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Metabolic Health

The 2025 Levels Guide to ketosis and the keto diet

Ketosis is when your body is burning fat instead of glucose—so what does it have to do with the keto diet and metabolic health? And is it healthy?

January 15, 2025
🕗 12 min read
Ketosis is when your body is burning fat instead of glucose—so what does it have to do with the keto diet and metabolic health? And is it healthy?
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Metabolic Health 101

The Latest From Levels

NutritionHealthy football food ideas for game day
Sundays don’t have to be full of carbs, booze, and sugar. Here are some of our favorite recipes for eating well while watching your favorite team.
Matigan King
🕗 7 min read
Healthy football food ideas for game day
NutritionWhat should your macro ratios be?
Choosing the right mix of protein, carbs, and fat can make losing fat or building muscle easier. Here’s a dietitian’s take on the ideal ratios.
Alisa Bowman
🕗 6 min read
Choosing the right mix of protein, carbs, and fat can make losing fat or building muscle easier. Here’s a dietitian’s take on the ideal ratios.
Metabolic HealthThe 2024 Levels Guide to kidneys and metabolic health
Kidney function plays a more prominent role in metabolic health and glucose regulation than you might realize. Here’s what you need to know to keep them healthy.
Leslie Goldman
🕗 10 min read
Kidney
NutritionA nutritionist explains food allergies and intolerances
The two are often confused, but while allergies and intolerance can both make you feel bad, effective treatment relies on you knowing the difference.
Zoë Atlas, MPH, RDN
🕗 6 min read
The two are often confused, but while allergies and intolerance can both make you feel bad, effective treatment relies on you knowing the difference.

Exercise

Expert Q&A

Why your workout isn’t working for you and what to do instead

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon discusses why building muscle is essential for health and longevity, resistance training, and getting enough protein.

28 Nov 2023
🕗 17 min read
Dr. Gabrielle Lyon discusses why building muscle is essential for health and longevity, resistance training, and getting enough protein.
Exercise is one of the most critical things you can do to improve your metabolic health—here are all the ways it helps.
Ultimate Guide

The 2024 Levels Guide to exercise and metabolic health

Greg Presto
🕗 15 min read
Metabolic health expert Dom D'Agostino, PhD, shares four ways real-time glucose data can help make you a better athlete.
Ask The Expert

How can CGM help improve exercise performance?

Dr. Tim Noakes discusses the benefits of a low-carb, high-fat diet for athletes, performance, and overall health.
Expert Q&A

A low-carb diet may boost exercise performance and health

The Levels Team
🕗 23 min read
Any exercise improves metabolic health, but building muscle has unique benefits. Here's why resistance training should be part of your workout plan.
Ultimate Guide

Why building muscle matters for metabolic health

Greg Presto
🕗 12 min read
Fasted workouts can burn fat and improve metabolic flexibility but also affect your fitness performance. Here’s how to strike a healthy balance.
Ultimate Guide

What effect does fasted exercise have on metabolism?

Emily DiNuzzo
🕗 8 min read

Inside Levels

Why Levels

MyFitnessPal vs. Levels: Which is the best food tracking app for you?

While MyFitnessPal is one of the original food loggers and sports an extensive database, it’s still best at the basics, while Levels food logging adds an opinion and guidance.

21 Nov 2024
🕗 7 min read
Comparing MyFitnessPal and Levels
For 30 days, Hickle switched from a healthy low-carb diet to 100% ultra-processed junk. The effect on his gut health, body composition, and blood sugar surprised him.
Member Stories

Why Scott Hickle tried to wreck his gut health—and ruined his blood sugar instead

Jessica Migala
🕗 4 min read
We know cost can be a barrier to try Levels, but you can get the benefits of Levels for less money, and improve your health for no money at all.
About Levels

How to lower the cost of Levels

The Levels Team
🕗 4 min read
What you eat is your most critical health input, and using Levels’ simple food logging can unlock insights and strategies to reach your goals faster.
Why Levels

Why food logging matters to metabolic health and how Levels can help

The Levels Team
🕗 5 min read
The latest Levels app offers much more than glucose insights. Here’s how to use it to be your full-time health partner, improving diet, fitness and more.
Why Levels

Five things you can learn from Levels without a CGM

The Levels Team
🕗 5 min read
How food impacts our bodies is about more than the food itself. Here are the factors that can lead to varied glucose responses from the same foods.
Inside the App

Why does the same meal produce different glucose responses?

The Levels Team
🕗 8 min read

Mental Health

Expert Q&A

How the keto diet may ease depression in bipolar disorder and other mental health conditions

Dr. Dom D'Agostino, Dr. Iain Campbell, and Dr. Bret Scher discuss the therapeutic application of the keto diet and the future of metabolic psychiatry.

13 Nov 2023
🕗 17 min read
Dr. Dom D'Agostino, Dr. Iain Campbell, and Dr. Bret Scher discuss the therapeutic application of the keto diet and the future of metabolic psychiatry.
A new study suggests that fructose and uric acid may play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s, thanks to an evolutionary adaptation hijacked by the modern diet.
Research Highlight

Is fructose behind Alzheimer’s disease?

