Hybrid Event, Both In-Person and Livestream
COVID 19 Notice: The restrictions are due to be lifted for meetings in California on June 15. There will be a requirement for all Foreign Attendees to provide proof of Vaccination, but there will be no such restrictions on US residents for meetings under 5,000 people. Basic hygiene measures will need to be adhered to but exactly what that needs to look like is still to be determined. We will keep you all appraised as we learn more closer to the time.
Addressing obesity and metabolic health with diet and lifestyle. Come and learn from an unprecedented lineup of expert speakers on the therapeutic benefits of carbohydrate restriction for metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, Type 2 Diabetes and many other chronic diseases. A full array of topics will be covered including exercise, diabetes, heart health, mental health and food addiction.

This Incredible Conference Includes
- Livestream AND In-Person ticket options.
- Option to attend Outstanding VIP Low carb dinners each night.
- 4 exciting jam-packed days with global change-makers committed to improving health and education worldwide, and to changing nutritional policies and guidelines.
- 20+ cutting edge-presentations from researchers & clinicians who are experiencing significant success with patients, many with a powerful personal story of their own journey to sustained weight loss and improved metabolic health.
- Ample LIVE Q&A time after each presentation to get YOUR questions answered.
- 28 Prescribed Category 1 CME credits available.
- 4 Years CEU credit for NASN practitioners
- Additional bonus breakout talks and Q&As with other leaders in the ketogenic/low carb community. There will be a chance here to interact with our sponsors.
- The always spectacular, thought provoking Final Panel is a can't miss Sunday afternoon.
- Attendees who attend in person will also have access to the Livestream and event videos afterwards..
Who Should Attend This Conference?
- Anyone interested in restoring and/or maintaining metabolic health for themselves and their patients.
- The healthcare professional who wants to make a bigger impact with better tools.
- Scientists and researchers who want to see the latest studies and results
- Health and Wellness Coaches, Personal Trainers, Sports Enthusiasts, and Citizen Scientists.
Book Your Hotel Room
Reserve your room from our special rate block
Upgrades
- Upgrade to an In-Person Ticket
- Order Your VIP Dinners
- Order a CME Certificate
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Gary Taubes
Gary Taubes (born April 30, 1956) is an American science writer. He is the author of Nobel Dreams (1987), Bad Science: The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold Fusion (1993), and Good Calories, Bad Calories (2007), which is titled The Diet Delusion in the UK. He has won the Science in Society Award of the National Association of Science Writers three times and was awarded an MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship for 1996-97.
Born in Rochester, New York, Taubes studied applied physics at Harvard and aerospace engineering at Stanford (MS, 1978). After receiving a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University in 1981, Taubes joined Discover magazine as a staff reporter in 1982. Since then he has written numerous articles for Discover, Science and other magazines. Originally focusing on physics issues, his interests have more recently turned to medicine and nutrition.
Taubes’ books have all dealt with scientific controversies. Nobel Dreams takes a critical look at the politics and experimental techniques behind the Nobel Prize-winning work of physicist Carlo Rubbia. Bad Science is a chronicle of the short-lived media frenzy surrounding the Pons-Fleischmann cold fusion experiments of 1989.

Gary Taubes
Brian Lenzkes, MD
I am a USC trained, board certified Internal Medicine doctor and have been in practice for 16 years but did not understand the implications of metabolic syndrome until only 2 years ago. I have had a personal struggle with obesity since childhood and became officially pre-diabetic in February of 2017 despite my medical knowledge.
Although I was voted one of the “Top Doctors” in San Diego for 11 of those years, I still felt a void as many of my patients with chronic conditions continued to decline and require more medication. After attending LowCarbUSA® in San Diego, my practice of medicine changed and I have taken control of my health.
I have been honored to be a guest on multiple podcasts and I have been a speaker on the Nutrition Network educational series for medical professionals. I am currently co-hosting the Low Carb MD podcast with Dr. Jason Fung, Dr. Tro Kalayjian, and Megan Ramos. I am also on the panel of advisers for the LowCarbUSA® Clinical Guidelines for Medical Professionals and just finished recording an interview for the upcoming documentary "Big Fat Lie" with Wide Eye Productions. I am the Medical Director for TriSystem Nutrition. Together we can do our part to reverse the healthcare crisis that is facing the world one life at a time. I am excited about the journey ahead.

