Blue Light Toxicity And How To Avoid It

Toxicity and infection are the cause of chronic disease at the very core. One toxin that is often overlooked and ignored is blue light. Blue light is the artificial light emitted from the fluorescent and LED light bulbs in your home, work and school, your phone, computer, tablet and television, LED alarm clocks and street lights. It was only 150 years ago that humans were exposed to no artificial light at all. The only light we were exposed to at night was moon light, dim candle light and the orange light of a fire. We have not evolved to deal with chronic blue light exposure.

Blue light exposure acts as a mitochondrial poison*, disrupts the circadian rhythm and prevents the production of melatonin that results in issues falling asleep and staying asleep. Melatonin is also crucial for the brain to detox efficiently. Blue light exposure has been shown in studies to increase blood pressure and has also been linked to insulin resistance, weight gain (especially around the waistline due to excess cortisol), mood disorders, eye damage, increased night time cortisol and cancer.

*The mitochondria are responsible for making ATP that your cells use for energy. If the mitochondria inside the trillions of cells in your body are poisoned, sufficient  energy will not be produced and this affects every single system of the body.

Being exposed to artifical blue light at night sends a signal to the brain that it is daylight and that you need to stay awake, this is very confusing for the body. This distrupts normal hormonal secretions that occur as we wind down for sleep. Naturally our bodies wake with the sun and fall asleep after sundown.

So what do we do to address this? Blue light is everywhere but there are some clever hacks we can follow to avoid blue light, reset our circadian rhythm and improve our sleep and our health overall.

In summary ~ WE WANT ONLY NATURAL BLUE LIGHT EXPOSURE FROM THE SUN IN THE DAY, AND ONLY ORANGE AND RED LIGHT AT NIGHT. This replicates the natural cycle of nature and how we have lived for the majority of our human existence.

BLOCK ARTIFICIAL BLUE LIGHT

#1

Wear clear lense blue light blocking glasses during the day if you work under LED or fluorescent lights and are unable to use a blue light blocking feature on your computer such as Iris and f.lux. Clear or yellow blue blocking glasses are only suitable for day time wear. I like Baxter Blue and Quay.

#2

Wear orange or red tinted blue blocking glasses after the sun has set until you go to sleep. Orange to red blue blocking glasses block the entire spectrum of blue light whilst the clear lense glasses only block a very specific blue light wavelength, this is not enough for evening wear when we want protection from ALL blue light spectrums. I like these blue light blockers.

#3

Use the blue blocking setting or app on your phone and blue blocking software on your tablet and computer. Iris and f.lux are the best.

#4

As soon as you can in the evening turn off any LED or fluorescent lights. Invest in a red globe or do what I did and paint a light globe with red non-toxic acrylic kids paint. A Himalayan salt lamp also has a nice orange glow.

#5

Make sure your bedroom is as dark as possible while you sleep. If that is not possible invest in a high quality sleeping mask that does not press on the eyes and distrupt REM sleep. If you need a light during the night invest in a red light torch or red night light.

#6

Do not take any electronics into your room. Only use and charge electronics outside the bedroom and do not use a LED alarm clock.

#7

Expose your eyes and skin to the sun as soon as you can upon waking to signal the body that it is daylight. This is an important step in resetting the circadian rhythm. Exposure to the NATURAL blue light from the sun during the day tells the body it is day time and then only having orange and red light exposure at night tells the body it is night time and time to sleep. This step alone increases energy dramatically and balances hormones.

IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: I also want to emphasise here that one of the major causes of ME/CFS is mitochondrial poisons and cellular constipation. It isn’t only mitochondrial poisons such as heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, prescription drugs, mycotoxins from mould, EMFs and intracellular infections that poison the mitochondria and prevent energy from being produced and many other negative effects ~ Blue light is a major mitochondrial poison too as previously mentioned.

It is absolutely crucial to avoid blue light if you are healing ME/CFS, Lyme or want to optimise your health.

Are you avoiding blue light? How has it helped you?

 

Food Combining For Optimal Digestion

Proper food combining is essential for optimising digestion because different foods require different environments to digest and are broken down and move through the gastrointestinal tract at varying speeds.

Combining certain foods can lead to bloating, gas due to fermentation, dysbiosis, inflammation, lymphatic stagnation, issues with glucose metabolism, brain fog and fatigue.