Jennifer Chesak
🕗 6 min read
A new paper investigates the connection between feelings of loneliness and physical and mental health effects, and offers strategies to address both.
Research Highlight

Can being lonely impact your metabolic health?

Stephanie Weng
🕗 4 min read
Dr. Chris Palmer discusses his new book, Brain Energy, which explores how a keto diet might manage symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, schizophrenia, and more
Expert Q&A

Does food affect mental health?

The Levels Team
🕗 20 min read
Four things I learned on my summer vacation about maintaining metabolic health during leisure time—and what happens when it all goes wrong
Email Newsletter

How to stay mentally and metabolically healthy during time off

Casey Means, MD
🕗 7 min read
Four new studies highlight how diet—as well as blood sugar and obesity—increase risk of cognitive decline, even for younger adults
Metabolic Research Roundup

New research reveals more ways metabolic health impacts cognitive decline

Pratibha Anand
🕗 7 min read

Metabolic Basics

The Explainer

Why CGMs are accurate enough for diet feedback (even if the numbers vary)

The readings on continuous glucose monitors can vary from sensor to sensor, but you can still learn a lot from the shape of the data.

11 Oct 2024
🕗 3 min read
The readings on continuous glucose monitors can vary from sensor to sensor, but you can still learn a lot from the shape of the data.
Several supplements and practices claim to lower blood sugar naturally—here's what the research says and which ones are worth trying
The Explainer

7 Alternative natural ways to lower blood sugar

Sharon Liao
🕗 8 min read
Keeping blood sugar balanced—in an optimal range—is fundamental to better metabolic health and feeling better. Here’s what you need to know.
The Explainer

How to balance blood sugar and why it matters

Stephanie Eckelkamp
🕗 5 min read
Offering a real-time look inside your body, continuous glucose monitors (CGM) are a game-changing tool for anyone looking to improve their metabolic health.
The Explainer

How to get a CGM without diabetes and what you can learn

Jennifer Chesak
🕗 8 min read
Being aware of these causes of inaccurate data can help you identify—and avoid—surprising and misleading feedback.
The Explainer

7 things that can falsely impact glucose readings

Joy Manning, RD
🕗 4 min read
Metabolic flexibility means that your body can switch easily between burning glucose and fat, which means you have better energy and endurance.
The Explainer

What is metabolic flexibility, and why is it important?

Jennifer Chesak
🕗 8 min read

Metabolic Health

The Explainer

Does blood sugar affect heart rate?

Yes, and learning exactly what changes occur can help you better manage your cardiovascular health.

04 Dec 2024
🕗 7 min read
heart rate image
DNA strand
Ultimate Guide

The 2024 Levels guide to genetics and metabolic health

Tyler Santora
🕗 16 min read
Combining biometric tracking, wearables, and the world of "omics" will someday guide lifestyle choices and treatments uniquely suited to you.
The Explainer

How precision medicine will transform the future of metabolic healthcare

Jessie Sebor
🕗 12 min read
Lower your levels to the healthy range to reduce your risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and more.
Metabolic Markers

How can you reduce triglycerides?

Stephanie Eckelkamp
🕗 9 min read
Dr. Rob Lustig discusses how weight-loss medications like Ozempic work and why they may not be the cure-all they appear to be.
Expert Q&A

5 Common questions about GLP-1 answered by Dr. Rob Lustig

The Levels Team
🕗 5 min read
Being healthy is mainly about maintaining healthy habits. Here are 9 proven to impact metabolic health, which you can track in the Levels app today.
Ultimate Guide

9 Key habits for optimal metabolic health

The Levels Team
🕗 11 min read

Nutrition

The Explainer

Are long-term fasts or water fasts good for you?

Depending on your current health, living without solid food for 24 hours or more may help you burn more fat and trigger helpful adaptations, but it may also trigger muscle loss, and positive effects may not be sustained after several months.

20 Dec 2024
🕗 10 min read
Are long-term fasts or water fasts good for you?
Can you improve cholesterol through diet changes?
Ultimate Guide

Can you improve cholesterol through diet changes?

Stephanie Eckelkamp
🕗 9 min read
A levels team favorite recipe - tacos TWO ways!
Recipe Roundup

Healthy Thanksgiving sides and strategies for a balanced holiday

Matigan King
🕗 7 min read
Chicken tacos with limes
Levels Grocery List

Healthy lunches to give your kids lasting energy

Sharon Liao
🕗 7 min read
This supplement is for more than GI issues. It also helps manage blood sugar, insulin, and LDL cholesterol.
The Explainer

What is psyllium husk, and what can it do for metabolic health?

