Ethan Okunas is twenty-eight years old, works a full-time nine-to-five, and runs @quantum.dietitian on the side — which is a description that undersells what he has built considerably. He is a D1 wrestler turned purple belt currently recovering from injury and about to get back on the mat. He has a master's degree in nutrition and has spent the years since building a first-principles framework for health that goes deeper than any conventional dietitian credential would take you: quantum biology, deuterium in the food supply, DHA as the quantum molecule that powers human physiology, biophotons produced by cold thermogenesis, and the circadian architecture that governs every hormone in the body. He has two books — Quantum Weight Loss and Quantum Nutrition — available on his page. He is newer to the space than Nathan Siles or Dr. Jack Kruse by his own admission, but what he brings is an ability to simplify complexity without losing precision that makes this information genuinely accessible. He is going to keep getting bigger. Follow now.
I came across Ethan Okunas's page the way I imagine a lot of people in this community do — one post that made complete sense, then another, then another, until I realised I was encountering someone who had built a genuinely coherent framework rather than a collection of health takes. Every post landed because it came from first principles rather than from ideology. That is rare. And it is exactly the conversation we had in this episode.
Ethan is twenty-eight. He is a D1 wrestler and a purple belt. He works a full-time job. He runs the quantum dietitian page on the side and has written two books. He has a master's degree in nutrition and has spent the years since going considerably further than his credential would require — into quantum biology, deuterium depletion, biophoton research, and the light-water-magnetism framework that people like Dr. Jack Kruse and Nathan Siles have built their work around. He describes himself as newer to this space than those two, which is honest and also somewhat irrelevant — what he does that neither of them does quite as efficiently is make the complex immediately practical. He is someone I will be following closely. He is someone you should follow now.
The through-line of this entire conversation is one that has been building across the last several episodes of this show and is now something I consider settled in my own thinking: you cannot fix a broken engine by changing the fuel. The light, the water, the circadian signal, the time spent outdoors — those are the engine. Food is the fuel. Both matter. But the sequence matters more than most people in the health space are willing to say, because the sequence makes the supplement catalogue mostly irrelevant.
Quantum What? First Principles, a Broken Engine, and Why Food Is Fifth
Quantum nutrition is not a branding decision. It is a description of the approach: looking at health from the most fundamental level possible rather than from the downstream symptoms that conventional nutrition addresses. Ethan uses the word quantum the way an engineer uses the phrase first principles — you are not asking what supplement addresses the symptom, you are asking what, at the most basic level of physics and biochemistry, produces the health outcome you are trying to reach or avoid.
The example he opens with is the one that frames everything else in the conversation: weight loss. We can agree that most people who are overweight are either moving too little or eating too much. The GLP-1 drugs proved it is mostly the eating — suppress the appetite, people lose weight. But the next question is the one nobody in mainstream medicine is asking: why are these people overeating in the first place? The biochemistry answer is hormonal. The quantum answer is one level deeper: what is disrupting the hormones? And the answer there is light, water, magnetism, and circadian disruption — not the food itself.
"Food is like the fuel. Food isn't gonna fix a broken engine. Stuff like exercise, light, circadian rhythm — that stuff is gonna have a much bigger impact than food will."
— Ethan Okunas · @quantum.dietitian · Author, Quantum Weight Loss · Quantum NutritionHis priority stack is explicit and worth locking in. In order of actual impact on health and longevity: light and circadian alignment, movement and exercise, water quality, sleep, and then — fifth — food. This is not anti-nutrition. Ethan is a dietitian who has thought carefully about food for years. It is pro-sequence. If you have a perfect diet and a broken light environment, bad sleep, sedentary movement patterns, and poor water quality, the diet will not save you. The reverse is also true — and the research on VO2 max and muscle mass as longevity predictors makes it explicit: you can eat McDonald's at every meal and be significantly healthier than someone who eats only from the farmers market but never moves and never goes outside.
93% of Americans Never See the Sun: Sunglasses, Car Windows, and the Eighty to Ninety Percent of Benefit You Are Filtering Out
Ninety-three percent of the average American's time is spent indoors. This number, cited in recent research Ethan references, is not an abstraction — it is a description of the modern lifestyle that has quietly become normal: wake under artificial light, drive to work with windows closed and sunglasses on, sit in a fluorescent office for nine hours, drive home with the windows closed, park in the garage, go inside, screen until sleep. The number of photons from natural sunlight that reach the eyes and skin in that day: close to zero.
