Just like a calorie isn't simply a calorie, a nutrient isn't just a nutrient.  For instance, the zinc in pumpkin seeds isn't absorbed the same way as the zinc in red meat, so it doesn't give you the same health benefits.  The source of your nutrients and the quality of that source are fundamental to your health.  Choosing anything less than the highest-quality, most nutrient-dense foods can lead to excess weight, higher risk of metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases, lower energy, and worsened cognitive function. That's why today I sat down with board-certified nutritional consultant and primal eating expert Nora Gedgaudas to talk all about nutrients. Nora is also a board-certified neuro-feedback specialist, best-selling author, speaker, teacher, and researcher with over 20 years of clinical experience.   In this episode, she breaks down which nutrients we need the most and how to get them from our diet, while dispelling common nutrition myths. 

Most people start a ketogenic diet to reap the fat loss and energy benefits of running on fat instead of carbs, but beginners often struggle during the initial keto-adaptation period – the phase in which your cells adapt to burning fat for energy.  During this keto-adaptation process, your body goes through fundamental cellular changes that improve how you store and create energy, which takes some time.  Today, ketosis researcher Chris Irvin, also known as The Ketologist, joins me to explain what keto beginners can expect from their keto-adaptation phase, how to speed up the process and minimize side effects, and how to use the ketogenic diet for optimal health once you're fat-adapted. Chris Irvin has a background in exercise and nutrition science and he has conducted research about ketosis alongside the famous doctor, professor and researcher Dominic D’Agostino at the University of South Florida. Chris is an expert at taking complex ketosis research and turning it into actionable and digestible information.  Listen in if you're just starting the ketogenic diet, or want to use it more effectively.

Whether you're a competitive endurance athlete, biker, CrossFitter, or barely entering the fitness world, you've probably heard that the best way to fuel your body and speed up recovery is by loading up on carbs.  You may have also been told that the source of those carbs doesn't matter, so you can indulge in pasta all you want.  When Steph Lowe was doing long-cross triathlon a few years ago, she was told the same thing, but she refused to go with the flow.  She believed there had to be a better way to increase performance and endurance without relying on sugar and processed foods. And she was right.  After her own experience as an athlete, Steph Lowe became a sports nutritionist and founded The Natural Nutritionist, where she uses a LCHF ketogenic diet to help other athletes improve not only their performance, but also their blood sugar, metabolism, gut health, mental well-being, and much more.  In this episode, she breaks down why athletes are harming their performance by relying on carbs, and how to make the switch to a ketogenic diet for better results. 

What if everything you were ever taught about dietary fat was wrong?  According to science journalist and best selling author Nina Teicholz, it is.  Nina is an investigative science journalist who became popular after writing her NYT best selling book The Big Fat Surprise, in which she unmasked the truth about saturated fat and how our grain-loving nutritional guidelines are based on bad science and special interests. In today's episode, she explains why we should all embrace saturated fat again and how deeply the low-fat dogma has harmed our health in the last decades. She also reveals why your doctor doesn't recommend a diet high in saturated fats, even though the science clearly shows saturated fat is amazing for our well-being and isn't the culprit of heart disease. Listen in to hear what truly happened to saturated fat, nutritional policy, and our health. 

Could you eat only meat and water for a year?  Today's guest, Dr. Shawn Baker, is doing just that. Dr. Baker is an orthopedic surgeon, weightlifting world record holder, and pioneer of the carnivore diet. He became a vocal leader of the carnivore movement over a year ago, when he transitioned from the ketogenic diet to fully carnivore.  He eats around 4-6 pounds of meat per day, water, and 0 plants -- and he's thriving.  However, he admits that if 5 years ago someone had told him about the carnivore diet, he would've thought it's ridiculous.  That's why in this episode he busts common myths about the carnivore diet and explains how and why it works.  He also tells us how he ended up eating just meat, how he's improved his health and performance in his year as a carnivore, and other meaty details. 

