Here are seven ways to keep your blood sugar in control: vinegar; glycine, proper balance and eating order within your meals, walking after your meal, putting your carbs after exercise, managing your glycemic load per meal, and focusing on meals that have a low glycemic index for you personally. The video covers these recommendations in more detail. This episode is brought to you by Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet. Everything you could ever need to know to optimize your nutr...
Jul 31, 2018•9 min
Are you using niacin or nicotinamide riboside? If so, watch this video! These supplements can help you age more gracefully and give you more energy, but they can also hurt your liver, mess with your neurotransmitters and your mood, and even sap your energy. In this video I discuss using a powder for better control over the dose, and how to match your niacin dose to a corresponding dose of trimethylglycine (TMG). The nicotinamide riboside powder can be found at hpnsupplements.com . The TMG can be...
Jul 26, 2018•13 min
In this video, I give you three different ways to get enough potassium. The first focuses on eating a lots of fruits and vegetables. The second focuses on a diet low in fat, moderate in grains, and devoid of refined foods. The third focuses on selecting vegetables with the highest amount of potassium per net carb for use in high-fat, low-carbohydrate or ketogenic diets. This episode is brought to you by Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet. Everything you could ever need to know ...
Jul 19, 2018•9 min
In this video, I give you three different ways to get enough potassium. The first focuses on eating a lots of fruits and vegetables. The second focuses on a diet low in fat, moderate in grains, and devoid of refined foods. The third focuses on selecting vegetables with the highest amount of potassium per net carb for use in high-fat, low-carbohydrate or ketogenic diets. This episode is brought to you by Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet. Everything you could ever need to know ...
Jul 17, 2018•6 min
If you have negative reactions to MSG, slowly cooked protein, pressure cooked protein, or fermented foods, you might have glutamate sensitivity. If you have a neurological or psychiatric condition (anxiety, sleep disorders, epilepsy are all examples), you might have glutamate dominance. In a previous episode, I discussed the possibility that oxaloacetate supplementation could help. In this episode, I discuss five more things to try: GABA, glycine, vitamin B6, magnesium, and electrolytes (salt an...
Jun 14, 2018•9 min
If you're trying to get better sleep, should you be upping your carbs, or going keto? Paradoxically, both of these strategies can help, but for different reasons. In this episode I cover why they can help, how to pick your strategy, and some ways you can gain some more freedom over which strategy to choose. In this episode I mention the sleep recommendations that I put out last year. They can be found here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/sleep This episode is brought to you by Testing Nutritiona...
Jun 12, 2018•7 min
When you want to lose weight, you really want to lose fat, right? You're not trying to turn into a wimpy twig with no muscle mass, are you? If so, it's important to design your weight loss strategy in a way that protects your muscle mass. If you don't, your weight loss could be as much as half lean mass, and that's not what you want. The two most important strategies are the right type of exercise program and consuming enough protein. Avoiding weight loss that's too rapid is another strategy tha...
Jun 07, 2018•6 min
Are you struggling to lose weight? Feel like you don't have the willpower to make it happen?Your emotional relationship with food and your environment could be hampering your ability to succeed. Knowing whether you are a moderator or a sustainer, knowing which of the "four tendencies" determine your relationship to inner and outer expectations, and identifying the emotional and psychological needs that you are meeting with food can all help you design a weight loss program that properly addresse...
Jun 05, 2018•8 min
Why should you bother spending time tracking calories or eating something so monotonous as "The Robot Diet" when there are plenty of dietary approaches out there that allow a variety of delicious foods, don't require time spent tracking calories, and work for so many people?These approaches are "the low-hanging fruit of weight loss." Is there low-hanging fruit available to you? How do you know when you've picked it all? That's what I answer in this episode. This episode is brought to you by Test...
May 31, 2018•8 min
The most reliable way to lose weight is to track calories, but tracking calories is time consuming. With the Robot Diet, you can substitute consistency for tracking calories, and save tons of time. Eat like a robot to have the abs of a robot. Walk like a human, talk like a human, and act like a human, and no one will no where they came from. Here are the two episodes I released last year on tracking calories: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2017/05/02/reliable-way-lose-weight/ https://chrismaster...
