The Greatest Asset to Protect Your Freedom and Wealth
Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola
April 23, 2022
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
> Simple strategies with big health payoffs include avoiding seed oils, implementing time-restricted eating to become metabolically flexible, donating blood to lower your stored iron, strength training to build muscle, exercising in a fasted state, getting regular sun exposure and optimizing your sleep > Building muscle is by far one of the most important strategies you can implement to improve and safeguard your health. The greater your muscle mass, the higher your survivability against all diseases, including cancer. It really optimizes you for longevity > Sun exposure will trigger melatonin production in your mitochondria (from the near-infrared light), vitamin D (from ultraviolet B rays) and activate vitamin A, which is just as important as vitamin D for health, especially immune health > Most men and postmenopausal women have high iron, as theres no pathway of elimination other than blood loss. Stored iron is damaging to all of your internal systems as it promotes oxidative stress. Its also one of the most common causes of fatigue because of how it impairs the mitochondrial production of energy > The primary problem with seed oils is that theyre loaded with linoleic acid (LA), which acts as a metabolic poison when consumed in excess. This is the topic of my next book, The LA Diet
In the video above, finance expert Mark Moss, coauthor of The UNcommunist Manifesto and founder of Market Disruptors, interviews me about simple strategies with big payoffs, in terms of health, which I believe is the greatest asset of all. Without health, you wont be able to protect your freedom or enjoy your wealth.
I will be speaking at Mark Moss Market Disruptors Live event in Dallas, Texas, May 6 through May 8, 2022. The conference will cover topics like how to increase your wealth using little-known alternative asset classes, how the central banks plans will affect you, and how to increase personal freedom by bulletproofing your assets so you wont get caught up in The Great Reset.
So, if you want to connect with me in person, this would be a great opportunity as I will be there for the entire event.
The Oil Industry Vanquished True Medicine a Century Ago
In the beginning of the interview, I touch on how the medical industry was vanquished 112 years ago by John D. Rockefeller, who became the worlds first billionaire after founding Standard Oil in 1870.
Johns father was William Avery Rockefeller, an authentic snake oil salesman who conned people into buying his useless Rock Oil tonic for cancer a mixture of laxative and petroleum. Avery once admitted he would cheat his children every chance he got, in order to make em sharp.1
John D. learned the lessons of duplicity and fraud well, and by the time he was 40, he controlled 90% of the global oil refineries. Within another few years (early 1880s), he also controlled 90% of the marketing of oil, and one-third of all oil wells.
Together with General Motors, Rockefeller secretly bought up and dismantled the public transportation system in the U.S., to promote the need for a family car. They also replaced electric streetcars with gas- guzzling busses to expand their petroleum business.
In 1902, Rockefeller funded the establishment of the General Education Board, through which he intended to control public education. Other oil- backed schemes to mold and reshape the American education system followed, including a scheme to alter the teaching of American history to promote a view of collectivism, as well as a program culminating in the transformation of the practice of medicine.
Naturopathic-based herbal medicine was the norm at that time, and Rockefeller set out to shift the medical industry toward using oil-derived pharmaceuticals. To this end, the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research was established in 1901, headed up by Simon Flexner.
Simons brother, Abraham, was contracted to write a report on the state of the American medical education system, and his study, The Flexner Report,2 published in 1910, paved the way for Rockefeller to completely overhaul the American medical system.
Naturopathic and homeopathic medicine anything that couldnt be patented was abolished. Natural remedies and known cures were dismissed as quackery. The only medicines deemed reputable were patentable synthetic drugs, invented in the oil cartels own research centers.
The Rockefeller Legacy of Monopolized Control
Around the same time, the oil cartel also found a way to take over and control the U.S. financial system, through the creation of the Federal Reserve, established in 1913. The Rockefellers have been powerbrokers in the banking industry ever since. In the 1950s, James Stillman Rockefeller, the grandson of John D.s brother, became the head of National City Bank, while David Rockefeller, John D.s grandson, took over Chase Manhattan Bank.
They also sought to consolidate control over the global food supply, using philanthropy as their cover for the takeover. The Rockefeller Foundation funded the Green Revolution that led to the introduction of petroleum-based agricultural chemicals, which quickly transformed agriculture, both in the U.S. and abroad.
President Johnsons Food for Peace program actually mandated the use of petroleum-dependent technologies and chemicals by aid recipients, and countries that could not afford it were granted loans from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The Rockefeller Foundation also funded the gene revolution that brought us patentable genetically modified seeds.
Today, The Rockefeller Foundation is part of The Great Reset cast, which seeks to gain total control over every person in the world financially, medically, physically and psychologically.
The Path of Health
I, like many other physicians, were thoroughly brainwashed in medical school. I bought the Rockefeller-invented paradigm hook, line and sinker, and ran a conventional medical practice, prescribing drugs and vaccines, for about five years.
I eventually woke up, realizing these remedies did nothing to address the root cause of any disease, and started educating myself about nutrition and foundational health practices, which have been my focus ever since. Its a never-ending journey of learning, and Ive experimented a lot through the years. Oftentimes, the devils in the details when it comes to various strategies.
For example, as I mention in the interview, I focused my exercise almost exclusively on cardio during my youth and became a decent marathon runner. Today, I realize that was a big mistake, as you can get most of your cardio requirement through strength training, if done properly.
Building muscle is by far one of the most important things you can do to improve and safeguard your health. While theres certainly benefit to cardiovascular exercise mitochondrial biogenesis, for example resistance training is far more foundational to your long-term health, because skeletal muscle is the organ of longevity.
The greater your muscle mass, the higher your survivability against all diseases, including cancer. It really optimizes you for longevity. Why? Because you need protein reserves to survive serious disease, and most of your protein is stored in muscle. If you have very little muscle, you're going to pass away prematurely because you have no amino acid reserves.
