How ‘well’ do you really feel today? For anyone feeling tired, sluggish, overweight or generally under the weather – poor metabolic health could be the culprit. In the first instalment of a special series, the experts at Epoch Metabolic are here to help you understand more about this powerful, yet often hidden, key to good health and longevity. It is never too early, or too late, to start paying attention…
Metabolic health is how well your body turns food into energy and manages fuel. It’s like an engine running smoothly: when your metabolic health is good, your body easily processes sugar and fats without crashes, keeping your energy stable, your weight manageable and your disease risk low. When we have poor metabolic health the inflammation in our body increases and that’s what causes disease. If we can keep our blood sugar balanced, we can keep inflammation down and have energy and vitality to live long healthy lives. Metabolic health affects us all – we can all take steps to keep it working well.
ABCs of metabolic health
Metabolism is simply how the body turns what we eat into the energy that powers everything we do, from climbing the stairs to concentrating in a meeting. Metabolic health is how well that system is working. When it runs smoothly, our energy is steady all day, our sleep restores us, our mind is clear and functions efficiently.
When it falters, the effects show up long before any disease has a name: the flat ‘low energy’, mid-afternoons, the broken nights’ sleep (often at 3am), the increasing waistline and stubborn weight gain, the annoying brain fog which hints at poor memory – generally the sense of running on a lower setting than you used to.
The massive global explosion of GLP1 medications like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro has also brought metabolic health into mainstream pop culture and financial news. But, crucially, metabolic health has little to do with weight alone. You can be an ordinary size and still be metabolically unwell, with fat quietly stored around the middle section and a low, smouldering inflammation simmering beneath the surface.
It’s estimated that 90% of the UK population are metabolically unwell – most are entirely unaware
Metabolic health shapes energy, mood, sleep, focus, physical performance and, over decades, the likelihood of the conditions we most fear: heart disease, strokes, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, dementia, cancers and a large number of other non-communicable diseases (the ones you can’t catch!).
Poor metabolic health is now widely recognised as the root cause behind chronic disease. There has been a realisation that metabolic health controls brain health; for decades, conditions like Alzheimer’s, dementia and Parkinson’s were treated as unavoidable genetic quirks of ageing, but recent research in neuroscience has proved a direct link to metabolic health. People are realising that protecting brain health through lifestyle medicine is an effective way to prevent disease.
Creatures of habit
So, why are we hearing about it now? Modern life has quietly changed the conditions our bodies evolved for. We eat later and more often, snacking on higher fat and sugary snacks – and much of our food intake is made up of ultra-processed foods. We move less and sit more. We sleep less well, lit by screens long after dark, and we carry a background hum of stress our grandparents would not recognise. None of these is catastrophic alone. Together, over years, they nudge the system off balance, and the body absorbs the strain in silence.
That silence is the heart of the matter. Someone can look well, pass a basic health check and feel broadly fine while underlying processes have been drifting for a decade. Standard tests are designed to catch disease once it has arrived, not to read the trajectory that leads there.
Help is at hand
It’s not all bad news though: we can all do something to improve our metabolic health through easy lifestyle habits. And that’s where experts at Epoch Metabolic – a Bath-based clinical practice founded by consultant physician Dr Robin Fackrell and specialist dietitian Amanda Overeynder (who between them share more than 25 years’ experience of NHS medicine and a career in clinical nutrition and behaviour change education) – can support and guide you.
They believe that metabolic health may be the most important thing about your body that no one has yet explained to you. On an individual level, it can transform your health outcomes and prevent unnecessary diseases. Everyone deserves to live an active and healthy life into their 70s, 80s and beyond.
Keep reading future issues of The Bristol Magazine to discover Epoch Metabolic’s five easy morning habits, ‘quick wins’ and plenty more pearls of wisdom that can help support your metabolic health…
Whether you’re looking for help for yourself, or a family member, or as part of your workplace health and wellbeing support, Epoch Metabolic is here to help. The team is running a series of free Metabolic Health webinars (starting 23 July, 7pm), with details to book on the website.
If you’re looking for more in-depth information, look out for one of their themed Metabolic Know How evening events (You Can Fix Yourself! takes place 30 July at Castle Farm in Bath; keep an eye on the website for Bristol events in the pipeline) and the Introduction to Your Future Health (15 September at Lucknam Park).
Details of their transformative 12-week educational intervention programmes and four-night residential programme at Lucknam Park are also available on the Epoch Metabolic website. Amanda and Robin are happy to answer your enquiries if you have any questions about their programmes. You can email them at enquiries@epochmetabolic.com.
epochmetabolic.com
Rustle up this recipe!
This brunch recipe is a great choice as it provides plenty of protein from the sardines, eggs and feta – which is important as it provides the building blocks for muscle growth (important to support metabolic health), and protein helps to keep blood glucose stable and reduce hunger.
The sardines are a fantastic source of Omega 3 fatty acids – which are essential as they reduce blood triglycerides, lower inflammation and improve insulin sensitivity, key factors in improving our metabolic health.
Eggs are not just a great protein source, they provide us with choline, an important mineral which supports memory, mood and muscle control, while the vegetables provide important fibre, to stabilise blood glucose levels, support our digestion and gut transit and feed our gut microbiome – a vital part of the jigsaw puzzle for healthy lives.
Courgette and carrot fritters with crispy sardines and fried egg
Ingredients (serves 2)
For the fritters
1 medium courgette and 1 carrot, grated, excess fluid squeezed out
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon of gram/chickpea flour (or regular plain flour)
50g crumbled feta cheese
Handful of chopped fresh herbs (we used basil and parsley, but mint and chives would work really well too)
1 shake of chilli flakes (optional)
pinch of salt and pepper
Olive oil
(For the crispy sardines and fried egg)
2 eggs
1 tin of sardines in olive oil
1 clove of garlic, crushed (optional)
Salt and pepper
To serve:
Seasonal salad, shelled broad beans (lightly cooked and shelled) or Tenderstem broccoli
Method
Mix the grated vegetables and egg in a large bowl
Add the flour, crumbled feta, salt and pepper and chilli flakes (if using) and stir to create a soft batter
In a frying pan, heat a desert spoon of olive oil on a medium heat
Dollop tablespoons (4 fritters) of batter into the pan, allow to set (about 3 or 4 minutes) then flip with a fish slice or spatula and cook for a further 3 or 4 minutes on the other side. Once golden brown and cooked through, place to one side whilst preparing the sardines and fried egg.
Drain the olive oil from the sardines into a frying pan and heat gently with one clove of crushed garlic (if using)
Add the sardines, sprinkle with a little flaked salt, and fry on each side until crispy (3 or 4 minutes) – remove from the pan and add the egg to fry, until cooked to your liking
Plate up, with fritters, fried egg and crispy sardines and vegetable accompaniment of your choice, drizzled with a little olive oil and squeeze of lemon and garnish with a few chopped herbs. Enjoy!
