Meet the OFM Team

Dr. Johnathan Edwards, MD , is a practicing Sports Physician, Anesthesiologist and Concierge Medicine Physician. On top of this he is one of the top clinicians in the emerging field of Ketamine Therapy and has written two books on the subject:  "Suicide, COVID-19, and KETAMINE: How a Little Known Drug May Save Lives" & "The Revolutionary Ketamine: How a Little-Known Drug Can Cure Depression and Prevent Suicide".

He has extensive experience as a Sports Physician working with some of the world's best athletes in motorsports and cycling. This includes a 5 year stint as the team doctor for the Team Red Bull US Paris to Dakar Rally, race Doctor for the Tour of Dunkirk and personal physician to MMA fighter Miesha Tate.

Dr. Edwards is also a Cat 1 Cyclist himself, Runner and an ex-Pro Motocross Racer. His journey to OFM  came after suffering a TBI and, in using a ketogenic diet to heal, he quickly learned of the performance limitations of keto. Now Dr. Edwards coaches all his athletes using the OFM Principles including some of the top motocross riders, tennis and MMA Fighters in the US. Dr. Edwards brings a wealth of medical knowledge and clinical medical experience to the OFM Team.

Dr. Linda Frazier is mostly retired from her professional career as a Pediatrician yet still practices Pediatric care on occasion to those who need it most as a volunteer Pediatrician with Samaritan’s Purse doing mission trips to Latin America and on-call work with the Sacramento County Youth Detention Facility. 

Her Life, however, is fuller than ever as she is more active than ever between her sports of marathon running and IronMan Triathlons. Linda also spends time backpacking in the Sierra, walking vacations in the UK & Ireland, coaching a youth running group, milking her goats and making yogurt from that milk and spending active time with her husband, grown children and grandchildren. 

Her journey to OFM started with following the conventional health advice and winding up with Celiac’s disease. She discovered Paleo, then Primal, then “The Art & Science of Low Carbohydrate Living / Performance” where subsequently, in the Low Carbohydrate Performance Book, she came across VESPA and OFM. 

Through that journey to OFM and experiencing her own transformation came the realization something needed to be done and that the individualized OFM approach that yielded her best performance in the marathon at the chronological age of 64 offers virtually all individuals a pathway to claiming back their metabolic health and resilience. 

Her particular focus is to correct the ways children eat and move as well as help the mothers of these children. As you will learn in her Big Why this is something she is passionate about and wants to help others recognize so they can take back control of their health.

Kaayla Daniel PhD, aka "the Naughty Nutritionist", holds her doctorate in Nutritional Sciences and Anti-Aging Therapies but is SO much more. Kaayla has written several books including "Nourishing Broth", The Whole Soy Story", and "Hook, Line and Stinker: The Truth about Fermented Cod Liver Oil".

She is regarded as one of the top experts in broth having researched and wrote about the benefits of broth and gelatin well over a decade ahead of the current interest in broth. Kaayla's coaching/consulting focus with OFM is geared toward active baby boomers who want to carry their zest for life for decades beyond their 60's & 70's.

Kaayla's been a guest on the Dr. Oz Show, PBS Healing Quest, NPR's People's Pharmacy, and has spoken at numerous health & wellness summits, podcasts and conferences, including Paleo f(x), Ancestral Health Symposium, and Charles Poliquin's Bio-Signature. 

Unlike most Psychiatrists, Dr. Sauve has held a different approach and vision to treating mental health impairment and disorders than the all too common prescribing of medications. Instead of “Treating the Symptom” he recognizes the crucial importance of foundational metabolic health as part of the solution to the explosion of mental health challenges facing Humanity.

Dr. Sauve’s experience in clinical psychiatry is augmented by his experience as a military clinician in a war zone during the Iraq War and as a competitive rower and athlete himself. From his vast experience he has come to recognize how the all too common pharmaceutical interventions of treatment are actually focusing on the wrong thing as a way to market these profitable solutions as the only solution or the convenient one.

