June 22, 2025 • 60 mins
The hidden link between chronic stress and metabolic dysfunction takes center stage as Veteran Stephen shares his remarkable journey from PTSD-induced type 2 diabetes to restored health without medication. This raw, science-backed conversation reveals how our bodies' natural stress response can become our greatest metabolic enemy when chronically activated.
Stephen's story begins with his military service, where training and operational theaters conditioned his body for constant high-alert status. As he details the neurological and hormonal cascade that followed, we witness how elevated cortisol levels flood the bloodstream with glucose, creating a vicious cycle of insulin resistance, belly fat accumulation, and eventually full-blown diabetes. The most striking aspect? Despite maintaining regular exercise and what appeared to be a healthy lifestyle, his internal stress response was silently sabotaging his metabolism from within.
What makes this episode particularly valuable is the practical, evidence-based approach to breaking this cycle. Beyond the expected advice of dietary changes, Stephen reveals how mindfulness practice, trauma-informed therapy, and lifestyle modifications dramatically reversed his condition. The transformation goes beyond numbers on a glucose monitor – though his now-normal A1C levels are impressive. The elimination of debilitating IBS, improved sleep quality, and renewed energy represent a complete reclamation of quality of life that medication alone could never achieve.
Whether you're battling unexplained weight gain, blood sugar issues, or simply looking to optimize your metabolic health, this episode provides a crucial piece of the puzzle that conventional medicine often overlooks. The stress-diabetes connection isn't just theory – it's a lived reality for millions, and understanding it could be your first step toward metabolic freedom. Listen, learn, and discover how addressing both mind and metabolism creates the foundation for genuine healing.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Lessons from the Keto-Verse.
Join Stephen and Graham as theyexplore the keto lifestyle with
tips, science and stories toboost your health.
This podcast isn't medicaladvice.
Consult your healthcare advisorfor any health-related issues.
Get ready to fuel your primalpower.
Graham (00:19):
Welcome everybody to this episode of Lessons from the
Keto-Verse.
I'm with my friend, Stephen,and today we are talking about
the role of stress and cortisolin weight gain, insulin
resistance and type 2 diabetes,and how eliminating an
ultra-processed heavy diet canhelp regulate and eventually
(00:42):
reverse type 2 diabetes.
Before I go into the role ofcortisol, Stephen, welcome to
the podcast.
Stephen (00:49):
Thank you.
Graham (00:51):
All right.
So I asked my AI friend to giveme an answer to the question
what is cortisol and how doeschronic stress affect weight and
blood sugar?
And then we're going to hand itover to Stephen, who has a very
interesting story of hispersonal journey around PTSD,
(01:14):
stress, the impact it has had onhim and some great detail on
the chain of events that Stephenfound himself in a number of
years ago.
So let's answer this questionfirst what is cortisol and how
does chronic stress affectweight and blood sugar?
(01:36):
So cortisol is your stresshormone, made by your adrenal
glands.
It's like an emergency button,Great for quick bursts, like
dodging danger, as it boostsenergy and focus.
But chronic stress and thatmeans, you know, ongoing stress
from work life or lack of sleepkeeps cortisol high for too long
(01:58):
and that's where the troublestarts.
For weight, high cortisolsignals your body to store fat,
especially around your belly.
I know Stephen's going to talkabout that.
It also ramps up cravings forsugary processed foods.
Hello, stress, eating thosefoods spike blood sugar, making
things worse and I know we'll gointo a little detail about that
as well.
(02:19):
For blood sugar, cortisol dumpsglucose into your blood for fast
energy.
Think of, you know, thousandsof years ago, when we were
hungry and we needed to hunt foran animal, we needed that extra
fast energy to be able to findthat animal or hunt for that
food, and that could be a goodthing because it allowed us to
(02:43):
survive.
But constantly high levels ofoverworked insulin leading to
insulin resistance is a majorstep towards type 2 diabetes.
It's a cycle Stress, fat gain,blood sugar, chaos.
A ketogenic diet helps bycutting ultra-processed carbs
that fuel this mess.
It stabilizes blood sugar andlowers insulin stress, while
(03:04):
stress management, like goodsleep or walks, dials down
cortisol.
You can break this cycle Allright.
So now that we've got thatdefinition from our AI friends
out of the way, Stephen, maybeyou can go into some detail
about your very interestingjourney through your military
(03:25):
experience, the PTSD, thecortisol and the type 2 diabetes
that you found yourself, thatjourney that you found yourself
going down, and then we'll getinto some discussions on details
.
Stephen (03:40):
Yeah, thank you for that, Graham.
I think the synopsis youprovided was actually quite
helpful, because people will seefrom my discussion that's
exactly the progression orregression, if you want to call
it that, that I experienced.
There were events where I wassent in places that were hostile
towards us and others inuniform, and we were there to do
(04:07):
a job.
So my body learned through mytraining, as well as being
exposed to operational theaters,to environments that were
essentially considered hostile.
And for the survival mechanismwhich you highlighted, it is
both necessary and entirelynormal in instances like that
for you to have an elevatedamount of cortisol in your
(04:29):
system.
That's perfectly fine, as longas that it's not elevated every
day.
Score.
It was well proven back whendealing with Vietnam veterans
that they suffered under theenvironment that was so hostile
that they developed a mentalillness known now as
(04:51):
post-traumatic stress disorder.
I am a strong example of that.
I have severe PTSD, and so Iwould also remind listeners that
I also wear a CGM, so aconstant glucose monitor, and so
I can monitor almost in nearreal time my sugar all the time.
(05:13):
So, because I'm mindful,because in that list of things
that you indicated with theraising cortisol, I feel that in
my body, I'm delving wellenough into my body that I know.
Plus, I can relate to myexternal environment in
pragmatic terms and go okay,what is triggering me right now?
Why is my voice being raised?
Why do I feel the strain andstress of being able to speak my
(05:35):
words?
And I'm struggling in anargument right now and managing
my anger or my rage, or I'mhyper vigilant?
All of those factors that Iexperienced and many other
veterans do that have PTSD,cause an elevation in cortisol.
You made an excellent point whenyou said that the rise in
(05:56):
cortisol will cause an increasein insulin Because, as you said,
the mechanism in a state ofheightened cortisol is for
cortisol to signal to the bodyto release more sugar into the
bloodstream.
So it's no longer sitting infat form and fat that's
(06:17):
accumulated in the body, it'sbeing converted back into sugar
and the adrenal glands willelevate to a point where that
sugar gets pushed into themuscles.
But it's not required, there'sno need for it.
So, as a consequence, itbounces back into the
bloodstream and I'moversimplifying the metabolic
process, but it bounces backinto the bloodstream and then
(06:37):
you have really elevated sugar.
So then what happens is thinkof cortisol as a hormone.
You can think of insulin as ahormone, and growth hormone is a
hormone.
So in the presence of insulinelevated insulin as a
consequence of the cortisol whatends up happening is your
insulin is also in a constantstate of being highly elevated
(06:59):
to a point until the systemitself fails and cortisol,
ironically enough, the one thingthat's designed to, in short
bursts, as you said, save youover time will actually kill you
, because that heightened,constant elevated state from
stress or cortisol eventuallybeats insulin and then what
(07:20):
happens is your insulinresistance increases.
Because what is insulin doing?
It's trying to take that sugarthat the bully called cortisol
has just flooded systemicallyinto your system, perennially,
meaning that it's constantlyhappening and going.
Okay, I can only jam so muchsugar into these cells before
these cells burst and reflood.
(07:42):
So there's nowhere to put itwhere these cells burst and
reflood, so there's nowhere toput it.
So, as the sugar cyclecontinues, you're never in a
state of ketosis, you're neverin a state of balanced
homeostasis, you're always in anelevated state.
That'll creep right into yoursleep cycle because,
consequently, with theheightened cortisol, your body
(08:03):
is in an inflammatory state.
It's harder to sleep, it'sharder to calm down and
especially for those of us thatsuffer from PTSD, one of the
areas that it creeps in is inthe subconscious, in the dream
state.
So if you are stressed duringthe day, there's a very high
likelihood and I know otherveterans out there will relate
(08:23):
may have absolutely nothing todo with what you did during the
day, but all of a sudden you'llget a rewind of the Lucasfilm in
your head that will replay someof the original traumas, with
slight deviations.
For most of us.
Sometimes it's very visceraland almost verbatim what you
experienced in theater and inenvironments that were hostile,
but most of the time, at leastfor me, it's usually a repeat of
(08:48):
where the offenses occurredthat caused the mental illness.
And so now there is no breakbecause in your sleep state
you're suffering with elevatedcortisol and worse.
Your body's now in a morerelaxed status where there's no
exercise that's occurring tohelp minimize the impact
(09:09):
negative impact of that sugarbeing in the bloodstream,
because you're just lying there.
You're asleep.
So often, with those of us whowear CGM, if you wake up in the
middle of the night, usuallybecause your sugar is elevated,
it'll force you to wake up andtry to get rid of the sugar, so
hence you end up visiting thewashroom.
If you check your sugar, it'llbe really high and you think
(09:30):
well, it's because I just had anightmare and I was stressed out
.
Reality is, it could be acombination of factors, but if
we just focus our lens for amoment on what's going on
metabolically, the rise ininsulin resistance means you
have less of a capacity to dealwith this hormonal imbalance of
cortisol, which means that theimpact of cortisol when it's
(09:50):
elevated is even more severe and, as you said, that's when you
get into the cycle thatultimately results in type 2
diabetes being a bit of avicious cycle where you have the
(10:11):
PTSD that you are trying toaddress.
Graham (10:13):
The PTSD is contributing to less healthy sleep, let's
say, as well as increasedcortisol levels.
The increased cortisol levelsare putting stress on the body
by increasing the sugar in theblood.
The blood is trying to battlethis by increasing the amount of
insulin in order to get thatglucose into the cells, which
(10:37):
causes insulin resistance, whichI'm guessing could have
actually a negative impact onthe PTSD and your ability to
Does that sort of sum up the andI don't want to simplify it,
but sum up the experience of whythis is so difficult for you
(10:58):
having to address this.
As you indicated, it is avicious cycle because if you're
getting less sleep.
Stephen (11:14):
Uh, you're less patient , you're more easily aggravated,
which is just bringing morematches to a fire that's already
lit right and you're throwinganother log on that fire.
So perhaps we we shift theconversation slightly to say,
okay, that's all well and good.
We understand the pathology ofhow you arrive at a state when
(11:37):
you ultimately end up with thisinsulin resistance, where
certainly cortisol is animportant, if not the most
significant factor, because inmy particular case, I wasn't
especially overweight, althoughI was beginning to add weight as
a consequence of the cortisol.
Because, as you said, whencortisol is present and elevated
, instead of having a betterability to metabolize the food
(12:04):
that you're eating where you'reprocessing it.
Some of it's going into thewaste system in the body and the
rest is being stored as energy.
That energy is excessive in theform of your body just going no
, no, let's turn everything intosugar and get it into the
bloodstream, because itperceives some, some short
(12:25):
threat.
But that short threat is juston repeat, on loop.
If you're listening to Spotify,it's the same song over and
over and over again.
And so, as that begins to beatyour system down, you sleep less
, you become more irritable, youhave less capacity to be able
to cope, which makes yourcortisol even higher, which
(12:47):
makes your insulin resistanceeven higher.
And it's interesting in the USthey recognize this cycle as
being a consequence of orcausality from PTSD.
In Canada they do not.
They haven't made thatcorrelation.
In fact, just today I wasdenied recognition for it as a
Canadian veteran, whereas thatwould not have been the case if
(13:10):
I was in the US.
They rely in the US on peopleindicating that they
self-observe.
My self-observation is morescientific because I'm wearing a
CGM, so I monitor to perhapseven an obsessive level how my
mind and my body is feeling atany point in time, graham, like
(13:37):
if I've just eaten something.
Even sometimes when I watchsomething that's particularly
violent on TV, I'll find myselfgetting triggered and I'll watch
my sugar increase, and it's notduring a period where I've just
had a meal.
There'll be a marked increasein that trend.
So the same with and someindividuals may notice this
naturally if they were wearingcgm.
Sometimes, when you're reallyfocused on something mentally,
(13:58):
you'll get.
You know, they call it a bumpand because you are actually
using your brain more andrequiring more from your, your
brain processing, which whichwill naturally increase the
amount of sugar, which is normal.
