On this episode of Ancestral Health Today we welcome Ally Houston. Ally was trained as a physicist but switched to researching ketogenic diets in 2016, and started a paleo and keto food business in 2017, then health coaching in 2021. He and Dr. Rachel Brown started MetPsy in late 2022.
He was ill from childhood, struggling with weight, anxiety, seasonal depression, and ADHD. He was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult in 2015 when all symptoms were at their worst. The drugs helped a little but they wore off, and he was disillusioned again. He had started a physics PhD at the time and was underperforming. However, his professor, Ken Strain, noticed that he wasn't performing well. He had healed his MECFS using a ketogenic diet - he went from being told he'd never work again to running 10k in six months on keto. He showed Ally where to read about this and Ally decided to have a go, in March 2016. Within weeks many problems had cleared up. Ally has spent the time since trying to understand all he can about why this worked for him, and so many others.At the time, there was no ecosystem for metabolic mental health. Dr. Georgia Ede was one of the only voices on this in 2016. When Baszucki Group came into the field and stimulated the research in the area in 2022, Ally and Dr. Brown decided it was time to start MetPsy.Next year in Oxford, Ally will be leading a study on ketogenic diet plus MetPsy for ADHD with depression. He'd like to focus on the crowdfunding campaign for this. Baszucki Group will very kindly be matching the first £10,000 in donations. If you are interested in donating and following along, go to bit.ly/adhdketo . Ally also provides mental health coaching at metpsy.com . Ally is also the host of the "Ally Houston Transforms Podcast"
On this episode of Ancestral Health today, we bring you Richelle Sepulveda. She is adjunct professor of psychology at North Idaho College. She is also part of a team of patient-led researchers at the
This episode with Dr. Pedro Bastos is a broad exploration of the role of inflammation in health and disease. In popular media, inflammation is regularly referenced only as a process that impairs our health, but as you'll learn today, inflammation also plays an essential and beneficial role in context. There is good inflammation and bad inflammation, and it is important to understand the difference.
Dr. Bastos is a dietitian and researcher affiliated with the European University of Madrid in Spain, and Lund University in Sweden. At Lund, he studied and collaborated with Staffan Lindeberg, the principal investigator of the famous Kitava Study. He lectures extensively on health related topics worldwide and has co-authored influential papers such as "The Western Diet and Lifestyle and Diseases of Civilization, and "Chronic Inflammation in the etiology of disease across the lifespan", which was the most cited recent article in the influential journal, Nature Medicine. He has presented at the Ancestral Health Symposium, most recently in 2022 on a recap of the Kitava study.
In this conversation, Dr. Bastos discusses the definition and function of inflammation, as well as the distinction between acute and chronic inflammation. He explains the various biomarkers used to detect inflammation and highlights their limitations. The conversation also explores the relationship between inflammation and oxidative stress, as well as the evidence supporting a connection between chronic inflammation and a range of diseases, including metabolic syndrome and autoimmune disorders. Inflammation plays a key role in various health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Chronic inflammation can both cause and be a consequence of immune processes.
The Kitava study, conducted on a traditional population in Papua New Guinea, revealed that their diet, while high in carbohydrates and saturated fat, is relatively unprocessed and has characteristics that low may contribute to their lower levels of inflammation and better health outcomes. Other lifestyle factors, such as physical activity, sun exposure, sleep patterns, stress and lower exposure to pollutants, may also play a role in reducing inflammation-induced disease. From this, Dr. Bastos discusses how our diets can be tailored to minimize inflammation, including the roles of specific nutrients. The conversation touches on some debates around inclusion or exclusion of fiber, whole grains, dairy and alcohol. Overall, the discussion emphasizes the complexity of inflammation and the need for personalized approaches to promote optimal health.
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Autoimmune Protocol Myth Bust
Tuesday, February 27, 2024 • Duration 50:51
On this episode of Ancestral Health Today we have Mickey Trescott and Jaime Hartman. We discuss the recent changes in the AutoImmune Protocol and clarify what the intent and scope of AIP is, while busting some long standing myths.
