One of the problems with weight loss

goals is saying you need to cut calories

in order to get there. Now, I'm not

saying calories don't matter. They are

relevant, but not the most relevant. And

I'm going to talk about evidence to

support that.

>> If someone is listening at home now and

they have the goal of losing some

weight, they want to be in a better

physique, be more healthy. Is this

conversation going to help them

accomplish those goals?

>> I'll make sure that they get what they

need.

>> Dr. Benjamin Bickman is one of the

world's leading metabolic and fat cell

scientists. And now he's returned to

expose some of the myths surrounding

weight loss

>> and the surprising impact that one

particular hormone has on our weight,

brain, and mental health.

>> As a metabolic scientist, I wouldn't

want someone to think there is only one

way to lose weight. However, I think

this is the most practical and simplest

strategy, a ketogenic diet. A huge

reason is that when you cut carbs,

insulin comes down. And insulin as a

hormone is the one metabolic hormone to

rule them all. Insulin will tell every

single cell of the body what it needs to

do with energy. And insulin is so

determined to store energy that it is

directing calories to be stored in

tissues like fat or in the liver

>> to make you fat.

>> Yeah. But there's more. Ketones are the

brain's preferred fuel. It can control

anxiety, improve depression. It can help

with attention. In fact, the benefits of

ketones are so extensive that companies

are finding ways so you can drink

ketones.

>> And I have a bunch of different

exogenous ketone products here, a

variety of different brands and a bunch

of other things here on the table. So,

what the hell is this?

>> If someone is interested in a good,

smart way of losing weight, try that.

>> This is definitely a prop. It tastes

like bleach.

>> I'm so sorry. Oh my god.

>> So, for 2026 to be the year where I

finally get a grip of my health, and I

asked you to make the perfect plan, what

would you prescribe?

>> So, first of all,

I see messages all the time in the

comments section that some of you didn't

realize you didn't subscribe. So, if you

could do me a favor and double check if

you're a subscriber to this channel,

that would be tremendously appreciated.

It's the simple, it's the free thing

that anybody that watches this show

frequently can do to help us here to

keep everything going in this show in

the trajectory it's on. So, please do

double check if you've subscribed and uh

thank you so much because in a strange

way, you are you're part of our history

and you're on this journey with us and I

appreciate you for that. So, yeah, thank

you.

Dr. Benjamin Bickman,

at this time of year, the audience that

are listening right now are thinking a

lot about health and dietary changes

that they can make to make 2026 the best

year of their life to finally be able to

kick that habit. And one of the things

that's front of mind, I think, for all

of my listeners is their relationship

with sugar, with carbs,

>> right? And I guess the second order

things that some people might know

something about like insulin resistance

and all these kinds of subjects. At this

particular moment in the year, if you

had the ear of millions of people as

they're coming into 2026, what is the

most important thing that you would say

to them?

>> Yeah, that's a great question. What a

way to um to get things started. In

fact, I appreciate you even framing the

conversation as if I had the ear because

you've given me the ear of millions of

people. So, I'm going to take it

seriously. The way you frame the

question is really relevant because

within North America, you see a a

pattern, a rhythm to both weight gain

and even insulin resistance as it is

quantified throughout the year where in

the winter months people gain more

weight and are more insulin resistant.

Almost like the hibernating bear, which

becomes demonstrably more insulin

resistant as it gets into hibernation.

We non-hibernating mammals actually see

an echo of the same thing, albeit more

subtly. So, it matters now where

physiologically we're more inclined to

suffer from the consequences of bad

dietary decisions.

And of course, with all the holidays,

we're more likely to be making those bad

dietary decisions. So, my advice would

be to structure your indulgences as

smartly as you can. you know that you're

going to be faced with foods that are

delicious and dare I say addictive.

Don't rely on your own intuition uh to

guide you through eating that know that

your temptation to indulge is going to

be in some instances perhaps greater

than you can control. So, structure your

indulgences. Give yourself a distinct

period of time where you know you're

going to embib in these refined starches

and sugars. And then, if necessary,

recruit help. Have a family member, have

a loved one join you in your plan, and

you tell them, "I don't want to gain the

same weight I gained last year. I don't

want to amplify the consequences of

insulin resistance like I did last year.

Can you please be my my watchman and

help me keep track where today is my day

of indulgence or two days and then on

that Monday remind me please be my

helper um to get back on track. Among

the many problems with the modern diet

is the constant carbohydrate

consumption. It is the one macronutrient

that we have the hardest time

controlling and I would say it's the one

macronutrient that has the most

disastrous consequences in the form in

which we consume it. Now, of course,

carbohydrates is a broad class of food.

Some are just fine and some are not. Of

course, we more focus on the ones that

are not fine. So, my advice would be

structure your indulgences, be mindful

of what you're doing in that you are not

doing yourselves any favor. uh and then

recruit outside help because you will

not be able to rely on your own

intuition to pull you out of what might

become the sort of carbind induced coma.

>> Um I did ask thousands of the listeners

what dietary changes they had planned

for 2026 and what they cared about most.

Funnily keto came up number one then

cutting sugar then weight loss then

fasting more protein whole foods low

carb and calorie control. So this is

going to be a bit of a road map for me.

I'm thrilled to hear that order. Like

when you put out the histogram and

you're looking at the most common

responses, the fact that calorie number

was at the bottom actually kind of

thrills me because this reflects that

the tide is turning that over the past

decades, 60 plus years, the singular

piece of advice when it came to weight

loss and metabolic health was eat less,

exercise more, which is a purely

thermodynamic or a a calorie centric

paradigm. just stating nothing else

matters other than the energy you're

putting in and the energy you're putting

out. We can't possibly account for all

of the energy in the complexity of the

human body. You can have humans eat two

meals that are identical in calorie

number. So purely isocaloric

and there is something called the

thermic effect of food. So when we eat

right now you and I haven't eaten, we're

in a fasted state. Our metabolic rate is

say humming along here. If we were to go

get lunch and eat something in the hours

following just the very act of digesting

we have turned up the metabolic engine

and metabolic rate would go up a little

bit.

>> Metabolic rate meaning

>> meaning the total amount of energy the

body is is expending. In fact metabolism

to I'll come back to this thought in

just a second. As a metabolic scientist

people don't even understand the word

metabolism. Metabolism is

underwhelmingly perhaps nothing more but

nothing less than the sum of every

chemical reaction happening in our

bodies. It's just everything that is

keeping us alive, that is keeping our

neurons firing, my my my muscles moving

as I'm animating on the my hands.

Everything we're doing is metabolism.

And so after we eat, metabolism goes up

a little bit. Again, that's called the

thermic effect of food. And if you give

people two isocaloric meals, so exact

same number of calories. That's what

isocaloric means. same amount of protein

and yet the they differ in their

composition of macronutrients with fats

and and carbs. So the meal that is lower

carb and higher fat, those individuals

will have a much higher metabolic rate

for hours afterwards than the group that

is eating the high carb, low-fat version

of that same caloric meal. And that's

because insulin insulin as a hormone is

the one metabolic hormone to rule them

all. It will determine what the body

does with energy at every single cell.

This is a principle even many very

educated clinicians don't understand.

They think that insulin only controls

blood glucose. That's just the most

obvious thing that it does because we

can prick a finger and measure it or

slap something on our arm and measure

the glucose. Insulin will tell every

single cell of the body from brain cells

to bone cells, liver cells to lung

cells, and everyone in between what it

needs to do with energy. And insulin is

so determined to store energy that it

will slow the metabolic engine of the

body down in order to store more. And so

all of this is my long- winded way of of

saying how thrilled I am that this is an

audience that is shrugging off the old

ideas of a calorie ccentric model of

obesity. Because all of these people,

everyone's interested in losing weight

or maintaining weight, which I admire.

