This is a podcast-style YouTube interview (May 12, 2025) in which Wendie Trubow interviews Ben Azadi about his new book Metabolic Freedom (Hay House). Azadi frames the book as a mass-market guide to reversing metabolic dysfunction by restoring metabolic flexibility. He cites several large studies (Mayo Clinic 2016; UNC 2018; a 2022 study) showing very low rates of Americans meeting healthy lifestyle criteria and very high prevalence of metabolic dysfunction (figures cited: 2.7%, ~98%, 93%), explains the book’s two halves (causes including environmental toxins; solutions including a 30-day plan and advanced plan), and defines metabolic freedom as metabolic flexibility (ability to burn carbs, fats, protein, or body fat without constant snacking).
Chapters
Foreign. Hello and welcome to the Feel Freaking Amazing podcast. I'm Wendy Trubo. We don't have a star sighting of Ed Levitan today. He couldn't make it. But our guest today is Ben Azadi, who's one of my favorite humans to interview. He's been on the podcast before. He's the founder of Keto Camp. He has over 17 years of experience in the health industry and he's the author of four best selling books, including his latest, Keto Flex. He's also the author of Metabolic Freedom, which is being published this week so you can get your early copies and it's through Hay House. He's been the go to source for intermittent fasting and the ketogenic world and diet since 2013. So, Ben, welcome. I'm so excited we could talk about your book and Metabolic Freedom today. Thanks for being here.
Yeah, I'm excited to talk about it. Wendy, love your work. I had so much fun with you the first time. So let's make round two. Let's make Edward jealous of this conversation. How about that?
Seriously, he's always like, why didn't I get to play on the cool ones? Okay, so talk to me. Why this book? Like, why did you. You've. You've been in this space a lot. What was it about this book that you felt compelled to bring to the world?
Yeah, you know, I've written more niche books, right? A book on keto, a book on fasting, book on sleep. And this book is not a niche book. It's a book that I wrote for the. For the masses. It's written for America and all first world generations who are struggling with metabolic diseases. And there were three key studies that really convinced me to write this book. The first one was a 2016 study from Mayo Clinic. They did a study looking at how many Americans live what they consider an active, healthy lifestyle. And they based it off of. I know, I know. Yeah. Wait until you hear the results. They based it off of four criteria, Wendy. The first criteria was that they don't smoke cigarettes. The second criteria was that they exercised moderate to vigorous exercise for a total of 150 minutes per week. The third criteria was that they eat what they consider a healthy diet, which is just a minimally processed diet. And the fourth criteria was that if they're a female, they have a body fat percentage under 30%, and if they're a male, a body fat percentage under 20%. And they concluded that only 2.7% of Americans are what they consider active and healthy. That's it 2.7%. Then in 2018, I know it's crazy. And that was before COVID In 2018, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill put out a study showing around 80%, 98% of Americans are what they consider metabolically unhealthy. And then a more recent study in 2022 showed it's about 93% of Americans having metabolic dysfunction. 93%. So I wrote this book for the masses. It's not a niche book. Yeah, I talk about a little bit of ketone fasting in there, but it's really to get somebody to understand how their metabolism works. What are the causes towards metabolic dysfunction? That's the first half of the book I identify those causes with. Your favorite chapter is going to be chapter five, all about environmental toxins and how that relates to metabolic disease. It's really aligned with your dirty girl book and all that you teach. And then the second half of the book talks about the solutions and what can we use, what can we do? And then it's all wrapped together in a 30 day plan to achieve metabolic freedom. And metabolic freedom is simply metabolic flexibility. The way that the body was designed to be able to burn whatever substrate is available for fuel. And that could be carbohydrates, that could be fat protein, that could be your own body fat. When you're metabolically free, you're not having to rely on snacking and grazing every two to three hours, counting your calories, weighing your food. That's a metabolic prison. We need to detach away from that. So that's why I wrote the book for the masses. And if you're not new to this and you're already doing these principles of ketosis and fasting, well, there's still a lot of stuff in there that you're going to love. There's 275 citations. There's an advanced plan to follow as well. So I'm excited, excited about the book. It's going to put a dent in disease. And right now is the perfect time to get the book out into the world.
It's going to put a dent in the mass, right? It's for the masses who want to lose mass.
Yes, yes. That's a good way to put it.
Okay, so unpack this for me. When you talk about metabolic dysfunction, can you really go into the weeds and talk to me about what does that mean? Like, as the listener, how would. Okay, sure, I'm likely to be a statistic, but how would I know that I'm metabolically dysfunctional?
Well, I lived it myself. And sometimes it doesn't show up on lab work. Sometimes it shows up in symptoms. First, symptoms are not bad. Symptoms are your check engine light. It's your body's way of communicating to you. So it will show up as symptoms. Your body will communicate through.