The mechanism Ethan explains is the one that makes this more than a wellness talking point. Photons from the sun hit the DHA in the retina — and DHA is a quantum molecule, meaning it converts light into electricity. That electrical signal travels to the hypothalamus, which controls leptin, thyroid function, insulin sensitivity, and effectively every other hormone in the system. The hypothalamus is the master regulator. Light is the master input. Everything downstream — including the food choices, the energy levels, the weight, the sleep quality, the hormonal balance — is determined by what the hypothalamus is receiving from the light environment.
"Eighty to ninety percent of the benefit of the sun is through your eyes. If you're sitting behind a glass window, it blocks UVB, blocks UVA, most visible spectrum passes through but also blocks red and infrared. And wearing sunglasses outside basically ruins the whole reason you went outside."
— Ethan Okunas · @quantum.dietitian · Author, Quantum Weight Loss · Quantum NutritionThe practical implications are immediate. Car windows filter UVA, UVB, and infrared — leaving only a fraction of the useful spectrum. Sunglasses block the remaining benefit of the light that did get through the glass. The person driving to work in sunglasses with the windows up has chosen, without knowing it, to receive approximately zero percent of the light signal their hypothalamus requires to regulate every hormone that governs their energy, appetite, sleep, and body composition for the rest of that day.
The minimum viable intervention: open the window on the drive to work. Pop it open even ten minutes. The photons that reach the eyes through an open window versus a closed one represent a significant difference in hypothalamic signal. The ten to fifteen minutes of sunrise exposure — ideally outdoors, without glass, without sunglasses — is the most important ten to fifteen minutes of the health day. Research Ethan cites shows that seeing the sunrise after a poor night of sleep stabilises leptin and ghrelin to levels comparable to a full night of quality sleep. The sunrise does not undo the sleep debt. But it resets the hormonal signal that determines how the rest of the day unfolds.
Your Collagen Supplement Has a Deuterium Problem. So Does Your Seed Oil. Here Are the Numbers.
Deuterium is the heavy isotope of hydrogen — molecular weight of two rather than one, making it twice as heavy. When deuterium enters the mitochondria in place of hydrogen, it does not fit the machinery correctly and damages the rotors that produce cellular energy. The goal is to minimise deuterium load. The practical question is which foods carry the most.
Ethan lays out the hierarchy with specific numbers that I had not seen presented this clearly before:
- Grass-fed, grass-finished, regenerative beef — approximately 115 PPM. The lowest deuterium content of any commonly consumed food. Historical human baseline was approximately 130 PPM — anything below that is excellent. The Hungarian researcher Laszlo Boros has studied this extensively. This is the primary reason the quality distinction between grass-fed and grain-fed beef matters beyond omega fatty acid profiles.
- Grain-fed conventional beef — approximately 130–140 PPM. Not catastrophic, but meaningfully higher than regenerative. Still far better than the alternatives below.
- Plant proteins including pea protein — estimated 150–170 PPM. Anything plant-derived carries significantly higher deuterium than quality animal protein. This is one of the most important and least-discussed reasons the protein source distinction matters beyond just bioavailability.
- Seed oils — approximately 250 PPM. The highest deuterium content of any commonly consumed food alongside collagen. This is a dimension of the seed oil debate that the mainstream conversation is entirely missing. When researchers defending seed oils are challenged on deuterium content, Ethan notes, they do not respond. The comment gets hidden or ignored.
- Collagen — approximately 250 PPM. This was the most surprising data point in the episode for me personally. Collagen — including bovine collagen peptides — has among the highest deuterium content of any food. The reason is mechanistic: mammals store excess deuterium in collagen specifically so it does not reach the mitochondria. Supplementing collagen is therefore, in Ethan's framework, actively loading the body with the isotope it is trying to keep out of its energy production system. His position: nobody should be supplementing collagen. Get your collagen precursors from real food.
- Synthetic creatine monohydrate — likely very high PPM. Dr. Jack Kruse has been saying this. Ethan agrees: anything produced directly in a lab from synthetic precursors is likely extremely high in deuterium. The most-studied supplement in sports nutrition may be one of the most deuterium-dense substances in the protocol of the average serious athlete.
