@Edward Goeke Excellent analogy to the multi-variate influences that play a role together in varying degrees to shape the risk of a certain health outcome or disease. Love it.

@Rance Edwards Thank you for the compliment Coach Rance. It is nice to see you here. I hope you and your family are doing well.

Personally, I love my clean ruminant meat either cooked or raw. Many of the people doing the primal diet claim that raw is superior because all of the nutrients are maximally preserved as cooking may eliminate or reduce some of the nutrition. But the question is: how much of the nutrients in meat do you really need? The answer is individualized as every individual is going to require different amounts of the same nutrients we all need to function and operate on a daily basis. We also need to consider the different cooking methods we utilize to cook our meat. Some people argue that cooking our red meat rare to medium rare, we can make the protein better absorbable and not put so much of a stress on the gut. In the end, there is no scientific study that establishes whether meat of any kind, raw or cooked, is nutritionally superior over the other. I believe it depends on how the individual's body will handle the meat through molecular and hormonal interactions, whether raw or cooked, and the age, quality, or condition of the meat.

@Edward Goeke Your explanation of metabolic flexibility is exceptional and demonstrates your high level of understanding on the subject matter. Just because one is metabolically flexible doesn't necessarily mean we have achieved optimal metabolic health, however that is defined. Having an enhanced capacity to more efficiently switch from utilizing pyruvate to fatty acids/ketone bodies as a result of adapting to fat and ketone utilization over a course of months to years is one part; however, it is not an indicator of metabolic health or resilience by any means. Like you said, we can't directly measure metabolic flexibility. Like insulin resistance, it is a construct.

@James Dawkins Looking at metabolic health and flexibility from a holistic point of view, the metabolic status and capacity to switch from one fuel to the next is influenced by a number of variables. 1. Long-term dietary pattern (i.e., keto, carnivore, high-carb, plant-based, SAD, etc.) 2. The number of meals we eat in a day: Eating a sufficient bolus of protein temporarily kicks us out of ketosis for around 3 to 4 hours. Preferable to consume 1 meal a day. 3. The macronutrient composition of your daily meal(s) 4. Your autonomic nervous system: Are you constantly in a state of fight or flight? (sympathetic dominance) Or are you properly relaxing and effectively managing stress with practices that help to stimulate a parasympathetic response? 5. Your quality of sleep and circadian rhythm, which may also have an influence on the variables mentioned above. Overall, there is a lot of factors to consider beyond diet that can potentially impact metabolic efficiency and health etc. The Randle Cycle is a fundamental and crucial metabolic and bioenergetic mechanism in which glucose and fatty acids cross-inhibit one another for catabolism to ATP inside the cell through the number of biochemical steps taken for their respective substrates. As it applies to metabolic flexibility, we know that our cells can run on either pyruvate (derived from glucose catabolism via 10-step glycolysis) or the 4 step fatty acid catabolism (beta-oxidation). The fatty acid metabolic pathway is far more efficient and produces cleaner energy compared to glycolysis because glycolysis produces more reactive oxygen species and aldehyde (glucose is an aldohexose molecule). Fatty acid metabolism generates 337% more ATP than glucose metabolism per molecule. Adapting to fatty acid/ketone metabolism over time and training the body properly through the carnivore lifestyle to optimize hormonal health and balance (insulin, glucagon, adrenaline, cortisol, etc.) can make our bodies more metabolically resilient, adaptable and flexible in utilizing and oxidizing these substrates in certain situations and in response to certain environmental stimuli.

We are grateful to have you Selina. Thank you for everything you do. I hope you are having an amazing week so far. 💗 Hi and welcome to all of our newest members. I look forward to listening to your story and thoughts on human health and wellness. God bless all of you. 🙌 ❤️

It is great to be here. All of you are amazing and have so much value to bring in our community and movement for a greater and healthier humanity. I am happy to see all of you and connect with all of you on this platform.

@Phillip Nguyen Hi Phillip. It is nice to see you on the platform. I hope you are having an amazing week. ❤️