Symposium for Metabolic Health – Boca 2024 (Jan 12 -14)

Metabolic Health Conference Held at The Boca Raton Marriott Hotel

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Dedicating First Day to Type 1 Diabetes Discussions
We will dedicate a special day to discussion related to the management of type 1 to achieve more stable blood sugars, (or to stabilize blood sugars) and to reduce risks of complications at the 8th Annual Florida Symposium for Metabolic Health (SMH). 
Why Should You Attend?

Learn from world-renowned experts regarding:

  • The overwhelming evidence supporting carbohydrate reduction as a therapeutic intervention.
  • The use of Carbohydrate Reduction in addressing, and even reversing, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, PCOS, CVD, epilepsy, TBI, Alzheimer's neurological pathologies, mental health conditions and much more!
  • Stabilizing blood sugar & reducing the risk of complications in type 1 diabetes.
  • Effective strategies for treating obesity& achieving sustainable weight loss.
  • The impact of insulin resistance & inflammation on chronic illness.
  • Improvement of health & education worldwide - addressing nutritional policies & clinical guidelines and establishing Standard of  Care with respect to Therapeutic Carbohydrate Reduction.
  • Emerging and historical research, clinical outcomes, benefits of ketogenic and metabolic therapies.
  • Clinicians significant successes with patients, many with a powerful personal story of their own journey to sustained weight loss and improved metabolic health.
About This Conference
  • Open to the public as well as practitioners.
  • In-Person AND Livestream options with event videos available afterwards to all.
  • Awesome Low Carb dinners each night, included with your registration. 
  • Ample LIVE Q&A time after each presentation to get YOUR questions answered. 
  • 20.75 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 compelling and thought provoking Final Panel is a can't miss Sunday afternoon.
  • Health and Wellness Coaches, Personal Trainers, Sports Enthusiasts, and Citizen Scientists all welcome.

A Lookback on San Diego 2021

Testimonial - Dr. Brian Lenkes

In-Person Ticket ($399)!!
Livestream Ticket ($99)!!
Speaker Schedule
Book Your Hotel Room
Upgrades (CMEs, In-Person)
Poster Presentations

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS (CLICK ON IMAGES FOR BIOS)

Tro Kalayjian, DO

My name is Tro Kalayjian, I am a board-certified physician in both Internal Medicine and Obesity Medicine, I lost 150lbs to reclaim my health for myself and my family. I did it by ignoring much of the conventional medical advice that we have been told.  My life's goal is to get my patient's healthy, prevent disease. and get them OFF of their medications.  I completed medical school at TouroCOM in New York. I completed my internal medicine residency and chief residency within the Yale system at Greenwich Hospital. I have been practicing medicine for 8 years, the last 3 have been in private practice. My practice focuses on tracking patients seamlessly and remotely with smart-devices, including scales, blood pressure cuffs, wearable technology and continuous glucose monitors. My practices focuses on de-prescribing medications and using lifestyle, diet and exercise to improve the course of disease. 

My personal weight loss story begins at childhood. I grew up obese, in an obese family. I have personally dealt with the deep emotions and feelings involved with being overweight for most of my life. I have dealt with the same issues that many of my patients face, which affords me the capacity to empathize with them and guide them in a special way. This connection is why my patients are successful in their wellness journey, because I am not preaching from some Ivory Tower. I lived through what my patients live through, and I have experienced what they are experiencing. In order to heal myself, I studied for countless hours through medical literature, researched thousands of papers, read hundreds of books in order to find the answer, for myself, to the ever important question: Why are we fat?

And what I found during my journey and research was in such stark contrast to what we have been told. Eating multiple small meals DOES NOT speed up your metabolism. Fruit Juices ARE NOT healthy. Red Meat, Fish & Full-Fat Yogurt ARE healthy. If most physicians and nutritionists can't get it right, why do we expect anything different from our patients? Are we surprised that obesity epidemic has exploded? What patients may not realize is that most physicians DO NOT have sufficient training in nutrition and can't help you lose weight or reverse disease. Furthermore the food industry and special interests have made it so hard to understand what a healthy lifestyle really is.

Ultimately, I find I am best able to serve my patients because I understand what it is like, I have been through it, and I help my patients every step of the way.  I succeed when they succeed.

