In this episode, Dave sits down with Austin, a metabolic data enthusiast and early adopter of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) who brings a fascinating blend of self-experimentation, performance optimization, and deep curiosity about human physiology. From endurance training to dietary tracking, Austin shares his journey through the data-driven side of health — how he uses CGM, heart rate, and nutrient timing to reveal the body’s hidden patterns. Together, Dave and Austin explore how metrics can empower individuals to take ownership of their health, the tension between conventional guidelines and personal experimentation, and what the future of open-source health data could look like.

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Website: https://thefeldmanprotocol.com

⏱ Chapters

0:00 – Introduction & Setting the Stage

5:45 – Opening Reflections on Austin’s Energy and Setting

10:30 – Early Experiences That Sparked Curiosity

15:15 – First Encounters with Data, Health, and Experimentation

20:00 – The Origins of a Systems Approach to Nutrition

25:00 – Breaking Down the Lipid Energy Model Concept

30:15 – What Early Self-Experiments Revealed

35:20 – Exploring LDL and APOB from a New Perspective

40:10 – Why Traditional Cholesterol Framing Falls Short

45:00 – Digging Into Lipoprotein Transport Mechanisms

50:05 – Triglycerides, Remnants, and Particle Flow

55:15 – When Energy Demand Shapes Lipid Behavior

1:00:10 – The Lean Mass Hyper-Responder Pattern

1:05:00 – Genetics, Metabolism, and Individual Variation

1:10:30 – LPL and LDL Receptor Pathways in Context

1:15:20 – Familial Hypercholesterolemia and Diverse Risk Profiles

1:20:15 – How Population Data Can Mislead Individual Cases

1:25:10 – Mendelian Randomization and Its Hidden Assumptions

1:30:00 – Study Design: What We Miss When We Aggregate

1:35:00 – The Duration vs. Magnitude of LDL Exposure

1:40:10 – Interpreting Meta-Analyses with Caution

1:45:15 – Revisiting the PESA Trial and Imaging Insights

1:50:05 – Understanding the “Three-Line Graph” Debate

1:55:00 – Statistical Power, Noise, and Over-Interpretation

2:00:10 – Regression Models and Data-Slicing Pitfalls

2:05:20 – Plaque Progression and Clinical Translation

2:10:00 – PCSK9 Insights and Unexpected Outcomes

2:15:00 – Beyond LDL: Inflammation and Contextual Risk

2:20:05 – Revisiting the Bradford Hill Criteria for Causality

2:25:10 – Consistency, Dose Response, and Biological Plausibility

2:30:00 – The Changing Landscape of Trial Reporting

2:35:05 – How 2004 Altered Medical Transparency Rules

2:40:00 – Scientific Discourse, Debate, and Misinterpretation

2:45:15 – The Role of Skepticism in Evidence Review

2:50:10 – The Value of Epistemic Humility in Science

2:55:00 – Open Data, Collaboration, and Collective Learning

3:00:10 – Case Studies and Self-Experimentation Insights

3:05:00 – Reflections on N=1 Studies and Public Data Sharing

3:15:00 – Designing Smarter Studies for the Future

3:20:05 – Lessons Learned from Real-World Observation

3:25:00 – Future of Lipid Research and Citizen Science

3:30:00 – Revisiting Key Misconceptions About Cholesterol

3:35:10 – Bridging Gaps Between Clinicians and Researchers

3:40:00 – Empowering Individuals Through Accessible Data

3:50:00 – Community, Collaboration, and Scientific Openness

3:55:10 – Final Thoughts on Evidence, Curiosity, and Persistence

4:00:00 – Closing Reflections & Gratitude

#FeldmanProtocol #LDL #HDL #Cholesterol #ASCVD #ContinuousGlucoseMonitoring #CGM #MetabolicHealth #DataDrivenHealth #CitizenScience #OwnYourLabs #QuantifiedSelf #HealthData #PerformanceOptimization #DaveFeldman #HumanPerformance #MetabolicFlexibility #OpenSourceScience

In this episode, Dave sits down with Peter Ballerstedt, a retired forage agronomist and ruminant nutritionist known as "Don Pedro the Sod Father of the Ruminati," who brings a unique agricultural perspective to metabolic health discussions. Ballerstedt shares his 2007 transformation after reading Gary Taubes' book and how it led him to bridge agricultural science with the low-carb community. The conversation examines environmental arguments around animal agriculture, presents data on greenhouse gas emissions (12% animal vs 10% plant agriculture), explores the limitations of converting grassland to cropland, discusses the evolution of dietary guidelines since the 1970s, and examines Ballerstedt's concept of a "ruminant revolution" to address both human malnutrition and environmental concerns.