Whole grains are promoted as the cornerstone of a healthy diet by authorities like the USDA, the American Heart Association, and the Food Guide Pyramid.  There's just one problem: Grains are also the leading cause of heart disease, especially modern crops like wheat and corn.   When Dr. William Davis came to this shocking realization, he began conducting research and later published the New York Times best-selling book Wheat Belly, which then turned into a series of books. Dr. William Davis is a cardiologist, best selling author, and the medical director and founder of the Wheat Belly Lifestyle Institute. With this work, he defied the traditional set of nutritional guidelines and beliefs that embraced grains and shunned fat. His research showed that fats weren't responsible for heart attacks, but grains were. When he put patients on a grain-free diet, their markers for heart disease went down and they experienced other perks like faster weight loss, reduced joint pain, and improved mental clarity.  In today's episode, I take a deep dive with Dr. Davis to explore why grains cause heart disease, what he found in his research, the important role of cholesterol in the body, why the current healthcare system won't help you prevent heart disease, and how to tweak your nutrition for better health. 

If you have a chronic disease like type II diabetes, asthma, Alzheimer's, hypertension, or atopic dermatitis, it's unlikely the severity of your condition will ever diminish under traditional healthcare.  Why?  Because our health system is designed to dull external symptoms with drugs instead of fixing the root causes of chronic conditions, which are often a mix of genetics and lifestyle factors.  It's far easier to prescribe a drug than to provide tailored health strategies for each person's unique lifestyle and condition -- and the result of this is a life-long dependence to prescription drugs.  Today's guest, Chris Kresser, is striving to change this model of healthcare.  Chris is a functional and integrated medicine provider, one of the most influential people in the health space, author, and entrepreneur who's been studying, practicing, and teaching alternative medicine for more than fifteen years. He believes diseases should be treated from the root cause, not the symptoms. This approach is called functional medicine and in this episode, Chris explains why it's the best solution we have for preventing and reversing chronic disease.  Join us to learn what functional medicine is and what you can do in your everyday life to treat and prevent chronic conditions. 

There's no doubt our exercise and diet habits have drastically changed since the hunter-gatherer days.  We now exercise in machines and have immediate access to high-carb, high-calorie foods. These changes, although convenient, are harming your health more than you think.  Today's guest, Mark Sisson, explains why and what to do about it.  Mark has been advocating for a healthy lifestyle rooted in the way our ancestors moved and ate since 2006 in his popular blog Mark's Daily Apple. He became a leader in the Paleo community, popularized his eating philosophy called The Primal Blueprint, and recently turned into a vocal supporter of the ketogenic diet.  He has published books about primal living and ketosis and created his own primal supplement line.  In this episode, we chat about why he switched endurance exercise for fun strength and power workouts, how he first got into paleo primal living, how to make the leap from the paleo diet to ketosis, and much more. 

The most effective ways to upgrade your confidence, relationships, energy, and mental performance are also the simplest.  Biohacking means doing small but powerful changes -- biohacks-- that have a profound and long-lasting impact on your health. Today's guest, Tony Wrighton, shares his favorite biohacks for leveling up. Tony Wrighton is a Sky sports presenter as well as an author, one of Britains most popular NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) experts, and host of the top-rated podcast Zestology.  He has published three NLP-related books, which have been translated into 12 languages. In this episode, we chat about neuro-linguistic programming, using the ketogenic diet to heal, becoming fat-adapted, the carnivore diet, using intermittent fasting while traveling, and more hacks for a better life.

The quality of your food determines the quality of your health. It's no coincidence that the overconsumption of ultra-processed foods goes hand-in-hand with the rise in obesity and heart disease all over the world in the last few decades. The best way to achieve optimal health is to focus on finding, eating, and enjoying real, high-quality food.  Today's guest explains exactly how to do that.  Vivica Menegaz is a nutritionist, cookbook author, keto blogger, and former professional food photographer. In this episode, we talk about how to make healthier food choices, how to find local and seasonal foods, why detoxing is actually necessary (when done right), and much more.