Paleo Baby

Doctor Bryan Walsh is back with us today, discussing the diagnostic benefits of a simple blood chemistry.  He says the results of common and inexpensive lab panels can be mined for meaningful health information, potentially saving patients a lot of time and money on testing – that is, if you know what these blood markers actually mean (and your average doctor probably doesn’t). Fortunately for us, Bryan knows and loves to teach. In this podcast, he shares a bit about his own journey - what led him to study these basic blood markers, and what now inspires him to teach others.  If you like this episode, visit Bryan’s Metabolic Fitness Pro website, where he continues to develop new educational material for health practitioners and other avid learners. Here’s the outline of this interview with Bryan Walsh: [00:00:58] Bryan's WellnessFX videos. [00:02:07] Textbook: Fischbach's A Manual of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests 10th Edition. [00:04:27] Albumin. [00:05:58] Study: Allen, Larry A., and Christopher B. Grang

Dr. Gari Clifford, DPhil has been studying artificial intelligence (AI) and its utility in healthcare for two decades. He holds several prestigious positions in academia and is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Emory University and an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. We met him at the San Francisco Data Institute Conference in October where he chaired sessions on Machine Learning and Health. Gari recently held a competition challenging data scientists to develop predictive algorithms for the early detection of Atrial Fibrillation, using mobile ECG machines. He shares insight into the complexity of using AI to diagnose health conditions and offers a glimpse into the future of healthcare and medical information. Here’s the outline of this interview with Gari Clifford: [00:01:07] The road to machine learning and mobile health. [00:01:27] Lionel Tarassenko: neural networks and artificial intelligence. [00:03:36] San Francisco Data Institute Confe

UJ Ramdas is the Co-founder of Intelligent Change, Co-Creator of the Five Minute Journal - a simple and effective tool to help you get reliably happier. He cares deeply about the intersection of behaviour and business and loves reading, coffee and meditation. Perform better, have a better day, and sleep better. UJ is with us today to discuss how you can experience these benefits and more using tools he created with his company, Intelligent Change. UJ has a background in behavioural science and hypnosis, and since 2013 has been producing the Five Minute Journal, which condenses hundreds of articles, books, and research into a simple daily practice. The benefits can be dramatic, including improved productivity, better connection with others, and increased satisfaction with life. He also shares the details of his latest project, the Five Minute Journal for Kids. Here’s the outline of this interview with UJ Ramdas: [00:00:38] UJ's first experience mountain biking. [00:00:49] MastermindTalks. [00:01:34] Mike Brc

Diana Rogers, RD, LDN, NTP, is a “real food” nutritionist, international speaker, and writer who lives on a working organic farm in Carlisle, Massachusetts. She is also a consultant to some of the most influential people in the ancestral health world and the host of the Sustainable Dish Podcast. We met her in September when she presented at the annual conference of the Icelandic Health Symposium hosted by Dr. Tommy Wood, MD, PhD. In this interview with Tommy, she discusses her current project, a film entitled Kale vs. Cow: The Case for Better Meat, in which she defends the nutritional and environmental benefits of eating meat from local and sustainable sources. In doing so, she challenges common assumptions about plant-based diets. As promised at the beginning of the audio, here’s the link to the AIMed and BASEM conferences. Here’s the outline of this interview with Diana Rogers: [00:00:22] Nom Nom Paleo, Dr. Kirk Parsley, MD. Podcast: How to Get Perfect Sleep with Dr. Kirk Parsley, MD. [00:00:44] Undiagno

Sarah Wnenchak has been working with us for the past 18 months and she recently kindly agreed to be interviewed for my podcast. We think that Sarah’s neurological and hormonal problems originated from several rounds of antibiotics for tonsillitis, and as the pictured Doctor’s Data Comprehensive Stool Analysis before and after shows, she responded very well to a herbal weeding and probiotic seeding protocol. Perhaps the most crucial change Sarah made while working with us was the switch from oral birth control to The Fertility Awareness Method. Sarah is now a Bulletproof certified health coach and consults with clients on diet and lifestyle alongside her vinyasa style yoga teaching at Truly Yoga Studio where she is the founder. Here’s the outline of this interview with Sarah Wnenchak: [00:00:44] Bulletproof Training Institute. [00:01:14] Tonsillitis. [00:01:23] 5 rounds of antibiotics. [00:02:51] Hormones and oral birth control. [00:05:31] Neurological symptoms as side effects. [00:06:43] Depression and anxiet

