If you told me a year ago that I would be eating earth right now I would have rolled my eyes. I’ve heard of just about everything – some new mothers eat their placenta, lots of people here in Los Angeles eat only raw food, many people eat only vegetable-based food, but eating earth?
To be specific, earth in this context is actually diatomaceous earth (DE) and I came across it when an old friend told me how much more energetic he’s been feeling since he started taking it daily. Before this conversation, I thought DE was only something used for swimming pool filters.
Being someone curious about anything that helps improve health and well-being for myself, my family and the people I work with, I did some research and discovered some very interesting and exciting things about DE.
What is Diatomaceous Earth?
Diatomaceous earth is made up of fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae. It comes as a fine white powder and it is made up of 80 to 90% silica. There are two types – food grade (safe for human consumption) and industrial grade ( NOT safe for human consumption). While food grade DE is safe to consume, DE of any kind is not safe to breathe.
Some wonderful qualities of diatomaceous earth:
– At a microscopic level, DE looks like a bunch of hollow cylinders with holes punched in the sides (see the picture above)
– Because DE has a strong negative charge, when it’s taken internally it attracts and absorbs positively-charged toxins and pathogens into its cylinder – things like viruses, pathogenic fungi and bacteria, heavy metals, prescription drug residues, pesticides, parasites, radiation – and sweeps them out of our bodies
– DE is very hard (almost as hard as diamonds) and each microscopic piece has sharp edges. It acts to scrub away the packed-on residues we have in our digestive tract and organisms like parasites in our intestines are sliced up and killed then flushed out when we go to the loo
– Remember how DE is 80 to 90% silica? Well, life cannot exist without silica. It’s essential for building healthy bones, teeth, skin, hair and nails. You could call it the beauty mineral and you wouldn’t be wrong. It also helps to strengthen tendons and joints, so it’s very important for active people
And that’s not all, use diatomaceous earth as a safe insecticide
– Do you have ants? Sprinkle some dry DE (wet DE doesn’t work well) along ant trails and wherever they are entering your home. The fine powder absorbs fats from the waxy outer layer of the ants’ exoskeletons causing them to dehydrate and die. We used it very successfully in our home this summer. Toxin-free ant bait, yes please!
– You can use it as a treatment for lice and fleas (it works the same way as in the case of ants), just make sure not to breathe it
Two Simple Ways to Take Diatomaceous Earth
The first is the way I started with DE. Put a tablespoon of DE into a glass, add water, mix well and drink it down quickly. It tastes like chalk so you might want to chase it down with some extra water.
Here is a much more delicious way to take DE:
The Earth Smoothie
INGREDIENTS: 
1/4 cup frozen berries
1 cup almond, rice or hemp milk
1 tablespoon diatomaceous earth
1 tablespoon flax seed (linseed) meal
1 scoop of your favorite protein powder, I use Standard Process Whey
METHOD:
Place all ingredients into your blender. Blend on high. Serve in a glass and enjoy right away.
Below is a link to the diatomaceous earth we have been using (from Amazon,com). If you get the 20lb box they offer free shipping.
