What to Eat and What Not to Eat to Keep the Body Young, Rejuvenate, and Not Get Sick

First steps to improve your health

If your ancestors did something, do it too. If they did not, do not. There are few exceptions to this rule. Did they drink soda in the year 1700? No — so do not drink soda. Did they eat fatty meats? Yes — so eat fatty meats. With this simple advice, all of your health improves. You can ask this question about any food: there is the answer to almost everything. For most people in South and Central America: did your ancestors eat rice? No. Processed white sugar? No. So you should not eat them either.

Also do not forget that our ancestors never got vaccinated. Vaccines are an almost guaranteed way to live a hard life: sometimes, decades later, diseases appear caused by the vaccine you got as a child. Educate yourself. Our ancestors also did not use toothpaste, much less with fluoride, which is exactly what causes cavities.

Beware of the new vaccines, like Pfizer and Moderna (look closely: MODE-RNA, because they modify the RNA). According to this theory, they make the body produce antibodies against a protein the placenta uses, which could affect fertility — in both men and women — and even pass to the children. And all this for a virus there is no proof exists, and that, even if it did, would have almost zero mortality. The so-called "sudden death syndrome" is caused by these vaccines: careful, they are not vaccines — we were lied to — they are genetic modifiers.

Water

Drink water before meals. About 10 to 30 minutes before eating, drink water: the same amount you usually drink with the meal. This keeps the gastric juices from being diluted when food reaches the stomach.

Drink alkaline water, preferably. There are devices on the market that alkalinize water. "Alkaline" simply means it has more electrons — that is, more energy.

Eat more alkaline foods; they are the ones we almost never eat. There are lists of alkaline and acidic foods online. Another way to put more electrons in the body is vitamin C — consume plenty, but note it only works well if you also consume enough good fats. Vitamin C should be liposomal (wrapped in fat) so it absorbs much better.

Drink a minimum of four liters of water a day. If you are sweating, drink even more. Urine should always be clear and without a strong smell; if not, it is a sign you should drink more. The water should always carry a quarter to half a tablespoon of sea salt.

Get used to drinking 1.5 to 2 liters of water with half a tablespoon of salt per liter, on an empty stomach, first thing on waking. This is very important: it hydrates the gut and helps you move your bowels soon. Remember: always with salt in the water. All cells float in salt water.

Ideally drink only spring water, never tap water from your home. It has been scientifically shown that water "remembers" where it has passed and what chemicals it mixed with, so drinking only filtered water is not enough for good health. If you cannot get spring water, use reverse-osmosis water, then remineralized and then alkalinized. Never drink water with chlorine or fluoride.

Hydrogen-enriched water: there are already devices that release hydrogen into the water. They cost between 300 and 3,500 dollars, on AliExpress or Amazon.

Take the toxins out of your water. Tap water carries chlorine, fluoride and sometimes aluminum, all harmful. Any filter is better than nothing, but the one that cleans best is reverse osmosis, the only one that removes fluoride well. Also put a chlorine filter on the shower: when you bathe with hot water, the chlorine evaporates and you breathe it. If you use reverse osmosis, which also removes the good minerals, add magnesium back (as citrate, malate or orotate, not oxide).

Store it in glass. Never drink or store water in aluminum containers, and avoid plastic too. Use glass. Aluminum passes into the water and is one of the most harmful metals there is.

Not very cold water. Avoid ice water, especially with meals: it shuts down digestion. Drink it at room temperature or warm. And do not confuse hunger with thirst — you may only be thirsty. Whenever you feel hungry, drink water first.

"Structured waters" are now coming to market: waters treated with a device that changes the molecular angle of the water. This is the ideal water, and it hydrates the cells much better.

Salt and minerals

Use only sea salt. Never consume salt with fluoride: contrary to belief, that mineral is toxic to the human and animal body. Get salt from several seas — it is very cheap, so it is worth the effort. Salt should not be cooked: add it at the end of the meal. Water should always be drunk with salt: a quarter to half a tablespoon of sea salt per liter. This simple change will improve your health immediately. The idea that eating low in salt is good is a lie.

Lack of iodine is one of the most common health problems. It causes not only thyroid problems, but also poor production of stomach acid. Because of that, food (the proteins) is not processed correctly, and if it enters the blood unprocessed it becomes a toxin instead of nourishing. An easy way to know if you lack iodine is to put it on your skin: if the body needs it, the mark will disappear in a few hours; if it does not disappear, you do not need it. Eat mango, which contains all the iodine you need. Ideally, take a few drops of an iodine called Lugol.

Magnesium is one of the minerals that "cures almost everything," because a very high percentage of diseases are related to a lack of magnesium. For example, most people taking three to six common heart medications can stop them — with intelligent medical supervision — once they have good levels of magnesium, salt, potassium and fats in the body. As with most minerals, we consume very little magnesium, even taking supplements, because the doses are too low. You must take three to six times the recommended amount, and even so only reach 4–20% of what you need daily. To reach 100%, take it in ionic form, not as a chemical compound. It costs more, and for now only the lab rnareset.com sells it under the name ReMag. Any magnesium will improve your health, but the ideal is the ideal. Magnesium can be taken up to the point where it starts to cause diarrhea: if in doubt, take more. That same lab sells twelve other ionic minerals under the name ReMyte. Magnesium should always be taken together with vitamin D3, so it works better.

