Zane Griggs

Most people think metabolism is about calories. I think it's about energy.
Here's something almost nobody talks about.

The fats you eat don't just get burned for fuel—they become part of your cells. More specifically, they become part of the membranes surrounding your mitochondria, the tiny power plants responsible for producing ATP, the energy that powers every process in your body.

Your brain runs on ATP.
Your muscles run on ATP.
Your hormones, immune system, thyroid, recovery, and metabolism all depend on ATP.

If your cells can't produce energy efficiently, nothing else works the way it should.

This is where seed oils enter the conversation.

The dominant fat found in industrial seed oils is linoleic acid, a polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA). Because PUFAs contain multiple double bonds, they're inherently unstable and much more vulnerable to oxidation than saturated fats.

When these fats oxidize, they create compounds like 4-HNE, a byproduct capable of damaging the electron transport chain—the machinery inside your mitochondria responsible for producing ATP.

Less ATP means more cellular stress.

More cellular stress means your body compensates by increasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline just to keep you functioning.

That's why I don't believe metabolic dysfunction begins with blood sugar.

I think it begins much earlier—with the body's ability to produce energy.

When energy production declines, your body shifts into survival mode.

Recovery slows, thyroid function becomes less efficient, stress hormones stay elevated, and eventually the symptoms begin to appear.

Fatigue.
Brain fog.
Poor recovery.
Stubborn body fat.
Hormone dysfunction.
Blood sugar issues.

Those aren't random problems.

They're signals that your metabolism is under stress.

This is why I spend far less time obsessing over calories and far more time thinking about mitochondrial health, nutrient density, and removing the foods that interfere with efficient energy production.

Because if you protect the engine, the entire system works better.

That's why I always start with physiology instead of assumptions.

Comment GUIDE and I'll send you my free Metabolic Stress Marker Guide, where I walk through the lab markers I use to better understand metabolic stress before symptoms become disease.

Or comment LABS if you're ready to stop guessing and find out what's really going on inside your body.

Reference:

"Life and Death: Metabolic Rate, Membrane Composition, and Life Span of Animals" Hulbert AJ, Pamplona R, Buffenstein R, Buttemer WA (2007)

"Plasticity of Oxidative Metabolism in Variable Climates: Molecular Mechanisms" Seebacher F, Brand MD, Else PL, Guderley H, Hulbert AJ, Moyes CD (2010)

"Role of Cardiolipin Peroxidation and Ca²⁺ in Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Disease" Paradies G, Petrosillo G, Paradies V, Ruggiero FM (2009)

One of the biggest mistakes we’ve made in nutrition is turning foods into moral categories.

Good foods.
Bad foods.
Clean foods.
Cheat meals.

The reality?

Your metabolism doesn’t think that way.

I’ve watched people become healthier while eating foods someone else would call “off limits.”

I’ve also watched people eat a perfectly “clean” diet and still struggle with fatigue, stubborn body fat, poor recovery, brain fog, and hormone issues.

Why?

Because context matters.

The best nutrition plan isn’t the one that gets the most likes on Instagram.

It’s the one that supports your physiology.

That means asking questions like:

• Are you eating enough to support recovery?
• Is your blood sugar staying stable?
• Are you relying on stress hormones to get through the day?
• Is your metabolism producing energy efficiently?

Those questions tell me far more than whether you ate rice, fruit, potatoes, or oatmeal.

This is why I don’t believe in one universal diet.

I believe in understanding what’s actually happening inside your body first.

That’s exactly why I start with labs instead of assumptions.

Comment GUIDE and I’ll send you my free Metabolic Stress Marker Guide so you can learn the lab markers I use with myself and my clients.

Or comment LABS if you’re ready to stop guessing and find out what’s really going on inside your body.

One of the biggest misconceptions in health is that burning more fat automatically means you have a healthier metabolism.

That’s not how I look at it.

Your body is incredibly adaptive. It changes fuel sources based on what it has available and what your hormones are signaling.

If you’re relying heavily on cortisol and adrenaline just to keep your energy up, that’s a very different picture than someone whose metabolism is producing energy efficiently throughout the day.

This is why I rarely judge metabolic health based on one marker, one diet, or one strategy.

I look at the entire picture.

Your symptoms.
Your recovery.
Your energy.

And most importantly...

Your labs.

Comment GUIDE and I’ll send you my free Metabolic Stress Marker Guide so you can learn the lab markers I use with myself and my clients.

Or comment LABS if you’re ready to stop guessing and actually find out what’s going on inside your body.

Have you been told that ALL fructose is stored as fat in the liver?
WRONG.

Current evidence shows that under normal intake (around 20–30 g of fructose in a meal), 🥭🍌🍑🥤
This is equivalent to 2 sodas or several pieces of fruit

The small intestine metabolizes the majority of fructose before it ever reaches the liver.
🍯🥤🍒
Only a small amount reaches the liver as intact fructose.
Instead, most fructose is converted into compounds your body uses for energy or storage:
⚡️ 50–60% → Glucose
Used immediately for energy or circulated throughout the body.
⚡️ 15–25% → Lactate
An important fuel used by the heart, brain, and muscles or recycled back into glucose.
⚡️ 15–20% → Glycogen
Stored primarily in the liver to help maintain normal blood sugar between meals.
⚡️ 5–10% → CO₂
Completely oxidized for energy.
❌ Typically