May 29, 2018•7 min
In this episode, I interview Chris Kresser! We discuss his new book, Unconventional Medicine , and everything he is doing over at the Kresser Institute, including his new health coach training program. Chris is changing the face of medicine with his new paradigm. Listen in to find out why I told him that in the 2020 presidential debates, I expect the candidates to be debating how many jobs Kresser created over the last four years. You can buy his new book, Unconventional Medicine , on Amazon . I...
May 23, 2018•1 hr 27 min
Are mutations in your genes for the vitamin D receptor impacting your vitamin D requirements? There are three common genetic variants, known as Taq1, Bsm1, and Fok1. They've been associated with the risk of certain diseases but no one has quite sorted out what they are actually doing. It's possible they raise your need for vitamin D. Watch this video for my recommendations on what to do if you have them. I recommend testing your VDR genes with StrateGene, which you can get here: chrismasterjohnp...
Jan 23, 2018•5 min
Can you get vitamin A from plant foods? It depends on your genes. Listen to this podcast to learn how to figure out your BCO1 genetics and how this impacts your vitamin A requirement. Vitamin A is found in the form of carotenoids in red, orange, yellow, and green vegetables, and in the form of retinol in animal foods, especially liver. BCO1 helps you convert the carotenoids to retinol, which is the form you need to have in your body to be healthy. Many of us have genetic impairments in BCO1. In ...
Jan 18, 2018•5 min
Do you have anxiety? Depression? Attention problems? Or are you worried about estrogen and cancer? If so, listen to this podcast to learn about the role of your COMT genetics. COMT metabolizes dopamine, estrogen, and various other things. Half of us have the genetic for intermediate activity. The other half of us are split evenly between high and low activity. When nutrition is optimal, this just leads to personality differences: with low COMT activity, you're better at focusing, but tend to rum...
Jan 16, 2018•7 min
Today, January 14, is the *last day* to get 30% off your entire order by entering masterjohn as the promo code at checkout when you make purchases on paleovalley.com . Thiamin, or vitamin B1, is central to both energy metabolism and antioxidant defense. While its deficiency causes many problems, out of all the B vitamins its deficiency is most neurological in nature, because energy metabolism of the brain becomes severely compromised, and because neurotransmitters derived from protein cannot be ...
Jan 14, 2018•56 min
Do you have asthma? High blood pressure? Knowing your nitric oxide genes may help you find a solution. In this episode we continue to look at the StrateGene report, this time focusing on the genes for endothelial nitric oxide synthase. Impairments in this enzyme can increase your risk of asthma or high blood pressure. If you have either of these conditions and impairments in the enzyme, then you may benefit from strategies aimed at increasing nitric oxide production. Ensuring adequate zinc and a...
Jan 11, 2018•6 min
You may have heard of MTHFR, but have you heard about MTRR? If you care about your vitamin B12 status, listen to this podcast to learn about it. MTRR is an enzyme that helps you repair your vitamin B12 once it's been damaged. You don't need to use it a lot most of the time, so some of us, including me, have genetic variations that make it not work very well, yet we're fine most of the time. But when you are exposed to new health challenges that increase the damage done to your B12, suddenly you ...
Jan 09, 2018•6 min
Glycine can you sleep, stabilize your blood sugar, improve your joint health, keep your skin beautiful, and do much more. It's a little amino acid with a big impact on your health. This episode is a panel discussion between Dr. Chris Masterjohn, Alex Leaf of Examine.Com, and Vladimir Heiskanen, covering everything you need to know about glycine. The best way to get glycine is from hydrolyzed collagen. Great Lakes offers the best balance of quality, transparency, and price. Vital Proteins , while...
Jan 08, 2018•1 hr 50 min
Concerned about kidney stones? Here are ten things you can do to naturally protect yourself. Believe it or not, calcium is protective. But there is far more. Listen to this podcast to learn all about it. To get these episodes free of ads, with transcripts, and weeks or sometimes even months before they are released to the public, along with access to monthly live Q&A sessions, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/masterpass . Use the code LITE10 to get 10% off. To...
Jan 04, 2018•9 min
Happy 2018! After many dozens of hours putting this together, I'm super excited to announce " Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet ." Over the course of 2017, many of you followed my podcast series on measuring and managing nutritional status. Some of you absolutely loved it. Some of you found it too technical to follow, or found the episodes too long and dense to share with your friends and family and were excited when I started condensing them into much shorter Chris Masterjohn...
