71. A Cyclist’s Metabolic Transformation: Overcoming Pre-Diabetes and Heart Surgery with Dustin Armstrong

OFM - Why Metabolic Health Matters

Dustin Armstrong, a Cat 1 Cyclist joins us to share his metabolic transformation via OFM. Starting Life with underdeveloped lungs racing helped him develop his engine. However, following the conventional approach to sports nutrition Dustin became pre-diabetic and eventually developed heart disease.

He’s defied the odds through the OFM (Optimized Fat Metabolism) approach. Tune in as Dustin and Peter discuss the highs and lows of Dustin's athletic career, his unique insights into metabolic health, and how the OFM protocol has helped him achieve optimal performance and health.

Talking Points:

Introduction to Dustin Armstrong:

• Born with underdeveloped lungs and faced significant health challenges from the start.
• Transitioned from professional BMX racing to road biking at the age of 28.

The Shift to Road Racing:

• Journey from Cat 5 to Cat 1 in just one year.
• Initial experiences with different nutritional approaches, including raw veganism and paleo diets for athletes.

Discovering OFM and Ketogenic Diet:

• Struggled with inflammation and a pre-diabetic diagnosis in 2015.
• How the initial adoption of a ketogenic diet helped manage his blood sugar levels but resulted in losing the top-end power necessary for road racing.
• Introduction to the OFM and VESPA through Peter Defty’s brother and its impact on his performance and health.

Experiences with Ketone Esters:

• Early experimentation with high-dose ketone esters and their effect on athletic performance and recovery.
• Challenges and learning to use ketone esters for recovery rather than as a direct performance enhancer.
• Ketone esters, like those developed by Frank Llosa at KetoneAid, are highlighted as a powerful tool for sustained energy and mental clarity during extended athletic efforts.
• Dustin discusses how a microdosing ketone esters can help him stay strong while others are fading.

Heart Surgery and Recovery:

• Diagnosis of a bicuspid valve and aortic enlargement requiring emergency surgery.
• Post-surgery recovery using a strict keto diet, nutrient-dense foods, and gradually including ‘Strategic’ carbs to be able to return to competition per the OFM protocols.
• Remarkable comeback within six months, completing multiple challenging events.

The Role of Nutrition and OFM in Athletic Success

• How Dustin optimized his fueling strategy with Vespa, strategic carbs, and ketone esters.
• Importance of nutrient-dense foods like raw milk, homemade yogurt, Natto and other fermented foods for gut health.
• Utilizing ancestral health principles to enhance performance and recovery.

Current Racing and Training Insights:

• Competing in criterium races every weekend and managing a balanced diet with strategic carbohydrate intake.
• Experimentation with different fueling strategies, including the use of raw milk post-race for recovery.
• Managing non-native-EMF exposure and other environmental exposures with a holistic Lifestyle approach to achieve both optimal health and performance.

Strategic Carbohydrate Use:

• Dustin shares how he strategically incorporates carbohydrates to boost performance, especially during high-intensity efforts or long endurance rides.
• He emphasizes that a little goes a long way when your body is fully fat-adapted.

Holistic Recovery Approach:

• Dustin attributes his rapid recovery from heart surgery to a nutrient-dense diet, the strategic use of OFM, and ketone esters.
• He emphasizes the role of a balanced gut microbiome and reduced exposure to non-native EMF in optimizing recovery and health.

Personal Anecdotes and Success Stories:

• From his own experience overcoming a congenital heart defect to helping others through OFM, Dustin illustrates the transformative power of OFM.
• He mentions mentoring a friend who has achieved significant marathon performance improvements using a combination of keto, OFM, and Vespa.

Balancing Modern Nutrition Trends:

• Peter and Dustin discuss the current high-carb fueling trends in endurance sports and the pitfalls of extreme carbohydrate dependence.
• They advocate for a balanced, context-specific approach that leverages fat adaptation for sustainable performance and health so athletes can take full advantage of ‘Strategic’ Carbohydrate use during high level training and competition to minimize the negative health impacts of glycolysis while maximizing the performance gains.

Your health and performance is not about following a one-size-fits-all approach but an individualized one that factors in your specific variables, including the demands of the sport. OFM addresses how our native metabolic pathways can be leveraged in real world ways to achieve “Higher Health & Peak Performance” . Justin is another example of how important addressing performance at the metabolic level is toward achieving your health and performance goals. More so, OFM is about fully living LIfe!

This conversation provides valuable insights on how you can reduce your sugar consumption, while, at the same time, dramatically improving health and longevity without any sacrifice in performance . . . you probably will see significant improvement with time.