showing you why you might want to consider changing your perspective on things related to what you eat. What we are designed to eat is the answer to where our ultimate health really lies. When we choose to eat in spite of our biologic directives this is when illness, disease, or bad feelings tend to crop up and cause confusion to the patient. The best way for you to solve this situation is to think. I want you to think about the message your neolithic mind is capable of delivering to your paleolithic genome on a daily basis. Most of us are completely unaware of this biologic mismatch. It is my belief that it underlies much of what currently ails most of mankind today.”
Could Dr. Kruse be correct? In light of the fact that there are literally tens of thousands of studies on circadian rhythms as related not only to sleep / wake cycles, but to the kind (frequency / color) of light that our body functions best with (HERE), let’s at least listen what he has to say. Be warned; Dr. Kruse does not like to simplify things (he actually states this in his writings and lectures), and if I don’t simplify some of these ideas for myself, I will never understand them to the point of making them useful. As is frequently the case, I will be CHERRY-PICKING, trying to draw out big ideas in as few words as possible.
One of the main points Kruse makes (I’ve heard him say this in several presentations) has to do with the timing of America’s invasion of CHRONIC INFLAMMATORY DISEASES. Having previously always seen the downward slide of our national health tied to the rise of COMMERCIALLY-MILLED FLOUR and other PROCESSED FOODS, it’s interesting to note that the inception of our current era of modern INFLAMMATORY ILLNESS and AUTOIMMUNITY likewise coincided with the growth of electric power and artificial lighting, not to mention people spending increasing amounts of time indoors instead of outdoors. Could Dr. Kruse be right in his belief that harnessing circadian rhythms and NATURAL SUNLIGHT (or similar frequencies) has almost limitless healing capabilities?
“Today, in the face of rampant heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases like celiac disease, multiple sclerosis and thyroiditis, we have learned that America’s health crisis began with Tesla and the power grid in the during the last 19th century during the ‘Electric Power Wars’. Scientists are now uncovering that the electric power grid and things plugged into it increase blood glucose without any added food source of carbohydrate. This drives altered signaling in cells. Today PhD researchers are blaming food for the etiology of mitochondrial disease, but the science of light is showing us this is a misplaced notion.”
What makes this statement especially interesting to me is the part about the electric power grid having the capacity to increase blood sugar without any carbohydrate inputs. I have a dear friend who was electrocuted about a decade ago, when he grabbed hold of a live 440 amp cable while doing some demolition on an old house (the 440 had been direct-wired to the grid decades earlier and was still live even though the power to the building had been shut off).
Among the plethora of problems this has caused is an inability to control his blood sugar without miles of daily walking and a diet that borders on perpetual fasting. Drugs, diets, as well as visits to numerous FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE SPECIALISTS do nothing for him, with his blood sugar frequently hovering in a range between three and four times normal, none of which was the case prior to the electrocution (the problem started immediately after).
THE IMPORTANCE OF CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS
“The alteration of circadian rhythms, is associated with a variety of mental and physical illnesses. Recent studies show a significant association between quantitative and qualitative sleep rhythm disturbances and an increasing prevalence of obesity. Furthermore, reduced sleep quality and duration lead to decreased glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, thus increasing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.” From yesterday’s issue of Internist (Importance of Sleep and Circadian Rhythm for Energy Metabolism)
“Autoimmunity treatments, fruitfully pioneered in mouse models, can be disappointing or result in immunosuppression and opportunistic infections in translational trials. Many possible reasons exist, but one major, overlooked reason may be the treatment timing in relation to circadian oscillations of the immune system.” From the January 8, 2019 issue of F1000 Research (Are We Aiming to Miss in Translational Autoimmunity Treatments?)
While I might somewhat disagree with the direction the authors of the quote above are taking (I know plenty of people solving autoimmunity with minimal amounts of drugs – HERE), their idea —- that circadian rhythms affect the immune system — is spot on. Unfortunately, the average person has no concept of just how much research has been done on circadian rhythms, the biological ebb & flow of all organs, body systems, and neurological functions. My goal today is to change that.
