Know Your Physio

Dr. Spencer Nadolsky: Reclaim Your Health | Boost Insulin Sensitivity, Embrace Memes, and Prioritize Lifestyle over Pharmaceuticals

Andrés Preschel Episode 13

Send us a text

When it comes to diet trends and health supplements, it can be difficult to know who to trust, especially on online platforms like YouTube or Instagram. Our guest today, Dr. Spencer Nodalsky, is a physician who advocates for lifestyle changes before pharmaceuticals and is known as ‘The Doctor Who Lifts’ in honor of his active lifestyle. During his undergraduate program, he studied Exercise Science and pre-med while wrestling in the heavyweight class at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. He went on to pursue a medical degree at Edward via the College of Osteopathic Medicine where he began advocating for the concept of nutrition and exercise as medicine. During his residency, he studied and specialized in obesity medicine and lipidology. He currently serves as chief physician at Renaissance Periodization. In our conversation, we hear from Dr. Nadolsky about how he uses humor to share his message of ‘lifestyle as medicine’ and why it’s important to lead by example as a doctor and prioritize your health. Tuning in you’ll hear us discuss how exercise can assist insulin sensitivity and why metabolic health is largely determined by your insulin levels. Later, Dr. Nadolsky unpacks how to approach training for endurance events and how to avoid the adverse effects of overtraining. We delve into the complexities of obesity, why it’s not a choice, and why it’s so difficult to lose weight once your body experiences a setpoint reset. Find out Dr. Nodalsky’s thoughts on online diet trends like biohacking and why elitists in the health and wellness space don’t react well to his humorous memes. Join us today for a fascinating discussion on diet trends, health, and exercise!


Key Points From This Episode:

  • How Dr. Nadolsky first became interested in memes and his approach to creating them.
  • We hear from Dr. Nadolsky about his mission to impart the message that ‘lifestyle as medicine’ in a humorous way.
  • How exercise can assist insulin sensitivity.
  • Dr. Nadolsky breaks down what it means to be insulin resistant.
  • How exercise helps you transport glucose.
  • Metabolic health is largely determined by one’s level of insulin sensitivity.
  • How overtraining for endurance events can adversely affect your health.
  • How to safely approach training for an endurance event.
  • The benefits of cross-training for your long-term health.
  • Allowing yourself the time to gradually prepare for an endurance event.
  • Dr. Nadolsky shares some of his memes and how the health and wellness community has reacted to them.
  • The toxic elitism that exists in health and wellness communities.
  • Why obesity is not a choice, but a complex combination of factors over a prolonged period.
  • How people with obesity have the added challenge to weight loss by having a setpoint reset where their bodies fight to hold onto weight.
  • Dr. Nadolsky’s view on ketogenic diets and why it’s primarily for individuals struggling with specific issues like epilepsy.
  • Dr. Nadolsky shares his views on biohacking and why it’s primarily a marketing term with baseless claims.
  • Why it’s good to eat according to your hormonal menstrual cycle.
  • Which experts we should be listening to in the bio-optimization space.
  • Why you should focus on outcome data versus mechanistic data.


Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Dr. Spencer Nadolsky

Dr. Spencer Nadolsky on Instagram

Dr. Spencer Nadolsky on LinkedIn

Support the show