The Low Carb Cardiologist Podcast

Doctor Carrie Diulus is a spine surgeon with an amazing story. Her life has been littered with maladies such as Celiac Disease, type 1 diabetes, gastroparesis, and a serious knee injury and yet she persists with athletic triumphs and incredible health. How she accomplishes this is a testament to her ingenuity and resourcefulness. Dr. Carrie shares her story of how data collection, self-experimentation, and analyzing the results led her down the opposite path from the advice of her doctors. Through her journeys, she has found a low carbohydrate diet to be the best option to treat her diabetes and eventually crafted a plant-based keto diet, including supplements that offer her all the nutrients she needs to keep her energy levels high and her insulin under control.

Her story shows the power of self-teaching, self-experimentation, and taking control of your own health!.

Key Takeaways:

[4:11] A knee injury caused Dr. Carrie to reconsider and switch her career path from pathology to orthopedic surgery.

[9:41] What led Dr. Carrie to choose a low-carbohydrate diet to combat her diabetes?

[20:23] After a bout of Gastroparesis, Dr. Carrie made a dietary transition into vegan keto.

[29:45] Dr. Carrie’s Maffetone training and her measures of blood sugar and ketones tell a story of the physiology of glucose and ketone utilization.

[40:47] Dr. Carrie’s exercise advice to people with diabetes.

[48:36] During 5-day fasting periods, Dr. Carrie’s insulin sensitivity improves and her ketones rise.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Low Carb Cardiologist Website

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

Dr. Carrie Diulus Website

Dr. Carrie Diulus on Facebook

@CarrieDiulusMD on Instagram

This week, the Author of The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability, Lierre Keith, joins me to dispel the three pillars vegetarians lean on to justify their dietary and lifestyle choices. Her book, published in 2009, is still widely discussed and referenced today. In this stirring discussion, Lierre reveals that just six corporations (who she calls grain cartels) own the world’s food supply and how they deceitfully market industrial by-products in the form of soy-based products, how global warming is NOT caused primarily by ruminants but rather by large-scale agricultural practices, and how modern agriculture is destroying our topsoil and our land in general. But she doesn’t stop there! She goes on to explain how proper use of grazing ruminants could actually be a solution to or environmental problems. That’s a message we all need to hear!.

What makes her story even more amazing is that Lierre was a practicing vegan for years. Luckily she realized she was slowly destroying her body by not consuming the vital nutrients necessary for good health. So, will going Vegan save your life and save the planet as is so widely believed? Listen to this podcast before you answer that question.

Key Takeaways:

[4:27] Why Lierre chose to go vegan.

[6:44] How the grain cartel used deceptive marketing to sell the industrial by-product of soy.

[12:01] The cult-like elements of Veganism.

[17:00] Will Veganism save the environment?

[26:21] Moving away from government subsidies and towards grass-based farms.

[32:13] Lierre describes the carbon sequestering process of soil and how global warming started.

[42:44] Lierre shares the moral dilemma brought about by her personal gardening experience.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Low Carb Cardiologist Website

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

Lierre Keith

The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability

The Savory Institute

Eat Wild

This week, Dr. Nasha Winters ND, FABNO, L.Ac, Dipl.OM and CEO of Optimal Terrain Consulting joins me to share her incredible, real-life journey of healing through lifestyle and emphasis on whole health. After beating a diagnosis of terminal cancer at the age of 19, she transformed her life into an ongoing resource for thousands of people who are navigating their way through cancer and standard of care treatments.

Her refreshing multi-view approach focuses on the whole person, focusing less on the cancer and more on making the host stronger. She combines conventional therapy with whole-body, nutritional lifestyle therapy to optimize her patients’ terrain. Her book, TheMetabolic Approach to Cancer: Integrating Deep Nutrition, the Ketogenic Diet, and Nontoxic Bio-Individualized Therapies is available now.

Key Takeaways:

[3:36] How a cancer diagnosis at 19 led Dr. Nasha to Naturopathic medicine.

[14:15] The process of Test, Assess and Address for cancer patients.

[17:02] Can cancer be cured through a single therapy or a ketogenic diet?

[24:05] Cancer, Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, Alzheimer's are in the same metabolic hiccup.

[29:51] Analyzing the results of genetic testing and industry created fear.

[35:34] Can the ketogenic diet or intermittent fasting assist patients during Cachexia?

[51:30] The health benefits of mistletoe.

[59:07] Other beneficial ‘fringe’ interventions for cancer treatment.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Low Carb Cardiologist Website

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

Terrain 10

Optimal Terrain Consulting

Optimal Terrain on Facebook

The Metabolic Approach to Cancer: Integrating Deep Nutrition, the Ketogenic Diet, and Nontoxic Bio-Individualized Therapies, by Dr. Nasha Winters and Jess Higgins Kelley

This  week,  History  Buff,  Citizen  Scientist  and  Wall  Street  Tech  Guru  Tucker Goodrich  shares  how  he  healed  himself  of  diverticulitis,  irritable  bowel Syndrome, and stroke-like symptoms  all  by  changing  his  diet.  Getting little help from contemporary medicine, Tucker decided  to  focus  his  professional  problem-solving  skills towards  his  personal  health  issues. This  ultimately lead  to  eliminating  wheat  and  omega  6  seed  oils  from his  diet and resulted in immediate resolution of his symptoms.