Today's world, with its chronic stressors, impacts both metabolic pathways and brain function. This is a crucial connection where Dr. Sauve provides his expertise so we offer people pathways of sustainable metabolic change to create that "Upward Cascade of Health & Well-being" instead of the all-too-common "Downward Cascade".

As the body of data grow it is becoming clear how diabetes and dementia are a result of too much dietary carbohydrates, too much glucose metabolism and too little activity to the point that we are currently experiencing epidemic levels of both diabetes and dementia. This has given rise to the concept of thinking of Dementia and Alzheimer's as "Type lll" Diabetes.

This is why Dr. Sauve is onboard with OFM and why, from a personal and professional standpoint, he is part of our Research and Medical Advisory Committee . Dr. Sauve will be collaborating with our Team on understanding how interlinked brain function is with metabolism. From this, our common goal is to help optimize this crucial aspect of health whether it is in developing the “Intuitive Athlete” or helping someone with a mental health challenge overcome it long term. 

Diane is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and an accomplished Triathlete with decades of experience in both. Prior to becoming a Doctor, Diane spent over 20 years working as an X-Ray/Imaging technician in western allopathic healthcare.

Her first epiphany came when the conventional western approach was not healing some health challenges she had. This is how she came to discover Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine which corrected her challenges and initiated a career change to become a Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

Her second health & performance epiphany was OFM and VESPA which she discovered in 2013. She won her first Ironman 70.3 Triathlon and has consistently finished on the podium. She credits VESPA products for helping her to discover a very different model to fuel for her races which has enhanced her performance in her age group
Now, in her seventh decade of Life and Living, Diane has podiumed in multiple Ironman 70.3 World Championships and continues to compete in races throughout the world. She is uniquely qualified to represent how “training to prevent overworking and working to prevent overtraining” leads to being highly competitive.

Having recently sold her Acupuncture and Chinese/Asian Medicine Practice Diane is focusing on her health, training, family and giving back. This includes being part of our Team to help support, develop and guide the innovative solutions and information OFM offers. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, especially in the area of women’s health and performance.

Over the past 28 years Diane has been a pioneer in the field of Integrative Reproductive Medicine integrating “Traditional Chinese/asian Medicine” (TCM) practices, including Acupuncture, with modern western IVF techniques and is responsible for many thousands of babies.

She has published and presented her research throughout the world and her CMAP (Cridennda Magarelli Acupuncture Protocol) continues to be used by acupuncturists worldwide for reproductive health. She is certified by the American Board of Oriental Reproductive Medicine, a fellowship she helped found in 2007, and continues to be on the Board.

Diane continues her journey in sharing her lifetime of passion for all things related to health as part of our Team. As you can see, she leads by example. 

I graduated from the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1976 with a degree in Pharmacy. As I began my career, I was asked to become a preceptor for senior pharmacy students on their rotations, so I became a Clinical Instructor in 1978. Four years later I was promoted to Assistant Clinical Professor and have continued to train and mentor students up to the present.

In 1996, I became a Clinical Instructor for the Bernard J Dunn School of Pharmacy at Shenandoah University to train and mentor their students as well. Teaching students the “real world” of pharmacy has always been rewarding for me.

In 1978, I received additional training in advanced compounding techniques from PCCA. Developing sports nutrition products (mainly for personal use) has always been a passion. I have two products where I was the lead formulator that have made it to market. One was an electrolyte and metabolism boosting product geared toward the weight loss industry, and the other was an exogenous ketone product with nootropics for several of the Tour de France teams. Formulating products for the endurance athlete, whether directly for performance, or for improving their health and longevity is my number one passion.

My professional training is in chemistry. I received a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis in synthetic organic chemistry. I then did postdoctoral research on structure-activity relationships and related work at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. I also did postdoctoral research on synthetic routes to optically active molecules at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. 

