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01/12/2024
Why are we messing with nature? For countless millennia, nature has worked perfectly, in all its wondrous, intricate complexity—a vast living organism made up of countless other organisms, all working perfectly in seamless symbiosis.
Nature is not broken. It does not need to be fixed. It should be revered for its stunning beauty; cherished for its capacity to nourish us; respected for the resilience of its biodiversity; and honoured for the regenerative power of its microbial matrix.
What is broken is our connection to nature, to our deeper selves, to our body’s needs and wisdom, to the miraculous inner workings of the soil, and to the delicate interdependence of the multiple living organisms that make up our precious planet.
That disconnection has taken us down the rabbit hole of a tech-driven existence, believing we can manipulate life and make it better. But technology cannot begin to mimic, replace or outdo nature, and trying to do so is like trying to grow a big toe in a lab, without attaching it to the foot required for the toe to function, or to the body required to make the foot work.
We are but one tiny part in the complex web of life. Yet we act as if we own the place and have the right to run the show. In reality, we do not understand how life really works.
To imagine that technology could ever do what nature does is testament to the ignorance and arrogance of a spiritually stunted consciousness. We are part of the masterful matrix of life, designed to operate within it, not in competition with it.
It’s all connected
In seeking to enhance my health and delve deeper into the effects of my dietary choices, I found myself following a thread of interconnected themes that culminated in an enhanced awareness of dietary deceptions, anti-nutrients, soil health, the benefits of grazing ruminants and the need for a holistic perspective of life on earth.
In the process, I discovered the battered underbelly of the beef debate, the unfounded claims about livestock farming, and the adverse ecological effects of switching to a purely plant-based diet—which is misguidedly advocated (in the name of nutritional and environmental health) by some celebrities and (in the quest for control of our choices) by food-manufacturing corporations.
The interconnectedness of things became very apparent on my journey, which began with a deep dive into the nutritional benefits of a carnivore diet. In the process, I became aware of oxalate—one of several anti-nutrients in plants that is emerging as a sneaky player in the dual drivers of disease: toxicity and nutrient depletion. That, in turn, led me to delve more deeply into the hotly debated issues of meat-eating, cattle farming, fake meats, ecosystem destruction and climate change—all of which have resulted in a great deal of misinformation, unfounded claims and nutritional deficiencies. Despite having worked for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), I was largely ignorant of the intricate workings of our ecosystems and of the critical ecological role of grazing livestock, the loss of which would have a devastating impact on us all.In this article, I explore how oxalates can affect our health, the benefits of an animal-based diet, the dangers of fake/lab meats, and how to make more informed dietary decisions based on an understanding of:
- what exactly oxalate is and why it’s a problem
- how oxalate creates both toxicity and nutrient deficiency
- how oxalates can increase sensitivity to EMFs and other toxins
- the crucial role of calcium and other electrolytes
- the hidden agenda behind nutritional misdirection
- the ecological fallout from fake and lab-made meats
- why an animal-based diet is good for people and planet.
NB: This document is for information purposes only and does not constitute medical advice.
My journey to better health
Over the past 35 years of researching health and nutrition, I’ve often had to change my mind about what constitutes healthy eating… and what was making me ill. Ongoing health challenges have forced me to take a fresh, unbiased look at nutrition, to adjust my diet in line with newly acquired knowledge, and to be guided by what feels right for my body.
Feeling chronically deficient in animal protein and fat, I decided to try a carnivorous diet. Inspired by the numerous personal accounts of those who had healed themselves by switching to an animal-based diet, I increased by intake of organic meat, chicken, lamb, eggs, raw cheese and healthy fats. I immediately felt more nourished, like so many others (including many committed vegetarians) who have made the switch and would never go back. I have always felt the need for meat, and it made sense to me to adopt a diet more in line with our ancestral way of eating. Yet I also felt the need for some carbohydrates. But could I reap the benefits of a carnivore diet while also getting the carbs I needed?
I then came across the work of Sally K Norton—an expert on the effects of toxic oxalates in our food, and how they affect the body. For me, the issue of dietary oxalates finally provided an explanation and solution for many unresolved health issues, even though I had been following a very healthy—and expensive—diet of organic meats, vegetables, saturated fats and other potent nutrients for many years. I learnt how oxalates affect the body, why they can make us ill, and how to turn things around by adopting a low-oxalate diet.
What is oxalate and why is it a problem? 1
Oxalates are toxic chemicals present in many plants (as oxalic acid/crystals), used to protect themselves from predators. The crystals are abrasive and resist cooking and digestion.
Oxalic acid is a naturally occurring toxic, corrosive acid, explains Dr Joseph Mercola. 2 When the oxalic acid has minerals attached to it, it’s called oxalate, which acts as a mineral chelator. Oxalate forms crystals that our body has a limited capacity to process. Calcium oxalate, for example, which is oxalic acid with calcium attached, can form painful kidney stones. Unlike some other food-related toxins, oxalate cannot be removed by cooking, soaking or fermenting the food. Nor can you take a mineral supplement to address the depletion oxalate causes.
While oxalate overload may not be the root cause of a health problem, once you understand what it does in the body, and how much of it we consume in our food, you realize that it inevitably affects us in countless ways, including the following:
- Oxalate in our diet depletes glutathione (the key antioxidant produced by cells), promoting oxidative stress and crystals collecting in the joints, which can cause gout, inflammation, pain and, ultimately, damage DNA, injure/destroy cells and promote aging and disease. 3
- Oxalate binds with valuable minerals, such as calcium, zinc and copper, potentially inhibiting growth, bone development and tissue repair. 4
- As mineral-stealers, oxalate can cause electrolyte imbalances, mineral deficiencies, hypo/hypertension, osteoporosis, neurological problems and kidney stones/kidney failure (80% of kidney stones are formed from the oxalate in the foods we eat).
- When oxalate binds with calcium and is excreted, causing a calcium deficiency, it causes calcium to be pulled out of the bones and to build up in the soft tissues, potentially creating bone spurs, salivary stones, dental tartar and hardened arteries.
- Calcium deficiency affects the other crucial electrolytes—magnesium, sodium and potassium—all of which are interdependent.
- Oxalate can create or worsen nutrient deficiencies, starving our cells of the nutrients needed to do their work. An overload can cause vitamin B1 and B6 deficiencies, which can, in turn, cause greater amounts of oxalates to be produced internally. 5
- Too much oxalate creates toxicity and deficiency. In our intestines, blood vessels, brain or bones, oxalate can scramble cell structures and energy systems, disrupting basic cell functions, ultimately leading to gut dysfunction and degenerative disease.
