#162 - Sarah Hallberg, D.O., M.S.: Challenging the status quo of treating metabolic disease, and a personal journey through a grim cancer diagnosis

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May 17, 2021

In this conversation with Sarah Hallberg, Medical Director at Virta Health, she shares her groundbreaking insights on treating type 2 diabetes through carbohydrate restriction. She challenges long-held beliefs about dietary fats and underscores the need for personalized metabolic management. Sarah also recounts her personal battle with lung cancer, emphasizing resilience while navigating her diagnosis and prioritizing family. Her journey illustrates the intersection of innovative health strategies and personal perseverance in the face of adversity.

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INSIGHT

Carb Restriction Discovery

Sarah Hallberg's frustration with traditional dietary advice led her to explore carbohydrate restriction.
She found it effective for weight loss and diabetes reversal, challenging conventional wisdom.

ANECDOTE

Clinic and Research

Dr. Hallberg opened a carbohydrate-restricted clinic and observed significant diabetes reversal in patients.
This led to her anger at the lack of this approach in standard guidelines and motivated her to pursue research.

ANECDOTE

Clinic Patients and Education

Dr. Hallberg's clinic treated patients with metabolic diseases, predominantly type 2 diabetes.
She proactively educated other departments to address potential resistance to her carbohydrate-restriction approach.

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Sarah Hallberg is the Medical Director at Virta Health and a physician who has spent nearly two decades treating patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes. In the first half of this episode, Sarah discusses how she became a huge believer in the efficacy of carbohydrate restriction for the treatment of type 2 diabetes through her research and clinical experience. Sarah challenges the common beliefs about the role of dietary fat and carbohydrate on the plasma makeup of fatty acids and triglycerides. She also expresses the importance of understanding early predictors of metabolic illness—highlighting one particular fatty acid as the most important early predictor—before finishing with a discussion about how doctors might be able to personalize patients’ metabolic management in the future. In the second half of this episode, Sarah tells the personal story of her own lung cancer diagnosis. She talks about dealing with her grief, deciding to continue her work while prioritizing her family, and how she devised a plan to extend her survival as long as possible.

We discuss:

How Sarah discovered the profound impact of carbohydrate restriction for reversing obesity and type 2 diabetes [3:15];
Prediabetes and metabolic syndrome: prevalence, early signs, and the importance of treating early [16:00];
Overview of fatty acids, how they are metabolized, and understanding what you see in a standard blood panel [29:15];
The relationship between diet composition and metabolic markers [35:15];
Why palmitoleic acid is such an important biomarker [48:15];
The best early indicators of metabolic disease [1:00:00];
Personalized management of metabolic illness [1:07:00];
Sarah’s cancer diagnosis and the beginning of her journey [1:15:15];
The emotional impact of a devastating diagnosis [1:27:15];
Sarah’s plan to extend survival [1:36:45];
Sarah’s aggressive treatment plan [1:47:30];
Life-threatening complications and the return of her cancer [1:59:00];
Sarah’s reflections on her approach to life with chronic cancer and balancing her time [2:11:00]; and
More.

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