At Jyzen, we are driven by the belief that health optimization begins with a personalized approach. Your metabolic health is not only a complex interplay of hormones, immune function and inflammation, but also the interactions of goals, choices, stressors, and your emotional well-being. My experience as a physician consistently reaffirms this perspective, that a holistic view and deep listening are needed to illuminate the root causes of our challenges and guide people toward success and health.
Listening: The Key to Understanding Metabolic Health
The most important aspect of your visit to see the doctor is the time spent actively listening to the details of your life. Every patient has a unique story, and the most crucial insights often lie within these narratives. All physicians know the old adage that 70-90% of all diagnoses can be gathered from history alone. Sadly, that adage was created years ago, when the average patient visit lasted up to an hour. These days, visits at standard practices are at most 15 minutes long, with so many tasks interrupting the limited time for curiosity. When we ask open-ended questions, we create a healing environment where patients are supported to drive the healing process.
Within my line of questions, I get the most out of learning my patients' goals. Goals indicate motivations, expectations and where they are struggling. Understanding goals is important not just for creating a roadmap but also for building a collaborative framework. Goals help us guide our first steps and highlight potential barriers. Success is achievable only when patients are fully invested in their journey, and that investment comes from understanding their motivations and helping them align their actions with their aspirations.
Decoding Movement History
One of the first aspects of metabolic health that I explore with patients is their movement and/or athletic history. Because of my background in sports medicine and as a lifelong athlete, I find this so crucial to understanding the underpinning of somebody’s metabolic code. Borrowing from the previously mentioned ‘goal-oriented’ discussion, I ask: Why do you work out? What sports did you play in high school? What is your favorite type of training these days? And what do you love to do with your body?
This gives me insight into where you have special gifts, because people tend to do things where they have some success. This also reveals how one’s metabolism changes over time. One patient didn’t like team sports and preferred solo activities for some quality "alone time" and for the fun of challenging themselves. Another patient used the stress of competition to help them stay in shape and became a life-long runner. An interesting patient of mine enjoyed engaging in exercise where they failed regularly, because of the motivation it required to keep trying to improve. Exercise patterns can help us understand where you’ll have ease going forward and what will motivate you as our sports and abilities change with time. These differences offer a foundation for understanding how the body processes energy and finds joy under duress.
Exploring Dietary Patterns
Our dietary habits reveal so much about our metabolism and while we are all quite similar in general, we have some distinct differences that have profound impacts. Key features to understand:
- Your cravings and how they adjust throughout the day
- How your body responds to hunger, fasting and different macronutrients
- How your body copes with different types of exercise in a fasted state
- Your unique insulin response to different foods and at different times of the day
- How and why do we give ourselves a treat, and with what foods
It cannot be emphasized enough that we are not all the same. For some of my patients, the time-restricted eating (TRE) pattern, with a 14-16 hour daily fast, leads to lower insulin and triglyceride levels, lower systemic markers of inflammation, and improvements in lean mass. For other patients, the TRE pattern did not help but they did find success by focusing on increasing protein intake, lowering carbohydrate intake, and supporting their energy needs consistently throughout the day.
Understanding dietary patterns also involves assessing our emotional relationship with food and hunger. For so many of us, eating can be associated with stress, habit, or social obligation. By uncovering conscious and unconscious choices, we can create healthy cycles that will support metabolic well-being.
Emotional Well-being and Stress
It’s easy to overlook the role of emotional health in metabolic function, but chronic stress, anxiety, and unresolved emotional trauma can have profound effects on metabolism. High levels of stress trigger the release of hormones like cortisol, which can lead to inflammation, disrupted sleep, and impaired glucose metabolism. To better understand the psychological landscape of each patient, I ask questions such as, “How do you handle stress?” and “What is your biggest source of tension in life?” These conversations help build a complete picture of their resilience and how their body might be reacting to chronic stressors.
Managing stress and emotional well-being is often as vital as any of the healthy practices we’ve been discussing. Strategies such as mindfulness, meditation, breath-exercises, and other stress-reduction practices can be game-changers for patients on their metabolic health journey. Addressing these aspects directly supports metabolic balance and overall wellness.
The Critical Role of Sleep
Sleep is a foundational pillar of metabolic health that often gets overlooked and undervalued in our fast-paced lifestyles. We spend a third of our lives asleep, building up our resilience and improving from experience by restoring our soft tissues and integrating thoughts and concepts. I love to explore this mysterious part of our lives because this can provide the key information in our metabolic puzzle. Complexities in our daily circadian rhythms are strongly linked to hormone balance, insulin resistance, and glucose metabolism.
Interestingly, the field of sports medicine has been a leader in the research on this subject with so many athletes flying across time zones to compete at different times of the day and night. Research has found that speed, tactical strategy, and technical skill are very sensitive to poor sleep patterns. NASA has also been a leader in the subject, creating artificial circadian rhythms for astronauts engaging in crucial activities. Even if your daily routine isn’t rocket science, we’re all in need of optimal function for overall health.
Creating a Personalized Care Plan
Crafting your personalized health care plan begins by integrating the unique insights gathered from your patterns of movement, nutrition, emotions, and sleep. Your goals will serve as the cornerstone, helping us align your daily habits with the outcomes you desire. By understanding your exercise history, we can identify the activities that best suit your body’s metabolic tendencies. Detailed dietary analysis will allow us to tailor nutrition strategies that optimize energy levels and insulin response. We’ll also address emotional stressors, using mindfulness practices to support hormonal balance. Lastly, sleep hygiene adjustments will enhance recovery and resilience, ensuring every aspect of your health is in harmony.
Once we have our plan, we need to check in regularly, following the key metrics of health and wellness, and making adjustments along the way. The goal is not just to improve numbers on a lab report but to enhance quality of life, fostering a sense of vitality and agency that you can carry every day. Any approach to metabolic health and wellness is not a one-size-fits-all solution; instead it is shaped by genetics, goals, and adapting to constant changes in life.
Empowering Patients for Lifelong Health
True health is achieved when patients are empowered to actively participate in their wellness journey. By providing personalized insights and actionable strategies, we foster a collaborative approach that aligns with each individual's unique needs and goals. As life evolves, so too will your health plan, adapting to new challenges and opportunities. With a focus on education, support, and regular adjustments, we aim to equip you with the tools to sustain vitality, resilience, and well-being for years to come.