The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Top Insulin Expert: Insulin Is More Dangerous Than Sugar! This Will Strip Fat Faster Than Anything!
08 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What should people focus on for their diet in 2026?
One of the problems with weight loss goals is saying you need to cut calories in order to get there. Now, I'm not saying calories don't matter.
Chapter 2: What is the role of metabolism in weight loss?
They are relevant, but not the most relevant. And I'm going to talk about evidence to support that. If someone is listening at home now and they have the goal of losing some weight, they want to be in a better physique, be more healthy, is this conversation going to help them accomplish those goals? I'll make sure that they get what they need.
Dr. Benjamin Bickman is one of the world's leading metabolic and fat cell scientists.
Chapter 3: Why does calorie counting fail for weight loss?
And now he's returned to expose some of the myths surrounding weight loss. And the surprising impact that one particular hormone has on our weight, brain, and mental health.
Chapter 4: How do ketones contribute to fat loss?
As a metabolic scientist, I wouldn't want someone to think there is only one way to lose weight. However, I think this is the most practical and simplest strategy. A ketogenic diet. The huge reason is that when you cut carbs, insulin comes down. And insulin as a hormone is the one metabolic hormone to rule them all. Insulin will tell every single cell of the body what it needs to do with energy.
And insulin is so determined to store energy that it is directing calories to be stored in tissues like fat or in the liver. To make you fat. Yeah. But there's more. Ketones are the brain's preferred fuel. It can control anxiety, improve depression. It can help with attention. In fact, the benefits of ketones are so extensive that companies are finding ways so you can drink ketones.
And I have a bunch of different exogenous ketone products here at a variety of different brands and a bunch of other things here on the table. So what the hell is this? If someone is interested in a good, smart way of losing weight, try that. This is definitely a prop. It tastes like bleach. I'm so sorry. Oh, my God.
So for 2026 to be the year where I finally get a grip of my health and I asked you to make the perfect plan, what would you prescribe? So first of all... Just give me 30 seconds of your time. Two things I wanted to say. The first thing is a huge thank you for listening and tuning into the show week after week.
It means the world to all of us and this really is a dream that we absolutely never had and couldn't have imagined getting to this place. But secondly, it's a dream where we feel like we're only just getting started. And if you enjoy what we do here, please join the 24% of people that listen to this podcast regularly and follow us on this app. Here's a promise I'm going to make to you.
I'm going to do everything in my power to make this show as good as I can now and into the future. We're going to deliver the guests that you want me to speak to, and we're going to continue to keep doing all of the things you love about this show. Thank you.
Dr. Benjamin Bickman, at this time of year, the audience that are listening right now are thinking a lot about health and dietary changes that they can make to make 2026 the best year of their life, to finally be able to kick that habit. And one of the things that's front of mind, I think, for all of my listeners is their relationship with sugar, with carbs. Right.
and I guess the second order things that some people might know something about, like insulin resistance and all these kinds of subjects. At this particular moment in the year, if you had the ear of millions of people as they're coming into 2026, what is the most important thing that you would say to them? Yeah, that's a great question. What a way to get things started.
In fact, I appreciate you even framing the conversation as if I had the ear because you've given me the ear of millions of people, so I'm going to take it seriously. The way you frame the question is really relevant because within North America –
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Chapter 5: What dietary habits should be avoided in the evening for better health?
Yeah, that's about five or six. And you avoid eating late. Oh, yes. In fact, I would submit, Stephen, if we were to look at any one thing someone could do, I would say anyone who says, Ben, what is the one thing? If I'm putting a question in your mouth, I'd say stop snacking in the evening. Anything you can do to not overeat and go to bed hyperglycemic or spike your blood glucose levels, do it.
Why? That's when people are at their weakest. People – you and I could be hanging out all day, walking past a plate of cookies and not be tempted at all until 7 or 8 p.m. It's just human nature.
And yet that is one of the worst times to eat it because when you go to bed hyperglycemic, it activates a part of the nervous system, an aspect of the nervous system called the sympathetic nervous system. That's also known as the fight or flight. So when someone – we hear a car crash.
or we hear a gunshot, then immediately our heart starts beating faster and harder, our body temperature climbs, and we're stimulated. Hyperglycemia will have that effect, and that is terrible timing. Because when you're going to bed, you're wanting to rely on what's called your parasympathetic nervous system, the aspect of your nervous system that is calming. It's lowering your heart rate.
It's slowing your heart. It's lowering your blood pressure. It's helping you calm down to sleep better. hyperglycemia throws that into opposite. So then you're going to bed, you're lying there wondering why your heart is beating so hard, why you are so hot and uncomfortable, and it's because you just spiked your blood glucose with a bunch of sugar. Is there anything else?