After spending years directing urinary and salivary hormone testing, analytical chemist Mark Newman set out to combine the best of both worlds with the DUTCH (Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones). For the past couple of years, we’ve been happily using the DUTCH as a tool for improving health and performance in athletes as part of our Elite Performance Program. In this interview, Mark discusses the recent expansion and improvement of the DUTCH to include the cortisol awakening response (CAR), and several markers related to hormone and neurotransmitter metabolism. Here’s the outline of this interview with Mark Newman: [00:00:54] DUTCH (Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones). [00:02:49] Cortisol clearance. Video: Tutorial on cortisol. [00:03:32] 8-Hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG). [00:05:02] Obesity. [00:05:21] Cushing’s syndrome. [00:05:44] Fat sequesters hormones. [00:08:58] Thyroid and cortisol clearance. [00:09:20] Studies: 1, 2, and 3. [00:11:51] Circadian rhythm. [00:12:39] Cortisol awaken

This episode is a roundtable discussion with Tommy Wood, MD, PhD and New York Times best-selling author Robb Wolf on Robb’s new Keto Masterclass, a 45-day program to kickstart your keto lifestyle. The masterclass is an online training course that I completed ahead of recording this episode. Think of the class as a comprehensive instruction manual complete with troubleshooting guide for fat loss and improved metabolic health. If you’re brand new, the course is perfect for you. If you’ve been living the lifestyle for some time, it may still be helpful to read the manual to see if there’s anything you’ve missed. Here’s the outline of this interview with Robb Wolf and Dr Tommy Wood: [00:01:15] Ken Ford on STEM-Talk. [00:01:33] Books: The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet, Wired to Eat: Turn Off Cravings, Rewire Your Appetite for Weight Loss, and Determine the Foods That Work for You. [00:03:34] CrossFit. [00:05:28] Ryan Levesque, Ask Method. [00:07:30] Blog: Optimizing Cycling Stage Race Performance using

Dr Jeffry N. Gerber, MD, FAAFP is a board-certified family physician and owner of South Suburban Family Medicine in Littleton, Colorado, where he is known as “Denver’s Diet Doctor”. He has been providing personalized healthcare to the local community since 1993 and continues that tradition with an emphasis on longevity, wellness and prevention. In this interview, Dr Gerber describes the major root causes of cardiovascular disease, the most important of which is insulin-resistant Type 2 Diabetes. Worried about your heart disease risk? Get a coronary artery calcium (CAC) score. Your CAC score (and the rate of progression of your CAC score) is probably the best easily-available predictor of cardiac events. A recent paper from the CARDIA study also showed that an elevated CAC score was highly predictive of long-term heart disease risk in younger adults (18-30 year-olds). Here’s the outline of this interview with Dr. Jeffry N. Gerber, MD: [00:01:27] Clinical experience. [00:02:27] Interest in low-carb diets. [00:

This episode brought to you by Rock Lobster Cycles, beautiful bicycles handbuilt in Santa Cruz, California. In our last interview, scientist and world champion rower Dr Brianna Stubbs had recently successfully defended her PhD in Biochemical Physiology and reached a juncture in her career. Ten months later, Brianna has retired from professional rowing but continues her passion for biochemistry with San Francisco based nootropics company HMVN where she is working to commercialise the D-BHB ketone monoester developed at Oxford University alongside Prof. Kieran Clarke. The big news is the wait is over! After over a decade of research, the ester is finally here. This interview is two rolled into one. In the first part, we talk about Brianna’s transition out of academia and professional sport and into the world of Silicon Valley startups. In the second part, Brianna talks about the benefits of the ketone ester and takes on some of Dr Tommy Wood’s challenging questions given to me by ahead of the interview but uns

Our Scientific Director Megan Hall (née Roberts) recently had some of the work from her Master’s degree published in the journal Cell Metabolism, which is seriously impressive. The paper appeared on Science Daily, and generally caused a bit of a stir in the low carb community. As we have direct access to the horse’s mouth, I’ve asked Megan to join me in this episode of the podcast to summarise the findings and give some thoughts on how it might relate to human health. Here’s the outline of this interview with Megan Hall: [00:00:55] Mastermind Talks. [00:01:47] The lead up to the study. [00:02:17] Time-restricted feeding. [00:02:38] Are they eating longer because of a less crappy diet? [00:04:21] Calorie restriction was the focus of Megan's lab. [00:05:27] Stephen Phinney, MD, PhD and Jon Ramsey, PhD. [00:06:13] Study design. [00:07:36] High-fat diets in rodents. [00:08:39] Two arms: longevity and healthspan. [00:10:55] Grip strength in a rodent. [00:11:40] Novel object test. [00:12:55] fMRI for body compositi

