#105 Exogenous ketones, my coffee protocol, and supplements for blood sugar regulation (Premium Member Q&A July 2025)

“What you're hearing today is just the first 30 minutes of a full 90-minute AMA. So in this preview alone, we cover fascinating topics like why I started taking exogenous ketones, my current coffee routine, including what beans and brewing methods I prefer, optimal doses of supplements like ubiquinol, berberine, alpha-lipoic acid, vitamin K2,”

“I want to go ahead and get some of the rapid fire questions. I love how a lot of people asked questions, follow-up questions on my recent coffee episode that I released, I don't know, a few weeks ago.”

“Okay, so the coffee that I have been on or been using right now, I've tried a lot of different brands. And honestly, right now I'm on a bit of a decaf coffee kick because my creatine is amazing.”

“Again, caffeine itself also appears to be beneficial. So I'm on my decaf kick right now, but I will shift back to my caffeinated coffee eventually. Okay, and then another related question on coffee was from KRD, who says, Hi, Rhonda, on the subject of coffee.”

“In what way can we drink coffee to prevent nutrient loss? So with respect to nutrient loss, coffee really, most people are fine. I would say it's very minor. And the biggest minor effect would be iron.”

“cause a little bit of an absorption issue with iron. And so if you are eating a meal, you probably want to make sure it's like the coffee spaced out by like an hour so that you're not inhibiting the absorption of iron from your meal.”

“of coffee. And you start to get into like the really high dose, maybe you can cause some issues. But there was a study showing that, you know, four 200 mil cups of coffee per day, you know, so this is about four milligrams of caffeine per kilogram body weight per day.”

“They ask if there's any issues of drinking coffee on an empty stomach. Not that I'm aware of. I mean, obviously, like maybe some people do, but I don't, there's not like an overall thing. It's not like a thing. And then another question about dairy.”

“So what this question is hinting at is the fact that coffee, when you add dairy to your coffee, you are not, the bioavailability of the polyphenols is dramatically slowed.”

“Those are the major polyphenols found in coffee, plus whole milk. And they found, you know, that basically the metabolites that are the polyphenol metabolites, they fell from 68 to 40.”

“And that, and if you like to have your coffee with cream, don't use dairy. And then there was another related question about protein doing something similar. And yes, it does do something similar.”

“bio release and bioavailability of the polyphenols. And there was another, this is the last question on coffee. This question was submitted by Sam. And Sam says, for those of us who have the gene for slow metabolism of caffeine, should we do anything differently?”

“However, you should be able to mostly notice that. So if your coffee consumption protocol is not causing any issues with your sleep, then whatever you're doing should probably be fine. Okay, there's a few more rapid-fire questions we're going to get to before, but I want to look at the chat to see some coffee-related questions here.”

“see some coffee-related questions here. Myrna is asking about my thoughts on decreased blood flow from vasoconstriction from coffee to the brain. In fact, the polyphenols do the opposite, they actually increase the blood flow to the brain.”

“Unfortunately, those pods, those capsules, they all have lined plastic in them. And so, my biggest concern with those isn't the coffee type. It's the hot liquid going through plastic, which, as we have talked about several times, rapidly accelerates the breakdown of microplastics into your beverage as well as their associated chemicals like BPA into your beverage.”

“Mike is asking when I cycle off caffeine if I notice any lowering in my resting heart rate. I actually do not. Monica's asking about coffee pot makers that are not made of plastic. That's why I mentioned the one I use, which is the glass Chemex, and it's a pour over. And so, it's basically you just put the filter on the top of it, and then the coffee drips through.”

“And then, of course, there's some percolators that you can buy that are not made of plastic, and there's the French press, of course, as well, if you're not concerned about drinking unfiltered coffee. Allie's asking about coffee pods that are compostable and made of paper. As long as you can confirm there's no plastic lining inside the paper, then sounds great.”