When I typed “circadian” into PubMed, I found (gulp) over 85,000 studies. To get an idea, however, of just how big and important this field of study really is, allow me to show you some titles that were published within the past three weeks (two were actually published yesterday)……..
- Integration of Melatonin Related Redox Homeostasis, Aging and Circadian Rhythm (Rejuvenation Research)
- Alterations of Circadian Rhythms and their Impact on Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome and Cardiovascular Diseases (Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition)
- Timing Matters: Circadian Effects on Energy Homeostasis and Alzheimer’s Disease (Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism)
- The Connection of Circadian Rhythm to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Translational Research)
- Disorders of Body Weight, Sleep and Circadian Rhythm as Manifestations of Hypothalamic Dysfunction in Alzheimer’s Disease (Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience)
- Hypothesis: Ubiquitous Circadian Disruption can Cause Cancer (European Journal of Epidemiology)
- Circadian Oscillations of Cytosine Modification in Humans Contribute to Epigenetic Variability, Aging, and Complex Disease (Genome Biology)
- The Circadian Rhythm of Breakthrough Pain Episodes in Terminally-ill Cancer Patients (Cancers)
- Interplay Between Diet, Exercise and the Molecular Circadian Clock in Orchestrating Metabolic Adaptations of Adipose Tissue (Journal of Physiology)
- The Synchronized Clocks of the Host and Microbiota (Acta Physiologica: Oxford)
- The Role of Microbiome in Insomnia, Circadian Disturbance and Depression (Frontiers in Psychiatry)
- Calorie Restriction Reprograms Diurnal Rhythms in Protein Translation to Regulate Metabolism (The Official Journal of the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology)
- Circadian Rhythm Abnormalities in Parkinson’s Disease (International Journal of Molecular Sciences)
- Circadian Blueprint of Metabolic Pathways in the Brain (Nature Reviews: Neuroscience)
- Circadian Disruption and Human Health: A Bidirectional Relationship (European Journal of Neurosciences)
- Metabolic Rhythms: A Framework for Coordinating Cellular Function (European Journal of Neurosciences)
- The Arrival of Circadian Medicine (National Reviews: Endocrinology)
- Circadian Regulation of Endocrine Systems (Autonomic Neuroscience)
- Melanopsin Retinal Ganglion Cells and Pupil: Clinical Implications for Neuro-Ophthalmology (Frontiers in Neurology)
You are probably starting to realize why someone with a background in neurology / neuroendocrinology would be uniquely suited to help unlock this mystery. For starters, look how many of these publications are either neurology or endocrinology journals —- by far the two most complex medical specialties that also happen to be opposite sides of the same coin (you’ll often hear the ENDOCRINE SYSTEM referred to as the neuro-endocrine system). Bottom line, affect your body’s circadian clock and the number of potential problems you could end up with is literally off the charts!
A molecule that Kruse spends quite a bit of time discussing on his site and in his lectures / interviews is melanopsin. We don’t have to go back very far to get to the time when rods and cones were believed to be the eye’s only photoreceptors. Not only do we now know of others, melanopsin included, but we are learning they have functions that go far beyond vision. For instance, the chief job of melanopsin is not to help us see images, but to act as a light sensor that provides ‘reflexive responses‘ to both the body and the brain, many of which have to do with circadian rhythms (melanopsisn is the likely reason that Dr. Kruse suggests sleeping in a room with zero light — not even a digital clock). CNRS International (The Many Roles of Melanopsin) had this to say about this photo-optic protein.
“It has been shown to regulate a wide range of non-visual functions, such as the synchronization of the circadian rhythms and the sleep-wake cycle with the light-dark cycle. Two main mechanisms regulate sleep: the circadian mechanism, which determines the optimal time for sleep, and the homeostatic system, which keeps track of how long the body is awake and asleep, and triggers ‘sleep pressure’ when the body suffers from sleep deprivation. Though light was known to influence the circadian mechanism via melanopsin, its effects on non-circadian processes were considered minor. Now, in a recent study, a team from CNRS reveals that light detection by melanopsin acts directly on non-circadian mechanisms and that circadian and non-circadian routes interact with one another.”