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Website: thefeldmanprotocol.com

⏱ Chapters

0:00 – Introduction

1:05 – Who is Peter Ballerstedt: The Sod Father of the Ruminati

5:11 – Personal Journey: Pre-Diabetic to Low-Carb in 2007

6:16 – Gary Taubes' "Good Calories, Bad Calories"

7:00 – First Low-Carb Conference

10:34 – Lipophobia and the Anti-Red Meat Message

11:23 – The 1977 Dietary Goals and McGovern Committee

14:01 – Personal Transformation and Reversing Pre-Diabetes

21:09 – Malnutrition vs. "Overnutrition"

23:22 – Climate Change and Animal Agriculture

24:14 – Greenhouse Gas Emissions: 22% Agriculture, 12% Animal

29:06 – Land Use: Why We Can't Convert Grassland to Cropland

30:31 – The Football Field Analogy: Class 1 Soils

37:00 – Ruminants Converting Inedible Biomass to Human Food

52:00 – Obesity Associated with Poverty

1:07:00 – Animal Source Food and Economic Prosperity

1:15:05 – The Grassroots Low-Carb Movement and 10% Tipping Point

1:30:00 – Personal Stories: Reversing Diabetes Through Diet

1:43:05 – Using AI and Large Language Models for Research

1:52:11 – Obesity and Poverty: Gary Taubes' Key Insight

1:55:42 – Ecosystem Services: Fire Management and Wildlife

2:00:01 – Agricultural Biomass is Not Human Edible

2:05:51 – Animal Source Food Demand by 2050

2:30:00 – Historical Medical Views on Meat

3:01:14 – Malnutrition: 30-35 Million Deaths, $6.5 Trillion Cost

3:02:03 – Red Meat and Cancer: Epidemiological Evidence

3:04:40 – Hyperinsulinemia and Insulin Resistance

3:07:53 – The Ruminant Revolution: Energy Transition Fund Redirection

3:12:55 – Personal Story: A1C Over 11 to Diabetes Removed

3:15:35 – The 10% Rule and Paradigm Shifts

3:41:00 – Grass-Fed vs. Grain-Fed Beef

3:42:20 – Avoiding Unnecessary Barriers to Adoption

3:45:05 – The Greenland Paradox

3:51:23 – Animal Rights vs. Animal Welfare

3:53:23 – Separating Suffering from Mortality

4:00:00 – Where to Find Peter

#FeldmanProtocol #PeterBallerstedt #AnimalAgriculture #RegenerativeAgriculture #RuminantNutrition #LowCarb #KetoMedicine #Agronomy #ClimateChange #SustainableAgriculture #GrasslandEcosystems #MetabolicHealth #AnimalWelfare #GaryTaubes #DietaryGuidelines #FoodSystems #Malnutrition #SoilHealth #GrassFed #DaveFeldman

In this episode, Dave sits down with Dr. Eric Westman, associate professor of medicine at Duke University and founder of the Keto Medicine Clinic, who has built his practice around using dietary interventions to treat patients. Dr. Westman discusses his path from traditional internal medicine to researching low-carb approaches, including his early observations of patients whose cholesterol profiles improved on high-fat diets and his collaboration with Dr. Atkins in the late 1990s to conduct some of the first clinical studies on the Atkins diet. The conversation covers the current medical environment where GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic have become prominent weight loss treatments, the historical use of low-carb medicine dating back over a century, and Dr. Westman's perspective on why nutrition education has become less emphasized in medical training. From his YouTube channel that reaches millions of viewers monthly to his clinical work helping patients reverse diabetes through dietary changes, Dr. Westman shares his experience at the intersection of medical research, clinical practice, and the evolving approaches to treating metabolic conditions.

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Website: thefeldmanprotocol.com

⏱ Key Chapters

0:00 – Introduction & Opening Thoughts

1:04 – Who is Dr. Eric Westman & the Keto Medicine Clinic

7:06 – Dr. Westman as the Original Keto Pioneer

9:02 – The First Atkins Diet Patients: Unexpected Results

12:17 – The 2004 Studies & Dr. Atkins' Tragic Death

15:16 – Duke's Historical Connection to Dietary Medicine

25:15 – GLP-1 Drugs vs. Dietary Interventions: The Current Divide

32:20 – The Muscle Loss Problem with Weight Loss Drugs

38:15 – The American Diabetes Association's Forgotten Origins

47:10 – Addiction Models: Food vs. Tobacco & Alcohol

1:05:15 – Glucose Metabolism & Keto Adaptation in Long-Term Practitioners

1:15:00 – Animal Models vs. Human Studies: The Research Problem

1:25:00 – Metabolic Status Impact on Lipid Profiles

1:30:00 – Lean Mass Hyper-Responder Study Results & Heterogeneity

1:40:00 – Brown & Goldstein's Work & Homozygous FH Cases

1:55:00 – The Cholesterol Code Documentary Journey

2:00:00 – Citizen Science Foundation & Crowdfunded Research

2:10:00 – Heart Failure, Ketones & SGLT2 Inhibitors

2:20:00 – Serial Killers Films & Athletic Performance on Keto

2:35:00 – Eric's Bookshelf: Essential Low-Carb Literature

2:45:00 – Hospital Food Systems & Institutional Change

2:55:00 – Drug Development vs. Dietary Solutions

3:00:00 – Polypharmacy & Deprescribing in Clinical Practice

3:15:00 – Adapt Your Life Academy & Online Education

3:30:00 – The Feldman Protocol & Cholesterol Manipulation

3:45:00 – Closing Thoughts & Where to Find Dr. Westman

#FeldmanProtocol #EricWestman #KetoMedicine #DietaryIntervention #AtkinsDiet #Duke #MedicalResearch #GLP1 #Ozempic #DiabetesReversal #LowCarb #FoodAsMedicine #CholesterolResearch #DaveFeldman #MedicalHistory