Dr. Berg’s Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Instead of Body Mass Index (BMI), Use THIS... Dec 12, 2023

Show notes

Let’s talk about the problems with using BMI (body mass index) as a weight or health measurement.

One of the biggest problems with BMI is that it doesn’t tell you how much fat you have versus muscle. It also can’t give you much of an idea of what's going on with your overall health.

Other common measurements:

• BMR (basal metabolic rate): Measures how fast you’re burning calories

• TDEE (total daily energy expenditure): Measures the quantity of energy being burned

• Keto calculator: Measures BMR and TDEE and can tell you how many calories and how many macronutrients you should consume in a day based on your BMR and TDEE

Many times, people look at how much weight they lose per week as a measurement of how healthy their metabolism is. However, this isn’t a good idea.

A big principle to consider is: get healthy to lose weight—don’t lose weight to get healthy. In the process of exercising and getting healthy, you’re going to gain muscle.

Muscle is heavier than fat. This means that some weeks you may not lose any weight, but your clothes are still going to feel more and more loose.

Instead of a BMI test, there are many other helpful tests you can do to help measure your overall health.

One of the best assessments of overall health is the metabolic test. This test can look at your metabolic pathways in real-time. It can provide great data to help professionals understand what could happen down the road, so you can do something about it now.

Keto Calculator

The #1 Best Remedy for Hemorrhoids - Dr. Berg Dec 11, 2023

Show notes

Let’s talk about the best natural remedy for hemorrhoids: Collinsonia root.

Collinsonia root has been used as an herbal remedy for a very long time. It’s used to address the venous system and the liver.

Collinsonia root is therapeutic for venous congestion, which is the stagnant flow of blood in the venous system.

Collinsonia root may also help with certain conditions, such as:

• Laryngitis

• Sore throat

• Bronchitis

• Mucus

• Digestive issues

Pregnancy, belly fat, ascites, and constipation lead to an increased risk of hemorrhoids. A lot of these conditions have an association with a liver issue, congestion in the liver, and venous congestion.

There are very minimal side effects of Collinsonia root, and it may be a great natural alternative to try for hemorrhoids.

DATA:

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10...

How to STOP Prediabetes Going Into Diabetes Dec 10, 2023

Show notes

How can you stop prediabetes from developing into diabetes? Let’s talk about it.

There is something that occurs before prediabetes called insulin resistance. This is a condition where your body is resisting high levels of insulin. High insulin levels are created from consuming a high-carb diet.

Insulin resistance will keep your blood sugar levels appearing normal until you develop prediabetes. However, you’ll still experience symptoms of insulin resistance.

Eventually, though, the beta cells that make insulin will not work as well, and you’ll develop prediabetes. If no changes are made, prediabetes can become diabetes very quickly. At this point, you have insulin resistance and high blood glucose (diabetes).

Symptoms of diabetes:

• Frequent urination

• Brain fog

• Feeling tired after eating

• Frequent eating

• Cravings for carbs

• Tingling sensation in the hands or feet

• Vision problems

• Kidney problems

• Fatty liver

• Belly fat

The typical treatment for diabetes is medication. However, the dietary consumption of sugar and carbs is often overlooked.

The best ways to prevent diabetes naturally:

1. Replace the carbs in your diet with fat and protein

2. Do intermittent fasting

3. Consume low-starch vegetables

4. Get plenty of trace minerals, B vitamins, vitamin C, and vitamin D

5. Exercise

How to Regrow Your Hair (UPDATED VITAL INFO) Dec 09, 2023

Show notes

Today, I’m going to cover the best natural ways to regrow hair.

Whether you’re losing hair, your hair is thinning, or you have alopecia—these tips for hair loss may help.

Hair is protein, and protein is made of amino acids. Lysine is a specific amino acid that greatly impacts hair growth. Lysine also helps make hair stronger and more elastic.

The best foods for hair growth are foods high in lysine, like red meat and eggs. Consuming six to eight ounces of high-quality protein twice a day will give you the protein you need.

Many people experiencing hair loss are low in iron. Red meat and eggs are high in iron, and lysine helps increase iron absorption.

When you go through stress, your body’s demand for lysine goes up. If stress is causing you to lose hair, you may want to try increasing your protein consumption. To regrow hair, it’s also crucial to lower your cortisol by reducing your stress.