During  our  conversation,  Tucker  reveals  how  he  identified  the  disease  creating  culprits  in  his diet,  how  his  health  has  improved  since  he  eliminated  wheat  and  processed  seed  oils, and more importantly, what this may mean for you and your risk of exposure to omega 6 seed oils and other nutritional toxins.

Key Takeaways:

[5:25] The interconnected worlds of computer science and medical science.

[10:25] Tucker started at the source using his family's medical history as square one.

[19:42] Omega 6 seed oils come from whole foods.

[30:23] Cholesterol and Heart Disease — are they related?

[38:38] American food drastically altered the diet in the ‘Blue Zone’ of Okinawa, Japan.

[43:45] What happened when Tucker removed processed seed oils from his diet?

[50:50] Unpacking the studies and discoveries that led to this conversation about Omega 6.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Low Carb Cardiologist Website

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

Yelling-Stop Blog

Dave Feldman brought down the house yet again with a rousing presentation at Keto Con 2018. In his presentation, he postulated that a subset of LCHF individuals, which he terms Lean Mass Hyper Responders (LMHRs), are unknowingly changing the world of cholesterol.

Traditionally we are taught that any elevation of LDL cholesterol leads to heart disease. Not so fast, says Dave. In this episode, we discuss why this does not apply to LMHRs and what that means for LCHF individuals and what it means for the medical world as a whole. We also discuss how recent PCSK9i drug trials prove his point, even though contemporary medicine promotes them with an opposite conclusion. Sound confusing? Well, it isn’t once you hear Dave explain his case.  

Once again, Dave brings his passion, his engineering mindset, and his intellectual honesty to the table for a rousing interview that is sure to cause a stir among old-school doctors and lipidologists. You don’t want to miss this one!

This  week,  I  welcome  Dr.  Jeff  Stanley  of  Virta  Health  back  to  the  podcast  to  discuss the  results  from  their  one-year  Cardiovascular  Risk  Factor  Assessment  clinical  trial.  The  results, which  are  published  in  the  peer-reviewed  publication  Cardiovascular  Diabetology,  include  some very  impressive  findings.  Findings that may just shake up conventional wisdom about a high fat diet. During  our  conversation,  we  discuss  the  details of the trial, and also explore practical implications of a ketogenic diet, intermittent  fasting,  macro  calculations,  and  beta-hydroxybutyrate  measurements. Dr Stanley and Virta health have already revolutionized the way we treat diabetes, and this latest trial only furthers that mission.

Key Takeaways:

[4:31] Virta Health's method is to safely and sustainably reverse type 2 diabetes.

[9:08] New data will soon be published by Virta.

[13:42] The guidelines and macro data Virta uses with patients.

[19:25] Advice for people seeking information on a ketogenic diet from their doctor.

[22:15] Obstacles patients face with staying compliant to treatment and lifestyle changes.

[26:12] Virta’s priority when discussing intermittent fasting is safety, safety, safety.

[30:26] What does the cardiovascular intervention trial data show after one year?

[51:55] What pushback is Virta experiencing after publishing their results?

Mentioned in This Episode:

Low Carb Cardiologist Website

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

Virta Health

Low Carb Cardiologist Podcast with Dr. Jeff Stanley Episode #11

Low Carb Cardiologist Podcast with Dr. Victor Montori Episode #30

This Episode is Sponsored by:

Oura Ring Sleep Tracking Technology helps improve your understanding of the depth, quality, and length of your sleep. Visit OuraRing.com and at checkout use the code ‘LOWCARBCARDIOLOGIST’ to get $50 off your order.

This week, Orthopedic surgeon, World Record Holder and Master athlete Dr. Shawn Baker shares his solution for thriving as a human being. He eats meat. Lots of meat, and only meat. He is the leader of the carnivore movement and has created a community of carnivores through his social media efforts. This may have been considered “fringe” or “crazy” a few years ago, but now, thanks to Dr Baker’s efforts, the carnivore diet is becoming an accepted diet for health and human performance. During our conversation, Dr Baker addresses common misconceptions about the diet, his blood work results and how he believes the carnivore diet fits into a healthy lifestyle. It may not be for everyone, but there is so much we can learn from Dr Baker’s approach. Plus, we get to hear about his online battles with popular vegan doctors!

Key Takeaways:

[3:54] Dr. Baker describes how moving his patients to a ketogenic diet helped heal them without surgery.

[9:33] The medical system is designed to make money, not prevent illness.

[16:37] Social media is a powerful educational tool for communities.

[19:13] Who is a good candidate for the carnivore diet?

[35:05] How Dr. Baker reacts to the medical community’s critique of the carnivore diet.