Dr. Ben Bikman is an Associate Professor of Physiology & Developmental Biology at Brigham Young University. He has a PhD in Bioenergetics and did his postdoctoral work in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases such as obesity. In this interview with Dr. Tommy Wood, MD, PhD, Ben talks about his recent tenureship and research on the metabolic effects of insulin and ketones on fat cells. Also discussed are two schools of thought in obesity research and how both groups may be right about various aspects of weight loss. As you might be able to tell, I struggled a bit to find a picture of Tommy in the lab to match Ben's. Props to Tommy for allowing me to use the pic on the left (taken in jest), I thought it too funny to go to waste. Here’s the outline of this interview with Ben Bikman: [00:01:59] Dr Ben Bikman recently made tenure. [00:02:46] The tenureship process. [00:04:14] Presentation: Insulin vs. Ketones - The Battle for Brown Fat by Dr Ben Binkman. [00:05:16] Podcast: Recap: Icelandic Health Symposium 2

Andy is a tenured Professor in the Center for Sport Performance at California State University Fullerton, and Director of the Biochemistry and Molecular Exercise Physiology Laboratory. Having previously been a competitive football player, weightlifter, and martial artist, Andy now uses what he learns in his research to help amateur and elite or Olympic athletes in multiple sports, from UFC to the NFL. Andy recently co-authored a book with Brian MacKenzie and Phil White called Unplugged. As the name suggests, a major theme in the book is avoiding the pitfalls of modern technology. One theme of the book is the use of hormetic stressors - pushing your physiology with cold or fasting, for instance, to improve health and performance. In this interview, Andy talks about how he is using that in terms of recommendations for the general public, and in his elite athletes. Our favourite Andy Galpin quote from this episode: When you're optimising, you're not adapting Here’s the outline of this interview with Andy Galpin:

In this special episode, NBT client Ryan Baxter takes over the mic to ask Dr Tommy Wood, MD, PhD, some excellent questions around fuelling for Obstacle Course Racing (OCR). Whilst Tommy’s answers are somewhat specific to OCR, all athlete may find some helpful tips here. Below are the questions that Ryan asked, and a summary of Tommy’s response. Q: Diet can be like politics or religion, how do you effectively communicate your ideas about how athletes should fuel? Be honest about the fact that there is more than one way to skin the cat Start with real food - eliminations and diet subtypes are secondary It’s OK to supplement if needed Q: What is the most common problem you see when it comes to nutrition and athletes? Undereating and underfuelling Worrying too much about the minutiae Thinking they can eat whatever they like because they exercise Focusing too much on supplements without wanting to get the basics right You need to figure out if you’re somebody that should worry *more* or less about their nutriti

This interview with Dr Tommy Wood, MD, PhD was recorded in person, September 2017 the day after the Icelandic Health Symposium conference on longevity. The conference speakers were Rangan Chatterjee, Lilja Kjalarsdóttir, Satchidananda Panda, Ben Greenfield, Bryan Walsh, Doug McGuff, and Diana Rogers. You could listen to this podcast for a recap and commentary on the conference and the practitioner workshop that took place the day after the presentations. Here’s the outline of this interview with Tommy Wood: [00:00:44] Gudmundur Johannsson at IHS. [00:01:03] Icelandic Health Symposium 2016. Podcast. [00:01:33] Ben Greenfield Fitness. [00:01:43] Podcasts: How to Run Efficiently with Drs Cucuzzella & Wood, How to Fix Autoimmunity in the over 50s with Dr Deborah Gordon and Social Isolation: The Most Important Topic Nobody is Talking About with Dr Bryan Walsh. [00:04:04] Dr Doug McGuff. [00:04:21] YouTube Channel: Jeff Kendall-Weed. [00:04:47] Dr Rangan Chatterjee. [00:05:21] The Bredesen Protocol. Podcast

Simon Marshall, PhD, trains the brains of endurance athletes and fitness enthusiasts to become happier and more mentally tough. He is former Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego and Professor of Exercise Science at San Diego State University where he was Director of the Graduate Program in Sport & Exercise Psychology. He has published over 100 scientific articles on the psychology of exercise and has been cited in the scientific literature over 10,000 times. He has served as an invited expert on exercise science for the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the American Cancer Society. He is currently the Performance Psychologist for the BMC Racing team, an elite WorldTour professional cycling team. As the sherpa-husband of professional triathlete Lesley Paterson, he is the founding member of Team S.H.I.T. (Supportive Husbands in Training) and competes in triathlon or cycling events as the husband of Lesley Pate

