Thinking about how to level up your metabolic health in 2025? Given the fact that currently only 12% of American adults meet the minimum criteria for metabolic health, it’s a great idea!

I’m here to meet you where you’re at — whether you are just starting your journey towards metabolic health and are looking to learn the best habits to focus on first and how, or you’re well on your way and looking to hold yourself accountable with some new habits. I’ll help you drill down on your goals, customize a plan to reach them, and provide you the tools and accountability needed to stay on track through the entire process.

My name is Alisa Turner and I’m a certified integrative health coach specializing in nutrition planning, fitness, and overall well-being. If you’re ready for clarity and a sustainable approach to a healthier life, I’m here for you. Contact me!

If you’re going it alone, here’s just one of many small mindset shifts you might consider before charging forward at 100 miles an hour.

Adopt a “progress not perfection” mindset and set incremental, realistic, and measurable goals and timelines. Here’s why:

You can not fail on a health journey as long as you keep putting one foot in front of the next because there’s no ultimate destination (once you “arrive”, there’s just another goal there waiting for you.) Very few people (including yours truly) nail every single health habit every single day! How “perfectly” you show up on any given day is nearly irrelevant in the big picture anyway — long term consistency is what matters.

A “progress not perfection” mindset helps you realize that falling short of your expectations on any given day says nothing about you or your ability to succeed. When you remove the disappointment and shame you feel from falling short, you can more easily learn from the experience and access the grace needed to tackle the next day in the most helpful way.

Perfection is not the goal, not only because it’s not attainable (and it would be boring if it were) — but also because perfection doesn’t offer the best opportunities to get curious about YOU and why you do what you do. The more you learn the WHY and HOW behind your habits, the more easily you’ll be able to spot necessary adjustments down the line and pivot accordingly. This journey is about falling down, getting back up, and learning each time. Falling short one day doesn’t impede your progress; it serves up an opportunity for the next day on a silver platter because what you learn when you fall short, and how you show up the next day that is instrumental in developing that long term consistency.

On the other hand, if you have an “all or nothing” mindset, you’re more likely to give up completely when you fall short of your expectations. And if you give up, you won’t take the next step forward (and yes…the possible subsequent 3 steps backwards) toward your next lesson and your next goal.

So, we’ve established that meaningful and sustainable progress is about consistency more than it is about intensity. And we’ve shown that mindset can be helpful in continuing to show up when you’d rather quit because you feel like you failed anyway. But you can’t solely mindset-shift your way to health. You also need to take consistent action toward your goal. In order to achieve consistency, you need to have a strategy and a timeline for specific changes, and those changes need to be sustainable. You probably have a fairly good idea of where you want to go and what improved health would feel like for you, but in in order to curate a plan to get there, you need to know where you’re starting and where you want to go.

My customizable tracker helps you do exactly that by assembling everything you need in one place — a comprehensive habit data set that reveals behavior patterns around food and lifestyle choices to help you work towards optimizing metabolic health. First, we use it to establish a baseline and then to cultivate consistency and improvements with necessary health habits over time. The tracker helps you build on your strengths, capitalize on synergies, and lay out opportunities for improvement in a strategic manner. It’s an accountability tool that let’s you keep track of the custom goals I set for you around nutrition, exercise, sleep, hydration, and other wellness habits.

Clients tell me that seeing incremental progress on their trackers and getting personalized weekly insights and updated targets from me has been a game changer for their motivation. But it’s not rocket science, so if you want to start tracking without my guidance and support, below is a list of some of the top metrics to try. Get your baseline, and then determine what’s the highest rung on the ladder. In other words, what’s the easiest thing you can do that will yield the most results? Start there. Establish consistency and then build on that habit. You may just find that other habits naturally follow.

1. Macros

It’s very difficult to improve body composition, insulin sensitivity, and other markers of metabolic health without the right ratio of protein:fat: carbs. The ratio will vary person to person, and I will help you figure out what is best for you.

You need all three macros balanced in a way that supports your unique goals and physiology but suffice it to say that most of my clients were not putting enough emphasis on protein amount, quality, or timing when we analyzed their baseline data.

Getting enough protein is essential for boosting satiety, stabilizing blood sugar, and supporting metabolic health.

Use an app like My Fitness Pal to track your total and per-meal grams of protein as well as the % of your calories that come from fats vs. carbohydrates. I typically recommend at least 35 grams of protein 3X a day for most of my clients but it really depends on where you’re starting and what your goals are.

2. Steps

Frequent movement throughout the day — especially after meals—is foundational to stable glucose and longevity. Regularly walking after meals helps muscles absorb glucose more efficiently over time for metabolic health improvements. If your steps are less than 10K on average ((or if they come in one big clump), consider setting a goal to increase them by an incremental percentage that feels reasonable and sustainable to you.

3. ️‍♀️ Workout Time

Any type of exercise improves insulin sensitivity and overall health compared to a sedentary lifestyle, but the most effective type of exercise (outside of average daily steps) for any given person, really just depends on the person. Workouts that push your heart rate like HIIT can have unique metabolic benefits for many but not everyone. I am now in a place with my health where I rotate all sorts of movement into my weekly routines from walking to biking to rowing to swimming to yoga and from HIIT intervals to zone 2 cardio — but not all of these were always helpful for my metabolic health. In fact, some of them made things worse for a while. If you’re struggling with insulin resistance or metabolic dysfunction, know this: skeletal muscle is a crucial tissue for maintaining blood glucose control and energy balance because muscles have their own glucose disposal mechanisms. Because of this, I strongly encourage most of my clients to consider doing some sort of strength training. Personally, I never miss a strength training session because the biggest improvements (by far) I have seen in my metabolic health have come from lifting heavy weights. Not to mention the improvements in my confidence, mood, energy and so much more!

