#243 - Why sugary drinks can cause weight gain and low energy | Dr. Richard Johnson & Dr. Dominic D’Agostino

Why is matcha causing a glucose spike? What about chicken soup or sushi? How do we take cinnamon and vinegar? My exercise is causing a spike, is this good?  Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health. Levels Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Casey Means, dives into all these questions from our community. (01:50) - Watch out for the sugar in your tea (03:02) - Swap out the rice in your sushi (05:30) - Mix in some cinnamon (06:30) - Use vinegar in your salad dressings (08:12) - Expect a glucose spike during exercise (09:08) - Understand the exercise glucose spike (10:43) - Pick a different noodle for your soup Watch the video – https://youtu.be/5hzuWCtLbXY Transcripts & Show Notes

10 Touko 202212min

Levels Head of Growth, Ben Grynol, chatted with our Multimedia Producer, Tony Milio, about his previous experience in the world of film and video production, his journey to Levels and how he's scaling our multimedia content efforts today. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health. (04:14) - Try something new (07:54) - Find your passion (12:04) - Make your way to full time (16:35) - Travel the world (18:29) - Get organized (19:39) - Engage in deep work (24:15) - Ramp up production (32:22) - Feel like a team (33:25) - Fit a lot into a week Transcripts & Show Notes

9 Touko 202235min

Levels Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Casey Means, chatted with our advisor, Dr. David Perlmutter on the discovery of how the elevation of uric acid in the body is a causative mechanism in the development of metabolic diseases, and one of the key links between obesity, diabetes, heart disease, neurologic diseases like dementia, ADHD, fatty liver disease, and more. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: ⁠https://levels.link/wnl They also covered: The several mechanisms of how uric acid causes cellular dysfunction and insulin resistance, including oxidative stress, inflammation, and even preventing insulin from getting out of the blood stream effectively. The evolutionary reasons why the metabolic dysfunction and weight gain caused by uric acid would have benefitted us historically in terms of low access to food and water, by letting us more easily pack on weight and raise blood pressure. And how we now live in an evolutionary-environmental mismatch where this survival mechanism is now hurting us in the face of caloric abundance. The different dietary and environmental factors that generate uric acid, including fructose, purine rich foods and umami foods, dehydration, alcohol, and more. The optimal levels for uric acid. How uric acid impairs our hunger signals, drives us to eat, and even promotes risk taking behavior. We talked about how to reverse high uric acid levels as a way to unlock optimal health. Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health. (04:23) - More than just gout (06:17) - A causative role (08:54) - The number one cause of death (16:35) - Evolutionary environmental mismatch (18:08) - High fructose corn syrup (23:39) - The dangers of uric acid (24:49) - Uric acid and dementia (31:44) - Too much fructose (42:43) - Erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular risk (01:04:29) - No need to eat sugar Transcripts & Show Notes

6 Touko 20221h 19min

Multitasking is not a productive way to spend a workday. At Levels, we work hard to protect everyone’s time so they can accomplish their goals. Listen as Ben Grynol chats with Sam Corcos and Michael ‘Miz’ Mizrahi about the pitfalls of context-switching at work. They talked about distractions while working remotely and the best ways to prevent context switching, especially in an asynchronous work environment, and dove into ways to minimize distractions to maximize output. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health 🎙 What Sam Corcos, Michael ‘Miz’ Mizrahi, & Ben Grynol discuss: (05:02) - The cost of context switching (10:28) - Tools are more powerful than willpower (12:03) - Mindset matters (16:23) - Onboarding as deprogramming (23:26) - Adapting to boundaries (26:28) - Creating dedicated workspaces (30:05) - External support systems (39:48) - Procrastination isn’t all bad (43:34) - Eliminate work in progress (48:14) - Defend your time Transcripts & Show Notes 🔗 Helpful links: Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1

5 Touko 202254min

Levels Head of Clinical Product, Dr. Lauren Kelley-Chew, chatted with Executive Chairman and CEO of FemTech Health, Dr. Kimon Angelides. They dived into how FemTech is committed to helping women at different stages of their lives and why understanding metabolic health is fundamental to every aspect of women's health. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health (03:55) - Looking for a holistic approach (05:48) - Invisible diseases (08:49) - Distinct differences (27:12) - Breaking down sexual taboos (28:19) - Sexual wellness and productivity (31:30) - Metabolic health is fundamental (35:40) - Skin health and metabolic control (38:02) - Beauty as an entry point to healthcare (45:30) - Researching IVF data (49:23) - Metabolic control is fundamental to reproductive health Transcripts & Show Notes

4 Touko 202250min

Levels Head of Growth, Ben Grynol, and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Casey Means, discuss if certain foods are an "Eat or Pass." They cover seeds and nuts, wild salmon vs. farmed salmon as well as the Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health (02:01) – Ultimatums aren’t necessary (03:30) – Unroasted is the way to go (05:38) – It all comes back to nutrients (09:04) – Minimize the toxic burden on your body (09:58) – Consider the dose (11:07) – Think strategically (12:24) – Look for the peels Watch the Video – https://youtu.be/c1QnivPIS9Y Transcripts & Show Notes

3 Touko 202213min

Levels Head of Growth, Ben Grynol, chatted with one of our newest Levels team members, Dan Summers, to hear about Dan's previous experience as an aerospace engineer at SpaceX, what brought him to Levels and why our mission is important to him. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health (14:05) – The power of alignment (15:20) – The value of structure (21:29) – You can’t replace time (24:19) – Assess from the bottom up (28:25) – There’s always room for improvement (30:54) – Delete unnecessary steps (32:36) – There’s always risk (34:23) – Find a balance (42:04) – Chart the path forward Transcripts & Show Notes

2 Touko 202242min

Obesity and chronic disease are fallouts from the lack of real human connection. Underneath biomarkers like glucose and physical aspects like mitochondrial dysfunctions are the root causes of disease: hijacked reward pathways, chronic stress due to constant threat mode, and the global human disconnect. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: ⁠https://levels.link/wnl In this discussion between Levels’ advisor Dr. Molly Maloof and our co-founder and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Casey Means, they talk about: The most important measurable biomarker How we’re designed to live in groups The cycle of constant stress through threat signaling vs. high-reward pathways The big problem of global human disconnection How love and oxytocin helps to make us stronger, share resources, and create bonds Addiction and the power of the pause How to increase physical and emotional adaptation Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to the Levels app and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), providing real-time feedback on how diet and lifestyle choices impact your metabolic health. Look for new shows every month on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations with thought leaders about metabolic health (12:13) - Adapting and self-managing in the face of adversity (16:03) - The most important biomarker (23:05) - Moving your body to create energy (24:18) - Adapting beyond genetics (26:29) - Hijacking reward pathways (36:40) - Getting off the grid (43:22) - Take care of your mitochondria (45:57) - The holy grail of chronic disease (51:35) - Felt connection (59:11) - How deprivation is a pathway to happiness (1:06:03) - The power of the pause (1:23:11) - Letting go of control (01:41:37) - Cooking your skin Watch the conversation on YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=XVSYGx9Fkns Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/levelshealth?sub_confirmation=1 Connect with Molly on Instagram: https://instagram.com/drmolly.co Connect with Molly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mollymaloofmd

29 Huhti 20221h 55min