You Cured What?!

Amanda Atkins reversed her severe Type 2 Diabetes along with brain fog, tingly fingers, and more via a low-carbohydrate diet.

For complete show notes, visit http://youcuredwhat.com/podcast/amanda[2:00] Amanda gives some context to her reversal of Type 2 Diabetes and her health history.

[4:40] Amanda's doctors never gave a very good explanation or any mention of food in regards to her childless state or her other ailments. "No one mentioned food."

[7:45] Amanda woke up one morning in 2014 blind in one eye.

[10:20] Amanda's fingers and feet were starting to get tingly. Her ankles were swollen. And she dealt with carpal tunnel syndrome and brain fog.

[11:45] Amanda tried a 1200 calorie low-fat diet. She lost some weight with it but she also got a dry cough.

[12:55] Amanda's fasting blood sugar was 18.4%! She had severe diabetes.

[14:45] After being diagnosed, Amanda searched online for "severe diabetes" and she found the following paper: Effects of a low-carbohydrate diet on glycemic control in outpatients with severe type 2 diabetes https://nutritionandmetabolism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-7075-6-21

[17:00] The paper she found recommended limiting fruit (and other foods).

[20:00] The paper Amanda found showed terrific success improving glycemic control in Type 2 Diabetics even by restricting to 90-170 grams of carbohydrate per day. But Amanda found that some people in the study restricted even further and had even better success. And the health improvements in this study were achieved without that much weight loss.

[22:40] One woman in the paper dropped her A1C from 14.4% to 6.1% in just six months. She was restricting carbs to 11% of her diet and was walking an hour a day a few days a week. Within hours of her new Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis, Amanda had a new plan.

[24:50] Amanda immediately understood three new principles: 1) It's not about weight. 2) Don't fear saturated fat. 3) Your HbA1c is tightly tied to what you eat. Using these principles, she halved her blood sugar in a few days.

[30:20] In 6 weeks, Amanda's HbA1c was down to 8%. At 6 months, it was down to 5.5%. It has stayed around there ever since.

[32:00] What foods does Amanda base her low carbohydrate diet around?

[42:00] It used to be hard (even at age 17) for Amanda to go up 20 steps. It is easier for her now at age 60, now that she has modified her diet.

[44:30] Amanda's skin is not nearly as susceptible to sunburn anymore.

[56:40] "There is a whole universe out there of people who are dying to help you."

[1:11:00] Does Amanda consider herself cured of her conditions?

[1:16:15] Now that she has improved her health, what is one thing Amanda enjoys doing that she couldn't do before?

Diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in January 2015, Brandon LaGreca used an integrative protocol to put it into complete remission in eight months.

For complete show notes, visit http://youcuredwhat.com/podcast/brandon[0:55] Joe gives a brief overview and biography intro for Brandon LaGreca.

[2:20] Brandon gives the background on his diagnosis. He was 34 and went to the hospital with horrible abdominal pain in January 2015. It turned out he had a 4-inch abdominal tumor, causing a bowel obstruction. It turned out to be stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

[4:25] Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is considered incurable in the conventional paradigm.

[5:10] What went through Brandon's mind when he got this diagnosis?

[6:30] One part of Brandon went into shock, but the other part went into his clinical problem-solving mindset.

[8:00] Brandon is glad his oncologist didn't give a specific prognosis or do any "medical hexing".

[9:20] Brandon asked his oncologist: if Brandon made it to 5 years without a recurrence, would there be something different about him? The oncologist said yes. It has now been 5 years.

[10:30] Brandon already wrote the book Cancer and EMF Radiation, and he is now working on a new book Cancer, Stress, and Mindset.

[12:00] After his diagnosis, Brandon decided to see what conventional oncology had to offer him.

[13:30] Brandon was offered R-CHOP (Rituxanimmunotherapy drug plus a chemotherapy cocktail). Brandon didn't want chemo so he reached out to his holistic medicine colleagues and friends.

[14:35] Brandon decided to take Rituxan for immunotherapy but opt out of chemo, and his oncologist agreed. Brandon would put together an integrative protocol in combination with the Rituxan.

[15:50] At first, Brandon did four sessions of Rituxan once a week for four weeks to reduce tumor burden. After that, he did one session every two months.

