Mastering Nutrition

Part 2 of how NUTRITION has a HUGE impact on your BRAIN! Everything in your brain is something you ate, something you made from something you ate, or, in a few cases, something your mother ate. Nutrition impacts your mental and emotional health, the function of your five senses, and your conscious and unconscious control over your body movements. Join me as I lead you in a safari through the textbook, “Neuroscience,” pointing out along the way all the interesting connections to nutrition. Listen in for part 2 on the NEUROTRANSMITTERS! 0:00:37     Cliff Notes 0:04:15     Overview of neurotransmitters 0:06:55     Glutamate is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter. 0:14:08      De novo glutamate in the central nervous system is overwhelmingly made from glucose. 0:16:55     Ketogenic diet for epilepsy 0:20:12    Glutamate metabolism 0:23:42    There are two classes of glutamate receptors: ionotropic and metabotropic. 0:24:45     There are three classes of metabotropic glutamate receptors, their actions are complex and variable, and they can be excitatory or inhibitory. 0:25:05     The ionotropic glutamate receptors include AMPA receptors, NMDA receptors, and kainite receptors, all of which have a depolarizing effect by allowing sodium and potassium to flow freely through them. 0:27:47     Four unique things about the NMDA receptor: magnesium is required to block its ion channel, it’s important for coincidence detection, it allows calcium to come into the cell, and it has a glycine-binding site. 0:33:16     Long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) are important for forming memories, and glutamate receptors play an important role. 0:40:48     GABA and glycine are the two primary inhibitory neurotransmitters of the central nervous system. 0:44:04     GABA and presumably glycine can be stimulatory if there is more chloride on the inside of the neuron than the outside. 0:48:53     Evidence that GABA might cross the blood-brain barrier 0:51:44     GABA in foods 0:54:14     GABA metabolism in the nervous system 0:56:08     Glycine 1:02:02     Acetylcholine 1:07:50     The biogenic amines include histamine, serotonin, and the catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine). 1:08:30     Synthesis of the catecholamines 1:10:46     Dopamine 1:14:08     Norepinephrine 1:16:32     Histamine 1:20:15     Serotonin 1:23:10     ATP and adenosine 1:26:38     Peptide neurotransmitters 1:27:00     Hypothalamic releasing hormones include thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). 1:29:15     Melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) 1:29:32     Oxytocin 1:30:18     Vasopressin 1:30:57     Synthesis of the neuropeptides Substance P, MSH, oxytocin, and vasopressin requires glycine, zinc, copper, and vitamin C. 1:34:24     Endocannabinoids and the importance of arachidonic acid, EPA, and DHA Nutrition in Neuroscience Related Content Chris Masterjohn Lite: Could Oxaloacetate Supplements Help With Glutamate Sensitivity? Chris Masterjohn Lite: 5 Ways to Help With Glutamate Sensitivity and Glutamate Dominance Chris Masterjohn Lite: Does Glycine or GABA Wake You Up? Chris Masterjohn Lite: Carbs or Keto for Sleep? Chris Masterjohn Lite: How to Manage Your Magnesium Status Mastering Nutrition: Why You Need Glycine -- A Panel Discussion Balancing Methionine and Glycine in Foods: The Database  Chris Masterjohn Lite: Get Better Sleep With Glycine Start Here for Methylation has glycine and choline resources, and covers the methylation process used in the synthesis and degradation of biogenic amines. Mastering Nutrition: Methylate Your Way to Mental Health With Dopamine The Pursuit of Happiness: How Nutrient-Dense Animal Fats Promote Mental and Emotional Health, covers the endocannibinoids. Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet is a comprehensive guide for testing nutritional status for all the nutrients discussed in this episode, and more. Use the code MASTERINGNUTRITION for $5 OFF. Nutrition in Neuroscience Research The textbook, Neuroscience. Relaxation and immunity enhancement effects of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) administration in humans. on the use of GABA for fear of heights and to alter anxiety- and focus-related brain waves. γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) administration improves action selection processes: a randomised controlled trial on use of GABA to improve decision-making under pressure. Desarrollo de un pan de masa madre rico en GABA y péptidos IECA contains a table on the GABA content of foods on page 84 of the PDF. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitor from plants on the different plants containing natural acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. A Mass Spectrometry-Based Method to Screen for α-Amidated Peptides on the neuropeptides that require glycine, vitamin C, copper, and zinc for their biological activity. Effects of copper occupancy on the conformational landscape of peptidylglycine α-hydroxylating monooxygenase also on the neuropeptides that require glycine, vitamin C, copper, and zinc for their biological activity.   Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/054-nutrition-in-neuroscience-part