 

Tro Kalayjian, DO

David Diamond, PhD

David Diamond received his Ph.D. in Biology in 1985, with a specialization in Behavioral Neuroscience, from the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at the University of California, Irvine. He was a career scientist at the Department of Veterans Affairs for 30 years and is currently a Professor in the Departments of Psychology, Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of South Florida, where he has directed his research program on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dr. Diamond has served on federal government study sections and committees evaluating research on the neurobiology of stress and memory, and has over 100 publications, reviews and book chapters on the brain and memory. He has served on the editorial boards of numerous medical journals and has received 30 years of federally funded support for his neuroscience research.

In the past decade, Dr. Diamond has expanded his research program to include cardiovascular disease, medication and nutrition. In recent years he added to his extensive list of medical publications, controversial papers on heart disease, diet and cholesterol. He has been invited to present his research on nutrition, saturated fat and cholesterol at numerous domestic and international cardiology, obesity and diabetes conferences. Dr. Diamond’s research on nutrition resulted in his appointment to The Nutrition Coalition, a national U.S. board of clinicians and scientists who have the goal of providing an evidence-based evaluation of U.S. government dietary recommendations.

David Diamond, PhD
Phillip Ovadia, MD

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

DrMarksDesk.com 

store/race HQ 304-876-1100
mobile 304-268-8813
[email protected]

 

Mark Cucuzzella, MD, FAAFP

Michael Hoffmann MD, PhD, FCP(SA), FAAN

Michael Hoffmann obtained his medical degree (MBBch) at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa and neurological subspecialty fellowship training in stroke fromColumbia University in New York City. This was followed by two senior doctorates, one incerebrovascular medicine (MD) and one in behavioral health (PhD). His main areas of research have concerned cognitive disorders after stroke and how to improve brain health and fitness based on scientific principles and evolutionary insights. He is currently a Professor of Neurology with the University of Central Florida and has recently served in a number of administrative leadership positions, such as Associate Dean of Academic Assessment (USF) and Chief of Neurology Services and Director of the Stroke Center at the Orlando VA Medical Center. He has been the founding director of comprehensive and primary stroke centers in 5 tertiary medical centers to date in the USA and South Africa and has current licenses in Florida and Kentucky and previously in Canada, Germany and South Africa. He is also a cognitive neurology consultant at the Roskamp Neuroscience Institute in Sarasota, Florida where he focuses on frontotemporal disorders, traumatic brain illness and neuro-toxicological syndromes such as Gulf War Illness. Peer-reviewed publications currently number ~230 and he has also authored four books; Assembly of the Executive Mind, Brain Beat, Cognitive Conative and Behavioral Neurology and Clinical Mentation Evaluation, a connectome approach. He also has received several physician-initiated grant research support awards.

Michael Hoffman, MD

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

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

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.   

Ben Bocchicchio, PhD, MHP

Ben Bikman, PhD

Benjamin Bikman earned his Ph.D. in Bioenergetics and was a postdoctoral
fellow with the Duke-National University of Singapore in metabolic disorders.
Currently, his professional focus as a scientist and professor (Brigham Young
University) is to better understand the role of elevated insulin and nutrient
metabolism in regulating obesity, diabetes, and dementia.

Ben Bikman, PhD

Belinda Lennerz, MD

Dr Lennerz is credentialed in pediatrics and pediatric endocrinology. She joined the endocrine division at Boston Children’s Hospital in 2015.  Dr. Lennerz' research focus is on understanding mechanisms that regulate food intake and energy homeostasis in obesity, and carbohydrate restriction in types 1 and 2 diabetes and carnivore and ketogenic diets. She is widely published researcher with Dr David Ludwig from Harvard.

 

Belinda Lennerz, MD

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."

low carb usa san diego event 2016 speaker eric westman
Eric Westman, MD, MHS

PETER BRUKNER  OAM, MBBS, FACSP, D Sc, FASMF, FACSM, FFSEM

Peter Brukner OAM is a specialist sports and exercise physician who is the founding partner of Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre in Melbourne and Professor of Sports Medicine at LaTrobe University. A founding Executive Member of the Australasian College of Sports Physicians, he served two terms as President and played a key role in establishing sports medicine as a medical specialty in Australia. Peter is the co-author of the widely used text book Clinical Sports Medicine and has been team physician for professional football clubs as well as national athletics, swimming, soccer and men’s hockey teams including Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Peter was the Socceroos Team Doctor at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and subsequently became Head of Sports Medicine and Sports Science at Liverpool Football Club. He then served as Australian cricket team doctor from 2012-17, and as a consultant to the Melbourne Football Club during their premiership year in 2021. Peter is the co-founder of the public health campaign SugarByHalf and is committed to the challenge of improving the nation’s health with improved diet and increased physical activity. His best selling book A Fat Lot of Good was published in 2018. Peter is also the Founder and Chair of Defeat Diabetes, an app- and web-based program, aimed at improving diabetes control through diet. His latest book The Diabetes Plan was published in March 2023. In 2022 Peter was awarded a Doctor of Science honoris causa by La Trobe University and delivered the inaugural Peter Brukner Distinguished Lecture.