[17:00] After the first four sessions (to allow the effects of the drug to initially be isolated), Brandon kicked his integrative protocol into high gear. This protocol included supplements, homeopathics, and emotional and spiritual support.

[18:20] Brandon finds that one of the big benefits of his integrative protocol was that after getting healthy, he could continue the practices (unlike chemotherapy, which can only be done temporarily).

[19:05] The first category of his integrative protocol was emotional/spiritual/mindset. One key to this was asking himself how he would be a better person on the other side of the cancer diagnosis.

[22:25] Another category was detoxification via heavy metals chelation and sauna work.

[25:45] Brandon followed the work of Dr. Nick Gonzalez and Dr. William Donald Kelley who focused on metabolic type diets. In Brandon's case, he followed the parasympathetic diet with a good amount of animal fats and proteins. He also ate a colorful array of vegetables and fruits. No processed foods.

[28:30] Brandon also added in different herbs and nutraceuticals. Some examples are medicinal mushrooms, turmeric, hemp, and green tea.

[29:40] Brandon was also getting a homeopathic injection of mistletoe several times a week. This is based off the work of Rudolf Steiner.

[33:30] Brandon also incorporated different forms of meditation. One of these is a moving meditation called qigong.

[36:40] For diet, Brandon recommends the Weston A. Price Foundation for giving an umbrella of what nutrient-dense whole foods are and what good dietary principles are.

[40:20] What challenges did Brandon face on his journey to healing? Gastrointestinal distress issues have been challenging.

[46:30] Does Brandon consider himself cured of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma?

[48:00] Brandon recommends the book Radical Remission.

[50:35] Now that he's improved his health, what's one thing Brandon enjoys doing that he couldn't do before?

[52:50] What recommended resources does Brandon have for others who want to learn more about his approach to

Despite 8 years ago having a golf-ball sized brain tumor (anaplastic astrocytoma), Andrew Scarborough shares how he is now in the best health of his life.

For complete show notes, visit http://youcuredwhat.com/podcast/scarborough[1:45] Andrew provides his health history. He was diagnosed with an anaplastic astrocytoma after suffering a brain hemorrhage on a train in 2013. (It is 2020 at recording time).

[3:00] Leading in to the brain hemorrhage, he had been feeling symptoms, including migraines. He had been stressed so he chalked the migraines and other symptoms up to the stress.

[5:00] On top of the migraines, Andrew was also suffering from focal seizures, runny noses, and muscular fatigue.

[6:00] What diet had Andrew been eating before (which he thought were perfect to manage his strange symtpoms)? He was eating a "rainbow", "Mediterranean", "plant-based" diet with some occasional oily fish.

[7:30] Andrew was in good athletic shape (low body fat, lots of lean tissue) prior to his brain hemorrhage.

[9:30] Leading up to the incident on the train, Andrew had been suffering from some of the aforementioned symptoms for about a year. They had gotten so bad that he could barely cope a couple months before the hemorrhage.

[10:20] Initially his tumor was misdiagnosed as a cavernous hemangioma.

[11:10] Andrew was told that they were going to take out the cavernous hemangioma (that's what they thought it was at the time). Andrew was suffering from seizures which were causing brain damage and also it was leading to other injuries such as a shoulder dislocation.

[12:10] They were not able to remove the entire tumor and the resulting histopathology report showed that it was not truly a cavernous hemangioma; it was an anaplastic astrocytoma.

[13:35] Andrew adopted a ketogenic diet to manage the debilitating seizures he kept having, which were keeping him from being able to even leave the house. Also, he was on medications which were making him feel like a zombie.

[14:30] Andrew had learned about ketogenic diets in 2012 (just before his diagnosis) while studying for his Master's Degree in Nutritional Therapy. Ketogenic diets have been in use for children's epilepsy for about 100 years. Andrew was skeptical it could help him beyond seizure control but he bought the book Cancer as a Metabolic Disease anyway.

[15:50] Andrew found out that some traditional ketogenic foods were still causing seizures for him.

[18:30] Andrew also leveraged the work of the UK group Matthew's Friends, which promote ketogenic diets (especially for epileptic children).

[20:00] Andrew noticed he had issues with dairy and with a lot of plant foods, especially ones containing salicylates. He ended up cutting out all carbohydrates.

