Alcohol

When carbohydrates, primarily from fresh fruit, enter the digestive tract, the body ferments those sugars and the fermentation process creates alcohol. This is the same process that creates alcohol externally when juice is left to ferment, but occurring at biological scale and concentration inside the body. The enzymes that accompany carbohydrates in fruits and vegetables are present during this process in substantial quantities, which is one reason Aajonus valued whole fruit over isolated sugar: the fermentation is enzymatically guided rather than uncontrolled.

The fermentation in the digestive tract produces alcohol that the body then uses within a specific metabolic context called the citric acid cycle, which is the cycle of utilizing fat as fuel. Within that cycle, the ideal concentration is 80% fat, 5% sugar or carbohydrate or citric acid (any one of those three can serve the same functional role), and 15% protein. The naturally produced alcohol assists in breaking down fats and making them available as fuel. Without that small amount of fermentation-derived alcohol, the citric acid cycle is compromised.

Because of this, when a person is searching for words or experiencing mental fogginess, Aajonus identified that as a sign of being low on alcohol, meaning the body's fermentation-derived alcohol supply is insufficient to support proper brain function. The body uses this endogenous alcohol as a cleanser, and when it runs low, cognitive clarity suffers. This is the opposite of what commercial alcohol does to the brain: commercial alcohol in quantity shuts down the brain's discerning centers and disconnects the emotional system.

Aajonus described the specific formula for the citric acid cycle in detail: 80% fat, 5% of one of three things (sugar, carbohydrate, or citric acid, used interchangeably in this role), and 15% protein. This ratio governs the body's primary method of using fat as fuel. The alcohol produced from fruit fermentation facilitates this cycle by breaking down the fats so they can be utilized. A small amount of naturally produced alcohol, a small amount of citric acid or fruit sugar, and substantial fat together form the working formula for the body to use fat as energy.

The coconut, particularly its cream, carries significance here because coconut naturally ferments and naturally produces alcohols. Aajonus stated that coconut was the greatest soap in the world for this reason. When coconut cream is allowed to ferment, the oil-soluble compounds and the natural fermentation-derived alcohols work together as a solvent and cleanser. This is also why coconut cream, in the detox meal formula, works as the fat that pairs with the fermentation-derived alcohol from fruit to pull poisons out of the body.

Fruit is always a detoxifier in Aajonus's framework, and the mechanism is precisely the alcohol it creates through fermentation. The formula Aajonus described for a standard detox meal paired fruit with coconut cream specifically because alcohol as a solvent needs fat to work with. The alcohol dissolves and cleanse, but it requires fat as the medium through which dissolved toxins can be carried out of the body. Coconut cream is described as the best fat for this pairing in the detox context.

The quantities Aajonus specified for a detox meal involving fruit: for a small person, half to three-quarters of a cup of berries or fruit; for a larger person, anywhere from a cup to a cup and a half of fruit. This is paired with two to four tablespoons of coconut cream. The raw cream (dairy cream) is the fat required to protect the nervous system during detoxification, because raw cream is described as the only fat that will completely feed the nervous system. Butter will not. Coconut cream alone will not. Kefir will not.

If a person wants to increase the rate of detoxification, they can eat more fruit. But Aajonus specified that doing so requires being ready for heavy detoxification with a lot more fat, and being prepared for symptoms.

The body uses approximately 8% alcohol in its solvent-making process relative to the whole body's needs, and the entire weekly requirement of that 8% can be obtained from consuming one piece of fruit. This makes clear how micro the quantity is. The body is not operating with large concentrations of alcohol even when utilizing fruit actively. Aajonus specified that a diet of approximately 5% to 10% fruit by proportion is appropriate, depending on the individual's level of toxicity and detoxification goals. He kept his own diet at 5% fruit because he described himself as already clean to the point where 10% fruit would either make him sleepy or too hyperactive.

For the body's internal solvent chemistry, the formula is approximately 8% alcohol in the total composition of the solvent produced from fats. This is not 8% of dietary intake; it is 8% of the actual solvent compound the body manufactures internally for the purpose of dissolving and removing toxins.

Aajonus was explicit and consistent that commercial alcohol in any form causes damage, with the degree scaling by how the alcohol has been processed. The categories he identified, from least to most damaging, are:

Raw organic wine occupies the most qualified position. For some people, raw organic wine is beneficial in small amounts because it helps break down and remove hardened fat from the blood and body. However, even raw wine still robs the liver of fat, which weakens the liver and causes it to become lethargic. Eating two raw eggs within ten hours of consuming raw wine restores fat to the liver. The qualification about wine being "for some people" is significant because Aajonus did not present it as universally safe.

The risks with wine become more serious when wine contains formaldehyde, preservatives, additives, or residues from inorganic fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides used on the vines. Even without those, the alcohol can still damage tissue. The French approach of eating rich cream-and-butter sauces with wine was Aajonus's primary example of how to minimize the damage: the alcohol from the wine binds with the fat from the cream and butter, the fat is then utilized as fuel and energy, and less of the alcohol is free to penetrate and injure cells directly. He described the French as having had to eat lots of fat because it was the only way to protect their brains while drinking wine. Civilizations that drink without eating substantial fat lose brain cells.