That's a good goal. The size of our fat

cells matters tremendously. So that's a

good goal to want to shrink our fat

cells and be healthier. The fact that

they didn't put controlling calories as

number one and indeed put it at the end

suggests that the word is getting around

that more I would say better more sound

metabolic science is starting to seep

through society where they're more

interested in controlling their

macronutrients.

In other words, their carbs and their

fats than they are controlling their

calories.

>> My brother called you, didn't he?

>> He did.

>> My older brother.

>> Yeah. What did he say?

>> Yeah, he's darling. Well, we we had some

wonderful conversations. Um, he was

interested as a dad, a middle-aged dad,

in in fact indeed checking a lot of the

boxes you just mentioned, which is I

want to be a healthy dad. I want to live

a long, healthy life. One of the

problems with weight loss goals is they

look at the goal. They look at the

weight where they want to get to.

They're looking down the down the road

and saying, "This is where I want to

get, and so I need to cut calories in

order to get there." So there are two

there are two variables that come into

play when it comes to losing weight. And

I've already said said this and I'll

state it again just to be clear. It's a

matter of shrinking fat cells. That's

what happens when someone's losing fat

mass. It's not that you're losing fat

cells. Indeed, you don't want to. That's

a topic for another time. But

liposuction is a perfect example where

you are losing fat mass and yet no

health marker gets better. None. Even

though you've lost, you could go in and

suck out fat cells and you'd say, "I

lost 20 pounds of pure fat. I'm now

going to go to my doctor and get my

blood test and I'm going to be so much

healthier." And yet nothing is

different. If they were diabetic,

they're just as diabetic. So if

someone's looking at their New Year's

goals, and when I spoke with your

brother, it was an echo of this

conversation in a way. I said, "All

right, you need to shrink your fat

cells." Most people only look at the

calorie control. The problem with

calorie control is that we've seen what

it looks like when you only focus on

calorie deprivation. And that is in in a

word hunger. And there was this within

the US there's been this game show over

the years called the greatest loser.

These people one lose a fantastic amount

of weight and yet you never see them

again because they gain it all back. So,

if your weight loss strategy is based on

cutting calories without addressing

insulin, which is the other of the two

variables, then you're going to be

hungry. Dr. David Lewig at Harvard, a

friend and colleague and collaborator,

he published a report looking at the

same kind of dynamic that I outlined a

moment ago, two isocaloric or equal

calorie meals. And he found that when

they ate the meal that spiked insulin,

the what he called I think he called it

total energy availability. So they

measured every calorie molecule in the

blood. So ketones, you know, BHB, they

measured uh lactate, they measured fats,

they measured glucose, and they found

that when with the insulin spiking meal,

the total energy availability went down.

>> What does that mean?

>> Yeah. So in other words, with the

increase in insulin, as I noted a moment

ago, insulin is so determined to store

energy that it is directing calories to

go from the blood to be stored in

tissues like fat or in the liver

>> to make you fat.

>> Yeah, indeed it would. But the problem

is the brain doesn't have that storage

capacity. You know, you could have big

fat cells with lots of energy. You could

have a liver with tons of fat and

glycogen, which is a stored form of

glucose, ready to go, but the brain

doesn't have a big storage reservoir,

and yet it has a high metabolic rate.

And so the brain is constantly relying

on the energy in the blood that it can

use, especially glucose and ketones, the

two primary fuels for the brain. And so

when you spike insulin, you lower your

glucose and you stop your liver from

making ketones. So the two main brain

fuels have gone down,

>> which is why you get brain fog.

>> It certainly lead to some mild cognitive

impairment, but it would also drive

hunger. And so another group found that

if you ate an isocoric breakfast, one

low carb, one high carb, the group that

was on the high carb breakfast was much

hungrier much sooner.

>> And so this

>> Okay. So let me just

>> Yeah. Yeah. The way I understand that is

>> because I've had a meal that's high in

sugar, let's say, or carbs.

>> Y

>> insulin has come out, it's grabbed all

of the energy from my blood.

>> Yep. That you just ate.

>> That I just ate. It's stored it all

away. And because my brain is getting

its energy from the blood as well, my

brain is being energy deprived in some

way. And so my brain is going

>> within an hour or two, you are hungry.

>> Yes. Even though your fat cells might be

bigger than they've ever been. So that's

the sort of disconnect that you end up

having when you're spiking insulin so

frequently, you may have hundreds of

thousands or even millions of calories

stored on your body in your fat cells

primarily. And yet the brain is saying,

"I'm hungry." We shouldn't be hungry. We

have so much energy that we can use, but

only if we can access it. And this is

where ketones come in. And I hate to

change the topic, but if if a person has

fat and they can burn that fat, then

they're making ketones. And ketones are

the brain's preferred fuel. Let's just

state that with an exclamation mark. And

so if the brain is getting ketones or

even if it has access to plenty of

glucose, it senses, hey, there's no

energy deprivation. We're fine. We don't

need to eat. And that's what these

studies find. And so back to the

conversation with your brother, rather

than focusing on calorie number, focus

on the other variable, which is insulin.

Because if you decide that you're going

to start your fat cell shrinking

journey, so with the first step, you

could say, well, my first step is going

to be cutting calories. But if you

haven't addressed your high insulin,

which you have to have if you've gained

weight, it is impossible.

In fact, this is worth a tangent for

just a moment because I can state this

so emphatically.

You could have all the hormones in the

human body and tens of thousands of

calories coming in every day. And if you

simply remove one single hormone, it is

impossible for that person to get fat.

Totally and completely impossible. Now,

I am a scientist enough that I like to

avoid hyperbolic language. I don't want

to state anything in the extreme. And

yet, in this case, I actually can. I can

revel in all of the um the power of this

declaration which is you simply wipe out

a person's insulin, it is completely

impossible for them to get fat. In fact,

this phenomenon is so real and so

learned if not already known that you

have people with type 1 diabetes.

Imagine the temptation. Let's say you're

a young woman who faces more pressure

than her than her young men

counterparts. She just gets diagnosed

with type 1 diabetes and she has become

used to eating whatever she wants and

being very very skinny. That is one of

the cardinal signs of type 1 diabetes.

The person is just losing weight. In

fact, the early the ancients thought

that as they were making so much urine

because another feature of type 1

diabetes in in an untreated state is

they urinate a lot. That's what the word

diabetes means. It means polyura or a

lot of urine for formation. They thought

that their flesh, their fat, their

substance was turning into liquid and

excreting from their bodies. And so the

person, this this imagine this young

woman, she's say 13 years old. She is

super super skinny, which she likes

because there's such a pressure to be

skinny and she can also at the same time

eat whatever she wants. And then but of

course she feels miserable and indeed it

will kill her. So, she gets diagnosed

with type 1 diabetes and she's put on

insulin therapy and two things happen.

She starts eating less and getting fat.

In fact, they gain people will gain so

much weight that if they're in the

hospital for a few days, they can't

leave the hospital with the same clothes

they came in. That's not to say they're

leaving and then and they're obese, but

they can have easily gained 10 pounds,

15 pounds of fat. So this phenomenon is

known and you have people with type 1

diabetes who abuse that fact and will

deliberately underdose their insulin. So

they can eat whatever they want. They

could go to a Thanksgiving or Christmas

dinner and indulge in all the sweets and

just simply underdose their insulin and

be as skinny as they want to be. Now

there's disastrous metabolic

consequences, but it's just a testament

to the power of insulin. So to finally

answer the question, my advice when I

was speaking with your brother and

anyone listening, don't have your first

step on your fat cell shrinking journey

be low calorie because you will find

that in short order, hunger will win.

