LowCarbUSA Podcast

Tune in for a compelling episode of the LowCarbUSA podcast featuring guest Dr. Laura Buchanan, a board-certified family medicine physician who graduated valedictorian from the University of Florida College of Medicine. Dr. Buchanan recently completed her family medicine residency at Wake Forest in 2022 and now collaborates with Dr. Tro Kalayjian at Dr. Tro's Medical Weight Loss and Direct Primary Care. Both serve on the board of directors at the Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners (The SMHP™).

In this episode, host Doug Reynolds and Dr. Buchanan explore the intriguing intersections of longevity, metabolic health, lifestyle changes, and chronic disease management. she offers her unique perspective on lifestyle modification as a first-line standard of care, emphasizing her dual role as a physician: promoting prevention and practicing medicine.

This conversation provides invaluable insights into the real-world effectiveness and scientific underpinnings of low-carbohydrate lifestyles.

Dr. Buchanan shares critical insights based on her clinical and research experience, stating, "The standard dietary advice has failed us. It's time for a shift in the paradigm." She highlights the transformative outcomes she has witnessed in her patients, adding, "When people understand the 'why' behind nutritional changes, their adherence and success skyrocket." Reynolds complements this perspective by saying, "I've seen countless lives changed, including my own, by just understanding the right way to eat."

Dr. Buchanan discusses the advancements and contributions of the Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners in the field of evidence-based medicine. She highlights the focus on type 1 diabetes in the upcoming 2024 Boca Symposium for Metabolic Health and the organization's efforts to secure ACCME accreditation, which will make it easier for other conferences to earn credits and attract more attendees.

Additionally, she talks about the forthcoming Journal of Metabolic Health, aimed at expediting the dissemination of new research in the areas of ketosis and carbohydrate reduction. She mentions mentoring programs designed to guide people through the process of submitting research papers and case studies.

She also reflects on her experiences and frustrations in conventional medicine settings, particularly the resistance to low-carb interventions and dietary advice. She underscores the lack of data supporting conventional beliefs that low-carb or ketogenic diets are harmful, pointing out their efficacy in treating conditions like eating disorders and metabolic diseases.

Laura notes a growing interest in metabolic health within the medical community, suggesting that change is happening, albeit slowly. She is also developing a new four-week course focused on diabetes to educate the public about the disease's prevalence and dangers, viewing these educational programs as essential steps toward combating widespread issues like diabetes and insulin resistance.

Dr. Bret Scher joins host Doug Reynolds on the LowCarbUSA® podcast to discuss his role as the director of Metabolic Mind. A board-certified cardiologist, lipidologist, and therapeutic ketogenic diet expert, Bret has over 20 years of experience as a preventive cardiologist and served as the medical director for Diet Doctor for over three years.

Metabolic Mind was founded by Roblox CEO David Baszucki and his wife, author Jan Ellison Baszucki, after their son Matthew recovered from a severe bipolar disorder using ketogenic metabolic therapy. "They were having a really hard time getting Matthew treated in a way that not only controlled the symptoms, but gave him his life back," Bret recounts. "There was a point where he was in and out of inpatient treatment facilities and he actually checked himself out and hitchhiked from Oregon down to California. He was homeless, giving away all his possessions, and living behind a dumpster. These are the stories that often end tragically, but the Baszucki's were fortunate enough to connect with Dr. Chris Palmer, who was able to get Matt started on a ketogenic diet and that's what really turned things around." Matthew has been able to slowly get weaned off his medications, and is now living a normal life. He has completed college and is currently employed full-time in the tech industry. As he continues to gradually reduce his medication dosage, he shows no signs of the debilitating symptoms—mania, depression, or anxiety—that once afflicted him. You can read Jan Baszucki's account of the family journey here.

Bret discusses the growing momentum in the field of metabolic psychiatry. He shares that research is underway, with five different trials being funded by Metabolic Mind, and how the psychiatric community has overwhelmingly welcomed these advances. "Our brain needs energy, just like the rest of our body needs energy. And just like our body can be insulin resistant, and not be able to use glucose for energy, the same can happen in our brains," he explains. Despite the advancements, Bret highlights that there are still physicians with misconceptions about ketogenic diets, often fueled by mainstream media. "This concern of keto diet equals fat equals high LDL and heart attack just needs to disappear, because that is purely false," he states, citing data from Dr. Shivani Sethi and Dr. Ian Campbell that debunks this notion.

