How we teach metabolic health.
Each of the six pillars stands on its own, and the skill we teach is reading how they interact as one system.
Nutrition & Hydration
The solid and liquid inputs that fuel, build, and repair the body. We treat nutrition and hydration as separate behaviors with separate signals; both deserve their own teaching.
What we cover
- Macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates, fats
- Micronutrients, fiber, and the gut microbiome
- Fluid balance: water intake and the electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium) every cell runs on
- Meal timing as nutrient delivery
Movement & Recovery
Movement is the active stress that drives adaptation. Recovery is where the body responds and becomes stronger, more efficient, more metabolically flexible. Both halves taught together; load without recovery is just damage.
Load
- Aerobic work (zone 2, endurance)
- Resistance training
- NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis)
- Daily posture and ambient activity
Recovery
- Mobility work
- Breathwork as somatic recovery
- Thermal stress (sauna, cold exposure)
- Soft-tissue work
Sleep & Circadian
Sleep is the unconscious restorative state. Circadian is the 24-hour rhythm that organizes nearly every physiological process. Inseparable, but they run on different machinery. You can sleep eight hours and still be circadian-disrupted (shift work, jet lag), or be aligned to the light and still sleep-deprived.
What we cover
- Sleep duration, architecture (REM, deep, light), and quality
- Light exposure as a circadian cue
- Meal timing as a circadian cue
- Shift work and travel patterns
- Clinical sleep disorders (apnea, insomnia)
Mind & Connection
Mind is the inner psychological world. Connection is the outer relational world. The research literature treats them as two separate metabolic variables, each with its own evidence base.
Mind
- Stress response
- Mood, anxiety, and emotional regulation
- Purpose and meaning
- Mindfulness and contemplative practice
Connection
- Social integration and loneliness
- Community and intimate relationships
- Belonging
- Population-level levers (built environment, third places, workplace design)
Substances & Therapeutics
Exogenous chemicals that affect metabolism: prescribed, over-the-counter, recreational, or supplemental. The distinction between alcohol and metformin is regulatory, not mechanistic, so we teach them as one landscape.
What we cover
- Modern metabolic pharmacology: GLP-1 receptor agonists, metformin, statins, insulin, antihypertensives
- Pharmacologically-acting supplements: berberine, creatine, melatonin
- Alcohol and its metabolic consequences
- Tobacco and nicotine
- Caffeine and other stimulants
Signals & Interoception
The feedback layer of metabolic health. External signals are objective data: labs, wearables, imaging. Interoception is subjective; the body’s own felt sense. Reading both is the meta-skill the other pillars rely on.
External signals
- Lab biomarkers (HbA1c, fasting glucose, lipids, comprehensive metabolic panel)
- Wearable and device data (CGM, heart rate variability, sleep tracking)
- Imaging where clinically relevant (DEXA, CAC)
Interoception
- Hunger and satiety
- Energy and fatigue
- Pain
- Emotional signals from the body
The pillars share one body.
The skill we teach is reading how they interact.