Beer is brewed, meaning cooked and boiled but not distilled. This places it as more damaging than raw wine but less damaging than distilled spirits in Aajonus's ordering.

Distilled spirits (vodka, scotch, hard liquors) represent the most destructive category. Distilled alcohols penetrate any cell they come into contact with, with the brain, nervous system, and liver being especially vulnerable. There is no mitigation sufficient to make distilled spirits safe. The penetration is direct, the cellular injury is immediate, and no amount of fat consumption fully prevents the damage.

Aajonus's stated maximum for raw wine as a dietary practice was approximately four ounces per month for most people, with some people managing to drink four ounces every two weeks. Even at those quantities, he described it as "a gamble," requiring the consumption of lots of fat, very rich foods, specifically butter and cheese before and during drinking, to bind the alcohol and protect the brain and liver.

Aajonus described the mechanism clearly: alcohol in concentrated commercial form does not follow the normal process of digestion. It penetrates directly into whatever cell it contacts. It "eats right into" nerve cells and liver cells. The cell is not processing it as a nutrient; it is being chemically assaulted by a solvent that was never designed to arrive at that concentration. The liver cells and nerve cells are particularly vulnerable because of their specific biochemistry.

High concentrations of sugar combined with alcohol produce nerve damage, and Aajonus stated there is no way around this. Even raw wine will produce this effect if consumed in quantity. Distilled spirits make the damage worse by orders of magnitude.

Alcohol and carbohydrates, both recent and stored, are described as the greatest assaulters of capillaries. This damage appears on the surface or just below the surface of the skin, particularly in the face. People who have consumed substantial commercial alcohol throughout their lives show visible signs: thick swellings, adipose tissue accumulation in the face, and changes in liver function.

The liver specifically is damaged by alcohol because the alcohol robs the liver of fat. The liver requires fat to perform its extensive functions, including making the bile and digestive substances needed to break down fats in the diet. When the liver is continuously deprived of its fat stores by alcohol, it becomes lethargic, less functional, and ultimately begins failing to process fats properly throughout the body.

Even raw alcohol shuts off the brain's discerning centers. Aajonus stated this directly: the brain shuts those centers down when alcohol is present because it does not want to damage them. The result is the familiar uninhibited behavior associated with drinking. Aajonus's characterization of this is that it can temporarily release excessive inhibition, but the cost is loss of rational control.

At higher concentrations and with ongoing use, the disconnection becomes more systemic. The emotional system becomes disconnected along with the cognitive, and people become irritable without knowing why. He described the pattern of someone reducing from a full bottle of wine to half a bottle: two to three days later, emotional problems emerge that the person cannot trace to the change in drinking. The chemical irritability becomes indistinguishable from personality for the people around the drinker.

Aajonus used the analogy of monkeys that binge on ripe, overfermented fruit in the jungle. The high concentration of fermented fruit produces essentially the same intoxication alcohol causes in humans. The monkeys go on what he described as locust-like rampages, killing everything in their path, behaving in ways entirely foreign to their normal behavior. He drew the parallel directly to human alcoholics and the violence and accidents caused by alcohol, stating that alcohol does to the human brain what that fermented fruit does to the monkey: it can screw up the nervous system entirely when consumed in sufficient concentration.

Aajonus discussed at least one case in which a person showed all the physiological signs of alcoholism, including liver dysfunction and inability to process fats properly, despite never having been a drinker. He explained this by identifying that the genetic damage from alcohol can be transmitted through family lines. The destruction the liver undergoes from alcohol, the physiological changes, the disruption of fat processing, all of this can appear in descendants of alcoholics even without personal alcohol consumption.

Additionally, he identified that in this particular case, the person's own body was forming alcohol out of cooked carbohydrates and the person was allergic to their own internally produced alcohol. This made cooked carbohydrates particularly dangerous for this individual: breads, cakes, and similar foods would go to alcohol instantly in the body, producing the same kind of damage as external alcohol in someone who had no genetic protection or adaptive capacity.

Aajonus described a specific protocol for people transitioning out of active alcoholism. The primary danger at cessation is that distilled and pasteurized liquors artificially heat the liver. When a person stops drinking, the liver undergoes a drastic temperature drop, which causes it to go into shock, producing the delirium tremens. To prevent this, eating at least one quarter pound (four ounces) of raw fish twice daily for three days helps the liver and most often prevents the d.t.'s. Continuing to eat raw fish for another week supports the transition from alcohol dependence.

The underlying reason most alcoholics drink, in Aajonus's analysis, is that they do not break down cooked fat properly. They crave alcohol because it breaks down the cooked fat that their liver and digestive system cannot process through normal enzymatic means. The alcohol serves a genuine functional purpose for these individuals, but the side effects are traumatic. This explains why the protocol addresses both the liver shock at cessation and the fat-processing deficit that drove the craving.

