Seattle — Metabolic Health is a way of eating that changes a person’s biochemistry on a cellular level, from brain to heart. It focuses on how the cells in our body metabolize energy and how to turn them into energy powerhouses.
What it’s not, says Swedish’s Dr. Uma Pisharody, is dieting or calorie restriction. “This is about eating smart,” she says, “This is about about eating to live, eating to thrive.”
Changes in diet directly affect a person’s biochemistry and can improve mood, sleep, and energy levels.
Swedish’s Leslie Lee, MS RD, says that nutrition is not one size fits all.
“Advice like, ‘eat less, exercise more,’ just doesn't work for most people,” says Lee, “If it did, we’d all be as thin and as healthy as we want to be, right?”
Lee uses an approach called “Personalized Nutrition” in which people are approached individually as a whole, as opposed to looking at their calorie balance. It’s more complicated than calories-in, calories-out.
Two people can weigh the same and eat similar diets, but have very different health issues. One could experience hypertension and be pre-diabetic, where the other could be fine. “It’s all sort of related to what your body does with the food you eat,” she says.
When developing a Personalized Nutrition plan, Lee talks with people about what they normally eat and drink and then takes into consideration their medical history, labs, and life experiences like uncontrollable food cravings, or a lifetime of yo-yo dieting. She says these issues can be fixed with food.
For someone that is experiencing uncontrollable food cravings, Lee says prevent them first. That the less sugar you eat, the less sugar you’ll crave and the better you’ll feel.
“But in those moments, it’s important to eat something that’s well balanced instead of a sugary starchy snack.” Like a banana with peanut butter, or a square of dark chocolate.
You can learn more about Metabolic Health at the upcoming free event Metabolical You. It features bestselling authors and renowned metabolic nutrition experts Dr. David Ludwig and Dr. Rubert Lustig. It is open to the public, but you must register.
Metabolical You. Fri, June 15, 5:30 – 8:30 PM. Plymouth Church, United Church of Christ 1217 6th Ave. Seattle, WA 98101.
Swedish is also presenting a metabolic health conference for medical practitioners on June 15 and 16
This segment is sponsored by Swedish
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