Potassium: if you have heart palpitations, ionic potassium together with magnesium is the solution. The same company, https://www.rnareset.com, sells it.

Calcium should almost never be consumed; there are very few exceptions. It is another great deception. If you want heart, bone, arthritis or high-blood-pressure problems, consume more calcium. If you do not want them, consume plenty of magnesium. It is that simple.

Do not use fluoride toothpastes or rinses, much less what the dentist applies. Fluoride was put in toothpaste maliciously, by people who want to harm those who use it. If you do not believe me, educate yourself: fluoride is an enormous harm to humanity.

How and when to eat

Never eat dessert after a meal. Eat it if you want, but alone, with no other food in the stomach. Get used to eating simple plates instead of complex ones. Be careful with the oils used in desserts: they destroy the cells. If you do not know what oil and sugar a dessert was made with, better not eat it. It is better to go hungry than to eat something that will harm your body.

The wheat sold today is toxic. The wheat eaten before the 1970s was a different variety. If you have health problems, try going a week or more without any wheat (remember pasta and cookies are usually wheat). The technical detail: wheat contains a substance called wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), responsible for much of the harm. The WGA of modern wheat is very different from that of the old varieties, and there is more of it in "whole wheat." I also suspect glyphosate, a chemical sprayed on wheat at harvest to dry it. Personally, I think people are more likely to react badly to glyphosate than to gluten.

Never mix fruit with cooked food or with meats. Fruit should be eaten on an empty stomach, before any cooked food or meat. There is one exception, and perhaps others I do not know: papaya and pineapple. Both contain an enzyme that greatly aids digestion. If you suffer from digestive problems, this is the cure. A simple way to help is to eat papaya and pineapple with all your meals.

Cooked food has no living enzymes. Cooking is one of the most serious problems we have: if we ate less cooked food, health would improve enormously. Some foods must be cooked, but not all. For example, beans need not be cooked: leave them in water for several days until they sprout and soften, then warm them only slightly. Even meat does not need to be cooked much: the rawer, the better. The only reason to cook meat well is when there is doubt it may carry a harmful parasite. Otherwise, the ideal is to let it decompose a little, season it and barely cook it — that is what some of the most expensive meats on the market do.

Do not eat processed meats or any food with preservatives. Except organic meats, processed meats — ham, bacon, chorizo — contain several preservatives. Some have been banned in Europe for over 60 years, yet are used daily in countries like the United States. These preservatives interfere with the trillions of bacteria in our gut, which are part of our body and help process food.

Never eat if you are not hungry. This sounds funny, but it is not: we often eat without truly being hungry. Ask yourself: am I hungry, or am I eating just because it is the usual time? Eat only if you are hungry. It will surprise you that sometimes you will go several days without feeling hunger.

Ideally eat only during about eight hours of the day, and preferably only twice. For example: start the day between 6 and 7 a.m. with two liters of water. Then, between 7 and 8, two or three glasses of fruit juice. Then a main plate with enough fat and protein. If needed, eat again between 2 and 6 p.m. From 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. (fourteen hours), eat nothing. Ideally, go eighteen hours or more without eating, every day. Cells, like us, have a time to work, a time to clean, and a time to rest. It is proven that those who respect these schedules live longer. And after eight hours without eating, the immune system starts removing old cells that no longer work well: if you eat only once a day, you give the body time to rejuvenate.

Stop eating before you feel full. It is proven that eating less lengthens life. Get used to stopping at 80% full. In Japan, one of the healthiest countries in the world, they even have a ritual to never go past that 80%.

Do not mix meals: appetizer, soup, main course and dessert together is not advisable. Eat them separately, one at a time, leaving time between each plate: 15 to 30 minutes for fruits, and 4 to 6 hours for meats, or simply until you are hungry again.

If for any reason you are not hungry, do not eat. If you are sick and not hungry, do not eat either: the body knows how to heal itself. It is normal that when the body is sick it does not want to eat; that is part of the immune system healing. Even the most serious cases of viruses and cancer have been cured with fasts of up to 45 days. A daily 16-hour fast gives a similar result. In studies with rats, this lengthened life by 30%.

Fermented and raw foods, and the gut bacteria

Eat mostly raw foods. Get used to eating raw, and start the day with uncooked food. With time it becomes easy.

Leave food out of the refrigerator. Learn to let food decompose a little, that is, ferment. This takes some practice, but it is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to eat fermented foods. Even fruit juices can be left out for days to ferment, and meats can be left to ferment a little. Stop throwing away food just because it is a little past: that is some of the healthiest food there is. It takes practice to tell "a little fermented" from "rotten"; sometimes it is hours, sometimes days, depending on the room temperature.

Probiotics are the bacteria, the microorganisms that live in our gut and make up 90% of the human body’s cells — though they are almost never talked about. They are the same bacteria in fermented foods. When these bacteria are unbalanced, it is the cause of almost all ills, including old age. If we had the right bacteria, in the right proportions, we would be nearly immortal. Think of a builder with a hundred workers, but where 95 of them only know how to put glass in windows: could he build a house well? Of course not. The same happens with our gut flora: it needs variety, not just one type of bacteria in excess.