That's a normal pathology.
It's the same as your sugarwill rise when you weight train,
because you're sending a signalto the body when you're lifting
(14:19):
heavy weights to say, hey, mymuscles need more sugar because
I'm processing it.
Those things are all perfectlynormal.
What we're talking about is arise in cortisol.
When it's not.
There's a pathological stressthat's related to weight
training and that's ultimatelygoing to provide a benefit.
Why?
Because you're creatingmetabolic resiliency, whereas
(14:41):
when you're constantly under astate of duress, you're bending
the same piece of metal, whichis your health in general, so
many times that eventually itbreaks and you end up with what
we now call type 2 diabetes ordepressive disorders in
association with type 2 diabetes, and diabetes just happens to
(15:01):
be one of those ways itmanifests, and you also covered
an important aspect to that.
So, okay, great.
So you have ptsd or you've beenin the military, you're having
issues.
Name of Dr Cavan had put out astudy where they indicated that
(15:37):
starches are sugar.
Sugar is starches.
So if you are consuming pasta,you can look at a bowl of pasta
essentially being like a bowl ofsugar.
So, as a diabetic, regardlessof whether you had PTSD and
you've arrived at the pointwhere you have type 2 diabetes,
any additional sugar startsdoing additional damage.
(15:58):
It's a different kind of lot,but it's being thrown on the
fire as well when it comes toburning up your health and your
life expectancies.
So what's interesting with thatstudy, and which you and I have
spoken to before, is it'sactually corroborating what you
and I have been saying from thevery beginning.
It's cut out ultra-processedfoods, and that includes some
(16:18):
meats that are overlyultra-processed with the
nitrites and other things thatare in it.
I try to stick to meat that isorganic, grass-fed,
grain-finished, good,high-quality meats.
Try to stay away fromorganizations that are grocery
(16:40):
chains that are perhaps not thehealthiest in terms of how
they're processing the meats, orat least the purveyors are not
maybe as inclined towardsorganic, or making sure that the
animals are humanely treated,et cetera, et cetera, because,
don't forget, animals havecortisol as a hormone as well.
So if they're under constantarrest, they can't move, they're
(17:01):
trapped and then they'reslaughtered.
All that stress, all thatcortisol is in the meat, now
that cortisol is not going toadd to your cortisol.
But the point is that you're noteating something that could be
described as a medicine to thesame extent, but far more
severely, as ultra-prosphousfoods are, like you and I have
(17:21):
discussed.
If you're consuming ice cream,if you're consuming things that
are full of sugar, it's going tomake matters far worse.
So you have to be conscientiousin what it is you consume and
try to minimize those things, asthis particular study said,
that are essentially sugar, andobviously starches include
(17:42):
potatoes, they include pastas,they include all of those things
, both of which I completelyhave cut out of my diet, and
I've seen likely a completeelimination of visceral fat,
non-fatty alcohol, liver.
So the fatty liver consequence,which actually can be a symptom
(18:04):
of, or sometimes increase thelikelihood of, type 2 diabetes,
is also something that I addressis to have the non-alcoholic
fatty liver process reduced byusing and consuming lemon water,
which is obviously quite acidic, and then the body has a basic
reaction to it, an alkalinereaction to it, and that helps
(18:27):
dissolve or get rid of fromseveral studies, get rid of
fatty liver, and that's reallyimportant.
Your liver is critical, notjust your kidneys, when it comes
to to fatty liver.
And I know when, at the peakperiod in which my my diabetes
was his highest and I was in the15s, I was starting to get
(18:47):
kidney stones, I was havingtrouble just walking because of
neuropathic pain and byfollowing what we're saying.
So looking at the solutionwhich is practicing mindfulness,
ensuring that you're eating ahealthy diet, ensuring that you
go to bed at the same time thatyou've shut down electronics an
(19:07):
hour or so before you try to eatearlier in the evenings to give
your body at least three hoursbefore going to bed.
Graham (19:17):
So I want to get into that a lot more in detail.
I wonder if you can help theaudience understand your journey
from that, and I think theaudience should understand that.
I've known Stephen for over adecade and the picture I have of
Stephen is of a very healthy,adult male who takes care of
(19:42):
himself, works out, does thethings that we all are told we
should do in order to be thehealthiest self that we can be
and still, you know, because offactors that are outside of his
control, still ended up gettinga diagnosis.
So I wonder if you could talkabout you know, just describe
(20:03):
your experience from that awfuland stressful day in the
doctor's office when you heardthat you had type 2 diabetes.
You know what went through yourmind, what advice were you
given from the doctor andpotentially others around you,
and which direction did you takeyourself down in order to right
(20:27):
the ship as best as youpossibly can, and what were the
results of that journey.
Stephen (20:33):
Yeah, it's a really interesting journey.
I was diagnosed by phone.
I was told my results while Iwas literally training at the
gym and the nurse that reportsto my doctor at the time said
Stephen, I'm very good news foryou, but you have type two
(20:54):
diabetes.
And she proceeded, rather thansaying anything else, saying
you're going to have to go onmedication for the rest of your
life.
That was the first thing, andthe second thing is to get more
exercise.
And I said my response was oh,did they add an extra day during
the week?
Are there eight days during theweek right now?
Because, as you said, I wasalways in the gym and always
(21:16):
doing weight training, andwalking was natural for where
you and I work together.
It was a good haul from wherethe transit system dropped us
off to where we had to walk towork.
So I did that every day,typically on the occasions where
(21:38):
you and I would grab lunch.
We would walk a good ways awayto have lunch and then walk back
.
So we probably weren'tcognizant at the time that we
were doing that, but thatprobably postponed the eventual
diagnosis.
So I'm sitting in the doctor'soffice and I'm hearing all of
this and that it's out ofcontrol and the first word that
comes out of their mouths is youneed to on metformin.
And so initially, when I wasaddressing the shock and
(22:01):
probably had a little bit ofwhite coat syndrome, I knew
nothing about the illness.
I, in parallel, reached to themand they said you know, because
of your military background andhow focused you are on
optimizing pretty mucheverything, you'll figure it out
.
And that was actually thebrother of one of the top
(22:22):
medical people in our countrythat said if anybody can figure
out a way to do this, you'llfigure it out.
So I was encouraged by that andum.
And of course, the protocol wasfor me to eat six meals a day,
which runs completely contraryto dr feng in toronto, who talks
(22:44):
about intermittent fasting andtreating people with kidney
disease, which, by extension, isone of the directions that your
type 2 diabetes can take you.
You can have complete renalfailure, you can lose limbs, you
can lose your eyesight, you canlose all of the above.
So, as a physician, I had readhis book and discovered that
intermittent fasting wassomething that I could look into
(23:06):
.
So in the very beginning of thisjourney, graham, I took
metformin and I was so sick fromit because, as I've indicated
before, I have PTSD.
I had severe IBS which in partwas caused by the elevated sugar
, and the IBS is like a constantreminder that you have no
control.
So my body was in a constantstate of stress.
(23:28):
I had to figure out where everywashroom was.
It didn't matter where I was.
I had to worry about when youand I were in meetings or
throughout my corporate life.
I'm making sure that I didn'thave maybe anything in my
stomach before a meeting,because if the meeting didn't go
well and I was triggered and ofcourse in those days I didn't
know I had PTSD I just reactedto the consequences of whatever
(23:50):
my body did without necessarilyunderstanding it.
So as I began to do more andmore research and looked at it
holistically much the same asyou did although you didn't have
type 2, we had a similarjourney, as I was unsatisfied
with being on metformin At leastit felt like after I ate a meal
that I had consumed glass.
(24:10):
The pain in my stomach wasalmost unbearable.
I probably could have boughtshares in Tums because I was
consuming so many of them, and Idon't think I even knew how to
spell Tums.
Prior to that I'd never boughta roll of Tums in my life and I
was having and of course that'sjust a very small band-aid on a
burning furnace right Likeyou're in trouble.
(24:33):
You have metabolic syndrome atthat point.
So that was the state that Iwas in.
So I first started withintermittent fasting.
The doctor said I'll see you insix months.
Um, about two, two months in,without telling them, I stopped
taking metformin because I haddone my research and determined
that there was a possibilitythat I could improve my blood
(24:56):
markers by practicingintermittent fasting.
At that time I was eating thetypical American diet, standard
American diet, and I hadn't yetdialed in on the fact that
starches and other things likethat were making it worse.
And I also didn't have a CGM,because there was no such thing
at that point.
Seven, eight years ago.
(25:17):
They weren't readily available.
So when I returned for my firstblood results, my dietician said
you're doing great, yournumbers are down.
They're not perfect but they'redown.
We're going to up the dosagemaybe of the metformin a little
bit, get those numbers a littlebit lower.
But you're no longer diabetic,you're pre-diabetic.
(25:39):
Just keep doing what you'redoing.
And my response was well, I'mdoing exactly the opposite of
everything you told me to do.
I'm not eating six meals a day,I'm eating two.
I practice fasting, a prolongedfast of 24 hours once every
couple of weeks.
And again, as I said, I hadn'tdialed into the diet, so I was
still eating the way I normallyate, but I was getting results
(26:02):
independently from thatintermittent fasting.
So I was described as beingmedically defiant and most
recently, when I shared thisstory with a geneticist, she
described me as an outlier,which I think is a much better
description, a much morefavorable description, because
what it means is that if youtake a perspective of this and
(26:23):
take your health in your ownhands and I say health in your
own hands in an informed way I'mnot anti-doctor.
What I am is proactive in myapproach to my care, such that I
want to talk to a metabolicspecialist to increase my
knowledge.
I'm not going to go to aplumber when I have an issue
with my wiring in my home, forinstance.
(26:50):
I want to focus on the experts.
So Dr Fung is an expertnephrologist who's practiced
with lots of patients on theapplications of intermittent
fasting.
There are progressives outthere, like Dr Ken Berry, who's
done an enormous amount of goodin his work around to keto, keto
(27:10):
verse, as as we call it, bothketo and carnivore diets and the
benefits.
And that came many years laterbecause, as you and I discussed
before, I dabbled in beingvegetarian because I was trying
to get rid of my ibs.
I was trying to figure out well, why, why am I reacting so
badly to tell food?
And I would remind thelisteners, and we're talking
about years now I'd be 53, 54 bythat time.
(27:32):
So, years after diagnosis, andmy blood results went kind of up
and down a little bit and Ithought, well, you know, maybe I
just wasn't being as careful,but I still hadn't dialed into
the food thing.
So you would have caught me asa diabetic, you know,
occasionally, maybe twice in thesummer, eating an ice cream
that was almost as big as myhead and because that's how they
serve them here and I wasn'tgoing to waste it.
(27:55):
And probably my sugar, becauseI wasn't wearing a cgm was
probably in the 20s, extremelyhigh and extremely dangerous.
So once, once, I started notgetting the same results and I
started noticing my eyesight wasbeing affected and I went to
see an ophthalmologist and or,sorry, actually it was an
ophthalmologist first, but lateran optometrist, and she looked
(28:15):
at my eyes and she said I won'tchange your prescription because
your eyes are clearly underenormous pressure right now
because you don't have yourblood sugar under control.
And she was actually originallya physician in Africa, and so
the way in which they deal withthis kind of scenario and she is
a specialist, she's a verywell-trained doctor, she was
(28:37):
licensed in Canada.
She said get your sugar undercontrol.
And she pointed to she wasadjacent to the grocery store.
She said stay away from thatstuff that's over there.
I had already started to do thatresearch, as you had, and
discovered that one of the bigproblems was I was showing up
with cans of gasoline, which issynonymous with food that's full
(28:58):
of sugar, and trying to combatmy diabetes strictly on doing
intermittent fasting.
And it started to not be enoughBecause my body was regressing.
My insulin resistance wouldhave been higher and
consequently, the methods that Iwas using in the past my body
(29:19):
had adapted to in a negative waythat weren't as impactful as
they were initially.
I wasn't overweight by then.
By then I had lost 52 pounds intotality Now, not all of it by
design because my IBS was sosevere.
There were times where I'd betriggered for two or three days
and I barely could eat anything.
So I ended up doing a prolongedfast and I would yo-yo a bit on
(29:41):
my weight.
I would go down I'm 6'2".
I would go down to 185 and thenback up to 193 and then down to
182 and then 188, you know.
