#Moffitt Cancer Care Center

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Embracing Holistic Cancer Treatment in Florida: A Comprehensive Approach to Healing

Understanding Holistic Cancer Treatment

Holistic cancer treatment, also known as integrative or complementary cancer care, focuses on treating the whole person rather than just targeting the cancer cells. This approach combines conventional methods like surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation with alternative therapies such as nutrition, acupuncture, meditation, yoga, and herbal medicine. The goal is to enhance the body's natural healing abilities, improve quality of life, and reduce side effects associated with traditional cancer treatments.

Leading Holistic Cancer Centers in Florida

Florida is home to several renowned holistic cancer treatment centers that offer a range of integrative therapies. These centers often have multidisciplinary teams that include oncologists, naturopaths, nutritionists, psychologists, and spiritual counselors. Holistic Cancer Treatment Florida Some of the notable centers include:

Cancer Center of South Florida - Located in Palm Beach Gardens, this center combines conventional oncology with integrative therapies such as acupuncture, nutritional counseling, and stress reduction techniques.

Moffitt Cancer Center - Based in Tampa, Moffitt offers an integrative medicine program that includes acupuncture, massage therapy, yoga, and nutritional support alongside cutting-edge cancer treatments.

Miami Cancer Institute - Part of Baptist Health South Florida, this institute provides a holistic approach with services like music therapy, art therapy, meditation, and genetic counseling.

Key Components of Holistic Cancer Treatment

Nutrition and Diet: Proper nutrition is crucial for cancer patients to maintain strength and support the immune system. Holistic cancer centers in Florida often have dietitians who create personalized nutrition plans that include anti-inflammatory foods, antioxidants, and other cancer-fighting nutrients.

Mind-Body Therapies: Techniques such as meditation, yoga, and mindfulness help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. These therapies promote relaxation and improve mental clarity, which can positively impact physical health.

Physical Activity: Regular exercise tailored to the patient’s abilities can improve energy levels, reduce fatigue, and enhance overall well-being. Programs may include activities like walking, swimming, or tai chi.

Acupuncture and Massage: These therapies can alleviate pain, reduce nausea, and improve sleep quality. Acupuncture, in particular, is effective in managing side effects from chemotherapy and radiation.

Spiritual Support: For many patients, spirituality plays a significant role in their healing journey. An Oasis of Healing Holistic cancer centers often provide spiritual counseling, meditation sessions, and other practices to support spiritual well-being.

The Benefits of Holistic Cancer Treatment

Patients who undergo holistic cancer treatment in Florida report numerous benefits. These include better management of treatment side effects, improved quality of life, enhanced emotional and mental health, and a stronger sense of empowerment and control over their health journey. By addressing the root causes of illness and promoting overall wellness, holistic treatments can help patients achieve a better balance between body, mind, and spirit.

[jobrxiv]

RESEARCH ASSISTANT I Moffitt Cancer Center See the full job description on jobRxiv: https://jobrxiv.org/job/research-assistant-i-12/?feed_id=69892 #ScienceJobs #hiring #research

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Are fumes from nail salons harmful?

The strong chemical-like smell that permeates nail salons is unsurprising given the volume of nail polish, nail polish remover, and other items used there. With the usage of any chemical items, you can anticipate that these chemicals will change into fumes once they have been used in a small area. These fumes will linger in the air of this area and offer a possible opi bubble bath gel nail polish hazard to the health of individuals exposed to it. Nail salons are no different, and because they frequently employ various nail care products that release chemicals into the air, this industry will confront a substantial number of hazards and health risks.

As of 2018, there were just over 56,00 nail salons in this country, and there are currently over 300,000 nail technicians employed here. These figures show the serious effects nail salon gases can have on a large number of people, including both customers and employees. What measures may be taken in these commercial buildings to safeguard the indoor air quality from potentially harmful nail salon fumes, and are there solutions of an industrial caliber to effectively remove chemical pollutants from the air of these environments?

1. Cosmetics for nail salons

The safety and health of the commercial environment as a whole will be impacted by the chemicals found in nail salons, and they may even have a long-term negative impact on the health of those who are exposed to them through the air space to a significant degree. Many of the chemicals that patrons of nail salons are exposed to are typically all VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which can have an impact on the air quality and public health once they are released into the commercial environment of this industry's indoor air space.

Methacrylic Acid is a substance used in nail primers to lengthen the wear time of lacquer on the fingernails. Skin burns and irritation of the lips, throat, eyes, nose, and skin will result from exposure to methacrylic acid. Some people may even experience breathing difficulties when this toxin is present in a salon's indoor atmosphere in high amounts. Toluene: This VOC, which is a chemical found in fingernail adhesive and nail paint, can have serious adverse health effects when exposed to it indoors. Toluene can have a number of negative health effects, such as dry or cracked skin, headaches, lightheadedness, irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, liver and kidney damage, and more.

2. What Do Nail Salons Smell Like?

A nail salon immediately hits you with a potent stench as soon as you step through the doors, and the smell lingers long after you leave. The fragrance typically combines nail polish, nail polish remover, and cleaning supplies used to attempt to sanitize the items and heavily trafficked locations by customers. Lack of ventilation and inadequate fume extractors/air quality solutions at a nail salon may cause odors to accumulate and worsen in the environment, which will result in the potent odor that most customers notice as soon as they enter the establishment.

3. Health Risks at Nail Salons

There are a variety of potential health hazards that one could encounter while visiting a manicure salon, especially for those who spend a lot of time indoors, like nail salon employees do. The Moffitt Cancer Center states that there are several major health hazards associated with nail salons, and these risks can affect both patrons and employees in this commercial setting. Significant health dangers may include ultraviolet (UV) light, dangerous chemicals, and certain cancer-causing substances that are used and created in the salon's interior air space.

Due to their daily exposure to these health risks and the significant levels of exposure they will experience at work, nail salon employees are alarmingly at risk of acquiring and developing a number of health conditions. Many nail salons mandate that its staff members put on safety gear while working, such as gloves, face masks, and aprons to protect their bodies from possible chemical exposure.

4. Ventilation for secure nail salons

The promotion of a secure, healthy environment inside a nail salon business depends on ventilation. Previously, many nail salons have cut corners when it came to establishing the right ventilation and air quality solutions within their places of business, putting more of a priority on the furnishings, nail equipment, and workers. But as more and more studies have come to light kiem nghia and rules have been established by various states and OSHA, business spaces are now being forced to spend more time and money implementing suitable ventilation systems in these indoor locations.

Commercial buildings employ indoor ventilation systems to drive out contaminated air, boost airflow, and help in the process of removing odors and pollutants.

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Moffitt, Saint Leo University Collaborate to Provide Career, Education Opportunities

Community Expo Highlights New Pasco County Medical Research Center and Job Opportunities for Students, Alumni, and Area Residents Moffitt, Saint Leo University Collaborate to Provide Career, Education Opportunities With an eye to the future, Saint Leo University hosted the first Moffitt & Saint Leo University Community Expo today (Friday, April 14) to showcase career and educational opportunities. The Moffitt & Saint Leo University Community Expo was open to the public and offered resume reviews; a career fair; wellness and mindfulness activities; a networking lunch; and informational sessions including discussion of Saint Leo’s nursing, medical humanities, biology and natural sciences, and social work programs as well as career opportunities at Moffitt. Participants had the opportunity to engage in discussions about partnership opportunities with Pasco County and Saint Leo and learn about the exciting cancer research being conducted by Saint Leo students and faculty and by Moffitt personnel and students. Both institutions are committed to developing and supporting people as a whole in body, mind,and spirit, noted Dr. Ed Dadez, university president, during the kickoff celebration marking thecollaboration between Moffitt and Saint Leo. “Saint Leo’s motto is ‘Courage to be More,’ and that is a common thread,” Dadez said about thetwo institutions, with both offering opportunities for people to make the world a better place.“Our vision very much aligns with the university,” said Dr. Kelley Gonzalvo, vice president ofPatient Care Services and chief nursing officer of Moffitt Cancer Center. Moffitt was establishedin 1986 by the Florida Legislature and now has more than 8,000 team members, she said.Moffitt also is expanding into Pasco County, which is home to Saint Leo, with its 775-acreSperos FL, a global center for research, health care, and innovation. Donald Futrell, vice president of Planning, Design and Construction for Moffitt, along with MikeBishop, director of Stakeholder Engagement for the Pasco Economic Development Council, andDr. Mark Gesner, vice president of Community Engagement & Communications for Saint Leo,discussed partnership opportunities for the county, university, and the new Moffitt development. Futrell noted that Speros FL will be larger than downtown Tampa. “We’re building a city,” he said. Approximately 500 of the 775 acres will be developed leaving 35 percent of the land for environmental conservation. “It will blend with the natural environment and be sustainable,” Futrell said. World-class architects also will capture the essence of the environment and provide space that helps with the healing process. A recurring theme for the Moffitt & Saint Leo University Community Expo was that “opportunitiesare limitless,” and those attending the conference were excited about the collaborative possibilities, including internships, jobs for graduates and alumni, training and research collaborations, and much more.For example, the massive new development will provide many opportunities in areas such as artificial intelligence, patient care, general biotech, research, patient care, medical tourism, pharma, radiology, lodging and hotels, cell therapies, and more. When the Speros FL project is completed, Moffitt anticipates its members will number 14,000. By the end of 2027, Moffitt projects it will have 2,400 employees on the Pasco County campus. Not only are scientists, researchers, nurses, and other medical professionals needed, but there also will be jobs in cybersecurity, business operations, social work, information technology, and other fields. Saint Leo Vice President of Academic Affairs Mary Spoto, as well as faculty members Dr. Kathy Van Eerden, dean of the College of Health Professions; Dr. Ebony Perez, chair of undergraduate social work; and Dr. Laura Altfeld, chair of natural and physical sciences, presented many of the educational opportunities that Saint Leo offers for degree-seeking individuals. Moffitt representatives also discussed the needs in their areas. Representing Moffitt were Sean Powell, senior director of care management and social work; Courtney Ullrich, pharmacy manager, and digital health representative; Marc Perkins-Carillo, chief nursing informatics officer; and Sissy Schilling, chief applications systems officer. Ullrich told a student who is majoring in biology with minors in chemistry and education, that the pharmacy area of Moffitt could be a great fit. From medication education to advising people, it all is teaching. “One of the reasons I went into pharmacy is because I love teaching,” she said. A Research Showcase put the spotlight on cancer research at Saint Leo University and Moffitt. Dr. Sergiy Borysov, Saint Leo assistant professor of biology at Saint Leo University; and Moffitt representatives Dr. Aleksandra Karolak, faculty, machine learning; and Moffitt lab students Ishwarya Maganti and Aarya Preetam Satardekah, shared insight into their research. Borysov, who also studied and worked at Moffitt, noted that Saint Leo and the cancer center have practical approaches to problems. “We are providing practical, relevant education at Saint Leo,” he said. “We try to engage our students in so much practical experience.” And those students translate that hands-on learning and research into careers in many fields. “I am so excited about our future,” said Bill Cronin, Pasco Economic Development Council president/CEO, in a statement. Cronin was in the United Kingdom talking to businesses about partnering with Moffitt’s Speros FL.“Saint Leo University and Moffitt Cancer Center are both well-known centers of excellence. Having the two institutions work together to enhance our talent pipeline will benefit Pasco County and the Tampa Bay region for generations to come. These are the kind of partnerships that bolster a strong infrastructure support system and attracts life science companies and venture capitalists. Congratulations to Pasco EDC Policy Council members, Saint LeoUniversity, and Moffitt Cancer Center.” About Saint Leo University Saint Leo University is one of the largest Catholic universities in the nation, offering more than 100 undergraduate and graduate-level degree programs and specializations to more than 15,300 students each year. Founded in 1889 in the Benedictine tradition, the private, nonprofit university is known for providing an education to learners of all backgrounds and ages. Saint Leo is regionally accredited and offers a residential campus in the Tampa Bay region of Florida, at education centers, and through an online program for students anywhere. The university is home to more than 103,000 alumni. Learn more at saintleo.edu. About Moffitt Cancer Center Moffitt is dedicated to one lifesaving mission: to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer. The Tampa-based facility is one of only 53 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt’s scientific excellence, multidisciplinary research, and robust training and education. Moffitt’s expert nursing staff is recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center with Magnet® status, its highest distinction. With more than 7,800 team members, Moffitt has an economic impact in the state of $2.4 billion. For more information, call 1-888-MOFFITT (1-888-663-3488), visit MOFFITT.org. Read the full article

