Achieving an optimal level of vitamin D provides numerous health advantages, from relief from winter blues to reduction in cardiovascular risk to reduced risk for several forms of cancer. It’s one of the most important nutrients to get right, i.e., achieve an ideal blood level of the primary blood marker for vitamin D, 25-OH vitamin D.

But, even after many years of I and others discussing the importance of vitamin D, I still see plenty of people getting it wrong, often on the advice of their doctors. Sadly, you would think that doctors would be champions of nutrition, intelligent management of nutrients like vitamin D, the microbiome and other issues in health, but they usually are not. If anything, they are experts in the business of healthcare, but not in health—big difference.

So, in this episode of the Defiant Health podcast, let’s discuss some of the finer points that help you get your vitamin D status perfect.

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For BiotiQuest probiotics including Sugar Shift, go here.

A 15% discount is available for Defiant Health podcast listeners by entering discount code UNDOC15 (case-sensitive) at checkout.*
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Get your 15% Paleovalley discount on fermented grass-fed beef sticks, Bone Broth Collagen, low-carb snack bars and other high-quality organic foods here.*

For 12% off every order of grass-fed and pasture-raised meats from Wild Pastures, go here.

Support the Show.

Books:

Super Gut: The 4-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health; revised & expanded ed

In this episode of the Defiant Health podcast, I bring together a number of strategies I’ve discussed piecemeal in past that have enormous potential to improve skin: reduce wrinkle depth, increase dermal collagen, increase dermal moisture, accelerate healing, reduce existing sun damage and prevent future sun damage. Recall that we don’t achieve this with topical application, but with oral consumption.

It’s the dermal layer of skin, after all, beneath the largely impenetrable epidermis, that is the seat of skin health and appearance. If the dermis cannot be effectively accessed through the exterior epidermis, how do you achieve improvements in the dermal layer? Orally, of course. For instance, hyaluronic acid consumed orally exerts dermal benefits body-wide. So let’s discuss strategies that you can adopt that provide smooth, healthy, more youthful skin, but all achieved orally.

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For BiotiQuest probiotics including Sugar Shift, go here.

A 15% discount is available for Defiant Health podcast listeners by entering discount code UNDOC15 (case-sensitive) at checkout.*
_________________________________________________________________________________

Get your 15% Paleovalley discount on fermented grass-fed beef sticks, Bone Broth Collagen, low-carb snack bars and other high-quality organic foods here.*

For 12% off every order of grass-fed and pasture-raised meats from Wild Pastures, go here.

From now through August, Paleovalley is running a Buy One Get One Free promotion on Essential Electrolytes. Also, their 11th Anniversary Sale will be from August 11th to 18th. Mark your calendars for their biggest sale of the year!

Support the Show.

Books:

Super Gut: The 4-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health; revised & expanded ed

In this episode of the Defiant Health podcast, I interview Joyce Laszloffy who personally struggled with a crippling sugar addiction and overweight for many years. She experienced extreme ups and downs, trying to overcome the powerful pull that sugary foods can have on us. She shares how, for years, she managed to hide her addiction from her family and friends, often feeling powerless and humiliated, dealing with health issues including high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, fatty liver, depression and mood swings, until she found the key to finally kicking the habit. She has since taken her ideas to others through her courses, helping people banish sugars in all its forms from their lives with often spectacular results.

Joyce delves into her belief that the problem often lies not within individuals but within the food system itself. Drawing from her journey of becoming vegetarian and vegan, she explains the importance of aligning dietary decisions with personal beliefs and identity. By understanding the psychology and science behind addiction, Joyce outlines why conventional methods such as willpower and restriction frequently fall short. She encourages listeners, particularly women, to arm themselves with knowledge and approach quitting sugar in a holistic, value-driven way to reclaim their health and happiness.

Grab Your FREE Sugar Sleuth Tool Kit now to learn where sugar is lurking. https://get.ikickedsugar.net/freeguide/

You can learn more about I Kicked Sugar and Joyce Here:

FREE 2 Hour Workshop: https://get.ikickedsugar.net/register-training/

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For BiotiQuest probiotics including Sugar Shift, go here.