So I was all over the mapbecause I also wasn't getting
the proper nutrition.
So that's when I introduced anaturopath into the equation and
I started paying a lot moreattention to what I consumed,
because she was a newly mintednaturopath.
(30:04):
I have exceptional respect forher and her knowledge and her
approach towards this illness,and even to a point where I was
starting to think, oh, I'm goingto have to go one meal a day to
control my sugar gram.
And she was saying no, and thisis where this all wraps around
to being something that's veryinsightful.
She said listen, you do onemeal a day.
(30:27):
Sure, you're cutting yourcaloric intake, but you don't
have a lot of fat left.
Because I was still weighttraining and walking and
everything else.
She said you're going to causea cortisol trigger.
I said no, no, no.
See, you don't understand.
That's what I'm trying to avoidhere.
Maybe we're having a failure tocommunicate.
And she said you're puttingyour body.
When you take it too far withthe intermittent fasting, you're
(30:50):
causing a cortisol reactionbecause your body's now going
hmm, I'm not sure when our nextmeal is going to be.
Now, of course, there's peopleout there that are going to say
well, hang on.
You mentioned Dr Fung earlierand he had plenty of examples in
his books about people goingliterally weeks and months on a
very restrictive diet in orderto lose weight.
I wasn't in that category.
(31:10):
I didn't need to lose 150pounds.
I wasn't morbidly obese, likeyou said.
I was going to the gym and allthe rest of it Did.
I have a dad belly Sure, andthat's dangerous.
That's visceral fat, thatsuggests you have fat on your
liver.
Obviously, those things weresignals of what I was
experiencing.
But here's the crazy part as Iengaged with my naturopath, as I
(31:32):
started to get control for myfellow veterans out there,
control of my PTSD, bypracticing a host of things,
including mindfulness.
Start my day with a meditation.
I end my day with a meditation.
I dump the trash can of all theinformation that's gone in
there that might have causedsome form of physiological
exasperation, where my body'sheightened and elevated, and I'm
(31:55):
not necessarily recognizing itbecause I'm so used to it, right
with my personality.
So I make sure I'm in a you know, an alpha to delta state.
I'm calming myself down andthen I sleep much better.
I can tell you categorically Idon't take any medication.
I don't have IBS anymore,thanks to a combination of my
(32:17):
therapist and some of the othermodalities that I use, which
includes Paul McKenna'sself-hypnosis for veterans,
which helps us.
As my psychologist described,it's tooth floss for the brain.
It helps deal with the traumaareas in the brain and so,
consequently, I'm no longerhaving to worry when I go out
(32:38):
for simple groceries, aboutwhether or not I'm going to need
to use a washer before I getthere.
Graham (32:45):
Yeah, an amazing turnaround and so many different
things to have to address atthe same time.
Um, you had mentioned highstarch foods and, and some may
not um know what those are.
Um, why?
Why are high starch foods bad?
Because starch?
Um turns into glucose.
(33:05):
Um, very, very quickly, and theit's that turning into glucose
in the body, the more ultraprocessed the food is, the
faster it turns into glucose andthe faster the body needs to
deal with it.
So if you have a very largemeal of very high starchy foods
or very high ultra processedfoods, it can overwhelm the body
(33:28):
with too much glucose.
Glucose is poison to body.
We need very little in order tosurvive.
We certainly do need it, but wedon't need to overwhelm the
body in order to thrive andsurvive.
High starch foods can includethings like potatoes, and that
includes fries.
Anything made from potatoes caninclude white rice.
(33:52):
Pasta can include bread, bagels.
Of course, corn A lot of peopledon't think about it.
Corn on the cob is, you know,tastes great because it, you
know, there's a high amount ofglucose in there.
In there, high fructose cornsyrup actually comes from corn
(34:13):
and has a higher ratio thansugar does, but it's still
having the same impact on thebody.
It can be breakfast cereals, itcan be crackers, snacks,
(34:35):
pretzels I'm just giving someexamples Oatmeal even root
veggies, can be high in starch.
So these are things that, if youare going through what Stephen
talked about, you know highcortisol, ptsd, lack of sleep.
You know high insulin or highblood glucose levels in the body
.
If you are a type 2 diabetic oreven a type 1 diabetic, the
body, if you are a type 2diabetic or even a type 1
diabetic those are going to havea major impact on the amount of
(34:57):
glucose in your system and yourbody is going to be under
stress to try and deal with it.
And I think that's a reallyimportant point that you made
there.
You mentioned a few things, butI wondered when you were going
through this journey, did youfind yourself trying to deal
with the PTSD separate fromdealing with the sleep or lack
(35:23):
thereof, and separately dealingwith the type 2 diabetes
diagnosis?
Did you find yourself having tochase down rabbit holes to deal
with each of these and did youfind eventually that actually,
if I do these things, it's goingto help with all of those?
Stephen (35:44):
I think in my case it was.
Whatever was the most loud inmy body is what I responded to.
So if I was having an IBSreaction and all of a sudden I
find myself in a strange gasstation banging on the door,
hoping the person will get outin time for me to get in there,
I think that that had my invitedattention.
I wasn't worried about my lastmeal.
(36:05):
I wasn't worried about whatelse I could potentially do with
my day or what have you.
It becomes all very consumingand it's the same with PTSD.
The way PTSD works is thatyou'll start to get tunnel
vision, you'll start getting asense of disassociation where
(36:26):
you don't really feel likeyourself, and you start to feel
like you're outside of yourself.
So that's one of theconsequences of it and that will
really spike my sugar, becauseI again wear a CGM and I'll
sometimes check it.
I know it sounds a little bitmorbid or odd that I'm my own
science experiment, but it's thebest way for me to do exactly
(36:48):
what you just described.
So you know we used to.
We used to say the best way tofind a solution is to reverse
engineer from the problem.
So I looked at the problem setand said okay, you know, they
say that I have high sugar, butthat's not really the problem.
The problem is I have insulinresistance.
So one of the first things thatI did with my naturopath was to
(37:10):
learn how to reverse my insulinresistance.
So that included all the thingswe talked about diet, and I
actually eventually got checkedand had my insulin resistance
checked and it was actuallynormal actually normal.
Now my sugar was still higher,but I was no longer considered a
(37:32):
diabetic based on my A1C, ha1c,but I was still not in my
opinion.
I still didn't hit where Iwanted, which, if someone asked,
I would say I want to be fiveand I may not ever be five.
I'm 58 years old, but I havearound five, eight, uh to six,
depending on on the period, onaverage for my a1c, and that's
again by simply managing what Ieat.
(37:54):
I walk after every meal, whichis very important, so I consume
all that sugar.
I sleep better that way, so Ihave a routine.
So, yeah, you're right, therewas there's, there was a
singularity where essentially, Ilooked at all the different
parameters the PTSD, the IBS,the diagnosis and drew kind of
(38:17):
like a in my head, a Venndiagram.
I went okay.
So I've got all these clouds ofthings going on.
What's the central piece for methat is causing the greatest
problem?
Because I've addressed diets.
I'm not eating poorly anymore.
I have a lifestyle where I haveaccess to nature.
So I'm grounding, I'm going outand doing nature, I'm
(38:37):
practicing mindfulness at thebeginning of my day, graham, and
at the end of the day, I'm ablenow to engage in situations
where my body might see it asbeing potentially hostile, but I
have the wherewithal and thetools now to look at it and go,
okay, this is definitely moreabout them than it is me.
So I've learned how tode-escalate and, rather than
(38:59):
react, is to reflect.
So this has taken years.
This has taken me eight yearsto find the right modalities
that resonate with me, the rightpractices and also the ability
to say, okay, well, you knowwhat?
Let's celebrate our successes.
I did not have a single cold orflu the entire winter.
Nothing, zero, nada.
(39:19):
Why?
Because I take supplements.
I made sure I was still gettingmy vitamin D in pill form,
because we live in a part of thecountry where it's dark.
I did further research andfound out more about what the
starches were doing, so I cutthose out all the ultra
processed foods.
Like you, I don't consume sodasor what we call here pop or
(39:41):
chips or any of that kind ofstuff at all.
They don't come into the houseand they're far too addictive.
I walk after meals, soessentially what happened was my
rewards in that are my bloodmarkers where my A1C is.
But for me, in terms of qualityof life, I would say the most
important thing and let's talkabout quality of life because
(40:01):
not only by reversing it am Iincreasing the likelihood that
I'll live longer, but I'll'lllive better.
I don't have these IBSsituations anymore.
So imagine when you have thestomach flu and you're in a
state where you can't even leaveyour bed and only go from your
bed to the washroom as you needit.
That was my every day for yearsand but I still.
(40:22):
I got out of bed and went towork and worked with you and
everyone else, but I never knewwhen it was going to hit.
So imagine instantaneouslyhaving the flu, uh, for the
entire day because of oneincident or one event that you
don't understand.
That's exacerbated is by thefood that you're consuming and
the way in which you'reconsuming it.
So simple example you knowyou're driving to work.
(40:42):
You're drinking your coffee.
You're eating your bagel.
That's a big giant sugar shake,right, because the that bagel's
got more, more sugar in it thanfour pieces of white bread.
So, by density and by weight,so you're eating that.
You're consuming coffee.
That it is triggering, for mostpeople is triggering the bowel
anyway and um, and you're intraffic making your way downtown
(41:05):
or on transit where people aremiserable and angry and probably
sick as well.
So you're in a highly, highlycompromised physiological state
because of what you're consuming.
The environment you're in ishostile.
You're going directly into astress at work because you and I
both had significantresponsibility in the
organization that we work, henceit came with all the problems.
(41:27):
It didn't take very long beforeyou sat down and you found out
whatever was going to be wrongthat day.
So I don't have that now andI'm still engaged and productive
, but I do it remotely, whichallows me to plan into my life
those periods of peace and quietwhere I can go and walk my dogs
in the woods.
I live a privileged life.
I truly do, but it's by design,because I learned to reverse
(41:50):
engineer from the problem anddecided this is what I need to
do.
I need to be out of situationsthat trigger my PTSD, which is
crowds.
I need to ensure I eat a proper, wholesome diet.
I live in a town where I haveaccess to an excellent butcher.
I can buy local produce.
I can grow my own produce.
I have a greenhouse.
So I've learned to do like, andsome people would view it as
(42:16):
extremes and this is why mygeneticist called me an outlier.
I have decided that in myparticular case not to get
overly personal it was safer andhealthier for me to sleep in my
own room because of my PTSD,and I've been happily married
for 17 years.
So you do what you have to doIf your objective is to be as
healthy in your mind and in yourbody.
(42:38):
You do what you have to dobecause the information is
available and what is proof.
For me is proof is in math,right, you can't argue with the
numbers by wearing a CGM, and Iknow they're expensive folks.
120 bucks every two weeks is alot of money.
But what's your health worth toyou and what you really?
What it is is it's insurance,because I'm able to see where
(42:59):
I'm trending at a specificmoment.
I could get up from this tapingand look at my sugar and if it's
elevated, I'm going on theelliptical.
It's dark out now I can't goout in the woods and walk
Because maybe my cortisol gettriggered, because there's bears
and wolves and other things inthere and then they tend to come
out at night, so it's probablynot the best time for me to go
(43:19):
in there.
So, especially if I'm hypervigilant and aware that that's
the case, you know.
So I've learned to do thesethings for me and I try to share
it with other people, which ispart of the principle of why you
and I are dedicated to thispodcast, and that is to let to
share a story and let otherpeople know that there's hope.
You know, because when I satwith that doctor that first time
(43:42):
, I didn't touch on this yet,graham, but she said to me well,
you know, there's only twodiagnoses that I don't like to
give.
One is cancer and the other oneis diabetes, because your life
expectancy, obviously in thecase of cancer, could be very,
very short, and usually withuncontrolled diabetes and, as
she said and I've read thiselsewhere by the time they catch
(44:03):
it because they're notmeasuring insulin resistance,
they're measuring the amount ofglucose.
Over the last 90 days that wasin your bloodstream, which,
candidly, is a bit of a hammerwhen you think about it, when
they really need a pair ofpliers.
If they looked at insulinresistance, they would have
noted 10 years prior to that,plus or minus, that I already
had a metabolic problem and itshould have been addressed back
(44:24):
then through education andunderstanding your wrong diets,
your stressors and so forth.
