Paleo Baby

If you’d have asked me six months ago what insulin did, I would have answered, “it stuffs energy into cells”. I think most people would say something similar. My answer isn’t wrong, but facilitating the uptake of energy into cells is not the most first or most important thing that insulin does. Last week I completed the first few modules of an introductory physiology course from Duke University, and I found this in one of the lectures: The type two diabetic is a situation where we have receptor desensitization and the individual does not respond correctly to insulin. Insulin is present in the system, but the receptor is desensitized. And so, you don't get the movement of glucose from the blood into the skeletal muscle cells correctly. These statements don’t directly answer my question “what does insulin do?”, but they imply that insulin is required to move glucose (energy) into a cell. This is wrong, and they’re not the first to make the mistake. This quote from “Insulin: understanding its action in health a

Your performance on a mountain bike has four pillars of support: cardio, mobility, skills and strength. Most riders only worry about one or maybe two. Could you be a good rider with just one pillar? Maybe, but why limit yourself? This week it’s been raining pretty solidly here in northern California, and honestly, I couldn’t care less. In years gone by, I'd have been donning rain gear and even spending time on the trainer in an attempt to maintain my aerobic engine, but now I understand that cardio is just one of the four pillars. I get plenty of time to improve my cardio on the trail, so in the rainy months, it makes sense to work on my strength and mobility. James Wilson is a strength and skills coach whose programmes and teaching have been tremendously helpful to me over the past few years. James helped me understand that I wasn’t going to get any faster by doing more of the same and that road riding wasn’t going to make me a better mountain biker. Light hands and heavy feet make for better mountain biking

Standing on the shoulders of giants is what I do at Nourish Balance Thrive, and none more giant (figuratively!) than strength and conditioning coach, author and speaker Jason Seib. I’ve been listening to Jason and Sarah Fragoso’s Everyday Paleo podcast (now renamed JASSAFIT) since my earliest days eating a paleo diet, and I still find their wisdom and practical advice helpful both personally and professionally. If you head over to his website and sign up for Jason’s list, he’ll send you the instructions I’ve been using in my practice called The Fat Loss Directive. Like all good solutions, the new AltShift diet scratches a personal itch. Jason’s wife Sheryl was unable to shake off the baby fat despite eating a nutrient dense paleo diet and so Jason recommended, as always, more walking and strength training. These changes yielded some good results: greater muscle mass and strength, but unremarkable changes in Sheryl's appearance. Jason then suggested the next most logical thing: reducing carbohydrates. This cha

Gas, bloating, diarrhoea, constipation, reflux. Modern allopathic medicine still does more harm than good for these common and chronic health complaints. I often think about what my life might be like now if I’d listened to my gastroenterologist and written off diet, lifestyle and infections as a potential cause of my gut issues. I wonder if by now I’d still be taking anti-inflammatory steroids or if I would have gotten to the point where I needed surgery. A better solution was to take a deep dive into gut testing to uncover the root causes underlying my bloating and diarrhoea. Stool testing allowed me to find amoebic and pinworm infections, urinary organic acids showed yeast overgrowth. Together with some diet and lifestyle changes these problems were treatable with botanical herbs and with just one prescription medicine. My guest today is physician, researcher, author, critical thinker, educator and health enthusiast Dr. Michael Ruscio. Michael is a functional medicine practitioner who emphasizes nutritiona

So small, so abstract, it’s very hard to get your head around the idea that mitochondria are important. For me, knowing that these tiny organelles make up 10% of our total body weight (25% of the heart) helps put things into perspective. Mitochondria allow us respire with oxygen and produce vast amounts of an energy molecule called ATP. In fact, each one of us produces our body weight in ATP every day! The greater the number of healthy mitochondria, the better you feel and the faster you go. Even more incredible, recent research suggests that mitochondria come from a bacterial lineage and at some point made friends with our cells to form modern eukaryotes. My guest today is functional medicine practitioner and medical doctor, Robert Rountree. Dr. Rountree was named recipient of the Linus Pauling Functional Medicine Award at IFM's 2015 Annual International Conference, held in Austin, Texas. Dr. Rountree received the award for his pioneering work in the development of Functional Medicine and his role as a highl

