Mastering Nutrition

Please head on over to the YouTube video and like it, share it, or comment on it to help me promote this!  It would also be great if you're on Twitter if you could like, retweet, or reply to the twee t about the analysis. The links mentioned in the podcast can all be found in the description of the YouTube video. Enjoy! Chris Masterjohn, PhD, is the Founder and Scientific Director of the  mitochon...

Are you an undermethylator or an overmethylator? Neither! Chris Masterjohn Lite is a show about what works. Today we kick off a short series on a few things that don't work by discussing why I don't think it's useful and why I think it's actually counter-productive to classify people as undermethylators and overmethylators. This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements. Our Native Americ...

MTHFR or not, this is the minimum that EVERYONE should be doing to support methylation, boiled down into five simple rules. Tune in to learn the rules! This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements. Our Native American ancestors believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the health of the corresponding organ of the individual. Ancestral Supplements has a nose-to-...

Here is a healthy diet, boiled down into five simple rules. Tune in to learn the rules! This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements. Our Native American ancestors believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the health of the corresponding organ of the individual. Ancestral Supplements has a nose-to-tail product line of grass-fed liver, organs, bone marrow and mo...

Food allergies seem more common now than ever. Are we just hearing about them more because of better awareness, or are they really more common? We have reliable data about celiac disease: it's four times as common now than it was a half century ago. I suspect the same is true of other food intolerances and of food allergies. Your best weapons? The egg yolks and liver that have disappeared from our...

When I was in Greece this August, I didn't have any allergies at first, but then they started acting up, and they kept getting worse throughout my trip. I thought it was from the local environment, but when I woke up with conjunctivitis in the last week I looked back and realized my diet had been very deficient in vitamin A while I was there. Vitamin A deficiency can be an important cause of aller...

Many people have asked me what I think about blood tests for food allergies. In this episode, I explain. This episode is brought to you by Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet. Everything you could ever need to know to optimize your nutrition, all in one place. Easier to find and use than ever before. Get your copy at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/cheatsheet Use the code LITE5 to...

If you suffer from allergies, you may need to remove fermented, aged, and cured foods from your diet. While the ultimate solution should be to make yourself more resilient to both pollen and these foods, lowering the amount of histamine in your "histamine bucket" may provide needed relief in the short-term. This episode is brought to you by Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet. Eve...

In the past I have recommended measuring your waist circumference in addition to your scale weight when you are trying to lose weight or gain muscle. This is an easy way to gauge how much of your change in weight is fat versus muscle. But sometimes it just doesn't give you good information. Waist circumference is influenced not just by abdominal fat but also by the amount of undigested food in the...

It may seem that people at risk of iron overload should manage it by avoiding iron-rich foods, but in most cases this is a bad idea. Iron-rich foods are rich in many other nutrients, like copper, zinc, vitamin A, and vitamin B12. Chelators like phytate can induce deficiencies of other minerals, like zinc. In this video, I explain why dietary management should be a last resort for iron overload. Th...

A lot of people seem to think that they should avoid iron-rich foods, even if they have no reason to believe they have a genetic predisposition to iron overload. In this video, I show you why this is ridiculous. I *do* have a genetic predisposition to iron overload, and I consume over 5 times the daily value for iron, including 10 ounces of red meat, and my iron status is kept on the low end of th...

In this episode, I break down an iron panel and explain why it's important to also measure serum ferritin and transferrin, and when you should use transferrin saturation instead of iron saturation as a marker of your short-term iron status. This episode is brought to you by Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet. Everything you could ever need to know to optimize your nutrition, all...

Thiamin, or vitamin B1, is needed for energy metabolism but is especially important to carbohydrate metabolism. Its deficiency causes severe neurological problems, but moderate deficits may manifest more mildly as poor carbohydrate tolerance. Carnivores and vegans alike can get plenty of thiamin if they eat the right foods, but a diet based mainly on fat, or on refined foods that have not been for...

Magnesium is needed for literally everything in the body. When you don't have enough, the most common problems are twitching, muscle cramps or spasms, heart palpitations, and weakness, plus other signs and symptoms discussed in the video. In this episode, I teach you how to look for its deficiency, how to use three different lab measurements to monitor your magnesium status, and how to fix a probl...

Taking creatine can raise your serum creatinine and give the false impression your kidney function is declining. Here is how to avoid this problem. This episode is brought to you by Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet. Everything you could ever need to know to optimize your nutrition, all in one place. Easier to find and use than ever before. Get your copy at https://chrismasterjo...

Dry eyes? Poor night vision? Get sick often? Bumpy or flaky skin? You may need more vitamin A. In this video, I tell you how to figure that out, and what to do about it. This episode is brought to you by Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet. Everything you could ever need to know to optimize your nutrition, all in one place. Easier to find and use than ever before. Get your copy at...

Only 2% of Americans meet the official recommendations for potassium, yet potassium supplements carry risks that has led the FDA to strictly regulate the amount in one serving to be so small you would need to take 50 pills a day to meet the requirement. Here are my recommendations for using potassium citrate powder in a way that protects you from the risks and allows you to get the benefits of muc...

Calcium supplementation is controversial. Some people believe that supplements, but not calcium-rich foods, can increase the risk of heart disease. Here are my recommendations for calcium supplementation to make it as close to eating whole foods as possible. The bone meal powder I use can be found at chrismasterjohnphd.com/calcium . If you use my affiliate link, I will earn a small commission at n...

Do we really need to be taking fish oil? For most people, it is better to use fish or pasture-raised egg yolks to get omega-3s. But there are specific reasons to use cod liver oil, fish oil, or krill oil. More details in the video! This episode is brought to you by Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet. Everything you could ever need to know to optimize your nutrition, all in one pl...

How do you put on muscle without risking gaining fat? You need the right workout, enough protein, and a gentle caloric surplus. Watch the video for more details! This episode is brought to you by Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet. Everything you could ever need to know to optimize your nutrition, all in one place. Easier to find and use than ever before. Get your copy at https:/...

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 Nutrit...

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 trimethy...

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...

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...

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...