Oxalate-related health issues are not new
The scientific literature on oxalates goes back to the mid-1800s, when illnesses due to oxalic acid were much more widely understood and documented in medicine. However, the oxalate issue ultimately got lost in the shuffle as fast foods gained popularity, followed by ‘sexy’ superfoods, the concept of ‘going green’, supposedly enhancing health and protecting the environment by not eating meat, and marketing campaigns that have everyone believing that a plant-based diet is best for people and planet—all of which has been proven to not be the case. The promotion of ‘superfoods’, such as spinach, almonds and cacao, has greatly increased our oxalate intake.
In conventional medicine, oxalate-related health concerns are now relegated to kidney disease, yet that is only the most obvious crisis endpoint and, often, the fatal outcome of something that affects all parts of the body, without the connection being made. Oxalates are associated with heart attacks, due to their mineral-chelating impact and the resulting electrolyte disturbances, as well as inflammation, sinusitis, mucous congestion, neurodegenerative disorders and many other things.Concerns about carbs
In the process of exploring the nutritional benefits of animal products, I also discovered that a long-term low-/zero-carb diet can have adverse effects on metabolism, as explained by Dr Mercola, 6 potentially inducing physiological insulin resistance, and that the brain, muscles and various organs require carbohydrates for optimal functioning. Low-carb diets can hinder thyroid function, says Mercola, by reducing the liver's ability to convert T4 into the active thyroid hormone T3 (essential for regulating metabolism), due to a decrease in glucose availability for the liver. Consuming carbohydrates in a balanced manner (eating those that work best for your particular body) can improve metabolism and overall health by enhancing the body's energy production and usage. So, while a keto/carnivore diet can provide almost instant relief for certain symptoms and can lead to rapid weight loss, there are long-term consequences of low-carb diets that can make your health worse than before you started.
In my case, having grappled with insomnia, electrolyte imbalances and mineral deficiencies that affected blood pressure, blood sugar and heart rhythm/function (all of which can result from a high-oxalate, low-animal-food diet), I knew that switching to a low-oxalate diet would make a difference. I aimed for an 80:20 split—80% animal-based and 20% low-oxalate plant-based foods.
Switching to a low-oxalate diet
However, it was risky to go from a high-oxalate diet (which includes many so-called superfoods, such as spinach, beetroot, cacao, yams, nuts, seeds and quinoa) to one low in oxalates, given the strong oxalate-detox symptoms that can result. These can affect kidneys, heart, brain, nervous system, hormones and all other parts of the body as oxalates are pulled into the bloodstream from their various ‘hiding’ places (where they have been sequestered in order to protect vital organs). Electrolytes can also be affected, sometimes causing serious disturbances if the transition to the low-oxalate diet is too fast.
The ideal, as per Sally Norton’s excellent book, Toxic Superfoods: how oxalate overload is making you sick—and how to get better, is to slowly transition towards a low-oxalate diet, incorporating lots of animal products (all kinds of meat, eggs, fish, raw cheese and dairy, and animal fats), along with low-oxalate vegetables and fruit.
Since animal products have zero oxalate, adopting a 100% carnivore diet can cause severe oxalate-detox symptoms and electrolyte disturbances, especially if you’ve been chronically ill.
Briefly going vegetarian, years ago, seriously undermined my health, causing symptoms of MS, nervous-system issues, nutritional deficiencies and overall depletion from which I never fully recovered. Now I understand that plant-based oxalates, along with a deficiency in animal proteins and fats, were the primary causes. Animal foods not only provided the nutrients I had been missing, but also had none of the oxalates that had caused so many problems in the first place.
Some people switch to a vegetarian diet because meat feels too heavy and indigestible. This is often due to a reduced digestive capacity, caused by a deficiency in the vitamins (especially B complex) needed to generate stomach acid and digestive enzymes. Improving digestion may therefore be what’s needed, rather than the removal of health-enhancing foods. Otherwise, the body suffers an additional deficit by no longer having the nutrient-dense foods required for health and regeneration, while digestion deteriorates even more.
Meaty misinformation
Vegetarians and vegans may condemn an animal-based diet, believing a plant-based diet to be the healthiest, most planet-friendly option, and because of inhumane rearing/slaughter of animals. Yet it’s how meat is produced that is important, and exploring the issue more deeply reveals some surprising biological and planetary impacts. 7 It’s a difficult switch to make because it has been so thoroughly drummed into us that a plant-based diet is healthy—and it certainly works for some—while an animal-based diet is vilified and denounced as detrimental to our health and to the planet.
Since the advent of industrial agriculture, we have been increasingly misled and misfed.
By now, we should all be wary of such claims, especially in the context of our world being progressively denatured in favour of processed, industry- and pharma-driven products designed to undermine our health. Fear-mongering around nutritious animal foods that have sustained humanity for millennia should be an immediate red flag prompting a deeper look at the reality... and at those pushing an inhuman, tech-centric agenda.
Rabble-rousing rhetoric
When disconnected from nature, we are more readily swayed by denatured alternatives disguised as viable options. That disconnection also feeds our deep fear of illness, suffering and death, leaving us susceptible to emotionally charged rhetoric that claims to eliminate suffering while offering a clean, ethical solution. Getting us onboard via our emotions bypasses the need to provide a rational, evidence-based account of the way things really are, inevitably leading to misinformation, a lack of understanding and the loss of control over our choices.
It's the same old manipulative MO of those seeking to control things. It works for religion and it worked for vaccines. It will work for food… if we let it. In our fear of harm, along with our desire to get things right, we can lose perspective. We can, in fact, become fanatical, and not eating meat has almost become a cult, for some, with abstainers believing themselves to be more enlightened and ethically responsible than ‘ignorant meat-eaters’. We may think killing animals is unethical and cruel. But death is a fact of life, and we have lost touch with the way our forebears used to live, and country folk still live—raising their own chickens, keeping goats or cows for milk and meat, and existing within the natural cycle of life wherein everything ultimately dies, going back into the soil to feed more plant and animal life.
Removing animals from our food system would not end suffering or death. It could, in fact, cause more of both, given the downsides for biodiversity, wildlife, the environment and human health.
Compared with 60 years ago, we are actually eating less beef but more grains (largely ultra-processed foods made from wheat and corn), three times more industrially processed seed oils, and a lot more sugars—due to commercial food manufacturers instilling fear about eating too much animal fat and protein.
Thus, we see an explosion of fake meats, soya-based products and other lookalikes that provide none of the nourishment that comes from organic animal proteins and fats, yet promote deficiencies and other issues not produced by an animal-based diet. Meat, poultry, eggs, fish, game, tubers and unpasteurised dairy products formed the foundation of our ancestral diet, which was rich in animal protein and brain-/hormone-boosting saturated fat.