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It is my solemn duty to report that Chief Petty Officer Jeffery Perrone, US Navy Submarine Service, of Ilion, NY, has joined those on Eternal Patrol and succumbed to the devastating effects of advanced stage neuroendocrine carcinoma. He was 2 weeks shy of his 42nd birthday.

Chief Perrone served on the USS Providence (SSN-719) for two tours as Quartermaster based at SUBASE New London, Groton, CT, the USS Alexandria (SSN-757) as Assistant Navigator (ANAV) based at Naval Base Point Loma, San Diego, CA, and the USS Albany (SSN-753) as ANAV based at NS Norfolk, Norfolk VA. Shore commands included a full tour at Camp Ali Al Salem in Kuwait, NSSC at SUBASE New London, and Submarine Group 10 at SUBASE Kings Bay, GA. Chief Perrone was dedicated to his decades long career in the US Navy and was looking forward to a peaceful retirement, and the remainder of his life that was cruelly stripped away from him.

He was a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a medieval recreation society where he took on the name of Gieffrei de Toesni, and studied the history and techniques of numismatics and coin making in the Middle Ages. He inspired many to take up the art, and was inspired by others to take to the battlefield. There was no craft he did not excel at.

He is survived by his wife of almost-9 years Angela, his grandmother Arlene, mother Carol, sisters Barbara and Marjorie, nieces Abigail and Mycena, and grand-niece Elizabeth.

The family would like to extend heartfelt thanks to his care teams at Moffitt Cancer Center, and the James A. Haley Veteran’s Hospital in Tampa, Florida, for their outstanding quality of care.

A private memorial will take place on Sunday, March 26th, and a larger Celebration of Life as an Irish Wake will take place at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations in Chief Perrone’s honor to Moffitt Cancer Center and Semper Fi and America’s Fund. Please write your legislators regarding continual funding of our Veterans Affairs facilities, and demand that they do better in regard to cancer screening and preventative medicine for our active duty servicemembers. Early detection is key.

Rest well, Chief. We have the watch.

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How did Kirstie Alley die? Cause of death revealed

Kirstie Alley! She passed away at age 71 following a brief, hidden fight with cancer that she had only "recently discovered," with Ted Danson and Kelsey Grammer leading the ensemble in raising a glass in her honour. The Cheers actors Kelsey Grammer and Ted Danson offered moving tributes to Kirstie Alley, who passed away Friday at the age of 71 after a brief, personal fight with illness.

Kirstie Alley cause of death.

The actress and devoted Scientologist "fought with enormous strength," according to a statement released by her grieving children William True, 30, and Lillie Price, 28, on Monday. She had only "recently discovered" the malignancy, they continued. It is not yet clear what kind of disease she had. We're sorry to let you know that our amazing, courageous, and beloved mother passed away after a struggle with cancer that was only recently detected. She fought valiantly while surrounded by her immediate family, leaving us with the assurance of her unending joy of life and whatever adventures lay ahead.

Kirstie Alley contribution

Hollywood celebrity was brought on by Alley's breakthrough performance as Rebecca Howe in the sixth season of Cheers in 1987. Before learning of Alley's passing, Ted Danson, a mainstay in the NBC sitcom, claimed he was on a trip and by coincidence chose to watch an episode of Cheers with Alley in it, in which she is proposed to by Tom Berenger. According to him, she was able to portray a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown in a way that was both poignant and hilarious. "She made me laugh when she shot that scene 30 years ago, and she made me laugh just as hard today." I learned that Kirstie had passed away as I stepped off the plane. "I am both incredibly sad and incredibly appreciative of all the laughs she gave me." To her children, I extend my love. They are well aware that their mother had a pure heart. I'm going to miss her. I always thought sorrow for a public figure is a private affair, but I will say I adored her, Ms. Grammer continued.

Tribute for Kirstie Alley

Jamie Lee Curtis, who said on Instagram Alley was "a lovely mama bear in her very real life," is among the other celebrities paying tribute to the late superstar. Lee Curtis claimed there was "mutual respect and affinity" between them. Despite our shared regard and connection, we acknowledged that we had some differences of opinion. She said, "Sad news." One more cheer. She aimed to make everyone feel welcome. She had a great love for her kids. I've never encountered somebody even close to her. I'm very grateful to have met her. Working with Alley on the Look Who's Talking movies, friend and confidant John Travolta remarked: "Kirstie was one of the most precious connections I've ever had." Kirstie, I adore you. I'm confident that we'll cross paths again. A wonderful spirit passed away in Kristie Alley, said Tim Allen, who co-starred with Alley in the film For Richer or Poorer. terrible news Please pray for her entire family.

Kirstie Alley children's

William and Lillie claimed that their mother had only "recently learned" that she had cancer and that she "fought with amazing strength while surrounded by her closest relatives, leaving us with a certainty of her never-ending pleasure of living and whatever adventures lie ahead." "As legendary as she was on TV, she was an even more incredible mother and grandma," Alley's children concluded. "We are grateful to the amazing staff of medical professionals at the Moffitt Cancer Center for their care," the statement reads. Alley had not been spotted in public for some time; her most recent image was in a video that she posted on her Instagram page in early September to promote her Cameo profile. Also read: How did Jack Flint die? Music icon cause of death has been explained. Follow us on Facebook For more updates Read the full article

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RIP #KirstieAlley "To all our friends, far and wide around the world... We are sad to inform you that our incredible, fierce and loving mother has passed away after a battle with cancer, only recently discovered. She was surrounded by her closest family and fought with great strength, leaving us with a certainty of her never-ending joy of living and whatever adventures lie ahead. As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother. We are grateful to the incredible team of doctors and nurses at the Moffitt Cancer Center for their care. Our mother's zest and passion for life, her children, grandchildren and her many animals, not to mention her eternal joy of creating, were unparalleled and leave us inspired to live life to the fullest just as she did. We thank you for your love and prayers and ask that you respect our privacy at this difficult time. With love always, True and Lillie Parker" https://www.instagram.com/p/ClzttqaOXhE/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Final assignment

Moffitt Cancer Center is and located in Tampa, Florida. It is a non-profit cancer and research center. It was established in 1981 by the Florida Legislature and opened in October 1986, on the university of south Florida campus. This past year in U.S.News and world report it was ranked as the number 8 cancer hospital in the nation. Social media is critical for what Moffitt Cancer Center does because it allows them to post videos about what they do and provide for patients and their families.

 Social media also allows them to announce events and dates of said events that they are hosting for either gathering money for research or to create awareness for a specific type of cancer. Moffitt Cancer Center is part of the health care industry. The standards for social media in The health care industry is to share information,compare and improve quality, train medical personnel, love update procedures , and communicate in time of crisis.

Moffitt Cancer Center used three social media platforms. What I have learned from my research is that Moffitt Cancer used uses social media to announce events that they are hosting. They use it to allow users to send donations for their research. They also use it to post videos of the things that they are accomplishing in their industry.

