Diatomaceous Earth, anybody have information about it?.

reply to post by watcher6342

I have been away reading about this stuff for quit awhile and am surprised at the number of responses to this thread since.

So far the "reviews" I have run across online all over the place are skewed toward the positive for a whole butt-load of purposes.

And way back when I was young, I ate a lot of "dirt" because I didn't know any better because I was a silly kid, but you know what?, I felt good when I was a kid and want nothing more than to feel good again.

Two years ago I rode my bicycle from florida to Wisconsin towing a trailer full of camping gear and the dog I mentioned in the OP straight there over two mountain ranges, and that didn't hurt as much as it was fun, just to give some perspective to how good I usually feel, how good I want to feel....I try really hard but the years keep rolling by and I just keep moving a bit slower all the time.

It is fed to livestock as a matter of course, being the conspiracy theorist I am frequently accused of being by those who are still in a slumber, that does not surprise me at all...

Anyway.

Food grade won't scar your lungs or hurt you, but it will dry out your nose. Best to keep a ventilated area when applying it. So for personal use, on pets, in home pest control, etc., make sure it's food grade.

It's added into wheat to control grain pests. So when you eat those products you are ingesting some of it.

And no, it's not kitty litter as someone asked lol, think of talcum powder as far as how it would fly all over, kitty litter is clay, etc

I did a little studying on this a while back but couldn't find much conclusive real evidence. I did find a lot of good things about certain clays though. I don't have any of the DE around here, except for some at LOWES but I'm not sure if that is safe for consumption.

I looked into DE a while back. Food grade is actually consumed by many people. I have heard all sorts of benefits, from sound sleep, less pain to accelerated hair growth. It is kind of crazy, all the things attributed to it. I have a bag of it that keep on hand. I have mixed it with juice and drank it, and it has no taste, quite easy to take. However, I can't attest to whether or not it does anything spectacular. I haven't been committed to taking it regularly.

reply to post by Danbones


I would really avoid putting any type of nicotine substance around my pets. The plant can kill them if they chew it and if they lick up enough of the leaves it would cause at the very least a reaction if not death. Please people be super careful what you put around your pets.Even things like onions can make them sick or kill.

I am a professional pool mechanic and I use D.E. on a regular basis. PLEASE do not ingest D.E.; the only use I know of it is for filtration purposes. If you read the bag or bucket it actually has warnings on it to keep it stored where animals can not get to it, not to ingest it, and not to breathe it in. D.E. is not just earth; it is full of carcinogens. I advise you all to use it for your pool's filtration system and for no other reason.

Side note- D.E. filters work much better than sand or cartridge as far as keeping your pool clean is concerned. It's a little more work if you take care of your own pool because you have to add more D.E. after every time you backwash, but if you use a service you won't have to do anything but pay for it; it's not very expensive at all.

reply to post by MyHappyDogShiner



As I understand it . . .

It is very important to avoid any use which would hazard humans or animals breathing ANY of the dust.

The micro-oranisms' shells can be VERY hazardous in the lungs. How and why is searchable on the net. I don't remember the details. I just recall that it is EXTREMELY hazardous to human and animal lungs.

reply to post by Pistoche


That is wrong.
lol

Joe Rogan had a stupid show on SyFy last year with a Morgellans episode - they put one of the fibers under a microscope and it had DM on it. The person suffering from the disease was putting DM on the Morgellans to help alleviate the itching. Yeesh...

I ate the stuff for about 6 months last year - have a post on it. It works pretty good for awhile more energy - lowers BP but like anything else your body gets use to it. But good luck with it - if you send me a pm i can tell you who i bought it from = its food grade so you can eat it and its pretty cheap - i didn't even finish the jar they sent me in 6 months and its like 20 bucks i think - if that.

reply to post by dreamingawake



As I understand it FOOD GRADE

IS ALSO

VERY HAZARDOUS TO THE LUNGS. It is not the cleanness of the product that is the issue . . . it is the inherent nature of the stuff. IIRC, it can end up becoming like concrete in the lungs--kind of like volcanic ash.

Well you don't snort the stuff - you eat it.

reply to post by BABYBULL24


You made me laugh!

