Circulation

The bloodstream, the neurological fluid, and the lymph each have different compositions, speeds, and purposes. The blood moves relatively quickly, driven by the heart's pumping action. The lymphatic system moves slowly because it is thick and viscous, but it does not need to move quickly because its job, delivering nutrients to every cell and removing toxins to the skin for perspiration, does not require speed. The neurological fluid transmits electricity and light for communication throughout the body, and because electricity and light are conducted by metallic minerals, the neurological system is rich in those minerals and in fatty, water-soluble fats rather than oils.

The heart pumps blood through the body, and as a ripple effect, it also moves the other fluid systems in the same direction, because almost every vein and every artery runs alongside nerve tissue and lymphatic channels. They look like branches and roots, all running together. So the heart is not only pumping blood but indirectly moving lymphatic fluid and neurological fluid as well, though much more slowly.

Ninety percent of all toxins are meant to leave the body through the skin, handled by the lymphatic system, which carries them to just under the skin's surface so they can be perspired out. When the lymphatic system is congested or compromised, those toxins cannot reach the skin and instead accumulate inside the body, burdening all three fluid systems and the organs.

Poor circulation in specific parts of the body can have several distinct causes. Adhesion and scar tissue can block circulation to an area. Hardening of local tissue occurs when there are not enough fats in an area and some poison has entered, or when unusable minerals, such as those found in processed water, become deposited in that area. Those mineral deposits keep drawing fats out of the tissue and dehydrating it, because most people eat cooked fats which the body cannot properly use. The result is that the local tissue dries out and hardens in a sclerotic process, like a slow stiffening, and circulation through that area diminishes.

Vegetable oils are a primary systemic cause of poor circulation in the arteries. Herbivores have body temperatures of 101 to 105 degrees, which keeps vegetable oils liquid and constantly exchanging fat and water molecules. The human body runs at 98.6 degrees and lower, and at that temperature, vegetable oils crystallize, harden, and dehydrate. That is what actually causes hardening of the arteries, not animal fats. Animal fats in raw form do not cause arteriosclerosis. Tribes that eat only cooked meats and animal fats with no vegetable oils have no heart disease and no arteriosclerosis. The evidence is absolute.

Cooked animal fats, however, do damage the system because cooking alters their molecular structure. Eating cooked fats consistently means the body is chronically under-lubricated because those fats cannot properly replace the living fats that line and maintain every tissue. The person who avoided fat for years is the person whose circulation is most compromised.

Red blood cells clumping together is another specific cause of impaired circulation. When red blood cells clump, they cannot reach the capillaries effectively. This reduces oxygen delivery and lowers energy. A specific remedy for this is raw milk with raw cheese, particularly Monterey Jack (slightly preferable to cheddar), which creates a chemical reaction in the blood that prevents the red blood cells from sticking together. The protocol is five days per week for two weeks, then three days per week for one week, then two days per week for the remaining time of a six-month period.

Niacin, sometimes taken to boost circulation, is actually nicotinic acid, the byproduct of used vitamin B3. Taking it tells the body it has already had plenty of B3, which gives a temporary niacin flush but ultimately degenerates the tissue that depends on B3. Chewing a small amount of non-chemically treated tobacco, with no saltpeter or any additives, is a better way to restore B3 to the tissue and help re-establish proper circulation in areas that have been depleted.

The single most important practical point Aajonus made about circulation and injury is that ice must never be applied to an injury except for a maximum of two minutes to briefly numb pain. Ice shrinks the veins, blocks circulation, stops blood flow, and causes dehydration in the area because the body begins moving fluids away in an attempt to warm the tissue. The result of icing an injury is scar tissue, restriction of movement, and permanent impairment of that limb over time. Athletes who have their injuries iced and then receive hormonal injections so they can return to play quickly are the same athletes having five or six operations within three years as scar tissue accumulates.

When the body sustains an injury, it increases circulation to that area massively. That swelling is not a problem to be reduced. It is an enormous delivery of nutrients being sent to cleanse and heal the damaged tissue as quickly as possible. Preventing that circulation with ice removes the nutrients needed for proper healing and forces the body to scar instead.

