Well with Arielle Lorre - 411: The Science of Metabolism: How to Burn More Fat & Break Plateaus with Dr. Latt Mansor

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

Dr. Latt Mansor is a researcher and global expert in metabolic health, with a PhD from Oxford in physiology, specializing in nutrition, ketones, and human performance. He joins the show to break down what really drives metabolism, energy, and weight loss. We dive into common myths, the truth about fast vs. slow metabolism, and what to do when you hit a weight loss plateau. Dr. Mansor explains how hormones, stress, and nutrient deficiencies affect fat burning and wellbeing, how carb cycling can work to your advantage, and why ketones may be a powerful tool—not only for metabolism, but also for anxiety, sleep, and sustained energy. We also compare ketones to caffeine and GLP-1s, giving you science-backed insights to cut through the noise and optimize your health.This episode is brought to you by Ketone-IQ, Boncharge, Ro Body, Puori, Fatty15, OurPlace, and Purely Elizabeth.Visit https://ketone.com/WELL for 30% OFF your subscription order PLUS receive a free gift with your second shipment—or find Ketone-IQ at Target stores nationwide and get your first shot free!Save 15% off my favorite Red Light Face Mask by using code BLONDE at www.boncharge.com.Go to ro.co/BLONDE to see if your insurance covers GLP-1s for free.Use promo code BLONDE at Puori.com/BLONDE for 20% off.Visit fatty15.com/WELL and use code WELL at checkout for an additional 15% off their Starter Kit.Go to fromourplace.com/BLONDE and use code BLONDE for 10% off sitewide.Visit purelyelizabeth.com and use code WELL at checkout for 20% off.Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.Produced by Dear Media.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The following podcast is a dear media production. This is Well, a podcast about wellness in all its forms. I'm Ariel Laurie, and each week I'm sharing unfiltered conversations with people shaping how we feel, live, and look. Come for the substance, stay for the honesty, and leave with the tools to be well, inside and out. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the show.

I have such a fascinating episode for you today. we are talking all things, metabolism, metabolic health, nutrition, performance. So get ready to learn a little and maybe even take some notes. My guest is so incredibly smart. And I did say to him in the beginning of this interview, talk to us like we are kindergartners because this is such valuable, important information that is applicable to all of our lives. but, you know, we need to dumb it down a little bit maybe so that we can understand it. I'm not speaking for you guys. I'm speaking for myself. So I think you're really going to love this conversation. I'm talking to Dr. Latmancer. He holds a PhD in physiology, anatomy, and genetics from the University of Oxford, where his research focused on the metabolism of type 2 diabetic heart in hypoxia. He also holds a master's from Columbia and a bachelor's in biotechnology. He is a world expert in physiology and metabolism and consults

with elite sport, military, clinical, and research organizations, including ketone IQ, which we talk a little bit about today and you'll learn about in this episode. So we are breaking down what really drives metabolism, energy, and weight loss. So we dive into common myths about metabolism, such as fast and slow metabolism. You might be surprised to learn about that. We talk about what to do when you hit a weight loss plateau. He explains how hormones stress, nutrient deficiencies, all of the above affect fat burning and well-being.

We talk carb cycling and how to use that to your advantage. We talk about how and when and why ketones might be a powerful tool, not only for your metabolism, but also for anxiety, sleep, sustained energy. We compare ketones to caffeine and gel. P-1s. So he really gives you science-backed insights into how to cut through the noise and optimize your health. And something that I appreciate about Dr. Latt is that he is really a proponent of getting the foundation really solid, meaning the things that you can easily control, the levers that you can pull in your life when it comes to things like diet, exercise, sleep, stress management,

and how you really have to have all of that down before you even consider any kind of supplementation. so I thought that that was really refreshing to learn. I do really love ketone IQ. So we get into that in this episode. I love taking it, especially before I do a podcast interview or before important meetings because I get this kind of clarity and alertness, but also a calm. And we go into why that happens. So you'll learn about that.

And if you guys want to try ketone, you can save 30% off your first subscription order and get a free six pack of ketone IQ. At ketone.com slash well, we will put it in show notes as well. So please enjoy Dr. Latmancer. I loved your interview with Mindy as well. Mindy Peltz. Because they'd re-released it. Oh, they did. Yeah, that was the second. I was wondering. Yeah, it was a while ago. Okay.

We did and we released it about, I think, a year ago. And then they decided to re-release it. And then it sort blew up. Like my Instagram, like people reaching out and there was this lady who lost 200 pounds. And she was like, I did like intermittent fasting and everything. like thank you so much for the information. And she was reaching like 3.8 millimola of ketones, blood ketones in like for a three-day fast. And she was like, oh, is it high enough? Like that's way high.

Like you just need above one for any therapeutic purposes. Huh. Because a lot of people, they watch Peter Atier's video with Chris Hemsworth and they were doing like a week, like fasting or whatever or like four days or. And then they reach like 2.5 and they think that that's the gold standard. But actually in a lot of therapeutic studies, they are aiming for above one and that's more than enough. Oh, wow. And that woman was at 3 something? 3.8. Oh, my gosh. Is there a point where it becomes dangerous?

