Nutrition with Judy | Holistic Health | Carnivore

Why do so many people continue struggling with chronic inflammation and chronic illness, even after changing their diet, taking supplements, running labs, and seeing multiple specialists? After working with more than 2,500 individuals, I kept seeing the same problem: people had more health information than ever, but many still weren't getting well. In this behind-the-scenes episode, I share why I wrote Inflammation Fix, what I learned about root-cause healing, and why addressing chronic disease requires looking beyond diet alone. From gut health and immune dysfunction to environmental toxins, stress, sleep, and the nervous system, there's a much bigger picture to consider.

Writing Inflammation Fix became something I never anticipated. What started as a book about inflammation turned into years of research, clinical insights, personal reflection, and 1,831 revisions and reviews. I share parts of my own health journey, the experiences that changed how I approach healing, and the unexpected challenges of bringing this book to life. More than anything, this book is about helping you understand your body, ask better questions, and take ownership of your health. Because real healing isn't about chasing another protocol. It's about understanding what may be keeping your body stuck.

Learn more about Inflammation Fix: https://www.inflammationfix.co/

• 1,831 revisions… and an unexpected setback
• Why do some people do everything right and still stay sick?
• The problem with today's health information
• What root-cause healing really means
• What a woman who lived to 117 can teach us
• My personal health journey and turning point
• How working with complex chronic illness changed my perspective
• Who I wrote this book for
• What's inside Inflammation Fix
• Why knowledge alone isn't enough to heal
• Why we need to question health research
• The story behind my mission

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EPISODE REFERENCES
- Inflammation Fix
- EBook Presale
- Inflammation Fix Behind The Scenes Article
- Inflammation Fix Bonuses
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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
📫 Tips and Weekly Updates

JUDY CHO RESOURCES
⛑️Work with Us
🎙️ Podcast
📘 Inflammation Fix Book
📘 Carnivore Cure Book & Elimination Diet
📚 Articles
🎁 Free Resources
📗 Complete Carnivore Diet for Beginners

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*DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It should not replace professional medical advice.

Get personalized root-cause care with Empower Functional Health.
Learn more at empowerfunctionalhealth.com
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Why is it so hard to stop a behavior even when you know it’s hurting you? Whether it’s food addiction, sugar cravings, binge eating, scrolling, shopping, drinking, or another compulsive habit, knowing what you should do is often very different from actually being able to change. In this episode, I unpack why certain habits become so difficult to give up, why stress can pull us back into old behaviors, and why lasting behavior change may require looking beyond willpower, discipline, or simply removing the addictive behavior.

I also share what I learned through my own recovery from an eating disorder, why fear, certainty, identity, and self-sabotage can keep us stuck, and how our underlying needs may influence the behaviors we repeatedly turn to for relief, comfort, control, or escape. If you’ve ever asked, “Why do I keep doing this when I know better?” this conversation explores what may actually be happening underneath addiction and what has to change for the pattern itself to finally lose its grip.

• When habits become addictions
• Why sugar and other habits become hard to give up
• When food becomes a form of control
• Why addictive behaviors keep coming back
• The “needs jar” exercise
• You’re not weak or broken
• Why fear and anger can feel safe
• Why knowing better isn’t enough
• You changed. Now what?
• The words you use to define yourself
• What changed in my own recovery
• The biggest takeaway about addiction

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EPISODE REFERENCES

• Work with us one on one
• Wholeness Method
• Why we stay stuck presentation

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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 

📫 Tips and Weekly Updates 

FIND JUDY CHO

⛑️Work with Us 

🎙️ Podcast  

📺 YouTube 

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NUTRITION WITH JUDY (NwJ) RESOURCES

📫 Weekly Newsletter   

📘 Carnivore Cure Book & Elimination Diet   

📚 Articles

🎁 Free Resources 

📗 Complete Carnivore Diet for Beginners

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*DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It should not replace professional medical advice.

Get personalized root-cause care with Empower Functional Health.
Learn more at empowerfunctionalhealth.com
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Does eating a high-fat diet cause leaky gut, increase endotoxins, or worsen CIRS and mold illness? In this episode, Judy Cho examines the research behind claims that saturated fat, ketogenic diets, and carnivore diets damage gut health. We break down what LPS (lipopolysaccharides) actually are, how dietary fat can transport endotoxins, and why an increase in blood endotoxins after a meal does not automatically establish chronic inflammation or intestinal permeability. We also examine human studies, mixed-meal research, and the important distinction between a temporary biological response and evidence of disease.

