Ep. 161: Cyrus Khambatta, PhD - The Doctor of Making Diabetes…Disappear

Imagine being in the absolute prime of your life - 21 years old, going to school at Stanford to study Mechanical Engineering, playing sports for hours on end…and then, ABRUPTLY, it comes to a screeching halt when you are diagnosed with not one, not two, but three autoimmune diseases within a matter of months.

Today’s guest, Cyrus Khambatta, went from “soccer stud” to “chronic disease patient” in the blink of an eye when he was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, alopecia, and Type 1 diabetes in 2002.

Determined to understand everything he could about these diagnoses, especially his diabetes, he went back to school to learn the science, earning a Ph.D. in nutritional biochemistry from UC Berkeley. In 2020, he and his business partner, Robby Barbaro, co-authored the book, Mastering Diabetes: The Revolutionary Method to Reverse Insulin Resistance Permanently in Type 1, Type 1.5, Type 2, Prediabetes, and Gestational Diabetes.

An educated person is an empowered person and that’s our goal for today - to arm you with as much knowledge, research, and hope that you can master your diabetes with a whole foods plant-based diet that, yes, includes plenty of carbohydrates and rich diversity of luscious fruit.

Rip and Cyrus Discuss:

• 00:00-22:00 Cyrus’s journey - How did he go from student to chronic patient in a matter of months?

• 22:40 Learning a new nutrition perspective from Doug Graham

• 27:00 Why he went back to school to find out if he was, “a freak of nature”

• 29:00 How can the medical establishment be so wrong with its recommendations?

• 33:45 Digging into the science - Let’s go!

• 34:50 What the heck is insulin resistance?

• 42:20 So, if sugar doesn’t always cause insulin resistance, what does?

• 53:20 What are the most dangerous fats and what effect do they have on insulin resistance?

• 57:19 The keto/paleo argument - why does it appear to work?

• 1:05:45 The Mastering Diabetes Way - Low Fat - 10-15% calories, 10-15% from protein, the rest should come from whole food, plant-based carbs

• 1:07:15 Plant-based, eat at least 90% of calories from whole plant foods

• 1:08:15 Keep your foods unprocessed or minimally processed

• 1:10:55 But, don’t I need fat to feed my brain?

• 1:14:30 Do we need a minimum amount of fat?

• 1:20:00 Is diabetes a disability for Cyrus?

• 1:23:10 What percentage of the population is affected by the different types of diabetes?

• 1:29:30 Why he and Robby Barbara started the Mastering Diabetes Community

• 1:32:10 Is Alzheimer's now Type3 diabetes?

• 1:35:00 The importance of daily movement and exercise

• 1:42:50 What is the Hegsted equation?

• 1:47:10 Cyrus’s thoughts on the Glycemic Index

• 1:53:00 What about gluten?

• 1:57:00 Is he a fan of caffeine?

• 2:01:45 What does Cyrus eat in a day?

• 2:04:22 What is the worst thing about having Type 1 Diabetes?

• 2:04:04 What is the best thing about having Type 1 Diabetes?

• 2:08:00 Join the Mastering Diabetes Challenge!

Cyrus Khambatta may have a Ph.D., but today he’s here to help you master your diabetes.

Episode Resources:

Episode Webpage

Watch the Episode on YouTube

Mastering Diabetes Website

Join the Mastering Diabetes Challenge

Order the Mastering Diabetes Book

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