If you head over to Jack’s site and do a search on melanopsin, you’ll find articles like Reality #7: Blood & Chlorohyll Types and Food and Time #12: Is Adrenal Fatigue Due to an Altered Spectrum of Light? as well an numerous others that are so far outside the box your head will hurt trying to make sense of all the concepts he’s linking together. Listen to this statement Kruse makes about melanopsin’s relationship between the brain (HYPOTHALAMUS), the eye, sunlight, leptin, and your body’s ability to heal.
“The outer portion of the retina is where the photoreceptor melanopsin is loosely covalently bound to retinol. Melanopsin/retinol controls the neural signaling along the central retinohypothalamic tract. This tract connects the retina to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) which controls the circadian mechanism. This tract continues on and connects the retina and SCN to the leptin receptor in the hypothalamus. The leptin system, in turn, controls all growth and metabolism of the organism and this system controls the circadian release of hormones from the pituitary gland using specific light frequency changes present in AM sunlight. In December 2017 we have proof melanopsin/retinol are now in human skin, subcutaneous fat, and the skins arterioles. I will remind you that the subcutaneous fat mass links to the leptin receptor in the hypothalamus too using leptin and adiponectin as fat hormones. He who controls the frequency of sunlight via the eye and skin, calls the shots for the anterior pituitary hormones and its effect on human behavior and illness.”
Speaking of leptin, this paragraph is a great segue into our next area of discussion; leptin as it relates to both health and weight.
LEPTIN RESISTANCE & OBESITY SOLUTIONS
“Leptin Resistance trumps cortisol in the human cascade in the brain and body. Cortisol is a slow acting hormone.So anytime cellular stress is high (high High Sensitivity CRP), it also forces all the hormone backbone substrate called pregnenolone to be shunted to cortisol production. This is called pregnenolone steal syndrome. What exactly does this mean? All of the hormones made from a common precursor — DHEA, Androstenedione, Vitamin D, testosterone, estrogen, and aldosterone production — fall dramatically. Remember that chronic Leptin resistance leads to huge hypercortisolism all the time! This also means that Leptin resistance clinically will lead to low vitamin D levels, which in turn, down-regulates T regulator cells of the immune system, and it will decrease bone metabolism as well since vitamin D is a cofactor in bone metabolism. Since DHEA and Androstenedione are lowered, too, the sex steroids are also lowered because they are made from DHEA and Andro. In younger humans, this leads to early andropause, low libido, and early onset perimenopause anytime stress is present. When this occurs in older humans, like postmenopausal women, it destroys libido and electrolyte balance (low aldosterone effects) and causes osteopenia and osteoporosis.” Cherry–picked from Dr. Kruse’s post, Hormones 101: Clinical Thoughts Revealed
“Nice to see science catching up to my madness in print huh? Leptin should be the chemical that is light-controlled by the central retinal pathways between the retina and the hypothalamus which entangles the molecule to photons to connect between the neuroendocrine and immune systems in the brain to control thermodynamics of the organism. This master photonic hormone acts in the brain as an energy homeostasis regulating factor that triggers a decrease in food intake and an increase in energy consumption by inducing anorexigenic factors and suppressing orexigenic factors by inducing size and shape changes of other photonic hormones in the brain during day and night cycles in a complicated quantum dance. Its own synthesis is mainly regulated by food intake. Food is formed by photosynthesis UNDER THE CONTROL of the sun rays everywhere on Earth. This means food takes its directive from the sun’s specific frequencies which is contrary to the food paradigms viewpoints today. Since leptin is responsive to food it implies it really pays deep attention to spectral frequencies from light in the human environment to alter growth metabolism body wide. This effect causes eating-related hormones dynamism diurnally and seasonally, but also depends on energy status created locally by mitochondrial flux. Leptin also controls fecundity by controlling the sex hormone cascade because leptin synthesis can be suppressed by testosterone and increased by estrogen and progesterone due to a changing light environment. Now you can see science is no longer blinded by the food paradigm……….they are waking up to a new world order.” A blog comment by Dr. Kruse, based on a study by six researchers (Consequences of Evolutionary Transitions in Changing Photic Environments) that was published in the January 2017 issue of Austral Entomology
“Health is about light, not food.” One of Kruse’s favorite sayings
As we’ve already seen; foul your circadian rhythms, and it will, among other things, affect your hormones. This puts virtually everything on the table as far as potential disease-related problems (not to mention NON-DISEASE-RELATED PROBLEMS) are concerned. When it comes to hormones, Dr. Kruse’s chief area of interest is the relationship between light, circadian rhythms, and a hormone called leptin. What does leptin do?