Mickey Trescott is a Chef and Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified through the Nutritional Therapy Association, and coaches a small number of one-on-one clients. She is the author of three best-selling books, The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook, The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook and The Nutrient-Dense Kitchen. I also co-host The Autoimmune Wellness Podcast and co-teach The AIP Certified Coach Practitioner Training Program with Jaime. Her journey to the Autoimmune Protocol started as a vegan, having been diagnosed with both celiac and Hashimoto’s disease. Instead of feeling better after her diagnosis, she continued to suffer many months of deteriorating health until she made the transition to the Autoimmune Protocol, slowly reversing vitamin and mineral deficiencies and greatly improving her health. You can read more about her journey with illness by reading her story here on the blog or listening to her deep-dive podcast episode! Today, she lives with her husband, Noah outside Portland, Oregon. When she's not getting crazy in the kitchen or researching how to live better with autoimmune disease, she can be found riding horses on her family’s farm, obsessively knitting a pair of socks, or figuring out how to build a non-toxic, sustainable home. You can also purchase Mickey's books on sale at Autoimmunewellness.com
If you would like to read all of the articles she's written here on the blog, . If you would like to follow her adventures, check out . If you would like to listen to her podcast and video interviews,
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What is Fascia?
Tuesday, February 20, 2024 • Duration 52:16
On this episode of Ancestral Health Today, we talked to Jill Miller about the role of fascia in health and movement.
Jill is a pioneer in forging relevant links between the worlds of fitness, yoga, athletics, massage, and pain-management, having studied movement and the human body for more than 30 years.
She is the author of the best-selling books, BODY by BREATH, and THE ROLL MODEL, and creator of the fitness formats Yoga Tune Up® and The Roll Model® Method.
Miller is also a contributing author to the medical text, FASCIA, FUNCTION and MEDICAL APPLICATIONS.
Known as the Teacher’s Teacher, Jill has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Shape, Men’s Journal, Good Housekeeping, Women’s Health, Yoga Journal, Self,
and on the Today Show, Good Morning America and featured on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
She has trained thousands of movement educators, clinicians, and manual therapists to incorporate her paradigm shifting self-care fitness programming into athletic and medical facility programs internationally.
Jill is a wife, mother of two children and a rescue dog, a dark chocolate lover and has recommitted to her first love, singing.
A Second Look: What Really Causes Diabetes and Cancer?
Tuesday, February 13, 2024 • Duration 01:06:52
This Second Look episode combines two AHS talks by Dr. Ron Rosedale: His 2012 talk at Harvard on Diabetes and his 2019 talk in San Diego on Cancer.
Dr. Rosedale was an early pioneer of the low carb movement, and one of the first to focus on the metabolic value of increasing dietary fat rather than dietary protein. Based on a deeper understanding the roles of insulin, leptin, and mTOR in human metabolism, he crafted his Rosedale Diet, not just for weight loss, but for preventing or treating heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and other metabolic disorders that are on the increase in the industrialized world.
These two talks may seem to be about entirely different diseases. But if you watch and listen carefully, you'll appreciate how Dr. Rosedale applies a unified framework to understand metabolic diseases on a fundamental level -- as revealing an underlying problem in communication between different parts of an organism - problems stemming from aberrations in hormone signaling, growth factors, and nutrient sensors.
Modern medicine often goes down the wrong road in misconceiving diseases in terms of a lack or excess or some particular chemical, gene activity, or mitochondrial dysfunction. So diabetes is thought of as a disease of too much glucose, cardiovascular disease - too much cholesterol, osteoporosis -- too little calcium. And similarly, cancer has been though of as a disease stemming from too much glucose, or activation or damage to certain genes, or to mitochondria.
Dr. Rosedale's reframing of diabetes and cancer leads to practical approaches to treating these diseases.
The first talk presents a challenge to the way we conventionally think about diabetes as a diesease of "too much glucose". It gets to that conclusion only in the second part of the talk, after a deep discussion of how organisms evolved to sense nutrient availability. In the case of diabetes, he focuses on the hormonal signaling, in particular the need to keep insulin and leptin signaling in check by avoiding not just too much processed carbohydrates, but too much protein in the diet.
The second talk by Dr. Rosedale was delivered at the Ancestral Health Symposium in San Diego in 2019. The title is "Was Otto Warburg Wrong?" Otto Warburg was an Nobel Prize winning German physiologist of the early twentieth century, who noticed that cancer cells are adept at burning glucose thought cancer could be starved by denying it glucose. This view has been recently revived in light of failures of the genetic and free radical theories of cancer. But as you'll hear, Dr. Rosedale pokes holes in all those theories,In the second talk on cancer, he focuses on restraining the potential of cells to grow unchecked by controlling the insulin, leptin and mTOR signaling pathways. These are the hormones and pathways that facilitate healthy growth when we are young, but can cause problems like cancer particularly as we age. Finally, Dr. Rosedale suggests how a diet low in protein reduces cancer risk and can promote longer lifespan.
