The EMF diet for tinnitus
Toxic Superfoods | Oxalate crystals
Here’s what we’ll learn in this article:
1. Why is tinnitus an electrical illness?
2. How does pasteurized dairy affect our microbiome ?
3. How are oxalates created?
4. How does our body get rid of oxalates?
5. How do EMFs impact our calcium levels?
6. What causes tinnitus?
7. How does light generate sound in our ears?
8. What studies show that EMF could cause tinnitus?
9. Why are vegetarians more prone to tinnitus?
10. Our interview with Sally Norton, author of Toxic Superfoods
11. What colors of the rainbow are best to reduce EMF damage?
12. How are Bohdanna and I embracing a low-oxalate diet?
When I was a child growing up the 80s, I would come back home from playing outdoors for hours, and raid the fridge for two things: milk and ice cream. This wasn’t the milk many of us drink today - it was full fat, whole milk. This was before the days that our cream was skimmed off the top, or worse - contained bioengineered ingredients.
I’d guzzle that gallon jug with reckless abandon, feeling it nourish my soul to the bone. Instead of asking Mr. Snopes what was good for them, children relied on instinct, getting most of their information from Mr. Rogers instead.
In my twenties, when I lusted for more testosterone and bigger biceps, I fell for the low-fat diet, thinking all I needed was protein to make me a happy camper. I’d drink skim milk by the fistful, and eat processed protein bars till the cows no longer came home. Eventually my body and mind both fell apart, as years of intense weightlifting took its toll. Yet I still wanted, as most of us do, to look and feel healthy. My mind was open, and I was ready for a change.
When Bohdanna and I met in our thirties, I was living in a regressively progressive town that bombarded me with forks over knives. Propaganda pushed me down grocery aisles where lost boys became soy boys, aimlessly wondering in a plastic forest of processed almond milk juice. Dairy cows slowly became our sworn enemy. They were udderly vicious - farting and spreading their fat around.
Our beliefs were confirmed once we had a food intolerance test that reveals what our genetics prevent us from digesting. Bohdanna was told she could not eat dairy anymore, and I had to abstain from potatoes. Bohdanna’s dreams of cheese, and cold glasses of milk were crushed. Yet our intentions were still clear: we wanted our inner self to feel vital so that we could lessen our outer world’s toxic burden. We kept an open mind. More importantly we remained skeptical of any trends, or confirmation bias.
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.”
- Mark Twain
We began to ask: if epigenetics states that our environment is 95-99% responsible for most of our illnesses, then could our genetic food intolerance stem from the home of our microbiome? Could the dairy proteins in the vaccines1 we had as children contributed to an auto-immune response to the milk we were having today?
“Food protein-containing vaccines program the immune system to recognize food as pathogens. Injecting cow's milk containing vaccines causes IgE mediated sensitization to cow's milk proteins (bovine casein, bovine folate
receptor (FR) proteins, bovine insulin etc.)” - Vinu Arumughan, cited in BMJ
Filling in the Gaps
Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, author of Gut And Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) cured her child of autism using the GAPS protocol. She noticed that the altered gut flora of those with auto-immune conditions, including depression, ADHD, and schizophrenia, cannot process nutrients from dairy effectively, especially when the milk has been pasteurized. Our immune system flags dairy proteins such as casein as invaders, and has difficulty absorbing them in their optimal state. Dr. McBride has found that many patients do well with raw milk, since it contains potent enzymes that aid our digestion. After reading her book Bohdanna and I have started to make our own raw goat’s milk yogurt. Not only are we able to digest this gift from the goats with ease, this yogurt also doesn’t have any goatee-taste. In following our intuition and the not-so-instant formula of Mother Nature, we’ve found a whey.
Skipping stones
The next health nut we’re cracking is the concept of oxalates. When I first heard how oxalates from vegetables could harm us, I thought there was another cow conspiracy afoot. Yes, those bovines may be chewing slowly - but they ruminate in groups. I thought, ‘How could those little green leaves be so terrible for us?’