What I've listened to it, whatI've been able to change it?
Certainly the food, but you andI worked in a stressful
environment.
We're both executives.
We had to do what we had to do,but then you start making
better choices.
As you get to your age, of myage, you and I are far more
discretionary.
Now We've raised our familiesand so forth, so we definitely
(44:45):
have more latitude and now thefocus is on us.
But being a hero in your ownstory and putting your health in
jeopardy results in, as you getto be an older man or woman,
that your body's no longer asresistant as you think it is and
you're in a cycle now ofsystemic unwellness.
So what are you measuring interms of success?
(45:06):
Success as being on thecorporate wheel or success in
that you have quality of life?
You have health expectancy, notjust life expectancy right, but
that's really where I thinkI've arrived.
Graham (45:22):
Yeah, I think that's such a good point.
We focus on, you know, wantingto live longer, which is, of
course, a noble goal, but Ithink what we need to be
focusing on is living as long aswe can with a healthy lifestyle
(45:43):
, feeling good about ourselves,feeling good every day, not
having to worry about where thenext bathroom is.
I wanted to touch on yourmilitary background, Stephen,
(46:04):
and you talked about changingyour certain elements of your
lifestyle around mindfulness.
I think you've always workedout, certainly in the military.
You not only worked out, butwere likely forced to work out,
and that is a highly stressfulprofession to get into, as is
any first responder typeprofession as well.
I wonder if you can talk aboutthe fact that you changed your
(46:27):
diet and it actually changedyour body and your mind, as
Georgia Eden, her wonderful bookChange your Diet, Change your
Mind, points out so eloquently.
What is it about food in themilitary?
Stephen (46:44):
that contributes to this, not only for yourself.
Yeah, thank you.
Sorry, uh, you just cut it fora sec, I apologize.
So, uh, you know, one of theinteresting things like in my
own own sort of way, without, uh, the science and stuff, because
it was a number of years um,since I served, one of the
(47:06):
things I did as a young officeris I participated in martial
arts.
So I did several hours ofmartial arts training.
We had an exceptional teacher atthe time at one of the major
air bases and he was almost likea surrogate father for me
because he was so exceptional inmartial arts.
He was in the Martial Arts Hallof Fame and just an amazing guy
.
But the reason I share that isbecause he was so self-aware.
(47:29):
He was in his 40s, I was in mymid-20s and he had taught
hundreds and hundreds ofstudents across our province and
was very well known andrecognized and so forth.
And I was practicing arts thatwere similar to what we call UFC
today, because I had studiedjujitsu and previously taekwondo
, and I was doing karate andkung fu and tai chi and he used
(47:56):
to watch me come into class.
I was the club president for itbecause I needed an officer to
serve that role and he said Ilook at your lips right now and
I can tell how tight they areand I know you had a bad day.
And so I literally wore mystress on my face.
At the time I had over 100people reporting to me and I was
(48:17):
just a young junior officer.
My boss at the time had MS andhe was away a lot because of his
illness, so a lot of theresponsibilities that fell upon
me would have been challengingfor a 40-year-old, let alone a
26-year-old.
So I brought a lot of thatstress into the class and I
walked out of the classsometimes after four hours of
training, completely exhausted,and I weighed 168 pounds back
(48:39):
then and I was six foot two.
So there was no room forvisceral fat because arguably I
was overtraining Now.
So there was no room forvisceral fat because arguably I
was overtraining.
Now my body could take that at25, 28.
Now I train smarter, but Icredit the martial arts because
one of the components of it wasactually meditation.
The interesting thing is is thatwhen you and I touched on this
before, both online and offline,is when you're doing something
(49:02):
that you may or may notnecessarily understand its
benefits because the sciencewasn't there and you weren't
doing it.
For that reason I wasn't my ownscience project.
I was simply going to domartial arts because I loved it
and I did feel better after Idid it, even though you know I
was doing laundry six days aweek because I had to wash my gi
all the time.
So it was, you know, in it forfour hours.
So what was amazing about thatis I used to teach meditation as
(49:27):
part of the evolution as Imoved up in belts in the system.
But it was an academic exercise.
It was training, like in thetraining in the military Hand
your weapon this way, point downrange, focus.
Here's your scope, here's your.
So all of that sort of thing.
I looked at it the same way.
There was nothing existentialabout it for me per se.
I wasn't there as a ninja turtleand I was certainly more
(49:48):
self-aware, as my teacher at thetime said, but I was by no
means as aware as you and I arenow.
You know it's hard to put anold head on young shoulders,
right?
So I didn't know what I didn'tknow, but I managed to eke it
through because I was working aroutine of 16, 17 hours of
martial arts and weight training.
I trained at lunch, I trainedin the evenings, basically four
(50:09):
or five times a week.
So I was almost essentiallymoonlighting.
You know, I put in my 40 hourswith the military and 20 hours
in the gym every week and soobviously I didn't have a
problem.
I was young enough and all therest of it.
But that stress is cumulative,you know.
Yeah, sure, I was clearing theledger, so to speak, in those
(50:32):
four hours, but if in themorning I was getting up at six
o'clock and going back to theoffice, that ledger was moving
on the deficit side, not on theasset side, very quickly.
Graham (50:40):
Yeah, so well put.
And I wonder if we can go backto put and I wonder if we can go
back to the.
You know what you're fed whenyou're in the military, because
I don't have experience withthis.
I'm very interested in what.
Would you know, a couple ofmeal, typical meals, that you
(51:01):
would experience in the military?
And you know, I'm sure it makesa difference whether you're
deployed and it makes.
And you know, I'm sure it makesa difference whether you're
deployed and it makes adifference.
You know what you're actuallyparticipating in and what you
can eat.
But the first question is whatwould a typical set of meals
look like in the military andwhat would happen to you today
(51:23):
if you were forced to eat thatway?
And what would happen to you?
Stephen (51:26):
today if you were forced to eat that way?
Yeah, that's a really goodquestion.
So keep in mind, we onlyrecently updated the Canada Food
Guide, just a couple of yearsago.
Its previous update was done inthe 1940s, when we were putting
uniforms on men and women thatwere engaged and involved in the
Second World War.
So think about that.
So why is that important isbecause that's your baseline,
(51:47):
for which the Canadian militarydetermined what the diets were
going to be.
They have dietitians.
They had, you know, people thatwere well educated and
accredited.
But, as I've often said, you canhave a degree in something and
that degree is entirelydependent on what is known at
the time.
Or, as one of my militarymentors said, don't confuse
(52:08):
brains with education.
So sometimes what we think weknow and how it affects people
isn't learned too much later.
Like you, think about it justas a simple example.
I used this on another podcastand it was great.
You said you know they used totell you to relax and have a
cigarette when you came home.
That was how you relaxed.
You didn't go for a walk.
You relax and have a cigarettewhen you came home.
That was how you relaxed.
You didn't go for a walk, youknow, have a cigarette.
(52:29):
Your doctor was on TV on adsand having a cigarette while he
was doing your diagnosis right,probably for type 2 diabetes,
who knows.
So it seems a bit ridiculous toexpect that a food guide that's,
you know, 40, 50, 60, 70 yearsold, is going to be appropriate.
So if you bend your questionslightly in favor of saying,
(52:51):
well, based on the canada foodguide guide, at that time, did
you have fruits, vegetables,meats, you know?
Did you have variety?
Absolutely everything that wasin.
And because of my trade, I knewa lot of the, the officers that
were in charge of food servicesand stuff, and they were well
trained and you know, and theydid their absolute, very best.
And even when we were deployedin the field if you're in field
(53:13):
operations, particularly in thearmy they tried to ensure that
you got good meals.
But there were instances where,you know, you practiced the art
of war and you ate what theAmericans call MREs, which are
meals ready to eat or IMPs.
They are replete with carbs andsalt and sugar because they're
(53:36):
designed to provide you acaloric intake of X and the
focus is small, c caloric and xis, whatever they happen decide
to to give you.
So you would have cherriesjubilee at breakfast, which is
basically cherries with syrup init.
That's the only difference fromthe stuff that you know mom and
(53:57):
dad bought when I was a kid.
That was was the cut up fruitin a can.
It was basically the same stuff, just just even more
ultra-processed.
And you'd have eggs that we'dopen the pouch and you could
shake them back and forth andthey would move like your tongue
in your mouth.
They'd go back and forth.
They were that rubbery and youknow so.
(54:18):
When you're eating those and ofcourse it's not like I lived on
those for 10 years, I was in theforces but when you did eat,
eat them there was aninteresting correlation to how
often you needed to use thewashroom because you didn't eat
it.
You rented it and that waspretty standard.
And interestingly andretrospectively, you look at
that and go well, yeah, probablyalso because you're under
stress, your body won't.
(54:40):
Your body won't process thosefoods because they're not
particularly great for you.
We know that.
Uh, and then add in thestressful situation doesn't
matter if you're having caviarand steak, if your body's in an
inflamed state, under stress ata point your body's going to go
oh, we're under threat.
This goes back again to the bodykeeps the score and you will
dump everything that's in yourintestinal system, uh and uh,
(55:04):
and you know it's pretty obvious.
So you take 100 folk that arein the woods doing an exercise
and it can be pretty unpleasantin the latrines with that number
of people eating such poor foodunder stress and duress, and
that's part of the training,that's part of being in the
military.
But ultimately, is it good foryou?
No, and that's why there's sucha high recognition now in the
(55:27):
US military for the occurrencesand correlation of diet, what
they consume, when they consumedit, how long they consumed it
for and the stress that theyexperience, and then added PTSD,
and then you can understand whyat least the Americans
recognize the type 2 diabetescould have a correlation, if not
causality, from a combinationof the food they consume and the
(55:48):
stressful environment they arein.
Graham (55:53):
I think it's such an important point and a theme
throughout this podcast is youknow when you're feeling and
I'll wrap it up with this whenwe are getting older, and I
think you know things like type2 diabetes.
Even though younger people arebeing diagnosed with it now,
(56:19):
which is a new phenomenon, itcan affect people in their 40s,
50s, 60s, 70s more often.
And that's just because youknow, over time, if you're
constantly bombarding your bodywith stress and we talked about
a couple of sources of thatstress eventually your body is
going to not be able to handlethat stress anymore and you, you
(56:45):
know, a type two diabetesdiagnosis is a possible uh, you
know end point to your body notbeing able to deal with that
stress anymore.
And I think what Steven's storyum is in why it's so inspiring
is uh, you didn't simply blameyour situation.
Uh, you didn't blame your body.
(57:07):
You didn't, uh, you know, andand leave it at that you didn't,
uh, you know, just chalk up thetype two diabetes, uh, to just
getting old.
What you did is you, you tookcontrol.
And and I think that's a agreat message for for all of us
is you know, yes, you could befeeling old.
You can blame.
(57:28):
You can easily blame yourhealth on age.
You can easily, you know, takethat medicine that the doctor
and certainly we recommendlistening to your doctor about
your health you can easily chalkit up to things that are, you
know, the cause of somethingother than what you're eating.
(57:49):
However, as Stephen soeloquently talked about, there
is an option for you to takesome control and try a different
way of eating.
Try, you know, a sincereattempt at mindfulness.
Try going for a walk.
(58:10):
That's something that many cando, not everybody, um, but uh,
it could.
It could be a swim, it could bea walk, it could be getting on
the elliptical.
It doesn't have to be, you know, um, training for a triathlon,
but maybe the biggest impact canbe taking control of what you
(58:32):
eat.
And if you do take control ofwhat you eat and you do try a
ketogenic or a carnivore diet,you may find after four to six
weeks that having taken thatcontrol results in you feeling
younger, feeling better.
Some things that you otherwiseblamed on age may actually
(58:54):
disappear other arthritis andother stresses on the body that
I was just blaming on gettingolder.
Or, you know, injuries fromsports actually started to
subside and, in some casetotally disappear, that it was a
(59:15):
real eye-opener to you know theconnection between how good I
felt on a daily basis and thefood that I was eating, and
we've talked in past podcasts,and we will in the future, about
what some of those options looklike, and we always recommend
having professional guidance inorder to go down that path.
(59:37):
But there is an opportunity totake control, and the worst case
scenario is at the end of it,you feel the same.
Best case scenario is you canfeel significantly better.