For decades we’ve heard that diabetes prevention is simple—lose weight, eat less, and exercise more. But something is wrong with the conventional wisdom. Nearly 115 million people live with either diabetes or prediabetes in the United States, and that number is growing. It is time to reverse this trend. Virta was founded in 2014 with the goal of reversing diabetes in 100 million people by 2025. They have made this possible through advancements in the science of nutritional biochemistry and technology that is changing the diabetes care model. James McCarter, MD, PhD, is Head of Research at Virta, and in this interview, Dr McCarter explains how Virta is using a combination of a very low carb, ketogenic diet together with 1-on-1 health coaches and some sophisticated machine learning techniques to predict sentiment in natural language and spot anomalies in blood biomarkers. After the recording was made, Dr McCarter realised that he was off by about a decade on Joslin. Rather than 1920s, Dr. Elliott Joslin actuall

When a 13-time National Champion reaches out to say that she’s been enjoying your podcast, there’s only one thing you can do: invite her onto the show. I love to spend time talking to elite athletes to find out what makes them tick, and one trait I’ve seen consistently in cyclists is they spend a lot more time maintaining the engine than they do worrying about equipment. Frequently, and like me, the athlete is forced to be their own health detective. Never was this truer than for Katie, and in this interview, she talks about her experience tracking down the causes of her chronic leg pains that often prevented her from racing and training. Katie also talks about her experience eating a very high-fat, ketogenic diet, and it's one that we’ve seen consistently with the clients we work with at NBT. Photo: CX Magazine. Here’s the outline of this interview Katie Compton: [00:00:50] Why cyclocross? [00:02:51] Single-speed MTB. [00:03:58] Level of commitment. [00:05:36] Book: The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Pr

Solving a problem requires understanding what caused it, and rarely is it good enough to move straight to remediation. The same applies to weight (fat) loss, and in this podcast, Dr Tommy Wood, MD, PhD and me discuss the underlying causes of over fatness and draw on three specific examples that represent common patterns we’ve seen in the 1,000 athletes we’ve worked with over the past three or four years. Here’s the outline of this interview with Dr Tommy Wood: [00:00:13] Podcast: Mind Pump Simulcast. [00:01:44] Problem solving. [00:03:22] Sustainability. [00:03:38] First Example: Elite female runner. [00:04:23] Relative energy deficit. [00:08:42] Description of NEAT or Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. [00:09:03] Study: Pontzer, Herman, et al. "Constrained total energy expenditure and metabolic adaptation to physical activity in adult humans." Current Biology 26.3 (2016): 410-417. [00:11:33] Greasing the groove. [00:12:44] Counting and cycling calories. [00:14:27] 10% deficit. [00:15:42] Pharmacological

James Hewitt is Head of Science & Innovation at Hintsa Performance. His work includes consulting with Formula 1 drivers and teams, work in elite sport and with global corporations, a wide-range of written articles, presentations, keynotes and workshops in Europe, the United States and Asia. In this interview with Dr Tommy Wood, James discusses a polarised approach to cognitive performance, arguing that time spent in the middle gear is time wasted. James also explains why smartphones are so compelling yet interfering with our ability to concentrate. Here’s the outline of this interview with James Hewitt: [00:01:15] Book: Exponential by James Hewitt and Aki Hintsa. [00:03:31] Website: Hintsa Performance. [00:04:20] Newsletter: Nourish Balance Thrive Highlights. [00:04:50] Article: A day in the life of Scott, hopelessly distracted office worker by James Hewitt. [00:05:38] Polarised training. [00:06:18] Cognitive task load model. [00:08:01] World Economic Forum Report: The Future of Jobs and Skills in the

Aaron Alexander has been professionally working with clients of all ages seeking a variety of goals from pain relief to improved athletic performance for over 10 years. He is currently seeing clients at his office, Align Therapy, inside of Crossfit LA, Santa Monica. Aaron began the journey as a nationally certified personal trainer specializing in corrective exercise and nutrition consultation. During that time Aaron studied psychology at the University of Hawaii. Soon after, he evolved into becoming a licensed manual therapist studying myofascial release, neuromuscular therapy and trigger point therapy at Maui School of Therapeutic Massage. A fascination with connective tissue lead him to study structural integration at the Rolf Institute in Boulder, CO. Being an LMT and CPT on top of a Rolf Structural Integration Practitioner, Aaron has a strong understanding of the intricacies of the body and mind. Here’s the outline of this podcast with Aaron Alexander: [00:02:17] The link between posture and the way we f