The best offense plants can have is a great defense, but oxalates take this maxum up a notch, as their crystal nature can cut us like a knife of powdered diamonds. In her groundbreaking book Toxic Superfoods, Sally K. Norton describes how oxalate overload can lead to autoimmune disease, osteoporosis, mood problems, fatigue, brain fog, leaky gut, kidney stones, insomnia, and mineral deficiencies. Medical literature studying the deleterious effects of oxalic acid and oxalates dates back to the 1800s, however the research never saw the light of day. The main symptom of oxalate-overload that mainstream medicine recognizes today are kidney stones. However, the damage goes far deeper than we had ever imagined.
How are oxalates created?
Certain plants create oxalic acid as a defense mechanism against predatory insects, and in order to protect themselves from excess calcium in soil. When oxalic acid attaches itself to a mineral, it becomes an oxalate. The mineral calcium has a strong affinity for oxalate, thus becoming calcium-oxalate. Crystals of calcium oxalate start out as particles and nano-crystals that tend to grow larger in size. Oxalate crystals can also coalesce into “stones.”2
How does our body get rid of oxalates?
Our body doesn’t have a way to metabolize these crystals - we can only excrete them. However, as these crystals move into and through our bloodstream, they can migrate into other tissues, especially if they overwhelm our kidneys’ ability to filter them out. The result? Oxalate micro- and non-crystals may collect in our joints, stomach lining, in the kidneys (where we can get kidney stones), as well as the plaque inside our arteries. This accumulation of crystals may then also cause overall fatigue, muscle pain, tendonitis, and poor concentration. The membrane of our mitochondria, which supply energy to the rest of our body in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), can also be damaged.
Got real calcium?
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in our body, and isn’t just contained in our bones. Our hearts, brains, and reproductive organs are densely concentrated with this magical mineral. Calcium is responsible for muscle contraction, nerve function, cell growth, learning, memory, and blood clotting. The basis of cellular metabolism is the electron transport chain, which our mitochondria use to create the energy molecule called ATP. Our mitochondria rely on calcium to dance in rhythm with our digestive, immune, and nervous systems. When too much calcium floods our cells, apoptosis (cell death) occurs.3
Calcium, when not bound to oxalate, can benefit us. Calcium citrate and carbonate can help displace calcium oxalate. However, balance is key - and why the food we consume is only part of the electromagnetic pie. Studies by Professor emeritus of biochemistry and preeminent EMF researcher Martin Pall have shown that even low levels of EMF can overload our cells with excess calcium.4 Our mitochondria tightly regulate how much calcium enters our organs and bloodstream, by using voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs).
Calcium is far more concentrated outside our cells than inside. If this highly-controlled system goes out of whack, chaos ensues through the formation of reactive oxygen species (the opposite of antioxidants). We can think of EMF and wireless frequencies like the barbarians at the gate, smashing our mitochondrial wall with a battering ram of electrical signals. If we don’t have a moat of other minerals, like magnesium, along with a robust light and low-EMF environment, the castle of our body will pledge allegiance to a nation of radiation. Any organ or system in our body that has experienced trauma, such as the brains of football players or military veterans who present with ALS5, will then be even more susceptible to damage from wireless radiation.
What causes tinnitus?
Crystal radios were the first widely used type of radio receiver, and the main type used during the era of wireless telegraphy (transmitting text messages with radio waves). Sold and homemade by the millions, the inexpensive and reliable crystal radio was a major driving force in the introduction of radio to the public in 1920. It turns out our brains receive wireless signals of light and sound in much the same way, using a crystal structure in our ear’s cochlea called the tectorial membrane. Our mitochondria, which regulate calcium, support nerve conduction in this area of our ear. This membrane processes electrical signals and converts the charged particles of photons (light) into what are known as phonons (sound waves). For a deeper dive into the science of electronic hearing, read:
Our cochlea instantly converts so many varying frequencies, that a quantum process of transmitting light into sound via crystal is more efficient than a simply mechanical one of an ear drum emitting vibrations.
“No bigger than a hazelnut, the cochlea is able to take the roar of a lion, the song of a nightingale, and the squeak of a mouse, and reproduce them all with perfect fidelity in the form of electrical signals sent to the brain.”
Arthur Firstenberg, The Invisible Rainbow (2020)
English physician and biochemist Lionel Naftalin studied the inner workings of the ear for fifty years, up until his death at age 96 in 2011. Naftalin believed that electrical forces were central. He focused attention on the tectorial membrane, a jelly-like substance that is both a semiconductor and piezoelectric liquid crystal.