This new model I developed explains how the depletion of arginine and tryptophan and the sequestration of cysteine leads to T cell suppression in severe COVID and may reflect the rapid onset of a somewhat cancer-reminiscent state where vitamins A and D and other myeloid differentiation factors run out. The written version with references and links to research is available here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/a-new-paradigm-for-severe-covid If you find this valuable, please like, share, and comment on the Substack article to help boost it within the Substack algorithm and get more people to read it. Vitamins A and D should be properly balanced with each other, and with vitamins E and K. My COVID-specific recommendations for this balance are in the COVID Guide, and recommendations for balancing them in various different contexts are included in the Vitamins and Minerals 101 Cliff Notes, both of which are freely available to paid Substack subscribers. These also contain general (Cliff Notes) or COVID-specific (COVID Guide) information for managing all the other nutrients mentioned. I will be updating the COVID guide next time to include tryptophan and N-acetylcysteine whenever arginine is used, but other than that this new paradigm does not alter the protocol. It does, however, move much more emphasis to A and D, and bring A onto much more equal footing with D. Disclaimer I am not a medical doctor and this is not medical advice. My goal is to empower you with information. Please make all health decisions yourself, consulting sources you trust, including a caring health care professional. Paid Subscriptions, Coming Guides, the Book My current plan is to wrap up a vaccine side effect protocol and my general work on the vaccines into a COVID Vaccine Guide that will be free to those who have pre-ordered my book, Masterpass members, and paid Substack subscribers. I will then do one final update to the COVID guide, also free to everyone I just mentioned. Paid Substack subscribers and Masterpass members will also have access to all paid-only Substack posts, which are the posts that feed into the creation of the vaccine side effect protocol. Most of these will be available for 48 hours to everyone. You can become a paid Substack subscriber here, which earns you 50% off the fee on Masterpass membership if you choose to join. The book can be pre-ordered here. As soon as these two guides are finished I will return full-time to finishing the book and will send everyone who pre-ordered an ETA as soon as I am ready. Take a Look at the Store At no extra cost to you, please consider buying products from one of my popular affiliates using these links: Paleovalley, Magic Spoon breakfast cereal, LMNT, Seeking Health, Ancestral Supplements. Find more affiliates here. For $2.99, you can purchase The Vitamins and Minerals 101 Cliff Notes, a bullet point summary of all the most important things I’ve learned in over 15 years of studying nutrition science. For $10, you can purchase The Food and Supplement Guide for the Coronavirus, my protocol for prevention and for what to do if you get sick (free if you become a paid subscriber to my Substack). For $15, you can pre-order a single format of my Vitamins and Minerals 101 book, my complete guide to nutrition, to be finished as soon as my work on COVID vaccines is done. For $25, you can pre-order a digital bundle of my Vitamins and Minerals 101 book. For $29.99, you can purchase a copy of my ebook, Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet, my complete system for managing your nutritional status using dietary analysis, a survey of just under 200 signs and symptoms, and a comprehensive guide to proper interpretation of labwork. For $35, you can pre-order a complete bundle of my Vitamins and Minerals 101 book. For a recurring $15/month or $120/year, you can join the CMJ Masterpass, with monthly access to live Zoom Q&A sessions with me, and huge discounts on my consulting, my informational products, and the health and wellness products from other companies that I value most. Paid Substack subscribers get 50% off the membership fee. For $250-$1499.99, you can work one-on-one with me. In any amount at all, you can make a donation to support my work on COVID vaccines during this time when our freedom of speech, bodily autonomy, and right to earn a living are all under attack.