Don't let the skilful scapegoating of something healthy, natural and eco-friendly lure you into compliance with yet another 'new world order' ploy to control your health and food choices. Anyone who messes with the perfection of nature does not have your best interests at heart.
Are you falling for fake “pharma food”?
Lab meat is being touted as nutritionally and environmentally superior to meat from cattle. Yet such meat is devoid of many essential nutrients, and the energy required for its manufacture greatly exceeds that needed for livestock farming. Most of that energy comes from fossil fuels, whereas cattle pasture is largely powered by the sun.
And since animal cells are used to culture lab meat, animals would still be required. Plus, as explained by Diana Rodgers and Robb Wolf in Sacred Cow—the case for (better) meat, the soybeans and corn that are grown and processed to produce the peptides and starch for the manufacturing process destroy the topsoil through ploughing, while requiring synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides that have disastrous consequences for plant, animal, insect, microbial and human populations. (Same goes for the peas, soy and other crops used to make meat-free burgers.)
Lab meat is also prone to endotoxins (toxic by-products from bacterial contaminants), which must be removed using costly labour- and energy-intensive purification methods. 8
“Culturing cells for meat requires extensive replication and division,” says Mercola, “raising the possibility of cellular dysregulation—a condition observed in cancer cells. Such uncontrolled cellular changes could alter the structure or nutritional properties of the meat, with unknown implications for human health.” 9
Doesn’t that sound deliciously yummy and health-enhancing?
In an interview with Mercola, investigative journalist Elze van Hamelen explains how the public is being programmed to accept these unnatural foods, which she refers to as "pharma food”, by the redefining of certain words to more readily manipulate and misdirect consumers. 10 Meat, for example, is no longer meat but protein, which distracts from the origins of protein, implying that all sources are equal, whether natural or not.
And, says Hamelen, cultured meat is made using the same process used by the drug industry for culturing viruses for vaccines. The ‘precision fermentation’ technique used in the fake meat industry also replicates that of drug manufacturing.
Ruminants grazing on naturally sun-powered pasture provide wholesome, top-quality nutrition, while promoting carbon sequestration, retention of soil water, maintenance of ecosystems, and the production and protection of critically important topsoil… none of which happens in an artificial environment producing synthetic and nutritionally suspect meat.
But the main purpose of the lab-meat agenda has nothing to do with the health of humans or the environment, and everything to do with the fact that technologically produced food can be patented and therefore owned by the manufacturers. No more buying naturally raised meat from your friendly local farmer.
“Because of their brilliant greenwashing, the fake meat industry has actually convinced the public that their products are a better choice.”
—Diana Rodgers & Robb Wolf, in Sacred Cow
In our diligence to do the right thing, we can become susceptible to manipulation by those framing their agenda as being the very best thing. Yet the removal of livestock from our ecosystems would have a devastating impact on the health and biodiversity of our planet, which affects everyone, regardless of what we eat.
The real villains here are not the eco-friendly grazing animals that have nourished us for millennia, but unscrupulous corporations intent on diverting us from what is historically healthy and natural, towards empty unnatural products that are owned, patented and controlled by them.We’ve been grain-washed
Before the advent of vegetable oils, the unfounded demonizing of cholesterol, and marketing campaigns promoting grains, cereals, nuts, seeds and low-fat plant-based foods, there was an extremely low incidence of heart disease, obesity and degenerative disorders.
“Meats, especially beef, venison, elk, goat and lamb, are traditional human foods and are uniquely important sources of many essential nutrients,” says Norton. “They may even be vital to metabolic health, long-term well-being and weight control.” Many people do better eating beef, goat, venison and sheep, as ruminants use bacterial digestion to convert plants into very nourishing meat. Those animals also have better tolerance for oxalates.
It is how animals are reared and fed that matters. “Feedlot cattle face a diet of pesticide-heavy grains, creating a toxic ripple effect that reaches your plate,” says Dr Mercola, 11 which is one of many reasons to choose grass-fed beef.
Conventional feedlot operations expose cattle to numerous chemicals including antibiotics, growth hormones, pesticides in feed, insecticides for fly control, de-wormers for parasites, and routine vaccinations. And some 167 million pounds of pesticides are used annually just to grow GMO/non-GMO animal feed in the US.
Yet even conventionally raised cattle spend most of their lives on pasture, only being finished on grains. As Rodgers and Wolf explain, typical cattle get only 10% of their diet from grain, which means that some 90% of their feed (from grass and crop residues) is inedible to humans. Thus, they point out, even feedlot cattle-farming is not as evil as we’ve been led to believe.
And cattle are much more than a source of food. Over 40% of the animal is used to make a long list of non-edible products—from leather, soap, fertilizer and medicines, to pet food, shampoo, paint, antifreeze, brushes, biofuel and shaving cream. Even if we don’t eat meat, we are probably using several cattle-derived products every day, without realizing it.
The pitfalls of silo thinking
The adverse effects of monocultures on wildlife, insects and birds has not been factored into the beef-bashing debate. This is because we tend to look at things in isolation, when we need to see the overall picture to understand the impact and benefits of any given approach. This is just as true for the health of our bodies as it is for the health of the environment.
There’s no denying that cattle do die in order to feed us (and a visit to an abattoir is enough to put anyone off eating meat). But so do countless species of wildlife, insects, pollinators and birds affected by the fertilizers, pesticides and other poisons used in growing monocrops for human consumption. The loss of those invaluable contributors to healthy ecosystems may be far subtler and less graphic but is none the less damaging.
Regenerative cattle farming—good for people and planet
Grass-fed beef offers superior nutrition, with up to twice the riboflavin, three times the thiamine, four times the vitamin E, and 1.5 to 3 times more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) compared to grain-fed beef, says Mercola. And, contrary to popular belief, regenerative grazing practices (which focus on preventing health issues through natural management methods) can increase livestock carrying capacity by 50% to 70%, compared to continuous grazing, while also improving soil health, biodiversity and the environment.
Yet the industry-led spin around beef farming ignores the value of these traditional farming practices, while promoting many nutritionally empty and environmentally destructive alternatives.
“We're told that if we care about our health—or our planet—eliminating red meat from our diets is crucial,” say Rodgers and Wolf. 12 We are told that beef is bad for us and is environmentally destructive. But, say the authors, science says otherwise. Despite the claims of anti-meat groups, vegan celebrities, and many health experts, they say, “plant-based agriculture is far from a perfect solution”.
In his documentary, Before the Flood, Leonardo de Caprio promotes chickens and pigs as superior sources of protein to beef. Yet this demonstrates an ignorance not only of those animals' lesser nutritional value but of their damaging grain-fed impact on nature and their zero contribution to the health of the soil. Mono-cropping progressively depletes the soil, giving nothing back, which means ever-larger amounts of fertilizer must be used... unless regenerative farming practices are implemented, with animals playing a key role. Cattle don’t have a negative impact on health, soil or the environment; they are net contributors on every level.
