Cholesterol — Understanding How the Body Uses It and Are High LDL Levels Really Dangerous?

Dave Feldman

My guest on this episode has a fresh, mechanistic approach to understanding the way our bodies use cholesterol. Dave Feldman is an engineer who has used self-experimentation to unpack the dynamic changes of LDL in his body. His findings have been revolutionary. On his blog, CholesterolCode.com he shares his personal journey of how a low-carb, high-fat diet and almost 100 blood tests have given him pause about the way the medical community currently diagnoses and treats patients with high LDL levels.

Dave is not a doctor. He is an engineer with a curious mind and his experiments are helping people re-frame how we see cholesterol and the impact on our health.

 

Key Takeaways:

 

[4:32] Dave was confident that his cholesterol increase wasn’t justified by the amount of weight he lost.

[10:31] The Feldman Protocol began as the Extreme Drop experiment.

[16:15] Identifying the purpose of cholesterol in the body.

[26:10] Is there a sweet spot for the body to make itself fast, available energy?

[31:24] A diet three days before a cholesterol test can make a significant impact on the results.

[37:15] The frustrating side of science in the field of medicine.

[1:00:19] Are there long-term dangers to being in ketosis for a long period of time?

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Dr. Bret Scher

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

Your Best Health Ever! The Cardiologist’s Surprisingly Simple Guide to What Really Works,
by Bret Scher, M.D., FACC

Cholesterol Code

 

Meditation and Mindfulness: A Practical Approach

Dr. Danny Penman

My guest, Dr. Danny Penman, had used a breathing meditation throughout his youth to get through the extremely difficult periods of his life but he didn’t practice mindfulness daily. It wasn’t until a tragic paragliding accident left him in severe pain that he turned back to the breathing exercise to calm his mind and to minimize his suffering. Danny used his long period of rehabilitation to research mindfulness and meditation to relieve pain and depression.

After realizing there was a profound benefit to adding mindfulness into our daily lives, Dr. Penman partnered with Professor Mark Williams to write the international bestseller, Mindfulness: An Eight Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World. Dr. Penman’s latest work, The Art of Breathing, simply explains the concept of mindfulness through art.

Dr. Penman has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and is an award-winning journalistic.

 

Key Takeaways:

[2:38] Danny describes the tragic accident that led him into the field of mindfulness.

[11:30] Mindfulness is?

[14:18] Science has proven Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy is beneficial.

[21:51] Using mindfulness to enhance everyday experiences and spur creativity.

[27:37] There is no wrong way to practice mindfulness.

[30:52] The Art of Breathing conveys the concept of mindfulness through art.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Dr. Bret Scher

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

Your Best Health Ever! The Cardiologist’s Surprisingly Simple Guide to What Really Works,
by Bret Scher, M.D., FACC

FranticWorld.com

Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World: by Mark Williams
and Dr. Danny Penman

The Art of Breathing, by Dr. Danny Penman

Go Against the ‘Grain’ of Prescription-Driven Health Care by Adopting Prevention

Dr. William Davis

Cardiologist Dr. William Davis wants us to take charge of our own health, and make prevention our top priority. But he warns that you won’t get any help from you regular doctor. In his book, Undoctored, Dr Davis explains how the medical system has failed us, and how prevention has disappeared from most doctor’s priorities. The first step we can all take toward promoting health is eliminating wheat from our diets. As explained in his book Wheat Belly, wheat comes from grass that we humans were never meant to digest. During the conversation, Dr Davis and I discuss the unnatural rise of grains in our diet though farming and agribusiness, the profit-driven and process-laden conventional health care system, and how we can alter our healthcare expectations and take charge of our health. After listening you will be inspired to take charge of your own health!

 

Key Takeaways:

[2:27] What motivated Dr. Davis to write his latest work, Undoctored?

[11:27] What happens when we remove grains from our diets?

[19:13] People can take care of their health on their own.

[20:23] How wheat changed with agribusiness and genetic research.

[28:54] Dr. Davis hasn’t found a grain that isn’t harmful.

[35:45] Dr. Davis recommends high-fat, low-carb diets but balanced with fibrous foods.

[44:39] Raising patients’ expectations to no longer be content with prescription-only care.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Dr. Bret Scher

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

Your Best Health Ever!

Wheat Belly

Wheat Belly on Facebook

Is a Low-Carb Diet the Key to Treating Alzheimer’s?