Your muscle is also a primary regulator of your metabolism. Its a primary site for glucose disposal because of the GLUT4 insulin receptors embedded in the muscle cell membranes. These receptors lower your glucose levels after a meal and decrease your risk for diabetes. It also interfaces with your immune system and helps optimize it.
It is never too late to start resistance training. You can build muscle mass after 60, which is about when I started, and last week, as you can see in the video below, I set a new personal record in the leg press for 600 pounds, which I believe is better than the 400-pound deadlift I did last year.
dr mercola leg press
However, as I note in the interview, our ancestors didnt need a gym because they were engaged in heavy manual labor on a near-daily basis. That is certainly not something I do and I suspect few of you engage in, hence the need to substitute in regular exercise/work to stay healthy.
Our ancestors were using and strengthening their muscles well into old age. They worked on farms and in factories, they walked and bicycled distances most wont even consider nowadays. The only reason most people today need to schedule in exercise is because theyre not doing manual labor; worse, theyre barely moving at all.
How to Optimize Your Exercise Benefits
If you really want to optimize your exercise, implement time-restricted eating (TRE) and exercise while fasting. TRE involves eating all your meals and snacks within a six- to eight-hour window each day, making sure your last meal is at least three hours before bedtime, and then fasting for the remaining 16 to 18 hours. In this scenario, youd exercise sometime in the morning, and then break your fast afterward.
TRE will also make you metabolically flexible, so that you can burn both fat and carbs. If youre constantly hungry, chances are youre metabolically inflexible and cannot efficiently burn fat. Your body is basically just screaming for another quick energy fix, because carbs burn fast and when theyre gone, you need more. Once your body can efficiently burn fat, hunger usually just disappears.
The Benefits of Near-Infrared
Directly post-exercise is also an ideal time to do sauna therapy. I advise caution when using cryotherapy together with exercise, because if you jump into an ice bath after strenuous exercise, youll actually abort the production of inflammatory reactors of the exercise, and those inflammatory reactors are what trigger the benefits from the exercise.
95% of melatonin is produced in your mitochondria in response to near-infrared light. By mopping up free radicals, melatonin reduces damage to the mitochondria and helps them work optimally.
Sauna therapy has many important health benefits. For example, it can ease pain, kill disease-causing viruses, improve cardiovascular health and facilitate detoxification of heavy metals and other toxins.
My preference is near-infrared saunas rather than far-infrared, as it penetrates deeper and therefore can release toxins more efficiently. Even more importantly, 95% of melatonin is produced in your mitochondria in response to near-infrared light. The melatonin released by your pineal gland account for just 5% of the melatonin in your body.
Mitochondria are tiny organelles found in most of your cells responsible for cellular energy production, and mitochondrial dysfunction is a root cause of most chronic disease. Melatonin, meanwhile, is a very powerful antioxidant that reduces oxidative stress. By mopping up free radicals, melatonin reduces damage to the mitochondria and helps them work optimally.
Melatonin also helps increase glutathione, which is a major detoxification agent. Importantly, NONE of the oral melatonin you take will ever make its way into the mitochondria. Oral melatonin can help regulate sleep, when taken at the appropriate time (in the evening, shortly before bed), but it will not do anything for your mitochondria.
The only thing that will trigger that is near-infrared light. Of course, the best source of near-infrared light is natural sunshine, which brings us to another foundational health habit: sun exposure.
The Importance of Sun Exposure
While melatonin production is triggered by the near-infrared light in sunlight, ultraviolet B (UVB) rays trigger the production of vitamin D in your skin. Ideally, you would not take any oral vitamin D at all, getting you needs fulfilled from sensible sun exposure.
This is entirely possible if you live close enough to the equator. Ive lived in Florida for nearly 12 years now and have not needed to supplement with oral vitamin D since I moved here from Chicago.
Sun exposure also activates vitamin A (retinol), forming active metabolites called retinoids. (Beta carotene, which many mistakenly believe is vitamin A, is a precursor to vitamin A.) Vitamin A is just as important as vitamin D for health, especially immune health, but it has to be the active form.
The Danger of High Iron
Another crucially important health strategy is to make sure you dont have high iron. Most men and postmenopausal women have high iron, largely thanks to so many processed foods being fortified with dangerous forms of iron like iron fillings, and the fact that theres no pathway of elimination other than blood loss.
Stored iron is incredibly damaging to all of your internal systems as it promotes oxidative stress. Its also one of the most common causes of fatigue because of how it impairs the mitochondrial production of energy.
I first became aware of the danger of excess iron over 30 years ago when I diagnosed my dad with hemochromatosis. His ferritin level was close to 1,000. He had beta thalassemia, which predisposed him to iron accumulation. I inherited that from my father and my ferritin was also in the 100s in the 1980s.
I mentioned that mitochondria produce cellular energy, but theyre also crucial recycling centers. Iron has a terminal destination in the mitochondria and must be recycled. However, for that to occur, you must have enough copper, and most people dont. As a result, the iron gets stuck and cannot be recycled.
So, a low ferritin level is not necessarily a sign that you need iron. You may already have too much stored, seeing how the average person accumulates about 1 milligram of iron a day, but its not being recycled due to a copper deficiency. This is why many get into a vicious cycle. Theyre told they have low iron and need iron supplementation, but the problem is really a copper deficiency. So, they keep loading in iron, and their health suffers as a result.
The good news is that high iron is easy to address. All you need to do is donate blood. If donating a full pint (half a liter) of blood three to four times a year is problematic, you can remove blood in smaller amounts once a month on the schedule listed below. If you have congestive heart failure or severe COPD, you should discuss this with your doctor, but otherwise this is a fairly appropriate recommendation for most.