Is there, you know, for people that are focused on that 2026 goal of finally becoming the person that they know they can become, is there anything else you would say to them? Is there any tools they need to buy? Is there any other tricks or tactics or hacks? Yeah, yeah. I do think that they could, if they were adopting this diet, it's definitely going to put them into ketosis.
That can take a little time to adjust. So very relevant to our earlier conversation, I do think exogenous ketones can help a person transition into relying on a ketogenic diet more readily.
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Chapter 6: How can exogenous ketones assist in transitioning to a ketogenic diet?
And anytime a person's losing weight, they run the risk of losing some lean mass at the same time. And my lab just published a paper about two weeks ago, at the time we're filming this, finding that in humans, in a weight loss protocol, if they were drinking BHB or exogenous ketones, they were able to retain more muscle mass, more lean mass in the midst of the weight loss.
So there could be some strategies like that. But I would also add that there are some non-physical ones as well. If someone's trying to say I'm going to be the best version of myself, then start reading more too. Read more books. You'll be the best. You'll be an even better version. As you're losing weight –
And your brain is firing on more cylinders than ever before as it's fueled with ketones. Challenge your brain. You had mentioned dementia earlier. Ketones are a therapy for dementia, but so too is challenging your brain in the form of making it learn new things. So read a good book. This woman contacted me on November the 11th. When you do a podcast, you get lots of feedback.
You get like tens of thousands of people sometimes per episode. And I can imagine you looking through everyone, finding the gems. I actually, funnily enough, I do look at the comment section because it's a place where I really trust the feedback. So people that comment on these videos, like I really do trust them because they are typically listeners.
They've kind of been with me on this whole journey. So when they have feedback, when they have, you know, good or bad feedback or constructive feedback, we pay attention. Yeah. Well, Stephen, I'm pleased that something brought me back. So the comments can't have been too negative. No, they were unbelievably positive. But I got this one on LinkedIn from a lady called – I'll keep her anonymous.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of using GLP-1 drugs for weight loss?
Let's just call her Mrs. L. Okay. And Mrs. L said – Hi, Stephen. Thank you for the great work you do and the information, insights, inspiration you provide. On keto, my husband lasted eight hours on a keto diet and was unconscious. It turned out he had a neurodoctrine cancer called insulimunia.
Chapter 8: How can stress impact weight loss and metabolic health?
Oh, yeah. A neuroendocrine cancer called insulinoma. I said that's exactly what I said. Yeah, yeah. Did I hear a niner in there? And if the paramedics hadn't intercepted with glucose, going keto would have killed him. Yes. He's amazing. We have three children and he volunteers for 50 more every weekend. We don't want to lose him.
Sorry to share this story, but it's not the first time I've seen one of your posts or one of your guests talk about ketosis and what's worked well. And in this case, it was fatal for him.
So I hope you don't mind, but I wanted to share this with love, respect and kindness to hopefully give food for thought, no pun intended, of how you decide to use your platform and to provide further context and nuance. What works for you and thousands of others might not work for everyone.
I believe it's super important that we share this information and inspiration carefully and in a way that exemplifies a growth mindset, not a fixed mindset. for example, not a fixed one diet or one way of working for everybody. If you read this, above all else, please know I'm sending this with the utmost respect and kindness and hope. Best. Love it. Yeah, what a thoughtful message.
Yeah, it is very thoughtful. I appreciate any kind of communication, by the way, because on social media, it is so easy just to become the worst version of yourself without fear of any consequence. So she happened to describe a person who would probably be the worst individual. So an insulinoma, She describes a neuroendocrine cancer. An insulinoma is an insulin-secreting tumor.
So usually it's the pancreas, which for those watching is here again. Imagine that a part of the pancreas is expanding with a tumor, but it's filled with cells that make insulin. So it's a bunch of beta cells, which are the cells that make insulin. And this is a guy who can't stop making insulin.
Suffice to say, if you now cut your carbohydrate consumption and you're continuing to make tons of insulin, which is not normal. So this is a very much a disease state. And I appreciate her stating it as such. It's a cancer. It's a tumor of the pancreas. So what would have happened in him, he cuts his carbohydrates, but he can't stop making insulin.
So now it's actually back to that diet that you and I – that I mentioned at the beginning of our conversation where the people were eating a high-carb version or a low-carb version of a diet. When you spike insulin, you lower both glucose and ketones. And that's what happened to him. He would have become hypoglycemic and he would almost never make any ketones because he always has high insulin.
And so he would have been depriving his brain of its two fuels, lowering the glucose by pushing it into muscle and fat and blocking the liver from making ketones. So he's the worst person. Anyone with an insulinoma – of course, neither you nor I are giving any medical advice. But if a person has an insulinoma, that's like the worst person. person to adopt a low-carb diet.
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