When we eat too much of the wrong sugar, the wrong bacteria multiply. When new food arrives, it is not processed well, and sometimes passes from the gut to the blood unprocessed, becoming a toxin — this happens a lot with proteins. To fix the balance, eat a good percentage of fermented foods, like yogurt and cheeses with live bacteria (cooking kills them). You can also take probiotics as a supplement, though the science still has much to improve. Talk to an older person and ask how they did it before refrigerators. Kefir is one of the oldest ways to ferment milk.

Kefir is one of the oldest ways of fermenting milk: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kéfir

Fecal transplant from a healthy donor is becoming a common treatment. It makes sense: 90% of what we are is these bacteria. If we have the wrong colonies, we do not have good health, and a transplant lets the right colonies be implanted. Patients with very debilitating chronic diseases, caused by antibiotic abuse, are finding in this a simple and cheap cure.

Antibiotics should almost never be taken. The only justified case is when the person is at the edge of death, or there is proof that without the antibiotic they would die or suffer extreme pain. Between 95% and 99% of the times antibiotics are taken, they are not necessary. Antibiotics destroy the enormous variety of bacteria in our gut: colonies it took years to build from childhood and that are a large part of our immune system.

I spent many years in one of the poorest countries in Latin America, alongside a friend who was a veterinarian. To my surprise, I almost never saw him use antibiotics: dog bites, road accidents, dirt all over the wound, and no antibiotics. He operated without gloves or mask, with minimal sterility, and I never saw a patient of his die of infection. He used soap and lots of iodine, and left wounds open so flies would lay eggs that became maggots; then he removed the maggots and closed the wound. I have done the same many times, with very good results.

MMS — chemical name NaClO2 — can be used instead of an antibiotic. ClO2 is what fever produces: it is like the bullets of a gun. The immune cells are like weapons, but without ammunition they do not work; fever makes that ammunition, though sometimes not fast enough. So giving ClO2 to the body lets it eliminate even what antibiotics cannot: viruses and nanobacteria. In the most extreme cases, this simple and cheap chemical can be used intravenously. Look also for MMS2. Between the two, most infections can be cured; a single dose cures malaria. Intravenously, it also cures the nanobacterium called mycoplasma.

Fever is a good thing. Never do anything to lower it; at worst, take off your clothes and use water to cool the body a little. Do not fear fever: it is your friend and protector.

Washing your hands out of fear of bacteria and viruses is a bad idea. That habit of washing hands and dishes so much has ended up bad for health, especially children’s. A child raised in too clean an environment ends up living, and dying, in the hands of doctors. Let the child play in the grass and the dirt, eat a little dirt, let the dog lick its face, pick up food from the floor, wash its hands little: that way you will have a healthy child. What has happened is that we let the immune system become lazy, so when it finally meets a dangerous bacterium, it is not ready to fight.

As a child I wondered why I never saw a doctor with a cold. I watched one pediatrician: dozens of us children had the worst colds, but he never got sick. Over the years I understood his immune system was exposed to bacteria all the time, and I also learned that viruses are not contagious. In short: stop living in fear of bacteria and do not wash your hands so much. A few bacteria will not kill you; on the contrary, they will make you stronger.

In several countries meats are left up to six weeks in low-temperature refrigerators. This makes the meat decompose a little, improves flavor, and even improves health. But ideally eat these meats almost raw, cooking them as little as possible.

Garlic is a strong toxin that even crosses the brain barrier. It should be consumed only as a medicine or occasional remedy. If you eat garlic often and are not well, try stopping it.

If you are a mother, breastfeed your children as much and as long as possible: two, three, even four or five years is normal. Breast milk is, above all, fat.

Drinks, sugar and oils

Never drink liquids with meals; the only exception is wine. Get used to a little red wine with strong meals. Have a beer instead of a soda: sodas contain corn sugar, which is toxic. Do not consume any food with corn sugar. It is a toxin they add to almost all processed food. Read labels: this sugar now has several different names so we do not recognize it.

Forget sodas: drink fruit juice, tea, coffee, grain drinks and water. Sodas are made with "dead water," of no value; almost all are made with corn sugar, an addictive toxin. They also have a very low pH, and to compensate the body needs up to 40 times that amount of neutral-pH water. Cancer only develops in a low-pH environment.

Coffee is an unnecessary stimulant that causes several health problems. If you drink more than three cups a week, you are asking for trouble. Coffee forces the adrenal glands to overwork, wearing them out over time. Best not to get used to drinking coffee or tea every day. If your body asks for coffee, it is because something is already off. If you drink it just for pleasure, enjoy it.

Do not use white sugar. Use honey or another pure, organic sugar. Excess sugar makes the wrong bacteria overgrow in the gut, crowding out the right ones. To give you an idea of how important the right bacteria are: we are made of about 11 trillion cells, and 10 trillion of them are in the gut. That is why it is so important to consume little sugar; ideally zero. And if you have any health problem, avoid sugar for a good while.

Spend a little more and buy organic. Little by little we are harmed by pesticides, genetically modified foods, and the hormones and vaccines in most non-organic meats.

Never use aluminum pots. Aluminum should never be used with anything food-related. Use stainless steel or clay pots, and never aluminum foil.

