126: Shawn Stevenson - Surprising Factors that Impact Your Metabolism, Health, and Weight | Dr. Anthony Gustin

Your metabolism can be reduced by hundreds — even a thousand — of calories per day if there’s dysfunction with your hypothalamus and your thyroid. Share on X

Whether you’re struggling with your health, weight, and metabolism, or you’re simply looking to improve all three, today’s guest, author and long-time podcaster of The Model Health Show, Shawn Stevenson, has some incredible insight to share.

That’s because Shawn dives into factors that most people aren’t addressing and shows why these could be contributing to why you’re not feeling and looking your best.

Shawn discusses topics such as hypothalamic inflammation, epicaloric influences, and how calories are digested based on the state of your gut microbiome.

You’ll also hear how brain inflammation, calorie counting, and your mindset could be negatively impacting your health and metabolism and what you can do about them.

In addition, Shawn also touches on how out-of-whack hormones could be at fault, why the food you eat affects other aspects of health, and what destroys your metabolism.

One aspect I like about Shawn’s approach is that he dives into scientific studies and then shares his findings in a simple and easy-to-understand way so that you can implement his tips starting today.

Your gut microbes are really the first decision makers on whether or not you’re going to absorb calories and what you’re going to do with the calories you eat. Share on X

As you’ll hear about in the episode, Shawn didn’t start out as the epitome of health. At age 20, he was told that he had the spine of an 80 year old man and he was fitted with a back brace and told to go on bedrest.

It was at this point he decided to take his health into his own hands by diving into studies to see what he could uncover and ultimately change.

He radically revamped everything he was doing and completely turned around his health.

Now he shares his principles in his best-selling books, Sleep Smarter and Eat Smarter, and on his podcast The Model Health Show.

You’ll get a glimpse into some of his top health tenets when you tune into this episode and you’ll learn more about the factors that most people don’t realize have such a huge impact on health, metabolism, and weight.

Here’s a look at the topics Shawn and I get into

What Shawn Stevenson believes it takes to create a healthy human being, based on 19+ years of research
Shawn’s background and what he focused on in his clinical practice
How he went from having the back of an 80 year old man at age 20 to being at the peak of his health
The top reasons why people are in an unhealthy state
Why we need a change in how we see food and what that looks like
How the food you eat affects other aspects of your health
How metabolism and hormones work to improve health
What destroys your metabolism and brain health
Dissecting calories
Why calories change depending on your metabolism
Where calorie came from and the problems that followed this way of thinking
Epicaloric influences
The problem with calorie counting
A study examining the effects of eating a whole-food sandwich versus a processed one
Hypothalamic inflammation, including what that is, how prevalent it is, why it’s so detrimental, and how it affects your metabolism
The difference between having a high metabolism and having a slower one
The importance of your gut microbiome on health and weight
Studies on gut health in humans and mice and what we learned from these
What happens to your metabolism when you get your gut health in better order
What else you can do to have a bigger impact on your health
How your mindset affects your hormones, metabolism, and how calories affect you
A study examining mindset on calorie intake