Brian Lenzkes, MD
Robert Cywes, MD, PhD
Robert Cywes, MD, PhD
Dr. Cywes is Dual Board Certified in General Surgery and in Pediatric Surgery. He specializes in Pediatric and Adult obesity, diabetes and metabolic management including bariatric surgery. His focus is on helping people understand and treat the true cause of obesity and diabetes. He has been doing bariatric surgery for 19 years and has performed around 7000 surgeries. Despite this, Dr Cywes firmly believes that obesity and diabetes are not treated by surgery, however, surgery may be a invaluable tool along the journey of becoming carbohydrate-free.
His medical training began in Cape Town, South Africa where he received his medical degree from The University of Cape Town training with Prof Tim Noakes amongst others. In 1989, Dr. Cywes moved to North America and completed a year-long residency in pediatric surgery at Ohio State University's Columbus Children's Hospital before moving to Canada where he completed his general surgery residency and specialized in minimally invasive surgery at the University of Toronto. Dr. Cywes also earned a PhD in liver transplant immunology and the effect of glucose metabolism on vascular endothelium injury, working with Dr David Jenkins, the father of the Glycemic Index.
After completing his paediatric surgery fellowship at the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, Dr. Cywes was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Paediatric and Fetal Surgery at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee where he did hepatic stem cell research. During this time, Dr. Cywes became increasingly interested in adolescent obesity and the impact of carbohydrates on the liver and metabolic syndrome in young patients. Dr. Cywes’ research led to a comprehensive understanding of the toxicity of chronic excessive carbohydrate consumption as the primary cause of obesity and so-called obesity-related co-morbidities. In the late 1990s Dr Cywes understood that the prevailing treatment of obesity using a Calories in, Calories out (CICO) model was erroneous, and he developed the Carbohydrate Insulin Model of Obesity and Diabetes (CIMOD). Using this model in combination with his understanding of the psychology of addiction, he developed a clinical program to treat obese adolescents using this approach. Dr. Cywes relocated to Jacksonville, Florida where he joined the Department of Pediatric Surgery at the Nemours Children's Clinic and Wolfson Children's Hospital. This led to a national meeting in Jacksonville where guidelines for adolescent obesity surgery were established.
In 2004, Dr. Cywes established Jacksonville Surgical Associates to continue his work in both adolescent and adult obesity treatment and surgery, and in 2013 opened a practice in West Palm Beach, Florida. He now works with a highly experienced team of professionals from a variety of medical sub-specialties to better care for obese patients. He has developed the practice into a nationally recognized Center of Excellence for obesity surgery. The practice uses a cognitive behavioral therapy approach that addresses carbohydrate addiction, along with bariatric surgery, to help patients manage the cause of their obesity long term. Based on his extensive clinical research and observations, Dr. Cywes lectures internationally regarding the physiological impact of carbohydrate consumption as the primary cause of the current Chronic Non-Communicable Disease (CNCDs) epidemic. He also lectures on the behavioral aspects of carbohydrate addiction as the cause of obesity and obesity-related co-morbidities and the use of substance abuse methodology, rather than a diet and exercise approach, to the effective long term treatment of obesity.
Dr. Cywes is a member of ASMBS (American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery) and is a member of the ASMBS Childhood Obesity Committee. He is also a member of APSA (American Pediatric Surgery Association). He has earned a Centers of Excellence designation by the Surgical Review Corporation. Dr. Cywes trains other surgeons to perform bariatric surgery as well as developing an aftercare model to help patients maintain weight loss.
Dr. Cywes and his team are active in obesity research, including an ongoing Adolescent Bariatric Surgery trial. He has become one of the foremost authorities in the treatment and management of obesity in adolescents. He recently co-authored a book, Diabetes Unpacked outlining an effective approach to understanding and treating diabetes into remission. Dr. Cywes' vast experience in pediatric and general surgery serves him well in using bariatric surgery to treat obesity in both adults and children.
Dr Cywes maintains an active clinical practice in Palm Beach Gardens and in Jacksonville as well as being active on conveying the CIMOD message on social media and through his websites – Obesityunderstood.com and diabetesunderstood.com.

Robert Cywes, MD, PhD
Eric Westman, MD, MHS
Dr. Eric C. Westman is an associate professor of medicine at Duke University Health System and director of the Duke Lifestyle Medicine Clinic. He combines clinical research and clinical care to deliver lifestyle treatments for obesity, diabetes, and tobacco dependence. He is an internationally known researcher specializing in low-carbohydrate nutrition.
Dr. Westman is currently the vice president of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians and a fellow of the Obesity Society and the Society of General Internal Medicine and
Past President of the Obesity Medicine Association and a Fellow. In 2010, He was named the Obesity Medicine Association’s “Bariatrician of the Year'' for his work in advancing the field of obesity medicine as well as the Society.
He is also a recipient of the Society’s Steelman-Seim Educator Award for advancing the cause of health care through education and teaching. He graduated from Stanford University (A.B.), University of Wisconsin (M.D.), University of Kentucky and Duke University (M.H.S.) is board certified in Internal Medicine and Obesity Medicine and has a Master’s Degree in clinical research, with over 90 peer-reviewed publications to his name. Including this study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, entitled "A Low-Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet versus a Low-Fat Diet To Treat Obesity and Hyperlipidemia."
He has dedicated his life to helping people with various medical conditions such as Type 1 & Type 2 Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, Obesity, Hypertension, and many others through diet and lifestyle choices. He believes that using standard medical protocols often treat the symptom and not the cause. He has spent the past 20+ years doing clinical research and providing care to his patients, with an extremely high success rate, through theoretical and practical experience.
Over 170 million Americans suffer from obesity, pre-diabetes, and type 2 diabetes. Yet, the clinical research he has conducted at Duke University shows that this American Medical Association-recognized disease can be put into remission – without medications – through a low carbohydrate ketogenic diet alone.
Dr Westman’s experience is vast, and the results have been astounding… 26,000 pounds lost, 98% of patients affected by Type 2 Diabetes off insulin, 4,000 patients, 28,000 clinical visits
Dr. Westman has co-authored the books Cholesterol Clarity, Keto Clarity and The New Atkins For A New You.
Dr. Westman has told the story a few times at our previous events, about how he ended up writing a letter to Robert Atkins, which led to a meeting at Atkins' clinic. The meeting in turn led Dr Westman to convey that he was a little confused about the low carb diet, and he challenged Dr Atkins a bit, saying he was not convinced. That in turn led Dr Atkins to challenge him back to find the flaws and prove that it did not work. But as Dr Westman admits, he could not, and he only proved to himself the profound benefits of therapeutic carbohydrate reduction! He later co-authored a study, which led to another, larger study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, entitled "A Low-Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet versus a Low-Fat Diet To Treat Obesity and Hyperlipidemia."