Yes, if you're diabetic. Okay. If you're diabetic, it will get into diabetic ketoacidosis because your body might think that you're starving and you don't have good glucose control and then it goes into the state where the environment is too acidic and then your organ start failing. But generally, the body is quite good at regulating it. And yeah, I mean, if you drink ketones, like ketone ester, the ketone IQ, it doesn't do that. It doesn't go further up more than like 2.5 generally. But ketone esters is a different type of exorogyns ketones.

You can get up to like 7-8, which at that point, people started to get sick. Got it. They just start puking and all that. We've done that with the military. Yeah, I want to talk about the military research as well. As I was preparing for this interview, you know, it's very science-heavy, very scientific. We were just talking a little bit about how to read research and all of that, but I think it gets overwhelming for the layman. So I would love for you to talk to us like we're in elementary school today.

Okay. I'll do my best. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that, you know, your language is very scientific, but you do have a way of distilling this to make it really digestible. It's a work in progress. It was definitely a learning curve for me. And I always believed, I mean, my PhD supervisor back in, you know, when I was doing my PhD, she told me that the best experts, when you know that you're an expert is when you're able to explain your field and your subject matter in the layman's term. And for people who have no idea what you're talking about to understand exactly what you are explaining, I think that signifies that you are an expert in that field.

Otherwise, you're just putting a bunch of jargons together and make yourself sound intelligent. Yeah. Well, I think you do that very well. I've been listening to a lot of interviews and all over your social media and everything preparing for this. So I'm excited to talk to you today. To start, I would love to do kind of a rapid fire round. I love doing this with guests because I feel like it just gets us kind of in the mode. So we're going to be talking today about metabolism and burning energy and glucose and ketones, all of that. I would love to ask you to start what's one metabolic myth you wish people would stop believing. Oh, that's a good one. Metabolic myth. That weight gain and weight loss

is not linear and metabolism is not linear. What I'm meaning to say is that a lot of people think that, oh, if I do this, this is their results and then it will happen consistently over the next three months. It doesn't work like that. Our body will reach a certain level and then it plateaus and then it needs to recalibrate what is the new normal and then you probably see more improvements after. So a lot of people, they get demotivated and disappointed at that plateauing level and they gave up. The whole point is to trust the process and really push through those plateaus. Yeah, and you've had this experience yourself, right? Because you lost, what was it, 20 pounds of fat? Yeah, in the past year. In a year. So I want to dive into that as well.

because that kind of informs a lot of what we're going to be talking about today as well. But really quick, let's see, what's one food you personally think is overrated for health? One food? Milk? Milk? So one of my most viral videos is talking about milk. Oh, I love it. Dive in. And a lot of people say, oh, raw milk versus pasteurized milk versus, you know, organic milk and the sources. And previously, the commercial milk has, like, all these hormones in it. And they've proven that this, This caused, like, you know, health problems. And ever since, it has been taken out in a lot of companies selling milk and a lot of questions coming out from my audience and my followers asking.

So what can I drink? Like, can I not drink milk at all? I'm like, no, if you like, like, find a responsibly sourced milk product that is free of hormones. And most companies now, they actually declare on their website on their product that it is free of the growth hormone and all of that. So you can still drink it. But do we necessarily need it? I don't think so because the nutrients that we get from milk, we can also get it from other foods.

Calcium we can get it. Vitamin D, we can get it from other sources with from vegetables, from nuts, from spinach. Now, having said that, it's like, if you do enjoy your milk and you eat cereal, then go for it. If you want to go for an alternative, like nut milk or whatnot, then so be it. So it's not a holy grail that people would die on the hill for.

Do you know what I mean? It's an overrated product. Big milk had a chokehold on us in the 90s with the dot milk. Exactly. And me coming from Asia, a lot of Asians are lactose intolerant as well. So I think that gives me the perspective of actually, you know, yeah, babies, sure, like breast milk, you know, you're growing up and all that. But Carl's milk as an adult, do you need it? No, no, really. But we don't need a lot of different kind of food. That's why we have such a variety of different foods to choose from. I love it. Okay, what's your favorite health hack that actually works? I feel like I might know this one. Favorite, you know, life hack is basically like making sure the foundation of my lifestyle is set, my sleep, my stress management, my exercise movement, my nutrition. All of that needs to be in place to be healthy and strong and all of that. And ketone IQ supplements as an exorgynous ketones, it helps me get there. It helps me sleep better.

it helps me work out better because it gives me the energy. And it also helps me go into better sort of calorie deficit because it has a slight episode suppression effect. So overall, like that as a supplement really calls to me as to what my goals are and what my actions towards my goals are. And that complements it very nicely. Yeah. And you've spent your career studying the metabolism, right?

So I would love to start with just explaining what the metabolism is in layman's terms? Yeah, sure. So metabolism is essentially our body's way of creating energy. And it's usually being divided into anabolism and catabolism. And anabism is to build. Catabolism is to break down. So a lot of people don't understand is they think metabolism is just us breaking down foods and create energy.