The digestive process requires more energy than any other system in the body. Combining certain foods together puts added stress on the digestive system to do its job properly and tends to flare pre-existing health conditions and symptoms.

Adhering to the food combining principles listed below will allow your digestive system to process food much more efficiently and therefore you will experience a reduction in any unpleasant digestive symptoms and potentially many other symptoms you didn’t realise were linked to the health of your digestive system. Food combining is also a crucial practice to follow if you are healing from a chronic illness.

FOOD COMBINING RULES ~

DO NOT Combine Protein & Carbohydrates*

*The only exception is low carbohydrate vegetables and leafy greens with protein.

Protein rich foods require an acid environment with acidic enzymes to be digested whilst carbohydrates require an alkaline environment with alkaline enzymes. Consuming both protein and carbohydrates together typically leads to indigestion because proteins require a very acidic environment to be broken down into amino acids. Protein is very hard to digest. Consuming a carbohydrate with a food rich in protein will stimulate the secretion of alkaline enzymes and create a more alkaline environment preventing protein from being broken down adequately. This can lead to gas, bloating, stomach pain and fatigue.

DO NOT Combine Fat & Carbohydrates*

*The only exception is low carbohydrate vegetables and leafy greens with fats.

Combining fats and carbohydrates is a recipe for disaster. It is also one of the most common combinations found in modern cuisine because it is the most palatable and hugely addictive.

The body’s preferred fuel source is glucose, once a carbohydrate is broken down into simple sugars it’s enters the blood stream (fructose has to first be converted to glucose by the liver prior to reaching the blood stream). An increase in blood glucose stimulates the production of the hormone insulin. Insulin’s job is to deliver glucose into the cells where it is used for energy.

The issue is, if a fat is consumed at the same time as a carbohydrate or if a high fat diet is consumed prior to carbohydrate consumption, the fats are broken down into fatty acids in the small intestine, travel through the lymphatic system and then into the blood stream where they coat the cells and inhibit the uptake of glucose into the cells. This results in hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, lipid induced insulin resistance and may in extreme cases lead to diabetes. Blood sugar issues are not caused by natural sugars, but the fat it is combined with. This combination also tends to cause a flare in dysbiosis, fungal overgrowth in the GI tract and systemically and SIBO particularly when it comes to combining fat with fruit, starch or concentrated sugars like maple syrup, honey and coconut sugar. The reason this occurs is because carbohydrates are typically digested and metabolised very fast, fat slows down the digestive process and gut mobility when combined with carbohydrates and this tends to lead to the fermentation of sugars and starches in the gastrointestinal tract ~ hello flatulence!

DO always eat fruit alone on an empty stomach.*

*The only exception is consuming raw leafy greens, some low carbohydrate vegetables, greens powders, sprouts, spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and vanilla with fruit if tolerated.

DO always eat melons alone on an empty stomach.

DO properly combine fruits. Acid fruits can be consumed with sub-acid. Sub-acid fruit can be combined with sweet.

DO combine starches such as grains, beans and legumes with starchy vegetables, low carbohydrate vegetables and leafy greens only.

DO combine nuts and seeds with low carbohydrate vegetables and leafy greens only or eat alone.

DO eat concentrated protein sources with whole food fats, low carbohydrate vegetables and leafy greens.

A recommendation I give regularly is to also eat from LIGHT TO HEAVY over the day. This means you are consuming the foods with a faster transit time first and the foods that digest at a slower pace after. This is the best way to prevent fermentation and bacterial and fungal flares.

For example: In order throughout the day ~

~ Lemon water

~ Celery juice or green juice

~ Melons

~ Smoothie

~ Whole fruit

~ Raw salad with low carbohydrate vegetables and fat or cooked vegetables and salad. Any denser protein sources and fat are best left until later in the day after the lighter and easier to digest foods are consumed.

This approach is also in sync with the body’s natural rhythm of eliminating in the AM and building in the PM. Eating lighter in the day allows the body to complete it’s daily cycle of elimination and it also supports the liver in detoxification.

Not only do people report feeling better when they follow proper food combining principles but they typically lose weight, inflammation melts away and swelling and lymphatic stagnation resolves.

I will leave you with my favourite food combining charts below.

Image via The 80/10/10 Diet.

Image via @fullyrawkristina

Image via Dr Robert Morse

Have you tried food combining? What results have you had?

With love, Amy x