LowCarbUSA Podcast

About LowCarbUSA Podcast

Bringing short. positive episodes to the Low Carb community highlighting success stories from individuals and practitioners as well as tips and tricks and some great recipes.

Publisher

Doug Reynolds and Pam Devine: Low Carb Podcasters

Category

education · health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Sept 2019

Latest episode

10 Mar 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 112 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   10 Mar 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Host a Premier of Dave Feldman's Cholesterol Code Movie: Ep 128

   A new documentary exploring one of the most debated topics in metabolic health—the rise in LDL cholesterol sometimes seen in people following low-carbohydrate diets—is beginning its global rollout. In this episode of the LowCarbUSA® Podcast, I spoke with independent researcher Dave Feldman about his new documentary, The Cholesterol Code, which chronicles his research and the ongoing debate surrounding cholesterol and metabolic health. The movie is being premiered between March 15 and April 15 through multiple theatrical screenings around the world.  "If you don't see one in your community, then sign up to host your own screening in your area. Dave, an engineer by training who became widely known in the low-carb community through his self-experiments and data-driven investigations, described how the project began with a personal question. "I'm the engineer who started obsessing about his cholesterol when it went sky high on a keto diet," he said. "Then came about a lot of my self-experiments, which ultimately led to forming the lipid energy model, which is now published." That model attempts to explain why some people—particularly those who are lean and metabolically healthy—experience unusually high LDL cholesterol levels when following a ketogenic or very low-carbohydrate diet. These individuals are known as lean mass hyper-responders, a term Feldman coined to describe people who exhibit a distinctive metabolic pattern: very high LDL cholesterol, high HDL cholesterol, and very low triglycerides. Investigating the Risk Question While the metabolic explanation for the phenomenon has attracted growing attention, Dave said the larger and more pressing question has always been risk. "How much does the risk of going on a keto diet and then seeing your LDL go up— even if it is for these reasons—actually matter?" he said. "How much could this develop what's known as atherosclerosis, the building up of plaque in the arteries?" To explore that question, he launched a crowdfunded research effort through the Citizen Science Foundation. The study recruited 100 individuals identified as lean mass hyper-responders. Participants underwent advanced heart imaging using CT angiography at the Lundquist Institute, allowing researchers to measure plaque in the coronary arteries. "They get a baseline scan, and then one year later they get a follow-up scan," he explained. "That way we can see the changes of plaque over time—not just individually, but also at a population level." From Research Project to Documentary The documentary The Cholesterol Code captures the unfolding story of that research. According to Dave, filmmaker Jen Eisenhart began documenting the project shortly after the first baseline scan data became available. "They started filming and managed to capture all of this," he said. "It's a riveting story and it all comes together in this film." The documentary follows not only the scientific investigation but also the real-world experiences of people who adopted low-carbohydrate diets for serious medical conditions Many participants, he said, had experienced life-changing improvements—only to later face anxiety when routine blood tests showed rising LDL cholesterol levels. "They see their cholesterol go up and they go, 'Is this actually worth it?'" Dave said. "Even if I really respond well to a low-carb diet—even if I'm doing great—my cholesterol goes up. What does that mean?" The film includes interviews with individuals managing conditions such as type 1 diabetes, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and inflammatory bowel disease. Their stories are really touching, hats off to Jen Eisenhart and her team. It's such a great film. I feel those stories were among the most powerful moments in the film. One of the mental-health stories, particularly,  just ripped my heart out. She got her life back. She got her children back. And then she was agonizing about whether she should stop because her LDL was going up. Research Complications and Scientific Debate The research itself has also drawn attention because of an unexpected analytical complication that arose during the study. Dave explains that a secondary analysis conducted using artificial intelligence–guided plaque imaging software produced results that differed from other analyses of the same scans. "Three of those analyses disagree with this one," he says. "On top of that, the company that provides that analysis won't do a quality control check." As a result, the research team has requested retraction of the paper associated with that analysis while further investigation continues. "That development ultimately strengthened the documentary by extending filming and allowing additional analysis and interviews to be incorporated. The neat thing is this delay did give us a chance to tighten up the movie more." Community-Driven Film Screenings The film is now being released through a community-driven screening model. Viewers can organize or attend screenings through the film's website, which uses a platform that allows communities to request theatrical showings once a minimum number of tickets are reserved. "If they go to the website, that's where they can either join an existing screening—of which there are now many across the United States and actually across the world—or they can host their own," Dave said. I really encourage listeners to participate. If you don't see one in your community, then sign up to host a screening and try to activate your community. Continuing Research Beyond the documentary, Dave said the work is continuing with additional research initiatives. One upcoming project—currently referred to as the Triad Study—aims to further investigate the metabolic patterns associated with lean mass hyper-responders and their cardiovascular implications. "We're hoping to close funding on our companion research study,"he said. "The numbers are looking pretty good." As debate continues about the role of cholesterol in metabolic health—particularly among people following carbohydrate-restricted diets—Dave believes the conversation must remain grounded in data and open scientific inquiry. For many viewers, the documentary offers both a scientific investigation and a human story about the intersection of metabolic health, medical uncertainty, and personal transformation. "It's a great film and it tells a story that a lot of people in this community are living right now."