But the opposite is also true. we constantly build and break down at the same time. So if you think about it, if you work out, you damage your muscles. If you don't build back those muscle cells, if you don't build the recovery, then you won't recover if it's just breaking down. We just, then we're just breaking down and we'll just reduce to nothing. So our body constantly built and break down substrates to create energy and that balance is very important and that the overall arching theme is metabolic health so that's that's metabolism and what are those substrates what's an example of that so examples of substrate so whenever and we'll talk a lot

about substrates in this in this episode I love this question because a lot of people that are what are substrates so whenever I talk about substrates I refer to maconutrients which are fats, carbohydrates, or proteins. Now, proteins granted, we do not want to break it down because proteins are one of the most valuable resources and substrate in the body. So our bodies will usually burn of glucose first and then fat, and we have a lot of fat storage.

After about 20 to 40,000 calories of fat storage within our bodies, depending on how big you are. And ketones now are also considered as one of the macronutrientrine. And we talk about this a lot where we refer ketones as the fourth micronutrient because it does enter the cell in the same way as glucose and fats and being metabolized in the mitochondria and create energy. And when people work out typically, are they burning glucose or are they burning fat? I know that zone two is so popular right now and that's when you're burning fat, right? But what is the process? Like when somebody goes to work out, say that they're doing strength

training, maybe a little cardio. Is there an order that it goes in? Do you burn glucose and then enter that zone two and burn fat? Or what's happening in the body? That's a good question too, because just last week I was telling my friend at the gym, I was like, oh my God, look at these people on the treadmills. Nobody's running. Everyone's walking uphill because everyone's understanding the meaning of like the zone two workout and they all want to burn fat. And I think the question whether, you know, do we burn fat first or glucose first? It all depends. on the intensity. And there is a way to measure this as well, where they would put a mask on you and they will measure your respiratory exchange ratio. Basically, they measure your oxygen going in

and carbon dioxide going out. And basically, the more intense the exercise, the more you are burning glucose. And then the less intense exercises, you will be burning fat. And I'll tell you why the rationale behind it as well. If you look at the biochemistry, history. Glucose, the first step of glucose metabolism is glycolysis. And glycolysis requires no oxygen to create ATP. And ATP is an energy source within the cell. So whenever we talk about energy, we talk about ATP. So because glycolysis does not require oxygen, you can produce very quick form of ATP without having oxygen in. So if you think about intense exercise, you are going anaerobic. That's why it says anaerobic, because you

are not getting enough oxygen to fuel your cells to create ATP. So that's where glucose becomes more advantages because it can create those ATP without oxygen, right? So then when you go into zone two or a less intense exercise, your body has time to take in all the oxygen and then use the fat because fat will need the oxygen to create ATP. So you see you see one over the other. It's because of the intensity. It's because of the presence of oxygen and which pathway is more advantages in providing you with the energy that you need at that point. And there are benefits to burning glucose as well, right?

What are some of those? I think glucose is some, it's also over demonized. I think both fat and glucose are demonized, depending on which camp you are in. And I am of the camp that if you know how to use these substrates or if you train your body to use these substrates efficiently, then none of them should be demonized. I think they are simply fuel for your body. How you consume it and how you use it,

it depends on you. Overconsumption of any substrate will lead to excess of calories and that will lead to all these other health problems. So burning glucose, you know, for like I said earlier, anything that is intense, if you have to run to get the bus, you'll need glucose. And even if you fast, right, if you fast for three days, you haven't had any food. Your glycogen stores, which is your main glucose

stores in the body, should have depleted. But if you measure your blood glucose, you will still be at baseline level, because your body needs glucose to function. Some organs, for example, the brain primarily uses glucose. But we know that when ketones are present, it does take up ketones preference. But other than that, like the body is trained to use glucose as well. The problem we have now as a modern society is that we overconsume. We are having a obesity and diabetes epidemic. And a lot of people are striving to now, you know, burn the fat storage that they have accumulated.

And that's why they say, you know, cut down the sugar, especially processed sugar. It's just cutting down overall consumption of calorie, go into a calorie deficit. and then that will allow you to start burning the fat storage that you've accumulated. And when it comes to metabolism, I think that there is this attitude that, like, you either have a fast metabolism or a slow metabolism. You probably hear this all the time. And I heard you talk about this on another podcast, and you were explaining what is a fast metabolism. Like, what does that actually mean? And a slow metabolism. And at the end of the day, this is all in our control, right? So we think that it's the set thing. And to your

point what you said earlier. We think that it's linear. So why don't you break that down for us a little bit and dispel that myth? You're really asking all the hard questions today. So yes, if you look at basal metabolic rate, so metabolism in general, it's not just a basal metabolic rate, right? Like you have your metabolism while you're exercising, you have your metabolism while you're not doing anything and just sitting down, you're resting metabolic rates and all of that. So your basal metabolic rate is what most people, you know, when they talk about fast and slow metabolism. And even that varies between people because I believe, like, if you take a obese person, their metabolism, the numerical number may be much higher than a skinnier person.