This week I’ve got Dr. David Minkoff, MD on the show to talk about protein supplementation. Before going any further, I should make it clear I’m all for real food. Spend your money at the farmer’s market before you spend on any supplement. Having said that, I’ve also had great results taking supplements, and I’ve seen many other athletes enjoy the same. Close to the top of the list, especially for athletes with digestive complaints, are free-form essential amino acids. Dr. Minkoff is a board certified pediatrician and fellow in Infectious Diseases and has extensive postgraduate training in Complementary and Alternative Medicine. He’s an expert in Functional Medicine, Chelation, Allergy Elimination, European Biological Medicine, Neural Therapy, Longevity/Aging Medicine, Enderlein Therapy, Insulin Potentiated Therapy, and more. And equally important, Dr. Minkoff is an athlete himself, having competed in over 40 IRONMAN competitions. During this interview, we talk about protein and their amino acids building bl

Today’s podcast episode is a bit different than usual because I’ve solicited questions from the Optimising nutrition, managing insulin Facebook group for kidney expert Dr. Jason Fung. If this is the first time you’ve heard of Jason, you might be better off starting with his Sigma Nutrition Radio interview and also The Aetiology Of Obesity YouTube playlist. The questions are great - they cover the topics of blood glucose levels, type 1 and type 2 diabetes issues, fasting, muscle loss, what Jason recommends as an effective treatment for diabetes and much more. Before we get into the Q&A, let’s start out by clarifying some things about diabetes that Jason was very insistent that we understand... The difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Many people think that type 1 and type 2 diabetes are closely related but Jason insists that’s wrong. They are “completely different diseases” and “you can’t even talk about them in the same sentence.” Type 1 diabetes is a problem of not enough insulin. The proper

So many emails! They seem to be breeding here in my inbox. Wait, what’s this, PayPal wants to validate my social security number? That’s odd, let’s click and see what it is. A form. Ah yes, I know how to do this, it’ll only take a minute. Submit, done. One less email in your inbox, one less problem to deal with Or is it. The next day your boss appears at your cubicle with some guy you don’t recognise. This looks ominous, what could they want? They want to know Why you clicked open that message from PayPal, why you were confusing personal and company email. “It was late and I was tired”, you explain. You clicked on the link because you have brain fog And this isn’t the only situation where your focus has been less than optimal. The guy with your boss is a security expert like today’s guest Mike Zusman, and the email is called a simple phishing attack. Mike is a Cat 1 (fast) mountain biker and one of the three founders of New Jersey based security firm, Carve Systems. Mike and I have been working together for a

Blood testing is an underutilized way in which you as an athlete can improve your performance. Think about a car that's not running smoothly. Sure, you could make some guesses as to why it's not running right, but you're probably going to need to do some tests to understand the underlying root causes. Your body is similar, but rather than spanners and wrenches, our toolkit consists of diet, sleep, movement, stress reduction and supplements. I have for you today a unique episode of the podcast. Dr. Tommy Wood is an athlete, a medical doctor, a research scientist, and the director of our clinical coaching programme O2 Boost. Tommy practises what he preaches, but his work life balance is far from ideal, and his test results are far from perfect. The O2 Boost process is simple. First, place an order. Shortly after, you'll receive a PDF requisition that you take directly to LabCorp, no need to visit your doctor. If you’re lucky enough to be in the UK, the process is even simpler: the test can be done at home from

For more than 35 years, Phil Maffetone has brought the latest advances in fitness and nutrition to health-care professionals around the world. Dr. Maffetone has a bachelor’s degree in human biology and a doctorate in chiropractic, with certifications in physiotherapy, Chinese medicine, and kinesiology. Dr. Maffetone has worked with world-class athletes and celebrity personalities, as well as people from all walks of life. His extensive list of clients include professional football and baseball players, race-car drivers, Olympic medalists, and, of course, six-time Hawaii Ironman Champion Mark Allen. Phil Maffetone is an internationally-acclaimed author, having published more than 20 books including the first on heart-rate monitoring (early 1980s) and the first on the benefits of barefoot running (1990s). Dr. Maffetone’s textbook, Complementary Sports Medicine (Human Kinetics 1999), is published in English, Italian, Japanese, and Korean. Dr. Maffetone continues to write extensively and lecture worldwide on he

