On today's episode of Vital Metabolic, hosts James Wheeler and John Parker speak with three-time bestselling author Ben Azadi, the creator of Keto Kamp.
Episode Highlights:
- 10:14 - Ben says that the ketogenic diet can be very bad for you if you substitute foods that provide nutritional value with things like cheese and oils.
- 11:20 - Keto is not a diet, it's a metabolic process.
- 12:30 - Ketoacidosis and ketosis are not the same thing; ketoacidosis is only found in people who are type 1 diabetic, and can be dangerous. Ketosis means that your body has burned through its sugar stores and starts to use fat instead.
- 16:30 - On average, it takes about 14-21 days to achieve ketosis.
- 18:30 - Especially in the first 30 days of keto, Ben suggests eating 30-40 grams of protein at every meal, with a 2:1 ratio of fats to protein.
- 20:30 - The body manufactures glucose whether you eat sugar/carbohydrates or not.
- 22:44 - You can have carbs around your workout when doing high impact workouts such as lifting that require a lot of strength.
- 24:00 - John shares that he doesn't eat a lot of carbs, and does "carb cycling" but doesn't recommend this to people because of the tendency to binge eat food groups that you haven't been eating.
- 25:30 - John and James both do a "relaxed carnivore" diet.
- 28:00 - Ben has Raynaud's Syndrome, an autoimmune disease, and while doing a 40-day carnivore diet he had very few flareups after months of having a flareup every day.
- 31:50 - If you do keto the right way, you won't get the "keto flu," which Ben says are just carb withdrawal symptoms.
- 34:00 - Having healthy bile is very important for overall health. Ben suggests using arugula, dandelion greens, lemons and limes, rosemary, thyme, and basil, among other things, to stimulate healthy bile production.
- 35:10 - Ben suggests overdoing it with fat consumption for the first 28 days of the keto diet.
- 36:15 - John recommends taking digestive enzymes or digestive bitters to help break down the fat you consume properly.
- 37:59 - Ben talks about the lab tests he does on his clients when they first come to him.
- 38:43 - Ben recommends rotating supplements monthly rather than taking the same ones month after month.
- 41:10 - Practicing gratitude and self-love are a vital first step in the process of losing weight.
- 42:16 - Our environment is hugely important in determining our overall health.
- 43:50 - Ben had to hit rock bottom in order to make a change and lose weight.
- 47:30 - Ben tries to balance high-intensity training and weightlifting with making sure he gets good sleep and getting lower intensity exercise from walking his dog.
- 50:00 - Ben talks about his experience using an Oura Ring, a sleep and activity tracker.
- 52:00 - Ben shares the supplements he takes to enhance his workouts.
- 54:55 - Ben says that a vegan diet can do more harm than good for people dealing with an autoimmune disease.
- 58:10 - Ben says it inspires him to have a goal to work towards.
3 Key Points:
- Keto isn't a diet, it's a metabolic process.
- Mental health and environment are just as important when trying to lose weight as diet and exercise.
- Balance is key when working to change your lifestyle into a healthy one.
Tweetable Quotes:
- "We don't lose weight to get healthy, we get healthy to lose weight." - Ben Azadi
- "We have a choice: we can get our calories from the plate of food in front of us, or we can get it from our body fat." - Ben Azadi
- "I believe that there's nothing external that can help us or hurt us, it's really our thoughts." - Ben Azadi
- "I became at this moment a victor of my future, and I stopped becoming a victim of my past." - Ben Azadi
Resources Mentioned:
