Improving your metabolic health is one of the most beneficial things you can ever do.
There are markers for identifying how metabolically healthy a person is, which means that it’s an objective monitor. It isn’t based on how you feel, nor do you become metabolically healthy because you started a new healthy habit.
Metabolic health ultimately means that your body is working as it should. Your body fat levels are at a reasonable level, your food intake is appropriate, and your blood work shows healthy results.
The five markers of metabolic health are:
- Blood sugar
- Waist circumference
- Blood pressure
- Cholesterol
- Triglycerides
Immediately, it’s clear that being metabolically healthy has some requirements. It’s not possible to be obese and metabolically healthy. It’s not possible to have high blood pressure and be simultaneously healthy.
Our modern society has accepted medication as normal. For many people, being prescribed medication to address an ailment is the natural order of getting older.
This is a fallacy.
Medication addresses symptoms, not causes. If you have unhealthy cholesterol levels, medication will try to change that – but it won’t look at why the levels were unhealthy to begin with. Likewise, morbidly obese people may choose to have gastric surgery or liposuction to remove some excess fat or curb their appetite in an extreme way, but it’s not changing the habits that led to obesity in the first place. Eating the wrong foods and not exercising is always a recipe for poor health, even if there’s a slimmer figure staring back at you in the mirror.
All of this means that if you address your metabolic health, other areas will improve by default too.
Metabolic health and obesity
As blood sugar and waist circumference are two of the markers for metabolic health, a person must get to a healthy weight range in order to become metabolically healthy.
Therefore, by committing to improving your health, you will lose weight and no longer be obese.
Metabolic health and hormones
Our hormones are sensitive, and hugely influenced by our diet and lifestyle. Processed foods, plastic packaging, a lack of sleep, too many stimulants like energy drinks, overindulging in foods, alcohol, a lack of exercise, a lack of sunlight – these all wreak havoc on our hormones. In young adult men, testosterone levels have declined from as recently as 1999 to 2016, which just so happens to be the same timeframe in which obesity and metabolic diseases have also increased.
Improving your metabolic health will improve your hormone levels, which has numerous benefits. You will have more energy, fewer mood swings, and better sleep.
Metabolic health and mental clarity
Processed foods and refined sugar have a negative impact on our mental clarity. Often referred to as “brain fog,” it makes it hard to think clearly. It can also drain our energy levels and make us feel lethargic.
There are knock-on effects when you improve your metabolic health. By reaching a healthy weight, improving your diet, stabilizing your hormones, and adopting healthy habits like a full night’s sleep, the brain fog will clear. This helps you feel more energetic, so you’re less likely to want the quick ‘pick-me-up’ energy boosts, which in turn encourages you to make more healthy food choices, and have a better night’s sleep.
By fixing the root problems, your overall life improves drastically.
Start fixing your metabolic health today
People are often surprised at how quickly their metabolic health can improve. Noticeable changes can occur within just the first few weeks, and typically my patients show remarkably better numbers at our 90-day checkup after the initial test.
You can start taking control of your health right now, by taking my free metabolic assessment. This will show you what your current health is, and where you need to make some changes.