If you have improved your gut health on carnivore or keto but have been told to reduce fat because of endotoxins, this conversation will help you understand what the evidence can and cannot tell us. We discuss microbiome testing, CIRS, metabolic health, environmental exposures, and why gut healing requires more than focusing on one dietary variable. The goal is not to dismiss concerns about LPS, but to examine the research carefully and identify the questions that still need better answers. Watch the full episode for the study breakdowns and a more complete understanding of the high-fat and gut-health debate.

• Is high fat bad for gut health?
• What are endotoxins and LPS?
• What microbiome testing can and cannot tell us
• How endotoxins enter the bloodstream
• What the human high-fat studies actually tested
• Do keto and carnivore increase endotoxins?
• Other factors that can raise endotoxins
• CIRS, mold illness, and supporting gut health

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EPISODE REFERENCES
- GI Map Stool Test
- Brainmaker by David Perlmutter
- International Consensus
- Sabine Hazan Episode
- Akkermansia Article
- Polyol Pathway, Richard Johnson
- Coconut LPS, Kiran Krishnan
- Long Term Carnivore + Fiber

STUDIES MENTIONED IN EPISODE
- Microbiome testing consensus
- Metabolic endotoxemia and obesity
- Chylomicrons transport intestinal LPS
- Chylomicrons transport dietary antigens
- Dietary fats and endotoxin inflammation
- Dietary oils and endotoxin transport
- Fat type and post-meal endotoxin
- Short-term high-fat diet and endotoxin
- Obesity modifies endotoxin response
- Keto diet reduces LPS signaling
- Dietary fat and metabolic endotoxemia review
- Keto diet and endotoxemia in prediabetes
- Binge drinking increases endotoxin
- Fructose increases circulating endotoxin
- Exercise, heat stress, and endotoxin
- Alcohol withdrawal improves gut permeability
- Food structure affects endotoxin response
- Cream, glucose, and endotoxin response
- High-fat/high-carb meal increases endotoxin
- Limits of translating animal research 

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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
📫 Tips and Weekly Updates: https://www.nutritionwithjudy.com/newsletter

JUDY CHO RESOURCES
⛑️Work with Us: https://empowerfunctionalhealth.com/services/
🎙️ Podcast: https://nutritionwithjudy.buzzsprout.com/
📘 Carnivore Cure Book & Elimination Diet: https://amzn.to/3R4VAXn
📘 Inflammation Fix Book: https://www.inflammationfix.co/
📚 Articles: https://nutritionwithjudy.com/articles/
🎁 Free Resources: https://nutritionwithjudy.com/resources/
📗 Complete Carnivore Diet for Beginners: https://amzn.to/3D5lyo5

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*DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It should not replace professional medical advice.

If you want to try HistoPlex-AB, you can get a discount here: https://www.nutritionwithjudy.com/podcasts/

Get personalized root-cause care with Empower Functional Health.
Learn more at empowerfunctionalhealth.com
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Why do some people remain chronically ill even after treating Lyme disease, mold exposure, or Long COVID? Dr. Richard Horowitz joins me to break down his 16-point MSIDS model and the overlapping factors he looks for in complex chronic illness, including Lyme and Bartonella, Babesia, mold and mycotoxins, mast cell activation (MCAS), gut dysfunction, POTS, mitochondrial dysfunction, immune dysregulation, and nervous system health.

We also get into some of the most provocative areas of his recent work: Alzheimer’s disease and p-tau217, his dapsone protocols for persistent Lyme and Bartonella, why some patients struggle with treatment, how he decides what to address first, and what may determine why one person recovers after an infection while another develops chronic illness. Dr. Horowitz also explains why looking beyond a single diagnosis may change how we think about Long COVID, chronic Lyme disease, mold illness, brain health, and recovery.

