#54: Are You Metabolically Healthy?
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This month’s theme is Metabolic Health and it will be awesome because I will share critical information you must know. This is your health, your now, your future, your aging process. This is about the quality of aging and even death. We don’t like to think or talk about death. Well, I am a little unconventional. The goal is to remind us that today’s choices are tomorrow’s well-being as well.
Plus, I have awesome discussion points after using a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) for 14 days. Your jaw might just drop. Exciting data and results coming ahead.
Let me remind you that I prefer sharing content and I often omit to mention studies throughout. I add studies and citations to transcripts (below) to access them.
In today’s episode, I will cover some of the basics of metabolic health. What it means, key six biomarkers related to metabolic health, and how to improve metabolic health.
Are you ready?
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[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_tta_accordion style=”modern” color=”green” spacing=”2″ active_section=”1″ collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”`{`Transcript`}` What Does Metabolic Health Mean?” tab_id=”1611649485155-68f15002-5f0f”][vc_column_text]What does Metabolic Health mean?
When we all hear the word ‘Metabolic Health’, we don’t actually know the exact meaning of it but since we know what metabolism is, we some-what understand it. Today, I am here to tell you that what we understand from the word isn’t its actual meaning. In fact, poor metabolic health is a huge factor in the increase of heart diseases, diabetes, and stroke. According to the National Cholesterol Education Program, the actual meaning of Metabolic Health is the absence of Metabolic Syndrome.
So what is metabolic syndrome?
It is a cluster of conditions such as increased blood pressure or hypertension, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal (especially visceral fat), high cholesterol or triglyceride levels. Together, they will increase your risk of heart CVD, Type 2 Diabetes, stroke, and many more health imbalances.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”`{`Transcript`}` Metabolic Health Biomarkers” tab_id=”1623723819654-7dc8df50-825c”][vc_column_text]What Are The Biomarkers Related to Metabolic Health?
Every disease has biomarkers that help us to indicate whether we are showing symptoms of that disease or not. When it comes to Metabolic Health, it has six biomarkers, and if you are showing signs of at least three of them, you are likely to have metabolic syndrome.
Today, I am going to explain these six important biomarkers so that we get enough knowledge to be able to indicate whether we are suffering from metabolic syndrome or not. Now, keep in mind that having just one of these biomarkers doesn’t mean you have metabolic syndrome, but an indication of three or more should definitely not be taken lightly and you should consult a doctor.
- Waist Circumference: If you start to gain weight in your waist and your body suddenly starts becoming more pear-shaped, it may be an indicator for metabolic health. For women, 35 inches is the risk factor and for men, 40 inches in waist measurement is the risk factor for metabolic health. If you suspect your belly is popping out, buy a measuring tape, measure, and take charge.
- Blood Sugar Levels: High blood sugar levels will keep insulin levels up. Now, this hormone is responsible for shuttling glucose from our bloodstream to our cells. When blood sugar levels are elevated, we start damaging cells, organs, and blood vessels. Optimal fasting levels are between 70 and 90 mg/dl. We cannot disregard glucose numbers. I’ll talk a lot more about that later.
- Triglycerides Levels: Blood triglycerides are the main constituents of natural fats and oils and the neutralization of these levels plays a crucial role in fat metabolism. Triglyceride level can be measured through a standard lipid panel, and a level over 150 is usually metabolic disease where as a level under 100 is considered normal.
- LDL Cholesterol Levels: Though LDL cholesterol levels can also be measured by a standard lipid panel, what concerns the metabolism of the body is not the high number on the lipid panel but rather the pattern of LDL. Between patterns A and B, B is your gal or guy to pay attention to and test. Pattern B has small and dense particles and is associated with elevated triglycerides, blood sugar dysregulation, and Type 2 Diabetes. So, make sure you know the patterns of your LDL before you focus entirely on your total LDL.
- Blood Pressure: High blood pressure is something extremely common, but you do not want to be part of that average club, do you? Get yourself a blood pressure cuff. You want to stay at or less than 120/80 mm/hg but not less or lower than 90/60. You are at risk for metabolic syndrome when one of the two blood pressure numbers is off.
- Uric Acid: Uric Acid is what we call an end product of purine metabolism, which plays a vital role as an antioxidant. Overproduction of uric acid by diets heavy in fructose and foods high in purine such as alcohol and red meat and seafood. Elevated blood uric acid levels are associated with metabolic syndrome, inflammation, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and more.
Why Is Metabolic Health Important?
Unfortunately, only 1 out of 8 Americans is metabolically healthy. We are particularly interested in the new pathway to obesity prevention and metabolic health. We explore dietary approaches, stress management, movement, quality of sleep, toxicity, and even fun for the prevention of common diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
In order to have optimal metabolic health, according to a new study published in the journal Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, men need a waist circumference below 102 cm (40 inches) and women below 35 inches (88 cm), blood sugar below 100 mg/dL, blood pressure below 120/80, triglycerides below 150 mg/dL, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (also known as “good” cholesterol) greater than or equal to 40 mg/dL for men and 50 mg/dL for women (Kasandra Brabaw, 2018).
There is a lot more to the story but these are good goals and measurements to strive for. First, you need to know where you stand today. Do you know? When was the last time you got checked?
How to Improve Metabolic Health?
An Important factor of improving metabolic health is how you feel, how well you sleep, what your mental clarity is like, and your overall wellbeing and sense of happiness. To be able to improve your metabolic health, you need to be able to identify what your goals are, what has made you become metabolically unhealthy, and what changes you can make to be able to become metabolically healthy again.
You will knock many birds, I mean results, with one stone when you put the body into a state that it was designed for, which is of burning the fat in a healthy and sustainable way.
How do we do that?
A good starting point is to understand our blood sugar and insulin levels. Insulin, being the hormone that controls blood sugar, lowers blood sugar when the level increases too much due to our food intake, and it also tells our body to store fat instead of burning it. If we’re trying to balance our blood sugar level, and we release insulin to do that, we do not want our body fighting to try and burn fat at the same time.
So, by understanding our body’s insulin levels through a blood test, we can control our carbohydrate intake through our diet and manage to balance our blood sugar levels, which then leads to an improvement in our Metabolic Health.
Let’s say you want to take action right now and you don’t have access to a glucometer, CGM, or did not have your insulin level tested recently. What can you do now?
Incorporate more movement into your daily routine. Don’t have a routine? Build one. Mark your calendar. Whether it walking, hikes, jogging, dancing, playing a sport, swimming, doing yoga. Move more and more often, even if short bouts.
Need help getting started, staying the course, and improving your health and fitness? Schedule a call at www.BeFabBeYou.com. I would love to be part of your health village and healing journey.
Next episode, I will dive into the biomarkers of metabolic health and how this one hormone can wreck your health, weight, energy, and much more when it’s out of control.
Thanks for listening and leaving us a review in iTunes. Your review will help the show grow and reach other awesome people like you.
Tchau!
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