Peter Brukner, OAM, MBBS, FACSP, D Sc, FASMF, FACSM, FFSEM

Jessica Turton, PhD, MND, B.App.Sc (ExSpSc)

Jessica is an Accredited Practicing Dietitian and the Director of Ellipse Health. She holds a PhD in nutrition awarded by the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. Her thesis investigated the use and efficacy of low-carbohydrate diets for diabetes management, with a specific focus on type 1 diabetes. In 2022, Dr Turton conducted a clinical trial in collaboration with the CSIRO using a fully online delivery model which enabled Australia-wide participation. This study successfully assessed the safety and effect(s) of a nutritionally adequate low-carbohydrate diet on type 1 diabetes management outcomes (PLOS ONE; 2023).  Jessica also conducted the largest systematic review to date assessing low-carbohydrate diet interventions in adults with type 2 diabetes, and based on the collective data, she published an evidence-based approach to developing low-carbohydrate diets for type 2 diabetes management (Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism; 2019). Jessica has a passion for working with individuals to help them better understand the role of nutrition in their health. She develops personalised diet and supplement plans in collaboration with her patients to address their specific nutritional priorities, with the overarching goal of preventing and/or managing chronic disease and improving quality of life.

 

Jessica Turton, PhD, MND, B.App.Sc (ExSpSc)

Ian Lake, BSc(Cell Biology and Biochemistry),BM,MRCGP

Dr Ian Lake is a Primary Care Physician in the UK who is keen to ensure that all people with Type 1 diabetes and their clinical teams know about the ketogenic diet.

After 20 years of living with Type 1, he accidentally discovered the ketogenic lifestyle which had such a profound transformation in his diabetes control from the first day; he halved his insulin doses, reduced his hypos, and had much-improved blood glucose.  Previously he was in the same situation as 70% of people with Type 1 diabetes who are losing 100 days of life every year because of their HbA1c being above 7.5%.

  He feels so healthy and alert that he has had the confidence to resume sports in the great outdoors solo, which he had to stop because of safety concerns around diabetes.  

 In 2020, he organised the Zerofive100 project, a 100-mile run over five days with zero calories, water only. One other person with Type 1 was in the team of eight. It was designed to address clinical concerns about the keto diet in type 1 diabetes and was a success. There were no issues at all.

Realising there was a need for quality information, he has written professional courses on keto diets, which are intended for clinical teams and will also appeal to people living with Type 1. He also has a website dedicated to providing information for fellow T1s.

 ‘There is a lot of misinformation out there and people are getting confused.  My aim is that all people with Type 1 diabetes are aware of the ketogenic lifestyle and get access to expert help from clinicians who are trained in keto lifestyles. People should know their options so that they can make informed choices supported by their clinical teams. This is a chance for a new start for some people, and I hope they, too, discover the benefits of this lifestyle very soon.’

Ian Lake, BSc, BM,MRCGP

Dominic D’Agostino, PhD

Dr. Dominic D’Agostino is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of South Florida (USF) Morsani College of Medicine and also a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). The primary focus of his laboratory is directed towards understanding the physiological effects of hyperbaric oxygen and developing and testing metabolic-based therapies, including ketogenic diets, ketone supplements and drugs that target specific metabolic pathways.

His research explores the use of these therapies for a broad range of disorders linked pathophysiologically to metabolic dysregulation, including seizures, neurodegenerative diseases, genetic diseases and cancer. D’Agostino’s laboratory uses in vivo and in vitro techniques to understand the physiological, cellular and molecular mechanism of metabolic therapies. His research is supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Department of Defense (DoD), private organizations and foundations.

Dominic D’Agostino, PhD

Eric Berg, DC

Dr. Eric Berg, age 58, with a monumental following of over 28M+ subscribers across all of his YouTube channels worldwide, discusses everything keto and fasting. Dr. Berg promotes the healthy version of the keto diet as a routine normal lifestyle, not as a special diet. Being the CEO of Dr. Berg's Nutritionals, and a best-selling author, it's his mission to disseminate natural alternatives to health conditions and clean eating.