And so you'll be right back where you

started. Let your first step be I'm

going to lower my insulin because as I

lower my insulin, I don't have to worry

about hunger first of all. Because if

you're just focusing on lowering

insulin, you can tell the person, and

indeed I am, eat as much protein and fat

as you want because they have little to

no effect on your insulin. So, anytime

you're hungry, eat something with

protein and fat. Um, and then

if you're not hungry, don't eat. But

anytime you're hungry, you don't have

to, it's not deprivation. It's not

hunger, but the low calorie approach is

hunger. You're going to be hungry. So

lower your insulin by controlling your

carbohydrates and and basically whole

fruits and vegetables. Enjoy them. And

this is part of the conversation I had

with your brother.

>> And he called you and told you that he

had had positive results following

watching this conversation and following

your advice.

>> Yeah. I think he said he'd effortlessly

lost 15 or so pounds uh just without

even really worrying about it because

you're not having that gnawing hunger.

>> Yeah. He um he didn't tell me he was

reaching out to you. So, I actually only

found out that he had spoken to you when

he like messaged me one day on WhatsApp

and was like,

>> "I've been chatting to Dr. Benjamin

Bitcoin." I was like, "How did you get

his email? Like, how did you get his

phone number?" So, he must have reached

out.

>> He knows people.

>> Okay. Right. Okay. He found a way.

>> Yeah. He knows people.

>> No, but he looks radically different. I

have to say he he's dropped a ton of

weight and um looks fantastic.

>> Well, he was already handsome, so I can

only imagine what he looks like now.

>> That's the genetic component. Um but but

when I look back at the conversation we

had

the top comment on our previous

conversation is someone saying I was

morbidly obese 68 days ago. I was 280

lbs and pre-diabetic. In these 68 days I

cut out sugar and flour entirely. And I

reduced my calories to about 1,800 a

day. And I'm pleased to know that my

high protein, highfat, low carb diet is

the right path and my blood sugar is now

normal.

>> Yeah. Remarkable. I I don't mean to ever

come across as saying that there's only

one way to lose weight and that anyone

listening who uh is interested in weight

loss would say, "Well, gosh, it looks

like I have to eat a lot of meat and

eggs." And yet, you don't. As much as I

am an a defender of that view, uh I

wouldn't want someone to think there is

only one way to lose weight because we

could both think of people who adopted a

purely plant-based diet and lost weight.

Now, I have some significant concerns

with that diet long term, but even

still, they could say, "Well, I'm eating

100% carbohydrates essentially, and I've

lost weight." I'm not saying calories

don't matter. They do. But it also makes

it a hard long-term strategy. And so if

someone can lower their insulin, I' I'd

alluded to a metabolic advantage and

I'll just revisit that briefly. I'd

mentioned already one of these things,

which is when when insulin is down, the

metabolic rate goes up. And my lab

published a report um finding that part

of that is through the production of

ketones. That when ketones move through

the bloodstream and come to our fat

cells, they will increase our metabolic

rate in our fat tissue by three times.

And we did this in humans. We studied

fat cells in a petri dish. We studied

fat tissue from animal models. And then

we studied fat tissue from humans where

we actually were pulling biopsies of

belly fat from people that were in

ketosis or not. And when they were in

ketosis, their metabolic rate in their

fat tissue was three times higher than

when they weren't than the group that

was not in ketosis. So this suggests

that there's an advantage here that

comes from lowering insulin. So as

insulin comes down, the person will find

that they're just burning weight more

easily. And then one other part of that

is when you're making ketones,

every ketone has a caloric value roughly

similar to that of glucose. And so what

happens now in ketosis or when ketones

are up, you start wasting those ketones

from your body that you're breathing

ketones out or you're urinating ketones

out. And those are calories that are

just coming from your body that would

have had to be burned through exercise

or stored in fat tissue. And yet in the

in a low insulin state, that is so

antithetical to fat storage that the

body just starts literally wasting

energy. So every breath they're taking

out when they're breathing out ketones,

those are calories just coming out of

their body.

>> So let's start then with ketones because

on the list of things that my audience

said they planned to change for the new

year, keto

>> Mhm.

>> and ketones was top of that list for

someone that's, you know, never heard

the term before.

>> Yeah.

>> Um, please give me context on on what

exactly it is, but also how it relates

to living a healthy, happy 2026.

>> Right. Right. Well, I am I'm a great

defender of ketones. I think that they

have been one of the more uh

misunderstood molecules in the body for

decades and it is thrilling for me to

see an explosion of research in this

realm looking at the effects of of

ketones in the body. So a ketone is a

molecule that the body will make. Um

many tissues can make it but if you're

measuring it in your blood it's coming

from the liver and ketones are a product

of fat burning. So when insulin is low,

which it must be for the body to make

ketones, that's why it's ketogenesis or

the genesis or the creation of ketones,

to be in a ketogenic state, you must

have low insulin. That's required. Um,

when insulin goes down, you have two

important things happening. First,

starting at the fat cell, then going to

the liver. When insulin is down, the fat

cell is breaking apart its

triglycerides, which is the molecule

that the fat cell stores as fat. So

that's called lipolysis. Lipolysis,

lipid breaking or fat breaking. So you

have in a low insulin state, the fat

cells breaking down as fats. Now those

fats are coming to the liver.

>> So in a low insulin state, you mean if I

was fasting

>> fasting or low carb?

>> Okay.

>> Yep.

>> So the minute I'm low carb or fasting,

then I start producing these things

called ketones.

>> Yeah. Within about 16 hours. So if you

and I went to lunch and we ate a typical

kind of high carb type lunch, a typical

lunch with all kinds of macronutrients

in it, our insulin would go up and then

if we stopped eating then about 16 or so

hours later, we would start making

ketones. That's a long enough period of

time for fat burning to kind of take

over. And so the fat cell is breaking

down its fat. That fat is going to the

liver right here. In fact, so here we

don't have a lot of subcutaneous fat on

this guy here, unfortunately. So on the

outside in the front of the body or

around the middle, we have this fat that

we can pinch and jiggle. That's the

subcutaneous fat. So it would be

surrounding in this model for those

watching, it'd be surrounding the organs

on the outside. That is fat that the

body burns very readily. That fat is

running to the liver in very short

order. So it goes to the liver and now

the liver has some options. The liver is

the I say that the liver is the soccer

mom of nutrient metabolism. It knows

what to do with everything. Whether it's

lactate or glucose or fats or ketones,

the liver can handle all of them. So,

the liver is getting a lot of fat from

fat cells. And it has some options. It

would say, "Well, I can store this fat

or I can burn it." And and how does the

liver decide? Insulin tells it what to

do. And if insulin is down, the liver

cannot store fat. it it has to burn it.

>> So if I'm fasting, if I've been fasting

say for two days for example or I've not

been eating carbs for two days,

>> the liver won't store.