A 15% discount is available for Defiant Health podcast listeners by entering discount code UNDOC15 (case-sensitive) at checkout.*
_________________________________________________________________________________

Get your 15% Paleovalley discount on fermented grass-fed beef sticks, Bone Broth Collagen, low-carb snack bars and other high-quality organic foods here.*

For 12% off every order of grass-fed and pasture-raised meats from Wild Pastures, go here.

Support the Show.

Books:

Super Gut: The 4-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health; revised & expanded ed

In this episode of the Defiant Health podcast, I interview life coach, Molly Zemek. Molly comes from the unique background of having worked as a Le Cordon Bleu formally-trained French chef for 10 years. She is also a certified sommelier. But, with this intensive background in food and wine, she found herself falling victim to uncontrolled eating and drinking impulses. She then turned her attention to gaining control over her eating and drinking impulses and now, as a life coach, helps others deal with their temptations and impulses. She does so through her new book “Decoding Your Emotional Appetite: A Food Lover’s Guide to Weight Loss” and her podcast “Weight Loss for Food Lovers” where she brings the lessons learned from her own journey and that of her coaching clients.

We also dive into the complexities of managing alcohol consumption, especially from the perspective of a trained sommelier. Molly shares her insights on mindful drinking, including techniques like keeping a diary of alcohol intake and planning intentional choices. Discover how to appreciate the art of wine and food pairing without excess and find new ways to relax and connect without relying on alcohol. Molly's unique blend of culinary expertise and life coaching offers a holistic approach to achieving balance and healthy living. Don't miss this enlightening conversation that can help you develop a healthier relationship with food and drink.

More from Molly Zemek:

MollyZemek.com

Molly’s new book: Decoding Your Emotional Appetite

Molly’s podcast: Weight Loss for Food Lovers

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For BiotiQuest probiotics including Sugar Shift, go here.

A 15% discount is available for Defiant Health podcast listeners by entering discount code UNDOC15 (case-sensitive) at checkout.*
_________________________________________________________________________________

Get your 15% Paleovalley discount on fermented grass-fed beef sticks, Bone Broth Collagen, low-carb snack bars and other high-quality organic foods here.*

For 12% off every order of grass-fed and pasture-raised meats from Wild Pastures, go here.

Support the Show.

Books:

Super Gut: The 4-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health; revised & expanded ed

You have likely heard the headlines: cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia are on the rise. Part of the increase is due to an aging population. But there are reasons that are adding to the increase beyond this. The epidemics of insulin resistance (recall that dementia is often labeled “type 3 diabetes,” meaning that the brain becomes insulin resistant), SIBO endotoxemia, the ubiquity of heavy metal toxicity, and deficiencies of important nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D are likely making their own contributions.

There are a number of strategies that you can adopt, however, that hold potential for reducing your risk for developing cognitive impairment, or at least delay its onset. There are also various factors that you can supplement, some of which hold potential for improving cognition and, in some cases, slow or help prevent cognitive impairment and dementia. But this area is filled with imprecise thinking and, sadly, misleading marketing. To help you get your arms around these ideas, let me introduce you to a concept that makes gaining an understanding of what works and what doesn’t that can keep you on track and avoid pitfalls that waste time, effort, money, and have little to no benefit for brain health. It is to understand what factors provide nootropic and thereby temporary effects vs neurotrophic factors that actually generate healthy improvements in brain health and physiology.

________________________________________________________________________________

For BiotiQuest probiotics including Sugar Shift, go here.

A 15% discount is available for Defiant Health podcast listeners by entering discount code UNDOC15 (case-sensitive) at checkout.*
_________________________________________________________________________________

Get your 15% Paleovalley discount on fermented grass-fed beef sticks, Bone Broth Collagen, low-carb snack bars and other high-quality organic foods here.*

For 12% off every order of grass-fed and pasture-raised meats from Wild Pastures, go here.

Redefining Strength Fitness Hacks Podcast
Feel, move and look your best at any and every age

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Support the Show.