Processed alcohol destroys liver, pancreas, and brain cells by the millions and robs tissues and cells of fluids. Eating raw meats and unheated honey replaces the enzymes and sugars that radical alcohol, whether distilled or pasteurized, destroys by dissolving the membranes around cells. Raw meats and unheated honey also promote the chemical breakdown of residual radical alcohol in the tissues. A diet of 45% raw fat is described as the most healing approach for someone recovering from alcoholism.

For morning support during recovery, eating half a cup of non-steamed dates with a raw fat restores the thyroid and balances blood sugar. Then, throughout the day, small amounts of raw meat with raw fat, alternating with very small amounts of fresh fruit (preferably unripe) with raw fat, keeps blood sugar stable. If a craving for alcohol arises, blending a raw drink (the sources indicate this sentence was cut off, but the pattern of the protocol is clear).

The single case study from the Asheville, North Carolina workshop is instructive: a man in his late fifties who had approximately thirty years of alcohol and drug abuse, who had stopped seven years prior to the observation, showed clear adipose tissue swelling throughout his face from the historical damage, but had the clearest eyes in the room and was cleaner internally than any of the vegetarians present. His protection during the years of abuse had come from being approximately 300 pounds, carrying enough fat in his tissues that the toxins from alcohol and drugs had gone into the fat rather than directly into the cells. He had lost approximately 65 pounds on the Primal Diet by the time of the observation.

Aajonus gave several practical guidance points for people who would consume alcohol socially or in professional contexts where avoidance was difficult:

Eating butter and cheese before drinking binds the alcohol so it does not cause nerve damage or damage the pancreas, liver, heart, and brain. The French historical practice was cited repeatedly as the model: appetizers with butter and cheese, then wine during the meal, giving the fat the opportunity to bind with the alcohol before it penetrated cells.

For beer specifically, Aajonus stated there is "no way out of that one" unless you have lots of fat in the blood. He recommended lots of raw eggs, specifically because eggs provide solid cholesterol that collects the alcohol. Eggs are described as the best thing to have when consuming alcohol of any kind, because the alcohol is "one of the most destructive foods you could eat" and it damages liver cells, and the cholesterol in eggs provides binding material.

The maximum he was willing to endorse for wine was two to four ounces at a time, always paired with substantial fat before and during consumption. The nerve damage and pancreatic and liver damage from alcohol paired with high sugar concentrations remain even when these precautions are taken; the precautions reduce the damage rather than eliminating it.

Aajonus made a specific distinction about fermented vegetables: the fermented bacteria and alcohol produced from fermenting cabbage or other vegetables is designed to digest vegetables, not meat or dairy. Using fermented vegetable products like sauerkraut to try to support the digestion of meat or dairy is a category error. For digesting meat, you want bacteria growing in the meat. For digesting dairy, you want bacteria growing in the dairy fermentation. The alcohol and bacteria produced through vegetable fermentation serve the vegetable kingdom and are not interchangeable with the fermentation processes that support animal food digestion.

Aajonus drew a close parallel between alcohol intoxication of the brain and the effect of excess sugar. When someone has too much sugar, the body produces excess alcohol from the fermentation of that sugar, and this excess alcohol enters the blood and the brain in much the same way commercial alcohol does. The practical recommendation to address an acute sugar-induced state was eating a small sugar-cube-sized amount of cheese every two minutes for twenty minutes to pull the excess alcohol out of the blood and brain. The same principle applies to someone with a hangover from commercial alcohol: the cheese absorbs and pulls the alcohol out.

Aajonus specifically discussed distilled alcohol in the context of tinctures and wound treatment. In wound-healing observations he conducted personally, comparing wounds treated with alcohol, wounds treated with urine only, and untreated wounds, the alcohol-treated wounds healed slowest. Wounds left untreated healed slightly faster than those treated with alcohol. Wounds treated with urine healed approximately three times faster than the alcohol-treated wounds. His conclusion: alcohol destroys bacteria and retards healing. A high bacterial level inspires healing.

For herbal tinctures traditionally made with alcohol, Aajonus recommended substituting hydrochloric acid (via beet juice and apple cider vinegar) as an alternative solvent. His reasoning was that hydrochloric acid dissolves the herbal compounds just as alcohol does, without the tissue damage. Distilled alcohol is described as very damaging to any tissue it contacts. The formula he specified for an alternative tincture base used apple cider vinegar as the primary solvent and approximately four tablespoons of beet juice per cup of vinegar. The beet juice would itself start fermenting due to the acidity of the apple cider vinegar, producing a small amount of alcohol, but not a radical or distilled concentration.

Aajonus specifically distinguished between natural fermentation-derived alcohol and wood alcohol or alcohol derivatives used in industrial processing. Wood alcohol is natural in origin but is not healthy and causes damage in the human body. It is used as a solvent in the processing of supplements and food extracts. When supplement manufacturers ask chemical companies to produce natural-source products, the dissolution processes often involve either kerosene derivatives or wood alcohol derivatives, producing what Aajonus described as "chemical annihilation" of the original food compound. The resulting product is not equivalent to what existed in the original food, and is in fact toxic precisely because of the wood alcohol or kerosene residue involved in its manufacture.

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