The only way to find out is togo down that path, and so,
stephen, I want to thank youtoday for being so transparent
(59:58):
about your experiences.
One of the things I like aboutyou is you wear your heart on
your sleeve and you're alwayswilling to share a story if you
think that it can help others,and that's something that I
really admire about you.
I appreciate your time and Iappreciate you, my friend.
Stephen (01:00:15):
Thank you very much, graham, I really appreciate that
.
Graham (01:00:17):
All right, Thank you everybody.
Another episode of Lessons fromthe Keto-Verse.
We hope you enjoyed thisepisode and look forward to
bringing you more in the future.
Thank you, Stephen.
Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
Thank you.
Thanks for tuning into Lessonsfrom the Keto-Verse.
Join Stephen and Graham nexttime for more keto tips and
stories to fuel your health.
Subscribe, share and let's keepthe keto vibes going.
Welcome to Lessons from the Keto-Verse.
Join Stephen and Graham as theyexplore the keto lifestyle with
tips, science and stories toboost your health.
This podcast isn't medicaladvice.
Consult your healthcare advisorfor any health-related issues.
Get ready to fuel your primalpower.
Graham (00:19):
Welcome everybody to this episode of Lessons from the
Keto-Verse.
I'm with my friend, Stephen,and today we are talking about
the role of stress and cortisolin weight gain, insulin
resistance and type 2 diabetes,and how eliminating an
ultra-processed heavy diet canhelp regulate and eventually
(00:42):
reverse type 2 diabetes.
Before I go into the role ofcortisol, Stephen, welcome to
the podcast.
Stephen (00:49):
Thank you.
Graham (00:51):
All right.
So I asked my AI friend to giveme an answer to the question
what is cortisol and how doeschronic stress affect weight and
blood sugar?
And then we're going to hand itover to Stephen, who has a very
interesting story of hispersonal journey around PTSD,
(01:14):
stress, the impact it has had onhim and some great detail on
the chain of events that Stephenfound himself in a number of
years ago.
So let's answer this questionfirst what is cortisol and how
does chronic stress affectweight and blood sugar?
(01:36):
So cortisol is your stresshormone, made by your adrenal
glands.
It's like an emergency button,Great for quick bursts, like
dodging danger, as it boostsenergy and focus.
But chronic stress and thatmeans, you know, ongoing stress
from work life or lack of sleepkeeps cortisol high for too long
(01:58):
and that's where the troublestarts.
For weight, high cortisolsignals your body to store fat,
especially around your belly.
I know Stephen's going to talkabout that.
It also ramps up cravings forsugary processed foods.
Hello, stress, eating thosefoods spike blood sugar, making
things worse and I know we'll gointo a little detail about that
as well.
(02:19):
For blood sugar, cortisol dumpsglucose into your blood for fast
energy.
Think of, you know, thousandsof years ago, when we were
hungry and we needed to hunt foran animal, we needed that extra
fast energy to be able to findthat animal or hunt for that
food, and that could be a goodthing because it allowed us to
(02:43):
survive.
But constantly high levels ofoverworked insulin leading to
insulin resistance is a majorstep towards type 2 diabetes.
It's a cycle Stress, fat gain,blood sugar, chaos.
A ketogenic diet helps bycutting ultra-processed carbs
that fuel this mess.
It stabilizes blood sugar andlowers insulin stress, while
(03:04):
stress management, like goodsleep or walks, dials down
cortisol.
You can break this cycle Allright.
So now that we've got thatdefinition from our AI friends
out of the way, Stephen, maybeyou can go into some detail
about your very interestingjourney through your military
(03:25):
experience, the PTSD, thecortisol and the type 2 diabetes
that you found yourself, thatjourney that you found yourself
going down, and then we'll getinto some discussions on details
.
Stephen (03:40):
Yeah, thank you for that, Graham.
I think the synopsis youprovided was actually quite
helpful, because people will seefrom my discussion that's
exactly the progression orregression, if you want to call
it that, that I experienced.
There were events where I wassent in places that were hostile
towards us and others inuniform, and we were there to do
(04:07):
a job.
So my body learned through mytraining, as well as being
exposed to operational theaters,to environments that were
essentially considered hostile.
And for the survival mechanismwhich you highlighted, it is
both necessary and entirelynormal in instances like that
for you to have an elevatedamount of cortisol in your
(04:29):
system.
That's perfectly fine, as longas that it's not elevated every
day.
Score.
It was well proven back whendealing with Vietnam veterans
that they suffered under theenvironment that was so hostile
that they developed a mentalillness known now as
(04:51):
post-traumatic stress disorder.
I am a strong example of that.
I have severe PTSD, and so Iwould also remind listeners that
I also wear a CGM, so aconstant glucose monitor, and so
I can monitor almost in nearreal time my sugar all the time.
(05:13):
So, because I'm mindful,because in that list of things
that you indicated with theraising cortisol, I feel that in
my body, I'm delving wellenough into my body that I know.
Plus, I can relate to myexternal environment in
pragmatic terms and go okay,what is triggering me right now?
Why is my voice being raised?
Why do I feel the strain andstress of being able to speak my
(05:35):
words?
And I'm struggling in anargument right now and managing
my anger or my rage, or I'mhyper vigilant?
All of those factors that Iexperienced and many other
veterans do that have PTSD,cause an elevation in cortisol.
You made an excellent point whenyou said that the rise in
(05:56):
cortisol will cause an increasein insulin Because, as you said,
the mechanism in a state ofheightened cortisol is for
cortisol to signal to the bodyto release more sugar into the
bloodstream.
So it's no longer sitting infat form and fat that's
(06:17):
accumulated in the body, it'sbeing converted back into sugar
and the adrenal glands willelevate to a point where that
sugar gets pushed into themuscles.
But it's not required, there'sno need for it.
So, as a consequence, itbounces back into the
bloodstream and I'moversimplifying the metabolic
process, but it bounces backinto the bloodstream and then
(06:37):
you have really elevated sugar.
So then what happens is thinkof cortisol as a hormone.
You can think of insulin as ahormone, and growth hormone is a
hormone.
So in the presence of insulinelevated insulin as a
consequence of the cortisol whatends up happening is your
insulin is also in a constantstate of being highly elevated
(06:59):
to a point until the systemitself fails and cortisol,
ironically enough, the one thingthat's designed to, in short
bursts, as you said, save youover time will actually kill you
, because that heightened,constant elevated state from
stress or cortisol eventuallybeats insulin and then what
(07:20):
happens is your insulinresistance increases.
Because what is insulin doing?
It's trying to take that sugarthat the bully called cortisol
has just flooded systemicallyinto your system, perennially,
meaning that it's constantlyhappening and going.
Okay, I can only jam so muchsugar into these cells before
these cells burst and reflood.
(07:42):
So there's nowhere to put itwhere these cells burst and
reflood, so there's nowhere toput it.
So, as the sugar cyclecontinues, you're never in a
state of ketosis, you're neverin a state of balanced
homeostasis, you're always in anelevated state.
That'll creep right into yoursleep cycle because,
consequently, with theheightened cortisol, your body
(08:03):
is in an inflammatory state.
It's harder to sleep, it'sharder to calm down and
especially for those of us thatsuffer from PTSD, one of the
areas that it creeps in is inthe subconscious, in the dream
state.
So if you are stressed duringthe day, there's a very high
likelihood and I know otherveterans out there will relate
(08:23):
may have absolutely nothing todo with what you did during the
day, but all of a sudden you'llget a rewind of the Lucasfilm in
your head that will replay someof the original traumas, with
slight deviations.
For most of us.
Sometimes it's very visceraland almost verbatim what you
experienced in theater and inenvironments that were hostile,
but most of the time, at leastfor me, it's usually a repeat of
(08:48):
where the offenses occurredthat caused the mental illness.
And so now there is no breakbecause in your sleep state
you're suffering with elevatedcortisol and worse.
Your body's now in a morerelaxed status where there's no
exercise that's occurring tohelp minimize the impact
(09:09):
negative impact of that sugarbeing in the bloodstream,
because you're just lying there.
You're asleep.
So often, with those of us whowear CGM, if you wake up in the
middle of the night, usuallybecause your sugar is elevated,
it'll force you to wake up andtry to get rid of the sugar, so
hence you end up visiting thewashroom.
If you check your sugar, it'llbe really high and you think
(09:30):
well, it's because I just had anightmare and I was stressed out
.
Reality is, it could be acombination of factors, but if
we just focus our lens for amoment on what's going on
metabolically, the rise ininsulin resistance means you
have less of a capacity to dealwith this hormonal imbalance of
cortisol, which means that theimpact of cortisol when it's
(09:50):
elevated is even more severe and, as you said, that's when you
get into the cycle thatultimately results in type 2
diabetes being a bit of avicious cycle where you have the
(10:11):
PTSD that you are trying toaddress.
Graham (10:13):
The PTSD is contributing to less healthy sleep, let's
say, as well as increasedcortisol levels.
The increased cortisol levelsare putting stress on the body
by increasing the sugar in theblood.
The blood is trying to battlethis by increasing the amount of
insulin in order to get thatglucose into the cells, which
(10:37):
causes insulin resistance, whichI'm guessing could have
actually a negative impact onthe PTSD and your ability to
Does that sort of sum up the andI don't want to simplify it,
but sum up the experience of whythis is so difficult for you
(10:58):
having to address this.
As you indicated, it is avicious cycle because if you're
getting less sleep.
Stephen (11:14):
Uh, you're less patient , you're more easily aggravated,
which is just bringing morematches to a fire that's already
lit right and you're throwinganother log on that fire.
So perhaps we we shift theconversation slightly to say,
okay, that's all well and good.
We understand the pathology ofhow you arrive at a state when
(11:37):
you ultimately end up with thisinsulin resistance, where
certainly cortisol is animportant, if not the most
significant factor, because inmy particular case, I wasn't
especially overweight, althoughI was beginning to add weight as
a consequence of the cortisol.
Because, as you said, whencortisol is present and elevated
, instead of having a betterability to metabolize the food
(12:04):
that you're eating where you'reprocessing it.
Some of it's going into thewaste system in the body and the
rest is being stored as energy.
That energy is excessive in theform of your body just going no
, no, let's turn everything intosugar and get it into the
bloodstream, because itperceives some, some short
(12:25):
threat.
But that short threat is juston repeat, on loop.
If you're listening to Spotify,it's the same song over and
over and over again.
And so, as that begins to beatyour system down, you sleep less
, you become more irritable, youhave less capacity to be able
to cope, which makes yourcortisol even higher, which
(12:47):
makes your insulin resistanceeven higher.
And it's interesting in the USthey recognize this cycle as
being a consequence of orcausality from PTSD.
In Canada they do not.
They haven't made thatcorrelation.
In fact, just today I wasdenied recognition for it as a
Canadian veteran, whereas thatwould not have been the case if
(13:10):
I was in the US.
They rely in the US on peopleindicating that they
self-observe.
My self-observation is morescientific because I'm wearing a
CGM, so I monitor to perhapseven an obsessive level how my
mind and my body is feeling atany point in time, graham, like
(13:37):
if I've just eaten something.
Even sometimes when I watchsomething that's particularly
violent on TV, I'll find myselfgetting triggered and I'll watch
my sugar increase, and it's notduring a period where I've just
had a meal.
There'll be a marked increasein that trend.
So the same with and someindividuals may notice this
naturally if they were wearingcgm.
Sometimes, when you're reallyfocused on something mentally,
(13:58):
you'll get.
You know, they call it a bumpand because you are actually
using your brain more andrequiring more from your, your
brain processing, which whichwill naturally increase the
amount of sugar, which is normal.
That's a normal pathology.
It's the same as your sugarwill rise when you weight train,
because you're sending a signalto the body when you're lifting
(14:19):
heavy weights to say, hey, mymuscles need more sugar because
I'm processing it.
Those things are all perfectlynormal.
What we're talking about is arise in cortisol.
When it's not.
There's a pathological stressthat's related to weight
training and that's ultimatelygoing to provide a benefit.
Why?
Because you're creatingmetabolic resiliency, whereas
(14:41):
when you're constantly under astate of duress, you're bending
the same piece of metal, whichis your health in general, so
many times that eventually itbreaks and you end up with what
we now call type 2 diabetes ordepressive disorders in
association with type 2 diabetes, and diabetes just happens to
(15:01):
be one of those ways itmanifests, and you also covered
an important aspect to that.