My professional career was at the California Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Toxic Substances Control. I did environmental enforcement, then spent 17 years working with a team of engineers in a program that evaluated pollution prevention and environmental cleanup technologies. For the last 18 years of my career I headed the CalEPA, DTSC, Environmental Chemistry Laboratory (ECL). With labs in Berkeley and Pasadena - both accredited to ISO 17025 - I led a team of 50 scientists including 20 Ph.D. researchers conducting environmental analytical chemistry studies and testing of standard organic and inorganic chemicals as well as chemicals of emerging concern in people, products, wildlife, and the environment. Among the chemicals of emerging concern I worked with were chlorinated dioxins/furans, PCBs, PBDEs and other flame retardants, PFAS, phthalates in children’s toys, lead in children’s jewelry and plumbing fixtures, Bisphenol-A (BPA), and microplastics in the ocean.

Particular interests of mine have been how environmental toxicants in everyday products and the environment - organic chemicals and heavy metals - affect biochemical processes. There is literature from researchers around the world linking endocrine disrupting chemicals to biomarkers of feminization of males, thyroid effects, and even “obesogens” that can cause transgenerational effects for multiple generations after an exposure.

When I read scientific literature or discuss physiological processes and biochemical pathways, I consider them at the molecular level as synthetic and physical organic chemistry.

I have also been a runner for 55 years: starting at age 13, running my first marathon in 1974 at age 18, and my first ultra at 20. I had success at the Western States 100 with four top-ten finishes including a 15:47 second place finish in 1984 that was under the previous course record. I’ve been around ultra endurance running for a long time, with ten sub-24 hour finishes at Western States over a span of 32 years. I have observed and experienced many changes and advances to long-distance running theory and practice in the past half-century.

I have experimented on myself with training, equipment, and diet, and enjoy discussing the literature and empirical findings with researchers and other athletes. 

Leading the OFM Coaching Team is Peter Defty, the original developer of the OFM Program/Protocol. Peter pioneered the concept of fat adapted performance in 2000 first personally, then using running friends as guinea pigs then professionally when he joined Vespa.

From the onset athletes began to win, podium and set records using Vespa and the OFM protocol, however, these early successes were dismissed as anecdotal. Peter's athletes comprised the majority of the LCD cohort in the ground-breaking FASTER Study (Volek et.al.) A self-described empiricist (but one with a BS in Biology from UC Davis), Peter is constantly looking into and experimenting with how to further OFM to yield real world results.

David Grech is an ultrarunner, golfer and cricketeer who "gets it" about OFM.  He has successfully coached several Australian athletes in OFM including OFM Training Coach Tash Fraser, one of Australia's top female ultrarunners.

David fully understands the nuances of OFM and how to walk people through the process in a way that gets them into the "intuitive" mode of thinking which is key to OFM success. David is certified as a Pilates Instructor, Massage Therapist, Golf Instructor and is currently getting his degree in Nutrition.

At 64, Tony is a lifelong athlete. Though he started out playing baseball and soccer, after the school soccer program was canceled, he took up running Cross-Country and Track in High School and College (University of Arizona). At 20 his interests shifted and he moved to Seattle to work in a bike shop and got serious about bike racing and worked up to a Cat 2 status. Though he never gave up running, he spent the next several years racing and working in the cycling industry, racing all over the western US. Eventually migrating to Southern California to work for Univega Bicycles. he continued racing bikes as a Cat 3 cyclist but started to also race Duathlons (Run/bike) and found he was quite good at these competitions which combined both of his athletic pursuits.

Like most of us, ‘Life Happens’ and Tony had a career shift in the late 1989 to aerospace composite manufacturing to support himself and raise a family, something which he continues as his ‘day job’ as a Manufacturing Process Engineer.

Roughly 11 years ago Tony moved his family to rural Kentucky. It was during this time that Tony’s ability to train and compete scaled way back and he found himself weighing 235 pounds. He began to run again, but found the weight loss was limited which set him on his health journey starting with Phil Maffetone’s ‘Two Week Test’ then experimenting with Primal, Paleo and Keto diets. Though a significant amount of weight was lost these dietary approaches could not get all the weight off and there was a significant performance gap.

Tony’s research led him to VESPA, and, in turn, this led him to OFM. After a few years of experimentation, he got down to and has maintained a stable weight of 175 – 180 pounds and, due to the fast recovery (damage prevention) OFM, training more than he has been able to do in a very long time. One of the benefits of OFM is that Tony does not ‘diet’ per se but uses carbohydrates strategically in his diet and fueling to not only perform at his best but build metabolic capacity.