Eric Westman, MD, MHS

Tony Hampton MD
Bret Scher MD FACC
I hope to be the most unique cardiologist you have ever encountered. Sure, I am a card-carrying, board certified cardiologist. And I spent years learning the invasive procedures and the medications used to treat heart disease. Now I want to do everything in my power to make sure those multibillion dollar tools and drugs go unused.
My goal is to inspire individuals just like you to dictate your own health by adopting healthy lifestyle habits. Lifestyle habits that allow you to achieve your best health ever. Health free of prescription drugs. Health that leaves you feeling great, feeling energetic, and living the life you have always dreamed.
Having competed in triathlons ever since I was a teenager, fitness and health were always obsessions of mine. In college at Stanford University, I was able to maintain my daily training and focus on healthy nutrition. Then, real-life happened. I entered Ohio State University’s medical school, followed by my internal medicine residency at Mercy Hospital in San Diego, and a fellowship in preventative cardiology at Scripps Clinic
Suddenly those gym visits, long runs and bike rides became a struggle to maintain. Finding time to eat well, stay active, get enough sleep, and handle the stress of a high-stakes job became a constant presence in my life. Fortunately, I knew the importance of these habits and I did my best to maintain them, even if on a smaller scale.
As I entered my cardiology practice in San Diego, I encountered thousands of people who struggled far more than I did to maintain healthy habits. Some had never exercised or paid any attention to their nutrition. It just wasn’t how they were raised and they hadn’t considered it important. Others knew what they “should” be doing but lacked the tools and support structure to implement them.
As a result, our healthcare system is full of people suffering from diseases that are completely preventable.
Suddenly, I had a clear mission: to empower all my patients to help themselves. To empower them to make the best-informed choices possible about everything from food to activity to sleep to stress management, every single day. After all, the best way to “treat” someone is to prevent the need for treatment in the first place.
I’ve since studied extensively in the areas of functional medicine, personal fitness training, and nutrition and added the following certifications to my credentials as a physician
- Functional medicine from Functional Medicine University
- Personal training from NASM
- Fitness nutrition from NASM
- Behavioral modification from NASM
- Medical and fitness provider from Titleist Performance Institute
This extra training has broadened my perspective, allowing me to be a doctor, a health coach, a nutritionist, a personal trainer, and a cheerleader all wrapped into one. It is with this mindset that I can give my clients all the tools they need to lead healthy, natural lives.
So, am I the most unique cardiologist you have ever met? In the end, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I can help you take control of your health. I can help you experience natural health that comes from daily healthy lifestyle habits. I can help you safely get off your medicines or ensure that you never need them in the first place. Let’s start this journey together, and you will see how great you can feel!
Education, Titles and Certifications:
Graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in biology 1994
Graduated from The Ohio State University Medical School with a M.D. 1998
Internal medicine internship and residency at Mercy Hospital San Diego, CA completed 2001
Chief Resident for the Mercy Hospital Internal Medicine Residency Program 2002
General and Preventative Cardiology fellowship at Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, CA completed 2005
Cardiology partner at Sharp Rees Stealy, San Diego 2005-present
Founder and lead physician Boundless Health 2015-present
Board certified in:
Adult cardiovascular diseases
Adult echocardiography
Nuclear cardiology
Cardiac computed tomography
Certified practitioner:
Functional Medicine
Personal Trainer
Fitness nutrition’
Behavior modification
Level 2 fitness and medical provider by Titleist Performance Institute

Bret Scher, MD
Vincent (Ben) Bocchicchio, PhD
Dr. Ben has been at the forefront of health and wellness for nearly 50 years. As a clinician in the fields of fitness and health he has initiated and promoted behavioral interventions that have proven to be effective in the treatment and management of the degenerative diseases that plague our public health.
Dr. Ben’s philosophy states that on the continuum of illness to wellness, our collective health plans should attempt to drive the needle towards wellness and away from illness through scientifically sound and safe applications of behavioural endeavors.
Dr. Ben has applied his extensive, recognized background and experience in diet and exercise as the basis of his intervention protocol. Initially (1974), he introduced slow resistance training to the exercise world in a successful attempt to provide safe, high intensity exercise to all populations.
He was the first practitioner to include resistance training to phase II cardiac rehabilitation in 1982. It is now accepted, standard protocol. He pioneered high intensity exercise for high endurance athletes in the mid 1980’s. Lastly, he introduced high intensity exercise for weight loss and management programs including the Opti Fast protocol used by the first popular bariatric physicians (Opti Fit).
Furthermore, Dr. Ben has exposed the paucity of legitimate science supporting conventional medical and governmental practices in treating and managing the aforementioned health dilemmas. He contends that a singularly pharmaceutical oriented solution as currently applied has failed individually and on an international basis.
Dr. Ben provides a simple history of the escalation of degenerative diseases (diabetes, obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, cancer etc.) that correlates, at an inordinate level, with behavioral changes in physical activity and dietary preferences.
Lastly, Dr. Ben offers a simple, sound and scientifically based plan that incorporates a universally applicable system that directly addresses the alarming, current state of public health. Topics included are: Diet, exercise, disease treatment and management options and cost analyses of these.
Dr. Ben Bocchicchio has published more than 200 articles and study reports in the fields of Fitness, Health and Exercise. His work includes his acclaimed book “15 Minutes to Fitness” and the sale of more than 300,000 SMaRT DVD’s in 31 countries. He is continuing work as an investigator and consultant to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, ASU and a number of academic and corporate health institutions.