The antidote to deuterium load is not primarily dietary — it is sunlight, which Ethan describes as the natural antidote to deuterium accumulation. Exercise and sweating also help clear deuterium through pathways that are not yet fully documented in the literature but are supported by the observation that highly active people who do everything else "wrong" dietarily can have excellent deuterium markers. The practical conclusion: the deuterium argument is another reason why the light and movement priorities come before the food choices.
DHA Is a Quantum Molecule. Cold Thermogenesis Makes Light Inside You. Here Is the Science.
DHA — docosahexaenoic acid — is the fatty acid that makes up the majority of the DHA in the retina and the brain. Ethan's framing of it as a quantum molecule is specific and comes from Michael Crawford's work — a researcher who is, by Ethan's account, ninety-six or ninety-seven years old, still doing podcasts, and has been studying DHA since the nineteen-sixties. Crawford's paper on DHA as a quantum molecule describes the mechanism: DHA in the retina converts photons from sunlight into electricity through a process that powers the hypothalamic signal chain. You are, in this framework, literally a battery — and DHA combined with sunlight is the charging mechanism.
"DHA creates electricity from light. Since we are electrical beings, if you're eating a bunch of DHA and getting that light at the same time, you're basically just like a battery — and you're charging it by doing those two things."
— Ethan Okunas · @quantum.dietitian · Author, Quantum NutritionThe practical implication is that seafood — any seafood, not just fatty fish — is the most underrated food category in the ancestral health conversation. Everyone is talking about grass-fed beef, raw milk, and eggs. Almost nobody is talking about sardines, oysters, and any other seafood with serious regularity. Ethan considers this a significant blind spot. The DHA from seafood, combined with sunlight exposure through the eyes, is the most powerful dual-input you can give the system that produces light from food and powers every hormone downstream.
The biophoton section is where the conversation connects the cold thermogenesis question to this framework. Cold exposure produces biophotons — specifically UVB — internally. The mitochondria, when subjected to the hormetic stress of cold, produce their own light. This is why cold exposure has a vitamin D-adjacent benefit independent of sun exposure — you are generating the equivalent of UVB from within. Roland Van Wijk's textbook on biophotons is Ethan's reference here, and the Gurwitsch onion experiment from the 1920s established the basic principle before the technology existed to fully measure it. Every living cell emits light. Every mitochondrion working is producing biophotons. Cold, exercise, and sunlight all increase that production. The aura in every anime is, according to Ethan with genuine seriousness, a fairly accurate depiction of the biophoton field every human body produces.
What to Actually Eat — and the Jiu-Jitsu Schedule Problem Nobody in This Space Is Addressing
Despite placing food fifth on his priority list, Ethan is a dietitian with specific and well-reasoned positions on food that are worth the detail here. The framework is simple: real food, protein at every meal, meal timing aligned with sunlight, no snacking, cook at home.
- Seafood — the most underrated category. Any seafood. The DHA content is the primary reason. Sardines, oysters, fatty fish, any fish. The pregnant women eating more seafood having smarter children data is striking and ancestrally consistent. The mainstream recommendation to limit seafood during pregnancy due to mercury concerns appears, based on the research Ethan cites, to be significantly overstated relative to the DHA benefit.
- Grass-fed, grass-finished, regenerative beef. The deuterium content difference between regenerative and grain-fed is real and significant. If the financial means exist, buying half a cow at approximately twelve dollars per pound for ribeyes is one of the most cost-effective upgrades available. Where the budget does not allow, grain-fed is still far preferable to processed alternatives.
- Local and seasonal vegetables. Eat like an adult. Whatever is in season in your region. Winter means squash, apples, sweet potatoes — the low-deuterium, low-sugar options that your ancestors in the same climate would have eaten at that time of year. Summer allows more variety because light exposure and activity compensate for a wider food window.
- Meal timing: eat when the sun is up. Three meals, no snacking, nothing within three to four hours of sleep. The circadian signal from food timing is second only to the light signal in setting the body's twenty-four hour clock. Even if the food quality is imperfect, timing it correctly produces measurable benefits. Night shift workers and those with inflexible schedules should at minimum keep meal timing consistent day to day — consistency of timing is the second-best circadian signal after the correct timing.