So, okay, great.
So you have ptsd or you've beenin the military, you're having
issues.
Name of Dr Cavan had put out astudy where they indicated that
(15:37):
starches are sugar.
Sugar is starches.
So if you are consuming pasta,you can look at a bowl of pasta
essentially being like a bowl ofsugar.
So, as a diabetic, regardlessof whether you had PTSD and
you've arrived at the pointwhere you have type 2 diabetes,
any additional sugar startsdoing additional damage.
(15:58):
It's a different kind of lot,but it's being thrown on the
fire as well when it comes toburning up your health and your
life expectancies.
So what's interesting with thatstudy, and which you and I have
spoken to before, is it'sactually corroborating what you
and I have been saying from thevery beginning.
It's cut out ultra-processedfoods, and that includes some
(16:18):
meats that are overlyultra-processed with the
nitrites and other things thatare in it.
I try to stick to meat that isorganic, grass-fed,
grain-finished, good,high-quality meats.
Try to stay away fromorganizations that are grocery
(16:40):
chains that are perhaps not thehealthiest in terms of how
they're processing the meats, orat least the purveyors are not
maybe as inclined towardsorganic, or making sure that the
animals are humanely treated,et cetera, et cetera, because,
don't forget, animals havecortisol as a hormone as well.
So if they're under constantarrest, they can't move, they're
(17:01):
trapped and then they'reslaughtered.
All that stress, all thatcortisol is in the meat, now
that cortisol is not going toadd to your cortisol.
But the point is that you're noteating something that could be
described as a medicine to thesame extent, but far more
severely, as ultra-prosphousfoods are, like you and I have
(17:21):
discussed.
If you're consuming ice cream,if you're consuming things that
are full of sugar, it's going tomake matters far worse.
So you have to be conscientiousin what it is you consume and
try to minimize those things, asthis particular study said,
that are essentially sugar, andobviously starches include
(17:42):
potatoes, they include pastas,they include all of those things
, both of which I completelyhave cut out of my diet, and
I've seen likely a completeelimination of visceral fat,
non-fatty alcohol, liver.
So the fatty liver consequence,which actually can be a symptom
(18:04):
of, or sometimes increase thelikelihood of, type 2 diabetes,
is also something that I addressis to have the non-alcoholic
fatty liver process reduced byusing and consuming lemon water,
which is obviously quite acidic, and then the body has a basic
reaction to it, an alkalinereaction to it, and that helps
(18:27):
dissolve or get rid of fromseveral studies, get rid of
fatty liver, and that's reallyimportant.
Your liver is critical, notjust your kidneys, when it comes
to to fatty liver.
And I know when, at the peakperiod in which my my diabetes
was his highest and I was in the15s, I was starting to get
(18:47):
kidney stones, I was havingtrouble just walking because of
neuropathic pain and byfollowing what we're saying.
So looking at the solutionwhich is practicing mindfulness,
ensuring that you're eating ahealthy diet, ensuring that you
go to bed at the same time thatyou've shut down electronics an
(19:07):
hour or so before you try to eatearlier in the evenings to give
your body at least three hoursbefore going to bed.
Graham (19:17):
So I want to get into that a lot more in detail.
I wonder if you can help theaudience understand your journey
from that, and I think theaudience should understand that.
I've known Stephen for over adecade and the picture I have of
Stephen is of a very healthy,adult male who takes care of
(19:42):
himself, works out, does thethings that we all are told we
should do in order to be thehealthiest self that we can be
and still, you know, because offactors that are outside of his
control, still ended up gettinga diagnosis.
So I wonder if you could talkabout you know, just describe
(20:03):
your experience from that awfuland stressful day in the
doctor's office when you heardthat you had type 2 diabetes.
You know what went through yourmind, what advice were you
given from the doctor andpotentially others around you,
and which direction did you takeyourself down in order to right
(20:27):
the ship as best as youpossibly can, and what were the
results of that journey.
Stephen (20:33):
Yeah, it's a really interesting journey.
I was diagnosed by phone.
I was told my results while Iwas literally training at the
gym and the nurse that reportsto my doctor at the time said
Stephen, I'm very good news foryou, but you have type two
(20:54):
diabetes.
And she proceeded, rather thansaying anything else, saying
you're going to have to go onmedication for the rest of your
life.
That was the first thing, andthe second thing is to get more
exercise.
And I said my response was oh,did they add an extra day during
the week?
Are there eight days during theweek right now?
Because, as you said, I wasalways in the gym and always
(21:16):
doing weight training, andwalking was natural for where
you and I work together.
It was a good haul from wherethe transit system dropped us
off to where we had to walk towork.
So I did that every day,typically on the occasions where
(21:38):
you and I would grab lunch.
We would walk a good ways awayto have lunch and then walk back
.
So we probably weren'tcognizant at the time that we
were doing that, but thatprobably postponed the eventual
diagnosis.
So I'm sitting in the doctor'soffice and I'm hearing all of
this and that it's out ofcontrol and the first word that
comes out of their mouths is youneed to on metformin.
And so initially, when I wasaddressing the shock and
(22:01):
probably had a little bit ofwhite coat syndrome, I knew
nothing about the illness.
I, in parallel, reached to themand they said you know, because
of your military background andhow focused you are on
optimizing pretty mucheverything, you'll figure it out
.
And that was actually thebrother of one of the top
(22:22):
medical people in our countrythat said if anybody can figure
out a way to do this, you'llfigure it out.
So I was encouraged by that andum.
And of course, the protocol wasfor me to eat six meals a day,
which runs completely contraryto dr feng in toronto, who talks
(22:44):
about intermittent fasting andtreating people with kidney
disease, which, by extension, isone of the directions that your
type 2 diabetes can take you.
You can have complete renalfailure, you can lose limbs, you
can lose your eyesight, you canlose all of the above.
So, as a physician, I had readhis book and discovered that
intermittent fasting wassomething that I could look into
(23:06):
.
So in the very beginning of thisjourney, graham, I took
metformin and I was so sick fromit because, as I've indicated
before, I have PTSD.
I had severe IBS which in partwas caused by the elevated sugar
, and the IBS is like a constantreminder that you have no
control.
So my body was in a constantstate of stress.
(23:28):
I had to figure out where everywashroom was.
It didn't matter where I was.
I had to worry about when youand I were in meetings or
throughout my corporate life.
I'm making sure that I didn'thave maybe anything in my
stomach before a meeting,because if the meeting didn't go
well and I was triggered and ofcourse in those days I didn't
know I had PTSD I just reactedto the consequences of whatever
(23:50):
my body did without necessarilyunderstanding it.
So as I began to do more andmore research and looked at it
holistically much the same asyou did although you didn't have
type 2, we had a similarjourney, as I was unsatisfied
with being on metformin At leastit felt like after I ate a meal
that I had consumed glass.
(24:10):
The pain in my stomach wasalmost unbearable.
I probably could have boughtshares in Tums because I was
consuming so many of them, and Idon't think I even knew how to
spell Tums.
Prior to that I'd never boughta roll of Tums in my life and I
was having and of course that'sjust a very small band-aid on a
burning furnace right Likeyou're in trouble.
(24:33):
You have metabolic syndrome atthat point.
So that was the state that Iwas in.
So I first started withintermittent fasting.
The doctor said I'll see you insix months.
Um, about two, two months in,without telling them, I stopped
taking metformin because I haddone my research and determined
that there was a possibilitythat I could improve my blood
(24:56):
markers by practicingintermittent fasting.
At that time I was eating thetypical American diet, standard
American diet, and I hadn't yetdialed in on the fact that
starches and other things likethat were making it worse.
And I also didn't have a CGM,because there was no such thing
at that point.
Seven, eight years ago.
(25:17):
They weren't readily available.
So when I returned for my firstblood results, my dietician said
you're doing great, yournumbers are down.
They're not perfect but they'redown.
We're going to up the dosagemaybe of the metformin a little
bit, get those numbers a littlebit lower.
But you're no longer diabetic,you're pre-diabetic.
(25:39):
Just keep doing what you'redoing.
And my response was well, I'mdoing exactly the opposite of
everything you told me to do.
I'm not eating six meals a day,I'm eating two.
I practice fasting, a prolongedfast of 24 hours once every
couple of weeks.
And again, as I said, I hadn'tdialed into the diet, so I was
still eating the way I normallyate, but I was getting results
(26:02):
independently from thatintermittent fasting.
So I was described as beingmedically defiant and most
recently, when I shared thisstory with a geneticist, she
described me as an outlier,which I think is a much better
description, a much morefavorable description, because
what it means is that if youtake a perspective of this and
(26:23):
take your health in your ownhands and I say health in your
own hands in an informed way I'mnot anti-doctor.
What I am is proactive in myapproach to my care, such that I
want to talk to a metabolicspecialist to increase my
knowledge.
I'm not going to go to aplumber when I have an issue
with my wiring in my home, forinstance.
(26:50):
I want to focus on the experts.
So Dr Fung is an expertnephrologist who's practiced
with lots of patients on theapplications of intermittent
fasting.
There are progressives outthere, like Dr Ken Berry, who's
done an enormous amount of goodin his work around to keto, keto
(27:10):
verse, as as we call it, bothketo and carnivore diets and the
benefits.
And that came many years laterbecause, as you and I discussed
before, I dabbled in beingvegetarian because I was trying
to get rid of my ibs.
I was trying to figure out well, why, why am I reacting so
badly to tell food?
And I would remind thelisteners, and we're talking
about years now I'd be 53, 54 bythat time.
(27:32):
So, years after diagnosis, andmy blood results went kind of up
and down a little bit and Ithought, well, you know, maybe I
just wasn't being as careful,but I still hadn't dialed into
the food thing.
So you would have caught me asa diabetic, you know,
occasionally, maybe twice in thesummer, eating an ice cream
that was almost as big as myhead and because that's how they
serve them here and I wasn'tgoing to waste it.
(27:55):
And probably my sugar, becauseI wasn't wearing a cgm was
probably in the 20s, extremelyhigh and extremely dangerous.
So once, once, I started notgetting the same results and I
started noticing my eyesight wasbeing affected and I went to
see an ophthalmologist and or,sorry, actually it was an
ophthalmologist first, but lateran optometrist, and she looked
(28:15):
at my eyes and she said I won'tchange your prescription because
your eyes are clearly underenormous pressure right now
because you don't have yourblood sugar under control.
And she was actually originallya physician in Africa, and so
the way in which they deal withthis kind of scenario and she is
a specialist, she's a verywell-trained doctor, she was
(28:37):
licensed in Canada.
She said get your sugar undercontrol.
And she pointed to she wasadjacent to the grocery store.
She said stay away from thatstuff that's over there.
I had already started to do thatresearch, as you had, and
discovered that one of the bigproblems was I was showing up
with cans of gasoline, which issynonymous with food that's full
(28:58):
of sugar, and trying to combatmy diabetes strictly on doing
intermittent fasting.
And it started to not be enoughBecause my body was regressing.
My insulin resistance wouldhave been higher and
consequently, the methods that Iwas using in the past my body
(29:19):
had adapted to in a negative waythat weren't as impactful as
they were initially.
I wasn't overweight by then.
By then I had lost 52 pounds intotality Now, not all of it by
design because my IBS was sosevere.
There were times where I'd betriggered for two or three days
and I barely could eat anything.
So I ended up doing a prolongedfast and I would yo-yo a bit on
(29:41):
my weight.
I would go down I'm 6'2".
I would go down to 185 and thenback up to 193 and then down to
182 and then 188, you know.
So I was all over the mapbecause I also wasn't getting
the proper nutrition.
So that's when I introduced anaturopath into the equation and
I started paying a lot moreattention to what I consumed,
because she was a newly mintednaturopath.
(30:04):
I have exceptional respect forher and her knowledge and her
approach towards this illness,and even to a point where I was
starting to think, oh, I'm goingto have to go one meal a day to
control my sugar gram.
And she was saying no, and thisis where this all wraps around
to being something that's veryinsightful.
She said listen, you do onemeal a day.
(30:27):
Sure, you're cutting yourcaloric intake, but you don't
have a lot of fat left.
Because I was still weighttraining and walking and
everything else.
She said you're going to causea cortisol trigger.
I said no, no, no.
See, you don't understand.
That's what I'm trying to avoidhere.