2. 

   14 Jan 2026

   Dave Feldman on Cholesterol Code & Why the Science Isn't Settled Yet: Ep 127

   When Dave Feldman first walked into a LowCarbUSA® event in 2016 carrying a laptop full of lab results, few people could have predicted where that moment would lead.  "I'm approaching everyone with my computer," Feldman recalls, "because I'm doing these self-experiments—getting blood work—and I'm trying to figure out why my cholesterol numbers were doing what they were doing."  What started as a personal puzzle became The Cholesterol Code, a global research effort, a nonprofit scientific foundation, and now a forthcoming documentary film. In this episode of the LowCarbUSA Podcast, host Doug Reynolds sits down with Feldman to trace that journey—and to explain why the next chapter will take center stage at the Symposium for Metabolic Health in Boca Raton, January 23–25, 2026 The Question That Wouldn't Go Away Dave's original question was deceptively simple: Why do some metabolically healthy, lean people see their LDL cholesterol rise dramatically on a ketogenic diet?  Over time, he noticed a consistent pattern. These individuals didn't just have high LDL—they also tended to have high HDL, low triglycerides, and excellent metabolic health. In 2017, he coined a name for this group: Lean Mass Hyper-Responders (LMHRs). But identifying a pattern wasn't enough.  "Even if the lipid energy model proves correct," Dave explains, "does that mean having higher LDL on a ketogenic diet carries higher cardiovascular risk?"  Answering that question required something far more difficult than a blog post or a hypothesis: a prospective imaging study. Building a Study When No One Will Fund One Dave spent years trying—and failing—to convince established institutions to study this population.  "There's not a lot of funding to study metabolically healthy people with sky-high LDL," he says dryly. "The interest is usually in people who already have multiple cardiovascular risk factors—which confounds everything."  So in 2019, he made a radical decision. He founded the Citizen Science Foundation, a public charity created for a single purpose: to fund independent research, with no money going to salaries or overhead.  "We raised $200,000,"Dave says, "and paid a research center to do the study."  By late 2021, recruitment was underway. One hundred lean, metabolically healthy ketogenic individuals underwent coronary CT angiography (CTA) scans to assess plaque in their coronary arteries, with follow-up scans roughly one year later. What the Data Actually Showed The early findings were striking.  When Dave's cohort was matched against participants from the Miami Heart Study, there was no statistically significant difference in coronary plaque, despite Dave's group having LDL levels less than twice as high.  "In fact," he notes, "our group trended toward lower plaque." But the most important finding emerged as more analyses were completed:  "There was no association between ApoB or LDL and plaque progression," Dave says. "Whatever your LDL level was, it did not correspond with how plaque developed."  What did matter? Baseline plaque. "Whether you're low-carb or not," he explains, "the more plaque you have at baseline, the more likely you are to see progression. That's consistent with the existing literature." When One Dataset Didn't Make Sense Then came the controversy.  An AI-based quantitative analysis from a company called Cleerly showed plaque progression that appeared inconsistent—not only with Dave's other data, but with decades of prior research.  "All of the scans showed progression," he says. "No regression. Not even noise."  For an engineer, that raised immediate red flags.  "If a bathroom scale is off by a quarter pound," Dave explains, "you expect wobble.  Below the noise floor, measurements go up and down.  But this dataset showed only one direction." Later, when Dave gained access to the anonymized data, he identified multiple anomalies and requested a blinded quality-control reanalysis.  That request was declined.  "I don't assume wrongdoing," he emphasizes. "But when something looks implausible, the response should be course correction."  Instead, he sought independent confirmation.  A second AI company, HeartFlow, conducted a fully blinded analysis—and its results aligned with every other analysis except Cleerly's.  "Three out of four analyses agree," he says. "Cleerly is the outlier." Why This Matters Beyond One Study The implications extend far beyond a single dataset.  Dave believes this episode exposes a deeper issue in nutrition and cardiovascular science: how dominant theories shape interpretation.  "The lipid hypothesis has a gravitational pull," he says. "It affects what people expect to see—and what they question."  As I put it, Dave has repeatedly taken the LowCarbUSA stage to announce findings that challenge assumptions—and each time, the conversation moves forward.  "If we want better answers," Dave says, "we have to do better science." The Documentary—and What Comes Next All of this has reshaped his upcoming documentary, The Cholesterol Code. Originally slated for release last year, the film has been expanded to include the scientific and human story behind these findings.  "We couldn't release it without covering what happened," he explains. "It's part of the truth."  For the first time anywhere, the official trailer for the film will be shown at the LowCarbUSA Symposium in Boca, immediately following Dave's talk.  Attendees will also be invited to help bring the film to live screenings around the world.  "The world premiere of the trailer will be at your conference," Dave told me.  "That alone is worth coming for." Why You'll Want to Be There One full day of the Boca symposium is dedicated to cardiovascular health, and Dave is one of the central voices shaping that conversation. Whether you attend in person or via live stream, this is a rare opportunity to engage directly with research that is still unfolding—and with the scientist who helped drive it. As Dave puts it: "The work just needs to get done,  and in Boca, it will." Learn more and reserve your in-person or virtual seat for the Boca Symposium for Metabolic Health (January 23–25, 2026) (https://www.lowcarbusa.org/boca-2026/)