Short answer: You should be able to see changes on imaging within a few weeks if your approach is working well, but ultimately this is entirely dependent on how negative your “delta fatty liver = (fat in) - ((fat out) + (fat burned))” equation is. This is a clip from a live Q&A session open to CMJ Masterpass members. In addition to this episode, you can access five other free samples using this link:   https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/questions-on-vitamin-d-fatty-liver In that batch of free episodes you will also find the answers to these questions: What's the difference between 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)2D when it comes to the VDR? What if my A1C says I'm diabetic but my CGM says I'm fine? Will reishi, turmeric, or curcumin tank my testosterone? The 3 Phases of Fasting: And How to Get Kicked Out of Each One If you want to become a Masterpass member so you can participate in the next live Q&A, or so you can have access to the complete recording and transcript of each Q&A session, you can save 10% off the subscription price for as long as you remain a member by using this link to sign up: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/qanda Learn more about the Masterpass here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/about This snippet is from the April 13, 2022 AMA. The full recording and transcript is reserved for Masterpass members. Here is a preview of what’s included: How to balance vitamins E and K What prenatal vitamin do I recommend? Why does my smoothie make my hands cold? What type of choline to use? Is there an interaction between glycine and aspirin? What supplements can be used in the fasting state? How to manage protein intake within a small eating window on an intermittent fasting regimen? Looking at a study on calcium alpha-ketoglutarate supplementation. Should I take vitamin D for COVID if I easily get hypercalcemia from it? What to do about nausea in pregnancy? Brief questions on restless legs, exercise during fasting, puffy eyes, and health effects of spicy foods. Here’s a link to the full AMA:  https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/ask-me-anything-april-13-2022 Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Short answer: 25(OH)D is 1000 times weaker at activating the VDR than 1,25(OH)D, but 1000 times more abundant. This is why I advocate measuring both, and ultimately believe we need to create a calculated index of “biological vitamin D activity” from them. This is a clip from a live Q&A session open to CMJ Masterpass members. In addition to this episode, you can access five other free samples using this link:   https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/questions-on-vitamin-d-fatty-liver In that batch of free episodes you will also find the answers to these questions: What's the difference between 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)2D when it comes to the VDR? Reversing Fatty Liver: How Long Does It Take? What if my A1C says I'm diabetic but my CGM says I'm fine? Will reishi, turmeric, or curcumin tank my testosterone? The 3 Phases of Fasting: And How to Get Kicked Out of Each One If you want to become a Masterpass member so you can participate in the next live Q&A, or so you can have access to the complete recording and transcript of each Q&A session, you can save 10% off the subscription price for as long as you remain a member by using this link to sign up: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/qanda Learn more about the Masterpass here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/about This snippet is from the April 13, 2022 AMA. The full recording and transcript is reserved for Masterpass members. Here is a preview of what’s included: How to balance vitamins E and K What prenatal vitamin do I recommend? Why does my smoothie make my hands cold? What type of choline to use? Is there an interaction between glycine and aspirin? What supplements can be used in the fasting state? How to manage protein intake within a small eating window on an intermittent fasting regimen? Looking at a study on calcium alpha-ketoglutarate supplementation. Should I take vitamin D for COVID if I easily get hypercalcemia from it? What to do about nausea in pregnancy? Brief questions on restless legs, exercise during fasting, puffy eyes, and health effects of spicy foods. Here’s a link to the full AMA: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/ask-me-anything-april-13-2022 Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Rising Food Prices Part 4: Can Regenerative Agriculture Solve the Food Crisis? This is the 4th in a series of interviews I am conducting to try to better understand why food prices have been rising, where they are going as we move toward a potential food crisis, how this will impact the evolving landscape of food availability, and what we should do about it. Allen Williams joins me to talk about conventional, organic, and regenerative agriculture, and how fuel and fertilizer inputs differ between them, and why regenerative agriculture offers the best resilience in the face of what looks like an emerging food crisis. Allen Williams is a 6th generation family farmer and founding partner of Grass Fed Insights, LLC, Understanding Ag, LLC and the Soil Health Academy. He has consulted with more than 4000 farmers and ranchers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South America, and other countries, on operations ranging from a few acres to over 1 million acres. Allen pioneered many of the early regenerative grazing protocols and forage finishing techniques and now teaches those practices and principles to farmers globally. He is a “recovering academic”, having served 15 years on the faculty at Louisiana Tech University and Mississippi State University. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Animal Science from Clemson University and a Ph.D. in Livestock Genetics from LSU. He has authored more than 400 scientific and popular press articles, and is an invited speaker at regional, national, and international conferences and symposia. Allen and his colleagues specialize in whole farm & ranch planning based on the concept of regenerative agriculture. Their approach creates significant “value add” and prepares the landowner for multiple enterprise/revenue stream opportunities that stack enterprises and acres. This approach allows for enhanced profitability and/or investment value. They routinely conduct workshops and seminars across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Find regenerative agriculture at https://regenified.com/ This is a work in progress. Until it is completed, use https://localharvest.org, https://eatwild.com, and https://soilhealthacademy.org/shop-regen-foods/ Follow Allen's work at https://understandingag.com/ Learn about soil at https://soilhealthacademy.org/ Find more research on the topic at https://www.ecdysis.bio/ If you are interested in investment opportunities in regenerative agriculture, inquire with Allen using the Understanding Ag contact form: https://understandingag.com/connect-with-us/ This series started from a Substack post I wrote, The Emerging Food Crisis: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/the-emerging-food-crisis Over the next month, as part of this series, I will conduct interviews and panel discussions on my podcast in an effort to better understand the issue and what to do about it. Relying primarily on interviews will allow me to better understand the issue while staying focused on finishing my vaccine research so I can ultimately return to finishing my book. I will eventually be concluding my work on the vaccines with a COVID Vaccine Guide, which I will distribute for free to paid Substack subscribers, those who have pre-ordered my Vitamins and Minerals 101 book, and members of the CMJ Masterpass. Articles in this series that lay out actionable foundations of my future protocol for vaccine side effects will be for paid Substack subscribers and Masterpass members. However, most of them will available for free for the first 48 hours, and all of them will be readable with a free trial. Paid Substack subscribers get immediate access to my COVID Guide, and are entitled to 50% off a membership to the Masterpass as well. You can subscribe or upgrade your subscription here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/subscribe You can pre-order the book here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/book And you can join the Masterpass here: https://themasterpass.chrismasterjohnphd.com/sales-page Masterpass members get to watch these interviews live, and also have monthly access to a live Q&A with me. The next Q&A session is Wednesday, May 18, 12:00 PM Eastern.

