Welcome back to Panacea. The newsletter that educates you on how to live better while keeping you entertained. Like those kids’ shows from the ‘90s.

When I grew up (class ‘88 here) we didn’t have peppa pig and spongebob, instead we had kids tv shows like these ones:

Once Upon a Time... Life (the one above) is an animated show from 1987 and explains big concepts about the human body in a simple way through the adventures of different characters and their daily challenges in preventing parasites and other foes to attack the body.

Each episodes covers a different topic and explains everything around it through the eyes of each character.

From a kid’s perspective it makes it so easy to learn new things about health and the human body while you are glued to the screen, because in each episode there is something unexpected happening and the Prof (the guy with a white beard) and his assistants need to defend the body from random attackers.

Growing up, unfortunately, you are not educated on how the body works
(I studied at a gymnasium focused on languages and only in the 5th year we covered anatomy, 2 hours a week) and unless you study medicine or gather that knowledge on your own, you are left guessing or relying on doctors.

No other school integrates those teachings (how the human body works) on their curriculum and growing up I grew up more and more intrigued on how to hack my body to be 100% off doctors and grow stronger and healthier year after year.

The narrative goes that as you get older you get fat and develop a lot of conditions, doctors become your lighthouse of hope to health and you should expect taking some medications to balance the inevitable ageing process.

I live by the belief that the energy you put behind your thoughts helps creating your reality: like an egregore, holding a thought for long enough or repeating something daily will manifest that belief into your reality.

I will design this newsletter to provide you with the tools and knowledge to manifest a healthy and resilient life for yourself.

Today we are talking about 3 of the 4 most vital elements for life

Oxygen | Water | Sodium | Potassium

You can go 3 minutes without oxygen and around 2 weeks without water (although not advisable, but in case you get stranded on an island or lost in the desert, keep in mind that you have some time).
After that is kaputt, done, sayonara.

As humans we are all drawn to live close to the water and for a reason: in 2013 Andrey Melnichenko (russian billionaire) bought the Greek island of Skorpios from the Onassis family. However, because Skorpios had no fresh water, Melnichenko also bought the neighbouring island of Sparti, which had a waterfall.

What Melnichenko should have not known though is how to make the best out of that water. If he did he would have saved some $$$ on the second island, bought a warka tower and installed it on the first one instead.

Now Melnichenko would have saved a lot of money by NOT buying his second island, he would only collect 50 LT of water a day with his brand new warka tower, but by knowing how to absorb water he could have had 20+ guests on the island at any time and have enough water to satisfy the daily water intake of each one of them.

Let’s dissect the process to absorb
MORE water with LESS drinking

The highest concentration of Sodium can be found in seawater: seawater contains 92 minerals.

Of those 92 minerals, around 30% is sodium and 50% is chloride.
Sodium chloride takes up the most amount, so they're the first crystals formed when the water is evaporated.

The process to get table salt on people’s tables involves someone to harvest the first crystals that forms, bleach them white, process them with aluminium so they can run freely, and voilà, table salt is created.

When it comes to food or anything you introduce into your body, always deconstruct it:

How would your body process each single ingredient the whole is made of?

These two minerals need the other 90 minerals to balance them, without them they are dangerous to the body: If you were to inject both of those into the blood, you would die.

Every cell in your body contains two minerals: sodium and potassium.
The highest concentration outside the cell is sodium. The highest concentration inside the cell is potassium.

Around every cell there is a membrane that maintains the balance between the two minerals through a sodium-potassium pump.

Imagine a diet poor in fruits and vegetables
(which are rich in potassium)

Let’s take George as an example: George loves his salt and he puts it on everything but he grew up despising his fruits and vegetables. Because of his dietary choices, the sodium levels on his body are high and the potassium levels are low.

That creates an imbalance in his cells triggering osmosis and diffusion

Osmosis: Osmosis is a process where water moves from an area of less stuff (like salt or sugar) to an area of more stuff through a special wall (we call it a semi-permeable membrane) that only allows water to pass. This happens until both areas have the same amount of stuff).

Back to George: now inside his cells the highest concentration flows into the lowest, so now sodium levels inside the cell are rising, which they should NOT, and the cell swells: this process results in High blood pressure.

A doctor named Jacques De Langre wrote a book called Seasalts Hidden Powers.

The one thing you can take away from this book is that the cure to high blood pressure is celtic salt.

Celtic salt contains 82 minerals. It's a hand-harvested sea salt and it’s moist because it maintains the water inside.
No processing involved. The minerals are in the Celtic salt in their balanced form.

Celtic salt contains three types of magnesium:

1. Magnesium chloride

2. Magnesium bromide

3. Magnesium sulfate. 

Magnesium is a water-thirsty molecule, that’s why Celtic salt is such a moist salt.

• When you get your hands on some celtic salt, put some on your tongue (and I’m talking a very little amount, few grains of salt).

• Your mucous membranes will start absorbing the magnesium you just ingested though the celtic salt.

• The magnesium is then taken to the cell membrane, and when you drink water that magnesium will pull the water inside the cell.

This is the quickest way to hydrate your body with the least waste of water you drink.

Note: give time to your body to absorb the water → instead of drinking one LT of water in one go and go to the bathroom 3 times blaming celtic salt not working, drink little by little so your body will have time to absorb that water.

Another key benefit of sodium
(and I bet 10$ your GP never told you about this one)

Running across our gastrointestinal tract we have something called villi.

The receptor site in a villus is typically referring to the "brush border" (the membrane around the villus - figure above) of the villus. The brush border is made up of many microvilli (check the color in the figure above).

In that receptor site there is a carrier, and the carrier is designed to take the glucose through to the blood.
But the carrier will not accept the glucose unless it comes with a molecule of sodium.

If you were ever told you should cut salt from your diet, beware

You should NOT cut out salt from your diet.
You should use it in moderation and choose the right salt for your body

And unlike your average mountain goat climbing vertical mountains, you can get celtic salt from any healthy shop in your city or on the internet.

That’s if for today tribe. I’ll see you next week with more knowledge to apply to your life.

PS: Did you learn something new from this issue of Panacea? Which was your favorite this week? Let me know on any of my socials @prometheuslair or sending me a feedback at [email protected]

Have an amazing weekend and do not stay thirsty.
Prometheus aka Luca