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Flex Diet Podcast

Dr. Mike T Nelson

Dr. Mike T Nelson gets geeky with the latest research and scientific findings in the fitness world. Visit www.flexdiet.com to get Flex Diet Certified and www.miketnelson.com for more geeky goodness.

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  • 26 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 1 hr 11 min
  • English

Episodes 26

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  • #405
    September 21 · 1 hr 21 min

    Episode 404: Whole-Body MRI, CT Scans, and What Imaging Can Tell You — Matthew Paul Clemons, MD

    Whole-body MRI promises a detailed look under the hood—but what can a quick screening scan actually see, miss, and send you chasing? Diagnostic radiologist Dr. Paul Clemons explains why a whole-body MRI is a limited study, how incidental findings can lead to further tests, and why standard screening remains the better choice for most people. Paul and Mike also compare MRI, CT, PET, and DEXA; unpack contrast, radiation, scan safety, and pacemakers; and discuss why a dramatic spine image does not

  • #404
    September 14 · 1 hr 19 min

    AI Disclosure, Deepfakes & the Death of Expertise — Dean Guedo & Jeb Stuart Johnston — #404

    Dean Guedo and Jeb Stuart Johnston (the Food on the Mind duo) join Dr. Mike T Nelson for their yearly AI check-in, getting into whether creators should disclose AI use and why deepfaked video is a very different beast than AI-assisted writing. The conversation ranges into dead internet theory, why so much hard-won fitness expertise never made it onto the internet at all, and why demanding physical skills may become more valuable, not less, as AI accelerates.

  • #403
    September 8 · 1 hr 20 min

    Building a Fitness Empire: Business Lessons, Zone 2 & Recovery Trends with Don Saladino — #403

    Don Saladino has spent nearly three decades training A-list stars like Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman -- and here he shares the single business lesson he wishes he'd learned sooner. He and Dr. Mike also dig into why Don closed his $2M-overhead NYC gym, how tracking respiratory rate reshaped his approach to Zone 2 training, and the sobering personal loss that changed how he views performance enhancers.

  • #402
    August 31 · 1 hr 36 min

    VO2 Max, Zone 2 Training & the Psychology of Human Performance — Ben Skutnik — #402

    Dr. Ben Skutnik (PhD, CSCS*D) joins the show to separate fact from fad in aerobic training, debunking zone 2 hype and explaining why VO2 max matters but isn't everything. We also dig into the psychology of performance, why anecdote often outruns research, and how 'closing the loop' with clients beats chasing mechanisms.

  • #399
    August 10 · 1 hr 9 min

    Episode 399: Urolithin A, Mitochondrial Health, and Nutrition for Pro Athletes — Dr. Emily Werner

    Dr. Emily Werner — team dietitian for the Philadelphia 76ers (NBA) and Philadelphia Flyers (NHL), and Nutrition Affairs Sport Lead at Timeline — joins Dr. Mike to unpack postbiotics, urolithin A, and why mitochondrial health matters for pro athletes and everyday people alike. They dig into the real research behind Timeline's Mitopure, how Emily navigates athlete psychology and supplement fads, and why chasing $200K gadgets rarely beats getting the fundamentals right.

  • #398
    August 4 · 1 hr 16 min

    Getting Back to Nutrition Basics: Gut Health, Micronutrients & Training with Zach Moore

    Nutrition and exercise coach Zach Moore joins Dr. Mike to strip fitness back to fundamentals — why most lifters overthink programming, how to build strength with minimal volume, and why gut health and micronutrient status quietly determine whether your diet actually works. If you've been chasing complicated protocols instead of the basics, this conversation is your reset.

  • #396
    July 22 · 1 hr 8 min

    Are Your Peptides Illegal? — Rick Collins — #396

    Peptides are everywhere right now, but most of what's sold online as BPC-157 or TB-500 is illegal — and the FDA is about to decide what happens next. Attorney Rick Collins, a leading defense lawyer in this space, breaks down the science, the gray market, and why the military's new testosterone screening policy matters too.

  • #395
    July 20 · 1 hr 14 min

    What Coaching Air Force Pilots Taught Me About Real Performance — Sam Brown — #395

    Sam Brown spends his days training Air Force pilots and aircrew who run on nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol — and almost never turn off their nervous system. He reveals why the toughest operators need recovery just as much as intensity, how he sneaks down-regulation into workouts disguised as hard training, and what years of coaching in Altus, Oklahoma taught him about real performance under extreme cognitive load.

  • #394
    July 13 · 1 hr 29 min

    The Counseling Skills Nutrition Coaches Are Missing — Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon — #394

    Dr. Krista Scott-Dixon reveals the counseling techniques that most nutrition coaches have never learned — and why mastering them matters more than any protocol. She explains why over-optimized clients are often the most fragile, how AI is eroding the critical thinking skills coaches rely on, and what her 700-page textbook Applied Nutrition Coaching and Counseling teaches coaches to do when clients say the unexpected.

  • #393
    July 6 · 1 hr 20 min

    From Powerlifter to Trail Runner — Paul Oneid & Cody Miller — #393

    Paul Oneid tore both quads and rebuilt himself from powerlifter to trail runner, with coach Cody Miller guiding the transition. They break down the emergent training approach, VO2 max and cardiac adaptations, and the mental side of suffering across strength sports and endurance.

  • #391
    June 22 · 12 min

    Flex Diet Cert Closes at Midnight Mon 6/22/2026 and Coaching Leverage — #391

    Dr. Mike T. Nelson explains why sleep—despite being a massive physiological lever—ranks last among the eight interventions in the Flex Diet Certification. The key concept: coaching leverage (physiology × psychology). Sleep scores high on physiology but rock-bottom on a client's ability to change, while protein scores high on both, making it the #1 starting point.

  • #390
    June 19 · 1 hr 10 min

    Antibiotics, Gut Microbiome, and the Exercise Connection — Dr. Sara Campbell — #390

    Dr. Sara Campbell returns to discuss her lab's cutting-edge research on the bidirectional relationship between exercise and the gut microbiome — including why consumer gut tests oversimplify a complex ecosystem, how antibiotics devastate exercise capacity in animal models, and why single-microbe probiotics miss the bigger picture of functional guilds. She also shares new findings on short-chain fatty acids, amino acid metabolomics after antibiotic treatment, and the emerging neuromuscular juncti

  • #388
    June 8 · 1 hr 18 min

    What Vinegar & Lifting Really Do To Your Gut — Dr. Emily Dow — #388

    Dr. Emily Dow, PhD, RD, researches where nutrition, resistance training, and gut health actually meet — and where the science gets oversold. We get into what her 12-week vinegar-and-lifting study really showed, why most direct-to-consumer microbiome tests aren't worth your money, and why peptides deserve far more skepticism than hype.

  • #387
    June 2 · 1 hr 33 min

    Episode 387: Nathan T. Jenkins on Metabolic Flexibility, Aerobic Base, and First Principles

    In this episode of the Flex Diet Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Nathan Jenkins to discuss how to improve performance, body composition, and long-term health through the lens of aerobic development and metabolic flexibility. Nathan shares his journey from exercise physiology and coaching CrossFit athletes to his new role teaching physiology at the University of Georgia School of Medicine. We discuss why metabolic flexibility is such a powerful framework for understanding everything from biochemistr

Showing 1–20 of 26 episodes