Dr. Ben
Mary Ruddick, CNC
Dubbed the "Sherlock Holmes of Health," Mary Ruddick is an internationally acclaimed nutritionist currently based in Africa, where she is studying traditional tribal diets and their impact on health. She is the Director of Nutrition for CaptainSoup.com, Enable Your Healing, The REIGNS Method, and the Back to Joy Program. She has been featured with the book, "Beat Autoimmune" and she can be found on several productions from GundryMD, the Food Lies, MeatRx, and the LowCarbUSA Podcast.
Mary specializes in rebalancing the microbiome by addressing nutritional and epigenetic aspects that underlie various physical and mental health disorders. She is a specialist in the field of autoimmunity, histamine intolerance (MCAD), mental disorders, and nervous system disorders to include dysautonomia, and seizure disorders.
Having used both lifestyle and dietary changes on her own miraculous healing journey, she emphasizes the balance of both. Meditation, cold therapy, light therapy, and limbic system exercises are used extensively in her programs.
Director of Nutrition & Limbic Rewiring Instructor
Website: EnableYourHealing.com
Course: https://courses.systemsthatheal.com/enroll
Expectations and Standards for my clients:
- Respect my time. All questions will be addressed during Focus Sessions. No questions sent between meetings will be addressed until the next Focus Session.
- I can't help you without it.
- Zero excuses. Excuses come from a victim mindset, and victims don't heal. My job is to get you better.
- Morning and evening routine 7 days a week. No excuses (see rule #3).
“People say that what we are all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”
― Joseph Campbell

Mary Ruddick, CNC
Peter Ballerstedt, PhD
Peter Ballerstedt (aka The Sodfather) received his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in 1981 and Master of Science in 1983, both from the University of Georgia. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in 1986, specializing in forage management and utilization, minoring in ruminant nutrition. He was the forage extension specialist at Oregon State University from 1986 to 1992. He worked in the forage seed industry from 2011 until 2023. He is a member of several national and international scientific societies, participates in related global initiatives, and is the current President of the American Forage and Grassland Council.
His study of human nutrition is fueled by his personal experience. He is an advocate for ruminant animal agriculture and its products, speaking to audiences in several countries about the role of ruminants in humanity’s past, present and future. He strives to build bridges between his agricultural tribe and his low-carb/keto/carnivore tribes. Peter blogs and posts to Facebook at “Grass Based Health” and on Twitter and Instagram at @GrassBased. Peter and Nancy live in western Oregon with their three dogs Conor Noni and Iris.

Peter Ballerstedt, PhD
Andrea Salcedo, DO
Dr. Salcedo is a board certified OBGYN in Southern California and practices at Loma Linda University Health. She treats and addresses all benign gynaecologic issues and has a special emphasis in using lifestyle to address women's health concerns. Particularly, she uses low carbohydrate high fat nutrition as one of her tools to treat abnormal uterine bleeding, endometriosis, and infertility.

Andrea Salcedo, DO
Michelle Hurn RD LD, Ultra Runner, Author of The Dietitian’s Dilemma
Michelle Hurn is a registered and licensed dietitian with eleven years of experience as a clinical, acute care dietitian, lead dietitian in psychiatric care, and outpatient dietitian. While practicing inpatient and outpatient care in the hospital setting, Michelle discovered a disheartening connecting between the high carbohydrate, low fat, “sugar in moderation,” nutrition guidelines she was required to teach, and the rapidly declining health of her patients.
Michelle is an endurance athlete, and she has competed in 12 marathons. In 2019, Michelle decided to follow a LCHF, high animal protein diet to see if it would alleviate severe muscle pain she was experiencing. Not only was her muscle pain gone in a matter of weeks, her decades of anxiety began to fade. Michelle is the author of the book, “The Dietitian’s Dilemma,” detailing how the current nutrition guidelines came into existence and advocating a low carbohydrate, animal-based way of eating as an option for individuals struggling with diabetes, mental disorders, eating disorders, sarcopenia, and heart disease. Michelle won her first Ultra Marathon covering 44.63 miles in a 6-hour time frame.
You can buy Michelle’s book, listen to her latest podcast, and follow Michelle on social media by clicking the following link:

Michelle Hurn, RD, LD
Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA
Dr. Padda is a Medical Physician, Board Certified in Anesthesiology, Addiction and Interventional Pain. For over 20 years he has practiced in the Urban Core, helping his patients regain their metabolic health.
Pain is the final pathway, the body screaming that something has gone terribly wrong. Dr. Padda treats clinically patients at the intersection of the pain epidemic, opioid epidemic, and the diabetes epidemic. They are all inter-related pathologies, the clinical manifestations of systemic metainflammation.
I spend most of my clinical hours dealing with chronic degenerative diseases that are primarily driven by Metabolic Syndrome leading to Metainflammation. Metabolic Syndrome is a form of malnutrition, a malnutrition of excessive energy consumption and toxicity from:
Acellular Carbohydrates
Synthetic Vegetable Oil consumption
This malnutrition of excess is aggravated by leaky gut from plant based chemical defenses.
The Standard American Diet has become calorically dense, but diluted of protein, minerals, and micronutrients.
Unfortunately, Governmental policy combined with the profit motives of Big-Food and Big-Pharma encourages the consumption of manufactured foods, which may be non-nutritive and promote chronic systemic diseases. This disparity of synthesized food (which contains low nutritional value but high caloric load) leads to caloric over consumption, energy toxicity and eventual diabesity.
Addiction behavior is manipulated by dopaminergic modulation by food manufacturers and gamification of passive activities, in the context of individual loneliness. Social media “connectedness” has created a false paradigm of human interaction, leaving individuals in silos of anonymous and self-destructive behavior.
Humans are complex adaptive systems, and systematic failure is rarely a single cause phenomenon. Our historical disease models of single cause pathology are inadequate for this new synthesized Universe.