>> It will not. In fact, the liver, it is

so antithetical to fat storage in the

liver that you have human studies where

people have significant fatty liver

disease confirmed through ultrasound

measurements and they can just go on a

ketogenic or a low carb diet for just a

week and if I recall the study

correctly, I think it reduced the liver

fat by like 60%. And compared and which

was significantly more than the high

carb version and so even it was the same

calories. Once again, just further

evidence that calorie number, as much as

I don't calories matter, but just

they're not number one. They they're

they're they they're relevant, but not

as not the most relevant. So, you the

the liver cannot hold on to its fat as

insulin comes down. It must burn it. And

the liver begins within each liver cell,

the liver is burning so much fat that

it's actually it's burning more than it

needs for its own energy. And it's

basically, if you'll allow me to speak a

little silly, the liver begins to say,

"I'm burning more energy than I need. I

wonder how the brain's doing." And the

brain won't burn fat. The brain will

burn ketones. And so the liver starts

creating ketones is as its it's its way

of sharing the energy with the brain. So

a ketone is, to put it very succinctly,

a product of the liver burning a lot of

fat. Anytime you're burning a lot of

fat, you're going to be making ketones.

People have heard of the keto diet. Um,

when you talk about the keto diet,

there's lots of rebuttals.

>> Some people say it's not sustainable.

You can't do it for a long period of

time.

>> How do you respond to arguments against

keto?

>> Yeah, that's that's a great question. I

appreciate the concerns. The the stated

concern that they would say it's not

feasible.

You can say that about any diet. You

really can. And I don't mean to um push

aside people's concerns, but you could

say the same thing about someone going

on a low-fat, lowc calorie diet. That's

not sustainable, and it never is. They

always get off it. And so, anytime a

person is making a dietary change to

improve their metabolic health, every

diet works until you stop doing it. Uh

that might be a maxim that people can

leave with. Um a ketogenic diet because

it's not based on hunger. I think has

the potential to work. But we know there

are people who've done it their whole

lives, right? There are people who from

childhood adopt a ketogenic diet in

order to control their seizures or their

their their epilepsy or people will do

it to control their migraines. Because

if there's one tissue in the body that

thrives in the midst of ketones, it's

the brain. you can almost throw a dart

at a board that lists all of these

chronic brain disorders, whether it's

schizophrenia, whether it's bipolar,

whether it's depression, whether it is

um dementia, like Alzheimer's disease.

Every one of those instances, there's

evidence to show even things like

multiple sclerosis. There's instance

evidence to show improvements in humans

with a ketogenic diet. the brain and to

say that in a different way the central

nervous system loves ketones.

>> I'm just um looking at some of the

people who watched our last conversation

and who have left comments on that

conversation and there's this one chap

here who I'll throw up on the screen

called Shanti. Um he says 35 days of

keto for the first time ever started on

the 2nd of January 2025. It's now the

8th of February and 8 kg or 17.5 lbs

gone. So easy and loving my food

choices. I'm having no more than 20 gram

of carbs per day. I am amazed.

Not felt this good since I was a

teenager. Another 15 kg to go and I know

I'll get there.

>> Wow.

>> That's roughly 37 pounds to go. So

>> that's remarkable.

>> It really really works.

>> Well, it does work. But but I don't mean

to ever, you know, neither you nor I are

going to tell anyone everyone listening

this is the only way to lose weight. But

I think it is the most practical and

simplest because the problem with so

many weight loss strategies is that it

puts you against your own hunger. And

hunger always wins. You have to have a

weight loss journey that doesn't have

hunger being a constant feature. Because

if you're imagining this long walk to

shrinking my fat cells to what this guy

wanted of almost 35 total pounds, I

think is what he's going for. If you're

carrying hunger, it's like it's like a

bag. It's like luggage that you're

dragging along on this journey. The

chains that you're dragging that are

going to make it almost impossible for

you to get there.

>> This sounds almost counterintuitive

because when people hear that you're not

going to have sugar, they assume that

you're therefore going to have loads of

cravings for it. Mhm.

>> But the remarkable thing I discovered

the first time I went on a low carb/

keto diet is I was walking through this

mall in Cape Town where where um I live

sometimes and I saw this concession

stand for like cinnamon rolls.

>> And I thought to myself like I've not

had sugar for, you know, I've not had a

high sugar diet now for a couple of

weeks. I'll just go look at it and see

how I feel. And I walked over and looked

down at it at a food I would absolutely

love and my mouth would water just

thinking about it. I looked down at it

and I had the emotional

urge to buy one was completely gone. And

it's hard to explain.

>> It's hard to explain.

>> Yeah. You you were able to just look at

it and shrug your shoulders.

>> I felt nothing.

>> Yeah. Yeah.

>> And I was and I was really I I found

that really fascinating that I had no

urge, no craving, no desire to buy the

cinnamon roll

>> and it had vanished.

>> Well, this is this is one of the things

where I think the future of as ketone

research in humans continues to evolve.

I there is already evidence showing

profound you can use a ketogenic diet to

help people with eating disorders. This

these are there are published case

studies on this and I think a part of it

is when the brain is so nourished and

consistently nourished

>> by ketones

>> by ketones the brain reaches this new

level of of indifference to what it

knows might be harmful and and that's in

the midst of that answer I have that's

kind of loaded where if you're on a

ketogenic diet the beauty is fuel is

stable ketones are stable even glucose

is stable you're avoiding the massive um

volatility of of glucose. And as much as

so much of of the glucose centric view

is only worried about the high glucose,

high glucose is harmful that it can

induce the glycation of molecules

throughout the body where the glucose is

literally binding things and and

disrupting their function, proteins,

fats. So glucose is harmful, but so too

is the volatility of the glucose where

it's really high, then it's really low,

and then it's really high again. That is

a roller coaster of energy for the brain

where it's you're force-feeding the

brain all this glucose and now you're

depriving it. It's like it's like a form

of abuse on the brain. But when it's a

ketogenic diet, it is stable, consistent

energy. And so it's not surprising to me

that people find they're able to resist

cravings better because the brain is

able to say to the rest of the body,

"No, we don't need that. We're doing

fine. We got energy."

>> What about the heart?

>> Oh my gosh, that's a brilliant question.

So, I would say the brain is number one

tissue that thrives on ketones and I'd

put actually put the heart as number

two. There is a lot of great research. I

would refer people to Gary Lope's work

and others that I just don't know

personally, but I know him. He's at the

University of um Alberta in Edmonton. um

and he has found and others so I'm going

to synthesize their work collectively

that when a person's experiencing heart

failure it's it's a combination of

variables where the heart may not be

able to contract well enough to eject

the blood it has to work a lot harder

for every pump in that case they they

have found that the the heart will shift

its fuel to start relying on ketones to

improve its function but there was a

paper just published this here looking

at a different form of beta

hydroxybutyrate which is the main

ketone. Whenever I've been saying

ketone, I've been thinking of the

molecule beta hydroxybutyrate. When the

liver makes BHB or beta hydroxybutyrate,

it actually comes in two forms that are

mirror opposites of each other in

structure. So the way they're built,

it's referred to as DBHB or LBH. So in

heart failure, the heart muscle itself

like the brain starts relying a lot on

DBHB as its fuel. Then you would say

that begs the question, well what about

the L? This paper that was just found

used a pig heart model which is actually

shockingly close to human anatomy. So

it's a pretty good um corlary here. They

found that with LBH infused into the

cardiovascular system of the pigs,

>> which is ketones,

>> which is a different form of the ketone

that the liver makes. Yeah. So the liver

is making two types of BHB, DBHB and

LBHB.

