How does pregnancy affect your metabolic health at each trimester, from conception to postpartum lactation? Levels Research Design Lead Dr. Azure Grant talks with Ben Grynol about the different phases of pregnancy and how it affects hormones and things you can do to reduce the risk of gestational diabetes. Look for multiple new shows per week on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations about metabolic health and how the Levels startup team builds a wellness movement from the groun...
Apr 27, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 210
Insulin resistance is when cells stop responding to insulin’s signal to uptake glucose. It’s a hallmark of prediabetes, Type 2 diabetes, and other forms of metabolic dysfunction, and it manifests as several chronic disease, ranging from Alzheimer’s to polycystic ovarian syndrome. Dr. Rob Lustig and Dr. Dominic D’Agostino discuss the importance of monitoring insulin levels, why a high or increasing insulin level is a problem, and how insulin resistance hinders weight management. Sign Up to Get Yo...
Apr 20, 2023•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 209
High-carbohydrate diets and carbohydrate loading have been long-standing tenets of athletic training and competition, but newer research indicates a low-carbohydrate diet may be more beneficial for performance and overall health. Professor Tim Noakes and Josh Clemente discuss how a fat-adapted body can rely on fat as a fuel source at all exercise intensity levels, rather than burning mostly carbohydrates, and how such adaptation and dietary focus may reduce one’s risk of prediabetes and Type 2 d...
Apr 13, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 208
Society champions multitasking, but we can’t truly multitask. Multitasking in fact impedes our focus and productivity. And 12 main factors tend to steal our attention. Johann Hari and Ben Grynol discuss why flow states are important for goal achievement, the things that distract us, and how we can reclaim our focus. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health ...
Apr 06, 2023•46 min•Ep. 207
Regenerative farming harnesses a farm’s entire ecosystem to grow and raise food via natural processes. In turn, foods raised on regenerative farms benefit our bodies more so than those raised conventionally. Molly Chester of Apricot Lane Farms and Dr. Casey Means discuss the philosophies of regenerative farming, how the practice has parallels with functional medicine, and how regenerative farming is a merging of the tried-and-true methods of our ancestors with scientific knowledge. Sign Up to Ge...
Mar 23, 2023•58 min•Ep. 206
Gastrointestinal health, metabolic health, and fertility are all linked. The gut microbiome impacts other microbiomes in the body, which can then impact the ability to conceive. Our gut microbiomes are becoming less diverse through modern farming practices and the consumption of processed foods. Dr. Robin Rose and Ben Grynol discuss how gut microbiome testing can determine underlying factors of gastrointestinal distress and the lifestyle changes that can help address symptoms and even aid fertil...
Mar 09, 2023•58 min•Ep. 205
Concierge medicine can help personalize healthcare and disrupt the traditional primary care model. Traditional primary care isn’t positioned to handle the frequent check ins and actionable steps that empower patients to optimize their health and wellness. Chloe Harrouche and Mike Haney discuss The Lanby, which Harrouche co-founded. The Lanby’s primary care membership provides patients with a three-person, non-siloed care team and weekly touchpoints regarding wellness, so patients can track their...
Mar 02, 2023•48 min•Ep. 204
The ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting, and other nutritional strategies for metabolic health are unique when it comes to the female body. Hormonal changes over the menstrual cycle trajectory matter. Dr. Stephanie Estima and Dr. Lauren Kelley-Chew discuss women’s metabolic health, how to time nutritional strategies with the menstrual cycle, and why strength training is key. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl 🎙 What Dr. Stephanie Estima & Lauren Kel...
Feb 23, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 203
The hallmarks of aging are various biomarkers that indicate advancing biological age, which leads to a decline in health and eventually to death. But we can boost longevity by understanding aging biomarkers and then taking actionable steps with nutrition, physical activity, and environment. Dr. Mark Hyman and Dr. Casey Means discuss the hallmarks of aging and the factors that are within our control to not only live longer but also to thrive. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: h...
Feb 16, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 202
According to Peter Diamandis, MD, we’ll make more technological progress and breakthroughs in the next 10 years than in the past 100, including current developments in fusion, humanoid robots, avatars, and ChatGPT. Listen as Levels Founder Josh Clemente talks with Peter Diamandis about technological breakthroughs and what they mean for the future of medicine, and how to shift your mindset as an entrepreneur to make a real change in the world. Peter Diamandis was recently named by Fortune as one ...