[21:50] Andrew focused on eating nutrient-dense animal foods (carnivore diet) and on improving his fatty acid ratio (lower Omega-6, increase Omega-3).

[23:50] Through his nutrient-dense animal-food diet, Andrew was able to establish a therapeutic zone of blood ketones and blood sugar and completely manage his seizures. Eventually he was able to come off all medications.

[26:00] Andrew also found boswellic acid to be an effective supplement to reduce seizure activity. Likewise, frankincense essential oil under the tongue helped Andrew rapidly mitigate low-level seizure activity when a seizure came on. He also found that magnesium chloride spray was able to help.

[30:30] What was the timeline like for Andrew's health improvements take?

[31:50] Andrew talks a bit about gadolinium contrast agents for his cancer scans (for visualizing tumors in the body). He describes that gadolinium may be more toxic than conventionally accepted.

[32:40] Over time, Andrew noticed that the tumor activity and/or brain brain damage was getting better over time (in about a year). And his doctors had told him that would not happen. And over time he was able to include more foods back into his ketogenic diet

Using a plant-free carnivore diet, L. Amber O'Hearn went from years of depression and bipolar type II disorder to being in remission for 11 years.

For complete show notes, visit http://youcuredwhat.com/podcast/amber[2:30] Amber considered herself happy as a child and teenager, but by the time she was 20, she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder, and ultimately with treatment-resistant depression.

[4:30] In her young adulthood, Amber's energy, joy, and motivation dissipated. Things she used to find enjoyable stopped feeling enjoyable.

[5:25] Amber describes her initial experience with antidepressants. Ultimately, she took them for over a decade.

[7:10] Amber describes the typical type of bipolar disorder (which she was never diagnosed with). It involves mania and depression in cycles and can sometimes end in delusions of grandeur and/or a psychotic break.

[8:40] Amber was diagnosed with bipolar type 2 disorder. It does not involve total mania, but it also involves cycles of elevated mood followed by a crash. It can also involve mixed states.

[10:40] Her bipolar type 2 disorder was impacting her whole life and all of her relationships.

[11:30] Amber was actually excited to get the bipolar 2 diagnosis because she thought it provided hope; perhaps she couldn't cure her depression before because it had been a misdiagnosis.

[12:30] Amber had many bad symptoms, including not being able to find words when speaking, and she even felt a form of "brain zaps", amongst other symptoms.

[15:40] Amber describes how frustrating it was in moments of self-awareness to see that she was not acting rationally.

[20:15] Amber talks about what happened with her physical health as she dealt with mental health issues. In her experience, weight gain was often associated with mood and/or mental health issues.

[21:40] Amber weighed in at her highest weight (around 195 pounds, being 5-foot-6) around the end of 2008. She got up to that weight despite eating a low carbohydrate diet, which had initially helped both her weight and her mood.

[23:30] Amber's weight gain was frustrating because she felt like she was doing everything right. She was reading all about the science of low carbohydrate diets and was convinced that they were beneficial. But despite eating low carb with lots of vegetables, she was gaining weight slowly. (She also attributes some of her weight gain to pregnancies.)

[26:00] One day in late 2008, Amber came across an online forum called Zeroing In On Health where people were eating only meat. No plants. The forum members had stories which seemed relatable to her; many of them had breakthrough success with this plant-free diet.

[28:50] Amber initially started a zero-carb diet with a "diet" mindset to lose weight (with the idea that maybe then she could go back to low carb and maintain her weight).

[29:30] Within a few weeks of starting this plant-free diet, Amber lost a bunch of weight and her mood had improved. She just felt good. And her husband commented that he hadn't known how to tell her, but in those few weeks, her mood had been more stable than it had been in all of the eight years they'd been married.

[32:20] Amber now refers to this diet as a carnivore diet instead of zero carb, as it emphasizes its plant-free nature.

[33:30] Amber was pregnant shortly after starting this diet. She did not stay carnivore for her entire pregnancy (though she would sometimes go days at a time plant-free), but she did have to go off her psychiatric medications for the pregnancy. Within a few days of giving birth, Amber went back to her plant-free carnivore diet, and she has never needed psychiatric meds again. She has been free from psychiatric medications for about 11 years as of recording.