>> And when they profused the

cardiovascular system with LBH, they

found that the what's called ejection

fraction, so the amount of blood coming

out of the left ventricle, which is the

part of the heart that's beating blood

everywhere. So with LBH, they found that

the heart was able to eject 40% more

blood for every beat. But now you would

say, well, it's just because you're

making the heart work harder. No, it was

not at all an effect of the heart

itself. It was because all of the great

arteries like the aorta, right out of

the left ventricle will come the aorta,

which is the main avenue for moving

blood everywhere. The aorta expanded and

all of the great vessels enlarged so

much that the heart was now able to beat

out 40% more blood with every single

beat. So when it comes to someone with

heart failure, I think they are among

the most they should be among the most

interested in testing out the effects of

ketones. Uh even as a personal note, I

am I tend to be kind of high anxiety,

high performance sort of I'm always

thinking of something. No surprise that

I tend and I don't sleep particularly

great and so no surprise that I

sometimes have higher blood pressure. I

one time measured my blood pressure on a

random I went into my dentist and the

dentist has now started measuring blood

pressure. It was 139

over 90ome and I had never been that

high. I couldn't believe it. I'm such a

healthy bloke. How on earth is my blood

pressure this high? And I thought, well,

I'm kind of sleepd deprived. I've had

maybe a little too much caffeine that

morning or whatever. But it was a

concern. And over the next few days, my

blood pressure continued to be higher

than it had ever been. And of course,

I'm getting old enough that I think

these things start to matter. I took a

shot of as an experiment, seeing this

paper that was had just been published

in 2025. I took a few grams worth of

LBH. I drank it and within about an

hour, my blood pressure was like 110

over 70. So, it had this. Now, that's

anecdotal. It's an N of one. Maybe I

just calmed down enough, but I saw an

almost immediate reduction in my blood

pressure. And it could be because of

what they found, which is that all of

the vessels that the heart is beating

into, they expanded. And so every with

every beat of the heart, the heart was

able to eject more blood. And the and

the the wider a blood vessel gets, of

course, the lower the pressure is. And

so that's that could be the mechanism

that explains in my case why my blood

pressure got fixed so quickly. How did

you drink that?

>> Yeah. Yeah. So, there are a few

different ways. As much as we've been

focusing on uh endogenous ketones. So,

I'm pointing to my liver, but here's the

liver. So, when a person is in a

ketogenic state, they're making their

own ketones, we would use the word

endogenous ketogenesis or they're making

ketones in their own body. But it's no

surprise that the benefits of ketones

are getting so extensive that now there

are companies um that are enterprising

individuals that are finding ways to get

into ketosis without having the rigor of

a ketogenic diet. And so you can drink

ketones. And that comes in a few

different forms. Of course, the form I'm

talking about is just straight BHB in in

its two in its two versions. You can get

it in either version, DBHB or LBH.

So, that's just you consuming it in the

way your liver makes it.

>> If you looked in my kitchen cupboard

over there, you'd probably see, frankly,

about 100 different ketone products. Um,

obviously, some of them are the same,

but there's like 100 different units of

ketone products. And here is my ketone

reader, which is where I pick prick my

finger frequently.

>> In fact, you'll be delighted um once you

get one. Nowadays, they make them

attachable.

>> Really?

>> Yeah. So ketones are so easy to measure,

not unlike glucose, that just like

people have continuous glucose monitors

now in Europe, you can get continuous

ketone monitors

>> from where?

>> Next time you're in the UK, get them.

You can't get them here yet. They're not

FDA approved, but there was a company

out of Germany um that sent me one uh

called Sai Bio, Si Bio, and you can just

strap it on and look at your phone and

it's giving you continuous readings.

>> Damn.

>> Yeah, it's very very

>> That is incredible. I'm literally going

to buy that ASAP. Um, but before I get

that, I've been using this little ketone

reader here.

>> Yep.

>> Which I have no affiliation to at all.

Um, and pricking my finger every single

day to see my ketone levels when I'm in

a in a ketogenic state.

>> You talked about exogenous ketones

there. I have a bunch of different

exogenous ketone products here. I know

some people use ketone salts.

>> Yep.

>> I have two different ketone brands here.

>> Yes. Yeah. So, there are there are

different forms. You have two different

forms here. and you mentioned one that

that ought to be described because that

actually is the type of ketone I was

just talking about. So ketone IQ is a

ketone precursor where it's a molecule

called 13b butane dial that will come to

the liver then the liver will metabolize

it um to to a large degree into BHB the

main ketone that we're talking about and

that is the ketone that people want. Um

then the other one, this is an esther.

What's an esther bond is a molecule that

has a a a chemical bond that is broken

when you eat it uh through enzymes. So

you digest that where it's one part BHB,

the straight real ketone, and then it's

one part 13 butane dial, which is the

same precursor, the ketone precursor and

ketone IQ. And so those are two of the

three forms, well maybe four forms. And

then the other two are straight BHB

where it's either a BHB salt where the

BHB molecule is bound to a sodium or a

calcium or a potassium. And you can buy

those in the D or the L form or nowadays

it's the straight acid what's called a

BHB acid where it doesn't have any of

the electrolytes in it where it's you

can get that's what I was referring to a

moment ago when I lowered my blood

pressure. I took the straight a straight

shot of L BHB and you can get that in D

and L forms as well.

>> Okay. So, I've just taken a shot of

Keton IQ.

>> Yeah. So, that's one3 butane dial and

you taste it. Um, right. It has a

particular kind of kick because it's a

it's an alcohol molecule that you know,

you feel it like it it's sort of like

taking a little shot, but your liver

will take that in and then over the next

couple hours it will start converting it

to varying degrees into BHB. And what

I'm going to do is I'm going to quickly

do my blood ketone levels now and we

will see if in 10 minutes time, let's do

10 20 minutes time, there are ketones

flowing in my blood. So I've pricricked

my finger. I've put a little bit of

blood on this little ketone sensor here

and it says that my blood ketone levels

are currently 0.3.

>> Yep.

>> Yeah.

>> So can you describe for me now that I've

just have had a shot of Ketone IQ, which

by the way I am affiliated with. I have

um I'm an investor in the company. Um

but that's why I brought a variety of

different brands. Yeah.

>> Um can you tell me what's going on

inside my body now that I've just had

one shot of that?

>> Yes. Yes. So now your body is taking in

that main molecule of ketone IQ which is

called 13 butane dol and it's going to

get absorbed from your guts into your

blood and then from your guts it's going

to go to your liver and then the liver

will pull in that molecule and rearrange

it into BHB and then and then release

that into the into the blood

>> which is ketones

>> which is key it will turn it into BHB

the ketone. Yep. And now again there are

different forms that you can take

whether it's the straight 13b butane

dial or whether it's an esther

>> and what's happening from there. So it's

now in my blood. What's happening then?

>> Yeah. So now once the BHB is in the

blood it um anytime BHB is in the blood

it is both fuel and a signaling

molecule. And that last part is often

overlooked. We've been over the course

of this discussion talking a lot about

or I've been referring to the fact that

it's a fuel for any any cell with

mitochondria,

which is everything but red blood cells.

Red blood cells are the only cells with

no mitochondria. But every other cell of

the body will take in BHB, the main

ketone, and use it for fuel. Every

single cell of the body, and do so

gladly. the and it's important to

compare the BHB the ketone against

glucose in many of the biggest tissues

of the body like the muscle or the fat

or even the heart glucose can't just

come in it needs an escort if you will

or it needs permission and that's

insulin so there's this regulating step

there's this this checkpoint where

insulin can say all right you can come

in or not because I'm insulin resistant

or there's not enough insulin or

whatever ketones have no such regulation

they just come in if the cell has mito

mitochondria, the ketones going in. So

that's one effect where the ketone is

metabolized as a fuel giving the cell

literal energy. Number two is the fact

that the BHB can bind to the cell and

there are receptors on cells that will

sense the BHB then the BHB will tell it

to do something.

>> The ketone.