Tony Greer joins me to talk about how lockdowns, politics, and the commodity trade contribute to rising food prices. Tony Greer is partly responsible for my awareness of the emerging food crisis as I had initially learned of Doomberg from him last year. He has been a macro trader for over thirty years, is a regular on the Real Vision Daily Briefing, and is editor of the Morning Navigator. Tony brings us unique insights as a trader who saw the rise in commodity prices early. Will the rotation out of tech stocks into commodities continue? What role does this trade have in amplifying food prices itself? Can we use technical signals from the market to gauge the likelihood this problem will get much worse, and to be able to spot light at the end of the tunnel when it finally emerges? Tony surprised me by suggesting the most important signal to look for as "light at the end of the tunnel" ushering in a reprieve from rising food prices is not so much a technical indicator from the charts or from economic data but rather a sustainable 180-degree reversal in the political hostility to the energy markets. He suggests food prices would take another 7 or more years to calm down once this reversal is sustained. None of this is financial advice and you must make your own decisions at your own risk. However, we conclude with some thoughts Tony has on how to keep savings safe in an environment like this. You can join his newsletter at https://tgmacro.com/ and follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TgMacro This series started from a Substack post I wrote, The Emerging Food Crisis: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/the-emerging-food-crisis Over the next month, as part of this series, I will conduct interviews and panel discussions on my podcast in an effort to better understand the issue and what to do about it. Relying primarily on interviews will allow me to better understand the issue while staying focused on finishing my vaccine research so I can ultimately return to finishing my book. I will eventually be concluding my work on the vaccines with a COVID Vaccine Guide, which I will distribute for free to paid Substack subscribers, those who have pre-ordered my Vitamins and Minerals 101 book, and members of the CMJ Masterpass. Articles in this series that lay out actionable foundations of my future protocol for vaccine side effects will be for paid Substack subscribers and Masterpass members. However, most of them will available for free for the first 48 hours, and all of them will be readable with a free trial. Paid Substack subscribers get immediate access to my COVID Guide, and are entitled to 50% off a membership to the Masterpass as well. You can subscribe or upgrade your subscription here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/subscribe You can pre-order the book here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/book And you can join the Masterpass here: https://themasterpass.chrismasterjohnphd.com/sales-page Masterpass members get to watch these interviews live, and also have monthly access to a live Q&A with me. The next Q&A session is Wednesday, April 13, 6:00 PM Eastern.

With Dr. Michael Howell, PhD. This is the second in a series of interviews I am conducting to try to better understand why food prices have been rising, where they are going as we move toward a potential food crisis, how this will impact the evolving landscape of food availability, and what we should do about it. Michael Howell, PhD joins me to discuss whether "money printing" and the liquidity cycle might be playing a role in rising food prices. Howell has a PhD in Economics and specializes in analyzing global central bank activities, liquidity trends, and capital flow data across 80 economies. He is CEO of CrossBorder Capital, which he founded in 1996. He developed the quantitative liquidity research methodology while he was Research Director at Salomon Bros. from 1986. He was subsequently appointed Head of Research at Baring Securities in 1992, and was top-ranked “Emerging Market Strategist” by institutional investors for the three years prior to setting up CrossBorder Capital. Michael has worked in financial markets since 1981 and is a regular international conference speaker. He is a qualified US Supervisory Analyst. You can buy his book, Capital Wars: The Rise of Global Liquidity, here. You can follow his company, Cross Border Capital, on Twitter here. This series started from a Substack post I wrote, The Emerging Food Crisis: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/the-emerging-food-crisis Over the next month, as part of this series, I will conduct interviews and panel discussions on my podcast in an effort to better understand the issue and what to do about it. Relying primarily on interviews will allow me to better understand the issue while staying focused on finishing my vaccine research so I can ultimately return to finishing my book. I will eventually be concluding my work on the vaccines with a COVID Vaccine Guide, which I will distribute for free to paid Substack subscribers, those who have pre-ordered my Vitamins and Minerals 101 book, and members of the CMJ Masterpass. Articles in this series that lay out actionable foundations of my future protocol for vaccine side effects will be for paid Substack subscribers and Masterpass members. However, most of them will available for free for the first 48 hours, and all of them will be readable with a free trial. Paid Substack subscribers get immediate access to my COVID Guide, and are entitled to 50% off a membership to the Masterpass as well. You can subscribe or upgrade your subscription here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/subscribe You can pre-order the book here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/book And you can join the Masterpass here: https://themasterpass.chrismasterjohnphd.com/sales-page Masterpass members get to watch these interviews live, and also have monthly access to a live Q&A with me. The next Q&A session is Wednesday, April 13, 6:00 PM Eastern.

