80% of Americans aren’t metabolically healthy
That stat seems a little staggering to me .. you too? Good - lets learn something about that today
What is metabolic health anyways and why does it matter? Your metabolism is made up of a bunch of different organ systems and has to do with how we break down our food and subsequently make fuel. It can be complex.
I like how nutrisense puts it “It is easier to describe a metabolically healthy body as one not having any signs of metabolic syndrome, a collection of symptoms that indicate your metabolism, and subsequently, your overall health is in poor shape.”
I like to keep it simple - Your metabolic health in part has a lot to do with how you manage your blood sugar... aka your blood glucose. And that is the piece we will focus on.
When your blood glucose either stays too high or fluctuates too greatly we get concerned. We want to be able to control our blood glucose in the range of 70-140 *which includes while you’re eating
Now some people feel really great in the 60’s and thats ok, as long as it isn’t swinging too high after a meal, meaning you aren’t jumping up to 140’s when you eat. Those large swings in glucose lead to feeling pretty poor, tired, crabby, sluggish etc.
This little marker can help with so much! In fact most of my patients say as their blood sugar stabilizes they feel emotionally balanced, and can respond instead of react. *sigh doesn’t that sound nice.
Your metabolic health play a large role in your immunity -getting metabolically healthy will help you fight off viruses and not get hit nearly as hard when you do get sick.
common symptoms
I bet you are more familiar with symptoms of poor blood sugar management than you think.. lets dive in
Some of the most common are:
shaky before meals
hangry
irritable if you don’t eat
craving sugar
hard to lose weight
brain fog
fatigue
poor sleep
reacting to stress
and more
Metabolic syndrome (mentioned above) is the hallmark condition of poor metabolic health and it looks like:
High blood pressure
High blood sugar
Abdominal obesity
Abnormal cholesterol
High triglyceride levels
how do we affect our metabolic health
The way you eat, how much you stress about things, your exercise, how much you move in a day etc all determine this very important factor.
After we eat our blood sugar spikes - if you are metabolically healthy or ate the right combination of food for your body, you will be able to naturally utilize that blood glucose and your body won’t spike as much or at all when you eat.
One of the best ways to utilize that glucose is through movement! Our muscle soak it right up!
Stress is something that can also raise glucose and there are many types of stress. So while measuring is easy - figuring out the culprits can take some time.
The take away here is there is a lot we can do to affect our blood glucose levels.
how to balance naturally
There are many ways that we can balance our blood sugar. Often times its adjusting our food, our eating windows + our lifestyle. So just a few things ;)
CHOOSE YOUR FOOD WISELY
Eating processed foods, foods high in carbohydrates + sugars is one of the fastest ways to destroy your metabolic health.
Eating protein + healthy fats will help to stabilize your blood sugar.
Often times i’ll recommend keto for short periods of time or long if your body is thriving to reset the metabolism.
INTERMITTENT FAST
Take a break from eating! Eating frequently keeps your blood sugar elevated. Remember it spikes each time you eat. Now if you’re someone who is utilizing all this fuel aka body builder you may be able to get away with it. But if you have periods of being more sedentary, you may find your blood sugar still stays elevated by the time you start eating again - this is what you want to avoid.
EMOTIONAL WORK
I can hear you eye rolling - but stress will spike your glucose every time. Getting to the root of your stress, and working through it will help your glucose levels
MOVE
As I mentioned before, exercise is one of the best things you can do to help your body utilize excess glucose. taking a walk post-prandial (post meal) is so helpful for your blood sugar - you muscles will quickly utilize all of that glucose keeping your blood sugar more stable.
SLEEP
Sleep is essential!!! It helps everything doesn’t it? If you sleep poorly your glucose levels can stay higher for a whole day for just that very reason!
Want to learn more?
We have two great podcasts (one coming out end of January) on Coffee with the Docs about Metabolic Health. One is episode 74 with Dr Tyna on metabolic health. Click here to listen
Another really great way is to measure it yourself with a continuous glucose monitor. Personally I love nutrisense because you get a coach to teach you along the way! They help you learn which foods may be spiking you too much. Use code DRNICOLE and get $25 off