Feb 09, 2023•50 min•Ep. 201
We can think of our energy capacity as like the currency in our bank accounts that helps support us. Low energy capacity is an indicator of mitochondrial dysfunction—the decline in in how well our cells produce and use energy. It can lead to chronic disease. Dr. Molly Maloof and Dr. Lauren Kelley-Chew discuss how to optimize mitochondrial functioning for better overall health and well-being to prevent disease processes. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl...
Jan 31, 2023•53 min•Ep. 200
Jeff Krasno, CEO and founder of Commune, experienced chronic fatigue and brain fog earlier this year and discovered he had prediabetes. He used Levels to learn more about his blood glucose and metabolic health and now enjoys metabolic flexibility. Sonja Manning chatted with Jeff about his health journey, his dietary changes, intermittent fasting, and his other learnings from the metabolic health world that he applied to his own wellbeing. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: http...
Jan 19, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 199
How is functional medicine different from traditional healthcare? Functional medicine focuses on patient-facing time and individual biomarkers for forming a comprehensive, individualized plan to empower people in matters of their health and well-being. The Western medicine model often leaves much to be desired when it comes to building a long-term relationship with a patient that helps foster their ultimate health. Listen as Dr. Anjali Dsouza and Mike Haney discuss how functional medicine—with a...
Jan 05, 2023•54 min•Ep. 198
Branding isn’t just about the visual identity of a company. In this episode, Ben Grynol talks with Nik Sharma, “The DTC Guy” who runs Sharma Brands and HOOX, about what it means to build a good brand in the direct-to-consumer marketing space. Nik points out the crucial thing to remember is that no one remembers your brand unless you’re one of the top global brands, so it’s best not to get overly invested in how your brand is perceived. It’s best to drive consumer awareness, be consistent in prov...
Dec 23, 2022•47 min•Ep. 197
Team members at a company want honesty, transparency, and a clear progression path to know how to get to the next level in their careers. It’s reasonable for people to want to see progress and want more money and recognition, and so here at Levels we want to make career paths explicit to encourage growth and limit staff turnover. This chat between Nicole Miller and Sam Corcos is about high trust between managers and team members, avoiding promo culture, performance reviews, and giving and receiv...
Dec 19, 2022•45 min•Ep. 196
Cleo Abram found her passion for content creation and independent journalism when she started her YouTube channel Huge If True, a journalistically rigorous show with optimistic explainers about tech that could change our future. Listen as Cleo and Ben Grynol talk about the tension between the quality of work you publish versus the velocity, a bottom-up versus top-down content creation approach, and the importance of fact-checking. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://leve...
Dec 16, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 195
Over the lifespan of Levels, the company and the CEO role evolved drastically. Sam Corcos went from coding the initial product to CEO, and he experienced a lot of personal challenges and growth along the way. Listen as Sam chats with Ben Grynol about time management, strategy versus people ops, requirements at each startup stage, and taking time to reflect through quarterly Think Weeks. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl Levels helps you see how food aff...
Dec 12, 2022•46 min•Ep. 194
We often think that arthritis, musculoskeletal pain, and degenerative joint issues are an inevitable result of aging—but this is far from the truth. Good metabolic health can have significant positive effects on bones, muscles, and joints, and can improve longevity. Conversely, poor metabolic health accelerates the degeneration of joints and tissues for many reasons, like the impact of high uric acid levels, lipid or cholesterol deposits, chronic inflammation, and poor blood flow to tissues. Sur...
Dec 09, 2022•2 hr 41 min•Ep. 193
When doing a big push for hiring in engineering and software development, it can help to enlist the help of international recruiting agencies who can help source top talent from around the world. In this episode, Sam Corcos gets advice from Sudeep Sidhu from Neo Financial about some best practices for hiring engineers and how highly rated agencies and hack days can help assess talent. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl Levels helps you see how food affec...
Dec 05, 2022•29 min•Ep. 192
Sleep deprivation can be detrimental to metabolic health—even a short night of sleep, poor quality sleep, or low sleep efficiency can have significant impacts. Not getting a full, high-quality night’s sleep may be why you’re so hungry, but can also set you up for decreased insulin sensitivity, which when compounded, can have worse long-term effects. Listen as Research Design Lead Azure Grant talks with Ben Grynol about the importance of quality sleep for metabolic health. Sign Up to Get Your Fre...
