Episode #316: Dr Joseph Mercola on Fat, Fasting and Keto

Description

Dr. Mercola is a board certified family physician that has treated 25,000 patients from around the world. He encourages and educates people about safe and inexpensive nutritional, lifestyle and exercise options to radically reduce their risk of dying prematurely from dangerous drugs and surgeries. He is also the founder of Mercola.com which has been the most visited natural health site on the internet for the last ten years with over 15 million unique visitors every month.

His goal is to catalyze a complete transformation of the fatally flawed health care system that is responsible for prematurely killing thousands of people every day. He’s the author of numerous books including Fat For Fuel, The No Grain Diet, Superfuel and his new book which comes out in April, KetoFast: Rejuvenate Your Health with a Step-by-Step Guide to Timing Your Ketogenic Meals.

We explored myriad topics in this episode, including:

Why fat isn’t necessarily bad for you and paradoxically, how it can be good for you and what kind of food you should be eating
A much more manageable alternative to 3 day-water fasts that has as many, if not more benefit
Why cancer may have a lot to do, not just with damaged DNA, but also metabolic dysfunction, and how fasting and a ketogenic diet can help you live a longer, healthier life

Joseph picked up a number of my own previously flawed beliefs in this conversation so I’m sure you will learn a thing or two, if not many more, to help you optimise your health and performance.

Our audio connection wasn’t the strongest so the conversation does drop in and out occasionally, but there is so much gold in this episode that I hope you’ll put up with it.

Topics Discussed:

Joseph’s many books and his early inspiration
How our food is making us sick
Why (the right kind of) fat is good for you
Is cancer a result of damaged DNA or metabolic dysfunction?
The role of mitochondria
How the Big Food lobby essentially pointed the finger at fat in order to sell more cheap carbs
How dangerous documentaries like ‘What The Health’ may force people down an unhealthy line
Exercise and fasting - when should you eat, and should you train in a fasted state?
The afternoon crash and how to avoid it
When your body needs carbs
The difference between a cyclical and conventional keto diet
Cold showers and mitochondrial function
Evolutionary biology and fasting
Should you supplement your diet with MCT oils and keytone esters?