Moffit Cancer Center used Facebook, Twitter,and Youtube. They use Facebook and Twitter the most. Moffitt Cancer Center 's social media objective is to let people know the progress that they are making in the healthcare industry and events that they are hosting to get donations for their research.

Moffitt Cancer Center encourages patients who find out they have cancer that cancer is not the end of their life. They facilitate and influence thru the videos that they post on YouTube. They leave lasting impressions in the hearts and minds of the patients and their families that watch the videos.

Moffitt Cancer Center's critical relationships are with the Florida Legislature and the university of south Florida. These relationships are critical because the Florida Legislature gave Moffitt it's start. The university of south Florida's relationship is critical because that is where Moffitt first opened its doors.

Moffitt Cancer Vs ratings and reviews on Facebook there was maybe two or three not recommended and the rest were recommendations. Moffitt has 4,051 likes on Twitter. On YouTube Moffitt has 4,724 subscribers.

On YouTube Moffitt provides information for patients such as this video https://youtu.be/A0j2zj2ZjOw via @YouTube. On Facebook they post about how patients don't let their cancer affect their life. On Twitter they post pictures of the past and the present.

Overall Moffitt Cancer Center has an amazing social media strategy. I think that it would be beneficial if Moffitt would post more of it's history on Facebook. With all of the videos on YouTube to let patients and their families what happens,how, and why not much that I can offer for improvement.

as for The Twitter account it were To stay up to date.I don't have any recommendations for it.If they would post videos on YouTube of people having fun at some of the events they host they could get more young people involved.

[jobrxiv]

Manager of Sponsored Research Moffitt Cancer Center See the full job description on jobRxiv: https://jobrxiv.org/job/manager-of-sponsored-research/?feed_id=69725 #ScienceJobs #hiring #research

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Seeing the Goode: Maddie's Journey

            Maddie Goode was well liked by everyone. A star student in high school who was expected to graduate with her AA. She was close with her parents, had many friends, and was eager to start her college journey. Goode struggled with her mental health from a young age, but still excelled in all aspects of her life despite it. Her parents had always been open and honest when it came to getting the help Goode needed. Even with her mental health struggles, Maddie Goode always considered herself healthy and never had any complications. She worked just like any other student her age, serving tables at the local restaurant “Long Doggers” in Satellite Beach.

            One night, around September of 2018, Goode was nearing the end of her shift. The restaurant was almost empty as customers were clearing out, but something felt off to Maddie. Goode slipped into a booth and fainted. When she came to, she brushed it off, assuming she hadn’t eaten enough that day. This would happen several times before Maddie and her family would understand the extent what was happening inside Goode’s body.

            Two weeks later, Oct. 18th, Goode woke up with an alarming fever. Attempts to bring it down with Tylenol were futile, and the fever climbed to 104 degrees. Goode and her mom, Paige, visited urgent care where Maddie was tested for flu and strep. Negative. More tests the next day. Nothing. On the third day, Maddie visited her primary doctor for more tests. Day 4 and the doctors decide to test Goode for mono, a test that requires a routine blood draw. This blood sample would change the course of Maddie’s life.

            That afternoon, Goode’s father received a call. It was doctors requesting he immediately bring Maddie to the cancer center in Melbourne. “We think she may have Leukemia,” the doctors said.

            Maddie’s dad immediately called Paige Goode, who was at work. She was in the middle of a parent-teacher conference when she found out. The words devastated her.

            “All I know is that my fellow teachers say they will never forget the noise I cried out,” She said.

Goode and her family immediately met at their house and drove to the hospital together. Two days later, not even a week after waking up with a fever, a bone-marrow biopsy confirmed the severity of the situation. Maddie Goode was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

            “I was almost relieved,” Goode said, “I felt so sick, and they at least knew what it was and how to help me.”

            The doctors told Goode’s parents first, however, Maddie didn’t even remember hearing her official diagnosis. She felt so sick that her memory was foggy.  

            Goode was transferred from Melbourne to Moffitt Cancer Center in an ambulance; she didn’t remember the ride either.

            After arriving at Moffitt, the first step of business was to treat Goode’s secondary infections that resulted in the fever.

            By Halloween, she would start her first session of chemotherapy.

Her doctor, Dr. Shah, had experience with pediatrics, which was helpful to Goode who was only 18 at the time. He developed a treatment plan with a mixture of pediatric and adult medication, to be administered in five separate phases. Some phases would last eight weeks, while the longest one would last 24 months.

Maddie remained under inpatient care for about six weeks.

            During her stay, on Nov. 11, Goode woke up to use the bathroom. She swung her legs onto the side of the bed and stood up, but immediately fell to the floor.

            She woke up her mom, who slept in a cot to the right of her bed every night.

            “Mom, I can’t feel the right side of my body,” Goode said.

Maddie started to have seizures and was taken in for an MRI. A large blood clot was found on the left side of her brain. She was having a stroke. Doctors try to prep 18-year-old Goode for her treatment options, one being an invasive surgery to remove the clot. She was still shaking violently.

            “Whatever you need to do to save my child, I’ll agree to it,” Paige Goode said.

Maddie was transferred over to Tampa General Hospital for surgery. She had no idea where she was when she arrived.

The surgery was a success, but Goode had to relearn most of her motor skills. Her mom remembered Maddie using emojis to text friends when she didn’t have her speech back yet.

“I was a shell,” Goode said, “I could never get through a therapy session without crying because it was so frustrating.”

Goode would finish the rest of her inpatient treatment at Tampa General as she learned to talk and walk again. On Dec. 5th, she was released from impatient care to continue treatment from home.

That Christmas, there was no tree. Things like that didn’t matter as much. Goode was at Moffitt on Christmas and New Year’s Eve, traveling back and forth for weekly infusions while also on a strict regimen of pills. On Valentine’s Day, her date met her at the hospital.

Goode would be admitted, sometimes a week at a time, for higher dosages of chemo. Within a month after her diagnosis, Goode was in remediation. The continued treatment made sure it remained that way. She would chug water in the hospital in hopes of speeding up her metabolism for treatment. As Goode adjusted to this phase, parts of her life started to come alive again. That May, she won prom queen.

A few days later, Maddie woke up in horrible pain. Her foot was throbbing, and her gums were bleeding. She was taken to the hospital where doctors found an open wound from her prom pedicure.

“They told me I was almost septic,” she said. More treatments, more drugs, and the infection got under control. Her nurses set up a mock graduation at the hospital for her, a moment Goode and her PA, Chris, shared through tears.

That summer, plans were in place for Goode to start her freshman year at the University of Central Florida.

A week before she was set for move in, a fever placed Maddie in the emergency room. Maddie and her parents ultimately made the hard decision for Maddie to stay home that year. In August, her friends moved away while she remained at home.

She was still sick. She still had no hair, and now her support system was dwindling. This year was even harder for her than the year of her diagnosis.

“I wanted a job, anything, to make me feel normal,” She said, “I couldn’t even go outside to tan.”

In the spring, she took Chemistry at the local community college.

When summer of 2020 came around, Maddie could not have been more excited to finally go to UCF after waiting a year. She craved a sense of independence that she lost with her diagnosis. Maddie’s mom felt more comfortable sending her to Orlando this time around, because Goode was moving in with two close friends. She would still be going back and forth to Tampa for infusions, but they were less frequent at this point in her treatment.

In August, Maddie registered for sorority recruitment and joined a Greek organization on campus. Her support system was coming back.

April of 2021 brought Maddie to her final chemo infusion. She woke up excited, but still knew she would have oral chemo pills to take for a few weeks. She sat in a chair at Moffitt, the nurse pulled down Maddie’s shirt slightly, and the IV meds entered the port directly below her collar bone for the last time. Both of Maddie’s parents watched as she rang the bell in the lobby to signify her triumph.

Maddie drove back to Orlando the next day where the celebrations continued. Her friend, Samantha Bean, asked her over for some dinner. When Maddie arrived, she was greeted by Sam and other friends with a large cake and printed photo of Maddie. Now more than ever, Maddie held her friends tight. She knew now more than anyone the importance of appreciating your friends, because there was a time she thought she could lose them.

A month later, Maddie was sitting in her bed staring at her last oral chemo pill. She was by herself, with just her music and a decorative gold banner she bought. She placed the pill on her tongue and swallowed before dancing around her room with joy. She had won the fight.

She looked over at the gold banner on her wall that read, “Fuck Cancer.”

Maddie agreed.

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The Importance of Blood Donations

         Every year an estimated 6.8 million people in the United States donate blood and 4.5 million will need a blood transfusion. At Moffitt Cancer Center, blood transfusions are a daily occurrence. Since blood cannot be created in a laboratory and there are no substitutes, cancer patients depend solely on donations.

        Today, most medical care depends on a steady supply of blood from donors, as one in seven people entering the hospital need blood. For Moffitt, as cancer care increases, so does the demand for blood and platelet donations. An adequate amount of blood is needed in all health care facilities to meet the urgent need for patients facing trauma and other lifesaving procedures, such as blood transfusions – which saves millions of lives each year. Donating blood is a simple procedure that can be done within an hour. To donate blood in your local community

Reference: https://moffitt.org/endeavor/archive/the-importance-of-blood-donations/

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Picnic Spots in Tampa FL

Tampa and its encompassing rural areas are hosts to north of 20 medical clinics, four emergency rooms, and various Cancer therapy focuses. Three of the space's clinics were positioned among "America's best emergency clinics" by U.S. News and World Report. Tampa is likewise home to numerous wellbeing research establishments. The significant clinics in Tampa incorporate Tampa General Hospital, St. Joseph's Children's and Women's Hospital, James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, and the Pepin Heart Institute at Advent Health Hospital. Shriners Hospitals for Children is situated in Tampa. USF's Byrd Alzheimer's Institute is both a noticeable exploration office and Alzheimer's patient consideration community in Tampa. Alongside human medical care, there are many creature clinical focuses including the Humane Society of America.