Bret discusses the complex science behind how ketosis can benefit the brain. He points out that ketones can serve as alternative fuel sources to significantly improve brain function, reduce neuroinflammation, and balance neurotransmitters. He emphasizes the critical role of education, pointing out that the knowledge of metabolic therapies is often missing from medical schools and residencies, creating a barrier for wider adoption. He hopes to disseminate this information to both clinicians and the public.

Later in the interview Bret draws an analogy between the growing acceptance of the keto diet for type 2 diabetes and the growing interest in metabolic psychiatry. "That's how we start to build this movement to really just help more people, right. That's the ultimate goal. We want more people being treated in this fashion to help them get their lives back," he concludes, calling for collective efforts to make a lasting impact.

Doug and Bret conclude the interview with a discussion about plans to organize a special focus day for Metabolic Health in San Diego on metabolic therapies for mental illnesses at a future Symposium for Metabolic Health.

Dr. Chris Knobbe joins host Doug Reynolds on the LowCarbUSA® podcast to discuss his work researching the impacts of Westernized diets and highly polyunsaturated vegetable oils on health. Dr. Knobbe, an internationally recognized expert on diet and health, will deliver a presentation titled "Omega-6 Apocalypse: Vegetable Oils, Overweight, and Chronic Disease – What's the Evidence?" at the 8th Annual San Diego Symposium for Metabolic Health held August 17-20, 2023.

In this engaging interview, Dr. Knobbe talks with Doug about the seed oils and other dietary culprits behind the growing epidemic of obesity and metabolic disease. He discusses his research linking processed foods and vegetable oils to not only widespread chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, cancers, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, Alzheimer's disease, and autoimmune diseases, but also age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of irreversible vision loss and blindness in people over the age of 50, globally.

If you're interested in the intersection of diet and disease, or simply want to better understand the true impact of your food choices, this episode is not to be missed. Dr. Knobbe dissects the potentially catastrophic effects of modern dietary habits and offers insightful perspectives that could change the way we view our plates – and our health – forever.

Dr. Knobbe discusses the deleterious effects of seed oils, particularly their contribution to chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and more. He argues that while refined sugars and flours are problematic, he is especially concerned with the role of seed oils in the worsening health statistics we're seeing.

Doug pushes back on Chris's view that seed oils may have an even bigger role in our metabolic health crisis than even sugar and other processed carbohydrates, and a fascinating discussion ensues.

Paul Kolodzik, MD joins host Doug Reynolds on the LowCarbUSA® podcast to talk about his new book, The Continuous Glucose Monitor Revolution for Nondiabetics: Lose Weight, Look Great, and Live Longer with Continuous Glucose Monitoring (https://www.amazon.com/Continuous-Glucose-Monitor-Revolution-Monitoring-ebook/dp/B0C4MP8MJN/&tag=lcu-20/). Dr. Kolodzik is a double board-certified emergency and metabolic-health physician with 30 years of experience. During his 25 years in emergency medicine he treated victims of motor vehicle accidents, shootings and overdoses, but he was always astonished by the number of patients whose hospitalization was due to conditions related to vascular issues and obesity. He believes a large percentage of these conditions are preventable, but only if patients receive the necessary information and treatment in time. "Preventative health can address the majority of disease," he said, "and it often boils down to two things: blood sugars being too high, and being overweight."

