[g_podcast id="9044090"]
Josephine Barbarino is originally an architect and has led an exciting and successful professional life. Until she became increasingly ill. When she was diagnosed with insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes and would have had to inject insulin, she decided to take her health into her own hands.
With the help of her doctor, she switched to a ketogenic diet and managed to bring her blood sugar back into the normal range.
Today, she describes herself as a keto activist and is currently in the process of organizing the first Keto Live conference in Bergün, Switzerland, for which she has invited top-class speakers such as Dr. Aseem Malhotra, Prof. Dr. Jörg Spitz, Prof. Dr. Thomas Seyfried and Dr. Stephen Phinney.
Topics in the interview include
Josephine, how did you become interested in nutrition?
I'm actually an architect. I had a very exciting and great, but stressful time as an architect. At some point I had a few chronic illnesses, some of which were not treated properly and I had to take a lot of medication. Then I was hospitalized with a suspected stroke and finally, in 2014, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
It was a shock for me that I was suddenly told to inject insulin!
I had previously been on metformin, but I was told I had prediabetes, which would be managed again. I should do more sport and lose a bit of weight. I wasn't given any information. Nobody spoke to me about nutrition. My father-in-law died of diabetes, so did my grandpa, and from what I know now, friends have died from the consequences of insulin resistance.
So you knew what that meant? Some people hugely underestimate the consequences of diabetes.
I've only known that since I've been affected myself. Of course, I saw that my grandpa and my father-in-law were in a bad way. But I didn't know that there was a connection.
I wasn't told that by the doctors either. I wasn't told that, as a diabetic, I was likely to go blind or have a leg amputated. You're just told that you have to adjust well.
I was shocked and started researching on the internet and came across www.dietdoctor.com, or rather a video by Dietdoctor Andreas Eenfeldt on YouTube. And so it started that I watched more and more and learned a lot. I then went to my diabetologist and told him that I would like to try the ketogenic diet before we start insulin.
He wasn't at all enthusiastic.
My blood pressure was too high and my cholesterol levels were very bad. He said that if I started changing my diet now, I would drop dead.
In the end, I was able to convince him to try it for 6 months and after 3 months my diabetes was gone or in remission. It is very important to know that you have to stick to this diet and that it is not a cure. I can reverse the insulin resistance. I can get the situation under control. And what convinced me about the ketogenic diet is that it's not a diet!
It's a lifestyle change. To get diseases under control, you have to stick with it long-term. The important thing is that you know what can happen to you and that you know the alternatives.
And whether I can eat a bread roll or not has little to do with that.
I absolutely agree with you! The great thing is that the stable blood sugar that you achieve means you're no longer hungry! Those cravings are no longer there, and neither is the compulsion to 'eat something now to get energy'.
Food used to determine my daily routine.
Yes, it's a bit of a social norm. I experienced that when I was on the road with someone. He couldn't drive any further because he had to eat first and then he had to have something, otherwise he would probably have been hypoglycemic. That shows how free you actually are when you're not constantly looking for food.
It's an experience that everyone should really try. For example with 14-day challenges.
That's when you realize how much it changes you. Just try it out and get involved.
The ketogenic diet is an incredibly powerful medical tool. We have the wonderful term 'food' in the German language. Our food is a means to live and we need to understand that! We need to understand what happens in our bodies.
Absolutely!
It's really important to me that more doctors, naturopaths and practitioners learn about this diet. I think patients now know almost more. And they simply have to be able to react when the patient expresses a desire for this diet.
Actually, you always encounter resistance at first, even though all the other dietary recommendations are not based on any scientific evidence.
Most chronic diseases are caused by metabolic disorders, namely insulin resistance. Very few doctors know this and it's quite frightening. I have come across this ignorance very often. And that's why I set myself the task of informing doctors and patients.
As a first step, I thought about organizing a conference in German-speaking countries and
The conference program was inspired by this study on insulin resistance, the G.M. Raven study entitled "Insulin resistance as a predictor of age-related diseases" on the relationship between insulin resistance and the occurrence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs):
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11502781
My biggest goal was to make this conference a CME-certified conference. A CME certificate serves to maintain and update the professional competence of the medical profession. Every doctor has to collect educational points, so to speak.
I managed to get the Swiss Society of Internal Medicine to certify us with 17 continuing medical education points. And yesterday we got some wonderful news: the Association of German Alternative Practitioners has also recognized us! As an alternative practitioner, you can collect 25 points across Europe if you attend our conference!
So a little appeal to my listeners. If you have or know a doctor, alternative practitioner or nutritionist where you think there is a certain openness, please share this information!
It is very important that more people believe that they can take responsibility for their own health and lay an important foundation with nutrition.
The more people talk about this in public, the more people can be helped. And in the end, of course, it benefits everyone if we save costs in medicine.
