#162 - Sarah Hallberg, D.O., M.S.: Treating metabolic disease, & a personal journey through cancer

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

May 17, 2021

Duration

2h 29m

Channel

Peter Attia MD

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

View show notes page for this episode: https://bit.ly/3wWvMoE Become a member to receive exclusive content: https://bit.ly/35uHEmy Sign up to receive Peter's email newsletter: https://bit.ly/4c602k2 Sarah Hallberg is the Medical Director at Virta Health and a physician who has spent nearly two decades treating patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes. In the first half of this episode, Sarah discusses how she became a huge believer in the efficacy of carbohydrate restriction for the treatment of type 2 diabetes through her research and clinical experience. Sarah challenges the common beliefs about the role of dietary fat and carbohydrate on the plasma makeup of fatty acids and triglycerides. She also expresses the importance of understanding early predictors of metabolic illness—highlighting one particular fatty acid as the most important early predictor—before finishing with a discussion about how doctors might be able to personalize patients’ metabolic management in the future. In the second half of this episode, Sarah tells the personal story of her own lung cancer diagnosis. She talks about dealing with her grief, deciding to continue her work while prioritizing her family, and how she devised a plan to extend her survival as long as possible. We discuss: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:10 - How Sarah discovered the profound impact of carbohydrate restriction for reversing obesity and type 2 diabetes 00:13:30 - Prediabetes and metabolic syndrome: prevalence, early signs, and the importance of treating early 00:27:45 - Overview of fatty acids, how they are metabolized, and understanding what you see in a standard blood panel 00:33:45 - The relationship between diet composition and metabolic markers 00:47:50 - Why palmitoleic acid is such an important biomarker 1:00:30 - The best early indicators of metabolic disease 1:07:45 - Personalized management of metabolic illness 1:16:50 - Sarah’s cancer diagnosis and the beginning of her journey 1:30:00 - The emotional impact of a devastating diagnosis 1:40:30 - Sarah’s plan to extend survival 1:52:15 - Sarah’s aggressive treatment plan 2:05:00 - Life-threatening complications and the return of her cancer 2:18:26 - Sarah’s reflections on her approach to life with chronic cancer and balancing her time -------- About: The Peter Attia Drive is a weekly, ultra-deep-dive podcast focusing on maximizing health, longevity, critical thinking…and a few other things. With over 30 million episodes downloaded, it features topics including fasting, ketosis, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, mental health, and much more. Peter is a physician focusing on the applied science of longevity. His practice deals extensively with nutritional interventions, exercise physiology, sleep physiology, emotional and mental health, and pharmacology to increase lifespan (delay the onset of chronic disease), while simultaneously improving healthspan (quality of life). Learn more: https://bit.ly/3K14KjP Connect with Peter on: Facebook: http://bit.ly/PeterAttiaMDFB Twitter: http://bit.ly/PeterAttiaMDTW Instagram: http://bit.ly/PeterAttiaMDIG Subscribe to The Drive: Apple Podcast: http://bit.ly/TheDriveApplePodcasts Overcast: http://bit.ly/TheDriveOvercast Spotify: http://bit.ly/TheDriveSpotify Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheDriveGoogle

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Peter Attia

  host

  Physician and host of The Drive podcast.

• Sarah Hallberg

  guest

  Physician specializing in obesity and metabolic disease care; discusses low-carb/keto approaches and her personal stage IV lung cancer journey.

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Peter Attia MD, featuring Peter Attia and Sarah Hallberg, #162 - Sarah Hallberg, D.O., M.S.: Treating metabolic disease, & a personal journey through cancer explores sarah Hallberg on Carb Restriction, Palmitoleic Acid Biomarkers, and Stage Four Lung Cancer Sarah Hallberg explains how she moved from prescribing low-fat, low-calorie diets to carbohydrate restriction after seeing patients' type 2 diabetes resolve and insulin doses fall dramatically.

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