- Eliminate: seed oils, processed foods, synthetic supplements. Seed oils carry approximately 250 PPM deuterium — equal to collagen as the most deuterium-dense commonly consumed substance. The avocado oil chip category is, as Ethan notes, largely a marketing exercise — there are not enough avocados in the world to supply every store in the country with genuinely avocado-derived oil. Cook at home. Use animal fats or genuine olive oil. Avoid the centre aisles of any grocery store.
- Collagen supplements: stop. The deuterium content at approximately 250 PPM makes this one of the worst possible supplements from a quantum biology standpoint. Get collagen precursors from real animal food. The supplement industry will not tell you this.
The jiu-jitsu schedule problem is the one that I wanted Ethan to address directly and he did not soften it: a conventional jiu-jitsu training schedule — evening class under fluorescent lights, dinner after class, screens until ten — is from a circadian alignment standpoint genuinely working against the body rather than for it. The exercise benefit is real and significant. But the timing creates a cortisol spike late in the day, a light environment that suppresses melatonin, and a food timing that misaligns with circadian insulin sensitivity. His position: jiu-jitsu done at the wrong time in the wrong light environment is a net stressor for most people — valuable in terms of movement and skill, but requiring deliberate circadian mitigation to avoid undermining everything the training is supposed to support.
My schedule — 6 AM teaching, 10 AM training as the primary session, 6 PM as a secondary session — is, by Ethan's framework, closer to optimal than most. The 10 AM session is ideal. The 6 PM session is a stressor that needs to be managed: blue-blocking glasses after that session, meal timing adjusted, sleep environment protected. This is entirely consistent with what Nathan Siles said in EP114 and what I have experienced directly since prioritising the light environment over the supplement stack.
Nature
He did not hesitate.
Nature.
Everything in this conversation, from the first principles of quantum biology to the deuterium content in collagen supplements to the broken engine analogy for modern chronic disease, points in one direction: we have gone down the wrong path, and the path back is not a supplement or a protocol or a biohacking device. It is reconnection with what has always been available, always been free, and has always been the primary input the human body was designed to receive.
Sunlight through unfiltered eyes. Bare feet on the earth. Real food prepared at home. Movement that produces sweat. Sleep when it is dark. Water that has not been processed to the point of inertness. Meals that align with the position of the sun. A circadian rhythm that has not been systematically disrupted by artificial light, artificial food, artificial schedules, and the artificial complexity of an industry that profits from your not knowing that the answer was outside the whole time.
"Everything basically is about reconnecting with nature. We've totally gone down the wrong path. Just heading towards being as aligned as you can — that is the most important thing anyone can strive for."
— Ethan Okunas · @quantum.dietitian · Author, Quantum Weight Loss · Quantum NutritionThis show has been building toward this conclusion across the last several episodes. Nathan Siles got me there on the light side. Dr. Jack Kruse's framework confirmed it. Ethan Okunas gave me the food and deuterium layer that completes the picture. The answer is not more optimisation. It is less disconnection. The most powerful health intervention available is the one that has always been available — go outside, see the sunrise, touch the earth, eat real food, sleep in the dark.
Ethan is on his way back to the mat. He is on his way to becoming one of the most important voices in this space. I am following closely. You should be too.
The Bridge Between the Natural Light Environment and the Modern World
Ethan's framework and Nathan's framework and my own experience all point to the same conclusion: the light environment is the primary input. Biospectral Systems builds the tools that make it possible to protect that environment when you cannot be outside — the Luca Nero frames I wear every day with yellow day lenses on the computer, phone, and under LEDs, with orange night lenses after sunset, and the full-spectrum broadband light bulbs that launched October 1st and replace your infrared panel with continuous passive exposure. Code JOSHBUTTON for 15% off at biospectralsystems.com.
Grass-Fed. Grass-Finished. Regenerative. The Lowest Deuterium Protein Available.
Ethan's deuterium data makes the quality distinction between regenerative and conventional protein more important than most people realise — and Lineage Provisions is the standard this show holds for exactly that reason. Highest quality grass-fed protein from regenerative farmers. Code JOSHBUTTON for 15% off at lineageprovisions.com.
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Quantum Weight Loss · Quantum Nutrition · @quantum.dietitian
Follow @quantum.dietitian on Instagram. Both books — Quantum Weight Loss and Quantum Nutrition — are available through his page. If you have been following this show through the Nathan Siles episodes and the light health framework, Ethan's content is the next layer. He makes the complex accessible without losing the precision. Follow now.
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