Maybe we're having a failure tocommunicate.
And she said you're puttingyour body.
When you take it too far withthe intermittent fasting, you're
(30:50):
causing a cortisol reactionbecause your body's now going
hmm, I'm not sure when our nextmeal is going to be.
Now, of course, there's peopleout there that are going to say
well, hang on.
You mentioned Dr Fung earlierand he had plenty of examples in
his books about people goingliterally weeks and months on a
very restrictive diet in orderto lose weight.
I wasn't in that category.
(31:10):
I didn't need to lose 150pounds.
I wasn't morbidly obese, likeyou said.
I was going to the gym and allthe rest of it Did.
I have a dad belly Sure, andthat's dangerous.
That's visceral fat, thatsuggests you have fat on your
liver.
Obviously, those things weresignals of what I was
experiencing.
But here's the crazy part as Iengaged with my naturopath, as I
(31:32):
started to get control for myfellow veterans out there,
control of my PTSD, bypracticing a host of things,
including mindfulness.
Start my day with a meditation.
I end my day with a meditation.
I dump the trash can of all theinformation that's gone in
there that might have causedsome form of physiological
exasperation, where my body'sheightened and elevated, and I'm
(31:55):
not necessarily recognizing itbecause I'm so used to it, right
with my personality.
So I make sure I'm in a you know, an alpha to delta state.
I'm calming myself down andthen I sleep much better.
I can tell you categorically Idon't take any medication.
I don't have IBS anymore,thanks to a combination of my
(32:17):
therapist and some of the othermodalities that I use, which
includes Paul McKenna'sself-hypnosis for veterans,
which helps us.
As my psychologist described,it's tooth floss for the brain.
It helps deal with the traumaareas in the brain and so,
consequently, I'm no longerhaving to worry when I go out
(32:38):
for simple groceries, aboutwhether or not I'm going to need
to use a washer before I getthere.
Graham (32:45):
Yeah, an amazing turnaround and so many different
things to have to address atthe same time.
Um, you had mentioned highstarch foods and, and some may
not um know what those are.
Um, why?
Why are high starch foods bad?
Because starch?
Um turns into glucose.
(33:05):
Um, very, very quickly, and theit's that turning into glucose
in the body, the more ultraprocessed the food is, the
faster it turns into glucose andthe faster the body needs to
deal with it.
So if you have a very largemeal of very high starchy foods
or very high ultra processedfoods, it can overwhelm the body
(33:28):
with too much glucose.
Glucose is poison to body.
We need very little in order tosurvive.
We certainly do need it, but wedon't need to overwhelm the
body in order to thrive andsurvive.
High starch foods can includethings like potatoes, and that
includes fries.
Anything made from potatoes caninclude white rice.
(33:52):
Pasta can include bread, bagels.
Of course, corn A lot of peopledon't think about it.
Corn on the cob is, you know,tastes great because it, you
know, there's a high amount ofglucose in there.
In there, high fructose cornsyrup actually comes from corn
(34:13):
and has a higher ratio thansugar does, but it's still
having the same impact on thebody.
It can be breakfast cereals, itcan be crackers, snacks,
(34:35):
pretzels I'm just giving someexamples Oatmeal even root
veggies, can be high in starch.
So these are things that, if youare going through what Stephen
talked about, you know highcortisol, ptsd, lack of sleep.
You know high insulin or highblood glucose levels in the body
.
If you are a type 2 diabetic oreven a type 1 diabetic, the
body, if you are a type 2diabetic or even a type 1
diabetic those are going to havea major impact on the amount of
(34:57):
glucose in your system and yourbody is going to be under
stress to try and deal with it.
And I think that's a reallyimportant point that you made
there.
You mentioned a few things, butI wondered when you were going
through this journey, did youfind yourself trying to deal
with the PTSD separate fromdealing with the sleep or lack
(35:23):
thereof, and separately dealingwith the type 2 diabetes
diagnosis?
Did you find yourself having tochase down rabbit holes to deal
with each of these and did youfind eventually that actually,
if I do these things, it's goingto help with all of those?
Stephen (35:44):
I think in my case it was.
Whatever was the most loud inmy body is what I responded to.
So if I was having an IBSreaction and all of a sudden I
find myself in a strange gasstation banging on the door,
hoping the person will get outin time for me to get in there,
I think that that had my invitedattention.
I wasn't worried about my lastmeal.
(36:05):
I wasn't worried about whatelse I could potentially do with
my day or what have you.
It becomes all very consumingand it's the same with PTSD.
The way PTSD works is thatyou'll start to get tunnel
vision, you'll start getting asense of disassociation where
(36:26):
you don't really feel likeyourself, and you start to feel
like you're outside of yourself.
So that's one of theconsequences of it and that will
really spike my sugar, becauseI again wear a CGM and I'll
sometimes check it.
I know it sounds a little bitmorbid or odd that I'm my own
science experiment, but it's thebest way for me to do exactly
(36:48):
what you just described.
So you know we used to.
We used to say the best way tofind a solution is to reverse
engineer from the problem.
So I looked at the problem setand said okay, you know, they
say that I have high sugar, butthat's not really the problem.
The problem is I have insulinresistance.
So one of the first things thatI did with my naturopath was to
(37:10):
learn how to reverse my insulinresistance.
So that included all the thingswe talked about diet, and I
actually eventually got checkedand had my insulin resistance
checked and it was actuallynormal actually normal.
Now my sugar was still higher,but I was no longer considered a
(37:32):
diabetic based on my A1C, ha1c,but I was still not in my
opinion.
I still didn't hit where Iwanted, which, if someone asked,
I would say I want to be fiveand I may not ever be five.
I'm 58 years old, but I havearound five, eight, uh to six,
depending on on the period, onaverage for my a1c, and that's
again by simply managing what Ieat.
(37:54):
I walk after every meal, whichis very important, so I consume
all that sugar.
I sleep better that way, so Ihave a routine.
So, yeah, you're right, therewas there's, there was a
singularity where essentially, Ilooked at all the different
parameters the PTSD, the IBS,the diagnosis and drew kind of
(38:17):
like a in my head, a Venndiagram.
I went okay.
So I've got all these clouds ofthings going on.
What's the central piece for methat is causing the greatest
problem?
Because I've addressed diets.
I'm not eating poorly anymore.
I have a lifestyle where I haveaccess to nature.
So I'm grounding, I'm going outand doing nature, I'm
(38:37):
practicing mindfulness at thebeginning of my day, graham, and
at the end of the day, I'm ablenow to engage in situations
where my body might see it asbeing potentially hostile, but I
have the wherewithal and thetools now to look at it and go,
okay, this is definitely moreabout them than it is me.
So I've learned how tode-escalate and, rather than
(38:59):
react, is to reflect.
So this has taken years.
This has taken me eight yearsto find the right modalities
that resonate with me, the rightpractices and also the ability
to say, okay, well, you knowwhat?
Let's celebrate our successes.
I did not have a single cold orflu the entire winter.
Nothing, zero, nada.
(39:19):
Why?
Because I take supplements.
I made sure I was still gettingmy vitamin D in pill form,
because we live in a part of thecountry where it's dark.
I did further research andfound out more about what the
starches were doing, so I cutthose out all the ultra
processed foods.
Like you, I don't consume sodasor what we call here pop or
(39:41):
chips or any of that kind ofstuff at all.
They don't come into the houseand they're far too addictive.
I walk after meals, soessentially what happened was my
rewards in that are my bloodmarkers where my A1C is.
But for me, in terms of qualityof life, I would say the most
important thing and let's talkabout quality of life because
(40:01):
not only by reversing it am Iincreasing the likelihood that
I'll live longer, but I'll'lllive better.
I don't have these IBSsituations anymore.
So imagine when you have thestomach flu and you're in a
state where you can't even leaveyour bed and only go from your
bed to the washroom as you needit.
That was my every day for yearsand but I still.
(40:22):
I got out of bed and went towork and worked with you and
everyone else, but I never knewwhen it was going to hit.
So imagine instantaneouslyhaving the flu, uh, for the
entire day because of oneincident or one event that you
don't understand.
That's exacerbated is by thefood that you're consuming and
the way in which you'reconsuming it.
So simple example you knowyou're driving to work.
(40:42):
You're drinking your coffee.
You're eating your bagel.
That's a big giant sugar shake,right, because the that bagel's
got more, more sugar in it thanfour pieces of white bread.
So, by density and by weight,so you're eating that.
You're consuming coffee.
That it is triggering, for mostpeople is triggering the bowel
anyway and um, and you're intraffic making your way downtown
(41:05):
or on transit where people aremiserable and angry and probably
sick as well.
So you're in a highly, highlycompromised physiological state
because of what you're consuming.
The environment you're in ishostile.
You're going directly into astress at work because you and I
both had significantresponsibility in the
organization that we work, henceit came with all the problems.
(41:27):
It didn't take very long beforeyou sat down and you found out
whatever was going to be wrongthat day.
So I don't have that now andI'm still engaged and productive
, but I do it remotely, whichallows me to plan into my life
those periods of peace and quietwhere I can go and walk my dogs
in the woods.
I live a privileged life.
I truly do, but it's by design,because I learned to reverse
(41:50):
engineer from the problem anddecided this is what I need to
do.
I need to be out of situationsthat trigger my PTSD, which is
crowds.
I need to ensure I eat a proper, wholesome diet.
I live in a town where I haveaccess to an excellent butcher.
I can buy local produce.
I can grow my own produce.
I have a greenhouse.
So I've learned to do like, andsome people would view it as
(42:16):
extremes and this is why mygeneticist called me an outlier.
I have decided that in myparticular case not to get
overly personal it was safer andhealthier for me to sleep in my
own room because of my PTSD,and I've been happily married
for 17 years.
So you do what you have to doIf your objective is to be as
healthy in your mind and in yourbody.
(42:38):
You do what you have to dobecause the information is
available and what is proof.
For me is proof is in math,right, you can't argue with the
numbers by wearing a CGM, and Iknow they're expensive folks.
120 bucks every two weeks is alot of money.
But what's your health worth toyou and what you really?
What it is is it's insurance,because I'm able to see where
(42:59):
I'm trending at a specificmoment.
I could get up from this tapingand look at my sugar and if it's
elevated, I'm going on theelliptical.
It's dark out now I can't goout in the woods and walk
Because maybe my cortisol gettriggered, because there's bears
and wolves and other things inthere and then they tend to come
out at night, so it's probablynot the best time for me to go
(43:19):
in there.
So, especially if I'm hypervigilant and aware that that's
the case, you know.
So I've learned to do thesethings for me and I try to share
it with other people, which ispart of the principle of why you
and I are dedicated to thispodcast, and that is to let to
share a story and let otherpeople know that there's hope.
You know, because when I satwith that doctor that first time
(43:42):
, I didn't touch on this yet,graham, but she said to me well,
you know, there's only twodiagnoses that I don't like to
give.
One is cancer and the other oneis diabetes, because your life
expectancy, obviously in thecase of cancer, could be very,
very short, and usually withuncontrolled diabetes and, as
she said and I've read thiselsewhere by the time they catch
(44:03):
it because they're notmeasuring insulin resistance,
they're measuring the amount ofglucose.
Over the last 90 days that wasin your bloodstream, which,
candidly, is a bit of a hammerwhen you think about it, when
they really need a pair ofpliers.
If they looked at insulinresistance, they would have
noted 10 years prior to that,plus or minus, that I already
had a metabolic problem and itshould have been addressed back
(44:24):
then through education andunderstanding your wrong diets,
your stressors and so forth.
What I've listened to it, whatI've been able to change it?
Certainly the food, but you andI worked in a stressful
environment.
We're both executives.
We had to do what we had to do,but then you start making
better choices.
As you get to your age, of myage, you and I are far more
discretionary.
Now We've raised our familiesand so forth, so we definitely
(44:45):
have more latitude and now thefocus is on us.
But being a hero in your ownstory and putting your health in
jeopardy results in, as you getto be an older man or woman,
that your body's no longer asresistant as you think it is and
you're in a cycle now ofsystemic unwellness.
So what are you measuring interms of success?
(45:06):
Success as being on thecorporate wheel or success in
that you have quality of life?
You have health expectancy, notjust life expectancy right, but
that's really where I thinkI've arrived.
Graham (45:22):
Yeah, I think that's such a good point.