[37:30] No one was more surprised about her health improvements on carnivore than Amber herself. She was quite surprised to improve her health by removing vegetables.

[41:00] A video by Dr. Georgia

Ian Morris shares his story of using sound healing and other ideas to heal from dyslexia, MS, colon cancer, depression, and more.

For complete show notes, visit http://youcuredwhat.com/podcast/ian[1:50] Ian gives some background on his health history.

[2:15] Ian struggled in school as a child.

[3:50] As a budding baseball player, at age 17 or 18 Ian was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse and heart arrythmia.

[5:20] Ian had always loved sports, but after high school Ian found himself being moved by music (but he was also dealing with suppressed emotions and depression).

[6:30] As a young adult, Ian started a non-profit named Homemade Genius. It shared music and poetry with underserved communities.

[8:00] Ian's health began to fail and he racked up $60,000 worth of doctor bills. One of his doctors diagnosed him with multiple sclerosis and another diagnosed him with colon cancer. In 2011, he weighed around 315 pounds.

[9:30] Two books were suggested to Ian over and over: You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay and The Healing Power of Sound.

[10:30] Ian Morris started getting into mind-over-matter, into meditation, and into frequency-minded music with headphones.

[12:15] Ian was 32 or 33 when he was going through his major health problems (including MS and colon cancer diagnoses).

[13:15] Ian describes how he had muscles twitching, skin outbreaks, digestive problems, and constant horrible migraines. His body was even rejecting foods he had always eaten (including strawberries, peanut butter, and especially meat).

[15:00] Looking back on the time when Ian was sick, he feels like he has died and is now a completely different person.

[16:40] Ian is a co-founder, along with Dana Kato, of Listening To Smile. Their work with Listening To Smile helps clients improve their health and their lives through some of the same methods that helped Ian heal (sound healing, mindset, meditation, etc.).

[19:10] Ian describes sound healing.

[21:10] Sound healing is a recalibration on a frequency level on the body. On a deeper level, it is dealing with consciousness expansion (more awareness). (Some clients say things like "I'm hearing the birds more")

[22:50] The brain reacts when it is exposed to new sound frequencies, expanding your sound palate beyond what you normally feed it.

[24:50] What was the timeline like on Ian's healing?

[25:50] In a year or a year and a half of breathwork, mindfulness, and sound healing, Ian lost 110 pounds.

[26:45] During his sickness, Ian was in pain constantly. He had horrible migraines which led to depression; Ian even contemplated suicide.

[27:45] Ian describes 528 Hz music ("the frequency of love" on the Solfeggio scale) healing his migraines in 3-7 minutes. Also, he feels his dyslexia is 95% gone, as is his brain fog.

[29:50] "It was like an upgrading of my soul."

[31:40] Ian describes that pure tones are very powerful. He sees them almost like "audio medicine".

[32:20] Ian's company sells albums for individuals and for practitioners at ListeningToSmile.com.

[36:30] Ian talks about how tempo, music, and melody can be used to pump someone up or to help someone calm down.

[38:05] Ian's company has dubbed the song Belief Code 21 as the "frequency of peace". Many people use that song for anxiety relief and to relax before bed. The song is approximately 30 beats per minutes.

[40:30] Ian describes what sessions are like for clients who come to his company Listening To Smile.

[48:30] What is the reason Ian recommends over-the-ear headphones? He likes to keep wireless frequency activity away from brainwave activity, and he also likes the frequency response you get from over-the-ear headphones, and he likes their ability to block out other sounds.

[53:00] Ian gives an overview of how binaural beats can be helpful and how they can bring about specific brainwave states. Listening to binaural beats to put your brain into a theta state allow the

Type 1 Diabetic Andrew Berger shares his story of improving his A1C from 7.8% to 4.9% in 23 months. In doing so, he improved everything from his energy to his skin to his retinopathy.

For complete show notes, visit http://youcuredwhat.com/podcast/andrew[1:00] Andrew is introduced; diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at age 3, he is 29 as of recording. In 23 months, he has lowered his HbA1c from 7.8% to 4.9%.

[2:00] Andrew gives his background with Type 1 Diabetes. He was the only one in his school with Type 1 Diabetes growing up.

