I get asked this question a lot: “What is metabolic health?”
It’s not a commonly used phrase in daily life, and most doctors rarely mention it. We’re familiar with cardiovascular health, mental health, and “general” physical health, but not metabolic health.
Today, we believe – and are indeed led to believe – that we are “healthy” as long as we feel okay.
I hear people say things like “I’m overweight but I’m healthy.”
“I’m on medication but I’m healthy.”
“Other than these conditions, I’m healthy.”
It’s quite peculiar. Imagine someone saying “Other than my lack of money, I’m rich.”
“I have no tattoos, except for these ones.”
“I’m a non-smoker, I only smoke 5 a day.”
The truth is, some things in life are absolute. If you are chronically overweight, afflicted by health conditions, require medication to function, experience a shortness of breath from simply standing up off the couch, it is not accurate to declare yourself healthy.
Objectively, people can feel fine but actually be unhealthy. And this is why metabolic health is such an important area of medical practice.
So what is metabolic health?
Simply put, metabolic health is the body’s ability to utilize what we eat to perform vital functions like repair our cells, provide adequate energy, and protect us from chronic diseases including heart disease and diabetes.
So if you lack general fitness, or have energy crashes throughout the day, you’re displaying symptoms of being metabolically unhealthy.
The Lancet has written that the majority of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the USA were due to cardiometabolic conditions – a staggering 89% up to November 2020 were attributable to obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and heart failure:
“The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the underlying poor metabolic health in our society, with metabolic diseases associated with COVID-19 severity and worse outcomes. A recently published comparative risk assessment of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the USA showed that the majority were due to one of four cardiometabolic conditions. Of the more than 900 000 hospitalizations that occurred up to Nov 18, 2020, 30% were attributable to obesity, 26% to hypertension, 21% to diabetes, and 12% to heart failure.”
89%! That’s almost all of the hospitalizations.
How to track your metabolic health
Tracking your metabolic health is simple. Basic markers like your waist circumference and bodyfat percentage are good indicators, and you can obtain the rest of the information through a blood panel: insulin level, fasting glucose level, and cholesterol (triglyceride:HDL ratio).
It’s important to remember that although obesity is a marker of poor metabolic health, being slim doesn’t mean you are automatically healthy. The foods we eat affect our cells and blood, and we all know slim people who live on fast food and sugar.
To find out what your own metabolic health is like, you can take a free assessment here.
You can learn more about metabolic health, and how I overcame my own obesity, in this episode of the LowCarbMD podcast I was a guest on.