4. ️ Sleep Duration/Quality

Just as important (if not more) as the movement piece is the recovery and sleep piece. The amount and quality of your sleep is having a profound effect on your metabolic health regardless of whether or not it has already shown up as symptoms. I can not stress this enough. And yet for many, sleep has become the last priority. In the last 100 years, average sleep duration has decreased from 9 hours to 6.8 hours. We just cut 25% of our sleep need off and didn’t bat an eye but our bodies are paying a BIG price for this. Research shows that short sleepers (less than 6.5 hours) have to secrete 50% more insulin to achieve similar glucose results to normal sleepers (7.5-8.5 hours). And here’s the kicker — even if you THINK you’re sleeping 8 hours, you’re probably really only sleeping 6.5 (or maybe 7 if you’re efficiency is fantastic) because your body cycles through various stages of sleep, and some are so light they don’t qualify (even if you don’t realize you’re awake).

I get it —sleep is the health habit I struggle with most myself, but I’m constantly trying to improve because insufficient or poor-quality sleep impacts glucose levels the following day, and can increase cravings, stress, hunger levels and much more. Because of my activity level, my body needs 8.5+ hours of good sleep to function optimally the next day, and because my sleep efficiency is less than ideal, that means I need to be in bed for 10+ hours. I fall short here much of the time because I can rarely find time to be in bed more than 8.5 hours, but even 7 hours of quality sleep is still far better than the 5-6 I used to get. Progress not perfection! And I will probably forever be working towards getting more sleep and improving sleep quality. Falling short doesn’t mean I just give up entirely and go back to where I used to be. Track your sleep and see how much total, REM, and deep sleep you average. If appropriate, start implementing one sleep hygiene tip at a time and see if you can move the needle in a positive direction.

5. Fiber

Fiber plays a key role in gut health and blood sugar regulation and overall gut health. Ultimately, I like to see my clients reporting at least 25-30 grams per day, but just like every other habit, I suggest getting a baseline first. If you are only eating 5-10 grams a day and jump to 25 or 30 you may experience some unwanted symptoms. Incremental progress is key!

6. ️ Mealtimes/Hunger Levels

Avoiding big spikes and crashes in blood sugar is another great way to to improve metabolic health. So, space meals appropriately and definitely don’t skip them entirely. Aim to keep hunger levels between 3 and 7 all day long. Also try not to start the day with a big hit of sugar — keep your macros balanced with plenty of protein, and don’t forget to and prioritize sleep (it’s worth repeating)! Wearing a CGM to track your blood sugar is another good way to track the effects of various habit loops on your blood sugar.

7. Meditation Minutes

Most people recognize that stress doesn’t feel great in their bodies, but I think few people truly understand the impact that an overactive nervous system is having on their metabolic health. Research shows that chronically elevated cortisol is common in many metabolic conditions and may contribute to the development of abdominal obesity with metabolic syndrome, Type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, hypertension, dementia, and depression.

Minimizing and successfully managing stress is essential for optimal metabolic health, so I highly recommend tracking how much time you spend doing something mindful, like breathing exercises or meditation, and work on incrementally increasing that time. I can not stress the importance of this enough!

8. Water and Fruit/Veg Intake

Proper hydration is essential for nutrient delivery, waste removal, and cognitive function, and it specifically impacts metabolic health by influencing glucose processing, insulin sensitivity, and fat metabolism. And by “proper hydration” I don’t just mean drinking enough water — you also need to make sure you’re properly balancing electrolytes and getting enough trace minerals.

Jusț like with food, I would say the amount and type/quality tend to be more important than the timing of it, but the timing is definitely not completely irrelevant. Just like meal timing can affect blood glucose, so too can water: large amounts of water with meals have been shown to worsen post -meal blood glucose spikes, so spacing water through your day at intervals other than mealtime can be helpful.

Drinking half your body weight in ounces of water per day is often cited as a general rule of thumb, but truly there is no one size fits all approach to water just like there’s no one size fits all approach to food. So, pay attention to signs of dehydration like headache, hunger, and fatigue and adjust intake based on activity levels and dietary needs.

HINT: Vegetables and fruit tend to be far more hydrating than water because of their nutrient density, so I’d suggest tracking these also — aim to eat 10 servings of veggies per day and you’ll be well on your way!

Tracking your water consumption through the day is easier if you drink and refill from the same bottle which can be a very easy first habit loop to tackle allowing you to gain some quick traction and start feeling successful right away. And let’s be honest…success is motivating!

9. Sunlight exposure/grounding

Outside of strength training, this has been best medicine for my mood and energy. The functionality of our 37 trillion cells depends on getting energy from the sun at the right times and doses so we can feel our best. It’s ideal to get outside first thing in the morning but in this season of my life, often a 30-minute walk at lunchtime is the best I can do and that’s better than nothing. Bonus points if you get out there barefoot!

10. Calories

I put this last not because it’s least important but because people tend to think that getting metabolic healthy is just about losing weight, and that weight-loss is just about calories. I wanted to emphasize the importance of tracking other things because you can get your calories in line but still be metabolically unhealthy (which may or may not include being overweight) and feeling sluggish and generally horrible. Nutrient density matters. Macros matter. Movement matters. Sleep matters. Sunshine matters. Stress matters. Hormones matter. Hydration matters. But make no mistake — calories are extremely important. If you’re eating significantly more calories than you need for too long, it will do more than pack on the weight; it will take a toll on your metabolic health.

I’m inviting you to build new sustainable habits with me and start learning how you can upgrade your metabolic health, day after day. Schedule a free 15-minute consultation with me here.

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