Never use oils that are not virgin. In most cases the only one that works is extra-virgin olive oil, raw or cooked at low temperature, especially with tomatoes. Coconut oil is also very good, and it does work for cooking. Beyond these two, forget almost all other oils: they are toxic and very harmful. Most oils are, at the molecular level, one step from being plastic. When cells reproduce using this plastic-like oil to form new cells, those cells no longer conduct electricity well, and that causes everything from low energy to aging, cancer and death. Even lard is far healthier than the common vegetable oils on the market. In fact, a diet with plenty of animal fat is very healthy.

Coconut oil

The proven benefits of extra-virgin coconut oil: it is proven to be the healthiest cooking oil in the world. On quality: the best is not made from dry or toasted coconut, but by a centrifuge method. The oil should not smell of toasted coconut, but of raw or barely sweet coconut; when cooking, it should give off only a light coconut aroma, without dominating the food.

First, it combines fatty acids with medicinal power. It used to be thought of as a bad fat, being among the most saturated there is — nearly 90% of its fatty acids are saturated. That idea was completely wrong: science has shown that unrefined saturated fats do not clog the arteries. In fact, unrefined saturated fats — like cold-pressed extra-virgin coconut oil, extra-virgin olive oil or clarified butter — are among the healthiest there is. Coconut oil has medium-chain fatty acids, different from the long-chain fats most fats have: these are metabolized differently, go straight to the liver and turn into immediate energy (molecules called ketone bodies), which also helps with brain problems like epilepsy and Alzheimer’s. Even people with fatty liver can consume it. It also helps absorb essential nutrients, prevents gestational diabetes, and provides antioxidants.

Second, it helps you lose weight healthily. Many think that to lose weight you must count calories, but others lose weight eating fat, like coconut oil: not all calories are equal. Coconut oil raises the body’s energy expenditure by 5%, about 120 calories a day. In a study of 40 women with abdominal obesity, taking 30 ml of extra-virgin coconut oil a day reduced their waist by 15% in 12 weeks. In another study, 20 obese men reduced their waist by an average of 3 cm in 4 weeks at the same dose.

Third, it fights bacteria, viruses and fungi. Half of its fatty acids is lauric acid, which on digestion forms a substance called monolaurin. Both kill harmful bacteria and fungi, like golden staph and candida. It also helps control the bad bacteria, parasites and fungi that cause digestive problems, and fights urinary and fungal infections.

Fourth, it helps prevent anxiety and nervous hunger: when metabolized it produces ketone bodies that reduce appetite, and it stabilizes blood sugar, which also calms anxiety. It also releases a hormone that gives a feeling of being satisfied for longer after eating. Fifth, it helps lower "bad" cholesterol and improves heart health. And sixth, it has many beauty uses: an excellent mask for damaged hair, a good makeup remover, and — for its antibacterial properties — a deodorant or shaving cream. Used daily on the belly during pregnancy, it prevents stretch marks. Seventh, it is an excellent skin lubricant and even repels ticks and other insects, and helps heal minor wounds and burns.

Coconut water is almost identical to blood plasma. It is so compatible with our blood that in World War II and the Vietnam War doctors put it straight into the vein, as an IV, when they had no laboratory serum. It is rich in potassium and low in sodium, so it hydrates better than any sports drink, and without the corn sugar or the toxins those drinks carry. It also provides minerals, amino acids, antioxidants and plant hormones called cytokinins, credited with an anti-aging effect. Take coconut water as fresh as possible; the boxed or canned kind is usually pasteurized, and that heat destroys much of the good in it.

Why are they afraid of coconut oil? Because in the 1980s there was a big campaign against it, the same one that attacked all saturated fats. It was a deception like the cholesterol one. It went so far that in 1986 they even burned coconut plantations in the Philippines. Today science proves coconut right: it is one of the healthiest fats there is, and one of the best to replace the toxic seed oils that are in more than half of processed food.

Olive oil

For thousands of years, all around the Mediterranean, olive oil was used as much as medicine as food; Hippocrates called it “the great healer.” Unlike seed oils, which are extracted with industrial solvents and then refined, olive oil is made simply by crushing the olives and pressing or spinning the paste, with no chemicals. About 70% of its fat is oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat far more stable than the fats in seed oils, which oxidize — go rancid — much faster.

What really counts is the 2%. Bottles that say only “olive oil,” “pure” or “light” are mostly refined oil: they have nearly the same oleic acid, but they lack the remaining 2% of the oil, a mix of over a hundred compounds that refining destroys and that research credits with most of the benefits. The most important are the polyphenols, natural antioxidants; among them, hydroxytyrosol and oleocanthal. Their effect is clear enough that in 2012 the European Union approved the claim that olive oil polyphenols protect blood fats from oxidation — but only for oils with at least 5 mg of hydroxytyrosol and related compounds per 20 grams of oil (roughly a tablespoon and a half, the daily amount the rule specifies).

An anti-inflammatory you can feel in your throat. Oleocanthal was discovered by taste. In 1999 the researcher Gary Beauchamp, who had spent months swallowing ibuprofen for a study, tasted freshly pressed oil and recognized the same burn at the back of his throat. His team found that oleocanthal blocks the same enzymes as ibuprofen (COX-1 and COX-2); in the lab, at equal concentrations, it blocked 41–57% of their activity, against 13–18% for ibuprofen. Fifty grams of fresh oil a day gives only about 10% of the ibuprofen dose used for pain, but it is a small, natural, daily dose, whereas taking those pills regularly damages the lining of the gut. And rubbed on the knee, in a small trial, olive oil relieved arthritis pain better than a pharmacy anti-inflammatory gel.