But that doesn't mean that they have high metabolism. But it's just because they have so much storage that the body is trying to keep up by increasing metabolic rate, but they are still having a calorie surplus, so they're still eating more than they can burn, and therefore they're accumulating all that fat. So numerically, it could vary between people, even between days. I have measured using the in-body scan what my metabolic rate is between today and tomorrow, and if I increase my calorie intake the next, like today, and then I measure it the next day, my metabolic rate actually increases. So it really varies. It's not like a set number. There is a range of...

obviously, and that works for all things metabolism. That works for all things cellular because we always work within a range. There's no, you know, as much as our brains would love that there is a set number, goal that we can reach, they are always fluctuating between, you know, X and Y. So people who have quote unquote fast metabolism, it's just that your body is more efficient at burning these fuels. So therefore, depending on what your lifestyle is, if you're active, if you're also eating correctly, then you can eat, there is more leeway for you to eat more food or more

unhealthy foods. So you see your friends who are like eating that burger, eating, you know, all this processed food and they're like lean. It's because they have trained, either they have, obviously genetics play a role here, but they probably also have trained their bodies to be able to burn those. But is it good long term? I don't think so. But that gives you the leeway to. That's what I tell myself. It's like, I don't have that. where I don't have that genetics because my family, most of them are obese and I get fat very easily if I don't look after what I eat. So I don't have that privilege. What I do have privilege of is the knowledge that I can use this to then control what I eat and control how I live my life

so that I can still be within that healthy range and optimal range. vacancy can chaotic be, but who zorgloos an auto huert says, Uno, no stress. No, no risk.

No, noverwashed costs, always fullled forsovue without care. Go to your reiseadvisor or Sunnycars.

combe. Since we are talking about diet and fitness and being in our best shape in this episode, let's talk protein powders.

If you are taking protein powder, you definitely need to hear this. know pretty much everybody is. So the Clean Label Project recently tested 160 top-selling protein powders in the U.S. and found that nearly half exceed the Proposition 65 safety thresholds for lead, which is definitely not what you want from products that are designed to support your health, especially if it's something that you are consuming daily. And to make matters worse,

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superfood seeds like chia, quinoa, and amaranth. they have a really unique, salty, sweet taste, and they're baked with coconut oil and sustainably sourced coconut sugar. So refined sugar-free, unlike so many cereals and granolas on the market, they're also certified USDA organic. And you guys will absolutely love it right now. You can get 20% off at purelyelisabeth.com and use the code well at checkout. Again, that's purelyelisabeth.com. The code is well for 20% off. Purely Elizabeth. taste the obsession. What are some factors that influence the metabolism and somebody who might be doing all of the right things? You know, because there are people out there who are working out,

they're dieting, they're limiting their caloric intake, they're eating, you know, unprocessed foods, and they still can't seem to move the needle at all. So, I mean, do things like hormones and stress and all of that influence the metabolism and genetics where some people just can't. can't do it without the help of, you know, maybe a GLP1 or a ketogenic diet, things like that. I think the answer to that question, I'm going to answer that in like the two-prong approach. One is that, as we talked about earlier, they could be hitting the plateau that we were talking about, that they just need to go through it for a few more months or a few more weeks before they see results, right? Now, I do understand the struggle because I've gone through it myself

and it is very hard to believe, like, am I doing the right thing? Am I hitting a wall here because of the plateau or because of some biological limits that I'm hitting? And one way to find out, and that's the second part of the answer, is to look at your hormones. Like you said, your hormones, your stress level. And one thing I learned in the past year where I lost the 20 pounds of fat was working with Dr. Florence Comite. She runs a precision medicine center where they took my blood. they looked at every single biomarker they can look at, including hormones, including all the micronutrients, and looking at what I'm deficient in, what I'm good at, and then commend supplements

that could help with that. So one of the things that we optimized was my testosterone. Even though my testosterone wasn't on the low side, it was around 500, which is pretty much average. And they still wanted to increase that to about 800, 900 and free testosterone about 180. So for men, that's the number that they sort of recommended me to reach. And that really helped me with my energy level, with my workouts, with my recovery as well. So that helps with the overall lifestyle that you are trying to incorporate. So I think if there's a message I can send or I can share with the audience is that change one step at a time, that way you can figure out what works for you. And then when you already accumulate it, say, 10 steps and it's still not working, that's

when you should look into your blood work and your hormones and your stress because all the other stuff are easier, like sleep and stress management and nutrition. All of that are within your control, pretty much. So make sure those are already dialed in and then you look at something more biological and more genetic space. That's good advice because I think that people are so overwhelmed by the health and wellness space right now and feel like they have to completely overhaul everything and get all of the blood work.

And if you can do that, great. But, you know, it seems like what you're saying is like you have to get the foundational things down before you do that. And sometimes those foundational things can be the solution. I'm sure there are people who don't have to go the blood work route. I mean, I think everybody should be getting blood work, you know, yearly at least. to understand what's going on in their body, but sleep, exercise, nutrition, stress management, like those things should be foundational.