His book, The Healthy Keto Plan describes specific strategies on doing the healthy version of the ketogenic diet and provides all the details, barriers and solutions to one getting started. Dr. Berg has practiced for 30 years educating people on alternative health, breaking down confusing complex health topics into easy to understand, usable knowledge. 

Eric Berg, DC

TYPE 1 DIABETES WORKSHOP PRESENTERS

Beth McNally, MS, MA, CNS, LDN

Beth McNally’s journey with nutrition began in 2015 when her son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. From the first questions of “what is Type 1 diabetes, exactly?” and “what is a carb anyway?” to “how do you manage T1D to achieve normal blood sugars to protect our son?”, Beth’s family has relied on Therapeutic Carbohydrate Reduction (TCR) for more than eight years to make diabetes easier to manage.

Even after achieving normal blood sugars for her son, the questions kept coming: How does the body work? How do I make sure my child is getting everything he needs in his diet? Will he grow? In pursuit of answers, Beth completed a Master of Science in Nutrition and Integrative Health, became a Certified Nutrition Specialist® and a Certified Ketogenic Nutrition Specialist®, and a Licensed Nutritionist (LDN). She is currently completing dietetics studies.

Beth believes every person diagnosed with T1D should have an opportunity to learn how their medical condition can benefit from a therapeutic approach to nutrition. Sharing her knowledge as a clinical nutrition professional and as a caregiver, Beth has a private practice that teaches and guides families living with T1D to use TCR to achieve better diabetes outcomes.

Beth is also the CGM Maven on Miriam Kalamian’s Keto for Cancer nutrition team, educating people on how to use continuous glucose monitors to understand the impact of food and lifestyle choices on their management of their cancer diagnosis.

 

Beth McNally, MS, MA, CNS, LDN

Lester Hightower

Lester Hightower is the father of an 18-year old son with type 1 diabetes. Lester is a technology entrepreneur, has been married for twenty-six years, and is the father of two children. Lester’s son, Andrew, was diagnosed with T1D in 2010, at the age of five, and has followed Dr. Richard K. Bernstein’s diabetes management regimen since diagnosis. Lester is an ardent student of and advocate for low-carb eating and Dr. Bernstein’s diabetes management regimen. Lester is a founding board member of the not-for-profit Rivere Foundation, which does most of its advocacy work through its Let Me Be 83 trademark. Lester holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Florida State University.

Lester Hightower

Allison Herschede, BSN, RN, CDCES

Allison has been living with type 1 diabetes for 42 years. She was diagnosed with T1D at only 18 months old, and has known nothing else. She struggled with diabetes management for 29 long years before learning about low carb. She was able to reverse early diabetic complications and completely turned her health around.

 
Allison is co-founder and admin of TypeOneGrit™, a 3000+ member group of type 1 diabetics and their families. She also leads two pregnancy groups for diabetes and specializes in diabetes in pregnancy. She authored the book, "Grit Pregnancies; How to Have a Healthy Pregnancy and Normal Blood Sugars with Type 1 Diabetes". 
 

Allison is a Registered Nurse, Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist, public speaker, and is the lead diabetes educator at diaVerge Diabetes. She helps her clients consistently achieve normalized blood sugar levels, dramatically reducing their blood sugar averages and A1c.

Allison Herschede, BSN, RN, CDCES
diaVerge Diabetes
[email protected]
Fax: 1(866) 411-5552
Allison Hershede, BSN, RN, CDCES

Ian Lake, BSc(Cell Biology and Biochemistry),BM,MRCGP

Dr Ian Lake is a Primary Care Physician in the UK who is keen to ensure that all people with Type 1 diabetes and their clinical teams know about the ketogenic diet.

After 20 years of living with Type 1, he accidentally discovered the ketogenic lifestyle which had such a profound transformation in his diabetes control from the first day; he halved his insulin doses, reduced his hypos, and had much-improved blood glucose.  Previously he was in the same situation as 70% of people with Type 1 diabetes who are losing 100 days of life every year because of their HbA1c being above 7.5%.

  He feels so healthy and alert that he has had the confidence to resume sports in the great outdoors solo, which he had to stop because of safety concerns around diabetes.  

 In 2020, he organised the Zerofive100 project, a 100-mile run over five days with zero calories, water only. One other person with Type 1 was in the team of eight. It was designed to address clinical concerns about the keto diet in type 1 diabetes and was a success. There were no issues at all.

