Let's dive into some of the intriguing topics we'll explore:

1. Metabolic Flexibility: What Is It and Why Should You Care?

Metabolic flexibility is all about your body's ability to metabolize various sources of fuel efficiently. It's a crucial aspect of our health because metabolism drives energy production and storage. When your metabolism falters, a range of issues can arise, from obesity and diabetes to everyday symptoms like fatigue, depression, and concentration problems. Understanding and caring for your metabolism is akin to knowing how your car works and why it breaks down when it does.

2. Does Cold Exposure Boost Your Metabolism?

Cold exposure has gained attention for its potential to increase energy expenditure and promote heat production. Studies suggest that acute cold exposure can indeed elevate metabolism and stimulate the intake of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), contributing to improved metabolic activity. However, it's essential to use cold exposure wisely, as excessive use may dampen the body's natural inflammation response, which is crucial for repair under healthy conditions.

3. Does Fasting Rev Up Your Metabolism?

Intermittent fasting has gained popularity for weight loss, but it may not necessarily increase your metabolism. Fasting can lead to a reduction in overall calorie intake, increased autophagy, and higher ketone production. While fasting has shown promise in weight loss and even impacts serotonin transporter availability, its effects may vary among individuals. Consider it as a tool to experiment with and find what works best for you.

4. Bread vs. Meat: Are They Healthy?

The debate about the healthiness of specific foods like bread and meat continues. The key is to understand that excluding entire food groups from your diet should have a purpose, such as allergies, intolerances, or specific health conditions. Many times, the issue lies not with the food itself but with additives like pesticides or synthetic hormones used in meat production. A balanced, whole-food diet from reputable sources is often the best approach.

5. The Quest for the "Best" Diet

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to the "best" diet. Your dietary choices should align with your goals, whether it's weight loss, improved metabolic health, or simply feeling better. The ketogenic diet, for example, may help some individuals feel fuller longer, increase fat metabolism, and encourage the use of stored fat for energy. But remember, what works best depends on your unique body and needs.

6. Boosting Your Metabolic Health

You can enhance your metabolic health by adopting some straightforward lifestyle changes. Focus on consuming whole foods while avoiding processed ones, maintain a healthy calorie balance, engage in regular physical activity to increase insulin sensitivity and metabolic flexibility, prioritize quality sleep and recovery, and manage stress effectively. These simple tweaks can make a world of difference in your overall well-being.

7. The Genetics of Obesity

Claims that genetics are the primary cause of obesity have been circulating, but are they accurate? It's essential to critically examine these statements, especially in light of certain weight loss medications like semaglutide. While such drugs can be effective tools, it's crucial to provide a balanced and truthful message about the role of genetics in obesity. Human evolution doesn't favor obesity as a survival trait, and misinformation can deter individuals from pursuing healthier lifestyles.

8. The Connection Between Metabolic and Brain Health

Our organs are intricately interconnected, and metabolic health isn't just about our waistlines. It significantly impacts our brain health and mental well-being. In an eye-opening discussion with Dr. Chris Palmer, a Harvard professor of psychiatry, we explore how addressing metabolic health issues can improve mental illness symptoms. Check out episode 214 of the HVMN podcast or read Dr. Palmer's book "Brain Energy" for further insights.

9. Surprising Findings in Ketone IQ Research

Ketone IQ research has revealed numerous surprising findings, and I'm eager to share some of the most remarkable ones with you. These studies shed light on the incredible potential of ketones and how they can benefit our overall health and well-being.

In conclusion, our journey today has been enlightening, touching on critical topics that impact our health and wellness. Remember, there's no one-size-fits-all solution, so tailor your lifestyle to what works best for you. Stay curious, stay healthy, and keep exploring the exciting world of health and nutrition with us. 

In this episode, you'll discover:

• This blog explores key health and wellness topics, including metabolic flexibility, the effects of cold exposure and fasting on metabolism, the healthiness of bread and meat, and the search for the "best" diet.
• It emphasizes the importance of understanding and caring for our metabolism, making informed dietary choices, and adopting healthy lifestyle changes to boost metabolic health.
• The blog also discusses the genetics of obesity, the connection between metabolic and brain health, and surprising findings in ketone IQ research, highlighting the need for a personalized approach to health and wellness.