Jan 02, 2018•17 min
So far we've seen that glycine or collagen supplements can improve sleep, tendon health, and blood sugar. But many of you have asked me, should we be concerned that they can raise oxalate levels? This could potentially increase the risk of kidney stones. There's about a ten percent chance you could be at risk of a kidney stone some day, and if you're in that minority you should be concerned about your exposure to oxalates. Glycine is very unlikely to generate oxalates, but collagen may, especial...
Jan 02, 2018•5 min
Got blood sugar problems? Glycine might help! 3-5 grams of glycine before a meal helps stabilize your blood sugar after the meal, and 15 grams a day every day helps improve long-term blood sugar stability in type 2 diabetes. Listen to this podcast for the best way to implement this strategy. To get these episodes free of ads, with transcripts, and weeks or sometimes even months before they are released to the public, along with access to monthly live Q&A sessions, sign up for the CMJ Masterp...
Dec 28, 2017•3 min
Achy joints? Tendon pain? Just looking to stay youthful forever? Taking 15 grams of collagen before your workout, maybe with a little vitamin C, can do wonders for your tendon health. Your tendons aren't that metabolically active and they don't vacuum up what they need as actively as your muscles do. Getting the collagen peptides into your bloodstream before your workout makes them available to your tendons when your workout starts pumping blood directly into all the nooks and crannies where tho...
Dec 26, 2017•4 min
Creatine, best known for its ability to build muscle and enhance athletic performance, is also critical for digestion, mental health, protecting your hearing, and keeping your skin vibrant and youthful. From among the various options for creatine supplementation, I recommend Optimized Nutrition micronized creatine powder . If you are using creatine while traveling, try Optimized Nutrition creatine caps . Click here for the only searchable database of the creatine content of foods on the internet...
Dec 21, 2017•1 hr 33 min
Do you have trouble sleeping, or wish you felt more rested and energized during the day? Glycine might be one of the best things you can try. It doesn't just have a calming effect, but it improves sleep quality and can make you feel more rested even on the same amount of sleep. In this episode, I discuss how to use glycine for better sleep and why you should consider both free glycine and hydrolyzed collagen. To get these episodes free of ads, with transcripts, and weeks or sometimes even months...
Dec 13, 2017•4 min
Is what you're doing for MTHFR working? How would you know? In this episode I cover the most important blood work to get to make sure what you're doing is working. I cover the importance of homocysteine, how to interpret glycine and sarcosine levels on a plasma amino acids test, the difference between measuring serum or plasma folate and measuring red blood cell folate, and more. To get these episodes free of ads, with transcripts, and weeks or sometimes even months before they are released to t...
Dec 11, 2017•8 min
Got MTHFR? I got you: here's what you can do with nutrition to optimize for your genetics. MTHFR mutations increase your need for choline and glycine. It's key to get methylfolate in your diet, but high-dose methylfolate supplements are not the solution. You need to boost choline as an alternative supply of methyl groups, and creatine supplementation can help you better conserve your methylfolate by reducing the need to use it. This is important because adequate methylfolate preserves glycine an...
Dec 06, 2017•9 min
Should you care about your MTHFR? Here's how to find out your MTHFR genetic status and know how it affects you. MTHFR is an enzyme that allows folate, or vitamin B9, to support a process known as methylation. Methylation is important to mental health, cardiovascular health, sports performance, and preventing cancer, just to name a few. In this episode, I show you how to find your MTHFR genetic status. I also discuss how the various different genetic combinations impact you and how you can levera...
Dec 04, 2017•9 min
Are you coming to Wise Traditions 2017 ? It's in Minneapolis, with some pregame events beginning on Thursday November 9th and the main conference running from Friday, November 10th through Monday, November 13th. I'm excited to see friends like Ben Greenfield and Laura Schoenfeld, to meet many other people I know only through the internet, and to spend some face-to-face time with lots of people who share traditional diets as a common interest. I'll be giving two talks, plus teaching an all-day in...
Nov 04, 2017•5 min
In conditions of glucose deprivation, such as fasting or carbohydrate restriction, ketogenesis serves to reduce our needs for glucose. This reduces the need to engage in the energetically wasteful process of gluconeogenesis, which would otherwise be extremely taxing on our skeletal muscle if dietary protein were inadequate. Ketogenesis mainly occurs in the liver. The biochemical event that leads to ketogenesis is an accumulation of acetyl CoA that cannot enter the citric acid cycle because it ex...
Oct 10, 2017•10 min