Dec 02, 2022•40 min•Ep. 191
It’s possible to be athletic and physically fit but metabolically unhealthy. Listen as Cole Sager, eight-time CrossFit Games athlete, and Josh Clemente, Co-Founder at Levels, discuss the distinction between physical fitness and holistic metabolic health, and Cole’s realization that his health wasn’t in great shape according to his bloodwork. Cole shares his experience as a sports enthusiast, Spirit of the Games awardee, and Levels member and his journey toward metabolic health. Cole and Josh tal...
Nov 28, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 190
Highly processed food is hard to avoid. It’s especially harder when you’re a parent. For Austin McGuffie and Ben Grynol, they both have 4 kids, and they talk about the challenges of parenting, feeding kids nutritious food, and educating them along the way. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl Levels helps you see how food affects your health, empowering you with the tools needed to achieve health goals and improve healthspan. Levels Members gain access to t...
Nov 25, 2022•48 min•Ep. 189
Every team must build trust and confidence with peers, but remote teams face a greater challenge because of the lack of face-to-face interaction. At Levels, we work to assume positive intent of our teammates, which supports our core value of “confidence is earned.” Both values are tied to work performance, and in order to build confidence and trust, a team member must do great work as well as learn how to communicate that work effectively, especially in a remote environment. Listen as Levels fou...
Nov 21, 2022•57 min•Ep. 188
People who love wearables often complain that their biomarker data that gets collected in one app stays in that app, and the apps don’t talk to each other. Kyriakos Eleftheriou, CEO and Co-Founder of Terra, shares with Ben Grynol how he’s building Terra to standardize biomarker data and translate it into one language. By doing this, Terra could enable users to connect their data from wearables to non-health-tech companies like Spotify or Netflix, providing real-time recommendations that would he...
Nov 17, 2022•24 min•Ep. 187
How might a keto diet transform not only your metabolic health but may also manage symptoms of mental health disorders like depression, anxiety, PTSD, schizophrenia, and more? Dr. Chris Palmer outlines the principles from his book “Brain Energy” with Ben Grynol in this episode and discusses his journey toward the revolutionary idea that might change how we view mental health care moving forward. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl Levels helps you see how...
Nov 15, 2022•2 hr 44 min•Ep. 186
How do you scale a startup internationally? Levels approaches our UK expansion as a growth lever, headed by Karin Nielsen. Listen as Karin and Cosima Travis chat about the considerations and processes behind Levels’s expansion initiatives, including product-culture fit, the differences between US and UK markets, and how customer experience stays at the center of it all. Sign Up to Get Your Free Ultimate Guide to Glucose: https://levels.link/wnl Levels helps you see how food affects your health...
Nov 10, 2022•37 min•Ep. 185
While recovering from a tragic car accident that caused Elena Schuber to go into a coma, Elena started to learn how to improve her physical health through dietary, lifestyle, and habit changes because she became well-attuned to her body’s responses to certain foods. Now a health and wellness practitioner, Elena advises her clients to monitor their blood glucose levels and be present with their own bodies. Listen as Elena shares her experience with Levels with Ben Grynol as she discovers how stre...
Oct 31, 2022•43 min•Ep. 184
In the startup world, what is it like to supplement a standard Series A round with equity crowdfunding? Ben Grynol & Zac Henderson offer their views on the experience and share the lessons they learned from its challenges. The Levels team did not anticipate the support received from individual investors who believed in the company’s mission and wanted to be part of the Levels journey. Look for multiple new shows per week on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations about metabo...
Oct 24, 2022•44 min•Ep. 183
Translating complex health data to valuable insights that inform better food and lifestyle decisions is the heart of what the data science team does at Levels. In this episode, Helena Belloff shares her day-to-day as a data scientist at Levels. Helena talks about how the data science team uses data collection, interpretation, and analysis to further the company’s mission of helping people achieve their health goals through the Levels program. Look for multiple new shows per week on A Whole New L...
Oct 20, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 182
You can grow your business by creating solid content that people will want to read. Sol Orwell, a co-founder of Examine.com , talks with Mike Haney and Paul Barszcz about how he established his website and optimizes it through editorial content. Look for multiple new shows per week on A Whole New Level, where we have in-depth conversations about metabolic health and how the Levels startup team builds a wellness movement from the ground up in the health and wellness tech industry. Sign Up to Get ...
Oct 17, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 181