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Transcription

Dr. Latt Mansor:

In this episode, the guest for the hvmn podcast is…..yours truly, me! You heard it right, this is my  first solo episode since I took over the HVMN podcast in Oct 2022. I have been doing this for a year now and I have met and spoken to many many interesting people and experts in the health and nutrition field and there are many common topics and questions that popped up. This episode will answer exactly what those questions and topics are and why. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who are watching and listening to me since Oct last year because I’ll let you in on a secret, I can’t even stand my own voice but you know what, everybody hates their own voices so thank you for tuning in every week and also for those of you who wrote to me via the feedback form, email or DMs on social media because whatever you guys wrote to me matter and I have tried to incorporate them as much as possible for my next episode!

What is metabolic flexibility and why should people care?                     

• Ability to metabolise different sources of fuel in our bodies at a given situation and people should care because all 8 billion of us do metabolism at all times, without stopping because when we stop, that’s when we die. We simply can’t exist without energy and metabolism is the main mechanism that drives energy production and storage in our bodies. On the same note, when we don’t metabolise efficiently or even worse, having a metabolic dysfunction, that’s when all sorts of symptoms show up, not just diagnoses like obesity and diabetes but also more common symptoms like chronic fatigue, depression, restlessness, inability to concentrate so on and so forth so people should care about metabolism because if you don’t it’s like owning a car and not knowing how it works and why it’s broken down.

Does cold exposure increase your metabolism?

• Effect of Acute Cold Exposure on Energy Metabolism and Activity of Brown Adipose Tissue in Humans: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis – Huo et al. 2022; Effect of Acute Cold Exposure on Energy Metabolism and Activity of Brown Adipose Tissue in Humans: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis - PMC (nih.gov)
  • Ten randomized controlled trials were included in meta-analysis. Compared with human exposed in room temperature at 24°C, the energy expenditure (EE) was increased after acute cold exposure at 16∼19°C
  • After cold exposure, the body’s energy metabolic increases as well as NEFA intake, both of which indicated that it could regulate metabolism and increase heat production.
• In terms of inflammation, the studies I have found are related to chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases and cold exposure showed decreased inflammation and relief in the symptoms but always remember inflammation as a signaling mechanism for repair and under healthy conditions, you need inflammation to deal with infection, tear and wear of the body so it becomes stronger so use cold exposure sparingly if it’s to dampen inflammation because you do need the normal inflammation process in many instances

Does fasting increase your metabolism?

• The better question is fasting good for you. In terms of metabolism, it may actually slows your metabolism down but it will help you lose weight. A few things that happen with fasting, you eat less total calories, you increase autophagy, and increase ketones production. Fasting has definitely shown to be very effective in weight loss protocols and this paper even showed that in lean men, fasting increases serotonin transporter availability but the response is absent in obese men. Again comes down to individuals and metabolism is unique to each of us so you have to try it to see if it works for you or not. The response to prolonged fasting in hypothalamic serotonin transporter availability is blunted in obesity - PMC (nih.gov) Galen et al 2021
• Another study, Fasting inhibits aerobic glycolysis and proliferation in colorectal cancer via the Fdft1-mediated AKT/mTOR/HIF1α pathway suppression - PMC (nih.gov) showed fasting inhibits colorectal cancer cell proliferation and even outlined its mechanism of action via the AKT/MTOR/HIF1a pathway suppression. Granted these are in cells and lab setting but here is another very interesting study entitled How Far Are We from Prescribing Fasting as Anticancer Medicine? - PMC (nih.gov) and it seems very promising. The question remains will the multibillion pharma companies who are currently prescribing these expensive medications support or lobby to shut it down before it even begins?

Is bread or meat healthy?