Inflammation or a malabsorption issue in your gut could lead to a deficiency in lysine. Consuming grains or seed oils can lead to inflammation. If you have gut inflammation, you may want to try the carnivore diet.

It’s also important to support your gut microbiome because your gut microbes make amino acids. A disruption of your gut flora can cause a disruption in the microbes on your scalp. This can lead to issues like dandruff and skin disorders. A probiotic supplement or probiotic foods may help promote healthy, thick hair.

A powerful form of testosterone called DHT has been known to cause hair thinning or hair loss. Zinc is a fantastic natural DHT inhibitor, and it’s in red meat. Lysine also helps inhibit DHT.

Lysine is important to support a healthy body and has many other health benefits that may indirectly help with hair loss and support hair growth.

Great natural remedies for hair loss are:

• Pumpkin seed oil

• Green tea extract

• Stinging nettle root

• Nutritional yeast

DATA:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12190640

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

Clean Out Your Kidneys of Oxalates and Stones - Dr. Berg Dec 08, 2023

Show notes

Let’s talk about oxalates and the best ways to flush out oxalates to help prevent kidney stones.

Signs your oxalate levels are high:

• Kidney stones

• Gout

• Headaches

• Eye pain

• Urinary pain

• Genital pain

• Muscle pain

• Intestinal pain

Foods high in oxalates:

• Almonds

• Peanuts

• Spinach

• Chocolate

• Kiwi

• Strawberries

• Beets

• Tea

• Bran

Dietary oxalates aren’t correlated with oxalates in your urine. Just because you consume foods high in oxalates doesn’t mean you will develop any problems.

But, preexisting damage to your kidneys, liver, or metabolism can cause you to be unable to process oxalates like you should. Diabetes, prediabetes, insulin resistance, and carb consumption can lead to kidney problems.

A lack of certain microbes can also prevent you from breaking down oxalates, causing them to end up in the kidneys.

Many people who go on the ketogenic diet no longer have a problem dealing with oxalates. But if you’re still experiencing issues, you can try these tips.

What to do if you have high oxalate levels or are prone to kidney stones:

1. Limit foods high in oxalates or consume them with cheese

2. Take a probiotic with a mixture of lactobacillus

3. Maintain higher levels of magnesium and citrates (by consuming magnesium and lemon)

4. Get plenty of vitamin D

5. Drink at least two and a half liters of fluid a day

DATA:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1...

The Unique Benefits of ASHWAGANDHA (How and When to Take it) - Dr. Berg Explains Dec 07, 2023

Show notes

Today, I want to cover the amazing herb ashwagandha.

Top potential benefits of ashwagandha:

1. Lowers stress and anxiety

2. Supports weight loss

3. Reduces insulin resistance

4. Promotes quality sleep

5. Enhances cognitive function

6. Improves stamina and strength while exercising

7. Reduces inflammation

8. Stimulates the thyroid

9. Enhances the immune system

10. Supports healthy testosterone levels

11. Decreases pain

12. Improves muscle spasms

13. Reduces fluid retention

14. Increases heat shock proteins

When to avoid ashwagandha:

• If you have a sensitivity to nightshades

• If you have excess iron or a genetic tendency to accumulate iron

• If you have hyperthyroidism

• If you take barbiturates or thyroid hormones

Consider consuming 250 milligrams to 500 milligrams of ashwagandha twice per day.

If using a tincture at a one-to-five ratio, it’s recommended that you take between two and four milliliters three times a day.

DATA:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31517...

https://www.nmi.health/ashwagandha-a-...

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24882...

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36516...

How WORRY Ruins Your Body (HOW TO STOP IT) Dec 06, 2023

Show notes

Let’s talk about stress and cortisol. I’ve seen many people get on the right track with their diet and exercise—but they're still stuck in fight-or-flight mode.

Being in fight-or-flight mode, having elevated cortisol and adrenaline, for a long period isn’t healthy.

Chronic stress has been known to negatively affect the body in many ways, including:

• Shrinking your grey matter

• Shrinking your thymus gland

• Creating muscle atrophy

• Decreasing testosterone

• Running the body on sugar (even when you’re not eating sugar)

• Disrupting healthy digestion

• Reducing quality sleep

Chronic worry and stress can also lead to ulcers, inflammation, and disease.

An interesting study measured 39 people’s cortisol levels before and after a 45-minute art therapy session. This study found a significant reduction of cortisol in participants.

I have found that hobbies are a fantastic way to stop the fixation on stress and move your attention to something more positive.