3. 

   11 Jan 2026

   A Cardiologist's Thoughts on the Ketogenic Diet, Heart Disease & Metabolic Health: Ep 126

   Doug Reynolds welcomes listeners back to the LowCarbUSA® Podcast with a guest who works in one of the most specialized—and most misunderstood—corners of cardiovascular medicine: the heart's electrical system. Dr. David Nabert is an electrophysiologist ("EP" doctor), focused on heart rhythm disorders, and he's one of the featured speakers at the Boca Symposium for Metabolic Health (https://www.lowcarbusa.org/boca-2026/) (January 23–25)—including the event's full day-plus dedicated to cardiovascular conditions. What gives this episode its pull is the combination of clinical depth and lived experience. David isn't just talking about rhythm problems from a textbook perspective—he's explaining how his own curiosity about metabolic health evolved, what shifted when he started questioning conventional assumptions, and why those questions matter for real patients in the real world. David describes how his entry point into metabolic health didn't begin in a clinic—it began with a random Google search. In 2021, while looking up a cardiology formula, he accidentally landed on a Nina Teicholz talk at the Cato Institute. "I started to watch it, and all of a sudden, an hour and a half passed," he says—one of those moments where interest turns into momentum. He listened to Teicholz's book, The Big Fat Surprise, then began searching for more voices in the low-carb space and quickly reconnected with familiar names, including Dr. Robert Cywes and Dr. Eric Westman (both will also be presenting in Boca), whom he calls mentors. That exploration ultimately led him to the Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners (The SMHP) and, importantly, a willingness to test ideas on himself. David is candid about his own weight journey. He describes a time when a body mass index under 25 felt "skinny" to him, and he's open about losing weight, regaining some after a series of hip surgeries, and continuing to work on it. What ultimately shifted, though, wasn't just the number on the scale—it was how he began to rethink what "doing everything right" actually means. For years, he approached weight loss the way many clinicians were trained to: low-fat, high willpower, endure the hunger. He describes his old strategy bluntly: "The only way I had lost weight… was by doing protein sparing modified fast… I was just eating almost no fat." Predictably, it wasn't sustainable. When he later shifted to a lower-carb, higher-fat approach—"bacon, eggs, hamburger"—he was "amazed at how quickly I started to lose weight," and he began seeing changes in markers that traditional cardiology often de-emphasizes. After stopping long-term statin therapy (which he had been on for 25 years), he saw his LDL return to roughly where it had been earlier in life, but other changes caught his attention: triglycerides dropped to the lowest he'd ever seen, HDL improved, and fasting insulin improved as well. Just as meaningful were the changes he felt: "Every 10 or 20 pounds I lost, my hips got better," he says, attributing it not only to less load, but "also part of it was less inflammation." From there, the episode moves into the heart of why David is speaking during the cardiovascular-focused programming in Boca: rhythm, electricity, and the surprising overlap between conditions that seem unrelated—like seizures and arrhythmias. David explains that early ketogenic diet research in the 1920s focused on refractory seizures, and he argues the connection matters because many antiarrhythmic drugs and antiseizure drugs overlap mechanistically. In his view, these aren't separate worlds. "Treating seizures or treating cardiac arrhythmias is basically two faces of the same coin," he says—and that opens a practical question: if ketosis can help reduce seizures, might it also influence certain rhythm symptoms? He shares a striking clinical example that stuck with him: a former submariner with PTSD and episodes of fast heart rates who said, "I know when I'm… ketogenic… when I fall off the wagon… then I start having palpitations and fast heart rates." David later learned the patient was experiencing atrial fibrillation, and while he's careful not to overpromise, he describes a pattern he's observed: in earlier stages of rhythm problems, being