Realising there was a need for quality information, he has written professional courses on keto diets, which are intended for clinical teams and will also appeal to people living with Type 1. He also has a website dedicated to providing information for fellow T1s.

 ‘There is a lot of misinformation out there and people are getting confused.  My aim is that all people with Type 1 diabetes are aware of the ketogenic lifestyle and get access to expert help from clinicians who are trained in keto lifestyles. People should know their options so that they can make informed choices supported by their clinical teams. This is a chance for a new start for some people, and I hope they, too, discover the benefits of this lifestyle very soon.’

Ian Lake, BSc, BM,MRCGP

Jessica Turton, PhD, MND, B.App.Sc (ExSpSc)

Jessica is an Accredited Practicing Dietitian and the Director of Ellipse Health. She holds a PhD in nutrition awarded by the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. Her thesis investigated the use and efficacy of low-carbohydrate diets for diabetes management, with a specific focus on type 1 diabetes. In 2022, Dr Turton conducted a clinical trial in collaboration with the CSIRO using a fully online delivery model which enabled Australia-wide participation. This study successfully assessed the safety and effect(s) of a nutritionally adequate low-carbohydrate diet on type 1 diabetes management outcomes (PLOS ONE; 2023).  Jessica also conducted the largest systematic review to date assessing low-carbohydrate diet interventions in adults with type 2 diabetes, and based on the collective data, she published an evidence-based approach to developing low-carbohydrate diets for type 2 diabetes management (Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism; 2019). Jessica has a passion for working with individuals to help them better understand the role of nutrition in their health. She develops personalised diet and supplement plans in collaboration with her patients to address their specific nutritional priorities, with the overarching goal of preventing and/or managing chronic disease and improving quality of life.

 

Jessica Turton, PhD, MND, B.App.Sc (ExSpSc)

Belinda Lennerz, MD

Dr Lennerz is credentialed in pediatrics and pediatric endocrinology. She joined the endocrine division at Boston Children’s Hospital in 2015.  Dr. Lennerz' research focus is on understanding mechanisms that regulate food intake and energy homeostasis in obesity, and carbohydrate restriction in types 1 and 2 diabetes and carnivore and ketogenic diets. She is widely published researcher with Dr David Ludwig from Harvard.

 

Belinda Lennerz, MD

Tro Kalayjian, DO

My name is Tro Kalayjian, I am a board-certified physician in both Internal Medicine and Obesity Medicine, I lost 150lbs to reclaim my health for myself and my family. I did it by ignoring much of the conventional medical advice that we have been told.  My life's goal is to get my patient's healthy, prevent disease. and get them OFF of their medications.  I completed medical school at TouroCOM in New York. I completed my internal medicine residency and chief residency within the Yale system at Greenwich Hospital. I have been practicing medicine for 8 years, the last 3 have been in private practice. My practice focuses on tracking patients seamlessly and remotely with smart-devices, including scales, blood pressure cuffs, wearable technology and continuous glucose monitors. My practices focuses on de-prescribing medications and using lifestyle, diet and exercise to improve the course of disease. 

My personal weight loss story begins at childhood. I grew up obese, in an obese family. I have personally dealt with the deep emotions and feelings involved with being overweight for most of my life. I have dealt with the same issues that many of my patients face, which affords me the capacity to empathize with them and guide them in a special way. This connection is why my patients are successful in their wellness journey, because I am not preaching from some Ivory Tower. I lived through what my patients live through, and I have experienced what they are experiencing. In order to heal myself, I studied for countless hours through medical literature, researched thousands of papers, read hundreds of books in order to find the answer, for myself, to the ever important question: Why are we fat?

And what I found during my journey and research was in such stark contrast to what we have been told. Eating multiple small meals DOES NOT speed up your metabolism. Fruit Juices ARE NOT healthy. Red Meat, Fish & Full-Fat Yogurt ARE healthy. If most physicians and nutritionists can't get it right, why do we expect anything different from our patients? Are we surprised that obesity epidemic has exploded? What patients may not realize is that most physicians DO NOT have sufficient training in nutrition and can't help you lose weight or reverse disease. Furthermore the food industry and special interests have made it so hard to understand what a healthy lifestyle really is.

Ultimately, I find I am best able to serve my patients because I understand what it is like, I have been through it, and I help my patients every step of the way.  I succeed when they succeed.

 

Tro Kalayjian, DO

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