Gurpreet Padda, MD, MBA
Mark Cucuzzella, MD, FAAFP
Mark Cucuzzella, is a Professor at West Virginia University School of Medicine. He is also a LtCol in the US Air Force designing programs to promote health and better fitness in the military with the USAF Efficient Running Project. (available on iphone format here) In military and civilian community he has been a tireless promoter of healthy movement, nutritional interventions in patients with any spectrum of the metabolic syndrome, and injury free training for running.
He was a lead writer of one of the first grants supporting education of Medical Students in nutrition and physical activity in Medical School. Mark is also the lead on a large USDA grant to double SNAP benefits at Farmers Markets- the goal is reducing food insecurity as a barrier to healthier eating.
He’s also been a competitive runner for over 30 years — with more than 100 marathon and ultramarathon finishes — and continues to compete as a national-level Masters runner. He has won the Air Force Marathon twice. He is the race director of Freedom’s Run race series in West Virginia and director of the Natural Running Center, an education portal designed to teach healthier running . Mark is also the owner of Two Rivers Treads — A Center for Natural Running and Walking in his hometown of Shepherdstown, W.Va. Mark’s vision of a future of health is housed in his site www.drmarksdesk.com
Mark’s innovative work and story has been featured in the New York Times, NPR, Outside Magazine, Running Times, Runners World, Air Force Times, the Washington Post, JAMA, Blue Ridge Outdoors, and other medical and media outlets.
Mark Cucuzzella MD FAAFP
Professor West Virginia University School of Medicine
store/race HQ 304-876-1100
mobile 304-268-8813
[email protected]

Mark Cucuzzella, MD FAAFP
Christopher M. Palmer, MD
Dr. Palmer received his medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine and completed his internship and psychiatry residency at Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital. He is currently the director of the Department of Postgraduate and Continuing Education at McLean Hospital and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Palmer’s clinical practice has focused on treatment-resistant cases for over 20 years, and he has always been looking for better treatments and treatment outcomes for his patients. He has been using the low-carbohydrate and ketogenic diets in his practice for over 15 years now, mostly for weight loss, but has recently found an anti-psychotic and mood stabilizing effect from specific types of the ketogenic diet, so is pursuing clinical research in this area, speaking at national and international conferences on this topic, and consulting to patients from around the world. He has developed expertise in prescribing and motivating people to do the ketogenic diet and has served as a ketogenic diet consultant to those wishing to implement the ketogenic diet for conditions other than psychiatric conditions, such as weight loss, diabetes, epilepsy, and cancer.
McLean Hospital
115 Mill Street
Belmont, MA 02478
Email: [email protected]
Work Phone: 617-855-2180

Chris Palmer, MD
Miriam Kalamian, EdM, MS, CNS
Miriam Kalamian is a nutrition consultant, educator, speaker and author specializing in the implementation of ketogenic therapies. She earned her master of education (EdM) from Smith College and her master of human nutrition (MS) from Eastern Michigan University. She is board certified in nutrition (CNS) by the Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists.
Inspired by the work of Thomas N. Seyfried, PhD, Miriam draws on a decade of experience to provide comprehensive guidelines that specifically address the many diet and lifestyle challenges associated with a cancer diagnosis.
Her passion for helping others implement this diet comes directly from her personal experience. Her son Raffi was diagnosed with a brain tumor in December 2004. Standard of care therapies failed to stop the relentless progression of his disease, and it became painfully clear that she needed to switch gears quickly. That is what originally led her to Dr. Thomas Seyfried's research supporting the use of the ketogenic diet for cancer.
Later on she authored her own book,, ‘Keto for Cancer - Ketogenic Metabolic Therapy as a Targeted Nutritional Strategy. Although evidence supporting the benefits of ketogenic diet therapies continues to mount, she felt there was little to guide those who wish to adopt this diet as a metabolic therapy for cancer. Keto for Cancer fills this need to lay out comprehensive guidelines that specifically address the many challenges associated with cancer, and particularly the deep nutritional overhaul involved with the ketogenic diet.
Miriam is a leading voice in the keto movement. She is dedicated to meeting the growing demand for specialized tools and knowledge that will help tailor the ketogenic diet to meet the needs of individuals. To that end, she welcomes multidisciplinary collaborations that will help refine this dietary approach to cancer and other metabolic diseases.
Therefore, beyond cancer Miriam integrates nutritional strategies with metabolic therapies and lifestyle modifications to develop personalized treatments that address a broad spectrum of conditions that are currently considered intractable, including age-related, neurodegenerative, and bariatric diseases.
Miriam lives in Montana with her husband Peter. Learn more about their personal journey and Raffi's Story Watch her 2016 interview.