We discuss the following:

• The 16-point MSIDS model and episode preview
• Lyme, mold, MCAS, Long COVID: what do you treat first?
• How long does meaningful healing actually take?
• Long COVID, mast cells, Lyme, Bartonella, and mold
• Why Bartonella can be so difficult to identify and treat
• What to do when your doctor isn’t looking at the full picture
• Alzheimer’s disease, Lyme, and the p-tau217 case study
• The surprising dementia statistic Dr. Horowitz discusses
• Dapsone, inflammation, and Alzheimer’s research
• What if you can’t tolerate the dapsone protocol?
• Herbal protocols, biofilms, and persistent Lyme
• Dr. Horowitz’s approach to mold and mycotoxins
• Why chronic illness requires a different framework
• What happens when the infection is gone but the body still feels unsafe?
• Stress, mast cells, histamine, and the mind-body connection
• Why do some people develop chronic Lyme or Long COVID while others don’t?
• The philosophy that shaped Dr. Horowitz’s approach to medicine
• Final message for people struggling with chronic illness

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EPISODE RESOURCES

• Work with us one-on-one
• Ending Chronic Illness: A Revolutionary New Program to Reverse Inflammation and Heal Persistent Disease 
• Medical Detective Substack
• 16-Point MSIDS Model Explained
• Dr. Richard Horowitz Website
• Dr. Richard Horowitz Facebook
• Dr. Richard Horowitz Instagram
• Can Carnivore Heal Chronic Lyme? – Understanding Chronic Lyme Symptoms - Interview with Dr. Richard Horowitz

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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

📫 Tips and Weekly Updates

JUDY CHO RESOURCES

⛑️ Work with Us

🎙️ Podcast

📕 Inflammation Fix Book

📘 Carnivore Cure Book & Elimination Diet

📚 Articles

🎁 Free Resources

📗 Complete Carnivore Diet for Beginners

_____

*DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It should not replace professional medical advice.

If you want to try HistoPlex-AB, you can get a discount here: https://www.nutritionwithjudy.com/podcasts/

Get personalized root-cause care with Empower Functional Health.
Learn more at empowerfunctionalhealth.com
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What if the way you’re approaching chronic illness is making your life smaller while you’re trying to get better? In this episode, Judy Cho explores the connection between chronic illness, nervous system regulation, root-cause healing, and the tendency to postpone life until every symptom is resolved. From strict diets and supplement protocols to the constant search for the next answer, we examine how healing can gradually become the center of your identity, and why that may affect your sense of purpose, connection, and peace.

Drawing from conversations in Empower Functional Health and the Wholeness Method, Judy discusses the backwards law, the difference between pursuing healing and chasing perfect conditions, and how faith can provide perspective through difficult seasons. This conversation is for anyone navigating CIRS, mold illness, autoimmune conditions, chronic inflammation, or other long-term health challenges who feels caught between doing everything possible to recover and wanting to live again. It is not about abandoning treatment or ignoring real physical limitations; it is about asking a more difficult question: how do you continue healing without putting your entire life on hold?

• Why we keep waiting for life to get better
• Is complete symptom resolution required to live?
• The backwards law and the pursuit of happiness
• Why a good life is not the absence of struggle
• When chronic illness becomes your entire identity
• A different question to ask during chronic illness
• How two healing paths begin to separate
• Why waiting for perfect health can cost you years
• When letting go of rigidity may be part of healing

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EPISODE REFERENCES

• Our NwJ and EFH groups
• Our clinical practice
• Wholeness Method nervous system regulation
• Inflammation Fix

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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

📫 Tips and Weekly Updates

_____

JUDY CHO RESOURCES

⛑️ Work with Us

🎙️ Podcast

📕 Inflammation Fix Book

📘 Carnivore Cure Book & Elimination Diet

📚 Articles

🎁 Free Resources

📗 Complete Carnivore Diet for Beginners

_____

*DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It should not replace professional medical advice.

Get personalized root-cause care with Empower Functional Health.
Learn more at empowerfunctionalhealth.com
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Why can mast cell symptoms, histamine reactions, brain fog, fatigue, food sensitivities, and inflammation continue even when your labs look normal or the original trigger is gone? In this episode, I break down the connection between stress, CRH, cortisol, mast cell activation, histamine, the nervous system, and chronic illness, including why mast cells can react before cortisol rises and why standard testing may not always capture what is happening in the moment. We also look at how mold exposure, infections, diet, psychological stress, and nervous system dysregulation can all feed into the same neuroimmune response.

If you have MCAS, histamine intolerance, mold illness, CIRS, chronic Lyme, food reactions, gut issues, or persistent inflammatory symptoms, this conversation may help explain why focusing on only one trigger is sometimes not enough. I also cover the feedback loop among the brain, hypothalamus, mast cells, immune mediators, and symptoms; why reactions can continue after an exposure has been removed; and what it means to address both the physical and nervous-system sides of chronic illness without dismissing either.

