Iron levels and biochemistry have impacted my personal performance in a dramatic way. Recently I've been racing cyclocross, something for which I lack talent. For those of you who don't know cyclocross, it's a lot like short track mountain bike racing but most of the bikes look a road bike with drop handlebars. The start is really important, and the course has hundreds of corners and so the sport doesn't suit slow-twitch athletes like me. This year I’ve been enjoying some dramatic gains in my pe...
Oct 22, 2015•45 min
How does a personal trainer write a best-selling book? Vinnie Tortorich has become a sensation in the personal training and fitness world because of his work with celebrities and by his moniker, “America's Angriest Trainer.” His book, “ Fitness Confidential ” has been on the Amazon bestseller list for over 2 years and is currently #6 in the Amazon “health and fitness” category. It’s a bestseller because it’s both funny and helpful. How does a fitness trainer become such a successful writer? Hear...
Oct 16, 2015•53 min
Joe Friel has trained endurance athletes since 1980. His clients are elite amateur and professional road cyclists, mountain bikers, triathletes, and duathletes. They come from all corners of the globe and include American and foreign national champions, world championship competitors, and an Olympian. He is the author of ten books on training for endurance athletes including the popular and best-selling Training Bible book series. He holds a masters degree in exercise science, is a USA Triathlon...
Oct 09, 2015•52 min
What does it take to become a world-class triathlete? If anyone knows, Mark Allen does. Mark is a six-time Ironman Triathlon World Champion. He was able to win his first Ironman in 1989, and his last 1995 at age 37. He has also excelled at the Olympic distance, winning the sport's inaugural World Championships in 1989 in Avignon, France, by more than a minute. He was also undefeated in 10 trips to the Nice International Championships, and from 1988-1990 he put together a winning streak of 20 rac...
Oct 02, 2015•57 min
Will Catterson is a high school maths teacher and competitive swimmer, and in February 2002 he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Will is amazing in that he immediately worked out that the American Diabetes Association nutrition guidelines are wrong. From that moment onwards, Will has been striving to continue an active life without riding blood sugar rollercoaster. If you ever want to know about how much a particular food is likely to affect your blood sugar, just ask a type 1: "I would never ...
Sep 25, 2015•1 hr 3 min
I don't think many people heard this interview with Robb Wolf when it was originally broadcast back in June 2014. At that time, the Nourish Balance Thrive podcast didn't exist, and Julia and I awkwardly broadcasted it on our other show called the Paleo Baby podcast. Robb is an amazing guy. With his second child just weeks away, he must have had so much on his mind at the time of this interview, and yet he delivered an incredible hour of wisdom. Sadly I don't think much has changed in the past ye...
Sep 18, 2015•1 hr 23 min
Gabriela Schneider is the Primal Blueprint Certified Expert , young science writer and cook behind beyondthebiteforlife.com . Gabriela has been using a combination of the autoimmune immune protocol, a ketogenic diet, and the PK protocol to treat her neurological chronic Lyme disease. About a year ago Gabriela was kind enough to gift us this guest post on the PK protocol for Lyme , and since then the article has been viewed over 6,000 times for an average of five minutes. Gabriela's blog has lots...
Sep 11, 2015•42 min
I've got my wife Julia (Julie) Kelly on the podcast this week to answer some frequently asked questions that she receives during nutrition coaching sessions. We didn't get time to cover everything, so I think will do another follow-up show later. The questions are: Why do you do this? What makes you different? What's the difference between a food scientist and registered dietician or nutritionist? Marty Kendall of Optimising Insulin recently linked this article on the Diabetes Australia website ...
Sep 04, 2015•57 min
Professor Tim Noakes is a towering but controversial figure in the health and fitness world, having written more than 50 scientific books and articles covering a variety of topics that challenge the industry standards of both medicine and sports nutrition. After discovering that the current international dietary guidelines have little basis in science, Tim Noakes began his own research on the effects of dietary protein, carbohydrate and fat. His research convinced him that a high-fat, low-carb d...
Aug 28, 2015•1 hr 8 min
Kevin Hall’s study “ Calorie for Calorie, Dietary Fat Restriction Results in More Body Fat Loss than Carbohydrate Restriction in People with Obesity ” was picked up by almost all the popular news outlets. The BBC , The Guardian , Time Magazine , The Washington Post and LA Times all weighed in. Stephen Guyenet and Bill Lagakos both wrote very interesting articles worthy of your attention. The examine.com and NHS commentary were also good. Dr. Tommy Wood described the study as “groundbreaking” and...