Iron levels and biochemistry have impacted my personal performance in a dramatic way. Recently I've been racing cyclocross, something for which I lack talent. For those of you who don't know cyclocross, it's a lot like short track mountain bike racing but most of the bikes look a road bike with drop handlebars. The start is really important, and the course has hundreds of corners and so the sport doesn't suit slow-twitch athletes like me. This year I’ve been enjoying some dramatic gains in my performance. These gains are nothing to do with training, in fact, I've been training less than ever before. The key to performance is health, and that's why I've got Dr. Tommy Wood on again today to talk about some of the biochemical tweaks I've been making and also the serious issue of iron overload (haemochromatosis). First let’s talk about anaemia. Some people think of anaemia as synonymous with iron deficiency, but iron deficiency is just one of many things that can cause anaemia. Diagnosing anaemic tendencies requ

How does a personal trainer write a best-selling book? Vinnie Tortorich has become a sensation in the personal training and fitness world because of his work with celebrities and by his moniker, “America's Angriest Trainer.” His book, “Fitness Confidential” has been on the Amazon bestseller list for over 2 years and is currently #6 in the Amazon “health and fitness” category. It’s a bestseller because it’s both funny and helpful. How does a fitness trainer become such a successful writer? Hear Vinnie tell the story himself, in the way that only he can, on this episode. How did Vinnie Tortorich become a personal trainer? Vinnie started using a gym before the commercial ones existed. As a kid, he stepped into a cinder block shed with a metal roof in a neighbor’s back yard. That’s when he first started working out and got interested in health and fitness. There was no such thing as a personal trainer in those days. Vinnie began doing actual training when others saw the results he was getting from his own exercis

Joe Friel has trained endurance athletes since 1980. His clients are elite amateur and professional road cyclists, mountain bikers, triathletes, and duathletes. They come from all corners of the globe and include American and foreign national champions, world championship competitors, and an Olympian. He is the author of ten books on training for endurance athletes including the popular and best-selling Training Bible book series. He holds a masters degree in exercise science, is a USA Triathlon and USA Cycling certified Elite-level coach, and is a founder and past Chairman of the USA Triathlon National Coaching Commission. Joe conducts seminars around the world on training and racing for cyclists, multisport athletes, and coaches, and provides consulting services for corporations in the fitness industry. In this episode of the podcast, Christopher Kelly interviews Joe about a wide variety of topics. It’s a rare glimpse inside the mind of a pioneering coach that you’ll enjoy. Curiosity drives Joe Friel to see

What does it take to become a world-class triathlete? If anyone knows, Mark Allen does. Mark is a six-time Ironman Triathlon World Champion. He was able to win his first Ironman in 1989, and his last 1995 at age 37. He has also excelled at the Olympic distance, winning the sport's inaugural World Championships in 1989 in Avignon, France, by more than a minute. He was also undefeated in 10 trips to the Nice International Championships, and from 1988-1990 he put together a winning streak of 20 races. In this candid conversation, Christopher Kelly asks Mark a wide variety of questions about heart-rate and training, nutrition, mindset, and much more. All of that and much more in this episode of the podcast. Mark’s first Ironman race, a successful failure. When Mark Allen saw his first Ironman race on television he was immediately intrigued. He wondered if he had what it took to even finish the race. He’d done no biking and very little running over the years but felt that being on the swim team in college would ma

Will Catterson is a high school maths teacher and competitive swimmer, and in February 2002 he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.  Will is amazing in that he immediately worked out that the  American Diabetes Association nutrition guidelines are wrong. From that moment onwards, Will has been striving to continue an active life without riding blood sugar rollercoaster. If you ever want to know about how much a particular food is likely to affect your blood sugar, just ask a type 1: "I would never wish type 1 diabetes on anybody, but it has given me a unique window into how the body operates... I only get into trouble when I eat something that requires a lot of insulin... if I eat a meal that requires a lot of insulin, it's just not going to go well. I know that the workout that I'm about to do or the competition that I'm about to attempt is just not going to go well." Since Will is a very competitive swimmer, I wondered if switching to a low-carb diet has affected his performance in the water: "I haven't noti