Amy Berger

Everywhere you go, it seems people can’t stop talking about the ketogenic diet but what is it, how does it work, and isn’t it just the Atkin’s diet revamped? Nutritionist and Author Amy Berger joins the program to share what she learned when researching the topic for her Master’s thesis and book, Alzheimer’s Antidote. Amy says there is proof the ketogenic or low-carb diet can be used to treat Alzheimer’s and other illnesses plaguing us today. Amy’s book, Alzheimer’s Antidote is one of the first books to delve deep into the subject of using ketones to feed neurons in the brain which would otherwise starve when they lose their ability to process glucose.

 

Key Takeaways:

[2:06] How Amy transitioned from nutritionist to author to write Alzheimer’s Antidote.

[7:18] Ketones give the brain an alternative fuel to stave off dementia.

[18:00] Using a low-carb diet to maintain proper insulin and blood sugar levels.

[29:47] Overcoming doubt about treating Alzheimer’s with a ketogenic diet.

[35:12] Cholesterol is essential for healthy brain function.

[40:09] Are there downsides to a low carb diet?

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Tuit Nutrition

Alzheimer’s Antidote: Using a Low-Carb, High-Fat Diet to Fight Alzheimer’s Disease, Memory Loss, and Cognitive Decline, by Amy Berger

Dr. Bret Scher

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

Your Best Health Ever!

Alzheimer’s: A Unique Approach to Treatment and Prevention of Cognitive Decline

Dr. Dale E. Bredesen

It is estimated that by 2050, 13 million people will be affected by Alzheimer’s disease or Alzheimer’s dementia. It is on track to become the second leading cause of death in the U.S. My guest today, Dale E. Bredesen, MD, is working toward reversing and preventing cognitive decline. Dr. Bredesen’s book, The End of Alzheimer’s, provides a programmatic approach to staving off neurodegenerative disease by identifying and eliminating the why behind the affliction.

During our discussion, Dr. Bredesen discusses possible causes of the disease, preventative lifestyle changes and the future of diagnosis and treatment of cognitive decline.

 

Key Takeaways:

[3:53] Understanding why neurodegeneration occurs.

[9:35] How can insulin resistance add to the inflammation which causes Alzheimer’s?

[13:30] Is ApoE4 the Alzheimer’s gene?

[25:25] How might intermittent fasting and Ketogenics help stave off Alzheimer’s disease?

[27:40] Mercury and other toxins that burden our bodies.

[36:44] Positives and negatives of proton-pump inhibitors, statins, and other drugs.

[42:03] The Bredesen Protocol

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Dr. Bredesen

The End of Alzheimer’s: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline,
by Dale E. Bredesen, MD

ApoE4 Information

Dr. Bret Scher

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

Your Best Health Ever!

How to Set Up Your Medical Team: Including Your Doctor and an Alternative Medicine Practitioner

H.D.

This week, Host Dr. Bret Scher welcomes returning guest H.D. to the program. H.D. is a well-respected Endocrinologist and Creator of the Hormones Demystified website. H.D. shares his thoughts on the copious amounts of testing performed by alternative medicine providers, how a person should address their primary care physician with questions about their naturopathic test results, the confounding variables in the diagnosis of gut microbiomes and how overworked physicians should look outside their job for fulfillment.

 

Key Takeaways:

[2:00] Testing by alternative medicine practitioners may not have an impact on a patient’s health.

[7:30] Many people believe their personal health journey should include naturopathic and traditional medicine.

[16:22] Filtering out the noise and delivering only evidence-based information isn’t always easy.

[26:37] How do I talk to my doctor about something I heard from an alternative medicine practitioner?

[32:23] Not all Certifications are the same.

[37:08] Working with microbiomes is like the Wild West of healthcare right now.

[47:14] H.D.’s burnout post really hit home with a lot of over-worked physicians.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Hormones Demystified

Dr. Bret Scher

Dr. Scher on Twitter

Dr. Scher on Facebook

Your Best Health Ever!