Due to their piezoelectric nature, quartz crystals are able to convert electrical voltage into mechanical pressure, and vice versa. Semiconductors are used in electronics and computers, because they are able to relay a tremendous amount of data using electrical transmission. Our electric bodies operate the same way.
How is sound generated in our ears?
The standard theory of hearing used to be that our ear drums vibrate, and this causes the hair cells of our ears to bend, triggering nerve impulses. However this theory was always mechanical in nature, and disregarded the role of electricity.
As far back as 1933, scientists of the day were challenging this mechanical version of hearing. Augustus Pohlman, an anatomy professor and dean of the school of medicine at the University of South Dakota, was such a man. He believed that the hair cells of the ear were pressure sensors, which would explain how the ear could be so extremely sensitive. This also explained why the cochlea is embedded in the densest bone in the human body: the cochlea is a soundproof chamber.
Studies point to EMF as a trigger of tinnitus
Excerpted from Why tinnitus is an electrical illness:
Rates of tinnitus have been rising for at least the last thirty years, and have climbed by one-third from 1982-1996 alone.11 By 2004, over 50 million adults were found to suffer from tinnitus. The surprising fact, found by a US nationwide survey conducted in 2010 by the Better Hearing Institute, was that 44 percent of Americans who complained of ringing in their ears said they had normal hearing. Researchers falsely assumed that the subjects of the study had hearing loss but did not know it.
Similar hearing studies had already been conducted at the University of Madison Wisconsin in 1995 with a follow-up in 2008. Researchers had expected to see a decline in tinnitus, as hearing disorders among older adults dropped. However, they found just the opposite: a steady increase in tinnitus in all age groups occurred during the 1990s and 2000s, at a rate of 50 percent. Coincidentally, this is when the US became laden with cell towers even in rural areas, and cell phones became common with the rollout of commercial digital cell deployment.6
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Studies on seven year-old children by Professor of audiology Kajsa-Mia Holgers at the University of Jonkoping in Sweden, conducted in 1997 and 2005, revealed a staggering 42 percent of children reporting ringing in their ears. Holgers also found that more than half of high school students aged 13 to 16 reported tinnitus in some form during the 2003-2004 school year. In 2004, school children aged 9 to 16 reported tinnitus, and 14 percent heard it everyday.
Why would children, who normally have very healthy hearing, be experiencing tinnitus? If a child or adult has otherwise healthy hearing, then we must look at what may be causing this disturbance in our environment.
We know that humans can hear electromagnetic energy in the ultrasonic range from 20 Hz to about 225 kHz. What transmits at 20 kHz- 225 kHz? Radiofrequency (which also emits above 225 kHz) along with higher frequencies emanating from our home wiring known as “dirty electricity.”
Magda Havas and Dave Stetzer studied the effect of kHz frequencies on tinnitus7, and found that these individuals had high levels of dirty electricity in their homes. Some participants noticed that when the buzzing sound is loud, the dirty electricity in their home is high. When dirty electricity (G/S) filters were installed, these sounds became less audible.
A 2016 study in the Brazilian Journal of Otorhinolaryngology entitled Tinnitus and cell phones: the role of electromagnetic radiofrequency radiation8, confirmed that there is already reasonable evidence to “suggest caution for using mobile phones to prevent auditory damage and the onset or worsening of tinnitus.”
I can verify that once I learned to reduce dirty electricity in my home by measuring EMF and installing dirty electrical filters, my tinnitus abated. Coincidentally the ringing in my ears began in March of 2021, when Space X launched a large volley of satellites. My symptoms were confirmed by colleagues like Arthur Firstenberg and others around the world, also experiencing fatigue, along with tinnitus and ear pain:
“On Wednesday morning (4:28 a.m. EDT, 8:28 UTC), March 21st, 2021 SpaceX launched another 60 satellites. On Wednesday evening (10:47 p.m. EDT, 14:47 UTC), OneWeb launched another 36 satellites. I am beginning to receive of sudden illness that began on Wednesday. I myself was unable to sleep at all Wednesday night, and my body hurt, and itched, all over. I was very ill all day Thursday, and still do not feel well. I have received similar reports from other people in the United States, Canada, Norway, Australia and South Africa.”
, 5G Space Appeal9
How can oxalates exacerbate tinnitus?