Five years ago, Dr. Kolodzik opened a private practice, Metabolic MD, based in Ohio, to help patients with preventative measures that can help them improve their metabolic health and achieve sustainable weight loss. As a private-practice metabolic MD, Dr. Kolodzik has used continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) to help thousands of patients lose weight and prevent and reverse disease. The success he's seen with patients in his practice inspired him to write The Continuous Glucose Monitoring Revolution. "The device (CGM) itself can be life changing," said Dr. Kolodzik. "After you eat that cake, and see the spike in blood glucose, you can never unsee it." He and his team are able to monitor patient data remotely and in real time. Just two weeks of data from a CGM can provide enough valuable information to develop a comprehensive plan that can lead patients to sustained weight loss and improved metabolic health, including improvements in a1C and lipid levels. "Once a patient experiences using a CGM, they get a great sense about what is going on with their physiology," he says "The data they see as a result of what they put in their mouth is amazing. A light bulb goes off in their head – they understand for the first time what's going on with their body and why they're overweight, and why diabetes runs in their family, and it provides them with the basis for intervention – people get religion real quick looking at this data."

Dr. Kolodzik stressed that while CGMs have been used most often by diabetes patients who use insulin, the value to those who have not yet been diagnosed with diabetes or pre-diabetes can be enormous. He suggested patients look for a metabolic health provider with the expertise to guide them through the entire process. In the United States and many other countries, a prescription is required to obtain a CGM, so the provider can help with that as well (https://thesmhp.org/directory/).

Easiest place to find the book is on Amazon and it will be out on Audible any day now.

Babs, who is also known as "The Healthy Cheese Lady" is currently writing a book about healthy cheeses, and she spends much of her time educating people about the nutritional benefits cheeses can provide. She is determined to let people know that for far too long we have been misinformed and lied to by so-called nutritional and medical experts who told us that saturated fat has no place in a healthy diet and to avoid eating cheese. "The guidelines for a healthy diet have been killing us since the late 70's," said Babs, who has used her anger to motivate her to spread her message to as many people as possible.

She discusses with Doug the differences between industrial cheeses and farmstead cheeses, and some of the ways a consumer can determine which cheeses are best for their health. Babs talks about her Texas Cheese Tour, a journey she wrote about after traveling across the state in 2012 and 2013 to find out why and how great cheese is made. The tour included interviews with chefs, cheese store owners, dairy farmers, restaurant owners, marketing specialists, professional cheesemakers, and one home cheesemaker. During her tour, Babs learned interesting behind-the-scenes details about animals, cheese nutrition, and the cheesemaking process.

In addition to working on her book about healthy cheeses (no publication date has yet been announced), Babs is currently gearing up for a Keto Cheese Diet she plans to launch via Zoom in February (check her Facebook page for details).

• A Mumbai native, Shashi reversed his type 2 diabetes in less than 4 months.
• After more than 2 decades as a pharma rep, he adopted low-carb diet and launched a health coaching business.
• Shashi is the first in India to receive accreditation from the Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners (The SMHP™).

LowCarbUSA® and Society of Metabolic Health founder Doug Reynolds has often talked about the importance of making therapeutic carbohydrate restriction available to as wide an audience as possible, in spite of any cultural, religious, ethical, or other differences. "We don't want to exclude anyone from reaping the benefits of a low-carb, ketogenic lifestyle, regardless of their differences," Doug said. "We are enthusiastic to learn that there is a book like this that provides recipes that are healthy and delicious, while meeting the needs of those who choose to follow a vegetarian way of eating."

In Episode 101 of the LowCarbUSA® Podcast, Doug talks with Vasudha Viswanath, a lifelong vegetarian and passionate home cook, whose new book, The Vegetarian Reset: 75 Low-Carb, Plant-Forward Recipes from Around the World, will hit bookshelves January 17, 2023. "In The Vegetarian Reset, we take a little trip around the world to draw inspiration from an array of traditional cuisines. Learn to cook creative and flavorful vegetarian meals that are low-carb and high-protein, such as recipes for zucchini bread from scratch, paella with cauliflower rice, or paneer transformed into gnocchi!" Whether you already follow a low-carb lifestyle, or simply want to add more healthy dishes into your diet, discover the tools to reset your plant-forward palate with these 75 recipes.