[4:15] Throughout the first decades of having Type 1 Diabetes, Andrew was also developing Type 2 Diabetes, which he attributes to the large amounts of insulin he was injecting to cover the food he was eating. Also, his blood sugar often got very high: into the 200s, into the 300s regularly, and even into the 400s.

[5:00] By the time he was 25 or 26, his eyes started failing. He was diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy.

[6:30] After being diagnosed with the retinopathy, Andrew was frustrated with the vague advice he was given: "Control your blood sugars." But no one told him how to do that.

[7:15] Andrew describes his history with Weight Watchers. He tried it several times. Largely unsuccessfully.

[8:00] Andrew heard Vinnie Tortorich's podcast Fitness Confidential and he was ripping apart Weight Watchers and promoting a low carb diet. Andrew decided to try eating a low carb diet.

[9:20] Andrew's health and blood sugar had improved significantly from low carb, and then he heard Shawn Baker promoting the carnivore diet on the Joe Rogan podcast. Andrew decided to try the carnivore diet (only foods from animals, none from plants-- a meat-based diet).

[15:00] Andrew eats one meal a day: usually around 2 to 2.5 pounds of red meat.

[16:20] Andrew promotes intermittent fasting.

[18:50] Andrew's pancreas still cannot produce (much) insulin.

[22:50] Andrew's diabetic retinopathy has been getting better.

[25:15] Andrew once did a seven-day fast as a Type 1 Diabetic.

[26:20] Andrew now takes a different number of units of insulin each day: often 5, 9, or 13 units. Before starting a low carb diet, he used to take 60-65 units per day. He even had to take over 100 units some days prior to low carb.

[27:45] Andrew describes the subjective benefits he has felt from changing his diet. "I feel like a different person completely. My energy is insane." He used to need a two-hour nap every day and was sleeping half the day.

[31:45] "I've never felt this way in my life. And I seriously mean that. In my teenage years, in my adult years. . . I feel like a little kid."

[33:30] How have Andrew's medical providers reacted to his tremendous health improvement? ("Holy crap! How did you do it?")

[37:00] Andrew talks about how most conventional doctors think A1C values in the high 5s are normal and don't know it's even possible to get below 5.

[44:20] What are the staple foods of Andrew's carnivore diet?

[45:00] Andrew extolls the virtues of eating beef liver.

[48:30] Now that he has improved his health, what's one thing Andrew enjoys doing that he couldn't do before?

[54:30] Are there any resources Andrew would recommend to listeners interested in his approach to healing symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes?

[1:01:00] How can Andrew be reached?

Kyle Williams shares his story of healing from a moderate-to-severe diagnosis of ulcerative colitis.

For complete show notes, visit http://youcuredwhat.com/podcast/kyle[1:45] Kyle gives his background with ulcerative colitis, which started in 2015 or 2016. He was going through a stressful time in his life.

[3:00] Kyle noticed blood in his stool (he was 29 or 30 at the time).

[4:00] Kyle had his first ulcerative colitis flare at work shortly after noticing blood in his stool. After that, he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.

[5:30] After the initial flare, Kyle's overall health went into a tailspin.

[8:00] After taking antibiotics, Kyle began having horrible abdominal pain and got C. diff.

[12:40] From California, Kyle moved back in with his mother in Florida.

[15:00] Kyle began eating a new diet: the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

[18:00] Kyle noticed slow progress from the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

[22:00] Kyle began seeing a therapist to see if that would help his health.

[23:40] After a while on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Kyle went on a binge at 2017 Christmastime: ice cream and pancakes galore.

[25:00] Kyle went back on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and things were not getting better. Every bowel movement was bloody and painful.

[26:15] Kyle began feeling shame; he was buying adult Depends because he was afraid of soiling himself.

[27:30] Kyle began going to a support group and he went back onto medication in July/August 2018.

[30:15] From his initial diagnosis of mild ulcerative colitis, after getting another colonscopy, Kyle was diagnosed with moderate-severe ulcerative colitis. He was at risk of needing to have his colon cut out surgically.

[32:30] With medication and a nightly rectal enema, Kyle's bleeding stopped within a week.

[33:10] Backtracking to March of 2018, Kyle had a horrible panic attack and convulsions and Kyle had to be taken away from a convention in an ambulance.