We recently interviewed Sally K. Norton for our upcoming ElectroHealth Summit. Ms. Norton has helped countless people reverse symptoms of oxalate toxicity. According to Ms. Norton, “there is no single pattern of symptoms that identifies oxalate toxicity, everyone has their own unique set of reactions. However, there are patterns of symptoms that are often associated with oxalate toxicity.” These symptoms range broadly, from kidney stones, insomnia, pain in the arms, legs, or feet, back stiffness, brain fog, incomplete recovery from injury or surgery, as well as tinnitus.
Sally appreciates that wireless radiation could also play a part in etiology, which is a breath of fresh air, considering how many food gurus completely ignore the health impacts of wireless technology:
“Mineral disturbances can impact the inner ear, resulting in tinnitus, dizziness, and hearing loss. While there isn’t much research directly blaming oxalate, these conditions often resolve on a low-oxalate diet. A health coach specializing in tinnitus sent me this note:
‘I’ve been silencing people’s tinnitus for years, and vegans and vegetarians have been my most common clients. I’ve had so many of my clients get incredible results with their ears when they reduce or completely cut out plants that contain oxalic acid.’”
-Toxic Superfoods10, p.157
The oxalate internet of bodies
Like the metals we ingest, oxalate crystals can make us more sensitive to electromagnetic forces of wireless radiation.
While chugging kale and almond butter smoothies won’t turn us into robots, their high oxalate content may just make us feel the other Androids around us. Many of our colleagues like Paul Harding have noticed that they’re better able to tolerate high-EMF environments like airports, once they’ve adopted a low-oxalate nutrition protocol.
What’s the EMF diet?
In order to not feel the effects of the Invisible Rainbow, we need to eat the rainbow of our ancestors. Not only were the foods we ate before the Industrial Revolution loaded with more nutrients, we also absorbed the vitamins and minerals from our diets more efficiently, since we were more likely to eat outside. This occurs since Sunlight aids our digestion by supporting energy production. Our modern conundrum of diabetes11, obesity12, and metabolic diseases like cancer are further exacerbated by persistent electrosmog, which dampens the fire of our bellies like electric rain.13
How can we adopt an ancestral approach to the modern world? While reducing wireless radiation in our immediate vicinity, and exposing ourselves to Sunlight on a daily basis will help fuel our ancestral flame, there are many other variables to consider. Bohdanna and I appreciate that each of us is unique, and there is no one-size fits all diet that is perfect for each and every person. We are speaking from our own experience. We know many vegetarians who felt fantastic initially, since they were making other health-conscious decisions as they began to eat more vegetables, along with taking more supplements, only to feel worse in the long run. If you’ve stopped eating dairy, and know you’re feeling healthier, could it be due to the fact that you’re eating more iodine-rich seafood instead? (Thank you
for that observation).The only yo-yo diet we need is one yolked to the circadian rhythms of Nature. When we eat in season, we reduce the amount of oxalates we could be getting from juicing oranges, or having raspberries on our yogurt in the middle of winter. When we eat outside, we maximize metabolic efficiency. Letting animals digest vegetables for us is another way we can flow with the cycles Nature has provided. For instance, when we eat the meat or butter from cows that eat grass, we absorb the brain-healthy DHA from their meat. This DHA fatty acid then helps us combat the chronic effects of stress, including wireless radiation.14 The carotenoids found in shellfish help protect us against photoexcitation, or persistent stress and retinal damage from synthetic blue light.
There are many other factors to consider, from calcium supplementation to offset oxalate toxicity, as well as deciding on low-oxalate food sources that heal. In our recent interview with photobiologist Dr. Alexander Wunsch15, Bohdanna and I discussed what foods can help counter electromagnetic stress. Dr. Wunsch heals patients with color therapy, and understands how we can apply the visible rainbow to optimize any health condition. He believes that the color green is essential in mitigating stress from wireless, and that foods high in chlorophyll may be beneficial. The marine algae chlorella is not only high in chlorophyll and low in oxalic acid,16 this food source helps us detoxify heavy metals that may synergize with EMF. After years of tweaking various nutrition protocols, along with help and input from our beloved friends, colleagues, and fellow readers, we’ve created:
We can’t state this enough: each of us has individual needs, and lives in a different environment.17 However, Bohdanna and I have applied the following to our lives as part of The EMF Diet we have designed by eating:
Sunlight first thing
No blue light - artificial light elimination diet before Sunrise / after Sunset
Grassfed butter and ghee - especially in our coffee (which is low-oxalate)
Dark leafy greens of the cruciferous variety, along with chlorella
Grassfed meat & wild-caught seafood rich in DHA
Shellfish, which also helps protect against blue-light stress18
Positive thoughts before breakfast and after dinner
We’d love to know: which foods do you find help you feel the best?