Tony’s experience, combined with his genuine desire to help others (Master of Divinity in Theology), is why he is working with Vespa/OFM to get the OFM message out. It is timely since Type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes are running rampant, even in sports, and, yet, many ‘experts’ are pushing people to consume even more carbs for training and racing. Tony sees this will only lead to failure in health and performance. This has motivated Tony to be part of our Team & Mission to change the course of human health and performance toward the robust health and performance bestowed upon us. 

Charles ‘Tim’ McConnell exemplifies the transformational journey OFM offers to those willing to commit themselves to the process. 

Naomi "Nomes" Land, is a successful businesswoman, mum, and wife on the north coast of Australia. Like David, Naomi "gets it" about OFM and has the special people skills necessary to yield results. Athletes under Naomi just seem to want to perform for her.

She is an athlete in her own right but also a Race/Event Director/Organizer as well as a Certified IronmanTriathlon Coach, Life coach, and Sports Power Coach/Weight Lifting. Additionally she is certified in Altitude Training and is currently getting her Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification.

Gracia is a South African based OFM Coach dedicated to optimizing health & performance. With a focus on fueling the body for peak metabolic efficiency, Gracia guides individuals to reach their health and performance potential, all without a restrictive diet or lifestyle. Her background, experience and expertise lies in nutritional coaching as well as sport specific strength and endurance coaching.

  As an active athlete, Coach and Personal Trainer Gracia knows first hand how to enhance energy utilization and recovery which, ultimately, helps clients achieve their health & performance goals.

Koren has worked in the wellness industry for almost 15 years, with 1000’s of hours logged as a yoga teacher, group fitness instructor, personal trainer, stretch therapist, and nutrition/health coach. After dabbling in rock climbing and obstacle course racing, she took the leap straight to ultra running, completing her first race in 2019. At that same time, she embarked on a health journey after first experiencing a thyroidectomy following a questionable tumor discovery later that same year. The loss of most of her thyroid and the need to optimize her health sent her deep into rabbit holes in order to best understand her personal challenges so she could keep on running.

  In 2021, on a whim, she signed up for the inaugural year of the Cocodona 250 - a 250 mile race across Northern Arizona. That year ended with a DNF (Did Not Finish), but she learned a whole lot about what she needed to improve upon. Nutrition was at the top of the list. She knew that her metabolism was not functioning optimally and that needed to change. She also questioned the strong emphasis in the ultra world on calories, calories, calories, principally in the form of carbs and sugars.. Humans evolved from persistence hunting, it simply did not make sense that the current recommendation to accomplish long distances relied so heavily on exogenous calorie consumption.

  Enter: Peter Defty, Vespa and OFM. Since making the switch to optimizing her fat metabolism, Koren has finished many ultras, and lives a life of adventure with her family while guiding others on their own metabolic journey. 

Mike began his athletic career as an adult before joining the Navy. He kept it up throughout his military service. Little did he know at the time where it would take him. 

   Following his military service Mike got into sales eventually becoming a product line manager for SC Johnson managing national chains, but, in spite of climbing the corporate ladder, stayed active.

    It was the Jim Fixx running boom in the late 70's that got  Mike focused on endurance sports. He started by running but quickly discovered this nascent endurance sport called 'Triathlon' and competed in shorter distance local events in the Southern California region.  He also tried his hand at road and mountain bike racing but his love was in the challenge of multisport. This led him back to triathlon and into the longer distances as the sport evolved to being a finisher at the IronMan World Championship in Kona during the early days of IronMan. 

   Since that time Mike continues to train and race, including a stint doing 3 to 5 day Adventure Races because of the multiple disciplinary challenges of the sport. However, just over 16 years ago Mike retired from the corporate life and decided to go 'all in' to his sporting pursuits by also becoming a coach and bike fitter. 

   Mike adds great depth and experience in endurance sports and personal interactions to our Team. He was originally introduced to OFM through a coaching client who was using Vespa and OFM protocols to optimize his metabolic health and performance and, seeing the results, decided to become part of our Team.