Taste it: if it stings, it works. The more it stings in your throat, the more oleocanthal it has. Around the Mediterranean the best oils are graded “one-cough” or “two-cough” — two is better — and an oil with no sting at all probably has very little. Bear in mind that people feel the sting differently: the same oil that barely tingles for one person makes another cough.

What the studies show. In a Spanish trial of 7,447 people at high cardiovascular risk, those on a Mediterranean diet with extra-virgin olive oil had roughly 30% fewer heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths than those advised to eat low-fat. Notice who lost: the low-fat diet. In the same trial, the olive oil group had 40% less diabetes and 38% less atrial fibrillation, and the women developed breast cancer at about a third of the rate of the low-fat group. And it was not a teaspoon: participants were given a liter of extra-virgin oil a week.

The brain and cancer. In the lab, oleocanthal disrupted the formation of the tau tangles that choke neurons in Alzheimer’s. In a six-month trial of adults with mild cognitive impairment, a high-polyphenol extra-virgin oil improved the blood–brain barrier (the filter that protects the brain) and the connectivity between parts of the brain; refined olive oil did not. (See Chapter 20.) And, again in the lab, oleocanthal killed pancreatic, breast and prostate cancer cells in as little as 30 minutes by rupturing their lysosomes, while leaving healthy cells unharmed.

Be careful what you buy. Two bottles legally labeled “extra virgin” can differ more than tenfold in polyphenols: from about 50 to about 800 mg per kilo, depending on the olive variety, where it was grown, how ripe it was and how it was milled. The most medicinal are usually early-harvest oils with a strong, pungent taste. Olive oil has also been one of the most commonly faked foods since ancient times: when the University of California, Davis tested imported “extra virgin” oils sold in California, 69% failed. But today the bigger problem is a different one: genuine oil that is already stale or rancid before it reaches the shelf, because the polyphenols are lost with time, heat and light. Buy the freshest oil you can find, one that stings, and keep it away from heat and light.

Fat, cholesterol and blood pressure

Eat plenty of saturated fat, especially if your blood type is O or B. If I had to recommend a diet, the ideal would be one where 70–80% of calories come from animal fat: the perfect diet for the human body is, above all, fat. The idea that high cholesterol is bad is a lie. Try it: spend a few days or weeks eating mostly fat, and you will see your health improve a lot; some notice the improvement within hours. A good breakfast: plenty of butter, 2 to 8 eggs, an avocado, 4 to 10 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, a good piece of cheese and a fatty chorizo, with a small portion of bread or rice — or better, neither. People with blood type O or B should eat more fat and fewer carbohydrates; men in general can eat more fat than women. People with blood type A or AB should eat less fat and more carbohydrates.

Cholesterol is not the enemy. They have made you believe that cholesterol clogs the arteries and causes heart attacks. It is a lie. Cholesterol is indispensable: with it the body makes hormones, and the brain needs it to think and remember (which is why people who take pills to lower it lose memory). There is no clear link between cholesterol and heart disease. On the contrary: having it low is dangerous. In a study of over 9,000 people, for every 30 points cholesterol dropped, the risk of dying rose 22%. And swapping animal fat for vegetable oils raised the risk of dying by almost 18%.

Where the myth came from. In the 1960s and 70s there were two camps: one, with John Yudkin, blamed sugar; the other, with Ancel Keys, blamed saturated fat and cholesterol. Keys won, but by cheating: he cherry-picked the countries that suited his famous study. With other countries, the result would have been the opposite. Also, years later it was discovered the sugar industry paid scientists to blame fat. The deception became "official science," and so it remains.

What really causes heart attacks. It is not cholesterol: it is damage to the blood-vessel wall. When that wall is injured — by inflammation, strong stress, cigarettes, smoke and pollution, and above all lead — the body repairs it with clots, and those clots, repeated over and over, form the plaque. The cholesterol found in plaque is repair material, not the cause. A revealing fact: heart attacks exploded in the era when leaded gasoline was used. Add to this seed oils and sugar, which also damage the vessels.

Statins do more harm than good. Statins (the pills to lower cholesterol) are taken by more than a third of adults over 40, and harm between 5% and 30% of users: muscle pain, fatigue, diabetes, and even memory loss and dementia. They block cholesterol, yes, but also CoQ10, which gives cells energy and protects the heart. And the benefit? Taking them for five years lengthens life, on average, by about 3 or 4 days… and only in men. Everything else is propaganda, with data doctored by the industry itself. If for some reason you must take a statin, also take CoQ10.

What is new in 2026. In 2026 two large studies came out, paid for by governments and foundations, not by industry. In France, people aged 75 or over who were taking statins without ever having had a heart attack or stroke had the pill taken away from half of them: after three years, no more people died among those who stopped (7.2%) than among those who kept taking it (7.9%). The researchers themselves wrote in the study’s published protocol that at that age there was no controlled study showing any benefit. In Australia, almost 10,000 people aged 70 or over were given a statin or a placebo for about six years: they had 30% fewer heart attacks and strokes, yes, but they gained no years free of disability or dementia, and they had more muscle, liver and diabetes problems. If you are over 75 and take a statin without ever having had a heart attack or stroke, take these studies to your doctor and decide together. If you have already had a heart attack or stroke, these studies do not speak to your case: do not stop the pill on your own.

