#162 - Sarah Hallberg, D.O., M.S.: Challenging the status quo of treating metabolic disease, and a personal journey through a grim cancer diagnosis

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May 17, 2021

In this conversation with Sarah Hallberg, Medical Director at Virta Health, she shares her groundbreaking insights on treating type 2 diabetes through carbohydrate restriction. She challenges long-held beliefs about dietary fats and underscores the need for personalized metabolic management. Sarah also recounts her personal battle with lung cancer, emphasizing resilience while navigating her diagnosis and prioritizing family. Her journey illustrates the intersection of innovative health strategies and personal perseverance in the face of adversity.

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ANECDOTE

Prioritizing Children's Well-being

Dr. Hallberg's initial thought after her stage four lung cancer diagnosis was to prioritize her children's well-being by opting for physician-assisted suicide in Oregon.
She wanted to spare them the suffering of watching her succumb to the disease, reflecting her maternal instincts.

ANECDOTE

Shift to Problem-Solving

Dr. Hallberg's focus shifted from despair to extending her life after her diagnosis, aiming for 11 years until her youngest child graduated.
She prioritized researching treatment options and finding a surgeon to remove her primary tumor, demonstrating her proactive approach.

ANECDOTE

Primary Tumor and Treatment Goals

Dr. Hallberg's primary lung tumor was large (six centimeters), yet she experienced no pain or cough before diagnosis.
She aimed to reduce mutation risk and prolong TKI effectiveness by surgically removing the tumor.

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Sarah Hallberg is the Medical Director at Virta Health and a physician who has spent nearly two decades treating patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes. In the first half of this episode, Sarah discusses how she became a huge believer in the efficacy of carbohydrate restriction for the treatment of type 2 diabetes through her research and clinical experience. Sarah challenges the common beliefs about the role of dietary fat and carbohydrate on the plasma makeup of fatty acids and triglycerides. She also expresses the importance of understanding early predictors of metabolic illness—highlighting one particular fatty acid as the most important early predictor—before finishing with a discussion about how doctors might be able to personalize patients' metabolic management in the future. In the second half of this episode, Sarah tells the personal story of her own lung cancer diagnosis. She talks about dealing with her grief, deciding to continue her work while prioritizing her family, and how she devised a plan to extend her survival as long as possible.

We discuss:

How Sarah discovered the profound impact of carbohydrate restriction for reversing obesity and type 2 diabetes [3:15];
Prediabetes and metabolic syndrome: prevalence, early signs, and the importance of treating early [16:00];
Overview of fatty acids, how they are metabolized, and understanding what you see in a standard blood panel [29:15];
The relationship between diet composition and metabolic markers [35:15];
Why palmitoleic acid is such an important biomarker [48:15];
The best early indicators of metabolic disease [1:00:00];
Personalized management of metabolic illness [1:07:00];
Sarah's cancer diagnosis and the beginning of her journey [1:15:15];
The emotional impact of a devastating diagnosis [1:27:15];
Sarah's plan to extend survival [1:36:45];
Sarah's aggressive treatment plan [1:47:30];
Life-threatening complications and the return of her cancer [1:59:00];
Sarah's reflections on her approach to life with chronic cancer and balancing her time [2:11:00]; and
More.

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