Metabolic Disease
Metabolic Disease:
What It Is, Why It Happens, and How Seniors Can Fight Back
By Ron La Fournie — SeniorsFitnesswithRon.com
Metabolic disease is a term most people have heard, but very few understand — even though millions of us are living with it every day. In my coaching work with seniors, and in my own journey to my 79th year, I’ve learned that metabolic disease is one of the most important health challenges of our time. And the truth is that many people don’t even know they have it until the symptoms have piled up so high they can no longer be ignored.
Metabolic disease isn’t a single diagnosis. It’s a cluster of problems — each one slowly nudging the body off course. Left alone, they rob us of energy, mobility, and, eventually, our independence. With the right mix of lifestyle changes, they can be slowed, improved, and even reversed.
WHAT IS METABOLIC DISEASE?
Metabolic disease (also called metabolic syndrome) is a collection of related health issues that tend to occur together and share common root causes — poor diet, inactivity, chronic stress, poor sleep, aging, and hormonal changes.
Doctors formally diagnose metabolic disease when a person has several of the following:
- High blood pressure
- High blood sugar (or insulin resistance)
- Excess abdominal fat (“belly fat,” the dangerous kind)
- High triglycerides
- Low HDL (“good”) cholesterol
Any one of these is concerning. Together, they increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney damage, and type 2 diabetes dramatically.
THE MEDICAL APPROACH: OLD AND NOW
For decades, the medical community approached metabolic disease as a collection of individual problems:
- If your blood pressure was high, you got a pill.
- If your blood sugar was creeping up, you got a pill.
- If your cholesterol wasn’t ideal, you got a pill.
Today, more medical professionals recognize metabolic disease as a lifestyle condition — one that cannot be solved with medication alone. Insulin resistance, muscle loss, inflammation, and diet quality are now understood to play central roles. Exercise and nutrition are finally being used as frontline tools instead of afterthoughts.
HOW METABOLIC DISEASE AFFECTS SENIORS
As we age:
- We lose muscle.
- We move less.
- We become more sensitive to insulin.
- Our recovery slows.
- Medications accumulate.
But seniors also respond extremely well to metabolic repair. The body is eager to heal once given the right tools.
- EXERCISE: THE MOST POWERFUL METABOLIC TOOL
Exercise saved my life — and when it comes to metabolic disease, it’s the closest thing we have to a cure.
Exercise:
- Builds muscle and increases metabolism.
- Improves insulin sensitivity.
- Reduces belly fat.
- Lowers blood pressure and triglycerides.
- Reduces inflammation.
- Protects mobility and independence.
Start with simple, repeatable human movements: bending, lifting, pushing, pulling, rotating, and striding.
NUTRITION’S ROLE IN METABOLIC HEALTH
Modern processed foods are a major driver of metabolic disease. Returning to Common-Sense Nutrition — the foods humans have eaten for thousands of years — is the most reliable way to restore metabolic balance.
Food choices include:
- Beef and wild game, chicken & wild fowl, pork, seafood
- Fresh Vegetables and fresh fruits
- Nuts and seeds
Reducing sugar, refined carbohydrates, and processed foods can make measurable improvements in a few short months.
CAN METABOLIC DISEASE BE REVERSED?
In many cases, yes. Especially when paired with consistent lifestyle changes. Fitness is comprised of two parts. Exercise and nutrition.
Seniors who exercise, and eat a common-sense nutrition plan,
- Lower blood pressure
- Improved A1C (a 3 month average of blood sugar)
- Reduced belly fat
- Improved cholesterol
- Reduced medications
- Better mobility
- Longer and better-quality life
FINAL THOUGHTS
Metabolic disease is not a life sentence. It’s a warning sign. And once we address the causes — not just the symptoms — the body responds. I have heard a few doctors say, ‘The human body is an amazing thing, it will heal just about anything…if we would just stay out of the way.”
Start today. Start simple. Start with one walk, one set of strength exercises, one better meal. Fitness didn’t just save my life — it can change yours too.
For more scientific data check out Dr. Nathan Bryan