>> Yeah. Yeah. So it's it's which is really

really unique where you have something

that is both a calorie source an energy

source and it acts like a hormone where

it tells cells that's the signaling

effect where it tells cells to to do

something like a moment ago I'd

mentioned how LBH is capable of

expanding the great blood vessels in the

body well in that regard it's acting as

a signaling molecule and increasing the

production of nitric oxide which is a

great visodilator. All these guys that

are taking nitric oxide drugs like

Seialis for whether it's erectile

function or nowadays guys are taking it

to have better blood flow and perform in

the gym and have a better workout. Well,

LBHB might be kind of the way forward

where if you can signal something else

but get the same effect without the

consequences or the side effects that

you get from seialis then that might be

one of the strategies and use of LBH in

the future. So, that's been about 5 or

10 minutes and my blood ketone levels

are now at 0.5. Um, and they're

continuing to climb just from one shot

of Keton IQ. Some people ask me about

sex differences in the ketogenic diet or

a low carb diet generally.

>> Some people are concerned that low carb

diets or ketogenic diets are especially

useful for men but might have a

different set of complications for

women. And we did have a female expert

debate on the show where I asked about

the ketogenic diet for women and the

sort of consensus was that it should be

treated differently for women.

>> Yeah. Yeah. I app I remember I I tuned

into that and I respect it tremendously.

I I really appreciate the view that a

lot of these gals have advocated for

which is that women are not just small

men. The differences between male and

female of course are enormous. Um that

doesn't mean there are differences in

everything. So women are very unique

when it comes to hormones. They women

experience a rhythm of hormones that

there is no equivalent in men because of

the the reproductive burden if you will

or responsibility that a woman has where

she will see changes in hormones that

can reach thousands of times differences

like progesterone levels can change by a

thousand times over the course of the

ovarian cycle. Estrogen levels will

change by multiples. men just don't have

that kind of volatility. Those female

sex hormones do influence metabolism,

but then it matters tremendously which

um phase she is in of her ovarian cycle.

So if she is in the the first follicular

phase, which is a low progesterone,

higher estrogen state,

>> what's the first follicular phase?

>> Yeah. So in the in if you look at the

female fertility phase, um it is like a

200piece orchestra. It is so dynamic.

Whereas men's fertility is like a

barberhop quartet. It sounds nice, but

it's very simple. So, in the first phase

leading up, so she's just had her

menration end, now she's starting the

beginning of a new cycle. That first

phase is called the follicular phase,

which is when her ovaries are having

some follicles or a future a little egg

getting bigger. One will end up becoming

the dominant one, but that is creeping

in higher higher levels of estrogen. And

then she will ovulate with at with the

ovulation that what was a follicle in

her ovary now becomes what's called a

yellow body or a corpus ludium. And so

it's called the ludial phase and that is

defined by very high progesterone and

progesterone changes things. So where I

think the conversation in women is very

relevant and fascinating is that in the

first phase in her follicular phase she

is a fat burning machine. You can

measure she will get into ketosis faster

than her male counterpart and she's

burning more fat than her male

counterpart. In fact, this is one of the

few clinical values where there's a male

version and a female version. This isn't

very common. Many of the typical

metabolic type markers, whether it's

glucose or insulin, triglycerides, LDL,

cholesterol, they're the same across the

sexes with the exception of free fatty

acids. So earlier I had mentioned that

when insulin is low the li the fat cell

is breaking down fat. It's breaking down

that fat as free fatty acids. So the

free fatty acids in a woman are about 40

or 50% higher than in a man

>> during that first phase.

>> Yes. Especially during the first phase

and that's because she's burning more

fat and that helps her get into ketosis

faster. So if you this has been shown in

studies take a male and female have them

start a fast she will get into ketosis

faster than him.

Now during during

>> just during that phase or

>> especially during the phase yeah I I

don't know that they compared and

controlled for the ludial phase but it's

worth noting where I think um fasting

and ketogenic diets start to change.

So it'll keep going up. Yeah.

>> So just another reading point8.

>> Yep.

>> Is ketosis considered what.5?

>> Technically, but frankly I actually call

it ketosis at.3. the moment you can

detect it on one of those blood meters

that I'd say you're in ketosis and I

think 0.3 is the lower limit. So 0.5 is

a little bit of an arbitrary cut off but

that is the classic view. Um, so in in

that in that ludal phase with high

progesterone, progesterone is a hunger

hormone. And so if she's trying to do a

fasting protocol during and her cravings

are going to be higher and her uh she's

going to be hungrier. And so that's

where I think the conversation's very

important is that during her ludal phase

after she has ovulated,

it's going to be harder to stick to a

ketogenic diet. And that's where I think

it might be prudent for her to be a

little generous with herself. um where

uh it might get a little more difficult.

Now, however, some of the concern with

women and ketogenic diets is misplaced.

And I would be remiss if I didn't

mention a study that answered this

question very well in with regards to

cortisol. In fact, I'll state this now.

I already chatted with the team. I would

love to see you bring on a scientist in

the UK named Dr. Isabella Cooper. She

has published a series of studies in

women that are fascinating because of

the the intervention that she's done.

She's taken women who had been adhering

to a ketogenic diet as part of their

normal life. Then for 21 days they have

to adopt the typical high carb diet of

the standard UK guidelines similar to

the US about 55% carbohydrate decidedly

not ketogenic for 21 days. So more than

long enough to detect changes and then

they go back to their diet for 21 days

and they have blood tests again. And so

these are healthy women who go from a

ketogenic diet to a high carb diet back

to a ketogenic diet. And when they

looked at cortisol, when Isabella and

her group measured cortisol levels, no

statistically significant change at any

point. There was just noise and no

trend. Some gals had their cortisol go

down. Some had them go up. But as a

group there was it was just a big messy

flat line.

>> And what does that mean?

>> That takes a lot of wind out of the

sales of of people who say that a

ketogenic diet is a unique stress on

women because people want to invoke and

they'll say, "Well, cortisol goes

through the roof and that's sign of a

significant stress." And yet Isabella's

own data show that cortisol levels

aren't different. that there is no

unique cortisol related stress state of

a ketogenic diet. So I think it's

relevant because it just brings a little

nuance to the conversation. Not to say

men and women are not different. They

absolutely are. But I do believe the the

view that a ketogenic diet is uniquely

stressful in in women but not men, I

think is uh overblown. And and again,

I'm relying on Isabella's own data to

support that. So, coming into 2026 and I

want 2026 to be the year where I finally

get a grip of my health, where I finally

become the person that I know deep down

I could be and I desperately do want to

be. And I asked you, Dr. Ben,

>> to make me a plan,

>> the perfect plan, the perfect diet. I

know everyone's different, so we're

gonna have you gonna have to play with

me here a little bit, but

>> the perfect plan for 2026,

>> what would you prescribe as a diet,

lifestyle choices? Okay. And I'm going

to write it down.

>> Yeah. Yeah. So I would um at the risk of

sounding too self-absorbed

uh I this is I'll kind of describe my

own approach as a metabolic scientist

but please everyone listening appreciate

that I will I'm inserting my own

constraints because my approach is kind

of that of a guy who knows a lot but is

also constrained by my demands in life

but I think a lot of people fit into

that category. So Stephen if you want to

look like a freckled bald wrinkled man

this is what you can do. All right. So,

first of all, zero to little to no carbs

for um breakfast and lunch.

>> Okay. Little to no carbs for breakfast

and lunch. Carbs for breakfast and

lunch.

>> Yep. You wake up in the morning. Anyone

who's wearing a continuous glucose

monitor will find that their glucose

levels naturally rise in the morning and

that coincides with a mild state of

insulin resistance every morning because

of changes in cortisol and other

hormones. So my view is don't doubly

load to the glucose that's already

happening by eating in the morning with

starchy sugary stuff. So be very strict

with all of your meals up until dinner.