“Meat and animal fat are essential for our bodies;
a sustainable food system cannot exist without animals;
a vegan diet may destroy more life than sustainable cattle farming; and
regenerative cattle ranching is one of our best tools at mitigating climate change.”
—Diana Rodgers & Robb Wolf, in Sacred Cow
Cattle: outstanding in their field
Just as money and power are not inherently evil in themselves, the rearing of animals for food can and should be done humanely, in nature, on uncontaminated pasture, and with respect for the animals and the environment. When farmed this way, animals contribute to the health of soils, introducing healthy microbes from their manure and aerating the soil with their hooves. They are part of the natural cycle of life, and their supposed contribution to global warming is unfounded.
Full of hot air
According to the EPA, say Rodgers and Wolf, methane produced by all livestock accounts for only 3.9% of total US greenhouse gas emissions (2% of of which comes from beef), while transportation, electricity generation and industry account for over 78%. The manufacture of lab meat would generate high greenhouse-gas emissions, while further depleting fossil fuels.
Another study, report Rodgers and Wolf, assessing the nutritional and environmental effects of removing animals from US agriculture, found that greenhouse gasses would be reduced by a mere 2.6%. This confirms livestock’s negligible impact on CO2 levels—and even that is offset by its carbon-sequestering capacity. 13 The resulting plant-only system would be incapable of meeting the nation’s nutritional needs. Although it would produce 23% more food, it would be deficient in essential nutrients, such as calcium, vitamin K, vitamin D, iron, B12, choline and essential fatty acids, while creating a 12% increase in total calories. Yet, as the authors point out, it’s not more calories that are needed but more nutrients.
Lierre Keith was a vegan for 20 years, before severe illness compelled her to change her mind about eating meat. Her book, The Vegetarian Myth, powerfully dispels the destructive notion that a vegetarian diet can feed the hungry, honour the animals, and save the planet. We’ve been led astray, she says—not by our longings for a just and sustainable world, but by our ignorance. We are urban industrialists, and we don’t know the origins of our food.
We have no point of contact with grain, chickens, cows or topsoil, and therefore no basis of experience to outweigh the arguments of political vegetarians. We have no idea what plants, animals or soil eat, or how much. Which means we have no idea what we ourselves are eating. “The truth is that agriculture is a relentless assault against the planet, and more of the same won’t save us," says Keith. "In service to annual grains, humans have devastated prairies and forests, driven countless species extinct, altered the climate, and destroyed the topsoil—the basis of life itself.”
"Agriculture has created a net loss for human rights and culture: slavery, imperialism, militarism, class divisions, chronic hunger and disease."
—Lierre Keith
As Keith explains, “grazers need their daily cellulose, but the grass also needs the animals. It needs the manure, with its nitrogen, minerals and bacteria; it needs the mechanical check of grazing activity; and it needs the resources stored in animal bodies and freed up by degraders when animals die. Thus, the grass and the grazers need each other as much as predators and prey.”
Without ruminants, plant matter piles up, reducing growth and killing the plants. The bare earth is exposed to wind, sun and rain, the minerals leech away, and the soil structure is destroyed. In our attempt to save animals, says Keith, we’ve killed everything. The vast majority of people in the US don’t grow food, she says, let alone hunt and gather it. They have no way to judge how much death is embodied in a serving of salad, a bowl of fruit, a plate of beef. Life isn’t possible without death. No matter what you eat, something has to die to feed you.
Reprinted with permission. For more info: https://lierrekeith.com/work/.
“Far from being an ecological catastrophe, well-managed grass-fed beef may literally be close to a ‘free lunch’,” say Rodgers and Wolf, who encourage us to "think of ruminants as four-legged speed composters."
With their scientific background, nutritional training and deep understanding of food systems and ecology, the authors debunk the many unfounded claims against cattle, presenting a compelling case for well-managed ruminants being the 'food of the future' and the solution to our broken and unsustainable agricultural system.
Grazing ruminants eat grass and other plants that are indigestible to humans, turning them into nutrient-dense foods that nourish us more completely than anything else. As such, they are invaluable up-cyclers, grazing on land unsuitable for crops (which represents about 60% of agricultural land worldwide). The claim that cattle take up land that could be used for crops is therefore unfounded. Nor is it accurate to say that crops yield more food per acre than livestock, since they cannot compare in terms of nutrient density... even if they could be grown on the rocky, steep, arid pasture that can support grazing animals. In many parts of the world, grazing livestock is the only way people can survive.
Since the majority of agricultural land worldwide is only suitable for grazing animals, which fertilize the soil, while offsetting carbon emissions, improving water retention in the soil, increasing biodiversity and providing the most complete and nutritious food for humans, grazing animals represent the only natural sustainable food system that we have.
Instead of it being the scapegoat in a deeper political agenda designed to distract us from what’s really going on, cattle should be cherished and respected as the precious life-enhancing animals that they are.
The double whammy of the veggie diet
In the biased marketing of plant-based foods, however, there is no mention of the essential nutrients provided by animal proteins and fats; nor is there an awareness of plant toxins, such as oxalate, which can cause significant long-term harm. If we follow a purely plant-based diet, we may therefore succumb to a double whammy: a deficiency in essential animal-based nutrients, and the intake of toxic plant substances that can deplete nutrients and undermine our health.
But not everyone is equally affected. Our ability to process toxins such as oxalate is determined by our epigenetics, our state of health, our diet, the medications we have taken, the health of our environment, and our physical constitution. While many people seem to thrive on a plant-based diet, many others are anemic, chronically unwell, thin, malnourished, deficient in several vitamins/minerals and often intolerant of/allergic to many nutritious foods. There is even evidence that a high-oxalate plant-based diet increases sensitivity to EMFs and other environmental toxins, while reducing overall resilience and vitality.
It may be reassuring to know that our ancestors thrived on a largely animal-based diet. Based on historical records, say Rodgers and Wolf, our ancestors ate animal products that included bone marrow, brains, muscle meat, eggs, dairy and insects. In fact, they say, there is no traditional human culture that excluded animal products. Yet those who have healed themselves of all kinds of conditions, and are thriving on the nutrients that such a diet provides, need no further proof that it is the healthiest way to go.
It is the denaturing of things that is the problem. Just as dairy products are less digestible and nutritious when pasteurised, animals farmed commercially in feedlots with unhealthy grains (vs being pasture-raised), and subjected to antibiotics, vaccines and toxic agrochemicals, are not the healthiest source of food for humans. Yet they are still nutritionally better than a purely plant-based diet.