Break The Twitch

Anthony Ongaro

Anthony Ongaro wants us to live an intentionally connected life with minimalism, habits and creativity. Anthony is the creator of the website, “breakthetwitch.com.” In today’s interview we discuss the concept of minimalism and how that leads to intentional living, finding our joy, and living purposefully. We discuss how minimalism is not just about getting rid of physical possessions, as it is equally important to promote the things you enjoy and find value in. We talk about practical tips, how to manage technology and how we need to be vigilant to prevent tech from creating more stress and more distraction inner lives. He gives a great example about the board game, Monopoly, sending us notifications while we sleep. Who needs that? We also connect the dopamine surge from technology to the same response from sugar, and how eliminating either is a process that takes time but is 100% doable. I hope you enjoy this episode, and i encourage you to visit Anthony’s website, and keep an ye out for his book, “Break The Twitch: A Practical Guide to Minimalism and Intentional Living,” which goes on pre-sale November 3rd. As always, thank you for listening.

Music: Surfing Day by Marcos H. Bolanos
Music can be found at freemusicarchive.org. Music has be altered and repurposed for and by Bret Scher of The Boundless Health Podcast.

© 2017 Bret Scher. All Rights Reserved.

Professor Robert Sapolsky

Why do we behave the way we do? The answer may surprise you. In his new book, “Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst,” Professor Robert Sapolsky explains that the answer is more complex than we may think. It doesn’t just have to do with our neurobiology or hormone levels at the moment we act, but rather is influenced by days, weeks, years, even generations of experience. It is fascinating to apply this concept to modern topics such as justice, or even my favorite, health. In this interview, we talk about his book, Behave, and we also talk about his prior book, “Why Zebras Don’t get Ulcers.” This is a fascinating description of the effects stress has on our biology, and how stress management techniques may or may not be beneficial in different contexts. And not to dwell on the serious too much, we also explore why we cannot tickle ourselves, and why we don’t like new music after we turn 35. This was a particularly special interview for me, as I had the pleasure of sitting in more than one of Professor Sapolsky’s classes as a Stanford undergrad more than 25 years ago. This one brought back great memories! I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did, and I thank you for listening.

 

Music: Surfing Day by Marcos H. Bolanos

Music can be found at freemusicarchive.org. Music has be altered and repurposed for and by Bret Scher of The Boundless Health Podcast.

 

© 2017 Bret Scher. All Rights Reserved.

Dr. Ted Achacoso

Is your cellular health optimized? Is your gut microbiome optimized? If you are like me, you probably have no idea. Dr. Ted Achacoso hopes to change all of that. As the founder of BioBalance, and creator of Health Optimization Medicine, Dr. Ted is pushing the boundaries of the intersection between health and medicine. In this interview, we discuss his amazing background, what led him to create Health Optimization Medicine, how he helps his clients achieve balance and optimization, and I try to get him to demystify the gut micro biome for me. As you will hear, he is an incredibly intelligent and charismatic individual, and it is hard not to enjoy listening to him speak. I hope you enjoy this episode, and as always, thank you for listening.

Music: Surfing Day by Marcos H. Bolanos
Music can be found at freemusicarchive.org. Music has be altered and repurposed for and by Bret Scher of The Boundless Health Podcast.

© 2017 Bret Scher. All Rights Reserved.

Dr. Jeff Stanley

Virta Health wants to revolutionize the way we treat diabetes. Instead of ‘managing’ diabetes, they want to cure and reverse it using low-carb and high-tech. For decades, medicine has taught a management strategy of diabetes, rather than a cure-based approach, so this company is certainly disrupting the way we approach this costly chronic disease. Considering diabetes costs the United States $176 billion per year, any success they have will have a dramatic impact, not just on the health of the individual, but on society as a whole. Today, I am joined by Dr. Jeff Stanley, an internal medicine trained MD who works for Virta Health helping patients adopt a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet, and helping them safely treat their diabetes with low-carb and high-tech. With their proprietary technology, they are keeping their patients engaged on a regular basis and helping them improve their lifestyles, not just in the short-term, but but for the long-term to help cure their diabetes. Virta Health has published a 10-week trial with impressive results, and they have a 6- and 12-month data as well that we will hopefully learn more about. In this episode, you will hear all about how Virta works, you will learn some specifics about implementing a ketogenic diet, some of the benefits and pitfall of ketosis, the importance of individualize care, and so much more. I hope you enjoy this episode, and as always, we welcome your feedback. Thanks for listening!

Music: Surfing Day by Marcos H. Bolanos
Music can be found at freemusicarchive.org. Music has be altered and repurposed for and by Bret Scher of The Boundless Health Podcast.

© 2017 Bret Scher. All Rights Reserved.

Bret Scher, MD FACC

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