The Flex Diet: Using Metabolic Flexibility to Improve Body Composition Goals, Health, and Performance

With us this week is Extreme Human Performance Specialist Mike T Nelson, PhD. Mike has spent 13+ years working with clients, focusing on how to properly condition the body to burn fat and become stronger, more flexible, and healthier. He’s been called in to share his techniques with top government agencies, universities and colleges, fitness organizations and fanatics. The strategies he’s developed and the results Mike generates for his clients have been featured in international magazines, in scientific publications, and on websites across the globe.

Today Mike joins Megan Hall to talk about the power and practicality of using metabolic flexibility to achieve exceptional body composition, health, and performance. Mike talks about the surprising psychological factors that go into designing a personalized diet and the system he’s developed that works with the freedom-craving, flexible nature of your typical human. His system is called the Flex Diet, and it combines the science of metabolic flexibility with the autonomy of choose-your-own-adventure interventions to keep clients motivated, consistent, and inspired to take on their next challenge.

If you’re a trainer or health practitioner who values flexibility, Mike is running a rare special offer this week on his Flex Diet Certification Course.

Here’s the outline of this episode with Mike T Nelson:

[00:00:35] Previous podcasts featuring Dr. Mike T. Nelson: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

[00:01:03] The psychology of behavior change: Why an intervention might look good on paper but not work in real life.

[00:08:21] The Flex Diet: What it is, how it came about. 

[00:13:12] Problems with relying on fat for fuel.

[00:16:38] Fuel used during exercise; Studies: 1. Goedecke, Julia H., et al. "Determinants of the variability in respiratory exchange ratio at rest and during exercise in trained athletes." American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology And Metabolism 279.6 (2000): E1325-E1334. 2. Helge, J. W., et al. "Interrelationships between muscle fibre type, substrate oxidation and body fat." International journal of obesity 23.9 (1999): 986-991. 3. Nelson MT, Biltz GR, Dengel DR. Repeatability of Respiratory Exchange Ratio Time Series Analysis. J Strength Cond Res. 2015 Sep;29(9):2550-8

[00:18:21] Ketogenic diets and fasting.

[00:19:39] Book: Eat Stop Eat: Intermittent Fasting for Health and Weight Loss, by Brad Pilon.

[00:21:31] How to know if you're metabolically flexible.

[00:23:09] Lumen CO2 sensor.

[00:28:56] Tips for fasting with different end goals.

[00:30:02] Protein synthesis study: Horstman, Astrid MH, et al. "The muscle protein synthetic response to whey protein ingestion is greater in middle-aged women compared with men." The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 104.4 (2019): 994-1004.

[00:34:14] Using HRV to assess stress; Who shouldn't fast.

[00:35:18] Psychological benefits for fasting.

[00:37:35] Differences between men and women regarding metabolic flexibility.

[00:42:54] Dr. Ben House; Podcasts with Ben: How to Manage Testosterone and Estrogen in Athletes, and Ben House, PhD on Strength Training: a Discussion at the Flō Retreat Center in Costa Rica.

[00:43:58] How many carbs? How much fat?

[00:46:24] Overfeeding and changes in Nonexercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT); Study: Levine, James A., Norman L. Eberhardt, and Michael D. Jensen. "Role of nonexercise activity thermogenesis in resistance to fat gain in humans." Science 283.5399 (1999): 212-214.

[00:47:50] Enroll in the Flex Diet Certification Course.