Miriam Kalamian, EdM, MS, CNS
Maria Emmerich
Maria Emmerich is a nutritionist who specializes in the ketogenic diet and exercise physiology. She struggled with her health and weight throughout childhood which lead her to become such a passionate nutrition expert. "My goal is to help transform people's lives and start living again!" Maria specializes in brain neurotransmitters and how food can increase mental wellness. Her expertise has sent her around the World speaking about ketogenic diets.
She spends the majority of her time with clients around the World via Skype with amazing results. She specializes in helping autoimmune disorders, diabetes (Type 1 and Type 2), heart disease, cholesterol issues, alopecia, hashimoto's, cancer, epilepsy, seizures, depression and anxiety. You would be amazed at the amount of people get off medication with her guidance.
She is also an International Best Selling author of several books including "Quick and Easy Ketogenic Cooking" and "The 30 Day Ketogenic Cleanse". She also authored 8 other books including several cookbooks and 3 nutritional guide books including the best-selling book "Keto.".
She also runs a support site for getting all your questions answered here:
keto-adapted.com

Maria Emmerich
Arthur Agatston, M.D.
Arthur Agatston is an internationally recognized pioneer in coronary disease prevention. Dr. Agatston worked with Dr. Warren Janowitz to develop the Agatston Score (the Calcium Score), a method of screening for coronary calcium as an indicator of atherosclerosis. Used throughout the world, it is considered by most experts to be the single best predictor of a future heart attack.
Dr. Agatston is an associate professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and a clinical professor of medicine at Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. He is a member of the American College of Cardiology Nutrition Committee and maintains a private practice in Miami Beach with a focus on preventing heart attacks in high-risk patients. This is also the focus of his continuing research.
Dr. Agatston has published more than 200 scientific articles and abstracts and frequently lectures around the U.S. and internationally on diet, cardiac imaging and heart disease prevention. He was named as one of the “Time 100” most influential people of 2004. Among many television appearances, Dr. Agatston was featured along with President Bill Clinton on Sanjay Gupta's 2011 CNN special, "The Last Heart Attack."
Known as the author of the best-selling book The South Beach Diet, Dr. Agatston created his approach to healthy eating to help his patients improve their blood chemistries, lose weight, and prevent diabetes and heart disease. Today, The South Beach Diet and its companion books have more than 23 million copies in print worldwide. His latest book The Keto Friendly South Beach Diet was just released in paperback, and incorporates new discoveries from the original principles of the famed low-carb diet.

Arthur Agatston, MD
Joan Ifland, PhD, MBA
Joan Ifland, PhD, MBA
Dr. Ifland has been creating breakthroughs in recovery from food addiction from 1999 with the publication of her first popular book to 2018 with the publication of her textbook, Processed Food Addiction: Foundations, Assessment, and Recovery (CRC Press). The textbook is the first academic publication describing how to diagnose and treat processed food addiction, as well as establishing the scientific basis for the disease.
Her current project is a breakthrough in recovery: the online Addiction Reset Community (ARC) founded in 2018 (patent pending). It is based on findings that processed food addiction can be severe. This finding shifted the field to more comprehensive abstinence and support protocols that also resolve isolation and mobility issues.
Dr. Ifland has created numerous innovative online resources for food addicts including The Facebook Groups, ‘Food Addiction Education and Food Addiction Education – The Food (2014). The website, Food Addiction Resources, www.foodaddictionresources.com, provides free evidence-based handouts (2104). The website, Food Addiction Books, www.foodaddictionbooks.com guides food addicts away from misguided deceptive literature to books with solid scientific foundations (2015). She founded the first online training in food addiction to make recovery easier in small, online groups, Food Addiction Reset, www.foodaddictionreset.com( 2016). The Home Addiction Reset Program (HARP) is the first home-based online live video program to support people through the acute phase of withdrawal from processed foods (2018). She wrote the popular book, Dr. Ifland’s Meal Prep Manual, which is a breakthrough system to easily manage meals for recovery from food addiction (2018).
Dr. Ifland is the lead author of the first scholarly description of processed food addiction according to classic addiction diagnostic criteria and the first scholarly definition of addictive versus non-addictive foods, Refined Food Addiction: A Classic Substance Use Disorder (2007) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19223127.
Dr. Ifland earned her PhD in addictive nutrition at Union Institute and University (2010). Her MBA was awarded by Stanford Business School(1978) and her BA in Economics and Political Science by Oberlin College (1974). Her early career was spent understanding corporate and government behaviors with two years as fiscal staff for the Joint Finance Committee of the Wisconsin Legislature (1974-76) and five years as corporate finance staff for a Fortune 200 holding company, the Continental Group (1978-1983)
She currently resides in the Seattle area where she enjoys hiking, swimming, women’s business groups, and the arts.
Joan Ifland, PhD, MBA, CEO
Food Addiction Reset, LLC
713 446 3663

Joan Ifland, PhD, MBA
Dave Feldman
Dave is a senior software engineer and entrepreneur. He began working with programming and system engineering at a very young age and has always enjoyed learning new mechanistic patterns and concepts.
After starting a low carb diet, Dave found his cholesterol numbers increased considerably. He then began reverse engineering the lipid system through self-experimentation and testing, finding it was very dynamic and fluid. He has now demonstrated this phenomenon multiple times by moving his cholesterol up and down substantially in a matter of days.

Dave Feldman
Stephen D. Phinney, MD, PhD
Dr. Stephen Phinney is a Professor of Medicine Emeritus at UC-Davis. He is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. He has twenty-five years of clinical experience as a director of multi-disciplinary weight management programs and has contributed to books and peer reviewed articles and is an expert in low carb nutrition and metabolism, fatty acids, inflammation, and the metabolic syndrome.

