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Katie: Howdy and welcome to The Wellness Mama Podcast. I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com, and this episode is all about metabolic dysfunction as the foundation explanation for practically all ailments and classes from the most important glucose knowledge set on the planet. And I’m again with return visitor Dr. Casey Means, who’s a Stanford-trained doctor and the CMO and Co-Founding father of the metabolic well being firm known as Ranges. Her mission is to maximise human potential and reverse the epidemic of preventable persistent illness by empowering people with tech-enabled instruments that may inform good, personalised, and sustainable dietary and way of life selections. Her perspective has been featured in all the pieces from Wall Road Journal to the New York Instances and far, rather more.

And we get to go deep on this subject right this moment. She actually explains tremendous comprehensively what metabolic dysfunction is and the markers that go into that. The 5 only and least costly assessments you will get to get a great image of what’s happening metabolically in your physique, how glucose is an effective metric right here as nicely, and the best way to use it to your benefit, and a lot extra. We discuss very actionable takeaways that everybody can do even with out the information to start out bettering metabolic well being, in addition to what to do if you’ll be able to get extra personalised knowledge by yourself physicality and what’s happening and the best way to use that to your benefit. She is so well-spoken and such a wealth of data. And like I stated, we get to go deep on quite a lot of this right this moment. So, with none additional wait, let’s soar in with Dr. Casey Means. Casey, welcome again. Thanks for returning to the podcast.

Casey: I’m so joyful to be right here. Thanks for having me, Katie.

Katie: Nicely, I’ll hyperlink to our first dialog for anybody who hasn’t heard it already, however I do know we received to go deep on the subject of glucose, particularly in blood glucose, what we will be taught from it. And I’m excited to construct on that dialog with the entire new info accessible. I do know you guys have an amazing dataset that I consider is the largest on the planet on this subject. And there’s a lot we will use this actionable knowledge to essentially affect our lives in a constructive means. To start out off, I do know that one of many questions I requested in prep for interviews is should you have been going to offer a TED Discuss in every week, what wouldn’t it be on? And I like your reply since you talked about how underpowered cells, or mainly metabolic dysfunction, is usually the foundation of practically all illness within the fashionable world. And I do know because of this you’re so passionate in regards to the work that you just’re doing with Ranges, however I might love to make use of that as a jumping-in level for our dialog right this moment. For those who may clarify somewhat background by what you imply by that, and possibly a number of the components that come into play with metabolic dysfunction and the way that may exhibit in several methods in our lives.

Casey: Yeah, completely. So, the message that I actually… My objective in life actually to get throughout to individuals is this concept that so lots of the issues we’re fighting in our world right this moment, within the fashionable industrial Western world, so lots of the ache factors going through our lives and the signs that we now have that then result in extra severe situations down the street are essentially all linked by the identical physiology, which is this concept of underpowered cells, primarily metabolic dysfunction.

We’ve been listening to much more about this idea of metabolism and metabolic well being, metabolic dysfunction, blood sugar management over the previous few years, and it’s for good purpose. And it’s as a result of what we’re actually studying is that the important thing causes of morbidity and mortality in the US in adults for positive, however even now extra so in youngsters, is metabolic dysfunction. And so, metabolism is how we convert meals power to mobile power in our our bodies. Now we have 37 plus trillion cells in our physique, and all of those trillions of cells each second collectively are doing trillions and trillions of chemical reactions. And mainly, our life and our well being is the effervescent up of all of those chemical reactions. And all of them mainly should be paid for. All these chemical reactions should be paid for with mobile power.

And zooming again to highschool biology, that mobile power is ATP. It’s this molecule that mainly is how we pay for all these mobile reactions. And that power, that mobile power, is constructed from meals being transformed to mobile power. And this idea of metabolic dysfunction mainly is that we’re having an issue proper now in our our bodies changing that meals power to mobile power, which signifies that we mainly have underpowered cells. The rationale that’s the foundation of so many situations that we see right this moment that generally appear totally different, prefer it’s generally, you understand, it’s complicated to be like, nicely, how is Alzheimer’s dementia essentially the identical or much like sort 2 diabetes or infertility or erectile dysfunction or stroke or coronary heart illness or retinopathy or persistent kidney illness or persistent liver illness or gout or melancholy or nervousness. Nicely, the fact is all these situations we all know now are both brought on by or accelerated by underpowered cells metabolic dysfunction. So, the rationale for that is that we now have over 200 cell sorts in our physique. And what’s fascinating is that each one these cells, after all, got here from one cell, a fertilized embryo, and changed into 200 totally different cell sorts. And that’s cell sorts in our eyes, cell sorts in our brains, cell sorts in our blood vessels, there’s all these totally different cells, however all of them want power to perform correctly. And so, when you’ve a basic downside occurring all around the physique, a very core basic physiologic subject like metabolic dysfunction, primarily the issue in changing meals power to mobile power, it might appear like nearly something relying on what cell sort it’s exhibiting up in. So, if it’s occurring in a blood vessel, it may appear like a blood vessel associated subject like coronary heart illness or stroke. If it’s occurring in a mind cell, relying on what sort of mind cell that’s, it may appear like Alzheimer’s dementia, fibromyalgia, melancholy, nervousness, migraine, all situations we all know are linked to metabolic dysfunction. If it’s occurring in ovarian theca cell, it may appear like polycystic ovarian syndrome, the main explanation for infertility in the US, which is a metabolic illness. If it’s occurring in a blood vessel of a penis, it may appear like erectile dysfunction. So mainly, it’s a core physiology, a disturbance exhibiting up in all these totally different cell sorts, trying like all these totally different ailments. However what we essentially want to comprehend is that these are branches of the identical trunk. And in medication in America right this moment, we now have to start out treating the trunk of the tree versus what we’re doing proper now, which is actually taking part in whack-a-mole with all these totally different branches. And we’re probably not getting very far.

And so, we’re coping with this large subject proper now in the US the place individuals, People, are getting sicker yearly. Persistent illness charges are going up for nearly each main illness yearly. And that is regardless of the truth that we’re spending extra money on healthcare yearly as people and as a rustic. We’re spending over $4 trillion on healthcare yearly. That quantity is astronomical. It’s 20% of the most important GDP in the complete world in human historical past. And as we spend extra, illness charges are going up, and life expectancy goes down. So that’s the definition of it, mainly an ineffective method and an unsustainable method. And so, my actual thesis that I really feel that’s actually my goal to share and why it could be my TED Discuss is as a result of I believe the rationale we’re seeing these dynamics is as a result of we’re essentially approaching the fallacious downside. We’re essentially approaching every illness as if it’s a separate siloed factor when actually needing to concentrate on the foundation trigger and the factor that connects these ailments, which is metabolic dysfunction.

And it’s one thing that, up till not too long ago, we haven’t actually been in a position, we haven’t actually recognized it as a result of the science has come a good distance over the previous 50 to 100 years. We used to have the ability to characterize ailments primarily based on the signs that emerge. And naturally, should you’re signs as a option to outline illness, sure, liver illness seems totally different than Alzheimer’s illness, and that appears totally different than gout. So, after all, we deal with it in another way. However now via genomics and cell signaling evaluation and proteomics and all this stuff that we’ve sort of, we now are capable of actually see contained in the cell extra on a analysis stage. We now know that there’s really this core physiology that’s resulting in quite a lot of these fashionable ailments. And we have to mainly modernize the best way that we deal with primarily based on that understanding. However it’s fairly broadly recognized that it takes nearly 20 years for analysis understanding to make it into scientific follow. And we’re in that messy center proper now the place the science is healthier understood, however we’re not treating that means. We’re nonetheless treating reactively the signs, and that should change. So, sufferers, I believe, want to essentially empower themselves to grasp this unifying metabolic idea of illness and work to each perceive and enhance their metabolism in order that they will have their very best well being and thrive.

Katie: Yeah, I agree. It’s so essential. And this transformation that we’re seeing in healthcare and the way individuals, such as you talked about, we’re getting sicker annually regardless of placing extra money assets towards this, regardless of rising consciousness even in some methods about this. And for me, studying the statistic that, for the primary time in two centuries, the present technology of youngsters may have a shorter life expectancy than their dad and mom was so staggering. That was a big a part of why I began with Wellness Mama and why I’ve been on this world for 15 years now could be as a result of that stat to me is unacceptable for our youngsters. And I really feel just like the work you guys are doing can be very impactful in serving to change that statistic, particularly now with, as we talked about in our first episode, there’s higher entry to issues like wearable knowledge, to understanding our glucose, to with the ability to run labs, even when we don’t have a physician who’s completely aligned in our space. There’s a lot entry, but additionally that may develop into overwhelming while you get knowledge however you don’t essentially know the best way to make it actionable. So, I like that you just guys are placing all these items in place to make knowledge actually actionable for individuals. And I’d like to delve into that as a result of I do know you’re additionally now in a position to take a look at biomarkers in a really particular means in methods which can be very impactful, particularly when paired with glucose to create measurable adjustments in individuals. So, I might love so that you can break down at what you’re discovering on the biomarker stage and what individuals can be taught from that knowledge that they’re capable of now get individually.

Casey: Completely. So, you understand, our mission at Ranges is to reverse the metabolic illness epidemic. And that’s why we began the corporate. Our actual perception is that to reverse this monumental development we’re seeing in metabolic dysfunction, the first step is individuals want to grasp their very own stage of metabolic well being, after which they’ve to grasp the best way to enhance it. And sadly, quite a lot of that’s not coming from the docs for the explanations we talked about. We’re simply behind. An unbelievable statistic is that, however that has primarily been proven in two unbiased analysis research over the previous 4 years, is that over 90% of American adults now have at the very least one biomarker of metabolic dysfunction. That was 88% about 5 years in the past. After which, as of analysis from a few yr in the past, that’s gone as much as 93.2%. And so, this isn’t a fringe subject. That is affecting nearly everybody. What’s so, I believe, essential for each particular person is to determine if they’ve any biomarkers of metabolic dysfunction that they want to concentrate on. And so, what we’re doing at Ranges is aiming to democratize entry to that knowledge as a result of it may be generally really feel like pulling enamel inside the healthcare system to try to get scraps of knowledge. However my perception is de facto that everybody strolling round ought to be capable of say with certitude, I’m or I’m not metabolically wholesome, and I do know what I have to do by way of my food plan and way of life to work on this and to get this in the precise course.

So, we do that in two methods at Ranges, each of which I believe are actually essential and which I hope the healthcare system will undertake as a part of mainstream. One is blood-based biomarkers. So, these are single time level measurements that get drawn out of your blood that mainly let you know a really clear snapshot of a pillar second in time, that is how I’m doing with metabolic well being. After which the second piece of knowledge that we give entry to is steady glucose monitoring. In order that’s a sensor that you just put on on the again of your arm that tells you really, 24 hours a day, seven days every week, what’s occurring together with your blood sugar ranges. And the blood sugar ranges are a fantastic real-time biomarker as a result of they’re a readout of how your metabolic well being is, as a result of in case your metabolic well being is dysfunctional, in case your cells are having problem mainly with that food-to-cellular power conversion course of, then what’s going to occur is that the cell is actually going to dam glucose from coming into it as a result of it’s primarily overburdened. It could’t try this course of effectively of changing meals power like sugar to ATP. So, the cell blocks the entry of glucose, of sugar into the cell. That’s insulin resistance. And blood sugar ranges will rise.

And so, blood sugar is that this wonderful biomarker that may inform us like a readout of whether or not there’s issues with metabolism within the physique. And by monitoring glucose in real-time on this extra steady movie-like means, you can begin to see which meals and which way of life habits are both inflicting huge swings and fluctuation in glucose or retaining it extra secure. And finally, we wish to hold it extra secure and in a low and wholesome vary as a result of that’s an indication that metabolic well being is being supported. And so, combining these pillar blood-based biomarkers to offer you a way of that is how I’m doing total by way of my studying the tea leaves of metabolic well being with my blood-based biomarkers. After which a real-time software like a glucose monitor that’s providing you with real-time biofeedback on particular person decision-making to maneuver in the precise course. These two collectively, I believe, are primarily transformational in each realizing the place you stand and realizing the best way to enhance.

So, by way of blood-based biomarkers, there’s a number of totally different assessments that may give you want a clue of metabolic well being. The best way I have a look at it’s that there’s in all probability like eight to 12 assessments that collectively a very seasoned metabolic health-focused physician may have a look at all of them together and once more, like learn the tea leaves and form of, so I’d say like that record could be fasting glucose, hemoglobin A1C, fasting insulin, triglycerides, HDL ldl cholesterol, uric acid, ApoB, hs-CRP, an inflammatory marker, and positively liver perform assessments. So, like AST and ALT. And there’s one other check I actually like known as GGT, which is a liver perform check that truly tells you about oxidative stress. So, should you may give me, like, after which having blood stress, not a blood check, however blood stress and waist circumference as nicely, these may give you one other sense. However these 10 assessments or so collectively, when you’ve got all of them and may have a look at all of them collectively, you may just about say whether or not somebody’s received an issue with metabolism or not. What we did at Ranges is we took 5 of these assessments, which is insulin, ApoB, triglycerides, uric acid, and hemoglobin A1C, and we labored with our medical advisory board to say like, okay, with these 5 assessments, you will get a very clear sign of like, whether or not there’s issues with metabolism. And I’m joyful to speak via the assessments like briefly individually if that may be useful.

Katie: Yeah, let’s try this briefly as a result of I might guess most individuals have heard of these assessments, or at the very least most of them. However I believe the relevance to metabolic well being is de facto essential to spotlight. And a few of them usually are not widespread on quite a lot of simply panels that somebody maybe has had run earlier than by a physician.

Casey: Yeah, yeah. So, I’ll begin with fasting insulin. So fasting insulin, I might say, might be a very powerful metabolic well being you will get. If somebody stated you must get one check, I might say it could be fasting insulin. The rationale for that, so insulin is the hormone that’s launched when blood sugar rises. Insulin mainly binds to the floor of a cell to the insulin receptor after which permits glucose to enter the cell in order that it may be processed via the mitochondria into power. If there’s extra, that glucose will typically be saved as fats. We talked somewhat bit about this, however when the cell is overburdened, and the cell has metabolic dysfunction, which usually means the mitochondria is struggling to maintain up with the inflow of glucose and convert it to power, the cell will put a block up known as insulin resistance, which primarily blocks that insulin sign from permitting glucose into the cell as a result of the cell is overburdened. The cell can’t course of extra of that glucose, so it blocks it from coming in, and that glucose will then rise within the bloodstream.

So, the rationale fasting insulin is such a beneficial check is as a result of it’s primarily exhibiting you from a very early stage that the cells are overburdened. There’s in all probability mitochondrial dysfunction happening. That metabolic conversion course of shouldn’t be working correctly, and the cell is placing a block as much as glucose coming into. The best way the physique responds in a short time is by releasing extra insulin into the physique to try to overcome that block. And that appears like rising fasting insulin on a blood check. And the rationale I believe that’s really much more beneficial than testing a fasting glucose stage, the blood sugar, is as a result of the physique really, in releasing that extra insulin to beat insulin resistance, it might really overcompensate for a very long time. And by pumping out a number of extra insulin, it might really drive the cell to push the glucose into the cell, although the cell’s mainly saying, we don’t need it, we will’t deal with it. And there’s been fascinating analysis exhibiting that insulin resistance might be brewing within the physique, and fasting insulin might be rising for over 10 years earlier than fasting glucose rises. And in order that’s a time of compensation the place the physique is mainly churning out extra of this hormone, forcing the glucose into the cell earlier than you really see a change within the glucose ranges. In order that’s a window the place we may catch early insulin resistance the place the fasting glucose check shouldn’t be going to select it up. Sadly, we don’t check fasting insulin in our standard medical follow. It’s a check you must actually request specifically or get exterior the system. And there’s quite a lot of purpose for this, nevertheless it’s one in all, I believe, the largest blind spots in medication proper now. We’ve received a state of affairs the place 50% of American adults now have pre-diabetes or sort 2 diabetes, that are each situations of insulin resistance. And we’re not testing for the earliest marker of insulin resistance. It’s so, so, so unusual. In order that’s one which I might say ask your physician for it or get it via a particular lab exterior the system. It’s essential.

The vary that, then there’s a second subject, which is that even should you get the check, quite a lot of the labs will report these ranges which can be actually lenient. They usually’ll mainly say on a lab slip that something lower than 25 milli use per milliliter is taken into account regular for a fasting insulin. However primarily based on our greatest evaluation of the analysis and coordinating with our wonderful advisory board of metabolic specialists, it really seems {that a} fasting insulin of about two to 6 is perfect. And actually while you begin getting above like six milli use per milliliter, danger begins going up. So first, you bought to get the check, you then’ve received to determine the best way to interpret the check in somewhat little bit of a tighter vary. However should you can see that your fasting insulin is under that six vary, within the two to 6 vary, that’s a very good signal that your cells are metabolically joyful, your physique’s not churning out extra insulin resulting from insulin resistance. And it’s only a actually, actually beneficial sign that your physique is working correctly metabolically. In order that’s fasting insulin.

One other wonderful check that goes hand in hand with that, which is a part of our 5 biomarkers that we’ve chosen as triglycerides. So, triglycerides is a sort of fats within the blood. It’s each a storage type of fats, and it’ll be discovered within the bloodstream that’s created when extra glucose is transformed to fats. So, the physique doesn’t need simply tons and tons of additional glucose floating round. It must put the surplus glucose someplace so it may be transformed to triglycerides and saved in fats cells or present in circulation. And so, triglycerides is one other signal that there’s some downside with how the physique is changing meals power to ATP and it’s making an attempt to place it someplace. So, it places it so should you begin seeing an elevated fasting insulin and an elevated triglycerides, you’re beginning to see a sign that the physique’s overwhelmed and it’s not processing this power correctly.

Hemoglobin A1C can be a very beneficial check as a result of that is really a snapshot of extra of like a long-term image of how glucose ranges have been. So, hemoglobin A1C is referring to hemoglobin, which is, after all, a part of the pink blood cell that carries oxygen. How a lot of that molecule within the blood has sugar caught to it mainly? So, glycation is the method of sugar sticking to totally different molecules within the physique. And when concentrations of blood sugar are excessive, they’re going to stay to issues extra. And we are not looking for sugar to stay to issues within the physique. It mainly creates like rusting of the physique. And so, hemoglobin A1C is actually a proportion of hemoglobin molecules within the physique which have sugar caught to them. And we don’t need sugar caught to something, actually. So glycated hemoglobin. And in order that’s expressed as a proportion. The usual ranges say that we would like our proportion to be lower than 5.7% glycated hemoglobin. That’s the traditional vary. Something above that’s thought-about pre-diabetic. What we really in all probability need optimally is between about 5 and 5.4% of glycated hemoglobin. That’s in all probability the healthiest vary. And so, as a result of pink blood cells stick round within the blood for about 90 to 120 days, this proportion really provides us a long-term snapshot of common glucose ranges over the course of 90 to 120 days. That’s fairly helpful. It doesn’t give us a lot of a way of what the fluctuations in glucose are day-to-day. That’s what a steady glucose monitor would let you know. However it provides you identical to a world sense of how a lot sugar has been sitting in my bloodstream. So, we would like that proportion to be decrease.

ApoB is the fourth check that we do. And it is a actually fascinating check. It’s a part of what we name a complicated ldl cholesterol marker. It’s not sometimes examined in customary follow. However everybody’s in all probability aware of the idea of LDL ldl cholesterol, which generally we name dangerous ldl cholesterol. However there’s really, what we actually care about is how a lot ldl cholesterol is floating across the bloodstream that we all know can contribute to coronary heart illness or plaques or blockages within the blood vessels. And that’s really extra than simply LDL. To start with, there’s several types of LDL, some which can be extra prone to promote coronary heart illness and blockages than others. After which there’s these different molecules like intermediate density LDL and VLDL, very low-density LDL. And so, there’s these totally different particles within the bloodstream that we simply don’t discuss in our customary ldl cholesterol panel. ApoB is definitely a protein that wraps round these ldl cholesterol particles when they’re floating via the bloodstream. And ApoB is the particular protein that occurs to be on all the guts disease-promoting particles. So, it’ll be on IDL particles or LDL particles. And so, what it does is it mainly provides you a extra full image of what number of particles within the bloodstream are atherogenic or mainly pro-heart illness. And so, some docs are favoring ApoB as a extra exact check of how lots of the true dangerous ldl cholesterol are within the bloodstream and possibly a greater sign than LDL. In order that’s why we included it on our panel versus simply LDL ldl cholesterol as a result of it’s extra all-encompassing for different sorts of dangerous ldl cholesterol.

After which the final one is uric acid. Uric acid is a very fascinating check. We regularly hear of it in relation to gout, however it’s really a lot extra broadly related than simply for individuals who could or could not endure from gout. It’s really a vital cardiac and total metabolic marker. And uric acid might be raised in a number of totally different mechanisms. One is definitely a by-product of fructose metabolism. So, we’re consuming astronomically extra fructose as one in all our types of sugars in our food plan now than we ever have been in historical past. Excessive fructose corn syrup was invented within the Seventies. And since then, persons are consuming about 3000% extra fructose than we have been previous to the invention of excessive fructose corn syrup. So, we’ve simply had this astronomical rise in this kind of sugar within the physique, which is inflicting big burdening to our methods. And when fructose is damaged down by our cells, one of many byproducts is uric acid. Uric acid can then go on to trigger issues in our cells by really damaging our mitochondria and promote cardiovascular issues via a number of totally different mechanisms. So uric acid is a sign of extra fructose within the bloodstream, which we all know is simply deeply metabolically damaging. It additionally might be elevated by what are known as purine-rich meals. And so, these embody animal merchandise like meat, beer, and sure shellfish. And so, excesses in a few of these issues also can result in enhance in uric acid. After which alcohol usually can result in will increase in uric acid. However I’d say, usually talking, of the issues which can be contributing to excessive uric acid within the common American, I’d say that the large consumption of fructose within the type of liquid sugars and sodas, power drinks, frappuccinos, processed meals, fructose is now actually all over the place. And in order that’s an enormous contributor to uric acid. In order that’s an indication on a lab check that the food plan actually must be like thoughtfully cleaned up. And it’s one that may change quickly with changes in food plan.

So these 5 assessments collectively may give us an actual sign of how issues are going metabolically within the physique. And I might say that, these are good to know like each 4 months or so, each quarter mainly should you can, as a result of in case you are, to begin with, should you’re staying within the optimum vary for all of those assessments, it’s a fantastic signal that your cells are powered correctly and the food plan that you just’ve chosen and the life-style plan that you just’re following is like working nicely. It’s a fantastic confirmatory sign that no matter plan you’re on, it’s working. And that’s actually reassuring. I believe so many people are so confused about, am I consuming the precise food plan? Ought to I be plant-based? Ought to I be carnivore? Ought to I be omnivorous? Like, ought to I do that plan? And it may be so overwhelming. And what I say is, simply check, like check your metabolic biomarkers. And in the event that they’re in a fantastic and wholesome vary and also you’re feeling good, you may really feel assured that what you’re doing is working. And in the event that they aren’t in an optimum vary, then that’s a fantastic place to begin to make some changes after which retest in a couple of months. And in the event that they’re not shifting in the precise course, you then in all probability want to alter your plan once more. Prefer it’s actually that easy. I’m on the level the place I refuse to argue about dietary dogma or this, as a result of everybody’s totally different. And actually you simply have to know what’s happening in your personal physique after which make constant tweaks and observe them over the course of some and do them for a couple of months after which retest. And it’s actually so simple as, is it getting higher? Is it getting worse? Or is it staying the identical? And primarily based on that info, you may make further tweaks. In order that’s why I believe testing like that is so beneficial. And you are able to do all these assessments for $99 and have quite a lot of actually useful details about the place you stand. So these are the 5 that I believe are actually, actually important to know in each particular person.

Katie: And I like this as a result of I say typically on right here, on the finish of the day, we’re every our personal main healthcare supplier, and we will work with docs and practitioners, however that accountability nonetheless lies inside us. And I really feel like instruments like this assist us to have higher knowledge and higher entry in making choices which can be aligned in turning into our personal main healthcare supplier. And I believe, like I stated, this knowledge is invaluable, and naturally, could be very far reaching. Such as you defined with the labs, these aren’t simply single markers that let you know one factor. These are very far-ranging and may give you perception into a number of issues occurring inside your physique. And I do know lots of our listeners are girls and mothers particularly. And I do know that one other space this could present up is within the hormone realm, that there might be an affect with metabolic dysfunction and hormone regulation. And positively, that may be relevant in instances like being pregnant and postpartum, but additionally, for many individuals listening, the perimenopause and menopause age is an enormous space of shift. And as you talked about these biomarkers, I do know, as an illustration, that ladies’s heart problems danger rises once they undergo menopause and that lots of these shifts can result in different issues within the physique as nicely. So, I might love to talk for a minute to the hormone facet of that and the way these markers come into play with fertility, with hormones, and the way, after all, that pertains to how we feel and look as nicely.

Casey: Completely. Yeah, I believe that it’s so wonderful. You simply alluded to this reality about that heart problems goes up for ladies after menopause. And I believe that that is one other one of many largest blind spots in medication. Coronary heart illness is the primary killer for ladies in the US, and it’s a metabolic illness. You realize, girls are going to, after menopause, girls mainly begin to outpace males on quite a lot of the metabolic ailments. In order that’s like weight problems, sort 2 diabetes, coronary heart illness, and Alzheimer’s dementia. And but, this isn’t a phrase or a subject that will get introduced up in these docs’ appointments round menopause, and even within the 30s and 40s while you’re getting ready for this time, when estrogen goes to drop, and that’s going to place you at a lot increased metabolic danger. And so, I’m simply so grateful for platforms like yours which can be speaking about quite a lot of this stuff as a result of we’re simply not getting it from the mainstream.

So, beginning, let’s say, within the 20s and 30s within the fertility dialog, it’s so unbelievable how a lot it’s linked to metabolic well being. The main explanation for infertility in the US is polycystic ovarian syndrome. And polycystic ovarian syndrome, what we perceive is that it’s very a lot rooted in metabolic dysfunction. It really, the NIH in 2012 was going to alter the identify of PCOS to multi-system, a multi-system metabolic endocrine dysfunction. They usually didn’t change it. And I believe it really would have been constructive to alter the identify as a result of not many individuals like polycystic ovarian syndrome, it’s arduous to know what which means. However, like actually calling it what it’s, which is sort of a metabolic hormonal dysfunction, like actually helps individuals determine like the place they should method. So, when insulin ranges are excessive within the physique, and we are going to discuss why it could be due to insulin resistance, that insulin really indicators a cell within the ovary known as the theca cells of the ovary to provide extra testosterone. So, like androgens and what we sometimes consider as male hormones. And so, when insulin stimulates the ovary to provide extra testosterone, that actually disturbs the fragile stability between testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, all of the intercourse hormones which can be so finely tuned. So, this, after all, impacts menstruation, it impacts ovulation, it impacts quite a lot of different issues within the physique too, like selling pimples and midline weight problems and hair development, issues that you just may what’s known as hirsutism, which is actually masculinizing options and issues like that.

So, there’s all this stuff that trickle down from essentially hyperinsulinemia, excessive insulin ranges. So, there’s been some wonderful analysis that reveals that like 12-week interventions with girls which can be largely centered on dietary and way of life interventions that target actually getting the insulin ranges down, so like actually prime quality, low glycemic food plan patterns over the course of 12 weeks, can completely rework the hormone stability. You get the insulin down, you get the stimulation of the testosterone down, and quite a lot of the opposite hormones fall into place, signs decline, intervals develop into extra common. So, there’s quite a lot of hope right here, and the reason for the excessive insulin ranges in quite a lot of these girls, it’s multifactorial. There appears to be a genetic part, there’s simply dwelling in America, it places us in an uphill battle from the life-style perspective due to the best way that our meals tradition is, nevertheless it’s multifactorial, genetics, way of life, all this stuff, however no matter how a lot it’s weighted in direction of genetics or way of life or no matter, it nonetheless seems that these interventions centered on getting insulin ranges down actually, actually assist. In order that’s actually constructive. However by some research, as much as 26% of girls globally of childbearing age are coping with PCOS. So this isn’t a tiny subject.

After which, as you get in direction of these perimenopausal years, there’s actually fascinating analysis exhibiting that mainly menopausal signs additionally correlate with metabolic dysfunction. So, menopausal signs like scorching flashes at evening and sleep disturbances and quite a lot of this stuff that actually affect high quality of life, temper. There’s been fairly a little bit of analysis exhibiting that these actually correlate in lockstep with diploma of primarily blood sugar dysregulation. So, whether or not that’s a trigger or impact, it’s not absolutely understood just like the causality, however there appears to be a transparent development of the more severe the menopausal signs are, the more severe the metabolic well being is. And if we will hold the blood sugar ranges down and hold the metabolic well being in examine, the thought could be that this might probably presumably in truth affect menopausal signs, though much more analysis must be accomplished with that. However, you understand, whether or not a blood sugar spike and crash can set off vasomotor signs like scorching flash, like there’s some analysis to recommend that there is likely to be a hyperlink there.

So actually, any intervention centered on retaining blood sugar in a decrease and more healthy vary, retaining it extra secure, might be a possible adjunctive modality to maintain these signs extra in examine. And Dr. Sara Gottfried wrote an incredible e book known as Girls, Meals, and Hormones that talks loads about this and primarily the best way to actually prep for menopause by turning into as metabolically wholesome as doable to hopefully ease a number of the signs that may be so troublesome.

Girls after menopause, like we talked about earlier, sort of go off a metabolic cliff. Estrogen tends to be protecting in terms of metabolic well being. And so, when that drops quickly, insulin resistance does go up. And so, I’m 36 now, and quite a lot of how I take into consideration the following 10, 15 years for me is considering the best way to primarily get myself into the most effective form doable earlier than going into that transition as a result of it doesn’t matter what, regardless of who you might be, there’s going to be a success that occurs while you lose that estrogen. So which means, ensuring my insulin sensitivity is de facto good via food plan, via way of life. It means resistance coaching now as a result of we lose that muscle mass mainly yearly beginning in our mid-30s, muscle mass naturally goes down. And muscle is one in all our most protecting issues towards mainly metabolic dysfunction as a result of muscle is sort of a big blood sugar sink. It takes up and makes use of glucose, takes it out of the bloodstream. And so, it actually helps with insulin resistance. So, if there’s one factor I might say to girls listening who is likely to be heading into that, it’s like, to begin with, get a full understanding of your metabolic well being, hopefully via blood biomarkers, via your physician or via a lab exterior of your physician, know the place you stand, be taught methods to get blood sugar below management, stabilize blood sugar, which we will actually discuss. I do know we talked about loads in our first episode collectively. After which actually, begin constructing muscle so that you go into menopause with a very good armor on, that’s mainly an enormous blood sugar-stabilizing armor. So, that’s one factor that I simply hear a lot with girls. They’re figuring out 5 days every week, however they’re not really constructing that muscle. And I believe you may actually give it some thought as like a protect to buffer a number of the results of the dropping of estrogen in menopause. One of many girls who’re, one of many specialists who actually will get into this so deeply is Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, who simply got here out with a e book known as Ceaselessly Sturdy, all in regards to the energy of muscle. And even one thing we haven’t realized till not too long ago is that muscle is definitely a hormone-secreting organ. So, muscle really secretes myokines, that are mainly pro-metabolic anti-inflammatory hormones. And in order that’s only a actually highly effective software, resistance coaching, in direction of buffering out quite a lot of this.

Katie: I’m an enormous fan of her work and her e book as nicely. I believe for ladies, particularly, it’s such an essential subject together with all of the issues we’re speaking about actually as a result of such as you stated, these affect all of us, however particularly girls, we now have these different components to contemplate, particularly at totally different phases of life and hormones. And I really feel like we’ve made such an unbelievable, you’ve, an unbelievable and powerful case for the significance of understanding this knowledge and utilizing it in an actionable means. So, I’d like to take a while to see, I do know you’ve an enormous dataset of what are the patterns you’re seeing of impactful adjustments individuals could make, particularly as soon as they get this knowledge and have entry to understanding what’s happening of their our bodies. Are there issues that appear usually and universally useful useful resource food plan or way of life adjustments that individuals could make that may assist transfer issues in a constructive course?

Casey: Undoubtedly. So, it’s humorous. I simply, I used to be telling you earlier than we began recording, like I simply completed my first e book, which isn’t popping out for a very long time, however I’m sitting right here after ending the e book and turning into my writer, and I’m like, it’s 380 pages, and there’s like 1000’s of references. And I’m like, what, what’s the largest takeaway from this e book about metabolism and blood sugar? And I truthfully assume one of many largest takeaways other than the apparent, which is, like, get the refined sugars and the ultra-processed grains out of the food plan, which mainly turns straight to glucose within the bloodstream and eat extra entire meals, like that one, sort of a given. However the second is like, strolling might be essentially the most highly effective superpower that we now have for metabolic well being, and we simply don’t emphasize it sufficient. And that to me, prefer it’s simply studying all these papers, all this analysis, all our ranges knowledge. We should be strolling a lot extra as a tradition. So now, the typical American is strolling about 4,000 steps a day, which is about two miles. And while you have a look at like fashionable hunter-gatherer tribes, they’re strolling like 20,000 steps a day. So, like actually 5 instances extra. And what’s fascinating is that strolling, although it’s simple and it nearly looks like, how may that be so highly effective? Mainly, the best way I give it some thought is should you’re even strolling 10 toes, you’re activating nearly each main muscle group in your physique. You’re swinging your arms, you’re utilizing your legs, you’re utilizing the massive muscle groups of your legs, and even utilizing them at that actually low depth, it’s inflicting all these pathways inside these muscle cells to develop into activated. And so, there’s all these cell signaling pathways that primarily convey glucose channels from the within of the cell to the cell membrane if the muscle is activated in any respect. And so, somebody who sits for three-hour stretches, which is quite a lot of us, I imply, like, and doesn’t actually stand up or ever use that muscle, their glucose channels are simply going to be sitting contained in the cell inactive, and people cells usually are not going to be taking over glucose. However should you stand up and stroll for one minute each hour, you’re bringing these glucose channels to the cell membrane to take up glucose and use it. So, somebody who’s shifting even for one minute, each half-hour, each hour, their physique all day is mainly bringing these receptors to the membrane to convey glucose out of the bloodstream. Now evaluate that to somebody who sits for like three-, four-hour chunks, possibly will get as much as go to the make a lunch, will get as much as go to the lavatory each few hours, however in any other case they’re simply sitting at their laptop. That particular person, their cells simply aren’t getting primed to take up glucose. And in order that glucose goes to remain within the bloodstream, it’s going to be extra erratic. And let’s say that particular person even goes and does a exercise within the night after work. So, they’ve sat most all of the day, they usually work out for 35 minutes for an hour or no matter. That’s nice, nevertheless it doesn’t change the truth that throughout that total remainder of the day, inside their cells, their glucose channels weren’t lively. So, we actually have to flip the script from this idea of like exercising is the reply to really common low-grade motion is a big a part of the reply. Trigger it creates a very totally different physiology within the physique all through the day.

So, somewhat like psychological picture, I would like individuals to essentially ingrain is that by setting an alarm in your iPhone each half-hour to stand up and do 5 air squats or to stroll round your house or stroll across the perimeter of your home or stroll as soon as across the block. It’s not only for the sake of getting steps. It’s for the sake of actually giving your physique an brisk sign to alter the cell signaling pathway, to convey glucose receptors, glucose channels to the cell membrane and hold your physique on this constitutively lively state of metabolism and glucose uptake. Exercising for an hour on the finish of the day shouldn’t be going to mitigate the results of sitting all day. And so, yeah, it’s simply each time you progress these muscle groups, it’s actually sending a special sign to your physique. The analysis is fairly profound. Like should you, we speak loads about 10,000 steps, however really, quite a lot of the analysis I checked out for the e book, the actual magic quantity seems to be 8,000 steps, and 10,000 is nice, and also you may get some marginal profit, however someplace between the 8,000 to 12,000 steps is mainly sufficient to cut back your danger of coronary heart illness, sort 2 diabetes, weight problems, stroke, melancholy by about 50%. So, if you will get a wearable and simply affirm that you just’re strolling at the very least 8,000 steps a day, it’s mainly equal to having the simplest medicine, like ever invented for any illness by way of prevention. Prefer it’s really a lot, rather more efficient. We don’t have any drugs that scale back danger that a lot for these ailments. So, it’s near a silver bullet.

One other idea, I really feel like I’ve been grappling with somewhat bit is that, you understand, is the idea actually of train nearly like distracting us from shifting extra all through the day? We predict that the idea of train is this concept that you’ve this factor in your to-do record, and you must test it out off each day, and that can make you more healthy. And sure, train is nice. However America spends extra on train than another nation on the planet, and we’re among the many heaviest and getting sicker. The typical American family spends $2,000 a yr on well being and fitness-related bills, and that quantity goes up over time. Now we have extra gyms per capita than any nation in the complete world, and we’re one of many sickest and heaviest nations on the planet. So, there’s some disconnect between the quantity we’re spending on health, the quantity of gyms we now have, the quantity of “train” we’re working in direction of, and our precise outcomes. And I believe that disconnect is the truth that we’ve overemphasized this idea of train, and we’ve under-emphasized the idea of simply shifting your physique extra often.

And while you have a look at like Dan Buettner’s work within the blue zones, this is sensible. The populations which have essentially the most centenarians, the individuals who dwell to 100, are the populations who motion is simply in-built to their on a regular basis life. Whether or not it’s farming or strolling lengthy distances to get issues that they want for simply the every day dwelling. And so, this creates an enormous problem for us as a result of now, in America, quite a lot of us are information employees. We work at computer systems. That’s simply the fact. We’re not going to return and all develop into farmers, nor ought to we essentially. However what it does imply is we do should get very artistic about our day-to-day lives as a result of simply because we’re information employees doesn’t imply that we will really cease shifting if we wish to keep wholesome. This may imply standing desk. This may imply treadmill desk. This may imply setting an alarm each half-hour in your cellphone and doing these 5 pushups, 5 air squats, strolling round your home or house. This may imply having the default for your entire calls be strolling conferences. It’d imply rescheduling your subsequent few dinner dates or espresso dates to be strolling or climbing dates. It’s simply having to be actually daring and artistic to one way or the other construct motion into our day-to-day lives as computer-based information employees as a result of there’s actually no means of getting round it. We both transfer or we get sick. And in order that’s an extended reply to your query. However we actually have to start out getting extra artistic about marrying the trendy world that we’re dwelling with, dwelling in with the fact of our biology, which is that low-grade motion all through the day is completely essential and unavoidable if you wish to be optimally wholesome. In order that’s a movement-focused one.

We already talked about resistance coaching, which I believe is one other factor, particularly for ladies. It’s like gotta incorporate it. I’ve so many conversations with individuals, with Ranges members who say, “I’m caught, and I’m not getting the outcomes I would like, and I’m doing all the pieces proper. I’m maintaining a healthy diet, I’m sleeping, I’m meditating, I’m figuring out 5 days every week.” And invariably, I say, “Are you resistance coaching?” They usually say, “No.” In order that’s an enormous one. We received to construct the muscle.

