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Jay Shetty Podcast

The Nutrition Expert: 93% of Adults Have Metabolic Issues (What Your Body Is Trying to Tell You)

In this eye-opening episode, Jay Shetty sits down with Dr. Casey Means to explore the hidden truths about metabolic health, chronic illness, and the powerful impact of lifestyle changes.

Dr. Casey MeansguestJay Shettyhost

Jun 10, 20241h 53mWatch on YouTube

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CHAPTERS

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Chapter summaries

Who Do We Trust? Trusting Yourself Over the System
Jay Shetty asks who we should trust for our health. Dr. Casey Means argues people need to trust themselves, because the healthcare system is strong at acute care but has failed at chronic disease. She says tools and technology now let individuals understand their own bodies.
- •Spending over $4 trillion on healthcare while the population gets sicker and life expectancy falls
- •Healthcare's miracles are mostly for acute issues such as infections and emergencies
- •Chronic conditions such as cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's have risen exponentially in the past 50 years
- •Wearables, biosensors and direct-to-consumer labs let people see inside their own bodies
Casey's Mother's Story and Bad Energy
Casey tells the story of her mother's string of diagnoses and medications, ending in stage 4 pancreatic cancer at 72. She argues these conditions were connected by metabolic dysfunction, which she calls bad energy, and that the system treats them separately.
- •Her mother's progression from baby weight and menopause symptoms to high cholesterol, high blood pressure, pre-diabetes and cancer
- •Doctors called it unlucky despite excellent standard-of-care treatment
- •Bad energy means a problem with how 40 trillion cells produce energy
- •A siloed, intervention-based system plays Whac-A-Mole instead of addressing the root cause
We Are Processes, Not Entities: Reversibility and Fear of Death
Asked whether it is too late to reverse damage, Casey says yes, much is reversible, using the Daoist idea that living beings are processes. She says we rebuild our bodies from food and environment daily, and that the healthcare system exploits Western fear of death.
- •We eat roughly seventy metric tons of food in a lifetime, rebuilding the body continuously
- •Health is a matching problem between what cells need and what we give them
- •People are putting Type 2 diabetes into remission and slowing Alzheimer's
- •Histology shows cells being born, aging and dying within the same tissue
- •Casey says the system weaponizes fear of death to sell pills and surgeries
What Is Metabolic Health? Mitochondria and Light
Casey defines metabolic health as how we convert food energy into cellular energy through the mitochondria. She says 93% of American adults have metabolic dysfunction and ties it to changes in the modern environment, with a more spiritual framing of mitochondria as converters of light.
- •Metabolic health is the conversion of food energy to ATP in 40 trillion cells
- •93% of American adults have metabolic dysfunction
- •Ultra-processed food, less sleep, little time outdoors, sitting, synthetic chemicals and thermoneutral living harm mitochondria
- •Food is stored sunlight, and mitochondria are light-emitting organelles
Overcoming Fear and Confusion: Symptoms Are a Gift
Jay raises how fear stops people from wanting to know their health status. Casey says the confusion about nutrition is intentional and that the answer is simpler than people think, starting with treating symptoms as signals from cells and checking five lifestyle pillars.
- •About 60% of Americans doubt their nutritional choices because of confusion
- •Animals in the wild have no chronic disease epidemic and follow intuition
- •Symptoms are signals of cellular dysfunction, like a baby's cry
- •Checklist of food, sleep, movement, stress and toxins
- •Second step is using wearables, continuous glucose monitors and direct-to-consumer labs
What Advil Does and Inflammation as Biochemical Fear
Jay asks what happens in the body when we take Advil. Casey explains that NSAIDs inhibit the COX enzyme and numb inflammation, and reframes inflammation as the body's biochemical fear, urging people to ask what their body is afraid of before reaching for medication.
- •NSAIDs block the COX enzyme and prostaglandins
- •Inflammation is the immune system's response to a perceived threat
- •The trifecta of bad energy: chronic inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress
- •Possible sources of fear include war imagery on devices, pesticides, poor sleep and toxins
Medications, the Great Masquerader, and Why the System Profits from Illness
Casey says nearly every chronic-condition medication reflects a symptom-focused framework, while lifestyle changes often work as well or better. She explains that one underpowered-cell problem can look like many diseases, and that a $4 trillion industry profits from chronic illness even though individual doctors mean well.
- •Each specialist prescribes a drug for each condition while rates keep rising
- •Cochrane reviews show 150 minutes a week of exercise is comparable to an SSRI for depression with fewer side effects