[35:20] After the panic attack, Kyle began seeing a new doctor. Kyle's new doctor, Dr. Marcus Ettinger, told him that he should consider the carnivore diet (eating only animal foods and salt).

[36:40] Kyle's doctor (the one before Dr. Ettinger) told him that the drug he was on (mesalamine) was not going to work anymore. Kyle was going to have to go on Remicade/Humira, an immunosuppressant. This drug is extremely expensive ("a crap-ton of money"), it compromises the patient's immune system, and once you go on it, you may never be able to come off the drug.

[39:45] Kyle decided he would go on the carnivore diet.

[40:50] When Kyle started on the carnivore diet, he ate just beef, salt, and drank water.

[46:25] What results did Kyle see upon adopting a carnivore diet in October 2018?

[48:00] Kyle began weaning off medications in March 2019.

[50:50] What other steps has Kyle taken beyond the carnivore diet in his healing journey?

[51:30] Even beyond diet, Kyle's doctor promotes the importance of environment (light, water, and magnetism) on biology (and therefore health).

[54:20] Kyle thinks his resilience is improved (he can cheat greatly on his carnivore diet at times without feeling ill effect) because of his improved environment.

[58:50] What changes has Kyle made to improve his environment? The first item he changed is reduce artificial light, especially blue light (a specific spectrum of light). He uses blue-blocking glasses for this.

[1:02:10] Kyle also credits getting more sunlight with improving his health. Especially morning and evening sun.

[1:09:00] Kyle has also seen benefit from utilizing the Wim Hof Method. Kyle has done the Method's specific form of breathing exercises and cold exposure.

[1:14:45] "I could not have made the health recovery I have made while caring too much about what other people think of me."

[1:17:45] Does Kyle consider himself cured of ulcerative colitis?

[1:19:00] Now that he has improved his health, what's one

Nick Norwitz, Oxford PhD student and Dartmouth valedictorian, shares his story of healing from ulcerative colitis and osteoporosis.

For complete show notes, visit http://youcuredwhat.com/podcast/nick[1:00] Joe details Nick's background which includes: being a Boston Marathon-qualifying runner, being an Ivy League valedictorian, studying for his PhD at Oxford, and a future at Harvard Medical School.

[3:35] Training for the Boston Marathon in 2014, at a very young age (17 or 18), Nick got his first bone fracture. This eventually led to a diagnosis of osteoporosis.

[5:20] Nick was given antibiotics before he was one year old. According to him, this increases your chances of eventually getting ulcerative colitis by about 500%.

[6:05] What did Nick's diet consist of at the time he was diagnosed with osteoporosis and ulcerative colitis?

[8:05] Nick never had weight issues but he now considers that he was fueling his body with the wrong foods.

[10:00] Nick has had many bone fractures in his life. He describes some of them at this point.

[11:45] Nick completed the 2014 Boston Marathon on crutches. He got sunburnt and contracted shingles in the process.

[17:25] Nick was diagnosed at age 22 with ulcerative colitis.

[20:35] Nick tried many diets which did not help him with his colitis. He did not have success with any of them until he tried a ketogenic diet.

[22:35] Before adopting a ketogenic diet, Nick's calprotectin levels were around 150. Levels below 50 are considered normal.

[23:05] Nick started feeling better within days of starting on a ketogenic diet. One week into the ketogenic diet, his calprotectin levels went from 150 to 20.

[24:40] Nick has had no symptoms of ulcerative colitis since starting on a ketogenic diet. He started on June 1, 2019, and he has become passionate about studying the impact that a ketogenic diet can have on a wide array of health conditions.

[27:20] Nick gives an overview of what ketones are.

[31:35] Nick has largely eaten a Mediterranean version of the ketogenic diet with lots of olive oil and avocado and salmon and sardines.

[34:40] At the time of recording, Nick is currently experimenting with the carnivore diet (sometimes referred to as the "ultimate elimination diet").

[37:30] "In life, you either win or you learn. So either way, you're winning."

[38:00] How did Nick's doctor react to his big health improvements?

[43:00] How is Nick's carnivore diet experiment going?

[44:55] There is interesting data on treating constipation with a no-fiber diet. Here is one such study.