Dear Josephine, what can we expect at a conference like this and when does it take place?
It takes place from June 10-14 at the Kurhaus Bergün near St. Moritz.
All meals are included in the conference price and they are all ketogenic, so visitors can discover the ketogenic diet.
There will be three different workshops.
The following speakers will take part in the conference:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Seyfried (USA)
Dr. Stephen Phinney (USA)
Prof. Jörg Spitz (DE)
Georgia Ede M. D. (USA)
Dr. Aseem Malhotra (UK)
Ivor Cummins (IRL)
Jean-Jacques Trochon (FRA)
Dr. Ian Lake (UK)
Dr. John Schoonbee (CHE)
Charlotte Summers (UK)
Arjun Panesar (UK)
Michel Lundell (SWE)
Elena Cross (DE/CHE)
Dorian Greenow (USA)
Dipl. oec. troph. Ulrike Gonder (DE)
Mag. rer. nat. Julia Tulipan (AUT)
Patricia Daly (CHE)
Domini Kemp (IRL)
Dorian Greenow & Gemma Kochis (USA)
I will also try to come. You'll find my ears open anyway, I'm probably not your target group. It will be important to get people there who have not yet come into contact with the topic of nutrition and do not really work with nutrition.
It will be important to network people who can work together in the future.
That's why I deliberately invited certain people, so that people can see that it is possible to relieve doctors and still have good patient care.
Of course, with many illnesses (e.g. epilepsy, heart disease) you absolutely need the support of a doctor! That's why it's so important to me that we inform many doctors. Only if they have information can they make the right recommendations.
Thank you so much for your time, dear Josephine!
It benefits us all if more people in the healthcare sector understand the connections between nutrition and health and also share them with their patients.
Now I recommend that you subscribe to the podcast so that you don't miss an episode, and if you like what you hear, I would really appreciate a review on iTunes or Apple Podcast. Because these reviews also help other people to find the podcast so that we can share the knowledge about gut and health more. can spread.
Josephine Barbarino is originally an architect and has led an exciting and successful professional life. Until she became increasingly ill. When she was diagnosed with insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes and would have had to inject insulin, she decided to take her health into her own hands.
With the help of her doctor, she switched to a ketogenic diet and managed to bring her blood sugar back into the normal range.
Today, she describes herself as a keto activist and is currently in the process of organizing the first Keto Live conference in Bergün, Switzerland, for which she has invited top-class speakers such as Dr. Aseem Malhotra, Prof. Dr. Jörg Spitz, Prof. Dr. Thomas Seyfried and Dr. Stephen Phinney.
Topics in the interview include
- Why the diagnosis of diabetes shocked Josephine so much at the time
- How a YouTube video from Dietdoctor saved her life
- What her mission as a keto activist is
- Which top international speakers are coming to the first Keto Live conference
- And: How you can help by telling your doctors and therapists about this educational conference
Professionally successful and suddenly ill: Josephine's diabetes diagnosis
Josephine, how did you become interested in nutrition?I'm actually an architect. I had a very exciting and great, but stressful time as an architect. At some point I had a few chronic illnesses, some of which were not treated properly and I had to take a lot of medication. Then I was hospitalized with a suspected stroke and finally, in 2014, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
It was a shock for me that I was suddenly told to inject insulin!
I had previously been on metformin, but I was told I had prediabetes, which would be managed again. I should do more sport and lose a bit of weight. I wasn't given any information. Nobody spoke to me about nutrition. My father-in-law died of diabetes, so did my grandpa, and from what I know now, friends have died from the consequences of insulin resistance.
So you knew what that meant? Some people hugely underestimate the consequences of diabetes.
I've only known that since I've been affected myself. Of course, I saw that my grandpa and my father-in-law were in a bad way. But I didn't know that there was a connection.
I wasn't told that by the doctors either. I wasn't told that, as a diabetic, I was likely to go blind or have a leg amputated. You're just told that you have to adjust well.
How Josephine found the ketogenic diet and brought her diabetes into remission
How did you decide to take a new direction?I was shocked and started researching on the internet and came across www.dietdoctor.com, or rather a video by Dietdoctor Andreas Eenfeldt on YouTube. And so it started that I watched more and more and learned a lot. I then went to my diabetologist and told him that I would like to try the ketogenic diet before we start insulin.
He wasn't at all enthusiastic.
My blood pressure was too high and my cholesterol levels were very bad. He said that if I started changing my diet now, I would drop dead.
In the end, I was able to convince him to try it for 6 months and after 3 months my diabetes was gone or in remission. It is very important to know that you have to stick to this diet and that it is not a cure. I can reverse the insulin resistance. I can get the situation under control. And what convinced me about the ketogenic diet is that it's not a diet!