We focus on, you know, wantingto live longer, which is, of
course, a noble goal, but Ithink what we need to be
focusing on is living as long aswe can with a healthy lifestyle
(45:43):
, feeling good about ourselves,feeling good every day, not
having to worry about where thenext bathroom is.
I wanted to touch on yourmilitary background, Stephen,
(46:04):
and you talked about changingyour certain elements of your
lifestyle around mindfulness.
I think you've always workedout, certainly in the military.
You not only worked out, butwere likely forced to work out,
and that is a highly stressfulprofession to get into, as is
any first responder typeprofession as well.
I wonder if you can talk aboutthe fact that you changed your
(46:27):
diet and it actually changedyour body and your mind, as
Georgia Eden, her wonderful bookChange your Diet, Change your
Mind, points out so eloquently.
What is it about food in themilitary?
Stephen (46:44):
that contributes to this, not only for yourself.
Yeah, thank you.
Sorry, uh, you just cut it fora sec, I apologize.
So, uh, you know, one of theinteresting things like in my
own own sort of way, without, uh, the science and stuff, because
it was a number of years um,since I served, one of the
(47:06):
things I did as a young officeris I participated in martial
arts.
So I did several hours ofmartial arts training.
We had an exceptional teacher atthe time at one of the major
air bases and he was almost likea surrogate father for me
because he was so exceptional inmartial arts.
He was in the Martial Arts Hallof Fame and just an amazing guy
.
But the reason I share that isbecause he was so self-aware.
(47:29):
He was in his 40s, I was in mymid-20s and he had taught
hundreds and hundreds ofstudents across our province and
was very well known andrecognized and so forth.
And I was practicing arts thatwere similar to what we call UFC
today, because I had studiedjujitsu and previously taekwondo
, and I was doing karate andkung fu and tai chi and he used
(47:56):
to watch me come into class.
I was the club president for itbecause I needed an officer to
serve that role and he said Ilook at your lips right now and
I can tell how tight they areand I know you had a bad day.
And so I literally wore mystress on my face.
At the time I had over 100people reporting to me and I was
(48:17):
just a young junior officer.
My boss at the time had MS andhe was away a lot because of his
illness, so a lot of theresponsibilities that fell upon
me would have been challengingfor a 40-year-old, let alone a
26-year-old.
So I brought a lot of thatstress into the class and I
walked out of the classsometimes after four hours of
training, completely exhausted,and I weighed 168 pounds back
(48:39):
then and I was six foot two.
So there was no room forvisceral fat because arguably I
was overtraining Now.
So there was no room forvisceral fat because arguably I
was overtraining.
Now my body could take that at25, 28.
Now I train smarter, but Icredit the martial arts because
one of the components of it wasactually meditation.
The interesting thing is is thatwhen you and I touched on this
before, both online and offline,is when you're doing something
(49:02):
that you may or may notnecessarily understand its
benefits because the sciencewasn't there and you weren't
doing it.
For that reason I wasn't my ownscience project.
I was simply going to domartial arts because I loved it
and I did feel better after Idid it, even though you know I
was doing laundry six days aweek because I had to wash my gi
all the time.
So it was, you know, in it forfour hours.
So what was amazing about thatis I used to teach meditation as
(49:27):
part of the evolution as Imoved up in belts in the system.
But it was an academic exercise.
It was training, like in thetraining in the military Hand
your weapon this way, point downrange, focus.
Here's your scope, here's your.
So all of that sort of thing.
I looked at it the same way.
There was nothing existentialabout it for me per se.
I wasn't there as a ninja turtleand I was certainly more
(49:48):
self-aware, as my teacher at thetime said, but I was by no
means as aware as you and I arenow.
You know it's hard to put anold head on young shoulders,
right?
So I didn't know what I didn'tknow, but I managed to eke it
through because I was working aroutine of 16, 17 hours of
martial arts and weight training.
I trained at lunch, I trainedin the evenings, basically four
(50:09):
or five times a week.
So I was almost essentiallymoonlighting.
You know, I put in my 40 hourswith the military and 20 hours
in the gym every week and soobviously I didn't have a
problem.
I was young enough and all therest of it.
But that stress is cumulative,you know.
Yeah, sure, I was clearing theledger, so to speak, in those
(50:32):
four hours, but if in themorning I was getting up at six
o'clock and going back to theoffice, that ledger was moving
on the deficit side, not on theasset side, very quickly.
Graham (50:40):
Yeah, so well put.
And I wonder if we can go backto put and I wonder if we can go
back to the.
You know what you're fed whenyou're in the military, because
I don't have experience withthis.
I'm very interested in what.
Would you know, a couple ofmeal, typical meals, that you
(51:01):
would experience in the military?
And you know, I'm sure it makesa difference whether you're
deployed and it makes.
And you know, I'm sure it makesa difference whether you're
deployed and it makes adifference.
You know what you're actuallyparticipating in and what you
can eat.
But the first question is whatwould a typical set of meals
look like in the military andwhat would happen to you today
(51:23):
if you were forced to eat thatway?
And what would happen to you?
Stephen (51:26):
today if you were forced to eat that way?
Yeah, that's a really goodquestion.
So keep in mind, we onlyrecently updated the Canada Food
Guide, just a couple of yearsago.
Its previous update was done inthe 1940s, when we were putting
uniforms on men and women thatwere engaged and involved in the
Second World War.
So think about that.
So why is that important isbecause that's your baseline,
(51:47):
for which the Canadian militarydetermined what the diets were
going to be.
They have dietitians.
They had, you know, people thatwere well educated and
accredited.
But, as I've often said, you canhave a degree in something and
that degree is entirelydependent on what is known at
the time.
Or, as one of my militarymentors said, don't confuse
(52:08):
brains with education.
So sometimes what we think weknow and how it affects people
isn't learned too much later.
Like you, think about it justas a simple example.
I used this on another podcastand it was great.
You said you know they used totell you to relax and have a
cigarette when you came home.
That was how you relaxed.
You didn't go for a walk.
You relax and have a cigarettewhen you came home.
That was how you relaxed.
You didn't go for a walk, youknow, have a cigarette.
(52:29):
Your doctor was on TV on adsand having a cigarette while he
was doing your diagnosis right,probably for type 2 diabetes,
who knows.
So it seems a bit ridiculous toexpect that a food guide that's,
you know, 40, 50, 60, 70 yearsold, is going to be appropriate.
So if you bend your questionslightly in favor of saying,
(52:51):
well, based on the canada foodguide guide, at that time, did
you have fruits, vegetables,meats, you know?
Did you have variety?
Absolutely everything that wasin.
And because of my trade, I knewa lot of the, the officers that
were in charge of food servicesand stuff, and they were well
trained and you know, and theydid their absolute, very best.
And even when we were deployedin the field if you're in field
(53:13):
operations, particularly in thearmy they tried to ensure that
you got good meals.
But there were instances where,you know, you practiced the art
of war and you ate what theAmericans call MREs, which are
meals ready to eat or IMPs.
They are replete with carbs andsalt and sugar because they're
(53:36):
designed to provide you acaloric intake of X and the
focus is small, c caloric and xis, whatever they happen decide
to to give you.
So you would have cherriesjubilee at breakfast, which is
basically cherries with syrup init.
That's the only difference fromthe stuff that you know mom and
(53:57):
dad bought when I was a kid.
That was was the cut up fruitin a can.
It was basically the same stuff, just just even more
ultra-processed.
And you'd have eggs that we'dopen the pouch and you could
shake them back and forth andthey would move like your tongue
in your mouth.
They'd go back and forth.
They were that rubbery and youknow so.
(54:18):
When you're eating those and ofcourse it's not like I lived on
those for 10 years, I was in theforces but when you did eat,
eat them there was aninteresting correlation to how
often you needed to use thewashroom because you didn't eat
it.
You rented it and that waspretty standard.
And interestingly andretrospectively, you look at
that and go well, yeah, probablyalso because you're under
stress, your body won't.
(54:40):
Your body won't process thosefoods because they're not
particularly great for you.
We know that.
Uh, and then add in thestressful situation doesn't
matter if you're having caviarand steak, if your body's in an
inflamed state, under stress ata point your body's going to go
oh, we're under threat.
This goes back again to the bodykeeps the score and you will
dump everything that's in yourintestinal system, uh and uh,
(55:04):
and you know it's pretty obvious.
So you take 100 folk that arein the woods doing an exercise
and it can be pretty unpleasantin the latrines with that number
of people eating such poor foodunder stress and duress, and
that's part of the training,that's part of being in the
military.
But ultimately, is it good foryou?
No, and that's why there's sucha high recognition now in the
(55:27):
US military for the occurrencesand correlation of diet, what
they consume, when they consumedit, how long they consumed it
for and the stress that theyexperience, and then added PTSD,
and then you can understand whyat least the Americans
recognize the type 2 diabetescould have a correlation, if not
causality, from a combinationof the food they consume and the
(55:48):
stressful environment they arein.
Graham (55:53):
I think it's such an important point and a theme
throughout this podcast is youknow when you're feeling and
I'll wrap it up with this whenwe are getting older, and I
think you know things like type2 diabetes.
Even though younger people arebeing diagnosed with it now,
(56:19):
which is a new phenomenon, itcan affect people in their 40s,
50s, 60s, 70s more often.
And that's just because youknow, over time, if you're
constantly bombarding your bodywith stress and we talked about
a couple of sources of thatstress eventually your body is
going to not be able to handlethat stress anymore and you, you
(56:45):
know, a type two diabetesdiagnosis is a possible uh, you
know end point to your body notbeing able to deal with that
stress anymore.
And I think what Steven's storyum is in why it's so inspiring
is uh, you didn't simply blameyour situation.
Uh, you didn't blame your body.
(57:07):
You didn't, uh, you know, andand leave it at that you didn't,
uh, you know, just chalk up thetype two diabetes, uh, to just
getting old.
What you did is you, you tookcontrol.
And and I think that's a agreat message for for all of us
is you know, yes, you could befeeling old.
You can blame.
(57:28):
You can easily blame yourhealth on age.
You can easily, you know, takethat medicine that the doctor
and certainly we recommendlistening to your doctor about
your health you can easily chalkit up to things that are, you
know, the cause of somethingother than what you're eating.
(57:49):
However, as Stephen soeloquently talked about, there
is an option for you to takesome control and try a different
way of eating.
Try, you know, a sincereattempt at mindfulness.
Try going for a walk.
(58:10):
That's something that many cando, not everybody, um, but uh,
it could.
It could be a swim, it could bea walk, it could be getting on
the elliptical.
It doesn't have to be, you know, um, training for a triathlon,
but maybe the biggest impact canbe taking control of what you
(58:32):
eat.
And if you do take control ofwhat you eat and you do try a
ketogenic or a carnivore diet,you may find after four to six
weeks that having taken thatcontrol results in you feeling
younger, feeling better.
Some things that you otherwiseblamed on age may actually
(58:54):
disappear other arthritis andother stresses on the body that
I was just blaming on gettingolder.
Or, you know, injuries fromsports actually started to
subside and, in some casetotally disappear, that it was a
(59:15):
real eye-opener to you know theconnection between how good I
felt on a daily basis and thefood that I was eating, and
we've talked in past podcasts,and we will in the future, about
what some of those options looklike, and we always recommend
having professional guidance inorder to go down that path.
(59:37):
But there is an opportunity totake control, and the worst case
scenario is at the end of it,you feel the same.
Best case scenario is you canfeel significantly better.
The only way to find out is togo down that path, and so,
stephen, I want to thank youtoday for being so transparent
(59:58):
about your experiences.
One of the things I like aboutyou is you wear your heart on
your sleeve and you're alwayswilling to share a story if you
think that it can help others,and that's something that I
really admire about you.
I appreciate your time and Iappreciate you, my friend.
Stephen (01:00:15):
Thank you very much, graham, I really appreciate that
.
Graham (01:00:17):
All right, Thank you everybody.
Another episode of Lessons fromthe Keto-Verse.
We hope you enjoyed thisepisode and look forward to
bringing you more in the future.
Thank you, Stephen.
Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
Thank you.
Thanks for tuning into Lessonsfrom the Keto-Verse.
Join Stephen and Graham nexttime for more keto tips and
stories to fuel your health.
Subscribe, share and let's keepthe keto vibes going.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2
Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.