• Why Some People Don’t Heal Even After Doing Everything Right 
• Your Stress Response Can Start Before Cortisol 
• Your Cortisol Test Can Look Normal While Your Body Is Still Stressed 
• Why Your Body Prioritizes Survival Over Thyroid 
• Mast Cells Are Like a Smoke Alarm That Won’t Shut Off 
• Mold Exposure and Fear of Mold Can Trigger the Same Stress Pathway 
• Why Normal Mast Cell Labs Can Miss a Flare 
• Stress Can Literally Make Your Gut More Permeable 
• Why You’re Still Sick After Removing the Trigger 
• Mast Cells Aren’t the Root Cause

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EPISODE REFERENCES

• Work with us one-on-one
• Inflammation Fix
• MCAS: Why your body reacts to everything

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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

📫 Tips and Weekly Updates

_____

JUDY CHO RESOURCES

⛑️ Work with Us

🎙️ Podcast

📕 Inflammation Fix Book

📘 Carnivore Cure Book & Elimination Diet

📚 Articles

🎁 Free Resources

📗 Complete Carnivore Diet for Beginners

_____

*DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It should not replace professional medical advice.

If you want to try HistoPlex-AB, you can get a discount here: https://www.nutritionwithjudy.com/podcasts/

Get personalized root-cause care with Empower Functional Health.
Learn more at empowerfunctionalhealth.com
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Iodine supplementation remains one of the most debated topics in thyroid health. Some practitioners warn that iodine, especially higher-dose forms such as Lugol’s iodine, may trigger thyroid dysfunction, Hashimoto’s, or hyperthyroidism, while others argue that iodine deficiency is widespread and often overlooked. In this episode, Judy Cho examines the Wolff–Chaikoff effect, iodine’s role beyond the thyroid, and why iodized salt may not provide enough iodine for optimal health.

The deeper history raises an even more important question: are we blaming supplemental iodine while ignoring other exposures that may have affected thyroid health for generations? Judy explores radioactive iodine, nuclear fallout, contaminated food supplies, and the historical events that may have shaped today’s fear around iodine. She also explains why the distinction between nutritional iodine and radioactive iodine matters before deciding whether iodine is helpful or harmful.

• Is iodine dangerous for your thyroid?
• The Wolff–Chaikoff effect explained
• Iodine deficiency, bromide, fluoride, and chloride
• The forgotten history of radioactive iodine exposure
• What government research found about thyroid risk
• Radioactive iodine exposure
• Understanding the difference between supplemental iodine vs. radioactive iodine

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EPISODE REFERENCES

• Thyroid Dose and Risk Calculator for Nuclear Weapons Fallout for the US Population
• Exposure of the American People to Iodine-131 from Nevada Nuclear-Bomb Tests
• CDC Fallout Study Table of Contents
• Chapter 8 of CDC Results US Before and After exposure
• How to Take Iodine Episodes 
• Lynne Farrow Interview
• Iodine Episodes
• Free Iodine Guide 

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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
📫 Tips and Weekly Updates

JUDY CHO RESOURCES
⛑️Work with Us
🎙️ Podcast
📕 Inflammation Fix Book
📘 Carnivore Cure Book & Elimination Diet
📚 Articles
🎁 Free Resources 

_____
*DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It should not replace professional medical advice.

Get personalized root-cause care with Empower Functional Health.
Learn more at empowerfunctionalhealth.com
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Dr. Judi Keller is a veterinarian who spent roughly two decades practicing conventional veterinary medicine before shifting toward a more holistic approach. After becoming increasingly uncomfortable with how heavily veterinary care could rely on pharmaceuticals and symptom management, she pursued additional training in acupuncture, herbal medicine, nutrition, and integrative care. Her work has focused on helping dogs and cats build better health through species-appropriate nutrition, reducing unnecessary exposures, and looking more carefully at the individual animal rather than automatically following a one-size-fits-all protocol.

In this conversation, we question some of the most routine decisions pet owners are asked to make and why many of us rarely stop to examine them. We discuss what may be hiding behind familiar pet-food labels, how veterinary recommendations have changed over time, and how to think more critically about nutrition, medications, vaccines, parasite prevention, testing, and other aspects of everyday pet care. This episode is not about avoiding veterinary care; it is about becoming a more informed pet owner, understanding risks and trade-offs, and asking better questions so you can make thoughtful decisions for the animal you love.