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How Food Can Improve Your Mood
Tuesday, February 6, 2024 • Duration 01:06:52
In this episode, Dr. Emily Deans discusses the field of evolutionary psychiatry and its connection to mental health. Dr. Deans is a board certified psychiatrist and writes the blog Evolutionary Psychiatry, based on the observation that our brains are healthiest when we embrace a diet and lifestyle reflecting the conditions under which we humans evolved. Dr. Deans has presented at the Ancestral Health Symposium in 2012 and 2018 on topics related to this theme.
In this discussion, we dive into what some of the recent clinical studies are telling us about the connection between food and mood disorders conditions such as depression. In particular, she reviews studies showing anti-depressive effects of a Meditarrean diet with meat, and also omega-3 supplementation. Dr. Deans emphasizes the importance of considering individual dietary needs and preferences when implementing diet interventions in psychiatric practice. She shares success stories of patients who have experienced improvements in mood through dietary changes, including ketogenic and low-carb diets. She also highlights the connection between glucose tolerance and violent behavior, and the importance of smoothing out blood sugar response by incorporating whole foods into the diet.
Dr. Deans discusses the emerging recognition within the medical profession of food's impact on mental health. She shares her approach to helping patients reduce or come off psychiatric medications, emphasizing the importance of a multifactorial approach that includes diet, exercise, and psychotherapy. Dr. Deans also discusses the potential risks and benefits of dietary changes for individuals with eating disorders.
Resources:
* Blog: Evolutionary Psychology, at Psychology Today:
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Ancestral Food KNowledge and Traditions
Tuesday, January 30, 2024 • Duration 57:40
On this episode of Ancestral Health Today, we have a candid conversation with Pilar Eguez, PhD. We discussed the role of food and community and the ancestral ways of experiencing them.
Pilar Egüez Guevara, PhD is an Ecuadorian award-winning filmmaker, cultural anthropologist, speaker and writer. She obtained her PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, two MA degrees in Anthropology (University of Illinois) and Social Sciences (FLACSO-Ecuador) and a BA in Economics from Wellesley College. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in Community Health, in 2012 she co-founded and directed Comidas que Curan, an independent food education and media company dedicated to research and promote traditional foods and knowledge through ethnographic research and film.
In 2021 the US Library of Congress selected Comidas que Curan’s website for inclusion in the historic collection of Internet materials related to the Food and Foodways Web Archive. Her films have won awards and have been screened in three different languages across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
Her film Raspando Coco (2019), a documentary advocating for the preservation of the culinary traditions of Afro-Ecuadorians, is now part of the library collections of 20 colleges and universities across the United States. Raspando Coco was nominated for best documentary short by the Indie Short Fest in Los Angeles (2019) and best foreign documentary by the Firenze Film Festival in Florence (2019). She also received honorable mention for best female director by the Independent Shorts Awards in Los Angeles in 2019.
More recently she worked as Producer and Distribution Executive for the documentary series Tarpuna of the Seed Savers of Ecuador. She produced the documentary series episode Tarpuna: Guardians of the Coconut and the Mangrove directed by Gustavo Chiriboga, awarded for Best Sound Design (Gold Award by Independent Shorts Awards 2023), Best Documentary Short (Platinum Award by Independent Shorts Awards 2023), Best Cinematography and Best Documentary in Sustainability (Nominations by WIFI Film Festival 2023). She was the Producer for the recently released documentary film (2023) directed by Esteban Cedeño. She also directed the documentary series Jóvenes Guardianes de Saberes (Youth Heritage Guardians) which is made of produced and shot collaboratively with youth and women in rural coastal towns of Ecuador (2021).
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How to Reverse Myopia
Tuesday, January 23, 2024 • Duration 46:41
This episode of the podcast kicks off a new feature called "Second Look", where we replay selected talks from past Ancestral Health Symposium conferences, that we think will interest you.
This talk was presented by Todd Becker at the 2014 Ancestral Health Symposium meeting in Berkeley, California. The title is: "Myopia: A Modern Yet Reversible Disease"
Myopia is also called near-sightedness. It's a refractive defect of the eye, where close up objects are in focus, but more distant objects appear blurred. Glasses or contacts are typically prescribed to correct this condition -- although in reality they don't actually correct the underlying problem. They are just a crutch that aids you in seeing more clearly. And often they just make the underlying problem worse, so stronger lenses are needed.