DATA:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

The Real Reason Why You Are TIRED All the Time Dec 05, 2023

Show notes

Let’s talk about fatigue—the root cause and how to fix it.

It all starts with your mitochondria. The mitochondria are the energy factories deep inside your cells that make ATP. ATP is the energy of the body.

Certain foods contribute to the energy-making process of the body more than other foods. It’s almost impossible to extract energy from ultra-processed foods.

Important nutrients to support energy include:

• Vitamin B1

• Vitamin B2

• Vitamin B3

• Folic acid

• Vitamin B12

• Magnesium

• Manganese

• Selenium

• Vitamin C

• Coenzyme Q10

A healthy person makes a massive amount of ATP. You generate more ATP when you exercise, but ATP doesn’t get stored. Your body can either store sugar or fat as fuel. Fat is a much more efficient fuel source than sugar.

When you go on a low-carb diet and get into ketosis, you become fat-adapted. Once you’re fat-adapted, you can burn fat as fuel a lot easier. This is why the keto diet, with a lot of nutrient-dense foods, is the best diet to increase energy.

Exercise is the number one way to produce more mitochondria and boost your energy. This is just one more reason to exercise consistently.

Other things to add to increase your energy and get rid of fatigue:

• Intermittent fasting

• Cold therapy

• Phytonutrients

Things to avoid to help support healthy energy levels:

• Refined sugar and carbohydrates

• Stress

• Heavy metals

• Smoking

• Alcohol

DATA:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

How STRESS Robs You of These Vitamins Dec 04, 2023

Show notes

Let’s talk about stress and how to take care of your body during chronic stress. Stress can cause deficiencies—these deficiencies can then alter your ability to react to and recover from stress. Chronic stress can be very dangerous to your health. Too much stress can lead to: • Ulcers • Heart attack • Osteoporosis • High blood pressure • Anxiety • Depression • Poor immunity Deficiencies caused by stress can include: 1. Magnesium 2. Zinc 3. Thiamine (vitamin B1) 4. Potassium 5. Vitamin B5 6. Amino acids 7. Calcium 8. Vitamin D 9. Vitamin C When you go through stress, it’s easy to reach for junk foods. But it’s crucial you avoid sweets and junk food, even when you’re stressed. It’s also important to avoid foods high in sodium when you’re feeling stressed. The more stress you go through, the healthier you need to eat. Consuming red meat and a big leafy green salad would be a great meal to consume when you go through stress. An HRV (heart rate variability) device is a fantastic tool to help you measure your stress and how you respond to stress. This device can also help you better understand what type of exercise and nutrition your body needs at different times. The best ways to take care of your body during stress: • Stick to a very healthy diet (Healthy Keto®) • Get quality sleep • Exercise

The 7 Powerful Ways to Increase Autophagy Dec 03, 2023

Show notes

Let’s talk about autophagy. Autophagy is an incredible process. It basically eats up the junk in your body and transforms it into usable things.

This “junk” is unusable damaged proteins, which trigger inflammation. It also helps get rid of pathogens and viral antigens.

Autophagy is like an anti-aging cleaning system of the body. But it doesn’t just clean things up—it provides raw material to build new cells and provide fuel when you need it.

Two major things will stop autophagy: sugar and protein. But any significant amount of calories will also stop autophagy.

Autophagy may act as a strong protective barrier against disease. But, if you already have cancer, autophagy can aid the growth and progression of cancer.

Autophagy can help you if you’re healthy and can hurt you if you’re not healthy. Unfortunately, many people wait until they get sick before they utilize strategies like autophagy.

The best way to trigger autophagy is to do fasting. You’ll notice more positive benefits from autophagy once you get into about 18 hours of fasting. You’ll notice even more benefits when you get up to 48 to 72 hours of fasting. You can take electrolytes, nutrients, and sea salt, but you shouldn’t consume any calories while fasting.

An additional simple strategy to see more benefits from autophagy is to go on a low-sugar, low-carb diet. Consuming a moderate amount of protein is also crucial—not excess protein or low protein.

Exercise is important to stimulate autophagy. Aerobic exercise (lower intensity and longer duration) will stimulate autophagy more than high-intensity exercise. But, I suggest doing both forms of exercise for different benefits.

Certain phytonutrients and adaptogens can also trigger autophagy to a certain degree.

DATA:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Dr. Berg’s Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected