I’m Dr Philip Ovadia, a heart surgeon specializing in metabolic health. I teach people how to stay off my operating table.

Metabolic health refers to the body’s ability to utilize the foods we eat to perform vital functions like repair cells, provide energy, and protect us from chronic diseases including diabetes and heart disease.

Almost half of Americans suffer from at least one chronic disease and 88% do not meet all the criteria for optimal metabolic health, making it likely that people on your team are in poor metabolic health.

If you think you can identify who’s healthy and unhealthy by their weight, think again. Being thin or even fit are no guarantee of being healthy, and I’ve performed heart surgery on many people in the normal weight range.

In fact, less than a third of people at a normal weight meet the five standards of optimal metabolic health!

There’s a simple reason for this: food affects our cells, our blood, and our hormone levels. It also plays an important role in the quality of our sleep.

The truth is exercise can’t overcome a bad diet. A good exercise regime will help you control your weight and like your reflection in the mirror, but it can’t fully make up for eating the wrong foods.

Here’s the good news: poor metabolic health can be fixed with some simple steps.