What Is Metabolic Health — And Why Most of Us Don’t Have It

We are starting to hear a lot lately about the importance of good metabolic health. But for many, metabolic health is a vague concept that seems difficult to grasp. So, what is metabolic health? How do we measure it, why is it important, and what can we do to promote it?

These are all important questions that even the medical community often struggles to clarify.

Metabolic health may be one of the most important indicators of long-term health—more predictive than weight, genetics, or even fitness. And shockingly, only 7% of American adults meet the criteria for optimal metabolic health. That means 93% of people are on a spectrum of metabolic dysfunction—often without knowing it.

So what is metabolic health, exactly?

Metabolic Health = Efficient Energy Processing

At its core, metabolic health is your body’s ability to efficiently convert food into usable energy.

Every time you eat, your body has to decide:

• How much of that energy gets used immediately?
• How much gets stored — and where?
• How well does your body use food intake for energy rather than storing it? How well do your cells respond to insulin, regulating blood sugar?

When your metabolism is working properly, blood sugar rises and falls in a healthy pattern, energy is stable, and fat storage is balanced. When it’s not, you can eventually get wide blood sugar swings, potentially leading to energy crashes, chronically high insulin levels, and excess fat storage (especially around the abdomen)—eventually leading to several chronic diseases.

How Do We Measure Metabolic Health?

Traditionally, metabolic health has been defined using five standard markers:

• Blood pressure (below 120/80 without medication)
• Triglycerides (below 150 mg/dL)
• HDL cholesterol — ideally above 50 mg/dL for women, 40 for men
• Waist circumference / body composition — lower abdominal fat = better metabolic function
• Fasting blood sugar (below 100 mg/dL)

If you meet all five — congratulations, you’re in the healthiest 7% of the population.

But here’s the problem: these markers only detect dysfunction when it’s already advanced. Many people look “normal” on paper while silently progressing toward disease.

The Early Warning Markers We Should Be Using

To catch metabolic dysfunction before it appears on standard bloodwork, we should also measure:

• Fasting insulin — one of the earliest indicators of insulin resistance
• HOMA-IR — a calculation estimating how resistant your cells are to insulin
• HbA1c — a 3-month average of blood sugar level
• Body composition and visceral fat measurement
• Blood sugar response to meals via CGM (continuous glucose monitoring) — a window into real-time metabolic flexibility

These markers help uncover hidden metabolic dysfunction, often years before a diagnosis of diabetes, fatty liver disease, or hypertension.

Don’t Wait for a Diagnosis — Intervene Early

Too many people assume they’re fine until a lab report or doctor tells them otherwise. But metabolic decline happens slowly, often over decades.

Why wait until you qualify for metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, or heart disease?

If 93% of Americans already show signs of metabolic strain, it’s painfully clear we need earlier detection and intervention.

The Path Forward

The good news is that improving our metabolic health is within our control. We can empower ourselves to do something about it. Medications may have a role for some. But the real solution lies with appropriate lifestyle interventions.

• Food choices that stabilize insulin and blood sugar—this can fit many dietary preferences, but often involves lowering refined carbs and sugars, eating whole food sources of protein and fat, and sometimes following low-carb or keto diet plans.
• Building lean muscle through resistance training—muscle is highly metabolically active, and is often described as a “glucose sponge,” thus helping regulate blood sugar and lower insulin levels.
• Prioritizing sleep and managing stress—these aren’t just good for our mental health and having more energy during the day, they also help improve most markers of metabolic health.

The goal isn’t to follow what others feel or believe is a “healthy diet.” It’s to find the diet and lifestyle that help you become metabolically resilient.

Final Thought

Our current definition of metabolic dysfunction identifies the disorder too late, when damage has likely already been done. We need to better define metabolic dysfunction to catch it early and intervene.

But metabolic health isn’t just a lab report—it’s the foundation of energy, mood, longevity, and disease prevention.

If your metabolism is healthy, everything else becomes easier.

And if 93% of us are off track—there’s no better time than now to fix it.

Follow us at the Coalition for Metabolic Health for insight on how we can improve our metabolic health as individuals and as a population. Sign up for our email newsletter and follow us on X at @metcoalition and @coalitionmethealth on other social media platforms.