Lettuce Lake Park: Lettuce Lake Conservation Park is one of Hillsborough County's most visited parks. More than half of the park’s property lies in the natural floodplain of the Hillsborough River, consisting of a hardwood swamp forest. The remainder of the park consists of hardwood hammocks and pine flatwoods plant communities. The park is located at 6920 East Fletcher Avenue Tampa, FL 33637 and you can contact the administration by (813) 987-6204 for more information.

Are you looking for the best picnic spots in Tampa, FL? Here they are,

1.  Picnic Island Park: We are located at 7404 Picnic Island Blvd, Tampa, FL 33616, United States and you can contact us by call at +1 813 274-8615.

2.  Ballast Point Park: The park is situated at 5300 Interbay Blvd, Tampa, FL 33611, United States and you can visit the park any day of the week from 6 am-8 pm.

3.  Lettuce Lake Park: Lettuce Lake Conservation Park is one of Hillsborough County's most visited parks. More than half of the park’s property lies in the natural floodplain of the Hillsborough River, consisting of a hardwood swamp forest. The remainder of the park consists of hardwood hammocks and pine flatwoods plant communities. The park is located at 6920 East Fletcher Avenue Tampa, FL 33637 and you can contact the administration by (813) 987-6204 for more information.

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[naturecoaster]

Blood Donations Needed

A national blood shortage is impacting the country, news of the shortage has been covered on a national level, and locally LifeSouth is also experiencing shortages. Blood donors of all types are needed now to help. A decrease in donations during summer months historically causes the blood supply to drop to emergency levels, and that coupled with an increase in need, as hospitals resume elective surgeries and those who did not seek medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic do so, has been detrimental to blood supply levels. LifeSouth blood donors help patients at our local hospitals such as Oakhill, Bayfront, Citrus Memorial, Shands, the VA, Moffitt, and others. A growing concern for hospitals has been expressed as blood transfusions increase. Maintaining a stable blood supply makes sure blood is available when needed for victims of accidents, those having surgery, or patients being treated for cancers and other illnesses. LifeSouth urges the community to donate blood soon. It is a great time to become a blood donor and learn your blood type, or for regular blood donors to donate and bring a friend. Those who received the COVID-19 vaccine, including Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna are eligible to donate blood if they are symptom free and feeling well at the time of donation. Critical Shortage of Blood in the Nature Coast All donors receive a thank you gift, and a mini-physical, including blood pressure, temperature, iron level and cholesterol screen. Donors must be at least 17 or 16 with parental permission, weigh a minimum of 110 pounds and be in good health. A photo ID is needed. LifeSouth’s donor center’s are located in Hernando County 12395 Cortez Blvd. Brooksville; Citrus County 1241 S. Lecanto Hwy, Lecanto and 2629 E. Gulf to Lake Hwy, Inverness;  Marion County 1607 E. Silver Springs Blvd, Ocala. LifeSouth’s bloodmobiles will also be out at many locations in the coming days. Our centers and mobile buses operate 7 days a week. For additional information about donations or to find a blood drive near you, call LifeSouth toll-free at 888-795-2707 or visit www.lifesouth.org. Read the full article

[gordonwilliamsweb]

Stop Blaming Tuskegee, Critics Say. It’s Not an ‘Excuse’ for Current Medical Racism.

For months, journalists, politicians and health officials — including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Dr. Anthony Fauci — have invoked the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study to explain why Black Americans are more hesitant than white Americans to get the coronavirus vaccine.

This story is from a partnership that includes NPR, KQED and KHN. It can be republished for free.

“It’s ‘Oh, Tuskegee, Tuskegee, Tuskegee,’ and it’s mentioned every single time,” said Karen Lincoln, a professor of social work at the University of Southern California and founder of Advocates for African American Elders. “We make these assumptions that it’s Tuskegee. We don’t ask people.”

When she asks Black seniors in Los Angeles about the vaccine, Tuskegee rarely comes up. People in the community talk about contemporary racism and barriers to health care, she said, while it seems to be mainly academics and officials who are preoccupied with the history of Tuskegee.

“It’s a scapegoat,” Lincoln said. “It’s an excuse. If you continue to use it as a way of explaining why many African Americans are hesitant, it almost absolves you of having to learn more, do more, involve other people — admit that racism is actually a thing today.”

It’s the health inequities of today that Maxine Toler, 72, hears about when she asks her friends and neighbors in Los Angeles what they think about the vaccine. As president of her city’s senior advocacy council and her neighborhood block club, Toler said she and most of the other Black seniors she talks with want the vaccine but are having trouble getting it. And that alone sows mistrust, she said.

Toler said the Black people she knows who don’t want the vaccine have very modern reasons for not wanting it. They talk about religious beliefs, safety concerns or a distrust of former U.S. President Donald Trump and his contentious relationship with science. Only a handful mention Tuskegee, she said, and when they do, they’re fuzzy on the details of what happened during the 40-year study.

“If you ask them ���What was it about?’ and ‘Why do you feel like it would impact your receiving the vaccine?’ they can’t even tell you,” she said.

Toler knows the details, but she said that history is a distraction from today’s effort to get people vaccinated against the coronavirus.

“It’s almost the opposite of Tuskegee,” she said. “Because they were being denied treatment. And this is like, we’re pushing people forward: Go and get this vaccine. We want everybody to be protected from covid.”

Questioning the Modern Uses of the Tuskegee Legacy

The “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” was a government-sponsored, taxpayer-funded study that began in 1932. Some people believe that researchers injected the men with syphilis, but that’s not true. Rather, the scientists recruited 399 Black men from Alabama who already had the disease.

Researchers told the men they had come to Tuskegee to cure “bad blood,” but never told them they had syphilis. And, the government doctors never intended to cure the men. Even when an effective treatment for syphilis — penicillin — became widely available in the 1940s, the researchers withheld it from the infected men and continued the study for decades, determined to track the disease to its endpoint: autopsy.

By the time the study was exposed and shut down in 1972, 128 of the men involved had died from syphilis or related complications, and 40 of their wives and 19 children had become infected.

Given this horrific history, many scientists assumed Black people would want nothing to do with the medical establishment again, particularly clinical research. Over the next three decades, various books, articles and films repeated this assumption until it became gospel.

“That was a false assumption,” said Dr. Rueben Warren, director of the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee University in Alabama, and former associate director of minority health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1988 to 1997.

A few researchers began to question this assumption at a 1994 bioethics conference, where almost all the speakers seemed to accept it as a given. The doubters asked, what kind of scientific evidence is there to support the notion that Black people would refuse to participate in research because of Tuskegee?

When those researchers did a comprehensive search of the existing literature, they found nothing.

“It was apparently a ‘fact’ known more in the gut than in the head,” wrote lead doubter Dr. Ralph Katz, an epidemiologist at the New York University College of Dentistry.

So Katz formed a research team to look for this evidence. They completed a series of studies over the next 14 years, focused mainly on surveying thousands of people across seven cities, from Baltimore to San Antonio to Tuskegee.

The conclusions were definitive: While Black people were twice as “wary” of participating in research, compared with white people, they were equally willing to participate when asked. And there was no association between knowledge of Tuskegee and willingness to participate.

“The hesitancy is there, but the refusal is not. And that’s an important difference,” said Warren, who later joined Katz in editing a book about the research. “Hesitant, yes. But not refusal.”

Tuskegee was not the deal breaker everyone thought it was.

These results did not go over well within academic and government research circles, Warren said, as they “indicted and contradicted” the common belief that low minority enrollment in research was the result of Tuskegee.

“That was the excuse that they used,” Warren said. “If I don’t want to go to the extra energy, resources to include the population, I can simply say they were not interested. They refused.”

If you say Tuskegee, then you don’t have to acknowledge things like pharmacy deserts, things like poverty and unemployment,

Karen Lincoln

Now researchers had to confront the shortcomings of their own recruitment methods. Many of them never invited Black people to participate in their studies in the first place. When they did, they often did not try very hard. For example, two studies of cardiovascular disease offered enrollment to more than 2,000 white people, compared with no more than 30 people from minority groups.

“We have a tendency to use Tuskegee as a scapegoat, for us, as researchers, not doing what we need to do to ensure that people are well educated about the benefits of participating in a clinical trial,” said B. Lee Green, vice president of diversity at Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida, who worked on the early research debunking the assumptions about Tuskegee’s legacy.

“There may be individuals in the community who absolutely remember Tuskegee, and we should not discount that,” he said. But hesitancy “is more related to individuals’ lived experiences, what people live each and every day.”

‘It’s What Happened to Me Yesterday’

Some of the same presumptions that were made about clinical research are resurfacing today around the coronavirus vaccine. A lot of hesitancy is being confused for refusal, Warren said. And so many of the entrenched structural barriers that limit access to the vaccine in Black communities are not sufficiently addressed.

Tuskegee is once again being used as a scapegoat, said Lincoln, the USC sociologist.

“If you say ‘Tuskegee,’ then you don’t have to acknowledge things like pharmacy deserts, things like poverty and unemployment,” she said. “You can just say, ‘That happened then … and there’s nothing we can do about it.'”

She said the contemporary failures of the health care system are more pressing and causing more mistrust than the events of the past.

“It’s what happened to me yesterday,” she said. “Not what happened in the ’50s or ’60s, when Tuskegee was actually active.”

The seniors she works with complain to her all the time about doctors dismissing their concerns or talking down to them, and nurses answering the hospital call buttons for their white roommates more often than for them.