It's a lifestyle change. To get diseases under control, you have to stick with it long-term. The important thing is that you know what can happen to you and that you know the alternatives.
Lifestyle change instead of a diet
The argument 'But I want to enjoy my life' is very common, as if the enjoyment of life depends on food. We - society - celebrate food in a way as if it were our purpose in life.The goal of our lives is not 'I want to eat delicious food every day', but the goal of our lives is to develop ourselves, pursue our passions and live a happy life!And whether I can eat a bread roll or not has little to do with that.
I absolutely agree with you! The great thing is that the stable blood sugar that you achieve means you're no longer hungry! Those cravings are no longer there, and neither is the compulsion to 'eat something now to get energy'.
Food used to determine my daily routine.
Yes, it's a bit of a social norm. I experienced that when I was on the road with someone. He couldn't drive any further because he had to eat first and then he had to have something, otherwise he would probably have been hypoglycemic. That shows how free you actually are when you're not constantly looking for food.
It's an experience that everyone should really try. For example with 14-day challenges.
That's when you realize how much it changes you. Just try it out and get involved.
The ketogenic diet is an incredibly powerful medical tool. We have the wonderful term 'food' in the German language. Our food is a means to live and we need to understand that! We need to understand what happens in our bodies.
Absolutely!
It's really important to me that more doctors, naturopaths and practitioners learn about this diet. I think patients now know almost more. And they simply have to be able to react when the patient expresses a desire for this diet.
Why did Josephine become a keto activist?
What is the response like when you approach doctors or therapists about it?Actually, you always encounter resistance at first, even though all the other dietary recommendations are not based on any scientific evidence.
Most chronic diseases are caused by metabolic disorders, namely insulin resistance. Very few doctors know this and it's quite frightening. I have come across this ignorance very often. And that's why I set myself the task of informing doctors and patients.
As a first step, I thought about organizing a conference in German-speaking countries and The conference program was inspired by this study on insulin resistance, the G.M. Raven study entitled "Insulin resistance as a predictor of age-related diseases" on the relationship between insulin resistance and the occurrence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs):
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11502781
My biggest goal was to make this conference a CME-certified conference. A CME certificate serves to maintain and update the professional competence of the medical profession. Every doctor has to collect educational points, so to speak.
I managed to get the Swiss Society of Internal Medicine to certify us with 17 continuing medical education points. And yesterday we got some wonderful news: the Association of German Alternative Practitioners has also recognized us! As an alternative practitioner, you can collect 25 points across Europe if you attend our conference!
So a little appeal to my listeners. If you have or know a doctor, alternative practitioner or nutritionist where you think there is a certain openness, please share this information!
It is very important that more people believe that they can take responsibility for their own health and lay an important foundation with nutrition.
The more people talk about this in public, the more people can be helped. And in the end, of course, it benefits everyone if we save costs in medicine.
Dear Josephine, what can we expect at a conference like this and when does it take place?
It takes place from June 10-14 at the Kurhaus Bergün near St. Moritz.
All meals are included in the conference price and they are all ketogenic, so visitors can discover the ketogenic diet.
There will be three different workshops.
The following speakers will take part in the conference:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Seyfried (USA)
Dr. Stephen Phinney (USA)
Prof. Jörg Spitz (DE)
Georgia Ede M. D. (USA)
Dr. Aseem Malhotra (UK)
Ivor Cummins (IRL)
Jean-Jacques Trochon (FRA)
Dr. Ian Lake (UK)
Dr. John Schoonbee (CHE)
Charlotte Summers (UK)
Arjun Panesar (UK)
Michel Lundell (SWE)
Elena Cross (DE/CHE)
Dorian Greenow (USA)
Dipl. oec. troph. Ulrike Gonder (DE)
Mag. rer. nat. Julia Tulipan (AUT)
Patricia Daly (CHE)
Domini Kemp (IRL)
Dorian Greenow & Gemma Kochis (USA)
I will also try to come. You'll find my ears open anyway, I'm probably not your target group. It will be important to get people there who have not yet come into contact with the topic of nutrition and do not really work with nutrition.
It will be important to network people who can work together in the future.
That's why I deliberately invited certain people, so that people can see that it is possible to relieve doctors and still have good patient care.
Of course, with many illnesses (e.g. epilepsy, heart disease) you absolutely need the support of a doctor! That's why it's so important to me that we inform many doctors. Only if they have information can they make the right recommendations.
Thank you so much for your time, dear Josephine!
It benefits us all if more people in the healthcare sector understand the connections between nutrition and health and also share them with their patients.
Now I recommend that you subscribe to the podcast so that you don't miss an episode, and if you like what you hear, I would really appreciate a review on iTunes or Apple Podcast. Because these reviews also help other people to find the podcast so that we can share the knowledge about gut and health more. can spread.