Especially if you're getting older. I mean, all of us age, you know, age comes for all of us as much as we don't like it. That really tells you your biological state and your health state. And it's important to know it and catch whatever that is at risk earlier because then you can do something about it. and I'm about to share something personal as well like my mother they found two tumors close to her ovaries

like about three weeks ago and her health deteriorated quite rapidly in the past few months and we were like what's going on and we asked her to go check and she refused because she was like oh if I don't know there's nothing going on I'm like no mom that does not work

like you sent me to learn science for years and years and this is what you give me now I'm like you are going to get checked and they saw it. They found the growth and they did the blood test and thank God it's it's not cancerous but they're still going to remove it and nonetheless so now we're waiting for appointment. So that gives me this message to people where especially for parents and for grandparents who are aging like go and get your blood and your annual checkups done because

most of these diseases are curable if you catch it early. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to health. Yeah, I think it's scary for a lot of people. It's like if you don't see it, if you don't test, it doesn't exist, like what you just said. And, you know, it's sometimes easier to live in denial until something happens. And to your point, like, you can influence these things and you can resolve them if you're on top of it and catching it early. So that's a good message for everybody. So in your own weight loss journey, I actually heard you say that you were eating more.

Yes. And you were taking exogenous ketones, which I want to talk about. So we'll shift to that conversation. But tell everybody about what wasn't working for you and then what ultimately did work. Okay. So the weight loss journey that you wanted to talk about was my most recent one. But it wasn't my only one. So growing up, I was always overweight.

And I was, I wasn't like obese, but I was definitely. overweight. I was like about 90 kilos for a 5-7. 90 kilos was almost 200 pounds for a 5-7 person. And in my undergrad, I started exercising for the first time, voluntarily, not a PE class. And I managed to lose about 45 pounds then. And I sort of maintained somewhat a healthy weight range. But for the following about 7 to 8 years, I had this. trauma response where if I start putting on weight, even if it's muscle, I panic because I feel like,

oh no, I'm getting fat again. So I ended up doing a low calorie intake, a low calorie, just calorie restriction in general for a good seven, eight years where I just don't eat a lot of carbs. I just don't eat a lot in general. It's not to a point that it's anorexic, but it was just barely enough to sustain my lifestyle where I still gym and I still work out. But it was to a point where my body started to go into the survival mode where it sees food as emergency rations. Because whenever there's food, then they're like, okay, I'm going to convert it to fat because fat storage lasts longer than glucose storage. And that's the preferred storage in the body anyway. So until about two years ago, I started working with Dr. Florence Comite, looking at hormones level and all of that.

And I'm also working with Jay Ferugia, who's my trainer. And he was like, you basically screw your metabolism up because you are training your body to go into survival mode and just hold on to the fats. Yes, you won't get fat. You won't grow bigger. But that's detrimental to your muscle growth as well. That's detrimental to your recovery as well. So then he put me on this carp cycling diet where I would do one day of high carb intake and then six days of low carb and high carb I'm talking about 500 grams of carbohydrate 500 grams of carbohydrate 100 grams of protein and I'll trace a fat so it's just pure carbohydrate and then the next day I'll go on low carb it's around like 100 to 125 grams of carbs and I was doing the same exercises in fact I was working out four days I was lifting four days

I've been lifting four days a week now for for about a year and a half before that I was lifting five days a week. And lifting four days a week, I haven't changed my workouts. I haven't changed my diet apart from the carb cycling. I haven't changed my lifestyle, not stress anything. I did change the hormones and all of that and the supplements. But those are, you know, minor compared to the big shift to high carb diet. And my weight started dropping. And not only my weight is my fat weight started dropping because my muscle mass was maintained around like 76, 75 pounds. And then yeah, voila, a year later, I dropped like, what, 12% body fat, 20 pounds of fat. And, you know, at I'm turning 40 in two weeks. I'm like, me too. In two weeks as well. Yeah. When's your birthday?

August 3rd? August 5th. No way. Yeah. Leos. Leos. Yeah. Happy birthday. Happy. birthday to you too. So, you know, at this stage of my life, I'm like, I'm happy. Like, I feel like I'm fitter than I was when I was 20 plus because when I was 20 plus, I was in university. I was, I was overweight. I was a smoker and I was, you know, drinking every weekend with friends, like socializing and all that. And I don't do any of that now. And I feel much better than before. Yeah, I love that. I feel so much better than I did in my 20s. I was the same. I was smoking, drinking, et cetera, doing other things.

busy being cool and yeah trying to be cool trying and you know my life revolved around that and I was I had no knowledge of you know health wellness I wasn't working out I wasn't eating well anything like that so I think that that's encouraging for people because what you said earlier everybody is scared of aging but I also think 40 truly is the new 30 I mean look at lifespan you know it's completely different than it was decades ago and they were saying that millennial is really defining what aging looks like. Yeah. I saw an article the other day, yeah, on the cut about, yeah, what 40 looks like now compared

to back during, you know, Golden Girls. I think that they were all in their 40s and early 50s and they looked like elderly. You look amazing. You look amazing too. No, we're doing well here. And I think a little like motivation for people is also it feels good when you realize that you didn't peak in the 20s. Yeah. And now you don't even know when your peak is because you are still improving and you're

still learning about yourself. And while you are changing your lifestyle and improving your health, you're learning even more about yourself. And your health constantly changes too as you age. So I really enjoy that whole journey of discovery. And then you see the results. And people are like, oh, what? Really?