As a prime example of the unequal treatment Black people receive, they point to the recent Facebook Live video of Dr. Susan Moore. When Moore, a geriatrician and family medicine physician from Indiana, got covid-19, she filmed herself from her hospital bed, an oxygen tube in her nose. She told the camera that she had to beg her physician to continue her course of remdesivir, the drug that speeds recovery from the disease.

“He said, ‘Ah, you don’t need it. You’re not even short of breath.’ I said ‘Yes, I am,'” Moore said into the camera. “I put forward and I maintain, if I was white, I wouldn’t have to go through that.”

Moore died two weeks later.

“She knew what kind of treatment she should be getting and she wasn’t getting it,” said Toler of L.A., contrasting Moore’s treatment with the care Trump received.

“We saw it up close and personal with the president, that he got the best of everything. They cured him in a couple of days, and our people are dying like flies.”

Toler and her neighbors said that the same inequity is playing out with the vaccine. Three months into the vaccine rollout, Black people made up about 3% of Californians who had received the vaccination, even though they account for 6.2% of the state’s covid deaths.

The first mass-vaccination sites set up in the Los Angeles area — at Dodger Stadium and at Disneyland — are difficult to get to from Black neighborhoods without a car. And you practically needed a computer science degree to get an early dose, as snagging an online appointment required navigating a confusing interface or constantly refreshing the portal.

White, affluent people have been snatching up appointments, even at clinics intended for hard-hit Black and Latino communities, while people of color have had trouble getting through.

It’s stories like these, of unequal treatment and barriers to care, that stoke mistrust, Lincoln said. “And the word travels fast when people have negative experiences. They share it.”

To address this mistrust will require a paradigm shift, said Warren of Tuskegee University. If you want Black people to trust doctors and trust the vaccine, don’t blame them for their distrust, he said. The obligation is on health institutions to first show they are trustworthy: to listen, take responsibility, show accountability and stop making excuses. That, he added, means providing information about the vaccine without being paternalistic and making the vaccine easy to access in Black communities.

“Prove yourself trustworthy and trust will follow,” he said.

This story is from a partnership that includes NPR, KQED and KHN.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

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Stop Blaming Tuskegee, Critics Say. It’s Not an ‘Excuse’ for Current Medical Racism. published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[gethealthy18-blog]

319: Everything You Need to Know About the Keto Diet With Dr. Dominic D’Agostino

New Post has been published on https://healingawerness.com/news/319-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-keto-diet-with-dr-dominic-dagostino/

319: Everything You Need to Know About the Keto Diet With Dr. Dominic D’Agostino

Child: Welcome to my Mommy’s podcast.

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Hello, and welcome to “The Wellness Mama Podcast.” I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com, and this episode is everything you need to know about the ketogenic diet and everything that goes with it, including if it is safe for women or not, its practical applications, how to know if you’re doing it correctly, and what the emerging research says about it. I am here with one of the top experts in the world, whose research I have followed for a very long time, and it was an honor to talk to him.

Dr. Dominic D’Agostino is a professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of South Florida, and a research scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, the IHMC. His laboratory develops and tests metabolic-based strategies for neurological disorders, cancer, and for enhancing safety and resilience of military personnel in extreme environments. He was both a researcher and a participant in NASA’s NEEMO project, and his research is supported by the Office of Naval Research, the Department of Defense, private organizations and foundations, and many of us in the health community who value what he does.

And I’m gonna talk about it in a little bit in the episode, but he also very much walks the walk when it comes to health. In fact, he broke the world record for the most weight squatted in a 24-hour period, and he has also deadlifted 500 pounds on day seven of a fast. So he is both academically and physically an incredible human being, and it is an honor to join him today. So, without further ado, let’s jump in with Dr. D’Agostino.

Katie: Dom, I’m so excited to chat with you. If what I read is true, you broke the world record for the most weight squatted in a 24-hour period and who have lifted 500 pounds after fasting for a week. Which is astounding to me. And I have fasted for that many days but I have not ever tried to work out on the last day. And you obviously walk the walk when it comes to health. You are well known for your research in the ketogenic diet and I want to go deep on the practical and scientific applications of that today. So to start broad and then narrow down, what are some of the emerging applications of the ketogenic diet that you’re finding in your research?

Dr. Dominic: Yeah, so the ketogenic diet started as a medical therapy for epilepsy 100 years ago, and not a lot of people know that. But over the last decade, the use of dietary ketosis has been applied to a wide range of disorders and that includes a number of neurological disorders, metabolic disorders, and even psychological disorders too. In our lab, we study a broad range of things. I would say half of what we do is cancer research, and we do that at the Moffitt Cancer Institute. It’s a very large cancer treatment center near the University of South Florida. It’s its own separate entity. But I would say that in our lab, that’s probably one of the biggest emerging applications and probably more controversial applications of nutritional ketosis is this idea of using food as medicine to treat something as serious and as complex as cancer.

And when I got into this field, there was maybe two clinical trials on clinicaltrials.gov, registered clinical trials, and now there is about 38 or 39 clinical trials I think the last I checked using the ketogenic diet as a therapy for cancer treatment in most cases as an adjuvant to further enhance or augment different forms of therapy. And in some cases when the standard of care has failed, the ketogenic diet is used. So we’ve studied in the past Alzheimer’s disease and different animal models of Alzheimer’s disease and the biggest project we actually have going on in the lab is developing a ketogenic strategy for dietary ketosis or supplemental ketosis to delay oxygen toxicity seizures which limits the Navy SEAL operations because they use a closed-circuit re-breathing device in their covert operations.

So what we do is with the various technologies we have in the lab, we can simulate what a Navy SEAL will experience under certain conditions. And then we test everything from the perspective of a cell to tissues, we’ve used various animal models, and we have human clinical trials at Duke University right now where we dive subjects inside of conditions and push them to the edge of the seizure in and out of ketosis. So that’s kinda like the main projects we have going. We have like a lot of little pet projects on the side, like targeting glucose control, which has implications for Type 2 diabetes, which I think is a very big emerging application of dietary ketosis.

Katie: That’s so fascinating. And before we go further, I’d love to have you define what is the ketogenic diet as there’s thousands of different definitions floating around, and recipes. So what definition are we using for this podcast?

Dr. Dominic: Yeah. I think that’s part of the problem too is that nutritional ketosis is a term used by people marketing different books to food supplements to bars, which are essentially candy bars. The ketogenic diet is the only diet to my knowledge that’s defined specifically by an elevation of a biomarker that we can actually measure with commercially available technology. And you can buy a blood ketone meter at a CVS or Walgreens or you can go on Amazon and buy one. You can get it at Walmart. These devices will typically measure blood glucose and also measure the ketone body beta-hydroxybutyrate. So if you decide to do a ketogenic diet or medical management of, you know, whether it be epilepsy, which was the original application, or weight loss, which is a really popular application in the ketogenic diet for Type 2 diabetes, which has actually over the last five years been very well documented.

You can go to a drug store or online and buy a blood ketone meter and implement, start the ketogenic diet. There are many different…there’s tons of resources online that did not exist at all when I first started studying this over a decade ago. And they tell you there’s recipes on how to, you know, develop, you know, put together meals for a ketogenic diet. So you can start the ketogenic diet and monitor your blood ketone levels and that can guide you on how to best plan your meals and construct your meals with the different types of foods and ratios of fat to protein to carbohydrates, and it’s really that macronutrient ratio that defines the ketogenic diet.

We know if we eat a certain ratio or fat to protein to carbohydrates, which the fat level has to be between 90% to 65% fat and protein levels typically range from between 10% to 25% or 30% with carbohydrates being restricted 10% or below of non-starch, non-sugar, fibrous carbohydrates that essentially have a very low glycemic index. When a diet is constructed in this way, it will produce some degree of ketosis depending on the individual and depending on how those ratios are calculated.

Katie: That makes sense. So some versions of the ketogenic diet can be considered unhealthy. Are there things you can watch out for or guard against when trying a keto diet?

Dr. Dominic: Yeah, for sure. There’s a lot of, you know, ready-made ketogenic meals on the market. There’s a lot of recipes out there that claim to be ketogenic and they may be low in carbohydrates but they deviate from what I would call a clinical ketogenic diet. And to get the full benefits of dietary ketosis, an individual typically has to elevate their blood ketone levels within a range that’s characteristic of being in dietary ketosis. And there’s a little bit of confusion and I think people are using the term ketogenic diet and they’re really just marketing a low carbohydrate diet, which actually has a lot of benefits in regards to controlling your blood glucose, perhaps weight loss, it has an appetite suppressing effect.

Many people believe that a high protein diet is a ketogenic diet and that’s really not the case because if you eat too much protein, the protein can convert to glucose and it can also stimulate the hormone insulin. And this can push you out of the state of ketosis or basically prevent you from making ketone bodies, which we know are beneficial for our brain and our heart and a number of other organs. And it’s that level of ketones, which is indicative of the suppressing of the hormone insulin. And once you stabilize and lower the hormone insulin, that puts your body into a fat-burning mode and it’s the excess burning of fat that actually contributes to elevated ketones.

So your ketones are actually like, sort of, a surrogate marker that can predict how much body fat you’re burning. And I think, from a general perspective, a lot of people are interested in the ketogenic diet for weight loss. And so I think dietary ketosis monitoring that is a very effective tool to basically inform the person how efficiently they are burning fat for energy and their own body fat. As they restrict overall calories, they’ll be liberating, you know, their own body fat but also it’s a combination of the dietary fat because you’re eating more fat too. So that is making ketones, but when you restrict total calories, which it’s easier to do on a ketogenic diet and that’s a big advantage of it because of the appetite suppressing effect, then you’re really tapping into your own fat stores too.

Katie: That makes sense. Is there an ideal range for ketones in something like weightl oss and is that different from, for instance, in the ketone levels in something like fighting cancer?

