Metabolic health is often overlooked until it's compromised, yet it plays a pivotal role in overall well-being. This article unpacks the essentials of metabolic health, the hidden drivers of poor metabolic function, and actionable strategies to improve it. Quite a few insights in this article are drawn from nutritionist Simon Hill’s podcast “The Root Cause of Poor Metabolic Health”, which I encourage you to go and listen to.
What Is Metabolic Health and Why Does It Matter?
Metabolic health refers to the optimal functioning of key processes in the body, such as maintaining blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels within a healthy range. Poor metabolic health can lead to conditions like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and fatty liver.
Metabolic dysfunction isn't always visible—someone may appear healthy externally but carry significant internal risks, underscoring the importance of awareness and proactive management.
The Root Cause of Poor Metabolic Health
One of the root causes of metabolic dysfunction is an excess accumulation of ectopic and visceral fat—fat stored in inappropriate places like the liver, pancreas and around internal organs. This fat disrupts metabolic processes, driving insulin resistance and chronic inflammation.
Personal Fat Threshold and Its Role in Metabolic Health
The concept of personal fat threshold is critical to understanding metabolic health. Each of us has a unique capacity to store fat under our skin, known as subcutaneous fat. This is relatively safe storage that the body can manage. However, once this threshold is exceeded, fat starts to spill over into places it doesn't belong—such as around and within vital organs like the liver, pancreas, and heart. This is what experts refer to as the personal fat threshold—the point where your body runs out of safe storage capacity, and the overflow disrupts critical metabolic processes. For instance:
Visceral fat: Stored around internal organs, this type of fat is metabolically active and can release harmful inflammatory markers.
Ectopic fat: Found inside organs like the liver and muscles, it interferes with normal function, contributing to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.
It’s crucial to understand that the personal fat threshold varies between individuals and isn’t solely determined by weight or BMI. A lean person may still exceed their threshold if they accumulate too much visceral or ectopic fat. This is why metabolic health is about more than just appearance—it’s about how your body handles and stores energy internally.
Signs You May Be Over Your Personal Fat Threshold
While professional testing is the best way to determine visceral fat levels, common warning signs include:
Expanding waistline: Even slight increases in abdominal girth can signal visceral fat gain. The recommended healthy waist circumference is less than 88 cm for women and less than 102 cm for men, but the risk of metabolic disorders in adults already increases with a waist circumference of 80 cm and 94 cm, respectively. If the ratio between waist and hip circumference (by dividing waist circumference by hip circumference) is over 1 for men and over 0.8 for women, it indicates obesity.
Fatigue and sluggishness: Insulin resistance can cause dips in energy levels.
High triglycerides or low HDL cholesterol: These are markers of metabolic dysfunction. It refers to the individual limit at which excess fat storage begins to impair metabolic functions. While some can store more fat without immediate health risks, others may develop complications with even modest weight gain.
To test your fasting glycose, fasting insulin, HbA1c, cholesterol (total cholesterol, HDL- cholesterol, LDL- cholesterol, triglycerides), you can contact your healthcare provider or go directly to the lab, like Synlab in Estonia and order the tests there.
How Fat Affects Metabolism
Ectopic fat in the liver is particularly harmful, as it impairs insulin sensitivity and contributes to metabolic syndrome. Reducing liver and visceral fat can dramatically improve metabolic outcomes, even without significant weight loss.
Women in perimenopause and in post-menopause tend to naturally start storing more fat around the waistline, due to changes in hormone oestrogen. Therefore it's very important for women to follow the below strategies to reduce the risk for metabolic and cardiovascular diseases in post-menopause. You can read more about perimenopause and post-menopause and how you can support your body in this article.
What Are The Strategies to Reduce Ectopic and Visceral Fat?
While all the below strategies are important, every person's health journey is different and our starting points for healthier eating are different. Start with what works for you. It's more important that you pick one or two from the below strategies that you can do consistently for some time until they become a habit and then take on extra 1-2 strategies. Health and improving your nutrition is a journey and the success is always bigger if you have a clear goal, why you do it in the long-run.
Adopt a predominantly whole food plant-based diet: High in fibre and low in saturated fats (meat, dairy (including butter), palm oil to improve insulin sensitivity.
Focus on calorie density: Choose whole, nutrient-dense foods that promote satiety as well as provide your body with necessary healthy carbohydrates (vegetables, fruits, berries, legumes, whole grains), protein, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants.
Limit refined sugars and processed foods: These contribute to fat deposition in the liver.
Incorporate fermented foods and drinks: A diverse and balanced gut microbiota helps regulate blood sugar levels by influencing insulin sensitivity. Gut bacteria also help regulate how the body metabolises and stores fat. Some bacterial species promote fat burning, while others might favour fat storage. An imbalanced gut microbiota (dysbiosis) can trigger chronic low-grade inflammation, which contributes to insulin resistance and fat accumulation, especially visceral fat. Gut bacteria influence also how the liver handles fat. An unhealthy gut can increase gut permeability (leaky gut), allowing endotoxins to enter the bloodstream. This promotes liver fat accumulation (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). A healthy gut prevents this process, protecting liver function and supporting fat metabolism.
Drink enough water between the meals: Hydration boosts metabolic rate, supports lipolysis (body breaking down the fat stores for energy), curbs appetite (sometimes thirst can be mistaken for hunger), aids in waste elimination, improves insulin sensitivity (so your cells can effectively respond to insulin insuring energy utilisation) etc.
Have a breakfast focused around healthy protein and fat- it sets a tone for balanced energy levels, improved metabolism, and overall better health throughout the day.
Practice time-restricted eating, where you go without any food or drinks apart from water during the night for 12 hours, so your breakfast is let's say at 7 am and you finish your last meal before 7pm.
Limit alcohol: Alcohol contributes to empty calories and liver fat accumulation.
Increase physical activity: consistent physical activity improves fat metabolism. Aim to get a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per day.
Prioritise quality sleep and stress management: Poor sleep and chronic stress are linked to metabolic dysfunction.
Depending on the person and their body fat levels, it may be necessary to create a daily calorie deficit (but at the same time focusing on consuming whole foods for energy) as an additional step for a while in order to promote the reduction of body fat inside and around the organs.
Metabolic health plays a crucial role in overall well-being, and understanding how body fat impacts metabolism is key to improving it. By adopting dietary changes such as focusing on whole, nutrient-dense foods, staying hydrated, managing meal timing, and supporting gut health, you can take significant steps toward reducing ectopic and visceral fat. These strategies, combined with quality sleep, stress management, and physical activity, can help you build a healthier, more balanced body.
For personalised nutrition counseling and tailored guidance on your health journey, reach out to me at info@katrinpeo.com.
Comments