After which from the meals standpoint, I’d say, one of many largest sensible takeaways that I’ve seen from our Ranges knowledge, and, at this level, we now have over 500 million glucose knowledge factors. We’ve had many tens of 1000’s of individuals undergo this system and log their meals. And one of many largest issues I’ve seen is that breakfast, primarily breakfast, could make or break somebody’s day metabolically. So, if there’s one meal you’re going to concentrate on bettering for you and your children and your loved ones, it’s breakfast. And the rationale I say it is because what we see in our dataset is that a number of the highest scoring issues on our dataset are breakfast, and a number of the very worst, like worse than dessert scoring issues that we see in our dataset are breakfast. And I might assume that on each ends, individuals assume that they’re making wholesome selections. And so, as an illustration, on the unhealthy finish the place we see the largest glucose spikes, it’s issues like, it’ll be individuals consuming issues like granola or immediate oatmeal or a bit of entire grain toast. We all know that pastries, like donuts and bagels and muffins, that these are going to be unhealthy, and people are actually within the excessive glucose spike class. However a few of these extra seemingly benign meals like toast or oatmeal or some cereals that is likely to be low-fat or might sound wholesome like granola. A few of the largest spikes we see in our dataset are these.

And so, you then’ve received on the opposite facet, you’ve received some breakfasts that don’t trigger just about any glucose spikes. So, these are issues we see like eggs and avocado, eggs and greens, even eggs and bacon, or eggs and floor beef, frittata, chia pudding. We get lots of people who log what’s known as the fab for smoothie, which is the smoothie recipe that Kelly LeVeque, superstar nutritionist Kelly LeVeque, popularized. She’s one in all our advisors. And it’s wonderful to see how many individuals log that smoothie, however mainly, it’s like a really well-balanced smoothie of protein, fats, fiber, and greens and really low glycemic. That scores very well. So, I believe the takeaway for me is that, primarily like, eliminating these meals which have the refined grains or any processed grains in them, cereals, toast, bagels, clearly pastries, muffins, croissants, issues like that. Simply these have a tendency to simply actually, actually crush individuals. Stick to the protein and fat-forward, fiber-forward breakfast. As a result of while you begin your day with a extra secure glucose, what we see is that individuals are likely to hold the glucose extra secure all through the remainder of the day. And a part of this is because of the truth that when you’ve got an enormous glucose spike first within the morning, typically what’s going to occur is that you just spike and you then crash. And while you crash, that’s typically when individuals mid-morning really feel drained and like they want one other cup of espresso they usually may really feel cravings, they want somewhat snack, may even really feel some nervousness. That’s what occurs when you’ve a glucose crash, and people crashes occur sometimes after a spike. You don’t have a crash after you’ve like a low, when you’ve got a low glucose elevation after a meal, you normally received’t crash, it’ll simply be extra secure. However an enormous spike normally get an enormous crash. That crash known as reactive hypoglycemia. And there was a very fascinating paper really in Nature Metabolism final yr, like premier medical journal, that confirmed that the extent of these post-meal crashes, reactive hypoglycemia was predictive of what number of carbohydrates individuals would eat in that total day and the way hungry they might be that day. So mainly, you spike your self and crash your self, you’re going to be craving extra carbs that day, you’re going to in all probability eat extra energy over the next 24-hour intervals. So, should you can stabilize your glucose for breakfast, you’re setting your self up for like a 24 hours of success and fewer craving. So yeah, simply actually getting the refined grain breakfasts out of the rotation, I believe, is without doubt one of the very best issues you are able to do to start out your morning robust, hold your power secure, and scale back your cravings all through the remainder of the day.

Katie: These are such superior ideas. I used to be taking notes as you have been talking, and I do know that via Ranges, you guys have a selected supply to assist individuals be capable of take all that knowledge under consideration as nicely. In order that shall be linked within the present notes for you guys listening on the go, that’s, [email protected].

And I really feel like we by no means have sufficient time once we get to talk since you’re such a wealth of data, and we may chat all day lengthy. So maybe we will do one other spherical generally as nicely. However this has been so useful and so actionable. And I like how deep and particular you bought to go on all these totally different subjects that I believe actually might be impactful for everybody listening. So, Casey, thanks a lot to your time. This has been such a pleasure, and I’m so grateful that you just have been right here.

Casey: Oh, it’s completely my pleasure. And as we have been chatting, I spotted that for a number of the biomarkers, I gave optimum ranges, and for some, I didn’t. So, I’ll make sure that to ship you the record of all of the optimum ranges for all of the assessments that I discussed. And possibly these might be within the present notes, however like uric acid and whatnot and all these. So, wish to make sure that individuals have these, however I’ll observe up with all of these for you.

Katie: That sounds excellent. And I’ll make sure that in addition to hyperlinks too. I do know you guys have an amazing quantity of academic materials on all of this for individuals to continue to learn and that you just launch quite a lot of content material round it as nicely. So, all of these hyperlinks shall be within the present notes, however I’m deeply grateful to your time. Thanks a lot for being right here right this moment.

Casey: Thanks, Katie.

Katie: And thanks as all the time to you for listening and sharing your most useful assets, your time, your power, and your consideration with us right this moment. We’re each so grateful that you just did, and I hope that you’ll be part of me once more on the following episode of the The Wellness Mama Podcast.

For those who’re having fun with these interviews, would you please take two minutes to depart a ranking or assessment on iTunes for me? Doing this helps extra individuals to search out the podcast, which implies much more mothers and households may benefit from the knowledge. I actually recognize your time, and thanks as all the time for listening.