>> So just on point one so I'm clear.

You're saying no carbs but is there

anything that I should be having?

>> Yeah. So any if a person wants to as

much protein and fat as they'd like and

I would say especially for lunch, let

lunch be your biggest meal.

>> Okay. So let's go through those three

points. Yeah.

>> Um why as much protein as I can. Yeah.

Protein and fat.

>> Okay. Why?

>> Yeah. Because they won't have an insulin

effect. And that's the key. Like my

approach to staying lean at 50 years old

and having my wife like what she sees is

keeping my insulin low and and still not

being hungry all the time. And so

protein and fat are the two

macronutrients with carbohydrates being

the third. But protein and fat have

little to no effect on insulin. Fat has

none and protein may have a modest

effect depending on some other

variables. So you want to keep insulin

low.

>> So what would would that breakfast look

like?

>> So for me, I actually don't eat

breakfast. Uh and and again, this plays

into I'm extremely mindful of my family.

So that's going to come back again when

we get to dinner because we've left that

meal untouched for now.

>> In the morning, I make breakfast for my

kids every morning. Uh and it's

something I remember from my childhood

being raised by my dad and he every

morning it was just structured. And I

think all of my siblings and I have

thrived in life in part because of the

structure we had at the beginning of

every day where we would all eat

breakfast together. We would read

scriptures very briefly. We'd have a

family prayer very briefly and just

review the day. And I think that was my

dad's way of kind of surviving with so

many kids just to sort of check in with

everyone.

>> You had nine siblings.

>> Yeah. Yeah. There's nine of us. Yeah. Uh

and so we have uh I I'm very big on

that. So breakfast is dad's domain and

my wife cheers me on. Um, so I make

breakfast for the kids and I am sipping

on a cup of yerba mate the whole time.

>> Why?

>> Yeah, in part because I like the taste.

There's a good GLP1 effect. So, it helps

me feel a little more satiated. Um, and

it's just a habit. It's a little bit of

a perk, a little pickme up. I don't

drink coffee. I drink yerba mate

instead.

>> What is herb mate?

>> The brand that I get is called Una Mate.

And it's a it's a leaf. It's a South

American tea basically. And you can get

it in any number of ways. This is just a

really convenient and good way to get

it. So I'm sipping on a cup of it would

be someone drinking coffee or tea. I'm

taking yerba mate tea. Um so I don't eat

for breakfast. I find that I'm not

generally hungry for breakfast anyway.

And so I may as well keep my fasted

state going a little longer. So that's

what works for me. And then I would

encourage people to have a big hearty

lunch because if you have a big hearty

lunch, mostly protein and fat, it makes

it easier to taper off later in the day.

Especially in the evening if people are

noticing that they have significant

cravings especially for carbs because

that's the only thing anyone craves in

the evening have a bigger lunch. See if

that helps.

>> Okay.

>> And then sometime around either before

or after have a good resistance workout.

I have my resistance workout in the in

fact Stephen I even have to go a little

earlier. So, my first thing in the

morning is I go on a ruck at 5:00 a.m. I

have my weighted vest and these 15lb

kettle bells and I hike one mile up a

hill and one mile back every morning at

5:00 a.m. And then I get a little work

done and just some personal kind of

reflection and meditation time, if you

will. Then the family wakes up. I'm

making breakfast. The family chaos

begins. I'm sipping on my yerba mate.

Then I go to work. About 10:30 or 11 is

the good time for me. I go down to the

gym on campus and I do my very brief,

very effective, I would say, um,

resistance training and then I go into

the sauna for 12 to 15 minutes, but in

the morning I've done a little ice bath,

too. I didn't mention that. I have an

ice bath on my back patio, a Maroska

Forge, and I love it. It is spectacular.

Um, so then I do a sauna session after

my workout. Then I go eat my big lunch.

>> Why are you doing the ice bath in this

one? Yeah. So, I do I do an ice bath in

the morning because it helps me sleep

better in the evening. I'm a terrible

sleeper. And especially in the northern

hemisphere in the winter, the sun isn't

coming up till 9:00 or so, 9:00 a.m. And

by shocking my body, I get this jolt.

And I think it just helps get my clock

ticking. And so, by the time evening

rolls around, I'm tired and I'm ready

for bed.

>> Okay, I'm just doing my ketone test to

see where it is. We're probably about 30

minutes off me taking that ketone shot.

We'll continue with your day in just two

sec. And I'm now at 0.9.

>> It'll keep going. Yep. Yep. So, you were

08 0.9. Next one will be one, but it

looks like it's starting to curve a

little bit,

>> which isn't surprising. You went up

pretty quick and then it's going to

curve for a bit.

>> And what's going on in my body right now

that I have 0.9

>> K? Yes. So, that is a unit of

measurement called the mill moles. And

so, it's looking at the number of

molecules basically in a given amount of

of your blood. And so you took in that

ketone precursor, the liver converted

it. It's just continuing to convert it

into BHB.

>> BHB being ketones.

>> BHB being the main ketone. Yep.

>> Okay. Yep.

>> And that's making me

>> Well, it's going to make you sharp.

Okay.

>> So, your brain is now using those

ketones. Your heart would be using the

ketones. Um, and your reliance on

glucose as a fuel for your brain and

your heart would be going down.

>> Wouldn't my hunger be going down?

>> Oh, yeah. Yeah.

>> So, I'm going to be less hungry. But

also the benefits of BHB in the brain

are are myriad where it's been shown to

be an anxolytic. So it can control

anxiety. Uh it can control it can

improve depression. It can help with

attention,

>> memory. I

>> memory. Oh, certainly with cognition.

Yes.

>> I've read I read about the studies on

dementia patients that

>> Yes. That is it is incredibly we're

entering a kind of dawning of an era of

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and NSF funded ketone related projects

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>> So let's go back to the perfect day, the

perfect, the perfect lifestyle for 2026.

So then do my resistance training at

some point after I've had my breakfasts.

>> Well, yes. So whatever for me, I I do

body weight based exercises. So, I don't

like having a big belly of food. And so,

being in a fasted state, my view on

exercising, even that's a debate. Do you

exercise fasted or do you exercise with

fuel? Um, like you take a bunch of carbs

and stuff. My view is it's dependent on

what your goal is. As a middle-aged guy,

my goal is not performance. It's not

going out and sprinting and showing

power. It's to live a long healthy life.

And so, it's a more metabolic focus. If

your if your interest is metabolic, then

I think fasting fa exercising in a

fasted state is very smart. If your goal

of the exercise is performance, like

you're a collegiate athlete or you are,

you know, you're an elite rugby player

or something, okay, then don't exercise

fasted. Take some fuel before you go

work out. So for me, I've done my early

morning ruck, my personal kind of

reflection time, ice bath, yerba mate,

and then my midm morning workout.

>> Just on that point of exercising fasted,

>> why is that better if your goals are

longevity and health,

>> right? Because it's just going to help

you continue to burn fat and improve

maintain your insulin sensitivity.

>> Okay, fine. So, I have my midm morning

workout, then I have a nice big lunch,

then I have my afternoon productivity,

and then I get to dinner, and dinner is

the main social meal within my home. Um,

and so I have dinner with my family. And

that is carb lunch. Whatever the

family's eating, I'm eating. I have I

have daughters and as a college

professor I've seen enough young women

struggle with eating disorders that I

always worried would my incessant

talking about diet somehow stimulate

eating disorders and I've never wanted

to become obsessive about it and so I

have dinner with my family whatever it

is if it's pizza I'm having pizza if

it's pasta I'm having pasta um now my

wife happens to see things kind of the

way I do so it's usually meat and

vegetables in in some mix and and that's

my dinner and then ideally

I'm done.