If you’re a naturopathic doctor - we’d love to hear from you! What do you think about The EMF diet?
In the coming months, Bohdanna and I will be diving deeper into the land of low-oxalate eating. We’re excited to unlock another door in our health journey! We’ll be tracking our progress until the cows come home.
We are more powerful than we know,
Roman & Bohdanna
Join us as we greet 2025 with the light 🔥 of our ancestors - Illumination. Knowledge. Vitality.
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https://sallyknorton.com/oxalate-science/
Lorenz EC, Michet CJ, Milliner DS, Lieske JC. Update on oxalate crystal disease. Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2013 Jul;15(7):340. doi: 10.1007/s11926-013-0340-4. PMID: 23666469; PMCID: PMC3710657.
Killilea, David & Killilea, Alison. (2022). Mineral requirements for mitochondrial function: A connection to redox balance and cellular differentiation. Free Radical Biology and Medicine. 182. 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2022.02.022.
Pall ML. 2013 Electromagnetic fields act via activation of voltage-gated calcium channels to produce beneficial or adverse effects. J Cell Mol Med 17:958-965.
Firstenberg, A. The Invisible Rainbow (2020)
https://ehtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/3.Havas_.StetzerWHODirtyElectricityStudies-E-7-Sub-1115.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjorl.2015.04.013
https://cellphonetaskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Update-on-Satellites.pdf
https://bookshop.org/a/103957/9780593139585
Raimondi, V., Ciccarese, F. & Ciminale, V. Oncogenic pathways and the electron transport chain: a dangeROS liaison. Br J Cancer 122, 168–181 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-019-0651-y
https://www.lightcoloursound.org/event/idl-2018/presenter/alexander-wunsch
Bhardwaj, Suman, and S.C. Agrawal. "Effects of oxalic acid on chlorophyll content, vegetative survival and reproduction of the freshwater green algae." Indian Journal of Scientific Research, July 2017, pp. 90+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A504179124/AONE?u=anon~f586c06f&sid=googleScholar&xid=4f4f9d6f. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.
Disclaimer: we are not licensed medical professionals, and this article is not medical advice. Everything we say or do is based upon our own personal experience. #emfdiet
A question for you with a comment first, that I can appreciate all the homework Power Couple is doing to die together the loose ends. This is my question: When I say that I am hearing EMF, I can hear the high frequency sounds that bother many people, but the ones that rattle my bones are the low frequency sounds. They vibrate me internally. I do not want to say that they drive me crazy because I am doing everything I can to keep from going there. So...Power Couple, I would not believe that hearing the low frequency cannot be the same cause as hearing the high frequency, but it wasn't addressed, and I rarely see it addressed. It's not the low-hum sound of a truck, it's the irritating, undulating sound of the actual frequency in action. I can hear when it plainly. I can also hear the "dirty electricity" sound in a less pulsing way, I would call it more erratic and driving. Is it possible to address these sounds and their causes and relationship to your subject?
Great article!
I think it was Mercola that pointed out many years ago that the consumption of saturated fat along with foods containing oxalates can help mitigate their harmful effects.
I cut back on oxalate rich foods about 15 years ago when I also eliminated lectin rich grains and beans from my diet. Nuts, especially almonds (the skin) are noted for being high in another anti-nutrient - phytates. Foods rich in oxalates are often rich in lectins. Even fish has significant levels of lectins. In fact, one study I read (long ago) noted that fish has more lectins than red meat.
Cooking and fermentation are the historically traditional ways to reduce all of these anti-nutrients.
Removing lectins, solanacea and reducing oxalates from my diet, making sure all of my food is well cooked (except for some fruit and raw liver from my goats) and incorporating more fermented foods were the best things I've ever done for my health.