Stephen Phinney, MD, PhD
BREAKOUT SPEAKERS
Dorian Greenow
Keto-Mojo founder Dorian Greenow established the world’s first independently owned blood ketone-testing company and is the mojo behind Keto-Mojo.
In 1996, Dorian Greenow left his hometown in southern England for New York City. He had nothing more than a pack on his back and $750 in his pocket. But, once there, he met his future wife and business partner, Gemma, who introduced him to the world of food and wine, and he secured a busboy position at a catering company, which he promptly evolved into a general manager role, overseeing everything from large-scale events for 6,000 to intimate dinners for presidents and princes.
After several formative years mastering the nuances of conducting business in United States, Dorian set his sights on the unknown once again. He bought a motorcycle and rode it from New York to California with no clear job prospects in site. Thousands of miles later, he and Gemma settled in Napa Valley, where Dorian became director of hospitality for the luxury-brand winery, Pine Ridge. Life was good.
But over the years, what Dorian describes as “American disease” set in. His weight ballooned to 207 pounds, he was on antidepressants and found himself able to balance a beer bottle on his extended belly. He’d lost his mojo and decided to get it back through optimal wellness.
Extensive research led Dorian and Gemma to the ketogenic diet. The science made sense.
Within six months, Dorian had measurable success; he came off all his medications, dropped 47 pounds and he was able to deftly slip back into his younger, healthier self. He had his mojo back. Ketogenic living changed Dorian’s life, and he wanted to give back the best way he knew how—by making the lifestyle accessible to everyone.
But paying it forward wasn’t so easy. At $4 per blood ketone-testing strip and the need for multiple tests per day, monitoring ketones was expensive. Additionally, the meters and test strips were produced by a few big players in the biotech industry; limited competition meant prices would remain too high for millions of people who could reap their health benefits. So, Dorian decided to yet again cut his own path by disrupting the industry with his own line of affordable blood ketone-testing products.
He drew up a list of more than 100 manufacturers, cross-matched their technologies to federal regulations, and set out to find a manufacturing partner. After countless doors were shut in his face, he found just the right company and created an FDA-approved meter with a lifetime warranty, higher accuracy than others on the market, and $1 testing strips.
Bypassing traditional sales models, Dorian took his superior offerings direct to online consumers, starting with the passionate keto community, who instantly embraced Keto-Mojo. Within weeks, he was selling more than 10,000 units per month.

Dorian Greenow
Professor Dr Nafeeza Mohd Ismail
Professor Dr Nafeeza Mohd Ismail is a medical doctor with a PhD in Pharmacology, who has worked in several universities. She is currently a Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the International Medical University, a leading private entity. She has an in depth understanding on how lifestyle especially food affects health. Her journey started with a short attachment in the United Kingdom where she learned about how food choices, often help not only in preventive medicine but may put some diseases into remission. She learned from one of the pioneers in Lifestyle Medicine, Dr. David Unwin who has won many awards championing food and health and disease especially diabetes mellitus. An area that is often overlooked by many is making healthy choices not only maintains health but also saves money (individual and organisations) in the long run. She runs a Lifestyle Medicine Clinic focussing on metabolic health at the UiTM Private Specialist Centre, helping patients manage their health and disease (especially Diabetes Mellitus Type 2) through a change in their lifestyle especially food choices. She runs a Lifestyle Medicine Clinic and patients who adhere to the advised way of eating really do well (off medications including insulin). She is also part of the Member, International Working Group on Remission of Type 2 Diabetes led by Professor Mark Cucuzzella from the University of West Virginia.

Alexi Melvin
Jeff Kotterman
Jeff Kotterman,founder of the TriSystem Health Network, is the Director of the National Association of Sports Nutrition and the first NASN Licensed Master Sports Nutritionist in San Diego, CA. He specializes in breaking health, performance and fitness plateaus through exercise and nutrition. He graduated from the College of New Jersey in Trenton with a degree in both health and physical education and obtained his professional certifications through several different organizations including AFAA, ACE, the NAFC and the NASN. Jeff holds every certification the NASN has to offer, including their licensing instructor certificate. Jeff currently trains and mentors health and fitness professionals all over the world to first get an NASN certification and then to pay it forward to others through their individual practices.
Jeff is a consultant to several major fitness companies and gives support to more effective nutrition and exercise programs for products mass marketed today. He has been the expert consultant for popular fitness programs currently featured in specialty supplement stores and major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, infomercials and direct marketing products like MET-Rx 180. Jeff’s latest endeavor is in the growth and development of the TriSystem Health Network. The medical and health communities have got it wrong. The solution to contemporary health issues, disease treatment and prevention is not primarily prescription drugs and invasive procedures. It is specific, science based nutrition, exercise and nutritive supplementation programs that are personal and individually determined. The TriSystem Health Network has been personally introduced through short talks and seminars he and his team have given.
An engaging and accomplished speaker, Jeff has been interviewed by ABC, CBS, NBC, San Diego’s KPBS and the BBC news. He has been quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and several other respected periodicals. Jeff is a family man, spending most of his leisure time with his wife Tina and their two children. Jeff also has a passion for research and the implementation of specific nutrition and exercise strategies that fight heart disease, cancer and diabetes, the leading causes of death in America. Jeff has been coaching and mentoring as a unique sports nutritionist in San Diego, California since 1996.
To schedule Jeff for a speaking engagement or event, email pr@TriSystemEDGE.com or call 888-538-2348 and press 4.

