Degrees of Health

Your brain runs on what you eat. So what happens when you fuel it with fat instead of sugar?Drew Decker and Ben join together to discuss his study on the ketogenic diet and depression in college students and how a simple dietary shift led to a 70% reduction in depression scores. No tracking apps, no dieticians, no hand-holding, just students with a budget, a plan, and a mission to feel better.Drew’s journey started after a traumatic brain injury in the military and led him to Dr. Jeff Volek’s lab, where he’s now leading research into how ketosis may impact mental health, PTSD, inflammation, BDNF, energy metabolism and more.This is one of those episodes that’s equal parts hopeful, data-driven and deeply personal.🧠 Ketosis as a tool for mental health📉 The downside of keto? Pretty capped.🥑 How college students stuck to keto on a tight budget🧬 BDNF, energy metabolism & brain inflammation🧠 PTSD, trauma & the future of metabolic psychiatry💊 Exogenous vs endogenous ketones🥩 Animal-based, dairy-based, veggie-heavy — what actually matters📚 The ketogenic diet as metabolic medicineFind Drew:Instagram - @drew_d_deckerResearchGateMentioned in this episode:Keto-MojoFeasibility of Ketogenic Diet in College Students with Depression - A pilot studyExploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off via this linkWant to watch this on video? Subscribe on YouTubeInstagram  @degreesofhealthDisclaimer

Most people who end up in Jessica Turton’s health clinic have already tried everything from calorie tracking, low-fat, fasting, moving more, eating less… and still nothing works to shift weight. So what’s going on?Ben sits down with Jessica - dietitian, nutritionist, researcher - to talk about what happens when your body’s been stuck in energy deficit for years, and how the real issue for many people isn’t overeating, it’s under eating.They get into why most nutrition advice backfires, how your brain handles hunger, the impact of stress on metabolism and why we need to stop treating weight loss like a willpower problem.We cover:🧠 The real metabolic cost of chronic dieting🥑 Low-carb ≠ low-calorie (and why that matters)💉 Why type 2 diabetes is reversible if you treat the cause🔥 Why most people are walking around under-fueled💊 GLP-1s, binge cycles & the illusion of controlWe also look at what low-carb actually looks like when done well, and how to eat more food without losing your mind. Fascinating if you've ever been in this cycle yourself (which is most of us) and how we might actually be able to break the loop. Find Jessica:InstagramEllipse Health online clinicMentioned in this episode:The Minnesota Starvation ExperimentJessica’s PhD Research on Type 1 DiabetesExploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off via this linkWant to watch this on video? Subscribe on YouTubeInstagram  @degreesofhealthDisclaimer

What if your muscles could talk to your organs and maybe even prevent cancer? Here, Ben sits down with world-renowned exercise scientist Professor Mark Febbraio to dismantle the science behind myokines - molecules released by muscle that signal throughout the body.Insights covered in this episode:🧪 Myokines and inter-organ communication🦠 Exercise’s role in cancer prevention🧬 Inflammation, cytokines & what IL-6 does🧠 The cognitive power of exercise & BDNF🏋️‍♂️ What type of training protects best and how much is too much💉 Why we don’t understand GLP-1 side effects yet🧫 The future of exercise mimetics & blood-based therapies🧠 Why “we don’t know” might be science’s most honest answerFrom interleukin-6’s double life to how exercise blood can fight tumours, this one’s a digestible dive into how movement truly is medicine.Find Mark and papers reference in this episode:Google ScholarResearchGateExploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off via this linkWant to watch this on video? Subscribe on YouTubeInstagram  @degreesofhealthDisclaimer

