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Diary of a CEO · 2026-01-08

Insulin Expert: How To 'Drain' Your Liver of Fat (Do This!)

Metabolic scientist Benjamin Bikman argues insulin, not calories, drives fat storage, and makes the case for a ketogenic diet and ketones.

Insulin Expert: How To 'Drain' Your Liver of Fat (Do This!)
The guest

Dr. Benjamin Bikman: One of the world's leading metabolic and fat-cell scientists, a professor whose lab studies insulin resistance, ketones, and obesity. Returning guest and advocate of low-carb/ketogenic approaches to metabolic health.

What this episode covers

Bikman makes the case that insulin, not calorie count, is the master hormone governing fat storage, and that lowering insulin via a low-carb or ketogenic diet shrinks fat cells without the hunger that dooms calorie-cutting. He explains how the liver produces ketones (BHB) when insulin is low, why ketones are the brain's and heart's preferred fuel, and the emerging research on ketones for cognition, anxiety, blood pressure and heart failure. He walks Bartlett through a personal 2026 daily protocol (no carbs until dinner, big lunch, fasted workouts, ruck, ice bath, sauna, yerba mate) and live-tests exogenous ketones by tracking Bartlett's blood ketone levels. The pair also discuss GLP-1 drugs (their two-year diminishing returns and muscle loss), creatine for muscle and brain, sex differences in keto for women, the cancer-as-metabolic-disease theory, and the BBC's 'misinformation' attack on the show.

Recommended on this episode

ProductRecommended

Una Mate yerba mate

Una Mate

“The brand that I get is called Una Mate”
“The brand that I get is called Una Mate. And it's a leaf. It's a South American tea basically.”— Benjamin Bikman
ProductRecommended

Morozko Forge ice bath

Morozko Forge

“and I love it. It is spectacular”
“I have an ice bath on my back patio, a Maroska Forge, and I love it. It is spectacular.”— Benjamin Bikman
ProductRecommended

Iron Feather collagen

Iron Feather

“it's called iron feather. I love it”
“I do take collagen um as well. Um it's called iron feather. I love it.”— Benjamin Bikman

Also referenced (named, not recommended)

ProductReferenced

Sibio continuous ketone monitor

Sibio

“there was a company out of Germany um that sent me one uh called Sai Bio, Si Bio, and you can just strap it on”— Benjamin Bikman
ProductReferenced

Goli Ashwagandha Gummies

Goli

“I just tried an ashwagandha source in the form of a little gummy, a goalie gummy and it had enough like a full kind of therapeutic dose”— Benjamin Bikman
ProductReferenced

Whoop

Whoop

“you can stack it with other technologies like let's say you're wearing a Whoop... their HRV is suggesting that they're stressed”— Benjamin Bikman
ProductReferenced

Ozempic

Novo Nordisk

“That's a GLP-1 medication. >> A Zmpeek. >> Ompic. Yeah. >> I've got an Ampec pen right here.”— Steven Bartlett

Big reveals from this episode

  • Bikman claims that if you remove a single hormone, insulin, it is 'completely impossible' for a person to get fat no matter how much they eat.
  • Shares that a single shot of L-BHB dropped his blood pressure from 139/90 to roughly 110/70 within an hour.
  • Reveals a German company (Sibio) sent him a continuous ketone monitor not yet FDA-approved in the US.
  • Reads a listener message: a man's keto attempt left him unconscious after 8 hours; he had an insulinoma and would have died without paramedic glucose.
  • Endorses Thomas Seyfried's nucleus/mitochondria swap experiments as evidence cancer is a metabolic, not genetic, disease.
  • Bartlett recounts the BBC labeling his guests 'misinformation' over 0.001% of recorded hours, and editing out his reply.
  • Bartlett discloses he is a co-owner/investor in Ketone IQ and other brands he's affiliated with.
  • Bikman closes with a deeply personal religious worldview, choosing his scriptures as the one thing he'd keep for life.

Worth remembering

  • People in North America become measurably more insulin resistant and gain more weight in winter, echoing hibernating bears.
  • Liposuction removes fat mass but improves no health markers, evidence that fat-cell size, not total fat, matters.
  • Bikman's lab found ketones triple the metabolic rate of human fat tissue versus non-ketosis.
  • A week of low-carb eating cut liver fat by roughly 60% in fatty liver patients, more than an isocaloric high-carb diet.
  • In a pig-heart study, infusing L-BHB let the heart eject 40% more blood per beat by dilating the great vessels.
  • Women in the follicular phase are 'fat-burning machines,' entering ketosis faster than men with 40-50% higher free fatty acids.
  • About 70% of people quit GLP-1 drugs within two years, often from constant nausea, and sweet-craving suppression fades by year two.
  • On GLP-1 drugs, roughly 40% of weight lost is fat-free mass (muscle and bone) that may never return.
  • Adding B vitamins tripled feed-to-weight efficiency in livestock, prompting Bikman's theory that over-fortification may fuel obesity.
  • Creatine for the brain needs 10-15 grams daily versus 5 grams for muscle, and may matter more for women given higher Alzheimer's risk.