Aug 22, 2015•55 min
I've just got back from three wonderful weeks of travelling in the UK, and while I was there, I ran into some old friends who've been listening to my podcast. "Lots of great information, but not much prescriptive," they said. "What the heck is it that you do for a living now?". Well, that's the question that this show attempts to answer. And who better than Amelia to help me describe what it is that we do at Nourish Balance Thrive. Amelia and I have been working together for about a year now, an...
Aug 14, 2015•54 min
I've got Dr. Tommy Wood back on the podcast to talk about supplementing with carbohydrates for endurance performance. I had a terrible time with maltodextrin-based sports gels back a few years ago, and I've since noticed that some of the best athletes I know do well on long rides without eating anything. But still, the studies show a clear advantage in supplementing with carbohydrates during workouts lasting longer than one hour. Luckily Tommy is here to help me understand the studies, the poten...
Aug 07, 2015•49 min
On the show this week, author and podcast host Jimmy Moore. I wanted to get Jimmy on to talk about his new Ketogenic Cookbook . I have a paper copy of the book, and I love it. The pictures are big and beautiful, and there's tons of variety. Who said a ketogenic diet is too restrictive? It's just not true. For those of you that don't already know, I've been working with Jimmy over the past few months in an attempt to him break through a fat-loss plateau. Jimmy has done blood, saliva, urine and st...
Jul 31, 2015•51 min
Amir works for a large technology company in Silicon Valley and came to me for help to resolve his chronic inflammation, bloating, allergy and food sensitivity issues: I couldn't eat a piece of food without feeling sluggish afterwards right away, to the point where it would really interfere heavily with my job and the work that I was doing. I have to perform at work. It's quite challenging not to be able to think clearly throughout the day. It was to the point where I was really dreading foods. ...
Jul 24, 2015•36 min
Functional Medicine expert Dr. Michael Ruscio lectures to doctors and students nationwide and runs a private practice in California. I first became aware of his research through a series of excellent Robb Wolf podcasts, here , here and here . Dr. Ruscio now hosts this podcast that I've been enjoying tremendously. Over the past few weeks, I've been developing a tool to help people better understand their µBiome test results and open up the possibility of automating analysis of the bacteria that r...
Jul 16, 2015•1 hr 2 min
Dr. Tommy Wood is a qualified medical doctor, graduating from Oxford University in 2011. He has a previous Bachelors degree in Natural Sciences and Biochemistry from Cambridge University. After working as a junior doctor in the UK for two years, Dr. Wood is now working towards a Ph.D. in neonatal brain metabolism at the University of Oslo, Norway. I was inspired to record this interview by the questions I received after people heard my interview with Jimmy Moore in which we review his recent lab...
Jul 09, 2015•25 min
Patrick Arnold is an organic chemist renowned in the field of performance enhancement and sports supplements. Patrick first hit the public eye in the late 1990’s when he introduced androstenedione (“Andro”) to the world of professional sport. Patrick has since turned his attention away from prohormones and towards exogenous ketone supplements (BHB). Will ketone supplements ever be banned from sport? Patrick thinks not: It's a good question. No. I can't see how it could possibly be a banned subst...
Jul 02, 2015•54 min
In this episode, I'm joined again by Toréa Rodriguez FDN, a former biochemist, Silicon Valley executive, and professional pilot. Now she is a Certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioner and health coach herself. We discuss her current progress with her Hashimoto’s, gut healing protocols and her personal experience using an AIP low inflammatory diet. Toréa now works full-time helping other people recover from autoimmunity. Book a free consultation to find out how she can help you....
Jun 26, 2015•41 min
Reed is a Nutritional Therapist and Founder of the Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® (FDN) Certification Course . Reed is known as one of the most successful and experienced clinicians in the world today, having provided functional lab assessments to over 11,000 people for hormone levels as well as adrenal, digestion, detoxification, mucosal barrier, pathogenic, bone density and diet-related health problems. He served as the Health Director and Case Manager at The Better Health & Wellness Cen...
Jun 19, 2015•1 hr 4 min
My guest Dr. Tommy Wood is a qualified medical doctor, graduating from Oxford University in 2011. He has a previous Bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences and Biochemistry from Cambridge University. After working as a junior doctor in the UK for two years, Dr. Wood is now working towards a Ph.D. in neonatal brain metabolism at the University of Oslo, Norway. Takeaway message: do not take antioxidant supplements during or immediately after working out. Increased production of reactive oxygen speci...
