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What a difference good health can make! Dr. Ian Smith has dedicated his professional life to providing education that can help people take control of their health and thrive as a result. Dr. Ian’s accomplishments include appearing on shows like The View and on NBC News, hosting The Doctors, and leading the 50 Million Pound Challenge, a national weight loss initiative sponsored by CVS Pharmacy and State Farm.
In this week’s Motivational Mondays episode, Dr. Ian and Corey Powell discuss the oft-ignored importance of physical health to our success, as well as some of the strategies for weight loss that he breaks down in his new book, “Met Flex Diet.” Tune in to learn more about optimizing your health to aid in your success!
Before jumping into the topics of health and wellness, Dr. Ian talks about his personal journey toward becoming both a doctor and a public figure. Dr. Ian shares how there were no black doctors in the small town in Connecticut where he grew up, but it didn’t stop him from dreaming of becoming one himself. Without black role models in positions of power, though, many African Americans of his generation grew up with “all kinds of messages and subliminal signals that we could not achieve these things. We had to overcome that and still dare to dream.”
That dreaming is something he hopes to inspire in more young African Americans as they grow up: to be whatever they want to be, whether it’s a doctor, a TV personality, or a president.
One of the primary messages of Dr. Ian’s work is that if you don’t take care of yourself, then you are “compromised.” If your body isn’t working optimally, then you won’t work optimally, either personally or professionally, and you won’t be able to help others as effectively.
He acknowledges that some health conditions are out of our control, but he emphasizes that there is still a lot of “ownership and control that you have of your health destiny.” But why are illness and metabolic disease so widespread in our society in the first place?
The cause of our unwellness is multifactorial, Dr. Ian says. Those factors include bad sleep, stress, poor nutrition, sedentary lifestyles, and too much processed food. Many people, Dr. Ian says, are suffering from metabolic disease without knowing it, and “people have to understand that there are basic fundamental things that the body needs to do or the body needs to function at peak performance.”
The problem, he emphasizes, is a lack of education about nutrition and physical health. Most of us take a health class of minimal depth, leaving a gap of knowledge between those with parents who know about nutrition and those with parents who don’t — a problem disproportionately affecting African Americans. In his view, there should be required nutrition classes in upper grammar, middle, or high school. “We have to invest…This has to be looked at as core. It’s essential.” Dr. Ian shares some of the ways he thinks nutrition should be implemented in school alongside other vital literacies like financial knowledge.
To aid in a bit of health education for our listeners, Dr. Ian busts a major health myth: Turns out our metabolism does not slow down at 30 years old! In fact, our metabolism stays about the same until age 60. People should instead learn about metabolic flexibility, meaning the body’s ability to burn both carbs and fats efficiently. Many people are actually metabolically inflexible, meaning they can’t burn one or the other as efficiently. The goal, then, is to get back to metabolic flexibility if we want to lose weight and keep our body working optimally.
And if you’re interested in learning about how you can do that, Dr. Ian shares some of the key takeaways from his book, “Met Flex Diet.” So tune in to this week’s episode to learn more about how you can use your physical health to drive future success!
To address that other vital element of our health — mental health — check out our May 8, 2023 Motivational Mondays episode, Changing Minds About Mental Health (Feat. Kyleigh Leddy).
[1:04] Dr. Ian’s journey to “MD status” and his desire to help others live healthfully
[3:00] The importance of role models and inspiring a new generation of young black doctors
[5:14] The science behind metabolic flexibility
[7:44] Why health and wellness are vital for success
[13:02] Why we need nutrition education at the middle- or high-school level
[21:40] Dispelling myths and some of Dr. Ian’s Met Flex Diet rules for weight loss
Listen to the bonus episode to learn about misconceptions about obesity and the implications of high levels of obesity for our nation.
Resources:
If you’ve joined the Met Flex Diet movement, you can find community and support from Dr. Ian himself in the Met Flex Diet Facebook group.
Listen to other Motivational Mondays episodes.