While naturally raised animals provide essential nutrients for health, a high-oxalate vegetarian diet can deplete us of many of those same healthy substances, particularly minerals.The crucial role of calcium
Calcium is the most plentiful mineral found in the body (phosphorus is the second), yet our body cannot make this vital mineral, so we must get it from food and/or supplements.
However, there are several different forms of calcium that the body utilizes in different ways, and these must be balanced with other essential minerals, and absorbed in the right ways in order to be effective. If that is not confusing enough, calcium is also one of the most misunderstood minerals that has been subjected to many misleading campaigns by the medical profession. Calcium, and how it relates to oxalates, is a complex issue, which I will attempt to unravel in this article.
Most of our calcium (99%) is found in teeth and bones (with the rest being in nerve cells, body tissues, blood and other body fluids), says Dr Mercola. 14
Calcium is also essential for muscle contraction, normal functioning of many enzymes, blood clotting and normal heart rhythm. It also helps prevent kidney stones, promotes sleep and restores the correct functioning of nerves. It is so vital for health that our body tightly controls how much is in our blood, keeping it at 8.5–10.5mg/dl of extracellular fluid. Calcium is meant to stay in our bones; health challenges occur when it accumulates in the soft tissues.
Unfortunately, dietary calcium has received a bad rap due to the fear of calcification, with many people claiming that calcium supplements cause calcium to build up in soft body tissue, forming hardened deposits in the tissues, arteries and other areas, and interfering with organ function, causing hardened blood vessels in the heart.
However, it is not the dietary ingestion of calcium, but a deficiency of calcium, that causes this calcification. Many of oxalate’s most severe effects are due to the body not being able to access or use calcium, says Norton. Calcium from foods/supplements is a vitally important nutrient for a safe recovery from oxalate overload.
Supplementing with calcium can also address deficiencies caused by oxalate binding with calcium inside the cells, thereby making it inaccessible for its proper use. Loss of bone calcium may be due to insufficient calcium intake and because the body borrows calcium from the bones, pulling it into the soft tissue to make up for electrolyte imbalances caused by oxalate.
According to Dr Ray Peat: 15 “It is extremely important to realize that calcium deposits in soft tissues become worse when the diet is low in calcium … It is counterproductive to eat a calcium-deficient diet, since that leads to an increase in intracellular calcium at the expense of calcium from the bones.
“As bones lose calcium, the soft tissues calcify; when less calcium is eaten, blood calcium may increase, along with calcium in many organs and tissues; if an organ such as the heart is deprived of calcium for a short time, its cells lose their ability to respond normally to calcium, and instead they take up a large, toxic amount of calcium.”
Dietary calcium deficiency is a global phenomenon, says Mercola, leading to bone problems, increases in parathyroid hormone levels and increased calcification of soft tissues. 16
Calcium retention and proper functioning
The loss of calcium in the urine is influenced by many conditions. When the kidneys are healthy, 99% of all calcium passing through their tiny tubules is absorbed back into the blood. Adequate vitamin D, however, is essential before the kidney tubules can reabsorb calcium efficiently. If this vitamin is undersupplied, as it frequently is in those who get kidney stones, large amounts of both calcium and phosphorus are excreted in the urine.
Excessive calcium can crowd out magnesium, and vice versa. The more calcium in the diet, the more magnesium needed, and calcium given alone can create a magnesium deficiency. However, the carbonate form of calcium is not recommended, since taking large amounts (such as in antacid preparations) can produce such severe magnesium deficiencies that kidney stones may result.
Note: If you take calcium hydroxyapatite supplements, you will also be consuming 200mg of phosphorus for every 500mg of calcium. But too much phosphorus in the diet can be detrimental to health, especially if you do not get enough calcium. An excess can cause oxidative stress and vascular calcification (the accumulation of mineral deposits, primarily calcium phosphate salts, in the walls of arteries and veins, which can lead to hardening of the arteries), can harm the heart and accelerate aging. An ideal calcium-to-phosphate ratio is 1:1 (according to renowned nutritionist Adelle Davis, in Let’s Get Well, 1965), but many people consume a lot of phosphate/phosphorus (eating processed foods) and too little calcium.
Many of our most nutritious foods—liver, yeast, wheat germ, lecithin and most meats—are very rich in phosphorus but low in calcium and almost devoid of magnesium. Much of the phosphorus in the body can be used only in the right ratio with calcium. If there is too much phosphorus, it is excreted in the urine as a calcium phosphate salt, robbing the body of much-needed calcium.
When magnesium is deficient, large amounts of calcium are lost in the urine even though sorely needed by the body. That same urinary loss of calcium during a magnesium shortage plays a role in forming kidney stones. The more calcium in the diet, the more magnesium needed. Calcium given alone can induce a magnesium deficiency. Davis recommends a ratio of 2:1, calcium : magnesium.
Other impacts of oxalate overload
By disrupting electrolytes, oxalate affects how well your nerves and muscles work. It can also cause inflammation and leaky gut. Calcium oxalate crystals can become kidney stones or build up in bone, bone marrow and glands (including thyroid). Low-back pain is often due to oxalate in kidneys.
Oxalate overload can cause sleep issues and neurological effects, such as an inability to focus, brain inflammation and neurological difficulties, pain, mood changes, irritability, depression and anxiety. Severe insomnia can result from a deficiency of B6 (often due to excess oxalate), and anyone with insomnia should take 2g of calcium daily, according to Davis.
Oxalate has electromagnetic charges, and the most toxic form of oxalate is nanocrystals, which are so small that we may not know they're there.
Oxalates can increase the risk and severity of EMF toxicity and general sensitivity. According to Norton, high levels of oxalates increase vulnerability to EMFs, making many people frail and sensitive to everything. When they have less oxalate in the body, they are tougher and these other stressors are less severe.
Normally, the concentration of calcium outside the cell is 50,000 times higher than inside the cell. Research by experts in electromagnetic field (EMF) damage, such as Dr Martin Pall, shows that EMFs allow an influx of excess calcium into the cell, causing a cascade of increased nitric oxide, superoxide and other toxic molecules. Oxalates also cause harm through that same mechanism, says Norton. While you may not have much control over EMF exposure in many situations, she says, you can control the levels of oxalate in your diet, thereby boosting resilience and overall health.
Reducing dietary oxalates
The solution is to gradually remove oxalates from the body by slowly transitioning towards a low-oxalate diet, eating lots of animal products (meat, chicken, eggs, fish, raw cheese/dairy and animal fats), along with low-oxalate vegetables and fruit.
Meat is a phosphorus-rich food and must be balanced with optimal levels of dietary calcium. The best sources of dietary calcium are cheese, milk, yogurt, cooked collard greens and egg shells.