Books:

Super Gut: The 4-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health; revised & expanded ed

In this episode of the Defiant Health podcast, I have a special guest: microbiologist Kiran Krishnan, PhD. In addition to conducting research on microbiome and health issues, Dr. Krishnan also built a successful company called Microbiome Labs, a major provider of unique probiotic products.

Dr. Krishnan has gained an international reputation for innovative thinking on microbiome issues pioneering, for instance, the science and application of spore-forming microbes. His studies have shown that such spore formers can reduce endotoxemia, minimize the damage done by antibiotics, and increase microbial diversity.

In this interview, Dr. Krishnan tells us about a novel approach to skin health he and his team have developed.

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For BiotiQuest probiotics including Sugar Shift, go here.

A 15% discount is available for Defiant Health podcast listeners by entering discount code UNDOC15 (case-sensitive) at checkout.*
_________________________________________________________________________________

Get your 15% Paleovalley discount on fermented grass-fed beef sticks, Bone Broth Collagen, low-carb snack bars and other high-quality organic foods here.*

For 12% off every order of grass-fed and pasture-raised meats from Wild Pastures, go here.

Support the Show.

Books:

Super Gut: The 4-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health; revised & expanded ed

Cancer is, of course, something we all fear, a collection of diseases that strike us down unexpectedly and often put us at the mercy of a deeply flawed and exploitative medical system. So it can help to identify the factors that leads us down this path and take action to minimize such risks. We don’t smoke cigarettes, we try to consume organic foods whenever possible to minimize the carcinogenic effects of herbicides and pesticides, we avoid getting sunburned—advice you are all likely familiar with.

But the microbiome is proving to be an exceptionally powerful factor in causing or preventing cancer, in some unexpected ways. For instance, it has become clear that many instances of colon cancer get their start in the mouth. It is also becoming clear that numerous forms of cancer, from breast cancer to prostate cancer, originate with the composition of microbes in the gastrointestinal tract. It is the one common thread among many forms of cancer. This single insight has the potential to give you enormous control over your lifetime risk for these diseases.

So, in this episode of Defiant Health, let’s consider these cancer-related issues of the microbiome. It is, admittedly, a conversation that is just getting started with many more lessons to learn. But gain an awareness of these microbiome-related issues and you can take concrete steps to address these risks.

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For BiotiQuest probiotics including Sugar Shift, go here.

A 15% discount is available for Defiant Health podcast listeners by entering discount code UNDOC15 (case-sensitive) at checkout.*
_________________________________________________________________________________

Get your 15% Paleovalley discount on fermented grass-fed beef sticks, Bone Broth Collagen, low-carb snack bars and other high-quality organic foods here.*

For 12% off every order of grass-fed and pasture-raised meats from Wild Pastures, go here.

Support the Show.

Books:

Super Gut: The 4-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health; revised & expanded ed

There are a great many emerging ideas to discuss, but sometimes these topics are just not big enough to fill out an entire podcast episode. So I decided to start something I call “Potpourri,” a collection of unconnected but interesting topics that may be helpful in guiding you in your health journey. I’d like to say “Ask your doctor about these issues,” but you and I know that they will, more than likely, know absolutely nothing about these questions because 1) it’s not a pharmaceutical or procedure, and 2) it will make no money for them. But just because your doctor is indifferent or ignorant does not mean that they don’t pack a wallop of potential health benefits for you.

So in this episode of the Defiant Health Podcast, I’d like to talk about hyaluronic acid, the sweetener allulose, and the relationship of Lactobacillus reuteri and reproductive health.

___________________________________________________________________

For BiotiQuest probiotics including Sugar Shift, go here.

A 15% discount is available for Defiant Health podcast listeners by entering discount code UNDOC15 (case-sensitive) at checkout.*
_________________________________________________________________________________

Get your 15% Paleovalley discount on fermented grass-fed beef sticks, Bone Broth Collagen, low-carb snack bars and other high-quality organic foods here.*

For 12% off every order of grass-fed and pasture-raised meats from Wild Pastures, go

Better Animal Handling
Weekly 10 to 20 minute lessons in handling of dogs, horses, and other animals.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Ask a Farmer
Answering questions about Canada's food system

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Support the Show.

Books:

Super Gut: The 4-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health; revised & expanded ed