• I have said it many time, excluding a whole food group from a diet has to be done for a specific purpose. Either you are intolerant, allergic to a certain food group or even certain diseases or automimmune response caused by these foods then you can omit them from your diet. Otherwise I do advocate for a balanced whole food diet that is from known and reliable sources. Most of the time it is not the bread that is the problem, it is the pesticides used on the wheat that gets carried over into the finished products, same with meat, in and of itself is a great source of nutrients and protein but when it is treated with synthetic hormones to increase productivity then that’s where the problems start.

Which diet is the best?

• Again this depends heavily on your goals. Trust me, I would love to have a ‘best’ diet too but the reality is that that diet does not exist. If you want to lose weight, calorie deficit is important but that has to couple with healthy lifestyle and stress management as well so choose a diet that allows you to stick with but also makes it easier for you to create that calorie deficit. For most people, the keto diet makes them feel full longer so they don’t snack and ultimately decrease total calorie intake. From a metabolic standpoint as well, by providing your body with more fats and less carbs, you will upregulate enzymes related to fat metabolism so your body is more used to burning fat, especially from your own fat storage because you will start to metabolize those fats if you are in calorie deficit. It is a very simple storage concept, you have a surplus of energy, you store it, you are not eating as much and have a deficit, you will start pulling energy out of the storage compartments and use them for energy.

How can someone increase their metabolic health?

• Yes! There are many things you can do to be metabolically flexible and healthy. A lot of people complain that on social media or podcast, people talk about what not to eat and everything is poison or that we are just simply fear-mongering. Well I’m here to tell you what you CAN do to be healthier,
  • eat whole foods and eliminate processed foods, look out not to have excess calories so you are not piling up your fat storage system,
  • exercise, move, do some physical activity because I cannot stress enough that there are overwhelming amount of evidence that showed physical activity increases insulin sensitivity, metabolic flexibility, decrease inflammation and helps with aging and brain health
  • Sleep well and recover well, allowing your body to recharge and rebuild is as essential because physical activity is a form or stressor to your body that creates signal to build a stronger body so you need time and the right conditions to optimally recover and be stronger
  • Last but not least, you are listening to me right now probably all stressed out thinking what you can do or should do but know that stress management is also as important, do one thing at a time, change one habit at a time, stick to it, make it a new norm so you are not stressing too much and causing more harm to your body instead.
• There you go, all the simple things we already do as humans but just tweak it slightly so we do it better and tailor it to our body. Always remember there is no one lifestyle that is the best and fits everyone, make your lifestyle work for you and not the other way around.

Is obesity genetic?

• This has been a such a discussion especially as of late with the drug Ozempic or semaglutide. It was initially a type 2 diabetes drug but now used as a weight loss tool. One of my biggest problem with the marketing of this drug is by telling people that genetics is the main cause of obesity. It is a straight up lie if you look at enough data but they say that it is genetics so you lose hope and that there is nothing you can do about getting sicker and sicker so the only solution is to take the drug. If this is genetics, did we just evolve to be obese within a short span of a century? And usually when organisms evolve, the direction they evolve into favors survivability so why in the hell would the human gene choose obesity? It’s not like we are going through another ice age where we need that much stored fat so this misleading information needs to be corrected. Now as a tool, I am not saying that semaglutide does not work but it needs the right message and the truth to be told and people also need to use it in conjunction with lifestyle changes to make the change sustainable and healthy.

Does metabolic health affect your brain health? Ep.214 chris palmer

• Yes, most of the time we think of metabolic health just in terms of obesity, diabetes and whether it affects our waistline. But the truth is that all our organs are interconnected so if something is off that is affecting our pancreas and insulin, or heart function, it only makes sense that it would also affect our brains! In fact, in ep 214 of the HVMN podcast with Dr. Chris Palmer, a Harvard professor of psychiatry, explained the concept of metabolic health tied with mental illness as well as giving a few examples that fixing a patients diet for their metabolic syndrome surprisingly improved their mental illness symptoms as well. So go check out that episode or read his book called Brain Energy

Which ketone IQ research study has surprised you the most?

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