To care for the heart. Forget the cholesterol number and care for your blood vessels: do not smoke, avoid smoke and pollution, flee from lead and chronic stress, and remove seed oils and sugar from your diet. Eat saturated fat without fear, take your minerals (especially magnesium) and sun (which releases nitric oxide and opens the vessels). That is what truly protects the heart.

High blood pressure: another great deception. With blood pressure it is the same as with cholesterol. They treat high pressure as if it were the disease, but it is almost always not the cause, but a remedy of the body itself: when blood does not circulate well, the body raises the pressure to push it. Besides, the measurement is very unreliable: it varies about 14 points from one reading to another, and it is estimated that 1 in 4 people are told they have high pressure without having it (often just nerves at the doctor’s office). And, to top it off, over the years they lowered the threshold — from 160 to 140 and then to 130 — to sell more pills: today almost half of adults, and over 80% of the elderly, are labeled "hypertensive."

What really causes high blood pressure. In 90–95% of cases, medicine admits it does not know the cause. What usually happens is that the blood "sludges": the cells stick (zeta potential drops), and the body raises the pressure to move it. Add hardened vessels, kidneys that do not get enough blood (and so send a signal that raises pressure), poor sleep and, above all, anxiety, one of the most ignored causes. In other words: high pressure is usually the patch, not the hole.

Salt is not to blame. Cutting salt a lot barely moves the pressure: the best review found that a drastic salt reduction lowers pressure by less than 1%. And eating little salt is dangerous: the "low-salt" target they recommend raises the risk of dying by 25%. If anything does harm, it is the aluminum they add to processed salt as an anti-caking agent — which sea salt does not have — not the salt itself. So there you have it: sea salt, without fear.

The blood-pressure pills. The big 1973 study, with over 17,000 people, showed that treating moderately high pressure made almost no difference in heart attacks or in how many people died; it barely prevented a few strokes (about one stroke prevented for every 900 years of treatment). Each type of pill has its cost: diuretics remove potassium and raise gout and diabetes; beta-blockers cause fatigue, depression and impotence; calcium blockers swell the legs; and the so-called ACE inhibitors cause chronic cough and harm the kidney. And over-lowering the pressure also harms: it causes fainting and falls (in the elderly, up to double the serious falls) and starves the brain of blood, speeding memory loss.

How to lower blood pressure naturally. Instead of chasing the number, fix the cause: sleep well, calm anxiety and stress, and move (being still also "sludges" the blood). Take potassium and magnesium, which raise zeta potential. Walk barefoot on the earth: in a study, that lowered pressure by an average of 14%. And get sun, which releases nitric oxide and opens the vessels. That is treating the root, not covering the warning.

More on food and habits

Eat only fresh food, not packaged, and preferably never frozen. Do not get used to cheap vitamins; they are often the cause of illness, because they carry dyes and unhealthy additives. If you take vitamins, choose plant-derived ones, even if they cost more. Take plenty of sea salt: it contains more than 84 minerals. An excellent and very cheap supplement is the seaweed called spirulina.

Get used to eating more simply: ideally one plate at a time. Always eat the strongest food first. Soups should be eaten alone, or as a second course, never first, because water dilutes the stomach acids too much. Get used to eating a greater variety of foods; a taste for a food is acquired, and that takes time. Add chili to your food: it stimulates the gut and kills parasites.

Switch white rice for brown rice. Careful: rice is pure sugar. Best to forget rice entirely, even if you are from a country where a lot of rice is eaten. Switch white bread for whole-grain, multi-grain bread. White bread and white rice tend to clog the gut, for lack of fiber and enzymes. Remember the wheat sold today contains a toxin: wheat is also pure sugar. Best to eat nothing with wheat, but if you insist, at least choose whole-grain, and read the labels for the long list of preservatives.

Instead of frying, use the oven, steam, sauce, or better yet, smoke your food. And if you fry, use animal fat or coconut oil. Eat all the fat on your meat: throwing away the fat is a big mistake, you are throwing away the most valuable part. Cook at the lowest temperature possible: better to cook meats longer, but at low heat.

If you like desserts, eat them alone, without mixing them with other food, and always after drinking water first. Do not forget that sugar is the root of very many diseases. Ideally, when eating meat, eat it alone: "just meat." Eat all you want, but ideally alone, or with other animal products like cheese and egg. Try uncooked smoked meats: they are exquisite and keep all their enzymes. Learn to prepare and eat raw seafood. Buy a good vegetarian cookbook and learn to prepare raw dishes, like ceviches, salads, sauces and desserts — but do not forget that vegetables are also a kind of sugar.

Start the day only with fruit. Set the goal of eating only fruit for half of the day. Again, remember fruit is sugar, and sugar is neither necessary nor good for health. Learn to eat whenever you are hungry, without waiting for meal times. Get used to eating little, several times a day, but only when hungry. With time, get used to eating once a day.