I don't think many people heard this interview with Robb Wolf when it was originally broadcast back in June 2014.  At that time, the Nourish Balance Thrive podcast didn't exist, and Julia and I awkwardly broadcasted it on our other show called the Paleo Baby podcast. Robb is an amazing guy. With his second child just weeks away, he must have had so much on his mind at the time of this interview, and yet he delivered an incredible hour of wisdom. Sadly I don't think much has changed in the past year or so. Rather than greater acceptance as something you ought to try first, the Paleo Diet has continued to be misunderstood by the mainstream media. No this is not necessarily a low carb or high protein diet! The strawmen arguments will not die. Listen to the interview and let me know what you think. Do you have questions for Robb? Perhaps I could get him back onto the show to answer them, let me know in the comments below. You can hear me on Robb's show here.

Gabriela Schneider is the Primal Blueprint Certified Expert, young science writer and cook behind beyondthebiteforlife.com. Gabriela has been using a combination of the autoimmune immune protocol, a ketogenic diet, and the PK protocol to treat her neurological chronic Lyme disease. About a year ago Gabriela was kind enough to gift us this guest post on the PK protocol for Lyme, and since then the article has been viewed over 6,000 times for an average of five minutes. Gabriela's blog has lots of fantastic ideas recipes for those eating according to the autoimmune protocol, and I'd also highly recommend her Instagram account. The book I mentioned the interview is called Healing Lyme by Stephen Buhner. During the interview, Gabriela mentions Dr. Kaslow, but meant to say Dr. Cahill (in reference to her parasite doctor).

I've got my wife Julia (Julie) Kelly on the podcast this week to answer some frequently asked questions that she receives during nutrition coaching sessions. We didn't get time to cover everything, so I think will do another follow-up show later.  The questions are: Why do you do this? What makes you different? What's the difference between a food scientist and registered dietician or nutritionist? Marty Kendall of Optimising Insulin recently linked this article on the Diabetes Australia website. I think this is solid evidence to support Julie's decision not to become registered or licensed. How many calories should I eat? Do I need to track calories? How many grams of carbohydrate, fat and protein should I eat? When will I lose weight? I still haven’t lost any weight, when’s that going to happen? Do I need to be in ketosis? What should I eat for breakfast? What about when I'm travelling? Can I bend the AIP rules? Pictured below, our daughter Ivy. Ivy eats exactly the same food we do. Did we miss your quest

Professor Tim Noakes is a towering but controversial figure in the health and fitness world, having written more than 50 scientific books and articles covering a variety of topics that challenge the industry standards of both medicine and sports nutrition. After discovering that the current international dietary guidelines have little basis in science, Tim Noakes began his own research on the effects of dietary protein, carbohydrate and fat. His research convinced him that a high-fat, low-carb diet is the best option for many people. In today’s episode Christopher Kelly chats with Tim about the benefits of a low-carb, high-fat diet, but not before covering the issue of hydration for athletes and why more harm than good is being done by the promotion of an overhydration myth. This is an engaging, thought-provoking conversation you won’t want to miss. Is it true that endurance athletes need to overhydrate in preparation for competition? In his book “Waterlogged,” Professor Tim Noakes gives a definitive, “No” an

Kevin Hall’s study “Calorie for Calorie, Dietary Fat Restriction Results in More Body Fat Loss than Carbohydrate Restriction in People with Obesity” was picked up by almost all the popular news outlets. The BBC, The Guardian, Time Magazine, The Washington Post and LA Times all weighed in. Stephen Guyenet and Bill Lagakos both wrote very interesting articles worthy of your attention. The examine.com and NHS commentary were also good. Dr. Tommy Wood described the study as “groundbreaking” and “the most well designed and best controlled ever”. From the title, the conclusion was clear, the low-fat diet resulted in more fat-loss than the low-carb diet. Unfortunately, and as always, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Professor Richard Feinman described the study as "a very distressing paper", not for its conclusion, but for the missing data. "Nobody loses an average amount of weight," said Feinman, "habeas corpus datorum" (show me the body of the data). During the interview, Dr. Feinman mentions QED Stat