Heat is always the correct approach after the first two minutes of optional pain-numbing. Heat forces circulation into the area, and circulation means an improved flow of nutrients to that area. Whether the problem is an injury, dry tissue around the heart, a dry spinal area, poor circulation in the legs, or congestion anywhere in the body, heat applied externally drives more blood and more lymphatic flow into that zone. Hot water bottles placed against the affected area, covered loosely with a towel to tent the heat inward, are the primary tool for this purpose.

For pain in any area, including headaches, the same principle applies. The skull is hard and does not expand easily, so when the brain swells slightly as part of any detoxification, there is no room and pain results. Hot water bottles placed at the sides of the head, not on top, heat the fissures of the skull so they can open slightly and relieve the pressure. Cold compresses on the head prevent circulation and make the underlying condition worse. The only exception is the very top of the head: if someone in a hot bath or under heavy heat therapy becomes dangerously overheated, placing a cold, wrung-out towel on the crown of the head cools the brain quickly because that is where heat rises. Alternatively, putting fists into ice water up to the wrist for exactly two minutes cools the brain rapidly through the bones of the hands and wrists, which are close to the surface.

Varicose veins and spider veins form because capillaries and veins are thickening with toxins, most commonly metals. Toxic insulin or toxic adrenaline can also cause veins to thicken. Excess water in the system saturates the vein walls and contributes to thickening as well. Caffeine is described as the greatest single cause of flabby varicose veins in most people. The bodies of those with varicose veins have irritating storages of caffeine or other toxins in the veins, making them water-bloated and sluggish. Oral contraceptives and injected contraceptives also directly cause varicose veins and phlebitis by disrupting fat and protein assimilation.

Varicose veins are anatomically swollen capillaries. When people with diabetes develop them prominently, it is the same process that smaller varicosities involve, but on a larger scale. The root cause is improper utilization of sugars in the body: sugars break down the tissues, fats move in to heal the damage, and if those fats are solid (cooked) fats, occlusions can form. But the fats causing the occlusion are not the first cause; the sugar metabolism failure is.

Veins appearing more prominently on the surface during the Primal Diet is not a sign that the diet is causing harm. It is the result of a lifetime of toxic food accumulating in the body and now being processed and released. The process can take up to sixteen years to fully resolve. Carbohydrates accelerate the progression most quickly. Alcohol and carbohydrates, both recent consumption and stored residues, are the greatest assaulters of the capillaries, including the small broken capillaries that appear on the face.

To help heal varicose veins, Aajonus recommended: applying heat to the legs using hot water bottles, wrapped loosely with a towel so the heat is tented but not tight; eating pineapple with raw coconut cream to help break down toxicity in the veins; eating raw unripe pineapple with raw cream or stone-pressed olive oil; taking warm baths frequently; eating raw cheese and honey; rubbing apple cider vinegar on the affected area to chelate the heavy metals making up the thickened vein and capillary walls; eating plenty of raw meat including fish to regenerate the veins over a period of years. Beeswax and honeycomb are also beneficial for veins that are rupturing.

For ruptured veins that are bursting and could lead to thrombosis and varicose veins, adding green cabbage juice (replacing 10% of celery in the vegetable juice formula with 10% green cabbage) addresses a deficiency of vitamin K and vitamin U that allows the rupturing to continue. This correction can be made relatively quickly when the condition has not progressed far. Beeswax and honeycomb are also recommended alongside this protocol, and fruit should be kept very minimal, with banana kept to a half per day maximum, and always eaten with cheese because of its starch content.

High blood pressure is not inherently a problem to be suppressed. If someone has clogged arteries or veins, the body must raise blood pressure to force blood through a narrowed system, otherwise blood will not reach the body and will coagulate. If someone is 500 pounds, their blood pressure should be very high. If there is significant pressure on veins from body weight or blockage in the arterial and venous capillaries, high velocity blood flow is a symptom that something is causing it to be necessary. The correct approach is to eliminate the cause, not to reduce velocity with medication, which can cause strokes. People taking medication to lower blood pressure are significantly more likely to have a stroke than those on the Primal Diet who allow the body to manage its own flow.