Yeah. I'm like, how much do you spend on plastic surgery? I wish I had that kind of money. I mean, I did a little bit of that too. But I live in S.F. I kind of thought that. Where do ketones come in? Where did they come into your journey? So like I said earlier, the supplementation of it. And I want to remind people here as well, it's a supplement. It's not a solution to all your problems. As much as I love the product and I truly, truly believe in the science of the product, it is still a supplement, which means out of 24 hours in your day, the foundational stuff that we talked about,

the sleep, the nutrition, the workouts, the movements, and all of that, those would have much higher weightage to what the outcome would be compared to supplementations. So if you got everything already checked in and you want to take it to the next level, then that's where Keaton IQ could help. So for myself personally, it helped with my sleep quality. And I know a lot of people, they're like, how can a product that's supposed to give energy help with sleep? and I know it's very confusing

but before we started recording we're talking about ketones increased gaba it calms you down and the key is have it right before bed and we just apply to a grant with the military on sleep deficiency today is the deadline actually

we just submitted yesterday and we wanted to look at ketone IQ improving the cognition when people are sleep deficient so you know stay tuned on that but one is sleep. Two is it helps me with the calorie deficit

because of the epitidid suppression effect. So when I am, especially at night after dinner, I'll have dinner around 8 and then I'll sleep around midnight and that four hours towards the end, I'm going to start feeling a bit hungry. And because I take it right before bed, it also helps to calm my hunger down and I can keep with my macros.

so that really helps. And then obviously, for me, not so much, but I think some people who are in a more extreme intermittent fasting or a longer period of fasting, they will probably feel more fatigued and less productive, then ketones will be able to help you with the productivity side of things and the cognition side of things.

Like right before we started recording, I took a shot because it does help me connect my brain to my mouth. So I become more coherent because sometimes when your brain works faster than your mouth, you start tripping over your words and you start stuttering and then you're not sure what you're talking about and then you lose your thought and then you have to go back. Yeah. So ketones does help me focus but at the same time really coordinate my thoughts so that I can explain science

more coherently and so that people can understand me better. Yeah, and I think it's important to differentiate something like an exogenous ketone from caffeine because the energy, at least in my experience, it's not like a caffeine energy, which is why you can take it before bed. It's more of a, I would say like a clarity and like an alertness, maybe, than that spike in energy that you feel. And yeah, we were talking about the GABA. Gabba is, you know, what everybody is trying to hack through taking supplemental L-thian or magnesium even. And I feel like this is way more effective, at least in my experience. Yeah, because I think nowadays more and more people are getting diagnosed with ADHD.

I think, I don't know if it's anything to do with like social media or like lifestyle or foods or whatever. There's always there's always like conspiracy theories about like, you know, they're poisoning us and making us all anxious and all that. But ultimately, you know, there are things that we can do to minimize that and make sure that we are not anxious. And I'm glad it helps you because there was one time I was giving a lecture back in Malaysia. I was invited as a guest lecturer at University of Malaya and I gave all the students a shot of ketones before we started. And then there was a, on the screen, there was an anonymous like feedback that they can just type in the middle,

you know, throughout the lecture. And one of the student, he said, he's like, I've always struggled with anxiety. And 15 minutes into taking ketones, I, for the first time, stopped fiddling with my limbs and stopped tapping and everything. So I was like that's a great, great example of how some people really could benefit from this. And for people with ADHD as well, they find that they can focus and study for a long period of time. Like some students, they're like, oh, I can't sit down and study for two hours.

But then after they take ketones, they find that more helpful. And again, compared to caffeine, that's what a lot of people don't understand when they take ketone IQ. They expect, when we talk about energy shot, they expect that sort of like super-harmes. energy and I'm ready to rev and like lift weights but it's not that it's much more subtle because it is not a stimulant and also do understand that a stimulant like caffeine it does not provide you with energy it does increase your heart rate increase your blood flow increase all those like you know adrenaline no adrenaline but ultimately it is still pulling energy from within your body so whatever you have within your body glucose fats and all that it's burning those and

and give your brain the energy it needs. But ketone on the other side, it is literally the molecule that your cell uses to produce energy. And it is not a stimulant. It does not block the receptor like caffeine and prevent you from feeling fatigue. And what's the difference between the ketones that somebody would get from taking them in a supplement, like ketone IQ and being on a ketogenic diet? So when you're on a ketogenic diet or in any sort of carb-restricted diet, like intermittent fasting as well, you will be creating your own ketones, endogenous ketones, that's what we call it, so internal production of ketons.

And basically your liver will convert fats into ketones. And the molecule is exactly the same as what you would get if you drink an exogenous ketone. So exogenous is an external source. So how the exogenous ketone even came about is because the military was exploring. different options and different fuels that they can give to military operators on long and demanding missions. And they know that ketones are a very efficient fuel. However, they cannot put the soldiers on such restrictive diets because then it will affect

the other parts of their efficiency. So how do we get ketones into the body without the restrictive diet? And that's how exogenous ketones came about. So when you drink ketones, the molecule is the same ketons or ketons or ketons, but the difference is that you don't have to go through the diet. And in fact, in athletic performance, people actually use ketones as a dual fuel because then they will have access to both glucose and ketones. And we have seen in studies that when people take ketones, even when they're not on a ketogenic

diet, they seem to have a glycogen sparing effect where your body is sparing the glycogen because it's burning the ketones and therefore for endurance athletes they can run further because the storage the glycogen storage last longer so they're not like competing for like no your body is really smart because it will always choose the most efficient fuel for the situation that you are in so you don't have to think about you don't have to worry about like competing and like one blocking the other because your body will have access to all of them anyway and when it finishes using one of them, it will switch to the other. If you're listening to this episode, then I know that you are interested in health and longevity. And when it comes to longevity, especially, we know that when