Get used to always carrying salt water and healthy food with you: fresh or dried fruit, nuts, raisins. That way you will never go hungry, and it will be much easier to say "no, thank you." But control the amounts so as not to overdo the sugar. Eat until satisfied — but this applies only to raw foods, and in a few cases to some cooked ones with few condiments. Eat as much as you want, without fear; the body knows when to stop, as long as it is raw, unseasoned food like fruits, vegetables, nuts and raw meats. If not, stop at 80% full: cooked food does not tell us when to stop, so there use common sense.

Eat until you are satisfied. Contrary to what is believed, you should eat until you are satisfied — but this applies only to raw foods, and in a few cases to some cooked ones, especially those with few seasonings. It also applies only when you eat one type of food at a time: for example, a fruit or some nuts. Eat as much as you want, with no shame and no fear that it will harm you; eat until you are full, because the body knows when to stop. You can repeat this as often as you feel like, every day, for weeks, months and even years. That is how the body heals itself, because it knows what it needs to eat — as long as it is raw and unseasoned food, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and raw meats. If that is not the case, stop eating when you are 80% full: cooked food does not tell us when to stop, so there you have to use common sense. Only with raw food does the body tell us on its own.

Learn to relate to food. Ask yourself whether your body really wants to eat what is in front of you. Why do you want to eat it? For its color, its smell, its taste? Are you hungry and there is no other option? Do you eat it because others are eating it? Are you embarrassed to say "no, thank you"? If you get used to carrying other food, you will always have another option.

If you suffer from bad temper, anger, greed, envy, jealousy, hatred, desire for revenge, resentment or lust, do not eat pork. According to this belief, pigs are souls that can no longer return as humans. What a pity they taste so good. If you have none of those emotional problems, pork is an excellent food, and you can even live very well eating only that. A diet of only meats can be a way to cure some diseases.

Learning to control yourself is one of the first steps toward self-improvement. Now and then, simply do not eat something you crave. This trains you to learn that it is you — your being, your soul — who is in charge, not your mind or your stomach. The mind is like a spoiled child who was never given limits; like a child, over time it can be taught to behave.

Finally, I repeat: eat plenty of salt, salt and salt — sea salt, of course. The idea that salt raises pressure or causes cholesterol is a great lie, with no scientific basis: there is no study proving sea salt causes any disease. The truth is the opposite: sea salt cures very many diseases, including aging. And it is cheap: it contains all the minerals we need.

Eating little salt is dangerous. They have made you believe salt kills, but it is the opposite: the "low-salt" target they recommend raises the risk of dying by 25% and increases heart disease by 34%. Sodium deficiency (doctors call it hyponatremia) is so common that 15% to 20% of hospital patients have it, and it causes fatigue, confusion, poor concentration, palpitations and dizziness. Many cases of chronic fatigue, arrhythmia and that condition where you feel dizzy on standing (POTS) are fixed just by eating more salt.

Salt makes the body work. Sodium maintains blood volume and circulation — with little salt, the pressure falls as in shock; it helps the adrenal glands; and it is needed to produce stomach acid. So when someone lacks salt, the whole body is off. That said: neither too little nor too much; today almost everyone’s problem is eating too little real salt. Pair salt with potassium. Sodium and potassium work as a pair. Modern food took away the potassium (in vegetables) and filled us with bad salt in processed products. Eat vegetables for potassium and sea salt for sodium. Which salt to use: only unrefined — sea, Celtic, Himalayan or rock salt. White table salt is stripped of its minerals and carries anti-caking chemicals; flee from it. A good way to take it is a little salt dissolved in water, sipped through the day.

Bowel cleansing and movements

Intestinal cleanses: this is simple. If you do not go to the bathroom at least once a day, you have a problem. If you go only 2 or 3 times a week, you have a serious problem. First do everything already mentioned, then educate yourself about intestinal cleansing: in many cases it is essential, because the gut can be very clogged, whether the person is thin or overweight. An intestinal cleanse is not done with just one liter of water, but with about 20 liters total: insert the most you can hold, evacuate, and repeat several times, until clean — like rinsing your mouth well. The water must be very clean: no tap water, boiled at least ten minutes, without chlorine or fluoride. With coffee it is ideal, because it makes the liver expel toxins: about three cups of coffee is enough for twenty liters of very clean water.

Go to the bathroom squatting. The modern toilet, where you sit, squeezes the gut and makes it hard to evacuate. The body is made to relieve itself squatting, as was always done. Put a stool under the feet to raise the knees: you will see how easily everything comes out.

Do not hold it in. When the body signals, go. If you let the signal pass, the urge often goes away, and that is where constipation begins. The best time is usually early morning, between 5 and 7. Get used to going every day at that time.

Against constipation. First is magnesium and potassium, which are almost always lacking; magnesium can be raised until it softens the stool. Also helpful: plenty of salt water, movement (being still constipates), vitamin C, soaked chia and prune juice. Watch out for some foods that clog: apple, banana, rice and white bread. And avoid overusing laxatives, which harm the gut over time. Constipation is no small matter. Being backed up is not only uncomfortable: it unbalances the gut bacteria and has been linked to hemorrhoids, headaches, fatigue, and even more serious problems. Going to the bathroom well every day is one of the simplest signs of good health.