Jun 11, 2015•41 min
In Robert's own words: My background, I imagine, is pretty similar to many of your clients. Alpha male, hard charging, recreational athlete. As a husband, father, runner and self employed software developer, I have a pretty busy life where each minute of the day is always allocated. Time management is my top priority. Looking back the writing was on the wall for me in 2009, when training hard for Berlin marathon I was noticing ebbs and flows in my energy levels on training runs. Still it was a g...
Jun 05, 2015•34 min
Richard David Feinman is Professor of Cell Biology (Biochemistry) at the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. Dr. Feinman’s original area of research was in protein chemistry and enzyme mechanism, particularly in blood coagulation and related processes. His recent book “The World Turned Upside Down. The Second Low Carbohydrate Revolution ” describes how “How the science of carbohydrate restriction arising from a rag‑tag collection of popular diets d...
May 29, 2015•53 min
On the show this week, local talent Carolina Gomez-Villafañe. Carolina is a cyclocross racer for the elite women's team Vanderkitten and was the first Argentine to represent at the World Championships in Tabor earlier this year. Carolina is unlike most of the people I work with in that she's new to the idea of a Paleo diet. My hope is that some subtle tweaks will resolve her digestive complaints and improve her recovery. During the interview, we discuss Carolina's recent blood chemistry. I'm co...
May 21, 2015•47 min
On the show this week, Kevin from the Rebooted Body podcast . I wanted to have Kevin on to talk about his program because I think it offers a level of interactivity, support and accountability that I will never be able to achieve in a scalable way with one-on-one coaching. In the podcast, Kevin talked about the fascinating connection between the Kaiser ACE evaluation score and failure to Reboot. How do you score? Let me know in the comments below. Click here to find out more about the Rebooted B...
May 14, 2015•55 min
In 2013, I broke my leg training for a local mountain bike race. I tried to convince myself and everyone around me that continuing with my training in preparation for a more important race later that summer was a normal thing to do. Looking back I recognise this behaviour as exercise addiction. I didn't want to stop because I was fearful of living without the high that returned me to what I now consider to be a reasonable baseline. This addiction was a symptom of other underlying issues revealed...
May 12, 2015•14 min
On the podcast this week, elite mountain biker Sarah Kaufmann. Sarah suffered a mono infection a couple of years ago and has since been struggling to find her best form. Her recovery slowed, and insomnia set in. This together with digestive distress prevented from reaching her full potential on the bike. Switching to a Paleo type diet helped, but it hasn't been enough. After hearing me speak on the Robb Wolf podcast , we set about figuring out the underlying cause of her issues using salivary ho...
May 07, 2015•48 min
I know from experience that stress and stress physiology play an important part in our health and athletic performance. People frequently come to me for help with stressors that I can do nothing about--first responders and professional athletes are good examples. Sometimes I encounter psychological stress that I can't help with because I don't understand it--body image associated stress imposed by the fitness industry is one such example. Having been a fitness model herself, my guest Maddy Moon ...
Apr 30, 2015•44 min
I've wanted to record this podcast for a LONG time. Back when I first started bike racing and training, I would go everywhere with a ginormous CamelBak containing 2L of water. Then when I transitioned off the sugary sports supplements, I noticed that I was less thirsty. Then I read Waterlogged , and suddenly it all made perfect sense. Conventional hydration wisdom is all based on faux marketing science! Or is it? This quote from Dr. Bryan Walsh : "If plasma is 93% water and you lose 0.5% of tota...
Apr 23, 2015•57 min
Being there to witness the return of a person's vitality is an amazing thing. The initial conversation is hard; usually the person is tired, frustrated and confused. As time goes by their sense of humour returns--that's when I know the program is working. Megan Melack is a pro mountain biker from Santa Cruz and an exception to this rule. Megan always sounded bright and bubbly, even when she was clearly feeling downright awful. The only visible improvement from my perspective was her ability to t...
Apr 17, 2015•23 min
Dr Lynda Frassetto is a medical doctor and Professor of Medicine and Nephrology at the University of California San Francisco. She is the director of a clinical research center at UCSF, supervises patient care at three of the University’s hospitals, and helps teach courses on improved communications and behavioral stress modification techniques. Dr Frassetto is currently recruiting for the PCOS Paleo study! You can find out more about the study on the UCSF site , and also on clinicaltrials.gov ....
Apr 10, 2015•36 min
