In this wide-ranging Q&A episode, I tackle some of the most debated topics in nutrition, training, and health — and separate what the evidence actually shows from what’s just noise.
We start with the new food guide pyramid and whether it reflects the current science, then zoom out to look at how the U.S. compares globally in calorie consumption. From there, we dig into protein intake — how much is really needed to support muscle mass and function in healthy adults, and what the best human data actually tells us.
I spend a significant portion of the episode unpacking saturated fat, cardiovascular disease, and cholesterol. We walk through randomized trials, systematic reviews, Mendelian randomization data, and mechanistic evidence to explain why LDL and apolipoprotein B matter, how dietary fats influence cardiovascular risk, and why some popular narratives around butter, seed oils, and lipid oxidation don’t hold up when you zoom out to the totality of human evidence.
I also answer practical questions on fat loss for people who feel burned out by calorie counting — what to do if tracking feels like a full-time job, where the most reliable calorie data actually comes from, and how to approach weight loss without falling into metabolic myths around insulin, glucose spikes, or arbitrary blood sugar cutoffs.
On the training side, we talk about whether the general public should prioritize strength or hypertrophy, what the data says about strength as a predictor of longevity, machines versus free weights, optimal rep ranges for muscle growth, and why different loading schemes can all work when programmed correctly.
I address common myths like creatine and hair loss, explain the biomechanics behind sumo versus conventional deadlifts (and why resetting between reps isn’t “cheating”), and share how I personally eat for health while still applying the same evidence-based principles I recommend to others.
We wrap up with genetics and obesity — how much your genes matter, whether specific variants should change how you eat, and why most people don’t need genetically tailored macro ratios to make progress.
If you’re tired of oversimplified takes, fear-based nutrition advice, and cherry-picked mechanisms, this episode is a deep dive into what the best human research actually says — and how to apply it in the real world.
What do you think of the new food guide pyramid?
- US Leads World in Calorie Consumption
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of protein intake to support muscle mass and function in healthy adults
- Reduction in saturated fat intake for cardiovascular disease
- Effect of Interventions Aimed at Reducing or Modifying Saturated Fat Intake on Cholesterol, Mortality, and Major Cardiovascular Events: A Risk Stratified Systematic Review of Randomized Trials
- Butter and Plant-Based Oils Intake and Mortality
- Causal relationship between apolipoprotein B and risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: a mendelian randomization analysis
- Effect of long-term exposure to lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol beginning early in life on the risk of coronary heart disease: a Mendelian randomization analysis
What do you suggest to lose weight if I already tried Carbon Diet Coach and counting calories feels like a full time job?
Where is the most reliable data for tracking calories?
Do you recommend strength or hypertrophy training for the general public? Which should they focus on?
- Strength, but not muscle mass, is associated with mortality in the health, aging and body composition study cohort
- Association of Muscle Strength With All-Cause Mortality in the Oldest Old: Prospective Cohort Study From 28 Countries
- Muscular Strength as a Predictor of All-Cause Mortality in an Apparently Healthy Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Data From Approximately 2 Million Men and Women
What do YOU eat for optimal health?
Jay Feldman on his podcast “The Energy Balance” made critique of your position on seed oils, based on what they seem to think is the ‘big picture’ of animal studies, human studies, and mechanistic data that believe people like you and Alan Aragon downplay (lipid peroxidation, mitochondrial dysfunction, etc), and that you end up blaming people instead of the food industry. What is your take?
- Dietary intake and biomarkers of linoleic acid and mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies
- Biomarkers of Dietary Omega-6 Fatty Acids and Incident Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality: An Individual-Level Pooled Analysis of 30 Cohort Studies
- Reduction in saturated fat intake for cardiovascular disease
- Effect of Interventions Aimed at Reducing or Modifying Saturated Fat Intake on Cholesterol, Mortality, and Major Cardiovascular Events: A Risk Stratified Systematic Review of Randomized Trials
- Butter and Plant-Based Oils Intake and Mortality
- Causal relationship between apolipoprotein B and risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: a mendelian randomization analysis
- Effect of long-term exposure to lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol beginning early in life on the risk of coronary heart disease: a Mendelian randomization analysis
- Overfeeding Saturated Fat Increases LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) Aggregation Susceptibility While Overfeeding Unsaturated Fat Decreases Proteoglycan-Binding of Lipoproteins
- Saturated fat–rich diet enhances selective uptake of LDL cholesteryl esters in the arterial wall
- Overview of OxLDL and Its Impact on Cardiovascular Health: Focus on Atherosclerosis
- Lipoprotein oxidation in cardiovascular disease: chief culprit or innocent bystander?
Where do you stand on genetics and obesity? Do you see a time where macro adjustments are necessary based on genetic variants? For example I have a variant that makes me metabolize carbs slower than others? Should I adjust carbs down?
- Genetic contributors to obesity
- Ethical Family Interventions for Childhood Obesity
- Children’s behaviour and childhood obesity
There is so much talk about glucose and insulin and how you have to keep glucose levels under 110mg/dl in order to lose weight and keep it off. Can you explain this?
- Short-term alterations in carbohydrate energy intake in humans. Striking effects on hepatic glucose production, de novo lipogenesis, lipolysis, and whole-body fuel selection
- Tracing the fate of dietary fatty acids: metabolic studies of postprandial lipaemia in human subjects
- Obesity Energetics: Body Weight Regulation and the Effects of Diet Composition
Machines vs. free weights?
Does creatine cause hair loss?
- Does creatine cause hair loss? A 12-week randomized controlled trial
- Three weeks of creatine monohydrate supplementation affects dihydrotestosterone to testosterone ratio in college-aged rugby players
Is sumo cheating and why do you stand back up and let go of the bar between reps?
- An electromyographic analysis of sumo and conventional style deadlifts
- A Biomechanical Comparison Between Conventional, Sumo, and Hex-Bar Deadlifts Among Resistance Trained Women
- Anthropometrical Determinants of Deadlift Variant Performance
What is the best rep range for hypertrophy?
- Effects of Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Well-Trained Men
- Strength and Hypertrophy Adaptations Between Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
- Effects of Low-Load, Higher-Repetition vs. High-Load, Lower-Repetition Resistance Training Not Performed to Failure on Muscle Strength, Mass, and Echo Intensity in Healthy Young Men: A Time-Course Study
- Muscle hypertrophy and strength gains after resistance training with different volume-matched loads: a systematic review and meta-analysis