“But I would often get a little sleepy you know, 2, 3 o clock in the afternoon; I no longer have that with my higher dose of creatine.”

“groups to make creatine. And so that sort of takes away from the other roles that it could play, like lowering homocysteine”

“thus converting it into methionine. Not a lot of people, we'll talk about this, but there is some evidence on it. And again, I do take 10 grams of creatine a day. Stas asks what vitamin K2 supplement I'm taking. I'm actually taking the, I'm now taking the Pure Encapsulations.”

“a lot of their supplements. I use their creatine. I use their glutamine. I use a lot of their, a lot of their supplements as well. I think they're a good brand. Daisy's asking if we take CoQ10 and not looking to get pregnant, do we need to take CoQ10?”

“when I take some exogenous ketones is that I feel it's not the same as like drinking a cup of coffee, but I feel focused, but a very calm focus. So it seems to calm me a little bit and allow me to focus better, and I really like that.”

“And then I've tried exogenous ketones. And so it'll, they all sort of replicate that feeling of sort of calm focus, which I do really like. I see people in the chat asking, Faisal's asking about advice on sleep and shift work.”

“It does seem like there's a possibility that there's some benefits there as well. In other words, what I'm saying is if you like your French press coffee, by all means, keep making your French coffee, particularly if your LDL, and lipids are looking great. And we're going to talk about lipids as well today. A related question from Freda Vera. They ask, what's the best overall company to purchase”

“And so it's basically you just put the filter on the top of it, and then the coffee drips through. And then, of course, there's some percolators that you can buy that are not made of plastic. And there's the French press, of course, as well, if you're not concerned about drinking unfiltered coffee. Allie's asking about coffee pods that are compostable and made of paper. As long as you can”

“methods I prefer, optimal doses of supplements like ubiquinol, berberine, alpha-lipoic acid, vitamin K2, and even whether certain popular greens powders contain concerning levels of heavy metals. But there's so much more waiting for you in the full Ask Me Anything. If you enjoy”

“It's really fantastic. It's helped my mom with her tremors. It's kind of amazing. I've moved away from any sort of green powder supplements because I do think that they're just a high risk for heavy metals.”

“when do you incorporate them? I do take collagen every morning in my coffee. Lutein and zeaxanthin are in my multivitamin, so I don't feel like I need to take those really separately. And then benfotiamine, I haven't been taking lately.”

“is great. I don't really take care. I don't really take extra methylated B vitamins because I get it in my multivitamin. And then I also am taking creatine. And creatine has been shown in some studies to improve homocysteine because creatine is a major, major, major sink for, let's just call it, methylation groups.”

“my ketones. I actually don't use the meter that's sold with any companies. I use a precision extra, which allows me to measure my blood glucose with a finger prick or ketones or I don't know if they do lactate.”

“they do lactate. I use a different meter for lactate, but I really like the precision extra. I've been using it for like almost 10 years. It's a really great product. Mike is asking when I cycle off caffeine, if I notice any lowering in my resting heart rate. I actually do not. Monica is asking about coffee pot makers that are not made of plastic.”

“related question about ubiquinol and the optimal dosage for a woman in their mid-30s. That's for egg freezing or improving mitochondrial health. So those studies actually show 600 milligrams a day of CoQ10 in the form of ubiquinone, which is the oxidized form of CoQ10, and it's less bioavailable.”

Also filed under CoQ10

“form, the ubiquinol, 400 milligrams a day of that is, is also something that would be more equivalent to the 600 milligrams a day of the CoQ10. Some other things to add for some, for women that are looking to improve their egg quality, that they'd obviously want to add a prenatal vitamin that has all those important B vitamins in it, and the methylated ones as well.”