[49:00] Nick describes his future educational journey (he will be going to Harvard Medical School after he finishes his PhD at Oxford). He wants to study metabolic medicine in some capacity and has specific interests in neurological health and Alzheimer's Disease.

[52:50] "Alzheimer's Disease is also called Type 3 Diabetes." See one of Nick's articles on ketones for Alzheimer's here.

[57:20] How has Nick's osteoporosis responded to the ketogenic diet?

[58:50] Nick's case of osteoporosis is unique; there was a case report written on it here.

[59:40] We cut in with an update. Nick got new results regarding his osteoporosis less than a week after the initial recording, so we spliced in conversation around those new results here.

[1:01:05] Nick just got another DEXA scan. His bone density improved since starting on the ketogenic diet. He goes into detail and gives context around this, including why he credits the ketogenic diet with his improvements. For a visual, see this Tweet.

[1:03:40] "Technically, I don't have osteoporosis by definition anymore."

[1:09:50] What are Nick's thoughts on cholesterol levels when eating a low-carb, high-fat diet? Nick discusses further, and he also references this paper.

[1:16:50] On his lipid panel, Nick's triglycerides dropped significantly. His HDL and LDL both went up significantly. He provides contexts around thes

Carolina Cartier shares her story of reversing 16 years of PCOS and going from infertility to being a mother who helps others improve their chances of having kids.

For complete show notes, visit http://youcuredwhat.com/podcast/carolina[2:15] Carolina gives background on her health history. She had a diagnosis of precocious puberty at age 5.

[3:15] At age 13, Carolina was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).

[4:15] Carolina had PCOS for 16 years. During that time, she did not have a period. And at her heaviest, six-foot-tall Carolina weighed nearly 400 pounds.

[5:50] Carolina had always had normal blood glucose levels. But after 16 years of having an endocrine disorder, a doctor finally checked her insulin levels (an undertested but very important marker). Her insulin levels were very high; she had hyperinsulinemia.

[7:00] In her mid-twenties, Carolina had started eating a Paleo-like Weston A. Price-style diet.

[8:00] In 2014, Carolina started following a ketogenic (carbohydrate-controlled) diet.

[8:55] Within 4 months of keto, even though she was still morbidly obese, Carolina began having her cycle for the first time in her life.

[9:45] Carolina describes the criteria used to diagnose PCOS.

[12:45] Carolina describes how insulin levels impact PCOS.

[15:20] Carolina never had a naturally-occuring menstrual cycle until her late twenties. And she had finished growing at age 12.

[18:20] For most of her life, Carolina didn't think much about her ability to have children or not.

[22:30] Carolina describes her transition to a ketogenic diet.

[26:00] Carolina started out focusing on a meat, a low-carb vegetable, and a sauce. She also liked "fatty coffee" drinks early on.

[32:30] What was the timeline like on Carolina's weight loss (around 200 pounds total) on the ketogenic diet? It totaled out to about 60 pounds per year.

[35:50] Carolina doesn't have to think about food as often anymore. She's not hungry all the time.

[38:50] After massively improving her own health, Carolina decided to get a Master's degree in Nutrition. Just after getting accepted to the Master's program, she found out she was pregnant. She and her husband found out she was having twins. This was after she was told at age 13 she would likely never be able to have children.

[41:20] Carolina describes that a normal insulin level is <= 20 mIU/L but that many low carb doctors state that a healthier level is <= 5 mIU/L. When she got hers checked for the first time, it was 70!

[46:00] Carolina describes her Master's thesis, related to nutrition for PCOS and fertility (titled "Awareness and Perceptions of Carbohydrate-Controlled Diets for the Management of PCOS").

[48:40] Carolina surveyed registered dieticians to see what they know about low carbohydrate dietary literature. She also surveyed women who ate carbohydrate-controlled diets to see if they had changes in fertility upon adopting said diet. She also did a survey of the general public's carbohydrate literacy.

[51:45] Carolina learned that many registered dieticians worry about "carbohydrate restriction" because they see restriction as potentially promoting an eating disorder. Because of this, Carolina pushes for "carbohydrate-controlled" as a term instead of using the touchy word "restriction".