Sunbathing and breathing

Take advantage of every chance to get sun, if possible naked. The human body needs a lot of sun: it is indispensable for health, and not just on some parts, but the whole body. 30 to 60 minutes a day is ideal. The best hours are between noon and 2 p.m., when the sun’s rays produce vitamin D3. Careful, because the sun does burn, especially if you are not used to it; in that case, do not go past 30 minutes. Do not bathe in the 24 hours after sunbathing, to give the vitamin D3 time to penetrate the skin.

Let the sun reach your eyes too. The eyes are one of the doors through which light feeds the body, and they regulate important glands like the pituitary and pineal. So do not use sunglasses, and now and then face the sun with your eyes closed (never look straight at it with your eyes open). Note: common glass and normal lenses block ultraviolet light, so sunbathing behind a window is almost useless.

Do not use sunscreen; get the skin used to the sun little by little. Sunscreen is toxic and blocks the good of the sun. Instead, gradually increase your time in the sun, until you form a kind of "solar callus" (a tan that protects you). If you burn easily, it is almost always from within: from eating seed oils and having low zeta potential; fix that and you tolerate the sun much better. And remember the sun does far more than vitamin D: it raises zeta potential and breaks up micro-clots, releases nitric oxide that lowers pressure, improves sleep and mood, and halves the risk of several cancers. Back in 1918 the sun was used to cure flu and tuberculosis. Avoiding the sun is as dangerous as smoking.

Breathe well. It is surprising that most of us do not breathe well: we often breathe too little, and some breathe through the mouth instead of the nose, which is what fills the lungs with oxygen before slowly releasing the air through the mouth. The correct way to breathe is filling the belly, like babies do, and not just the chest. Bone broth is an excellent food, whether from beef bones or pig or chicken feet.

To learn more (sources in English)

The cholesterol myth and the dangers of statins: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-great-cholesterol-scam-and-the

The great cholesterol lie and the dangers of statins (2026): https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-great-cholesterol-lie-and-the

Australian STAREE trial (statins over age 70): https://www.escardio.org/news/press/press-releases/cholesterol-lowering-medication-reduces-major-cardiovascular-events-by-30-per-cent-in-older-people-without-known-cardiovascular-disease/

French SITE trial (stopping statins after 75): https://www.statnews.com/2026/08/11/stop-statins-age-75-lancet-study-suggests-safe-healthy-adults/

The importance of healthy bowel movements: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-importance-of-healthy-bowel-movements

The great blood pressure scam: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-great-blood-pressure-scam

The truth about salt: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-truth-about-salt-efa

What they never tell us about salt: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/what-they-never-tell-us-about-salt

What's the healthiest water to drink?: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/whats-the-healthiest-water-to-drink

The unappreciated benefits of natural light: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-unappreciated-benefits-of-natural

The incredible secrets of coconuts: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-incredible-secrets-of-coconuts

The remarkable secrets of olive oil: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-remarkable-secrets-of-olive-oil

Dermatology's disastrous war against the sun: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/dermatologys-disastrous-war-against

Dermatology's crusade against the sun: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/dermatologys-crusade-against-the

Fasting and healing (the "cell danger response"): https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/restoring-health-by-systemically

What makes all vaccines so dangerous?: https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/what-makes-all-vaccines-so-dangerous

Scientific references (magnesium and minerals, in English)

These are real scientific references — studies reviewed by other scientists — that support what this book says about magnesium and minerals. Several are open access.

Study on the absorption of ionic magnesium (ReMag), by Zhan, Wallace and others, in the journal Nutrients, 2020: magnesium in ionic (picometer) form is absorbed much better: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7281967/

The role of magnesium in cardiovascular disease (review, Nutrients): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11644202/

Magnesium deficiency and cardiovascular disease (review): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6525869/

Magnesium, oxidative stress, inflammation and cardiovascular disease (review): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7598282/

Magnesium Education and Research Center (many reviewed studies): https://magnesiumeducation.com/

More scientific references (in English)

Here are scientific studies reviewed by other scientists that support several of the ideas in this chapter. Most are open access.

Fasting and autophagy (cellular cleaning): summary of studies: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10441815/

Fasting, autophagy and longevity: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9037462/

The scientific debate on salt (the "J curve"): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34326279/

Salt and health: the recommendations need revising: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26806824/

Iodine and the thyroid: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4049553/

Iodine is absorbed worse when stomach acid is lacking: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12922011/

Saturated fat and the heart: review of clinical trials (2025): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12095860/

Saturated fat was not associated with heart disease (meta-analysis): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2824152/

Avoiding the sun is a risk factor for death (20-year Swedish study): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24697969/

Fecal transplant cures C. difficile infection: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7184446/

Seed oils (omega-6) and the heart: the oxidized linoleic acid hypothesis: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6196963/

The Mediterranean diet with extra-virgin olive oil and the heart (Spanish trial of 7,447 people): https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1800389

Oleocanthal, olive oil’s ibuprofen-like anti-inflammatory (Nature): https://www.nature.com/articles/437045a

High-polyphenol extra-virgin olive oil in mild cognitive impairment (six-month trial): https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14235102

Glyphosate can disturb the gut bacteria: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10561581/

Fermented foods increase gut diversity and lower inflammation (Stanford study): https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/07/fermented-food-diet-increases-microbiome-diversity-lowers-inflammation.html

Fermented foods and the microbiome (review): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12220828/