Keto doesn’t have to be complicated. Yep, you heard that right.Nutritionist and author Amy Berger joins us to unpack the chaos of keto culture and how a once-simple metabolic switch has turned into a jungle of macros, misinformation and food fear. Amy cuts through the noise and brings keto back to what it was always meant to be: a simple, flexible, effective way of eating.Together with Ben, she covers the realities of weight loss stalls, hormonal shifts, fasting fads, the rise of ultra-processed keto products and what the science says about vegetables, carnivore diets, GLP-1s and calories.We cover:🥩 Carnivore vs Keto - what’s happening metabolically💊 GLP-1s, weight loss drugs & long-term risk📉 Why weight loss might stall (and what to do about it)🧃 Keto vs processed “keto” - marketing vs metabolism🥬 In defense of vegetables (yes, really)📊 Fasting: myth, magic, or just misunderstood?Whether you're new to low-carb or neck-deep in macros and metabolic rabbit holes - this one’s for you.Find Amy:YouTubeWebsiteCoursesSubstackMentioned in this episode:The Alzheimer’s Antidote by Amy BergerThe Stall Slayer by Amy Berger End Your Carb Confusion by Amy Berger & Dr. Eric Westman Dr. Eric Westman - Keto researcher & collaboratorThe Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living - Dr. Jeff Volek & Dr. Stephen PhinneyEat Like a Human - Dr. Bill SchindlerExploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off via this linkWant to watch this on video? Subscribe on YouTubeInstagram  @degreesofhealthDisclaimer

What if we’ve been treating eating disorders the wrong way?In this deeply personal and provocative episode, registered dietitian Michelle Hurn shares her journey from severe anorexia and psychiatric medication to ultra-running and mental clarity through a radical change in nutrition.Ben and Michelle unpack the broken foundations of dietetics, why metabolic health is inseparable from mental health and how the standard of care may be making things worse.We cover:🥩 Why animal-based diets are helping eating disorder recovery🧠 The link between stable blood sugar and psychiatric health📉 The connection between calories, insulin and metabolic disorders🏃‍♀️ Running long distances with zero carb loading🧪 Exogenous ketones vs. yerba mate for ketone production🔥 GLP-1 drugs, health at every size and what we’re getting wrongFrom hospital feeding tubes to ketones and carnivore protocols, this is a raw, real and - we hope - hopeful conversation about what happens when you stop following the food pyramid and start listening to your body.Find Michelle:WebsiteInstagramX / TwitterMentioned in this episode:Book - The Dietitian’s Dilemma by Michelle Ann HurnThe Fox Family Food FightCase Study: Ketogenic Diets in AnorexiaPaper - Therapeutic Carbohydrate RestrictionExploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off via this linkWant to watch this on video? Subscribe on YouTubeInstagram  @degreesofhealthDisclaimer

Dr Adrian Soto-Mota, MD, PhD is one of the clearest and most curious voices in metabolic research and he’s not afraid to say what doesn’t make sense anymore.Dr Adrian is an internal medicine physician and metabolic researcher based in Mexico City. In this conversation, we go deep on the limitations of RCTs, why calorie logic keeps breaking down, what lean mass hyper-responders teach us about lipids, and why sometimes the data works before we understand the mechanism.We also talk about the surprising impact of meat-heavy diets on IBD, why exogenous ketones matter more than people think and how metabolic dysfunction might be sitting at the core of psychiatric illness.This one is full of nuance and yet grounded in clinical reality.We cover:🧠 The metabolic demands of the human brain💊 Why calories don’t predict fat gain the way we think🧬 Lean mass hyper-responders and cholesterol interpretation📉 Why nutritional RCTs can’t answer what we want them to🧪 Hormones, definitions and broken language in medicine🧘‍♂️ Metabolic psychiatry & the case for new mental health modelsFind Adrian:X profileGoogle scholarMentioned in this episode:Modeling Life by Alan GarfinkelBernoulli’s Fallacy by Aubrey ClaytonRethinking Statistics by Richard McElreathHuman Metabolism by Keith Frayn & Rhys EvansJAMA Psychiatry paper on metabolic dysfunction & mental illnessExploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off via this linkWant to watch this on video? Subscribe on YouTubeInstagram  @degreesofhealthDisclaimer