This is the first in a series of interviews I am conducting to try to better understand why food prices have been rising, where they are going as we move toward a potential food crisis, how this will impact the evolving landscape of food availability, and what we should do about it. Josh Young and Tracy Schuchart are here to talk about why oil and fertilizer are in short supply and why their prices have been steadily rising. Josh Young is Chief Investment Officer and Founder of Bison Interests, which invests in the publicly traded oil and gas markets. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Josh_Young_1 Tracy Shuchart is Partner and Global Macro Energy and Materials Strategist at Intelligence Quarterly. Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/chigrl This series started from a Substack post I wrote, The Emerging Food Crisis: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/the-emerging-food-crisis Over the next month, as part of this series, I will conduct interviews and panel discussions on my podcast in an effort to better understand the issue and what to do about it. Relying primarily on interviews will allow me to better understand the issue while staying focused on finishing my vaccine research so I can ultimately return to finishing my book. I will eventually be concluding my work on the vaccines with a COVID Vaccine Guide, which I will distribute for free to paid Substack subscribers, those who have pre-ordered my Vitamins and Minerals 101 book, and members of the CMJ Masterpass. Articles in this series that lay out actionable foundations of my future protocol for vaccine side effects will be for paid Substack subscribers and Masterpass members. However, most of them will available for free for the first 48 hours, and all of them will be readable with a free trial. Paid Substack subscribers get immediate access to my COVID Guide, and are entitled to 50% off a membership to the Masterpass as well. You can subscribe or upgrade your subscription here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/subscribe

The spike protein pokes holes in cell membranes at concentrations much lower than those achieved with vaccination, contributing to COVID-like illness and mitochondrial damage. But is the J&J immune? This is not medical advice. This podcast was originally published in written form as a Substack article, fully referenced, found here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/the-spike-protein-as-a-pore-forming This is the first in a series of posts in which I will outline the potential mechanisms of spike protein toxicity and vaccine side effects and brainstorm actionable steps vaccinees can take to protect against these effects or heal from them. I will eventually be concluding my work on the vaccines with a COVID Vaccine Guide, which I will distribute for free to paid Substack subscribers, those who have pre-ordered my Vitamins and Minerals 101 book, and members of the CMJ Masterpass. Articles in this series that lay out actionable foundations of my future protocol for vaccine side effects will be for paid Substack subscribers and Masterpass members. However, most of them will available for free for the first 48 hours, and all of them will be readable with a free trial. Paid Substack subscribers get immediate access to my COVID Guide, and are entitled to 50% off a membership to the Masterpass as well. You can subscribe or upgrade your subscription here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/subscribe

My tentative view on what is causing it and what to do about it. This is NOT caused primarily by the conflict in Ukraine and a sudden peaceful solution to the conflict will not avert it. The written version with links to sources can be found here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/the-emerging-food-crisis Please Show The Substack Post Some Love Please hit up the Substack post and let me know what you think in the comments! And please like the post if you found it valuable, and share the post with others if you believe they too would find it valuable. Subscribe or Upgrade I will eventually be concluding my work on the vaccines with a COVID Vaccine Guide, which I will distribute for free to paid Substack subscribers, those who have pre-ordered my Vitamins and Minerals 101 book, and members of the CMJ Masterpass. Articles in this series that lay out actionable foundations of my future protocol for vaccine side effects will be for paid Substack subscribers and Masterpass members. However, most of them will available for free for the first 48 hours, and all of them will be readable with a free trial. Paid Substack subscribers get immediate access to my COVID Guide, and are entitled to 50% off a membership to the Masterpass as well. You can subscribe or upgrade your subscription here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/subscribe