What is Metabolic Health?

Metabolic health is not a “state,” it is a continuum, and the lifestyle choices you make every day influence where you are on that scale.

How is it defined? Can you improve it? What makes it worse? What makes it better? Is there a point where you cannot become healthier? These questions and more are all answered in this article!

Should you eat before you exercise?

I get this question a lot, since my clients are just about all intermittent fasters. So what’s the verdict?

What I learned from wearing a CGM

Blood sugar is a vital sign.

After experimenting with wearing a Continuous Glucose Monitor over multiple weeks, I have a new understanding of how my own body reacts to food and activity.

Are you interested in learning more?

What is “Lean Stigma”?

You’ve probably heard of “fat stigma,” but what about “lean stigma”?

Coffee!

Did you know coffee has fiber in it?

Or that it is full of polyphenols? Or that you have tiny bacterial organisms in your GI tract that specifically thrive on coffee?

Want to read all about it?

Survival by FAT!!

How do humans, just like bears, turn on the emergency fat storage systems?

And why are most humans in the US always in this emergency mode when bears are not?

Prepare to have your mind blown when you read all about it.

Mitigating Risk

The statistics vary on how much control you have over your own health through lifestyle behaviors, but we do know for sure that you have at least 40% ownership over the state of your health.

Your lifestyle choices account for almost half of how healthy you are! That means you have LOTS of control, not only on whether you develop diseases, but also how well your body functions and feels right now.

Want to learn more?

Curiosity is Your Science and Journaling is Your Tool

I am my own functional nutritionist.

I focus on myself as a person instead of on a disease, personalizing methods of optimizing my health based on my individual genetics, lab values, lifestyle, how my own body feels and behaves, and more. I gather and evaluate data to make decisions and plans that work well for myself.

But here is the best news: YOU can be YOUR OWN functional nutritionist!

Want to read more?

Inflammation! It makes me hurt just thinking about it!

Last night, I had a terrible time trying to sleep - I hurt all over!

I could tell my body was suffering from widespread inflammation. So, of course, I had to examine what I did during the day that might have contributed to my pain. And boy oh boy, did I find some things!

Want to read all about it? Including what can cause inflammation, the dangers of inflammation, and what you could do to decrease it?

Welcome that BURN!

I have a couple of clients right now who are competitive body builders, and it has gotten me to thinking about what it takes to build that “holy-cow-that’s-amazing” kind of muscle.

Are you asking right now what this has to do with you and me, the average Joe with the average muscles and no desire to make them bigger???  Read on!

Food is my Pleasure Center

One thing that comes up regularly with my clients is this:

They tell me they get a lot of pleasure from food, and they express worry that their lives will be less pleasurable without it playing the same role in their lives.

Sometimes the worry is so strong that it is an expression of genuine grief over the loss of a major source of pleasure in their lives. They are feeling lost at where they might get their pleasure if they could not eat whatever they want.

But you know what? There is hope for a fulfilled life even when you say “no” to eating all the things all the time.

How, you may ask?

Well, the very first thing you do is to say “yes” to getting more pleasure from food!

Wait, what? Didn’t you just say…..

Would you like to read more on this topic?

Drinking your Nutrition

Green smoothies are a health food, right?

Not so much. You would think that your body would respond to food in the same way, not caring if you ate it whole or put it in a blender. But you’d be wrong! Your body responds to liquids far differently than it responds to solids.

Interested in reading more?

What to Pack in your Emergency Kit

Wait, what? What does this have to do with insulin resistance, fasting, diabetes, weight loss and all that?

I know, right? I would think the same thing. But “bear” with me here, I spent many years teaching Outdoor Emergency Care for the National Ski Patrol. I know what I’m talking about. 😊  

Yes. This.

Let’s talk about Snacking!

“Snacks are necessary to keep my energy up. I need them to keep from getting too hungry. I’m ‘hangry,’ quick, get me a snack! I’m trying to lose weight - must keep my metabolism revved by eating 6 small meals a day.”

Have you ever heard these comments? Or maybe said them yourself? You know what? It’s all made up. None of it is true.

And in fact, you might be shocked at what is happening in your body when you snack between meals. And I am not just talking about your weight. Snacking influences insulin resistance. Inflammation. Leaky gut. Gut biome. Autophagy. Nervous system…

You mean I can eat whatever I want in my eating window?

Yes, you can eat whatever you want! Wait, what? Really? And still lose the extra weight?

Snacking! We’ve been brainwashed.

Have you been told that eating 6 small meals a day, or 3 meals and 2 or 3 snacks, is the best thing for a healthy lifestyle? Does this make any biological sense? Why would our bodies require constant feeding in order to survive? Has it worked for you? Do other animals in the animal kingdom require that kind of feeding to survive? Who exactly invented snacking? Food companies invented snacking. We don’t need to snack for biological survival or energy preservation.

Want to Confuse your Body?

Why yes! Yes indeed you do!

If your body is used to a steady supply of glucose from what you’ve been feeding it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and likely several snacks, you will have a bit of a transition to look forward to when you switch to Intermittent Fasting!

Want to learn more?

I’m Hungry!

We are often afraid of hunger. I know I sure was.

 I don’t mean true “hunger” where food is scarce and humans are starving. You are not that person if you are reading this right now.

 I just mean the sensation of “being hungry” when food is in abundance.

 In the past, if I were going to be without food for a while, I would eat, even though I wasn’t hungry, so that I wouldn’t get hungry later!

 Pre-emptive eating.

When I wasn’t hungry.

So I would not get hungry.

 Good Grief.

Hunger is a fantastic thing! As long as your body is working normally. Want to learn more?

“Intermittent Fasting is a FAD!”

Never thought you would try Intermittent Fasting?

I didn’t either, so I understand the reservations. I was in the exact same mindset a few years ago.

And 99 pounds ago.

Here are some of the things I either said to myself before trying IF, or heard others say:

• If I don’t eat every few hours, I feel terrible – sweaty, lightheaded, shaky, headache, weak and grouchy. I could not possibly try intermittent fasting!

• But you don’t understand! I am otherwise healthy without underlying health problems, but I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia by a doctor and I have to eat every 2 hours to keep my blood sugar up.

• I take medication for my diabetes and the Diabetic Educator told me I had to eat 3 meals and two snacks daily in order to control my blood sugars.

• I will be weak and tired if I skip a meal!

• I thought breakfast was the most important meal of the day!

• I’ve heard my metabolism will go down and I will lose muscle. I don’t want that.

• People will judge me and say I shouldn’t do this and I will be embarrassed and won’t know what to say.

• My doctor does not believe in intermittent fasting and tells me it is a “fad.”

These are all thoughts, and none of them are true.

Want the details? Read the entire article!

You may never look back.