[57:40] Carolina found that "low carb" is a vaguely-defined term in a great deal of literature, encompassing everything from 20 grams of carbohydrate per day or less to 40% of dietary intake being from carbohydrate.

[1:01:20] What was the outcome in Carolina's thesis for the women who had adopted ketogenic diets? What impact did it have on their fertility and PCOS? Hint: the ketogenic diet had a very positive result.

[1:07:30] Does Carolina consider herself cured of PCOS?

[1:11:20] What resources does Carolina recommend for people looking to heal from PCOS and/or infertility?

[1:15:40] Now that Carolina has improved her health,

Juan Pablo Alvarez Máynez shares his story of overcoming Lyme Disease and achieving terrific health, well-being, and fulfillment.

For complete show notes, visit http://youcuredwhat.com/podcast/juanpablo[1:50] In March 2017, at age 30, Juan suffered a tick bite while mountain biking.

[3:35] In the first six weeks, Juan saw six different doctors and got many differing diagnoses. At the time he was suffering from chronic fatigue, muscle pain, and mental confusion.

[4:50] Juan talked to people who had Lyme Disease or knew people with Lyme. They recommended that he go to the United States (Juan lives in Mexico) to see an allopathic doctor in California.

[6:10] Juan was diagnosed with Lyme and confections (Rickettsia and Babesia). He was told it would take four years to heal, with antibiotics being the key to treatment.

[7:35] Juan started out on nine different medications. Two or three weeks into this treatment he was suffering from many side effects from all the medications (vomiting, diarrhea, feeling awful); this was a low point for him and he was victimizing himself.

[10:00] Lyme Disease is an autoimmune disease. He describes how autoimmune diseases lead to the body attacking itself.

[10:55] Lyme Disease is often confused with one or more other autoimmune diseases. It mimics other diseases, making it difficult to diagnose and treat.

[13:50] Juan had a wake-up call in his life.

[15:50] Juan started putting together a plan to support the medicine. He thought the medicine wouldn’t heal him 100%; his body would have to become stronger too.

[16:50] Juan came across a VICE documentary on Wim Hof which described the Wim Hof Method which has potential for helping with autoimmune conditions.

[18:50] Wim Hof had found peace and inner strength through a specific breathing practice and through going out into the cold in nature.

[19:35] The Wim Hof Method consists of deep breathing, of cold exposure training, and of mindset and commitment. The mind/body connection is very important to the Wim Hof Method.

[20:20] Research at Radboud University showed the power of the Wim Hof Method. Initially it showed Wim’s ability to control his autonomic nervous system; this turned out to be repeatable by everyone who used Wim Hof’s method (deep breathing, cold exposure, mindset and commitment).

[23:10] Wim Hof found that humans have the ability to regulate their immune reactions and their autonomic nervous systems.

[25:50] Wim Hof’s method involves breathwork, cold exposure, meditation, mindset, and commitment.

[27:35] After hearing about Wim Hof, Juan thought it could be helpful for his autoimmune condition. He bought a 10-week course on the Wim Hof Method.

[28:20] Juan describes his first ice bath experiment (at the 8-week point of the 10-week course).

[29:05] Juan was amazed at how he felt in his first ice bath.

[32:00] Juan started adopting the mantra “Lyme can’t stop me”

[33:40] In less than ten months (as opposed to the predicted 4 years), Juan tested negative for Rickettsia and Baresia.

[35:30] What happened in the first eight weeks of Juan practicing the Wim Hof Method?

[36:10] Juan felt better energy-wise and in his joints after his first time doing Wim Hof breathing.

[42:50] Juan also practices grounding and eats a no-processed-food Paleo alkaline diet.

[43:20] After a year of taking medicines alongside his natural approaches, Juan decided to try a fully natural approach (he was still feeling side effects of the medications).

[45:50] Juan decided he was going to go all-out for 15 straight days: grounding himself to the earth, getting sunlight into his eyes, eating a Paleo alkaline diet, and sitting in an ice bath every day.

[48:20] Juan’s symptoms (“sensations”) went way down from his 15-day focused healing effort. Also his quickness at recovering from ice baths improved dramatically.

[50:55] What are the foods Juan ate as part of his paleo alkaline diet?

[53:50] Juan considers that his lifestyle (poor diet, unfu