Mastering Nutrition

Here are three practical tips for how to prevent waking up early to pee and help you fall back asleep if you do. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here . Chris Masterjohn, PhD, is the Founder and Scientific Director of the  mitochondria test Mitome .

In episode 25, I tell the story of my personal story with iron overload, and weigh in on the proper use of blood tests and strategies to manage anemia, hemochromatosis, and everything in between. It's important to realize that these are the extremes, and there is a large middle space where we need to not only manage how much iron we accumulate, but how we direct it away from its disease-promoting...

In this special interlude, I lay down the framework of the five core principles that make a good marker of nutritional status. This is to lay down the framework for a series of podcasts in the future about managing nutritional status for specific vitamins and minerals. Since these core principles will be referred back to as a general reference in so many other episodes, this one has a special plac...

Proper light hygiene can help you sleep better, make your sleep more restful, and help you feel more awake during the day. This video covers the three most important principles of light hygiene. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here . Chris Masterjohn, PhD, is the Founder and Scientific Director of the  mitochondria test Mitome .

Although starch digests more slowly than some sugars and starch-rich foods often contain fibers that slow the release of glucose into the blood even further, the presence of glucose in the mouth helps our bodies coordinate the proper insulin response needed to keep our blood sugar stable. Some of us may tolerate natural sugars better than starches because we have low amounts of the enzyme salivary...

Some people say you should avoid exposure to screens at night. But video games can help you sleep. If you have trouble sleeping, try playing video games before bed with blue-blocking glasses. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here . Chris Masterjohn, PhD, is the Founder and Scientific Director of the  mitochondria test Mitome .

Sleepy after lunch? Here's a few quick tips on how to power through the afternoon crash. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here . Chris Masterjohn, PhD, is the Founder and Scientific Director of the  mitochondria test Mitome .

Glutathione is central to recovery from exercise, feeling good, looking good, aging gracefully, and preventing or overcoming both infectious diseases and chronic degenerative diseases. Episode 24 covers everything you need to know about why and how to manage your glutathione status. This episode is brought to you by Kettle and Fire Bone Broth . Use the link kettleandfire.com/chris  to get $10 off...

In episode 23, I talk about the use of zinc lozenges to fight colds. While nutritional zinc does support the immune system and your immunity may benefit from zinc supplements or zinc-rich foods, this has nothing to do with the use of zinc lozenges to kill colds. The science behind their use is strong, but it also suggests that most of the dozens of zinc lozenges on the market are absolutely useles...

In this episode, I've extracted from The Ultimate Vitamin K2 Resource the latest developments and elaborated on them for a more in-depth discussion. I begin by telling the story of my 2007 article about Weston Price's activator X, "On the Trail of the Elusive X Factor: Vitamin K2 Revealed." What do I still stand by? What do I see differently? And then I carry us right up through some of the most r...

Gullermo Ruiz of 3030Strong, a rising soon-to-be ND in the ancestral health community, interviewed me about my decision to leave academia and what I'll be doing to bring you value come January.  In this episode you can find all the following and more:  17:15 Teaching facts versus teaching skills;  25:55  Good reasons (an inside view of translating research, a career in research), ok reasons (credi...

This is a totally different type of episode. Brady Holmer, a first-year exercise science PhD student, interviews me for career advice. In this episode you can find the following:  11:50 Brady's background in exercise science research;  16:52  Where Brady is now;  18:28  Flow-mediated dilation as a measure of blood vessel function in diabetes and smoking cessation, and the influence of exercise and...

In episode 25, Insulin Resistance Isn't All About Carbs and Insulin, I explained why an individual cell would "decide" to stop taking up energy. Here in episode 26, I explain tissue-level energy overload, focusing on adipose tissue and liver. At adipose tissue, the problem with fatness isn't the amount of fat. It's that we've reached the point where we can't get any fatter. Well, we can, but we ca...

In episode 17, I explained why ketogenesis isn't all about carbs and insulin. Here in episode 20, I explained why insulin resistance isn't all about carbs and insulin. If that doesn't sound crazy, let me put it this way: forget carbs; I'll even say insulin resistance isn't all about insulin . We start with a riddle: what do obesity, exercise, cigarette smoking, and diets rich in fruits and vegetab...

Whites have higher 25(OH)D than every other racial group, and the conventional explanation is that light skin evolved to allow sufficient vitamin D synthesis far away from the equator. In episode 24, I explain why these differences may relate to genetics of vitamin D metabolism that have nothing to do with skin color and may reflect a lower average  need for 25(OH)D rather than a lower average  ab...

This episode is part personal story, part practical how-to guide, and part insight. The insight I want to emphasize here is one that I think is far too often overlooked: sometimes we shouldn't be trying to lose weight because the time isn't right. But if the time is wrong, how can we know? And once we know, what can we do to prepare our bodies for weight loss and allow the time to become right? Th...

Did you know that adding MCT oil to your pasta is more ketogenic than restricting your carbohydrates to ten percent of calories? Many people think of carbohydrate and insulin as central to ketogenesis, but the direct biochemical event that initiate ketone formation is actually the oversupply of acetyl groups to the TCA cycle during conditions of oxaloacetate depletion. While largely a biochemistry...

In this episode, I give my take on a recent masters thesis paper by Rachel Gregory from James Madison University, which reports a study where just under 30 members of Rocktown CrossFit and Sports Performance were randomized to do CrossFit for six weeks with a normal diet or a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet. The ketogenic diet led to weight loss and loss of bodyfat without hurting the performance...

In this episode, I tell the story of my own battle with eczema. I begin by describing my extraordinary recovery from extreme eczema using the right probiotic. I then describe how a more recent relapse led me to discover the incredible importance of mitigating soap exposure when gut-related approaches don't seem to work. In this episode, you'll find the following, and more: Chris Kresser's intervie...

In this episode, I discuss dietary management of familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH). This question was asked on the Facebook Live episode from 06/16/2016, "Ask Chris Masterjohn, PhD Anything About Heart Disease," but I was unable to get to the question within Facebook's time limit. Please note that HeFH is a medical issue and the purpose of this episode is not to diagnose or treat anyone with He...

In this episode, I wrap up glycation week by discussing why glycation may play essential physiological roles in the body. In the early days of methylglyoxal research, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who won the 1937 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of vitamin C and critical steps in energy metabolism, saw the molecule as part of a regulatory system. In the early research into glycolys...

In response to popular demand, this week is glycation week. In this episode, I discuss the strengths and limitations of using Hba1c to measure our cumulative recent exposure to blood glucose and diabetes risk. Many people will be familiar with the fact that variation in red blood cell turnover confounds this measurement. Less well known is that variations in the deglycating enzyme fructosamine 3-k...

In this episode, I discuss some important insights from my Paleo f(x) talk and audience responses to it, including the potential dangers of treating type 1 diabetes with a low-carb diet, the importance of carbs and bodyfat for fertility and sex hormones, and why some people might have a great sex hormone profile on a long-term ketogenic diet despite the importance of insulin's contribution to fert...

In this episode, I show you how you can determine whether your genetics are contributing to your sensitivity to blue light, poor sleep, and poor daytime alertness, and what you can do about it. Specifically, I look at the research showing that variations in the gene for the vitamin A-dependent protein melanopsin underlie sensitivity to blue light and teach you how to figure out your own genetics f...

In this episode, I answer a listener's question about whether I am worried about my phosphorus intake and whether a high phosphorus intake is ok as long as it is balanced by calcium. I describe the biochemistry and physiology of the system that regulates calcium and phosphorus, their distribution in foods, how to determine the right balance in the diet, and how to use parathyroid hormone (PTH) as...