Leptin is a hunger-inhibiting (satiety) hormone made within FAT CELLS (the name “leptin” comes from the Greek word for ‘thin’), and while it’s certainly oversimplified thinking, leptin is the opposite of the hormone ghrelin — a hormone made mostly by cells in the stomach that causes the perception of hunger. If you understand the progression of living the high carb lifestyle to the point where one becomes diabetic (HERE), you understand what it means to be insulin resistant. Allow me to briefly explain.
BLOOD SUGAR (glucose) must be kept within a tight range, mostly by the hormone insulin, which moves sugar out of the blood and into your cells, where it is either used for energy or stored as fat. Increased consumption of sugar and simple or processed carbs cause increased amounts of insulin to be released by the pancreas, which over time, tends to saturate the cell’s insulin receptors.
The result is that the body “resists” its response, dumping more and more insulin into the blood stream, eventually leaving the body immune to its effects. The worse this vicious cycle becomes, the higher one’s blood sugar climbs. And while there are a number of drugs that lower blood sugar, they do a poor job of everything else claimed of them —- namely decreasing strokes, heart attacks, etc, and death rates (HERE). Something similar can happen with leptin.
Going to PubMed and typing in “leptin-resistance” provided me with 8,000 leptin-related studies on topics ranging from PCOS, BREAST CANCER and other CANCERS, OBESITY, “increased adipose tissue fibrosis” (LIKE THIS), LEAKY BRAIN SYNDROME, DYSBIOSIS, “cognitive impairment” (LIKE THIS), “infectious diseases” (LIKE THIS), “heart disease,” OXIDATIVE STRESS, SLEEP APNEA, OUT OF CONTROL INFLAMMATION, along with too many others to count — and this was only looking at the first 60 studies on the list!
The thought process is simple; too much circulating leptin saturates receptors, creating the need for increased amounts of the hormone to accomplish the same function — telling your brain and stomach you are full. So despite your body creating more and more leptin, it is simultaneously becoming less and less responsive to the hormone. The abstract of the November issue of Neural Regulation of Metabolism (The Leptin Resistance) said this about leptin resistance…..
“Leptin is an adipocyte-derived hormone, which contributes to the homeostatic regulation of energy balance and metabolism through humoral and neural pathways. Leptin acts on the neurons in certain brain areas such as the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and brain stem to regulate food intake, thermogenesis, energy expenditure, and homeostasis of glucose/lipid metabolism. Pathologically increased circulating leptin is a biomarker of leptin resistance, which is common in obese individuals. Leptin resistance is defined by a reduced sensitivity or a failure in response of the brain to leptin, showing a decrease in the ability of leptin to suppress appetite or enhance energy expenditure, which causes an increased food intake and finally leads to overweight, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and other metabolic disorders.”
The January 2015 issue of Metabolism (Physiology of Leptin: Energy Homeostasis, Neuroendocrine Function and Metabolism) was more blunt in their conclusions.
“Leptin is secreted by adipose tissue and regulates energy homeostasis, neuroendocrine function, metabolism, immune function and other systems through its effects on the central nervous system and peripheral tissues…. In contrast, obese individuals are resistant to leptin.”
The more you eat, the more leptin your body makes to tell you that you are full. Overeat on a consistent basis and the leptin receptors become consistently saturated — similar to what we saw in INSULIN RESISTANCE. As far as leptin goes, even though the receptors (as well as your belly) are full, your body continues to secrete leptin in order to get that message through. Again, high levels of circulating leptin means less sensitivity to leptin, meaning that you never really feel full — or at least not for very long. But…….