>> What time are you having that dinner?

>> Yeah, that's about five or six.

>> And you you avoid eating late.

>> Oh yes. In fact, I would submit Stephen,

if we were to look at any one thing

someone could do, I would say anyone who

says, "Ben, what is the one thing?" If

I'm putting a question in your mouth,

I'd say stop snacking in the evening.

Anything you can do to not overeat and

go to bed hypoglycemic or elevated or

spike your blood glucose levels, do it.

>> Why?

>> That's when people at their weakest.

People, you and I could be hanging out

all day walking past a plate of cookies

and not be tempted at all until 7 or

8:00 p.m. It's just human nature. And

yet that is one of the worst times to

eat it because when you go to bed

hypoglycemic, it activates a part of the

nervous system, an aspect of the nervous

system called the sympathetic nervous

system. That's also known as the fight

orflight. So when someone we hear a car

crash right nearby or we hear a gunshot,

then our immediately our heart starts

beating faster and harder. Our body

temperature climbs and we're stimulated.

hypoglycemia will have that effect. And

that is terrible timing because when

you're going to bed, you're wanting to

rely on your what's called your

parasympathetic nervous system. The part

of your the aspect of your nervous

system that is calming, it's lowering

your heart rate. It's slowing your

heart. It's lowering your blood

pressure. It's helping you calm down to

sleep better. Hypoglycemia

throws that into opposites. So then

you're going to bed, you're lying there

wondering why your heart is beating so

hard, why you are so hot and

uncomfortable, and it's because you just

spiked your blood glucose with a bunch

of sugar.

>> Is there anything else?

Is there, you know, for people that are

focused on that 2026 goal of finally

becoming the person that they know they

can become, is there anything else you

would say to them? Is there any tools

they need to buy? Is there any other

tricks or tactics or hacks?

>> Yeah. Yeah, I do think that they could

if they were adopting this diet, it's

definitely going to put them into

ketosis. That can take a little time to

adjust. So, very relevant to our earlier

conversation. I do think exogenous

ketones can help a person transition

into relying on a ketogenic diet more

readily. And anytime a person's losing

weight, they run the risk of losing some

lean mass at the same time. And we, my

lab just published a paper about two

weeks ago at the time we're filming

this, finding that in humans in a weight

loss protocol, if they were drinking BHB

or exogenous ketones, they were able to

retain more muscle mass, more lean mass

in the midst of the weight loss. So,

there could be some strategies like

that. But I would also add that there

are some non um physical ones as well.

If someone's trying to say, I'm going to

be the best version of myself, then

start reading more, too. Read more

books. You'll be the best. You'll be an

even better version as you're losing

weight. Um, and your brain is firing on

more cylinders than ever before as it's

fueled with ketones. Challenge your

brain. You had mentioned dementia

earlier. Ketones are a therapy for

dementia, but so too is challenging your

brain in the form of um making it learn

new things. So, read a good book.

>> This woman contacted me on the on

November the 11th. When you do a

podcast, you get lots of feedback. you

get like tens of thousands of people

sometimes per episode

>> and I can imagine you looking through

everyone finding gems.

>> I actually funnily enough I do look at

the comment section because it's it's a

place where I really trust the feedback.

So people that comment on these videos

like I really do trust them because they

are typically listeners. They've kind of

been with me on this whole journey. So

when they have feedback when they have

you know good or bad feedback on the or

constructive feedback we pay attention.

>> Well Stephen I'm pleased that something

brought me back. So the comments can't

have been too negative. No, they were

really I mean they were unbelievably

positive. But I got this one from on

LinkedIn from a lady called I'll keep

her anonymous. Let's just call her Mrs.

L.

>> Okay.

>> And Mrs. L said, "Hi, Stephen. Thank you

for the great work you do and the

information, insights, inspiration you

provide. On keto, my husband lasted 8

hours on a keto diet and was

unconscious. It turned out he had a

neurodine cancer called insulum."

>> Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No. a neuroendocrine

cancer called insulinoma.

>> I said that's exactly what I said.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Did I hear a niner in there?

Yeah. Something.

>> And if the paramedics hadn't intercepted

with glucose, going keto would have

killed him.

>> Yes.

>> He's amazing. We have three children and

he volunteers for 50

>> more every weekend. We don't want to

lose him.

>> Sorry to share this sad story, but it's

not the first time I've seen one of your

posts or one of your guests talk about

ketosis

and what's worked well. And in this

case, it was fatal for him. Yes. So, I

hope you don't mind, but I wanted to

share this with love, respect, and

kindness to hopefully give food for

thought, no pun intended, of how you

decide to use your platform and to

provide further context and nuance.

>> Yeah. Yeah.

>> What works for you and thousands of

others might not work for everyone. I

believe it's super important that we

share this information and inspiration

carefully and in a way that exemplifies

a growth mindset, not a fixed mindset.

for example, not fixed one diet or one

way of working for everybody. If you

read this above all else, please know

I'm sending this with the utmost respect

and kindness and hope. Best

>> love it. Yeah, what a thoughtful what a

thoughtful message.

>> Yeah, it is very thoughtful. I

appreciate I appreciate any kind

communication by the way because on

social media it is so easy just to

become the worst version of yourself

without fear of any consequence. So, she

happened to describe a person who would

probably be the the worst individual. So

an insulinoma, she describes a

neuroendocrine cancer. An insulinoma is

an insulin secretreting tumor. So

usually it's the pancreas, which for

those watching is here. Again, imagine

that a part of the pancreas is expanding

with a tumor, but it's filled with cells

that make insulin. So it's a bunch of

beta cells, which are the cells that

make insulin. And this is a guy who

can't stop making insulin.

Suffice to say, if you now cut your

carbohydrate consumption and you're

continuing to make tons of insulin,

which is not normal, so this is a very

much a disease state, and I appreciate

her stating it as such. It's a cancer,

it's a tumor of the pancreas. So, what

would have happened in him, he cuts the

gluc, he cuts his carbohydrates, but he

can't stop making insulin. So now it's

actually back to that diet that you and

I that I mentioned at the beginning of

our conversation where the people were

eating a high carb version or a low carb

version of a diet. When you spike

insulin, you lower both glucose and

ketones. And that's what happened to

him. He would have become hypoglycemic

and he would almost never make any

ketones because he always has high

insulin. M

>> and so he would have been depriving his

brain of its two fuels in uh lowering

the glucose by pushing it into muscle

and fat and blocking the liver from

making ketones. So he's the worst person

anyone with an insulinoma. Of course

neither you nor I are giving any medical

advice. Um but if a person has an

insulinoma that's like the worst person

to adopt a low carb diet. They have to

eat carbs because they're always making

insulin. They can't stop. What's

interesting is it it appears from what

she's written that her husband found out

that he had this

>> Oh, because of adopting the diet.

>> Yeah.

>> Oh my gosh, that's remarkable. Yeah. So,

a person could test this early though,

Stephen. So, just what you've been doing

now over the past period of time by

pricking your finger, if a person

worried that they had an insulinoma,

they could just on a random morning uh

or fast for fast for 12 hours or so and

measure your glucose. Um, if you have a

continuous glucose monitor, even easier.

Look at your glucose. Because in you and

I, if we fast for 24 hours, our glucose

levels stay normal. They just run along

like nothing's happened. In a person

with an insulinoma, they're getting

lower and lower and lower and lower all

constantly because they can't stop

making insulin and it's always driving