📲 Why do we keep chasing things that never quite satisfy?We’re joined by The Molecule of More co-author Michael E. Long to unpack dopamine and why our brains are wired to want more, not to enjoy what we already have.From doomscrolling to dating apps, productivity obsessions to endless self-improvement, we explore how dopamine fuels craving and not contentment, and what we can do to stop living in the next and start living in the now. Michael shares insights from his new book, Taming the Molecule of More, and explains how understanding this one molecule could help us reclaim joy, focus, relationships, and maybe even our sanity.We cover:❤️ Dopamine in dating, sex and long-term love📉 Why chasing ‘more’ always gives you less🛍️ Behavioral addiction and craving cycles📚 The difference between thinking about your life vs being in your life📈 Practical tools to tame the dopamine systemThis episode is for anyone interested in behavioural science, addiction, relationships or anyone who just wants to feel a little less hijacked by their phone.Find Michael:themoleculeofmore.comWebsiteBooks: The Molecule of MoreTaming the Molecule of MoreMentioned in this episode:A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand RussellThe World According to Garp by John IrvingThe Braverman TestExploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off via this linkWant to watch this on video? Subscribe on YouTubeInstagram  @degreesofhealthDisclaimer

Some people find health through green smoothies. Others find it in 3 kilos of steak cooked in ghee.Dr. Anthony Chaffee is a neurosurgical registrar and ex-professional rugby player who’s been running on nothing but animal products for years. No salads. No supplements. No exceptions. In this conversation, we get into the weeds of his theory, that many modern illnesses (autoimmune conditions, metabolic disorders, mental health struggles) are not mysterious at all, they are the result of eating the wrong fuel.🥩 Why plants aren’t as innocent as they look 🧬 Autoimmunity, inflammation & symptom reversals 🍳 What a carnivore diet looks like day-to-day 📉 Why most nutrition advice is upside down 📚 The history of meat-based medicine (it’s older than you think) 🧠 What brain fog, bloating, and back pain have in commonTake a listen as he lays out the logic, science and experience behind a radical return to meat and see if it changes your perspective.Find Dr Anthony:WebsiteYouTubeMentioned in this episode:The Relation of Alimentation and Disease by Dr James SalisburyStrong Medicine by Dr Blake DonaldsonNutrition and Physical Degeneration by Dr Weston PriceBruce Ames research on naturally occurring plant carcinogensJAMA (2016) Sugar industry’s influence on dietary fat recommendationsDr. Paul SaladinoDr. Shawn BakerThomas Seyfried (cancer metabolism)Dr. Dominic D’Agostino (ketosis & therapeutic diets)Exploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off via this linkWant to watch this on video? Subscribe on YouTubeInstagram  @degreesofhealthDisclaimer

'High-protein diets hurt your kidneys!'. 'Once kidney disease starts, it only gets worse'. Heard something similar? It's just not the whole picture and also showing to be quite far from the truth.Dr Thomas Weimbs, PhD is a Professor of Bioengineering at UCSB where his lab has spent over 20 years studying chronic kidney disease. What they found, mostly by accident like all great science, changed the course of their research entirely. From mouse models to human trials, they discovered that a state of nutritional ketosis could not only slow but potentially reverse the progression of kidney disease and all without drugs.We cover:🧠 Why the real cause of most kidney disease is metabolic🥩 High-protein diets, carbs and the Barry Brenner myth🧪 The surprising effects of ketosis on kidney function🧂 Uric acid crystals and pH - the overlooked trigger🔬 BHB (ketones) as hormones - and what they actually do⚡ Why no one makes money from metabolic health (and why that matters)This episode is about kidneys, their function and dysfunction. But it's also about what happens when we follow the science, even when it contradicts the textbooks.Mentioned in this episode:-Barry Brenner's 1982 paper-Effects of a continuous remote care intervention including nutritional ketosis on kidney function and inflammation in adults with type 2 diabetes- “Weimbs Lab” on Facebook - patient-led communityFind Thomas Weimbs:ResearchSanta Barbara Nutrients - KetoCitraWeimbs Lab - UCSCExploring the benefits of red and infra light therapy? Our community receive 10% off via this linkWant to watch this on video? Subscribe on YouTubeInstagram  @degreesofhealthDisclaimer