- •Underpowered cells in different organs can look like Alzheimer's, infertility, fatty liver or erectile dysfunction
- •The 'eat what you kill' mantra from her surgical training and the financial incentive of chronic disease
- •Rising childhood rates of pre-diabetes and fatty liver disease
Policy Fix One: Ban Pharma Ads on News Outlets
Jay turns to the next generation's declining health and the policy changes Casey proposes. Casey explains why she would ban pharmaceutical TV advertising, arguing that 60% of mainstream media ad dollars come from pharma and shape the message, while independent media focus on foundational health.
- •45% of teens are overweight or obese and the next generation is not on track to outlive its parents
- •Pharma funds 60% of mainstream media advertising, making it the customer
- •Independent media push foundational health while mainstream media promotes salvation through pills
- •Jay finds US drug ads with long side-effect lists almost like parody
Economics of Change and Value-Based Care
Responding to Jay's question about the economic effect, Casey describes a devil's bargain between the healthcare and processed food industries and says many companies already align profit with health. She recounts how value-based care was corrupted when quality was defined by medication adherence.
- •A $10 trillion combined industry of healthcare and processed food and agriculture keeps people sick
- •Companies such as Levels, Eight Sleep and Calm align profit with health
- •Value-based care was meant to pay for outcomes over cost
- •Quality metrics became medication adherence rather than functioning cells
- •Her mother's case illustrates biomarkers being managed while cells never healed
Pharma-Funded Research and Added Sugar in School Lunch
Casey discusses conflicts of interest in federally funded research and why change would need executive orders. She then argues for eliminating added sugar from school lunches and explains how excess sugar leads to insulin resistance and fat storage.
- •The FDA and academic centers get large shares of their budgets from pharma, with $181 million in reported conflicts of interest
- •Politicians avoid rocking food, farming and healthcare employers
- •The USDA rejected its advisory board's recommendation to cut added sugar from 10% to 6% of calories
- •Insulin resistance is the body blocking glucose the mitochondria cannot process
- •74% of Americans are overweight or obese
Five Key Biomarkers and Making Sense of Lab Tests
Jay asks how people can make sense of hundreds of biomarkers from tests like Function Health. Casey says to start with five free markers from an annual physical, explains what each reveals about mitochondrial dysfunction, and notes that doctors are trained to read labs in isolation.
- •Fasting glucose, triglycerides, HDL, waist circumference and blood pressure with specific thresholds
- •Only 6.8% of American adults meet all five criteria without medication
- •Each marker links back to insulin resistance and mitochondrial dysfunction
- •Function Health tests cover inflammation, oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction
- •Doctors focus on biomarkers that have a drug, such as LDL, and ignore triglycerides
Simple Habits: Eating Slowly, Walking and Social Jet Lag
Casey and Jay discuss everyday habits. These include eating slowly, walking 7000 steps a day and why low-grade movement through the day matters, and reducing social jet lag through consistent sleep, meal timing and morning light.
- •The slowest eaters have four times lower likelihood of metabolic syndrome
- •7000 steps a day is linked to large reductions in dementia, diabetes, obesity and premature death risk
- •Muscle contraction moves glucose channels to the cell membrane, so frequent movement matters
- •Social jet lag of two hours or more doubles risk of metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes
- •Circadian rhythm is set by sleep consistency, meal timing and light exposure
Rising to Fearlessness: Spirituality and Health
Jay asks how to move from fear-driven health motivation to fearlessness. Casey describes cells thriving in an environment of safety, abundance and awe, and frames healthy habits as building the body so it can connect with source, while limiting chronic fear.
- •Cells respond to thoughts and emotions through hormones and neurotransmitters
- •Living with curiosity and awe about death, rather than constant fear
- •Healthy habits as rebuilding a radio tower to connect with source
- •Fear and loneliness drive oxidative stress, inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction
- •Set boundaries to limit chronic fear while keeping healthy acute fear
Final Five
Jay asks Casey the closing rapid-fire questions. She talks about advice, morning and night routines, lessons learned, and the law she would create around regenerative agriculture and connection.
- •Best advice: every person has something to say, and self-censorship blocks energy flow
- •Worst advice: all good things in moderation
- •She starts and ends each day by telling her partner she loves him
- •Wishes she had learned to decide with her body instead of her brain
- •Her law would create incentives for natural agriculture, moving from silos to connection

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