[41:18] Understanding blood glucose levels.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Low Carb Cardiologist Website

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

Dr. Shawn Baker

The Human Performance Outliers Podcast

Meat Heals

This Episode is Sponsored by LowCarbCardiologist.com and Your Best Health Ever! The Cardiologist’s Surprisingly Simple Guide to What Really Works, by Bret Scher, M.D., FACC

This week’s guest, Siobhan Huggins, is a stellar citizen scientist who has a passion for dissecting complex topics, and understanding how misbeliefs lead us astray. She has a remarkable gift of analyzing complex topics and reframing them from a systems and engineering point of view. Plus, her own personal journey through the low-carb keto lifestyle prompted her deeper dive into lipids, inflammation, insulin resistance and more. She understands that cholesterol is not inherently evil. Rather, it actually serves a purpose to help us. It’s our lifestyle that alters it into something potentially harmful.

Most exciting of all, she has recently joined forces full-time with Dave Feldman at CholesterolCode.com, so we will be hearing much more exciting research and perspective shifts from Siobhan in the near future.

Key Takeaways:

[6:03] A keto diet has given Chivon improved health and changed her personality.

[8:58] Research and reading has qualified Chivon to write for Cloresteralcode.com

[12:07] Understanding inflammation and the chronic oxidation of LDL.

[17:07] Scavenger receptors and small, dense LDL.

[28:42] The human body wasn’t designed to take on a constant barrage of insulin damage.

[35:32] What causes vascular calcification?

[43:32] The differentiator in familial hypercholesterolemia is the level of insulin resistance.

[47:13] Lipoprotein(a): What is it used for?

Mentioned in This Episode:

Low Carb Cardiologist Website

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

Cholesterol Code

This Episode is Sponsored by LowCarbCardiologist.com and Your Best Health Ever! The Cardiologist’s Surprisingly Simple Guide to What Really Works, by Bret Scher, M.D., FACC

Nina Teicholz joins me for a second time (listen to our first interview in episode 8), this time to discuss her groundbreaking work reforming our dietary guidelines. Nina is the bestselling author of The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet, and she is the Executive Director of the Nutrition Coalition, a non-profit organization that promotes evidence-based nutrition policy. During our discussion, Nina shares the origin of the nutritional guidelines, and the unbelieveable story of how they came to be. She also shares the frightening reality of how deeply the guidelines influence society and how they are based on flimsy data in desperate need of an update. Despite the simplicity of her mission, to base the guidelines on science, she has been consistently criticized and thwarted by the Medical Industrial Complex, disinvited from nutritional conferences, and targeted for unwarranted journal retraction. It’s hard to believe, but it’s all true! Listen to our interview to find out more!

Key Takeaways:

[3:12] The mission of the Nutrition Coalition.

[5:48] The nutritional guidelines have a far-reaching influence over many different sectors.

[11:05] Are nutritional guidelines evidence-based and who creates them?

[17:44] Nina was disinvited to be on a food policy panel from the National Food Policy Conference.

[26:05] In the 1950’s, why was saving middle-aged men from heart disease all the rage?

[28:55] Does the government belong in the position of giving dietary advice?

[35:35] The Nutrition Coalition has been critical of the non-science-based guidelines and the US media for generalizing what is good for an entire population.

[44:42] What you can do to help make the necessary changes.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Low Carb Cardiologist Website

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

Nutrition Coalition Website

Nina Teicholz Part #1, Low Carb Cardiologist Podcast Episode #8

The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat, and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet, by Nina Teicholz

The Magic Pill on Netflix

This Episode is Sponsored by LowCarbCardiologist.com and Your Best Health Ever! The Cardiologist’s Surprisingly Simple Guide to What Really Works, by Bret Scher, M.D., FACC

My good friend Dustin Schaffer of the SchafferMethod.com is a master at helping people live their lives better. In this interview he shares his personal health journey that eventually led him to ketosis. Since then, he has helped his clients find their own path to health, and has been very successful at it. But now he has his most powerful and favorite tool- the combination of exogenous ketones and strong community support. Hear his story of how he uses these tools, and determine for yourself if it may be right for you.

Key Takeaways:

[4:34] Dustin pushed his body so hard he needed 13 reparative surgeries.

[13:10] As his health started to degrade, Dustin continued eating a high-carb diet.

[19:46] The four things Dustin focused on to get healthy.

[25:19] How Dustin introduced ketosis to his clients.

[29:59] Drinking therapeutic ketones is a fast way to get into ketosis.

[40:14] What happens when you have ketones and carbohydrates available in the body?

[45:15] The anti-inflammatory effect of ketones assist with athletic performance and recovery.

[51:43] Integrating ketones with intermittent fasting at a community level.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Dr. Bret Scher

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

The Schaffer Method

Schaffer Method on Facebook

This Episode is Sponsored by LowCarbCardiologist.com and Your Best Health Ever! The Cardiologist’s Surprisingly Simple Guide to What Really Works, by Bret Scher, M.D., FACC