Also filed under CoQ10

“methods I prefer, optimal doses of supplements like ubiquinol, berberine, alpha-lipoic acid, vitamin K2, and even whether certain popular greens powders contain concerning levels of heavy metals. But there's so much more waiting for you in the full Ask Me Anything. If you enjoy”

“we'll talk about this, but there is some evidence on it. And again, I do take 10 grams of creatine a day. Stas asks what vitamin K2 supplement I'm taking. I'm actually taking the, I'm now taking the Pure Encapsulations. They didn't always have this. Pure Encapsulations, vitamin D plus K2.”

“some kind of plant milk, like almond milk, for example, and that and if you like to have your coffee with cream, don't use dairy. And then the there was another related question about protein doing something similar. And yes, it does do something similar. And you can essentially just time your protein 30 minutes before or after your coffee, if you're concerned about the delay in bioavailability.”

“I like doing the pour over. And so I do Chemex pour over glass coffee maker. So it's like a big glass coffee maker”

“the Chemex unbleached coffee filters. Those are the ones that I use. I really like them. If you want to try them out, great. A related question from Michelle was, loved your deep dive on coffee.”

“the same dose of choline bitartrate, so that would be the choline salt, did increase TMAO quite sharply, actually.”

“Another potential form would be the citicoline. So this is CDP choline. And this is basically it's a nucleotide, it's a nucleotide bound choline. And I don't think it's very, it's much more less prone to converting the choline into the TMA or the TMAO.”

“have any affiliation with any brands, but I've been experimenting with Delta G, and this is what's known as the Oxford ketone. It was developed by Dr. Richard Veach and Kieran Clark, who is at Oxford.”

“when you take a product like DeltaG, and I'm using their DeltaH product because it's the, I don't really need the really, really high ketone. So this is about 11 grams of ketones in a serving size of a bottle.”

“I think I told you guys this. I take the Extra Strength Avmacol. It's really fantastic.. It's helped my mom with her tremors. It's kind of amazing. I've moved away from any sort of green powder supplements because I do think that they're just a high risk for heavy metals.”

“It does seem like there's a possibility that there's some benefits there as well. In other words, what I'm saying is if you like your French press coffee, by all means, keep making your French coffee, particularly if your LDL, and lipids are looking great. And we're going to talk about lipids as well today. A related question from Freda Vera. They ask, what's the best overall company to purchase”

“is the beta-hydroxybutyrate ester. That one and also ketone aid, which was started by Richard Veach, that one also uses the same ketone ester. So what that is, is the beta-hydroxybutyrate, and it's esterified to 1,3-butanediol.”

“when do you incorporate them? I do take collagen every morning in my coffee. Lutein and zeaxanthin are in my multivitamin, so I don't feel like I need to take those really separately. And then benfotiamine, I haven't been taking lately.”

“any affiliation with Pure Encapsulations. Okay, we're almost done with these rapid fire questions. Stasi asks, my question is that Rhonda told us a lot of great things about Moringa powder by Cooley Cooley a while back, but she's now saying there's a lot of lead in powder green supplements.”

“3 mg a day, has antioxidant effects as well on eggs. And then myo-inositol, about 4 grams a day as well. And this leads into a related question by Ivana about myo-inositol and what the dose is and the reason I'm taking it.”

“And then, of course, there's some percolators that you can buy that are not made of plastic, and there's the French press, of course, as well, if you're not concerned about drinking unfiltered coffee. Allie's asking about coffee pods that are compostable and made of paper.”

“I'm now taking the Pure Encapsulations. They didn't always have this. Pure Encapsulations, vitamin D plus K2. That's my new supplement.”

“on is that when you go back on the coffee is so effective. And so you, I like to use it for those moments when I really need it. I use the purity coffee brand. I really like their organic coffee. Um, for the decaf, I use their calm decaf, which is great. Um, they have regular coffee that, which is also great.”

“the Pure Encapsulations. They didn't always have this. Pure Encapsulations, vitamin D plus K2. That's my new supplement. So it's all in one, which is great. And you guys know I don't have any affiliation with Pure Encapsulations.”