Vasudha is not only the author of The Vegetarian Reset, she is the founder of We Ate Well (www.v8well.com), a community for vegetarian foodies that puts nutrition back in focus. She has been a lifelong vegetarian and passionate home cook. Her journey into eating healthy started after the results of a physical revealed that her A1C level identified her as pre-diabetic. "I had always thought of myself as fit and healthy," Vasudha said. "I never thought I could get a diagnosis like that. I found myself asking, 'What am I supposed to eat?'" She subsequently transformed the way she cooks to cut out excessive starch and sugar and has never felt better. "The world is running in this plant-based direction," she said, "but the focus is on highly processed products like fake meat and refined grains. Eating plant-based doesn't automatically make you healthy. For any diet to be sustainable long-term, you need to get the right nutrients."

You can order The Vegetarian Reset on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Reset-Low-Carb-Plant-Forward-Recipes/dp/1685550371/&tag=lcu-20 Vasudha Viswanath on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/v8well/ Follow Vasudha Viswanath on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/v8well

As they were gearing up for the Symposium for Metabolic Health in Boca Raton (https://www.lowcarbusa.org/smhp-symposiums/) - their 18th conference over the past eight incredible years - they decided to celebrate their 100th episode of the LowCarbUSA® Podcast with a look back at how they got here.

In Episode 100, they talk about how they first learned about the low-carb/ketogenic lifestyle, and how they got the idea to organize the first Symposium for Metabolic Health in 2016.

They also discuss the creation of the Clinical Guidelines (https://thesmhp.org/clinical-guidelines/), the formation of the Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners (The SMHP), the free resources available from both LowCarbUSA and The SMHP, the Metabolic Health Practitioner (MHP) accreditation process (https://thesmhp.org/membership-account/membership-levels/), and much more, including many of their hopes and dreams for the future!

After the very first conference in San Diego, in 2016, we really started to realize how much this meant for the healthcare professional. And we really knew that's where we wanted to focus and make sure that healthcare professionals were aware of this information, first of all, and second of all, that there were conferences and training where they could come to learn all about it.

Annette Bosworth, MD (Dr. Boz) shares her 'accidental' discovery of ketosis while helping her mom battle cancer. "In my best prayers, we were hoping for a 50% reduction of her cancer & it went down 70%", she said. "I thought I was giving her the best care possible & what I was missing was something cheap, easy, safe & effective." Dr. Boz explains that in the addiction world, the single biggest predictor of continued sobriety was whether or not the patient regularly attended group meetings. She felt that it would be the same to help people stick with the ketogenic diet so she now leads regular group meetings to help her keep her patients on track much more effectively.

She is the author of Any Way You Can which is the story of her mother's journey and Keto Continuum which you can find out more about on her website as well as all the other programs and stuff she has going on.

LowCarbUSA® co-founders Doug Reynolds and Pam Devine recently interviewed Tia Reid, who used a low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) way of eating to overcome type 2 diabetes, NAFLD, hypertension, obesity, GERD, and more. Tia sustainably lost 85 pounds and came off 20 medications, after finding Dr. Robert Cywes, MD, PhD, who advised her to end her "love affair with carbs."

"I really did think I was going to die," said Tia, "but low-carb, high-fat nutrition healed my body. Type 2 diabetes doesn't have to be chronic and progressive."

Tia works as Director of Nutritional Services at a local critical access hospital, and she has been able to incorporate low-carb/keto foods into the food options offered to staff at the hospital.

Tia has earned her SMHP Metabolic Health Practitioner (MHP) accreditation, as well as certifications focused in LCHF/Keto Nutrition, Diabetes Reversal and Food Addiction, and she is SUGAR Certified and licensed through Bitten Addiction.

Doug and Pam talked with Tia about the upcoming Symposium for Metabolic Health to be held in Boca Raton, Florida, January 13-15. The event will also include a Bonus Clinical Workshop on Carbohydrate Addiction for practitioners who are able to arrive early – to be held on the afternoon of Thursday, January 12, in addition to an entire day dedicated to the topic of carb addiction during the main presentations.

During their conversation, Doug, Pam and Tia referenced an 11-chapter series of videos featuring Dr. Cywes. The series is titled Diabetes Understood, and is available for free on the LowCarbUSA® website.

You can connect with Tia using the following links:

Instagram - @ReidTia Twitter - @Tia_Foodqueen Facebook - Tia Birchler Reid LinkedIn - Tia Reid, CDM, CFPP, MHP