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reinforced to me that it is so, so impactful, and that's why I love to do it at home. I do it almost every day now. I've talked about how I use my bond charge red light face mask. I kind of habit stack by using it in the morning while I'm doing my 10 to 15 minute meditation. And I have found that doing it consistently every day has made such a bigger impact on my skin personally than just doing it a few days a week. So red light therapy has been reviewed in over 4,000 peer-reviewed studies with over 400 being double-blind placebo trials. Not only do these studies show amazing health benefits, but they also don't show any negative effects. So like I said, I just used my mask for 10 to about 15 minutes a day. You could do up to 20.

It's so easy to use. It can help with things like collagen and elastin production. It helps with relaxing the muscles in the face, is amazing. It helps with targeting pigmentation and fine lines. And I love the Bon Charge mask because it has both near infrared and red light. So it helps with those more surface and deeper layers of skin. So go to Boncharge.com and use the coupon code blonde to save 15%. That's B-O-N-C-H-A-R-G-E.com and use the code blonde for 15% off. What's your ideal day, like diet-wise and keto?

wise. So from when you wake up, do you like to intermittent fast and then eat a low carb or a higher carb breakfast? And then what does lunch look like? Dinner, all of that. And then where do the ketones fit in? Okay. That's an interesting question. So I typically, I used to skip breakfast because I used to do the intermittent fasting and all that. Like I said, like I said, like calorie deficit. But nowadays, because I have to take up to 185 grams of protein a day, I really have to space them out. I would wake up with a frozen berry protein shake. And then that's my breakfast, basically. And then for lunch, and this is a typical, like, lower carb day because that's majority

of the day of the week, because higher carb, it's only one day of the week. So then I'll have lunch, which is typically either ground beef, lean ground beef, or steak that is the leaner meats. And then that will be accompanied by soup potatoes. and then I will go through my day. I'll have a shot of ketones if I have like a presentation or a podcast. Otherwise, I will take my ketones

at the end of the day before my workout. And then I'll go for my workout, come back, I'll have dinner, usually also either steak or ground beef or sometimes salmon, and then soup potatoes and some veg. And then right before bed, I'll take my ketones.

So very simple, day, simple sort of whole foods option because I'm also always running out of time. So I just bung all of them in the air friar and call it a day. So, you know, as much as I can if I want to like cook an elaborate meal. But if you're eating alone, you tend to like, okay, I'm just going to season it, put it in, call it day. Yeah, exactly. I would love to compare ketones to GLP-1s. I know that you did this on another show, but I thought it was really interesting because the ketones do have an appetite suppressive effect, probably not quite to the extent that a GLP-1 does, but what is the difference of how they work in the body? I think we don't know the direct effect

if ketone IQ has the similar mechanistic effect as GLP-1. It has sort of glucagon-like effect observed by some of the doctors. But right now, we are just wrapping up an appetite suppression study at University of British Columbia. And that will look into gLP 1 or the effect of ketone IQ on gLP on peptide Y Y, Grelin and leptin, which are all hunger hormones and satiety hormones. So hopefully we'll get the data by end of this year and publish it. But so far what we know, there are two published papers. One is the effect of ketones on grelin.

It decreases grelin, so it decreases hunger levels. And then there also was a paper on animals where they showed butyndial, which is the raw, the active ingredient in ketone IQ, it increases leptin sensitivity in the brain. So when the brain is more sensitive to leptin, latin basically tells the brain that you're full, you're satiated. So when the brain is more sensitive to it, obviously, it's better because then you don't feel like I've got to go grab a snack or I've got to, you know, drink something sweet or something. Is there anybody who should not be taking ketone? I think people who are worried about diabetic ketoacidosis, you know, check with your doctor if your ketone levels are already high. If you're diabetic, then maybe ketone IQ would not be ideal for you. And then we've got quite a lot of times where people ask, can I take it if they're pregnant?

I will always say, like, check with your doctor. Generally, I don't think there is problems with it just from a scientific point of view. but they're also not a direct study that looked at pregnant women and exogenous ketones. Interesting. It's so fascinating. I feel like there's so many more things that I want to ask. And it's interesting because later on when I go to Kelly's show, I'm going to ask her because when she interviewed me two years ago, she was pregnant. And she did ask me the same question. And I wonder if she actually drank it during her pregnancy. I'm so curious. You can let me know. And when I record the intro, I can tell people what she said. Okay. I want to do a couple more like this or that questions.

that we've gotten to know each other. What do you think is better? Fasted cardio or fed cardio? Or a workout in general. Fasted cardio if you're on a calorie deficit and you're looking to lose fat. Fat cardio if you are doing lifting on the same day as well and then do the cardio at the end of lift. High intensity or steady state? High intensity at least once or twice a week for cardiovascular health for VO2 max.

and steady state for majority of it for fat loss. Keto or Mediterranean diet? Whatever diet that is most sustainable for you, that you can keep up for the long term. And also, it is also advisable to change your diet every three to six months because then your body get that shock value that will actually jumpstart a different set of hormones, different set of peptides that is produced by the body. and then you actually get some really good results and maintain it.