Todd wore glasses for my his myopia, starting in high school, and over time the eye doctor kept increasing strength of the prescription... until he discovered how to get rid of them in his forties.
The first part of talk is about about the increasing incidence and causes of myopia, including the underlying biology of how the eye becomes myopic by increasing in axial length, due to environmental factors such as poor vision hygiene -- spending too much time reading and looking at screens up close.
The second half of the talk builds on this biological understanding to reverse the process, describing in detail how to use an active focusing technique to reverse myopia and restore normal vision. The method was adapted from research and practices used by others. Todd first wrote about his success and the active focusing approach in 2010, on the blog, GettingStronger.org It's one of many applications of a general biological principle known as hormesis - the judicious application of controlled low-dose stress to make the body and metabolism more resilient in different ways.
The talk also indicates how the same principles can be used to reverse hyperopia, or far-sightedness, where one has trouble focusing on fine print or objects up close. Something that many people encounter as they get older.
This talk on Myopia Reversal remains the single most popular recorded talk on our Ancestral Health Society YouTube channel, with well over a million views and 4000 comments. The comments fall into three main categories:
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Thyroid Health and Paleo
Tuesday, January 16, 2024 • Duration 58:29
Elle Russ is a writer, podcaster, speaker, health & life coach, and a leading advocate for thyroid health. She has. been a prominent voice within the Ancestral Health movement for many years, including a long partnership with Mark Sisson and his popular Primal Blueprint blog and Primal Kitchen podcast. Her 2016 book, The Paleo Thyroid Solution reach #1 in Amazon' thyroid health category. She wrote the book, starting with her own experience consulting with over 2 dozen specialists who failed to uncover or address her underlying thyroid disease, and her success in researching and finding answers that restored her health, through hormone replacement and diet. The book has inspired thousands to better understand and address a number of misdiagnosed health issues.
In this episode, Elle Russ discusses the role of the thyroid in our health and the under-diagnosis of thyroid disease. She explains the surprising range of conditions that can be connected to thyroid dysfunction and the importance of proper testing and assessment. Thyroid disease is often underdiagnosed and can manifest in a wide range of symptoms, including weight gain, fatigue, depression, and cognitive issues.
Proper testing and assessment of thyroid function are essential for accurate diagnosis and treatment. Elle reviews the importance of testing not just TSH and T4, but also T3, reverse T3 and key antibodies. Finding a knowledgeable doctor who understands thyroid health can be challenging, but individuals can empower themselves by learning about thyroid health and advocating for their own care.
Finally, Elle discusses how a Paleo diet can be instrumental in normalizing thyroid health, and how the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol can assist for those with autoimmune conditions..
Jaime Hartman is Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. Jaime is the host of AIP Summit and has a private practice called Gutsy by Nature. In partnership with Mickey, Jaime also co-teaches The AIP Coach Practitioner Training Program.
Jaime started Gutsy by Nature as a hobby in 2013 to keep herself motivated and focused on the changes she was making. Those dietary changes were so successful that she decided to go back to school and change careers. Jaime also has a master's degree in educational psychology with over 25 years of experience in teaching, coaching and motivating
both adults and young people. More importantly, Jaime understands what is like to live with a chronic illness and the overwhelm that comes with overhauling your diet. Gutsy by nature's Books offer guidance on meal planning and recipes that make this process much easier.
Through her research, public speaking and films, she amplifies the voices of older men and women who are the bearers of traditional knowledge about food and medicine in Ecuador. She has brought this work to communities in Ecuador through filmmaking and research education projects, as well as to US college students in the United States through film screenings and Q&A sessions. She has worked directly with communities for 20 years on participatory-research and community-based projects in Argentina, Cuba, Ecuador, and the United States.
She is a published author and speaks internationally on topics ranging from cultural history, food heritage, nutrition, health and conflict transformation. She is currently lecturer at the Anthropology Department of University of Massachusetts Amherst.
* A small number are from skeptics who don't believe it is biologically possible to reverse myopia.
* A larger number are from viewers who applied the technique with success, and either reduced their glasses prescription or got rid of their glasses or contact lenses for good.
* And there is another group with questions from those interested in trying the technique but are unsure about certain details. For thesse people, there is an FAQ post on my blog that answers many of those commonly asked questions.
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