in a ketogenic state may reduce symptoms and potentially slow progression for some people. "It doesn't cure atrial fibrillation," he emphasizes, but he's seen ketosis "improves symptoms," not only in AFib, but in other rhythm issues like SVT and PVCs—especially early on. From there, David widens the frame to what he's seeing in younger patients—particularly young women—showing up with palpitations, rapid heart rate, anxiety, and signs of metabolic dysfunction even when they don't "look" unhealthy by BMI alone. "Only 90% of them are metabolically unhealthy," he says, describing a familiar cluster: A1C not quite normal, resting heart rates high, daytime heart rates that shouldn't be running 100–120, and a nervous system dialed up in what he calls a "hyper adrenergic state." The mainstream response is often medication—beta blockers, for example—but David argues metabolic context matters, and he's exploring how nutritional strategies (including ketosis, sometimes even supplemental ketones) may reduce symptom burden in certain cases. He also discusses POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), noting it can be associated with viral infections and has become more common since "the bad virus we had five years ago." Again, he's measured in his claims: ketosis isn't a cure, but he's seen it help reduce symptoms in select patients who have tried many other standard approaches first. The second half of the conversation touches on medications and the tension between "lower the number" cardiology and whole-person outcomes. David brings up PCSK9 inhibitors and recalls being troubled by early data patterns: "You were less likely to die from that, but you're more likely to die from cancer or infection… And… the overall mortality was the same." That line of thinking captures what pushed him toward metabolic health: a concern that focusing on a single marker can obscure the bigger picture of risk, resilience, and long-term outcomes. He also discusses SGLT2 inhibitors (like Jardiance and Farxiga) as potentially useful tools—especially in heart failure and diabetes—while stressing the importance of monitoring and hydration. In a moment that captures both his clinical caution and his enthusiasm for empowered patients, he tells people who go low carb on these meds to "get a Keto Mojo to check your ketone levels," because the goal is to use tools intelligently, not blindly. As the episode closes, Doug returns to the bigger mission behind the upcoming Boca program: helping attendees develop a confident, educated response to the most common fear tactic people face when they change their diet—LDL, heart attacks, and the assumption that low carb automatically means danger. Doug notes there are still "so few that really do get it and support it and talk about it," which is exactly why the cardiovascular-focused day-plus at the Boca Symposium for Metabolic Health (January 23–25) matters. David, for his part, is grateful to be part of it—and to be healthy enough to show up differently than last time. He reminds Doug that at previous events he was "either walking with one or two canes," but now, "I'm actually not going to run up on the stage, but I'll be moving pretty quickly." That moment captures the heart of the episode: metabolic health isn't theoretical. It's lived. And in Boca, that lived experience meets serious clinical discussion—especially for anyone trying to better understand cardiovascular risk, rhythm disorders, and the metabolic foundations that too often go unaddressed. If this conversation sparks your curiosity, the next step is obvious: join the community in Boca January 23–25 and immerse yourself in a day and a half of cardiovascular-focused talks designed to help you think more clearly, speak more confidently, and act more effectively—whether you're a clinician, a patient, or someone trying to help the people you love. Learn more about the Boca Symposium and register here. (https://www.lowcarbusa.org/boca-2026/)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

876,853

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.4 / 5

38 ratings

Spotify

4.7 / 5

3 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 77 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

80

Social presence

0

YouTube

93

Engagement

92

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