Vegetables, nuts, chocolate, seeds, grains and many other plant foods are high in oxalate and other anti-nutrients (such as tannins and phytates) that can reduce absorption of other minerals, such as iron. Anti-nutrients can also prevent absorption of protein, and can, in the case of soy (which is particularly high in anti-nutrients), adversely affect fertility, hormones and thyroid function. If you have unresolved health issues, replacing anti-nutrient-containing plant-based foods with nutrient-dense animal foods (which do not contain anti-nutrients), and taking calcium and magnesium citrate supplements (among others), may help to heal your body.
Some people cannot tolerate dairy, especially if they have inflammatory conditions. It can inhibit weight loss, causing metabolic issues. But others tolerate it well after being on a low-oxalate diet for a while, eliminating the oxalate overload and healing the gut.
When you start eliminating oxalate from the body, countless symptoms can occur. This can take years, or may only begin years after starting a low-oxalate diet, if there is a lot of oxalate to clear and/or if the body is not yet strong enough to clear it. If the detox is too severe, it’s often necessary to add back some oxalates to slow down the detoxification process.Adjusting your oxalate intake
The following list of foods gives you an idea of the relative values of oxalate in various commonly eaten foods, enabling you to adjust your intake accordingly.
Foods with ZERO/trace oxalates:
- all animal products, including eggs, milk, cheese, butter, yogurt and animal fats
- honey, agave syrup, maple syrup, brown sugar, stevia
- vinegar, mustard, kelp, wakame, chlorella
- garlic, onion
- flaxseeds, potato starch
Foods VERY LOW in oxalates:
- cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, arugula, collards, mustard, kale
- watercress, radish, turnips, celeriac, endives, fennel, cucumber
- ripe avocadoes, olives, lettuce, mâche, coconut, coconut milk, red rice
- squash, courgette (zucchini), corn, green peas
- corn and corn chips
- dulse, nutritional yeast, fresh ginger, miso, coconut aminos (soy sauce alternative)
- apples, yellow plums, blueberries, lemons, limes, bananas, cherries, grapes, mangoes, cranberries, lychees.
Foods MODERATELY HIGH in oxalate:
- pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds
- parsnips
- millet, oats
- mandarins, pears
- white rice, rice pasta; brown basmati/jasmine rice
Foods VERY HIGH in oxalate:
- chocolate/cacao, carob
- wheat, pasta, bread; spelt; soya
- chia, poppy, hemp, sesame seeds
- most nuts, beans, whole grains
- black pepper, turmeric, allspice, cinnamon, caraway, clove, coriander, cumin
- beetroot and their leafy green tops, chard, spinach, leeks, carrots
- amaranth, quinoa, sorghum
- buckwheat and rhubarb
- blackberries, figs, pink grapefruit, oranges, kiwi, elderberry, gooseberry, raspberry, apricots
- potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines, plantains
The body can handle about 150mg of oxalate/day, which is only about 28 almonds!
A two-cup serving of raw arugula = 3mg oxalate. Raw spinach has 200–300 times more oxalate than arugula or lettuce, with 600mg in a two-cup serving. Ditto for chard.
If you eat potatoes, chocolate, almonds, spinach and grains, you could be consuming as much as 2,000mg of oxalate daily. If you grew up on a normal western diet that includes some processed foods, you've got oxalate deposits in your bone marrow, joints and glands. The long-term high-oxalate diet depletes electrolytes and minerals, making us very fragile, says Norton. This slows down excretion from the tissues, which requires some metabolic vigour and electrolytes so the tissues can do what they need to do.
Some signs/symptoms that may indicate oxalate overload (from Sally K Norton’s free intro):
- kidney infections
- intestinal problems/surgery, especially colon re-sectioning and gastric by-pass
- occasional pain without obvious cause/affecting different body parts on different days.
- back stiffness or pain; pain or weakness in arms, hands, legs or feet
- frequently cloudy or hazy-looking urine
- not sleeping well or feeling tired a lot
- having brain fog, cognitive losses, mental fatigue
- incomplete recovery from injury or surgery
- tendency to have disappointing responses to both conventional and alternative therapies
- eating one or more high-oxalate foods daily.
“Oxalates can cause fragile bones, pain, fatigue, hormone imbalances, joint problems, restless legs, sleep problems, headaches, nerve damage and other complaints often associated with aging,” Norton explains. 17
The purpose of low-oxalate eating is therefore to:
- reduce oxalate toxicity and nutrient depletion
- restore and rebuild bones, muscles and tissues
- enhance nutrient absorption and heal the gut
- improve sleep, relaxation, metabolism and energy levels
- re-mineralize the body, restoring electrolyte and mineral balance
- rebuild healthy nerves and muscles, and protect the heart
- reduce metabolic stress, inflammation, allergies/intolerances, activation of mast cells
- promote healing through proper nutrition, supplementation and oxalate detoxification.
An antidote to oxalate
Citrate promotes the clearing of oxalate and can help if you’re struggling with oxalate toxicity or have eaten a high-oxalate meal. Norton recommends taking magnesium citrate, calcium citrate and potassium citrate, with meals, to reduce absorption of any oxalate in the meal. You need calcium and magnesium with high-oxalate meals, but the bigger issue, she says, is the long-term toxicity from growing up on high-oxalate foods. The citrates in the minerals are especially important for getting over the chronic illness of oxalate overload in your body.
Calcium and magnesium citrate supplements help re-mineralise the body and eliminate oxalate. Fresh lemon juice is a good source of citric acid and can be used as a therapy, in the form of undiluted juice of a lemon, to be drunk as a shot.
Citric acid/citrate/lemon juice binds calcium oxalate crystals and weakens them, helping to dissolve deposits in the kidneys and elsewhere. Oral citrate is an effective treatment for kidney stones and helps get oxalate safely out of the body. Citrate also promotes strong bones and teeth and, along with potassium, may stop or even reverse bone loss.
Detoxing oxalate takes time
You need to go slowly, says Norton. Often, after a year or two on a low-oxalate diet, you might suddenly feel unwell because your kidneys are finally strong enough to excrete oxalate more efficiently. As the oxalate leaves the tissues and enters the bloodstream, the toxins can cause multiple symptoms.
As you start tapping into deeper deposits, you may experience gastritis, migraines, anxiety attacks, gout and other kinds of toxic reactions. The detox can also increase uric acid, replacing the oxalic acid. In this case, she says, it’s a sign that you’re clearing oxalate.
Other signs of oxalate excess or clearing include tartar build-up on your teeth, gritty eyes, gritty stools, haemorrhoids and burning stools.