Stephanie Eckelkamp
🕗 8 min read
When you eat can be nearly as important for your metabolic health as what you eat. Here’s what one nutritionist tells her clients about optimal meal timing.
Expert Advice

A dietitian’s advice on meal timing

Zoë Atlas, MPH, RDN
🕗 6 min read

Recipes

Breakfast

Breakfast Quesadilla

The Levels Team
🕗 2 min read
Dinner

Fajita Bowl

The Levels Team
🕗 2 min read
Dinner

Fall Harvest Salad

The Levels Team
🕗 2 min read
Dinner

Basic Stir Fry

The Levels Team
🕗 2 min read
Dinner

Thai-inspired Lettuce wraps

The Levels Team
🕗 2 min read

Skin Health

The Explainer

Six ways metabolic health impacts women’s health

Here's how obesity, skin health, and other issues are fundamentally rooted in blood sugar dysfunction and insulin resistance.

12 Oct 2023
🕗 11 min read
Here's how obesity, skin health, and other issues are fundamentally rooted in blood sugar dysfunction and insulin resistance.
Controlling glucose levels with diet and lifestyle interventions can reduce damaging processes like glycation and oxidative stress, which can improve skin health.
The Explainer

How to get healthy skin with continuous glucose monitoring (CGM)

Casey Means, MD
🕗 4 min read

Sleep

Expert Advice

How do you effectively diagnose sleep issues?

Most “sleep studies” conducted in a lab struggle to diagnose sleep problems beyond apnea. Here’s how to better measure sleep issues, and how to address them.

14 Oct 2024
🕗 10 min read
Most “sleep studies” conducted in a lab struggle to diagnose sleep problems beyond apnea. Here’s how to better measure sleep issues, and how to address them.
Researchers found that brain waves during sleep may help regulate blood sugar , possibly explaining why poor sleep increases diabetes risk
Research Highlight

New research shows brain waves may impact glucose during sleep

Yael Cooperman, MD
🕗 6 min read
Poor or limited sleep can drive metabolic dysfunction and make healthy weight management more difficult through multiple mechanisms.
Ultimate Guide

The relationship between sleep and weight loss

Jennifer Cook
🕗 10 min read
The hormone most closely associated with sleep also seems to impact glucose and insulin. Here’s what we know.
Ultimate Guide

How does melatonin affect metabolic health?

Ashley Welch
🕗 7 min read
Our internal clocks—set mostly by natural light—influence our glucose and insulin systems. Here's why a regular schedule can improve your health.
Ultimate Guide

How circadian rhythm impacts metabolic health

Naomi Barr
🕗 11 min read
A recent study in people without diabetes found that getting poor sleep or deviating from normal sleep patterns can impact glucose control the next day.
Research Highlight

New research shows a connection between sleep quality and glucose control

Kristen Fischer
🕗 3 min read

Weight Loss

The Explainer

What can weight tell you about your metabolic health?

Although obesity can be unhealthy, research shows people can have metabolic dysfunction no matter their weight. Here’s what we know about the complex relationship between weight and metabolic health.

24 Oct 2024
🕗 10 min read
Scale
A small randomized clinical trial measures the value of seeing real-time glucose to improve diet and body composition
Research Highlight

New research shows that CGM data aids weight loss

Jennifer Chesak
🕗 5 min read
Research shows that logging meals regularly can help people hit nutrition goals, including losing weight. 
You Asked

Can meal tracking help you lose weight?

Monique Brouillette
🕗 5 min read
A continuous glucose monitor can show you the foods that help you maintain stable blood sugar so you can reach your goal on the scale.
The Explainer

Using a CGM for weight loss

Joy Manning, RD
🕗 8 min read
A combination of hormonal and metabolic differences makes losing weight harder for women compared to men. Here, a Levels advisor explains why.
The Explainer

Why is it harder for women to lose weight?

Gretchen Lidicker
🕗 7 min read
Dr. Rob Lustig discusses GLP-1 receptor agonist mediations, how they work, and why they're not the answer to the obesity crisis.
Expert Q&A

How do weight-loss medications like Ozempic affect metabolic health?

The Levels Team
🕗 14 min read

Women's Health

The Explainer

How continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) can help during menopause

Post-menopausal women have an increased risk of cardiometabolic disease. Here’s how a CGM can help you focus on metabolic health.

08 Aug 2024
🕗 9 min read
Post-menopausal women have an increased risk of cardiometabolic disease. Here’s how a CGM can help you focus on metabolic health.
Woman with PCOS using a continuous glucose monitor
The Explainer

Using continuous glucose monitoring in people with PCOS

Jennifer Chesak
🕗 6 min read
The hormonal fluctuations of a woman’s menstrual cycle can pose particular challenges when fasting. Here’s what to know and how to tailor your approach.
The Explainer

Is intermittent fasting good for women?

Gretchen Lidicker
🕗 9 min read
Several processes connect hot flashes to blood sugar. Here's how improving your metabolic health may lessen menopause symptoms.
The Explainer

Can blood sugar impact hot flashes?

Jennifer Chesak
🕗 5 min read
Having optimal metabolic health can help lessen the impacts of the changes during the menopause transition
Ultimate Guide

How blood sugar can impact menopause symptoms

Jennifer Chesak
🕗 8 min read
Weight gain is common during menopause, but we often miss the underlying relationship to insulin and other hormonal changes.
Ultimate Guide

How does menopause impact weight and metabolic health?

Jennifer Chesak
🕗 7 min read

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