We discuss the following: 

• Dr. Judy Keller’s background
• Pet longevity versus quality of life 
• Foods dogs should never eat
• What’s really inside kibble?
• Urinary disease in cats
• Are all pet vaccines necessary?
• Potential risks of vaccination
• Rethinking heartworm prevention
• Flea prevention without routine medication
• Rethinking spaying and neutering
• Why fresh food isn’t considered 
• Why working dogs choose meat 
• When bloody diarrhea needs care 

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EPISODE RESOURCES

• Holistic Dog and Pet Wellness Article

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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

📫 Tips and Weekly Updates

JUDY CHO RESOURCES

⛑️ Work with Us

🎙️ Podcast

📕 Inflammation Fix Book

📘 Carnivore Cure Book & Elimination Diet

📚 Articles

🎁 Free Resources

📗 Complete Carnivore Diet for Beginners

_____

*DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It should not replace professional medical advice.

If you want to try HistoPlex-AB, you can get a discount here: https://www.nutritionwithjudy.com/podcasts/

Get personalized root-cause care with Empower Functional Health.
Learn more at empowerfunctionalhealth.com
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Can a carnivore diet actually be healthy long term? It’s one of the biggest questions around carnivore, especially when the conversation turns to nutrient deficiencies, vitamin C, magnesium and potassium, fiber, gut health, the microbiome, and whether an all-meat diet is simply too restrictive to sustain. In this 400th episode of the Nutrition with Judy podcast, I break down four of the most common concerns about eating carnivore long term and look at what deserves a closer examination.

We also get into what the nutrition research can and cannot tell us about long-term dietary safety, how nutrient variety differs from nutrient sufficiency, questions around fiber and digestive health, and what actually matters when evaluating whether a diet is working for an individual. If you follow a carnivore diet, are considering one, or are questioning whether carnivore can be sustainable for years, this episode walks through the arguments that deserve more nuance.

• Concern 1: Is carnivore too restrictive?
• Concern 2: Nutrient deficiencies and food variety
• Concern 3: Fiber and gut health
• Concern 4: Long-term carnivore research
• What to consider for long-term carnivore

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EPISODE REFERENCES

• Slides from episode
• Work with us one-on-one
• Inflammation Fix

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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

📫 Tips and Weekly Updates

JUDY CHO RESOURCES

⛑️ Work with Us

🎙️ Podcast

📕 Inflammation Fix Book

📘 Carnivore Cure Book & Elimination Diet

📚 Articles

🎁 Free Resources

📗 Complete Carnivore Diet for Beginners

_____

*DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It should not replace professional medical advice.

If you want to try HistoPlex-AB, you can get a discount here: https://www.nutritionwithjudy.com/podcasts/

Get personalized root-cause care with Empower Functional Health.
Learn more at empowerfunctionalhealth.com
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Robert Sikes put the viral sardine fast to a controlled test: five days of eating approximately 18 cans of sardines per day while maintaining roughly 3,000 calories. In this interview, Judy Cho and Robert examine what happened to his weight, blood glucose, ketones, energy, inflammation, hunger, and overall performance—and why his experience differed from the dramatic weight-loss results commonly shared across the keto and carnivore communities.

They also review Robert’s bloodwork before, immediately after, and several weeks after the sardine challenge, including arsenic, mercury, lead, cholesterol, thyroid markers, and SHBG. The conversation explores whether sardine fasting produces unique metabolic benefits, what may actually drive the rapid changes people report, and how extreme short-term diets can affect metabolic health, binge-restriction patterns, and long-term weight-loss success.

We discuss the following: 

• Sardine challenge preview
• Why Robert tested sardine fasting
• Eating 18 sardine cans daily
• Glucose rose while ketones dropped
• Why people do sardine fast
• Restriction, bingeing, and quick fixes
• Heavy metals after sardine challenge
• The appeal of extreme fasting 
• Should people fear mercury in sardines? 

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EPISODE RESOURCES

• Keto Savage Website
• Keto Savage Youtube
• Ketogenic Bodybuilding
• Savage Perspective Podcast
• Keto Brick

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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

📫 Tips and Weekly Updates

JUDY CHO RESOURCES

⛑️ Work with Us

🎙️ Podcast

📕 Inflammation Fix Book

📘 Carnivore Cure Book & Elimination Diet

📚 Articles

🎁 Free Resources

📗 Complete Carnivore Diet for Beginners

_____

*DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It should not replace professional medical advice.

If you want to try HistoPlex-AB, you can get a discount here: https://www.nutritionwithjudy.com/podcasts/