Dr. Dominic: Yeah, that’s a good question. And we don’t know really all the answers but, generally speaking, if your blood ketones are between…from feedback that I get, anywhere between 0.8…if you’re above 0.5 millimolar, and that’s little m big M, it’s also represented as mMol over liter, millimole per liter, and that’s the units that you’re measuring typically in these devices. If you’re above 0.5, you’re clinically in a state of ketosis and it would be difficult, very difficult to achieve that eating a standard diet, if not impossible, you typically have to fast, you know, about 18 to 24 hours to get your ketones into that level. So if you can formulate a diet where you’re in a state of ketosis 0.5 to typically 3 or 4 millimolar max, my belief is that that’s kinda like the optimal level.

For me, if I stay between 1 and 2 millimolar ketones, I feel like I have the most energy, the most mental clarity, my inflammation is lowest and if my ketones get a little bit higher, I typically have to do things that I have to have follow a diet that’s more restricted in carbohydrates. And I feel better having a little bit of carbohydrates in my diet from things like a little bit of berries, vegetables and, you know, have a little bit of dark chocolate every day. So you can have these things on the ketogenic diet. The more carbohydrates you put in, it can knock you out but the more you experiment with the diet, the more you begin to realize like how much you can add in. And I think there are a lot of benefits to some of these, you know, plant-derived foods and I like to incorporate some of them into the diet.

And some ketogenetic diets eliminate that completely. And I know the carnivore diet has been a big thing and a lot of people are advocates of that and I’m not fully convinced that that diet really is superior to a well-formulated ketogenic diet which would have vegetables. A lot of people with autoimmune disorders, you know, whether it be skin disorders or things like Hashimoto’s disease or other things have emailed me and basically said that a ketogenic diet that’s devoid of plants, that’s more of a keto carnivore diet has been the only thing that has worked to cure their autoimmune disorders. So I think people need to look into this and it’s just not studied enough.

There’s a group in Hungary called Paleomedicina and they have treated like thousands of patients with autoimmune disorders and everything from epilepsy to cancer with a paleolithic ketogenic diet and we’ve recently visited Hungary and saw some of the patient records. And I have to admit that, you know, a paleolithic ketogenic diet, which is basically just all animal products and no vegetables at all, seems to be very effective for certain autoimmune disorders. But from my perspective, I’m still not completely sold on it for like the person who just wants to implement a ketogenic diet as a lifestyle. I think incorporating a more well-formulated balanced ketogenic diet that has vegetables and fruits into it would be ideal. At least I feel it is for me.

Katie: What does that look like? Based on your experience your research, what would you consider the best version of keto diet and can it be done with low saturated fat? I ask because I have the APOE4 gene, and so I’m cautious with consuming saturated fat. And I tend to lean towards mono-unsaturated fat. So can you do ketosis without the saturated fat?

Dr. Dominic: Yeah, that’s a really good question and one I get quite often. Yeah, you can definitely do a ketogenic diet that’s low in saturated fat. So what you want to do in that case is really get more monounsaturated fat. And one way to do that is to probably limit dairy because the biggest contributor to saturated fat in a ketogenic diet is dairy. The early ketogenic diets developed by the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins were almost a dairy-based ketogenic diet because it made it palatable for kids. They were able to get in the calories required for growth. But a ketogenic diet that’s lower in saturated fat would include things like eggs. The fat in eggs is mostly oleic acid so that’s more of monounsaturated fat. So you have, you know, eggs and fish and nuts and nut butters, olive oil, of course.

And then you want to have…you know, if you have APOE4, then you’re right, saturated fat is something you may be concerned about. It does contribute to factors that could negatively influence, you know, your outcomes. But the science is kind of unclear. So shifting from more of a dairy-based ketogenic diet to fish, eggs, and I’m kind of of the opinion that steak is also okay although it does have saturated fat, but you know, steak that’s from grass-fed animals. Pork and poultry would probably be okay too. But from my perspective, and I did follow a dairy-based ketogenic diet when I started this like 12 years ago and some of my markers got really high different fractions of LDL and I got a little bit concerned and I did kind of minimize the dairy to a certain level. I still have it in and I do have dairy every day, but I significantly decreased it and fill the gap, the core gap from fat mostly derived from monounsaturated fats and that made a big difference.

So typically like today, for example, I don’t always do this but I skipped breakfast and had my first meal around noon, which was salmon, and I tested various products people send me were cookies that were made from almond flour and they were lightly sweetened, and that was like my first meal. And that’s kind of all I had eaten today. And then tonight we’re having grass-fed beef by a company called ButcherBox that only sells like grass-fed beef. It’s a service that we subscribe to. They have an excellent selection of meats. And typically a salad and, you know, cauliflower mash or broccoli or something like that. We usually have some kind of beef, fish, and vegetable for dinner and pretty much always have a salad with little amounts of fat.

Katie: Got it. Thre is a lot of opinion on this as well, but what about the need for an occasional carb refeed or if people should eat carbs once in a while to keep the body from adapting to not having carbs, is that something you’d do and what does the research say?

Dr. Dominic: Yeah, I think people really need to experiment with what diet works best. And you know, I’m an advocate of the ketogenic diet or nutritional ketosis, that could also mean supplemental ketosis, for a wide range of things. And if, you know, for cultural reasons and people have different metabolisms in different body types, where like everybody’s like an individual metabolic entity and various food choices associated with the ketogenic diet, they might not be able to tolerate. And I’ve met people who just cannot tolerate the fat content associated with the ketogenic diet. But for me personally, I tend to feel best and I do my best work, whether that be writing or just, you know, cognitive tasks, and even physically, I tend to feel better in some degree of ketosis and not…I don’t follow the level of a medical ketogenic diet, which is like anywhere between like 80% to 90% fat, but I’m typically somewhere around 60% fat.

And just as an example, yesterday I probably had a little more carbohydrates than normal. We have fruit trees on our property so I had a grapefruit at night and I had some blueberries and a pretty big salad and some stir fry vegetables too and like one or two pieces of dark chocolate. So my carbohydrate for the day yesterday was probably about 100 grams of carbs and probably about a third of that was fiber and I was still in a state of mild ketosis because I was fairly active like throughout the day. And now, that may not be the case for everybody. I know some kids that follow the ketogenic diet for epilepsy or other things, the amount of carbohydrate they could have is maybe like one strawberry throughout the entire day. Strawberries are very high in fiber, like, you know, a minimal glycemic response.

But I’m in contact with many different parents, I’ve seen, you know, hundreds if not thousands of dietary plans and I’ve seen the blood levels of different people from kids to adults and I have to say that there’s a lot of variability. And I’ve also conversed with some elite-level Olympic athletes who follow nutritional ketosis and they can stay in a state of ketosis eating about 200 to 250 grams of carbohydrates a day, but they’re also exercising like four to six hours a day and they’re probably at a caloric deficit too. So you have a lot of extremes in this and it really comes down to food preferences.

So figure out what kind of food you like and incorporate more of those foods and that could be…you know, typically most people like fish and chicken and beef and pork things like that, and eggs. And if you are baking, you can use different types of flours that are on the market now. Some of them are nut flours and you can make muffins and cakes, and we make pancakes in our house occasionally. So you can have the comfort foods too. And there are a lot of entrepreneurs scrambling to really enter this space and they’re developing everything from low-carb ketogenic brownies to cookies, to hamburger buns, to barbecue sauce. I mean, there’s so many different products.

We hosted the Metabolic Health Summit just like a few weeks ago and the amount of stakeholders in this space is growing like exponentially, and that’s in academia to clinical medicine, to industry, to media, to just general public. So this space is growing quite rapidly and a lot of these companies are developing products that are really serving the community that I’m networked in. And that includes the epilepsy community, which is like the diet it has a very good track record for, and a number of these other emerging applications, Type 2 diabetes being one of them.

And there’s a lot of different…you know, not one ketogenic diet. It’s not a one size fits all so when you read a study about a ketogenic diet produced a positive effect or a negative effect or no effect, most importantly, the most important thing is to figure out what kind of ketogenic diet this study used. I mean, there’s an infinite amount of ketogenic diets. The early ketogenic diets were heavily based on hydrogenated fats, believe it or not, or even Crisco. And we’ve just, we know a lot more about nutrition now and I believe there’s ways to formulate a ketogenic diet that could be healthy for everybody but it may not be for everybody depending on your dietary preferences, I would say.

Katie: So what about exogenous zones? This is something I actually have not personally experimented with but I actually have some on their way to me now and I am really curious about and I know you’ve done some research on. So what is the role of exogenous zones in a keto diet and what do we need to know about using it?

Dr. Dominic: Yeah, that’s maybe what I’m known for because when I first started studying the ketogenic diet, my goal was to use the ketogenic diet for oxygen toxicity seizures, which are sort of a military problem. The program officer in the military at the time did not like the idea of putting someone on a high-fat ketogenic diet. It was too restrictive and they knew people just wouldn’t do it. So they asked me to develop kind of a ketogenic diet in a pill. So many years ago, you know, I started developing different strategies and one of the strategies would be a ketone ester and the development of ketone mineral salts, which is basically taking a ketone body that your body makes naturally, like a bioidentical molecule, and then combining that with an electrolyte like sodium, potassium, or magnesium.

And then you can actually make these things in a laboratory and develop a powder out of it and then you can consume this orally in a shake or a drink and it can elevate your ketone levels. Beta-hydroxybutyrate is what we measure with a meter. And then that is clinically the state of nutritional or what we call therapeutic ketosis. So it’s elevating an energy molecule in the blood that kind of has a superior energetic value. If your body can make more ATP, which is the energy currency that our cells use, it can make the ATP more efficiently with ketones. And we also know that these ketone bodies have hormone-like effects and their sigma [SP] molecules that can influence certain pathways, for example, inflammation. They can suppress the levels of inflammation, kind of, in the body.