The red blood cells have one job: deliver oxygen to every cell in the body so that fat can be used as energy. That is where the greatest energy level comes from, fat burning enabled by oxygen. White blood cells remove carbon dioxide and assist in detoxification. When the bloodstream is burdened with transporting nutrients and removing toxins, both jobs that belong to the lymphatic system, it has less capacity for oxygen delivery, carbon dioxide removal falls behind, lactic acid builds up in the muscles, crystallizes with calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium, and the result is plaques and clots in muscles and skin.

The spleen holds a reserve of red blood cells, approximately a pint and a half for most people, up to a quart for larger individuals. If a person loses a cup of blood suddenly, the spleen immediately dumps that reserve into the bloodstream so the person is no longer anemic. It takes about an hour for the full changeover to complete. The spleen can also release red blood cells when someone becomes very cold, thickening the blood so that the body retains heat better. The spleen does not create blood; blood is grown in the bone marrow. The spleen only stores and releases a reserve.

If the heavy marrows in the spleen are compromised, the stored blood cells are less viable and when released into the bloodstream after a bleed, fewer mature red blood cells are available, which leads to more prolonged anemia.

Zeta potential is the ability for nutrients to stay suspended in fluid. Ruminant animal products consumed heavily throughout all fluid systems of the body can destroy zeta potential, which compromises the suspension of nutrients in neurological fluid and in the blood serum, making those fluids less able to nourish the cells they pass through. This is why Aajonus sometimes noted poor circulation all throughout the torso in people consuming heavy amounts of ruminant products without adequate balance, even when red blood cell counts appeared acceptable.

Hot baths are the best way to get circulation going in the spine. Long baths, or a hot tub where the temperature is maintained consistently, can drive substantial healing progress into spinal tissue that has been dry and poorly circulated for decades. Spinal healing that would formerly take twenty years can potentially be accomplished in three to five years with consistent hot bath therapy taken as seriously as diet. Aajonus noted that shrimp, though mineral-concentrated, did not in his experience produce significant improvements in spinal circulation by comparison.

When the tissue around the heart is dry and caved in, visibly sunken on the chest wall, the heart is close to a failure event. The correct protocol is to apply a hot water bottle directly to that area while lying on the appropriate side, covered with a towel or silk shawl to keep the heat in. Heat forces circulation into the heart area, which improves the flow of nutrients to the tissue. The lubrication formula is indicated alongside this application. This is the principle that governs not just cardiac tissue but every area of the body: circulate nutrients to it by using heat, and the tissue can begin to recover.

In iridology and Aajonus's form of physical reading, bloodshot eyes indicate terrible circulation. A discoloration of the eye shows either a high level of bile in the blood or a very acidic bloodstream. A person can have a strong constitution overall, meaning many radial filaments extending clearly through the iris, while simultaneously having bloodshot eyes, which shows good underlying constitution but active and currently poor circulation. These two things coexist and do not cancel each other out.

Deep massage techniques such as Rolfing are never appropriate in Aajonus's framework because they break veins and capillaries, even when no visible bruising appears. Internal bruising occurs throughout the connective tissue. If arteriosclerosis is present and a deep massage is applied, the practitioner is breaking hardened arterial and venous walls, causing blood to flood into the surrounding connective tissue. The correct massage for the lymphatic system, which parallels vascular circulation, is a very light tickle massage that provides electrical stimulation without pressure. Acupressure when done gently is effective; acupuncture is only acceptable when the choice is between needles or medication.

Cold applications are only acceptable to numb pain, and never for more than two minutes. The instruction "cycle hot and cold showers for increased circulation" follows the same rule: cold applications are limited strictly to two minutes at a time. Heat is always the method to increase circulation of nutrients to any area for increased detoxification and healing.

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