I always wondered about that because I always felt like, oh, I keep my body on its toes. And I didn't know if there was an actual thing, if there was science to back that up. If you look at people who swear by the carnivore diet, swear by the keto diet, swear by the vegan diet, their story from their perspective is 100% true because when they switch over, their body reacts to it and improves itself. Because they've been, like same with me. Like I've been on a low calorie, low fat, low sugar diet for a long time. It worked. I lost 45 pounds.

But to take it to the next level, I switch it over to carp cycling and then I start losing fat. So do I swear by it? For me, it worked. But for some other people who have been eating carbs and all that, it might not work as well. They might need an overall calorie deficit. So people who do that, I mean, does there come a point if they're doing carnivore or if they're doing keto where it stops working or it stops being as efficient, that's what you're saying. So then you need to adjust. Even like Paul Saladino, you know, the advocate for carnivorea, he's doing Carnivore 2.0 where

he includes fruits and honey, right? So. Interesting. 10K steps a day or three weightlifting sessions a week? Both. Absolutely both. I try to do both. And in fact, now because I'm hitting a plateau, So I'm trying to hit 15,000 steps on top of my four days lifting. I have to say, I worked with a trainer a few years ago, and his non-negotiable to work with him was that I had to get at least 10K steps a day. He's like, I'm not even going to start training you until that becomes a part of your lifestyle, because that should be a daily thing. And, of course, I'm like a zero to 100 all or nothing.

I take things to the extreme. So I was like, then I got to 12, then I got to 15. And then I was like, I'm going to go for 20K a day. And I mean, I had no anxiety. I was sleeping like a baby. You know, it really did have all of these effects, but it wasn't sustainable living in L.A. where it's a driving. I was going to ask.

How do you maintain 20,000 steps? What do you do? Oh, I'll tell you. So I had a treadmill. I would wake up around 6.30, do my, you know, 20-minute meditation, whatever. Get on the treadmill around 7, be on my phone, be answering emails, doing whatever, editing, whatever I work that I could do from my phone. and I would walk until about 8.30.

So like an hour and a half, usually would get me around like 8-ish, 8, 800. Then I would get ready for my day. I would take calls and meetings on a walk, so I would walk through the neighborhood. That would get me usually to like 12 or 15, depending how much I did. Then I would walk the dog later in the day.

I mean, it was a lot. Whereas when I'm in New York, I get 20K, like, no problem. Yeah. So, you know, if anybody's listening, Don't feel like you need to be walking circles around your house to get 20K, 10K is great. And now at this point I don't even track. I just am cognizant about how sedentary I'm being. And I still will schedule calls and meetings like midday back to back where I can take them when I'm walking.

And anybody who's had a meeting with me knows that I'm usually camera off and on a walk. Yeah, I mean, because I work remotely, right? So all of us at Kichungi, we work remotely. And while San Francisco is a walking city, It is also a very hilly city. Yeah. So I do try my 10K, but because I have calls at home, and I tend to take my calls at home,

especially if it's podcasts as well. Like, you can't really want to do that. Some things you have to be there. Yeah. So I tend to reach my 10K goals at the gym during my steady state cardio. I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to bundle it together. Yeah.

But nowadays, I feel like I need to add extra on top of that. Yeah. You should get a walking pad. I do have a walking pad. So what I used to do is, after lunch, I always walk for half an hour. And then I'll do more after my lifts. But that was when I was plateauing because my trainer was like, maybe your heart rate wasn't high enough.

But then now, I'm like, okay, I'm already doing that much after lifting anyway. So I should add that back in so that I get that extra six to eight K steps. Got it. Amazing. Well, this was so fascinating. And you did such an amazing job talking to us, like we're in elementary school. What do you think, Tessa? I got it.

Yeah. I think the audience will really appreciate that as well. And I think, you know, all this information is so helpful. So tell everybody where they can find you and find Ketone IQ. Yep. You can find me at all social media at Lat, M-A-M-N-S-O-R. And you can find Ketone IQ at Ketone.com and also at Ketone on all the social media. Amazing.

Thank you so much. No, thank you for having me. It's been a blast. Thank you. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed that episode. If you liked the episode, and if you like the show in general, please take a second to rate, review, and subscribe. It goes such a long way in supporting the show. Follow the show over on Instagram at well.pod. You can also follow my personal Instagram at Ariel Lori.

I'm always sharing great clips from the episodes, and we also have full episodes on YouTube as well if you want to watch in entirety. Thanks for listening. This is Sammy Clark. And this is Sammy Spalter. We are best friends, co-founders of our wellness platform, form. And now, hopefully your new favorite podcast hosts with our new podcast, Transform. We started Transform because we are constantly having all of these big live chats. So we thought it was time to bring the conversations to the mic for you to join in,

knowing we can all relate to the forming the best version of ourselves. We will be chatting up from everything from self-love, health and wellness, relationships, owning a business and all of the other hills and valleys that is this big beautiful life. Tune in every week wherever you listen to your podcast. See you soon. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.