So there are many different types of exogenous ketones on the market. We test them but, you know, we do not sell them. I think some people out there market things like my supplement. So just for the record, I do not have any ketone supplements myself. We do develop various patents and certain companies have gotten those patents. I do like to test the ketone products that are on the market if I know they’re safe and from a reputable company. And then some of those products I’ve put on the website, ketonutrition.org, just to direct people to reputable companies that are making ketone supplement products that at least have a very good certificate of analysis that are clean products that will actually elevate your ketone levels more or less.

So the benefits of these supplements are that when you consume them, they can give your body energy and I view them as just a ketogenic food. They’re calorie-containing food supplements that when you consume them with a ketogenic diet, they can further elevate your ketones and probably further augment the therapeutic efficacy of the ketogenic diet. Now, there are some situations where someone is unwilling or unable to follow a ketogenic diet. For example, some of the disorders that we study in the lab, you know, kids with different disorders like Angelman syndrome or autism or Kabuki syndrome. That’s another thing.

And I don’t have to get into explaining, you know, these disorders but the kids who have some of these disorders, it’s difficult for them to follow certain types of diets. So a ketone supplement that is formulated, and the flavoring agents can make it to taste good, can offer a lot of benefit to kids with these disorders. And you want to target disorders where the ketogenic diet has already shown to be efficacious, where there’s clinical trials and published studies to share, for example, that a ketogenic diet can treat glucose transporter deficiency syndrome, which is something that we study.

So, many kids, they find it hard to follow that diet. So a supplement which elevates ketones, which is therapeutic molecule that can help individuals who have glucose transporter deficiency, that supplement really maybe almost, I’m not going to say the magic bullet, but it can be the therapeutic thing that can help to manage that particular metabolic disorder. And that’s where we really try to direct a lot of our energy and time and effort into not only working on military applications of these ketone supplements but using that science to really develop things that can be used in the clinical field too. And we have a study, there’s an ongoing study at Vanderbilt University that uses ketone supplementation for Angelman syndrome, which is a rare genetic disorder that just happens to be responsive to the ketogenic diet. So there’s an ongoing study right now in kids with Angelman syndrome that’s using ketones supplements.

Katie: That’s fascinating. And speaking of electrolytes, is that something that we need to be aware of and supplement with on keto diet long term, I know there are some sources say you need more electrolytes if you eat low carb and are keto and are there other supplements that we should know about as well?

Dr. Dominic: Yeah, that’s a good point because when you’re in a state of nutritional ketosis just by adjusting the macronutrient ratios, we know that you’re suppressing the hormone insulin. And when you do that, you tend to excrete more water and more electrolytes with that, including sodium and maybe potassium and magnesium, so you tend to maybe get a little bit dehydrated in the beginning. And at the same time, a lot of people go through what they call the keto flu. And the keto flu is feeling a little bit of a headache, you might be a little bit lethargic, and you just don’t feel great. That could be dehydration and what we call hyponatremia, which is low sodium. So it’s actually really important to stay well hydrated and actually make sure you’re getting enough sodium, which there’s initial sodium loss, especially the first two or three weeks.

You don’t necessarily have to, you know, go buy electrolyte supplements. They may help some people but what I tell people is to have like a good quality bone broth or make your own bone broth. You might want to literally salt your food, whether that be a salad or beef that you’re cooking, and that should be more than enough. The diet tends to suppress your appetite and also your thirst so you want to make sure that even if you’re not thirsty that you’re consuming enough water, especially during the initial two to three weeks of the diet because you’re probably gonna be a little bit dehydrated and you might get some cramps and feel a little bit lethargic. So it’s extra important to get, you know, water and electrolytes during that first few weeks.

Katie: Gotcha.

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Katie: And now for a somewhat controversial question, there are a lot of opinions about whether or not women should do a keto diet at all and if we can modify it in certain ways based on our hormones. I know personally I feel like I can do it fine especially if I cycle it and I test a lot of different markers and I handle it well, but I also handle fasting really well and some women don’t. There’s a very personalized aspect to this. So based on your research and experience, do you think that the keto diet is also effective and/or safe for women?

Dr. Dominic: Yeah, I can’t make that recommendation. I’ll give you my opinion. But so you may have trained your metabolism to be…and I think what I’ve observed is that there are women who simply initially they cannot fast at all. They get lightheaded and I mean, we’ve had individuals like almost faint in the lab, if not, you know, faint and just like can’t stand up after fasting. Women, their physiology is very responsive to changes and they could have orthostatic hypotension. They could have, you know, changes in just their brain energy levels. The female physiology, in my opinion, is that it’s much more reactive to low levels of glucose and insulin. So if your glucose gets low, that may have sort of a greater exaggerated response in a female compared to a male.

Males maybe tolerate fasting a little bit better. I don’t know if it’s a male thing to just kind of power through it but I definitely feel that there are physiological differences between females and males that make it harder for females to become robustly fat adapted. And one way to train your metabolism to be more fat adapted or keto adapted is to do things like intermittent fasting and then transition more gradually to eating low carbs and over time I feel like you could train your metabolism. But many women just tend to feel better adding some form of carbohydrates to the diet and I would say I’m of the opinion that a lower-carb diet would just be much healthier long term than a high carb diet and women who just cannot do the ketogenic diet for any reason I would advocate for them to at least do a lower carb diet or lower glycemic index diet and then capping carbs at like, you know, a one gram per pound, you know, or less if they really want to get metabolic benefits.

But I think people…I’m a big believer in self-experimentation. So I think people need to try the diet and see if it’s for them, and to honestly try a ketogenic diet, you have to stick with it for really six to eight weeks. A lot of people don’t want to hear that but you really have to honestly stick with it for six to eight weeks and measure your ketones to validate that you’re actually in a state of nutritional ketosis because once that blood ketone level gets elevated, that’s giving your brain an alternative form of energy and that’s where you really start to…the lights kind of come off and you start to feel a lot of the benefits of the ketogenic diet.

And for me, I went through, sort of, a learning curve to this and it probably wasn’t until the third month where I was like really myself totally, because I started with the Johns Hopkins protocol of like more of a dairy-based ketogenic diet and then I started transitioning off of that and was just doing more like whole foods and less dairy and I just had to find not only the macronutrient ratios but the types of foods that were working best for me. And also, it was kinda hard to get the calories. My metabolism was pretty fast, so it was kinda hard for me to get all the calories that I needed and that initial calorie deficit caused me to lose weight over time, especially the first…I think I lost about 10 pounds the first…without trying. I was actually trying not to lose weight. It was almost impossible not to lose weight.

So that side effect may be a benefit to a lot of people. They like the idea that they can eat and feel fully satiated and still continue to lose weight. And I don’t know of any other diet that can really allow you to do that unless you’re doing like a raw vegan diet, and that’s really hard to do, but a ketogenic diet I think has greater weight loss benefits than a raw vegan diet and it’s actually more practical from my perspective.

Katie: That brings up another point that I’m just personally interested in right now. Well, obviously the keto diet assists in weight loss and I have lost a significant amount of weight in the last year, not from only low carb, I’ve used a variety of methods and eat more food that I previous had. From your own experience, do you have any research or tips on how to gain muscle while still either losing fat or maintain fat loss? This is a balance a lot of people have trouble finding the sweet spot for.

Dr. Dominic: Yeah. So you are hitting on all great questions. So that’s a topic of debate, especially on social media in the fitness forums. Like, can you gain muscle on a ketogenic diet? There’s absolutely…I mean, we published a paper with our Italian colleagues back in 2012, I believe, and it was elite-level gymnasts that used a ketogenic diet and they were able to maintain their strength and they had more remarkable body composition alterations over time. So basically, you know, at the end of the study, they preserved their muscle and they lost more body fat. They did not gain any more muscle than the gymnasts that were following their standard dietary protocol, but so they had a very intense training routine and the amount of muscle that they gained was the same, actually they just maintained. So being able to maintain your muscle while you’re losing body weight and losing fat, like that’s actually a gain because, you know, if you lose weight but still have the same amount of lean body mass, that’s actually pretty significant.

So we established that early on and what we’ve learned over the years is that protein is actually really important. So the standard ketogenic diet requires, you know, a level of protein that’s restricted and in athletes, that’s probably not the best thing to do. So the data, as I understand it right now, from all the data that’s available, suggests that, you know, from a clinical ketogenic diet perspective, they tell you to have one gram per kilogram of body weight and you don’t need more than that. But for an athlete, you definitely need more than that, not only to maintain weight but if your goal is to gain muscle and strength, I would say 1.5 grams per kilogram at least, especially if you have a fast metabolism.

So I’m kind of heavy. I’m 100 kilograms, so for me, that’s 150 grams protein per day. And if someone, a clinical practitioner of the ketogenic diet, was to look at my diet and see me getting 150 grams of protein a day, well they would say, no, you’re nowhere near a ketogenic diet. But I am doing a ketogenic diet because my ketones would be elevated. So I think if someone’s a bit heavier and has more muscle and body mass, they can get away with more protein and they’re actually gonna need more protein to be able to retain that muscle and their need to increase protein higher than what would be a normal ketogenic diet to gain muscle over time.

So proteins are very, very important, obviously, for gaining muscle and the amount of protein you need. If your goal is strength and performance, if you’re an athlete, the amount of protein you need would probably be into that 30% of your diet range as opposed to a clinical ketogenic diet, which is like 10% to 15%. Like you literally need about double the amount of protein. And this gets into, you know, what is a hot topic now even in clinical medicine is the modified ketogenic diet. And that was actually advanced by Dr. Eric Kossoff at Johns Hopkins and the modified ketogenic diet, also called the modified Atkins diet, but the modified ketogenic diet is actually used for adults with epilepsy. And that’s like double the amount of protein than the diet that’s used for kids. And like I said, it’s much higher in protein, about 20% to 30% protein, relative to the pediatric epilepsy diet, which is like 12% to 15% protein.