To ease the detox
When you don't feel good because your system is detoxing, you become acidic, and the easiest way to alkalize is to juice a lemon or use citrate supplements. As citrate helps to alkalize, it gives the kidney cells extra citric acid that they can release into the urine, which is a critical factor. If urine is too acidic, it contributes to metabolic dysfunction and insulin resistance. As you’re removing oxalic acid—a mineral chelator—you’re removing potassium, calcium and other minerals.
If you’re already mineral-deficient from a long-term high-oxalate diet, you need more calcium, more potassium and more unrefined salt. Therefore, as you eliminate the oxalate, you need to get enough electrolytes to avoid having heart issues. Calcium deficiency makes nerves and muscles malfunction, and the heart may start struggling.
Calcium citrate or magnesium citrate taken at bedtime soothes the nervous system and can improve sleep.
Getting the balance right
Given the interdependence of minerals, especially electrolytes, it can be difficult to get the balance right and to take the most ideal form of calcium or magnesium, in the right ratio to other minerals, as well as the right balance of sodium–potassium. Taking a particular supplement to correct an apparent deficiency can, therefore, sometimes create other issues, if we don’t understand the complex interactions of vitamins and minerals in the body. Let’s look at the interdependence of the other key electrolytes (potassium, magnesium and sodium—the latter usually being supplied in the diet), as well as specific vitamins.
Potassium stays largely inside the cells and is balanced by sodium outside the cells. If potassium is deficient, sodium enters the cells, taking with it so much water that many cells burst. The result is water retention (edema), damage to muscles and connective tissue, and scarring.
Deficiencies produce listlessness, fatigue, gas pains, constipation, insomnia and low blood sugar; muscles become flabby and soft, the pulse becomes weak, slow and irregular. When potassium in the cells is low, blood sugar is also slow. The stress of hypoglycaemia causes even more potassium to be lost. Taking 2 to 5 grams of potassium chloride, says Davis, causes all symptoms to disappear.
A lack of potassium can cause partial or complete paralysis. But the most serious effect of potassium deficiency is that on the heart. Sudden heart attacks are often associated with low blood potassium and low potassium intake, causing a lack of potassium in the cells of the heart muscles. Because too much sugar decreases cell potassium, it is now believed that it is high sugar intake rather than saturated fats that predispose people to heart attacks.
Eating salty foods, however, causes blood potassium to decrease immediately and the blood sugar to drop, causing exhaustion. Whenever the blood sugar is low, it’s advisable to increase potassium intake, restrict sodium and rebuild the adrenals.
Absorption of potassium requires magnesium. Insufficient magnesium can therefore create an artificial potassium deficiency (affecting electrolytes and the heart), even if there is enough potassium in the diet. Because magnesium is necessary to keep potassium in muscle cells, similar changes occur when magnesium is deficient. Since magnesium has countless other functions in the body, it is important to supplement accordingly, as the diet may not provide enough.
Vitamin EWith the advent of new industrial methods of refining grains in 1910, vitamin E—a vital and often overlooked micronutrient—was discarded; these same methods cause tremendous losses of magnesium and potassium.
The mineral mix-and-match
Sodium and potassium are an inseparable duo in a see-saw relationship—as one goes up, the other goes down. Potassium requires magnesium in order to be absorbed. Magnesium must be counterbalanced by calcium. And more calcium is required to offset a high intake of phosphorus. Supplementing with zinc, which may also be bound by oxalate in the body, can create a copper deficiency (with 2mg of copper needed for every 15mg of zinc ingested 18 ), and both zinc and selenium are required for the conversion of T4 to T3 for healthy thyroid function. These are just some of the many complex interactions and interdependencies of minerals in the body.
Other players in the mineral matrix
In the context of knock-on oxalate effects, there are several other micronutrients to consider.
Vitamin B6 and magnesium (among other nutrients) are adversely affected by oxalate overload. Yet enzymes containing B6 are necessary for the synthesis of lecithin, which is vital for breaking down cholesterol into tiny particles that can pass readily into the tissues. (If too little lecithin is produced or ingested, the particles of cholesterol become large and can get trapped in the arterial walls.)
When lecithin is generously supplied, says Davis, no amount of cholesterol and saturated-fat foods can cause atherosclerosis, which is the build-up of fats, cholesterol and other substances in/on the artery walls. This build-up is called plaque, which can cause arteries to narrow, blocking blood flow. (If you take lecithin, however, remember that it is high in phosphorus and must be balanced by plenty of calcium.)
The B6-containing enzymes, in turn, are active only if magnesium is present. Severe atherosclerosis has been produced in animals deficient in B6. As mentioned, oxalate overload can cause a B6 deficiency. Diets high in B6, choline and inositol (as in liver and lecithin) are particularly effective in reducing blood cholesterols.
Even when B6 is adequate, a lack of magnesium prevents lecithin from being formed, thereby inhibiting the utilization of fats and cholesterol, and potentially leading to high blood cholesterol levels. Those with heart disease given 500mg of magnesium daily often improve dramatically (according to Davis).
All of the B vitamins are equally needed by every cell of the body, and they work synergistically. A deficiency in one therefore leads to a deficiency in the others, and taking one without the others creates an overall deficiency. The entire B complex therefore needs to be obtained, either from food (with nutritional yeast and liver being among the few foods to provide them all) or from a bio-available supplement form.
Big-picture perspective
As a result of our progressive disconnection from nature, combined with compelling marketing campaigns that feed our fears of ill-health, we are increasingly condemning the things that nourish us, while consuming more of those that cause harm. Since the advent of industrial agriculture, we have been progressively misled and misfed, to the detriment of people and planet. More recently, the push towards a 'new world order' that seeks to control our health and dietary choices is disrupting the natural order of things even more profoundly.
How much more alarmist messaging and industry-driven misdirection must there be before we realize that wireless radiation, environmental toxins and industrial agriculture are damaging ecosystems and affecting our climate far more than grazing animals ever could? They deplete and pollute, giving nothing back, whereas grazing livestock restore and enrich, giving far more than they take.
Will taxing cow farts 19 really solve the issues of ‘climate change’ that we have been told (despite scientific evidence to the contrary 20 ) are caused by CO2 emissions? (And if you think that makes sense, does that mean you wouldn’t mind wearing a ‘smart fart meter’ for the detection and taxation of your emissions?)
Farming is incredibly hard work (especially for small-scale organic farmers), involving long hours and physical labour in all kinds of weather. In producing vital nutrients for us to eat, despite rising costs and unfounded vilification of their livestock, our farmers are the unsung heroes of our food system. Instead of being unjustifiably taxed and wrongly blamed for causing environmental harm, they should be lauded and supported in their valiant efforts to produce healthy, natural, planet-friendly food.