Jeff Kotterman
Dr. Donald Vega
Dr. Donald Vega is a husband and father to a 5 year old son.
He is a registered dietitian, strength and conditioning specialist and life-style mentor, based in Costa Rica with more than 24 years of experience in health education.
Is the founder of Kilosophy which was established with one vision: “Reversing the metabolic disease through a fit, happy and healthy society”
Lads a team of 8 registered dietitians in 4 different locations in Costa Rica where they provide nutritional follow up and a system to educate their patients on the 10 Biological Strategies of Health Philosophy (sun light, sleep, electromagnetism, thoughts, hydration, breathing, nutrition, exercise, thermotherapy and stress management).
They provide programs for over weight, diabetic, hypertensive, endurance and fitness patients.
Specializes in low carb, carnivore and keto life-style, has been in nutritional ketosis since 2011 and has helped over 8000 patients to improve their lives and lose over 176000 pounds of extra fat through their interventions in the clinics.
Has been a speaker in TEDx and health conferences in Malaysia, México, Panamá, Argentina and Perú.
Is in charge of the nutritional counselling in the second season of the Reality Show Reversed, directed by Charles Mattocks, focused on reversing Type 2 diabetes for 3 patients that will air in August 2021.
Is also passionate about coffee, wine, reading, stand up paddle surfing, cycling and resistance training.

Dr. Donald Vega
Chris Bair is a technology and computer geek. He became involved in the nutritionally complete "future foods" movement in January 2014, originally with a conventional recipe and later switching to a high fat, low carb "ketogenic" variant on October 2014. In January 2015 he created the recipe for Keto Chow and released it without restriction for anyone to use, at the same time he began mixing the recipe up for people that wanted a finished product and has seen steady growth in the business every month since.

Chris Bair
Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA
Dr. Padda is a Medical Physician, Board Certified in Anesthesiology, Addiction and Interventional Pain. For over 20 years he has practiced in the Urban Core, helping his patients regain their metabolic health.
Pain is the final pathway, the body screaming that something has gone terribly wrong. Dr. Padda treats clinically patients at the intersection of the pain epidemic, opioid epidemic, and the diabetes epidemic. They are all inter-related pathologies, the clinical manifestations of systemic metainflammation.
I spend most of my clinical hours dealing with chronic degenerative diseases that are primarily driven by Metabolic Syndrome leading to Metainflammation. Metabolic Syndrome is a form of malnutrition, a malnutrition of excessive energy consumption and toxicity from:
Acellular Carbohydrates
Synthetic Vegetable Oil consumption
This malnutrition of excess is aggravated by leaky gut from plant based chemical defenses.
The Standard American Diet has become calorically dense, but diluted of protein, minerals, and micronutrients.
Unfortunately, Governmental policy combined with the profit motives of Big-Food and Big-Pharma encourages the consumption of manufactured foods, which may be non-nutritive and promote chronic systemic diseases. This disparity of synthesized food (which contains low nutritional value but high caloric load) leads to caloric over consumption, energy toxicity and eventual diabesity.
Addiction behavior is manipulated by dopaminergic modulation by food manufacturers and gamification of passive activities, in the context of individual loneliness. Social media “connectedness” has created a false paradigm of human interaction, leaving individuals in silos of anonymous and self-destructive behavior.
Humans are complex adaptive systems, and systematic failure is rarely a single cause phenomenon. Our historical disease models of single cause pathology are inadequate for this new synthesized Universe.

Gurpreet Padda, MD, MBA
Kristen Simon
Kristen Simon is the Coaching & Delivery Manager at Zillion. She is a Certified Health Coach and Personal Trainer, with a background in behaviour change and wellness programming. Kristen currently leads Zillion’s team of health coaches and is passionate about educating, empowering, and motivating others to help them achieve their goals and build healthy lives.

Kristen Simon
Joe Marullo
For more than a decade, Mr. Marullo has been helping companies mine and utilize data analytics to support strategy development and operational planning and execution. At Zillion, he and his team work to better understand what works best for our customers, channel partners, and members in improving health outcomes and reducing related costs. A former director at John Hancock, Mr. Marullo previously served as an Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Army and is a graduate of West Point with an MBA from Boston College.

Joe Marullo
Ignacio Cuaranta, MD
Dr. Ignacio Cuaranta is a board-certified clinical psychiatrist. He received his medical degree from Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina in 2009. In 2006 he assisted as an observer at Beaumont Weight Control Center. In 2015 he worked at a Psychiatric Center at ASM13, París, France and in 2017 he completed a week-long observation of the Intensive Dietary Management Program in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, with Dr. Jason Fung and Megan Ramos, where he learnt invaluable lessons for therapeutic fasting prescriptions.
He has also completed the first online LCHF physician training course by the Noakes foundation, in a dynamic search to gain a depth of knowledge for his private practice. He has served as the head of the Mood Department at a Neuroscience Clinic in my city since 2015.
As a physician, the high rate of obese patients and metabolic disorders caused him to consider whether his practice was complete if it centered only on drugs as a therapy. He began seeing frequent patterns in the clinical manifestations of his patients that couldn’t be explained by the classical arguments in psychiatry for compulsive behavior, impulsive behavior, lack of energy, lethargy, mental fog, mood instability, poor concentration to name a few. He challenged his preconceived notions about nutrition and started paying more attention to the effect of food on the human body, brain health, behavior as well as the impact obesity and other metabolic disorders have on quality of life, mental, physical and social health.
His focus is on mental health optimization and weight loss as a path to health recovery. He operates from a private office where he deals with a wide array of psychiatric conditions and obesity related issues. He works with diet, movement, rest and stress, having quality of life in mind and aiming to increase metabolic flexibility and overall health.
In practice, he aims to help his patients improve cognitive function, mood management, anxiety and stress-related issues assessing the potential association with food and behaviour towards eating (or not eating). He promotes low-carb, healthy-fat (LCHF) and ketogenic lifestyles as well as intermittent fasting protocols, in combination with pharmacotherapy when needed.