Katie: Okay. That’s good. And I think that raises another question is what about fasting? I mentioned this earlier in the episode, and again, of course, with the caveat that some women will not handle this well. I feel like I do. I’m actually on day three of a water fast right now and my ketones are about 3.5 and I also pole vaulted this morning. But I’m curious, I know that you intermittent fast and you’ve also done longer fasts from what I’ve read. So what is your take on fasting for overall health and also for things like cancer prevention and all the other applications?

Dr. Dominic: Yeah. I’m a fan of fasting for many years. When I was really into weightlifting and strength training, I was eating like six meals a day and I would get anxiety if I went more than like three or four hours without a meal. So thinking that my body needs energy for growth and repair and that I would be taking a step backwards if I didn’t have that meal. But over the years, I’ve learned that once your body is adapted to burning fat and ketones for fuel that the ketones are very protein sparing and that has resulted in the whole area of science that we’re really focused on now with cancer cachexia, so muscle-sparing effects of ketones.

So my Ph.D. student that just graduated did a whole Ph.D. dissertation studying the anti-catabolic effects of ketones. So what that means is that, you know, if you are following a low-carb diet or doing a ketogenic diet and you do periodically fast, whether you do intermittent fasting or short-term fast or even long-term fast like a week or more, your body is more metabolically tuned to spare that muscle protein. And I think there’s clinical evidence to support this. And also, well, we have some work to be published, once you fast and once you do it a few times, you can actually enter the state of ketosis faster. So if you do fasting or you did the ketogenic diet and get off of the ketogenic diet, do like a standard diet and go back to fasting or go back to a ketogenic diet again, your body will make ketones much faster.

It’s almost like you know when you work out, you have muscle memory and you work up to like a certain level of bench press, you take time off…it may take you two or three years to get up to 200-pound bench press, but if you take a couple of months off, you’re going to lose a lot of that strength but if you start back up again, instead of two years, you can get back up to that level in like two months. Your metabolism is the same way. If you train your metabolism to burn fat and make ketones and burn ketones and you do it over time, the more you do it, the easier it gets and the more benefits you derive from it but also the faster your body jumps back into that fat-burning mode when you start fasting again or when you do a ketogenic diet. So that has pretty important practical implications.

I’m a fan of fasting. In the beginning, I was not. I had to be sold on it. And it was actually the scientific literature, reading paper after paper of the benefits of periodic calorie restriction, intermittent fasting, and ketones, which got me thinking as an academic scientist, you know, I’m doing this in the lab and I’m seeing the benefits. We solve very real benefits in the lab, even survival from things like metastatic cancer that I had to do this myself and I had to experience it myself and I’m kind of a self-experimenter. So over the years, I’ve done up to a seven-day fast, you know, and periodically, I like to do it when I’m traveling, and my wife and I travel together most of the time, but if I’m traveling alone and I know she’s not with me and having to eat because she doesn’t really do a lot of the crazy things I do. If I’m traveling alone, I like to just fast occasionally and traveling, that can be kind of convenient.

So I personally do it, I’ve experienced benefits from it that I’ve documented, and I’ve been in touch with many other people who do this. And I think it really does have real benefits. I think some people take it a little too far, but if you were to do a short-term fast for a couple of days, you know, every few months, I think that’ll really translate to real-world benefits.

Katie: As we get close to the end, I’d actually love to do a round two with you one day, I know that you’re very much in the research and a lot of people listening are women, but I’d love if we could talk about some practical takeaways that we can all learn from your research. So moms, parents, those of us who may not be lifting heavy weights, what are some of the things you’re seeing in the data right now that we can all learn from and adopt and benefit from doing?

Dr. Dominic: Yeah. Well, for women specifically, I think it’s really important for women when they start a ketogenic diet or they do intermittent fasting, a lot of times this scenario presents that women will start a new exercise routine so they’ll bump up their exercise, they will calorie restrict, and they’ll start the ketogenic diet all at one time. And so you have a lot of variables contributing to things that could potentially slow down your metabolism and decrease YOUR thyroid level. So if you are experimenting with a ketogenic diet, I would say keep all variables sort of the same and do not restrict your calories. So just adjust the macronutrient ratios to ratios that would be ketogenic and keep your training the same and see how it affects your body and let your body adapt to that because there’s gonna be some initial stress, you know, associated with the adaptation. And once your body adapts to that, then start, you know, adjusting the calories or ramping up your training and things like that.

So I think that’s really an important practical takeaway because it seems like so many women who start a ketogenic diet or start intermittent fasting also start, you know, they do it for contest preparation or they do it for a sport or to just to lose weight for a particular event. They like shotgun a lot of things at once. So they do ketogenic intermittent fasting, calorie restriction, and overexercising, and simply just overexercising can, sort of, drop your metabolism if you’re over-trained. So I think it’s important to kind of ease into this, more important for women than for men. So kind of say that off the bat. And also the exogenous ketones that are on the market right now really can help people transition into that, help people get through that initial keto flu, as some people call it, or that transition from a carbohydrate-based metabolism to a ketone-based metabolism.

So for intermittent fasting, for example, they may want to break the fast not with a big protein meal, but maybe with a ketone supplement and they can extend the benefits of the fast I believe because your glucose level would still stay low and your ketones would be elevated. And then maybe, you know, two or three hours later, have a balanced meal or a ketogenic meal, you know, for example, they may want to do that. And that has made transitioning into these things a little bit easier for them. And there’s so many resources that are available too online whether it be recipe books, even snacks.

So I do have the opportunity to test a lot of foods that are emerging on the market. Some of them are not on the market yet, but I can tell you there are a lot of, you know, ketogenic chocolates that are coming out, ketogenic brownies, ketogenic cookies, and some of them are ketogenic and some of them are not. But the good thing is that there are legitimate forms of chocolate bars and brownies and cookies and things that are entering the market. I’m a big fan of just whole food nutrition, but some of these snacks are really…these comfort foods are important to have time to time because otherwise a lot of people may feel deprived. And I know it certainly helps for kids because some kids that follow the diet kind of feel ostracized if they’re not able to eat certain foods. So that has made the transition for kids who need to follow it for a medical reason, it has made it much easier for them.

So there’s a lot of practical things that we’ve sort of garnered over the years, knowledge that we’ve learned, and also companies are developing technologies that are making the diet easier to implement and also easier to monitor. For example, Readout Health has a device that’s a breath acetone meter that I used all day today to check my own ketone levels. So BioSense is the device and instead of having to prick your finger and draw blood, you just simply blow into this device and it tells you your breath ketone levels. And I could blow into it hundreds of times and not have go buy strips. You just buy the device and it’s super easy to use. You can download the app and it tells you, it tracks all your ketone levels, and breath acetone is a very good marker of fat oxidation. So the higher that breath ketone level, you know you’re really cranking out, you’re really burning lots of fat if that level gets higher.

So for people, you know, the everyday person, and I know many people are looking at, you know, this approach to burn fat, something like the breath acetone meter by BioSense, you know, without having to stick your finger and pay for all the strips would be a very useful practical device for people.

Katie: Got it. I’m curious, what are you excited for in the future of research? Are there trends that you’re seeing right now that you think are up and coming that we should be excited about in this area of research?

Dr. Dominc: Yeah, there’s a lot of activity in this area and it’s kind of surreal to see because when I started studying this, it was pediatric epilepsy was the only application and it was very marginalized even at the American Epilepsy Conference, but now there’s just so much buzz all over. And the things that I think are gonna be most important in the future are like big health issues. Obesity we know is kind of a big problem but Type 2 diabetes is like a huge problem, especially in the over-50 crowd and it’s a huge healthcare burden. So Virta Health is doing a lot of work and the Virta Health website really documents all the studies that they’ve published.

And you know, a lot of people when they hear that a ketogenic diet can treat Type 2 diabetes, of course, they become skeptical that you can get patients off insulin or their medication but they do and, you know, they’ve proven this. And that’s been really interesting to see that science evolve. And we’re in a completely opposite direction. We’re working with the military and our company, Ketone Technologies, we sponsor research, working with NASA on various projects. And at this point now, it’s really understanding extreme environments and ultimately, you know, trying to formulate metabolic-based strategies including nutritional strategies that can optimize performance and safety of the warfighter, but also the astronaut.

So my wife and I had the opportunity to participate in the NASA extreme environment mission operations where we’re on a crew with astronauts and we’re under the Atlantic and we actually do research for a week or more underneath the water. We were living in a hyperbaric environment and I had the opportunity to do the ketogenic diet for 10 days submerged underwater. And if it was…you know, we’re still analyzing the data from that a couple of years later and we’re preparing for more space analog missions, you know, with NASA this year.

So that’s a big part of what we’re doing now and a lot of time, effort, and money and resources are being kind of channeled into understanding these extreme environments and developing what we think could be a ketogenic strategy for optimizing performance in these environments.

Katie: Definitely. I follow your research really closely and I think it’s amazing just to see everything that is coming up right now, and I’ll definitely keep watching in the future. Like I said, I’d love to do a round two one day if you’re willing, but I’m really grateful for your time today and sharing your expertise.

Dr. Dominic: Absolutely, I will. Thanks for having me on, Katie. Appreciate it.

Katie: And as always, all of you for listening and sharing one of your most valuable assets, your time, with us today. We’re so grateful that you did and I hope that you will join me again for the next episode of the “Wellness Mama” podcast.

If you’re enjoying these interviews, would you please take two minutes to leave a rating or review on iTunes for me? Doing this helps more people to find the podcast, which means even more moms and families could benefit from the information. I really appreciate your time, and thanks as always for listening.

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