What if leptin — a hormone that has so many functions throughout your body and brain (particularly the hypothalamus, which is an important regulator of both MALE and FEMALE sex hormones as well as GROWTH HORMONE, the THYROID, and ADRENAL GLAND) that I could not possibly take time to deal with all of them — could be externally manipulated? Maybe more importantly, what if it could be manipulated in a manner consistent with the earlier wacky-sounding quote made by Dr. Kruse — “obesity starts in the eye“?
If you are overweight or CRAVE CARBS AND SUGAR like there’s no tomorrow (or have HIGH REVERSE T3), odds are you are leptin resistant. The diet Jack recommends? PALEO, or more specifically, epi-paleo (he has a book titled Epi-Paleo Rx: The Prescription for Disease Reversal and Optimal Health). Rather than INTERMITTENTLY FASTING, which has become increasingly popular, he wants people to eat a high protein / low carb meal shortly after waking, recommending no snacking during the day. He also does not want people on his program to work out — at all (or only after 5 pm if you feel you must). And don’t eat within four hours or so of bedtime (or especially after dark). More details can be found on his page, My Leptin Prescription.
The stated purpose of his protocol is to “retrain the brain how to account for food without using the newly discovered leptin receptor.” In other words, he wants to bypass the most commonly-known neuro-metabolic pathways to obesity by “using circadian rhythms, light, timing, and the stretch receptors innervated by the vagus nerve in the gut that controls our entire gut plexus.” For the record, my regular readers already know a little something about the importance of the vagus nerve from my viral post on reversing sympathetic dominance (WHAT HAPPENS IN VAGUS DOESN’T STAY IN VAGUS) as well as many of my posts on GUT HEALTH.
According to Jack, the bottom line is that, “timing is more critical than any other factor in the Leptin Rx. The reason for this is we are using multiple circadian cycles to reset the hypothalamus when it is flying blind due to brain inflammation at the receptor site.” There’s more. In similar fashion to Wim Hof (I discuss this very thing in my earlier Vagus link), Kruse uses cold exposure to maximize the hormonal effects of this protocol via something known as the mammalian diving response. To see details, take a look at his web page, How Does The Leptin Rx Work? or look at his numerous blog posts on the topic (something like 80 of them).
JACK’S FACTS
LIGHT, FREQUENCIES, EMF’S, ETC
“That’s the fact, Jack!”Bill Murray (Private John Winger) from 1981’s Stripes
OMG! Where do I even begin? Dr. Kruse has been interviewed by so many web-based health personalities, not to mention his dozens upon dozens of YouTube videos, I could not possibly cover all the cool stuff he has to say. So I won’t. Besides suggesting you browse my posts on LASER PHOTOBIOMODULATION, THE BENEFITS OF SUNLIGHT BEYOND VITAMIN D, and RED LIGHT / BLUE LIGHT, I am giving you some of Dr. Kruse’s videos to take a look at (see bottom of page). In the meantime, if you want more Jack……
- JACK ON FLUORIDE (one of those EVIL HALIDES)
- JACK AND DR. ANNA CABECA (OB/GYN)
- JACK ON EXTREME HEALTH RADIO
- JACK AND TRISTAN OF PRIMAL EDGE HEALTH
- JACK ON STRUCTURED WATER
Honestly, I’m still trying to sort through and make sense of what Dr. Kruse is saying. While not a believer in EVOLUTION; something he discusses quite frequently, his ‘ENERGY MEDICINE‘ take on MITOCHONDRIAL FUNCTION / DYSFUNCTION may be much more than speculation, although I have to admit that my brain is still fermenting the idea that light is more important than food for health. Think about it this way. When Jack began his 2016 address to the Weston Price foundation with this statement —- and was invited back the next year as the keynote speaker — it’s clear his message cannot be ignored.
Regardless, I’ll be adding this page to MY PROTOCOL designed to diminish inflammation, pain and excess weight, while maximizing health. BTW, this means my CURRENT RIVER SNORKELING HABIT (yeah; I’m a junkie) is a good thing after all! Oh; and if you think our site is worth passing along to those you love and value most, be sure to like, share, or follow on FACEBOOK!
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