From what I have been reading the types of silica / silicon / different types of DE are unrelated. Amorphous silica (DE) is nothing more than silicon dioxide/ oxide, pool filtration DE is no longer DE because of the way it is treated and is dangerous for any other purpose than filtration, basically turned into silica sand by heat treatment..

Amorphous silica (DE) is absorbable and can be broken down by the body, silica sand just moves on through.

Interesting.

reply to post by BABYBULL24


I think I remember hearing somewhere to make sure that you eat yoghurt and other pre/probiotics so that you don't lose your beneficial gut flora.

I just stuck a tablespoon in the vat and ate it.

It definitely clears you out - if you have a tapeworm -
goodbye worm but i have an iron stomach so you
may want to read the directions.
I just ate it dry with no problems.

reply to post by snowspirit


Straying a wee bit off topic, but most do not realize that their "gut" is pretty much a completely open passage to the outside.

There are valves (sphincters) and a few places where chemicals and compounds are added and extracted, but all in all a pretty straight shot minus a bunch of convolutions and muscle action.

And also it was revealed to me some years ago that I have only one type of intestinal flora in a test which makes me wonder if that isn't the reason I have allergies to certain foods, considering one's immune system is based on what they are exposed to in the outside / inside world.

Aren't antibiotics fkn great?.

How about that a post that I might actually be able to talk about intelligently. I have been taking DE for a couple of years now to help keep my BP down.
First off there are three types of DM. POOL GRADE: this form has been highly processed. Pressure cooked and other chemicals added. This form will mess you over if you take internally if not outright kill you. Taken internally will cut your insides up. The second type is SALTWATER: this type is not good internally either as there are sediments with it that can be toxic. The third type is FRESHWATER: This one is the one that can be cleaned into “food grade” I would not mess with any of it that is not food grade. Also all forms are bad in the lungs and in the eyes. Use very cautiously to not get it dusting up in the air. If you are using it for your plants or bed or something that will by its nature make a dust cloud use a mask and eye protection.
Diatoms are very small animals that have a siliceous shell. They only live a couple of days and when they die their shell fall to the bottom of the water that they live in collecting over the years that the water is there. After time the water will change course or a lake will dry up leaving the DE in place where the water once was.
BUGS: It will only kill animals with exoskeletons. (for some reason not earth worms) It will attach electro statically and will cut into the chitin. The insects will bleed out through these wounds. As far as bed bugs and flees the problem is that there must be good contact. In a lot of cases the whole bed is not covered and the bed bugs will go around. Not just the bed but the box spring the head board and the floor around the bed.
ANIMALS: food grade DE has been used for many many years with livestock. (Cattle, sheep, hogs, and chickens). It is put in their food to kill parasites. It works very well for this. Not only tape worm but many other worms and parasites. It will also connect to bad bacteria and carry it out of the system. Some people say that it only does this with bad bacteria and not good. I do not know if I believe this so I supplement my diet with Kefir ( a much better probiotic than yogurt). The reason most people have not heard of the use of DE with animals is because in the farm industry it is called “shell flour” (not to be confused with oyster shell flour”.
HUMAN INTERNAL USE: Unknown to most of you, you already consume some of it all the time. Most flour, cornmeal, and grits contain it to keep the mealworms and the like away (dead). Other products have it for the same reason. The reason it does not show up on labels is another think for a different post. As for me I take 1.5-2 tablespoons first thing in the morning with my ACV to help control my BP. It does work for me. I take it in the morning as it peps me up. If I take it at night as I find that I am too hyper to sleep. Other people take it at night as it allows them to sleep better. Another benefit is that it helps to clean your system. It is a natural bowel cleaner. It does help to ensure regular bowel movements and people that get constipated that use it find that they no longer have that problem. I have read that it also helps to cleans the liver, but I do not know if that one is true or not. With the bowel cleansing property comes nicer skin and hair.
Bottom line everyone is different and will react differently.

reply to post by remembering


I've been trying not to breath in D.E. for about 8 years now. I close my eyes and hold my breath when i add it to a system. I even wear rubber gloves. I just can't fathom eating any form of it. To me it would be like somebody offering me "food-grade" asbestos.

Non clumping cat litter is made of diatomite, and zeolite....

Well, I don't want to eat or breathe in cat litter either.

It does, however, make great absorbent for oil spills, and two bags are a nice 40 pound load in an ALICE if you want to ruck up and go running.