How much more absurdly denatured must things get before we realize how profoundly we are disrupting the natural cycles of life on Earth?
We need to return to our human roots and live like a human. We need to re-learn how to eat as we were evolutionarily designed to do, and how regenerative farming of grazing ruminants forms an essential part of our natural ecosystems, providing the only sustainable food security we have. Fake meats, low-fat or other ruinously deficient diets will only take us further down the rabbit hole of profit-driven disease and increasingly depleted soils.
In order to understand our nutritional needs and the true drivers of health, we need to reconnect with nature, the land and the lifeforms that sustain us. When we nourish ourselves appropriately, with organic/biodynamic plant- and animal-based foods, we can thrive as nature intended, while honouring the perfection and interconnectedness of life.
I began this part of my health journey exploring the benefits of eating more animal foods, which led me to discover the impact of plant-based oxalates, the need for certain kinds of carbs, and the deeper truth behind beef-bashing, bogus climate-change claims and the degradation of our land… all of which confirm our biological need for plant and animal foods grown and raised naturally, using time-honoured regenerative farming practices that sustain healthy soils and habitats.
Wherever your own health journey takes you, I hope you will see through the ill-informed claims and misguided agendas of those promoting deficient and denatured food, and get the full story about living and eating in healthy symbiosis with our natural environment.
NB: The information contained in this document is for information purposes only and does not constitute medical advice.
Endnotes
(Click on the number to return to where you were in the text.)
1. Much of the material relating to oxalates is drawn from Sally K. Norton’s videos, website and book, Toxic Superfoods—how oxalate overload is making you sick, and how to get better (www.sallyknorton.com); and from Let’s Get Well, by Adelle Davis (1965).
2. How oxalates can wreck your health, by Dr Joseph Mercola: https://tinyurl.com/6j62u2r9.
4. When Healthy Isn’t: the risks of high-oxalate foods, by Sally K Norton, in Well Being Journal, July/August 2015.
6. The consequences of low-carb diets, by Dr Joseph Mercola: https://tinyurl.com/bdf5wcbv.
7. Good reference books include: The Great Plant-based Con: why eating a plants-only diet won’t improve your health or save the planet, by Jayne Buxton; Sacred Cow—the case for (better) meat; why well-raised meat is good for you and good for the planet, by Robb Wolf and Diana Rodgers; The Vegetarian Myth, by Lierre Keith; and Defending Beef: the case for sustainable beef production, by Nicolette Hahn Niman. There are many others out there.
8. See chapter 8 of Sacred Cow.
9. Federal Judge Upholds Florida Ban on Lab-Grown Meat, analysis by Dr Joseph Mercola: https://tinyurl.com/mt4x99up
10. Fake meat has a real problem, by Dr Joseph Mercola: https://tinyurl.com/3xcaxmnh
11. The true impact of grass fed beef, by Dr Joseph Mercola: https://tinyurl.com/ykphxncy.
12. See: www.sacredcow.info and www.sustainabledish.com.
13. Nutritional and Greenhouse Gas Impacts of Removing Animals from US Agriculture, by White and Hall (www.pnas.org/content/114/48/E10301), in: Sacred Cow, Chapter 6.
14. The harms of phosphate, by Dr Joseph Mercola: https://tinyurl.com/3cfdd47v
15. In: The harms of phosphate, by Dr Joseph Mercola: https://tinyurl.com/3cfdd47v.
17. When Healthy Isn’t: the risks of high-oxalate foods, by Sally K Norton, in Well Being Journal, July/August 2015.
18. How to take copper with zinc, by Joshua Bailey: https://www.livestrong.com/article/511087-how-to-take-copper-with-zinc/
19. Flatulence tax: Denmark agrees deal for livestock emissions levy: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20nq8qgep3o.
20. Yes, Ecosystems Are collapsing. No, It Has Nothing to Do with CO2, by physicist Josh Mitteldorf, PhD, 7 August 2023: www.childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/ecosystems-collapsing-not-co2-emissions/; Hot or Not: Steven Koonin Questions Conventional Climate Science and Methodology: https://www.facebook.com/HooverInstStanford/videos/1407163589863109
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Very well written, Olga! I’m glad to see a prominent activist bring up oxalates. I have been restricting oxalates for nearly two years now, and have found it very helpful. I used to suffer from severe EHS symptoms all the time (brain fog, palpitations, arrhythmia, chest pain) after years of juicing spinach and beets regularly). Now I suffer from them occasionally, and there are typically other signs that I am mobilizing sequestered oxalates. I contacted the list of scientists and activists Arthur Firstenberg had organized about this, describing it briefly and suggesting they look into it, but never got taken seriously. Prof. Oleg Grigoriev, with whom I’ve been corresponding, says it sounds plausible to him that crystals within cells could cause an enhanced response to EMR. Yasuko Kato in Japan has translated a series of articles I wrote on oxalate overload into Japanese, and while she has not said she has benefited, she has expressed gratitude for my contribution.
Thank you for sharing that, Patricia, and good for you for discovering this issue. I can relate to the symptoms you describe. I thought of AF in this context, as I know he has been very unwell and I wondered about oxalates being a contributing factor–or even the primary cause. The effect on calcium (similar to that of EMFs) causes a whole cascade of other mineral/electrolyte issues, which affect all parts of the body, as I’m sure you know. But the nanocrystals may also interact with EMR, as you say. I’d love to stay in touch on this, and to read your articles on the issue.
What I find particularly valuable about this well-researched and powerful read is that it helps me understand the interconnectedness of things that are typically treated with ‘siloed’ thinking. As with so much modern medicine, treating symptoms with technology does not address root causes or understand the ramifications for a complex natural balance and, unless we can get back to a real connection with nature, it will only make problems worse.
By observing animals in the wild, I noticed that they would graze upwind and would never eat all the new grass and foliage in spring. Upon discussion those in the know always mentioned that the grass of foliage would become bitter the moment an animal started grazing. This “message” was communicated by the wind as well.
I had many discussions with vegetarians about this when they oposed the way cattle was slaughtered. My counter argument was summarised as above but I never knew how to verbalise or prove it. Now we know as my hunch always was that it was harmful to humans. Thanks for this.
Thank you for that, Jan. If you read the excellent book by Diana Rodgers and Robb Wolf (Sacred Cow), you will find reference to how plants and trees communicate with each other, finding ways to deter predators–and send messages to each other. Nature is truly fascinating and we have much to learn.
This highly informative, and well written article is worth passing on to friends and family.
Thank you, Marcus! As you know, you were the one who prompted me to take a closer look at a carnivore diet, which ultimately led me to discover oxalates and the other related issues explored in my ‘monster blog’ 🙂