EP086: Leveling the Health Playing Field with Sachin Patel and Josh Clemente, Founder of Levels

Perfect Practice

Josh Clemente joins the mentorship group today to share his journey from being a senior engineer at SpaceX and Hyperloop to founding Levels, a metabolic blood sugar tracking company.

Tune in for a super interesting and informative discussion on the importance of owning your metabolic data, the developing relationship between people and their health, and how technology is coming in to put more information into their hands.

Key Takeaways:

[:45] Sachin welcomes Josh Clemente and asks him to share how he came to be so interested in blood sugar after having spent 7 years at SpaceX developing life-support systems for astronauts!

[5:47] Josh’s journey from the bottom began by chatting with a friend and data analyst who indicated to him that endocrine dysfunction was a predictor of early death, that blood sugar was a good indicator of endocrine function, and that a simple CVS finger stick might give him some data.

[8:12] Taking your physician’s word for law isn’t always the best course, Josh explains how being allowed to access and share your metabolic data benefits both practitioner and patient.

[10:35], Unlike HRV monitors, CGMs in the United-States are still classified as Class II or III medical devices and as such require a prescription. But the technology provides a window into our health that more and more people are demanding access to and the regulation is bound to adapt to follow suit.

[14:55] Limitations are mostly centered around the differences between a medical device designed for a patient population and a consumer device designed for a consumer’s delight in mind. Josh also explains how certain things have to be left to the medical field to ensure patient safety.

[18:46] Surprises in blood sugar! Sachin and Josh share their aha moments with their own readings.

[22:50] Inter-individual variability is something Josh is fascinated by and the implications for further research are interesting in the sense that contextual, body composition, hormonal, and even genetic and microbiome factors seem to be at play in how each person metabolizes sugar.

[28:04] Sachin shares a patient story and Josh talks about the new Levels 4-week program and the psychological effects of having data available.

[35:07] Josh’s personal blood sugar routine and what he’s discovered about fasting.

[40:20] Levels is all about answering the questions “what should I eat and why?” Josh explains the nature of the software they’ve built as well as how it all works.

[47:35] CGM for weight loss isn’t a panacea, but Josh does share the weight loss averages in the existing cohorts and the interesting fact that Levels isn’t a weight management app at all.

[50:50] Sachin thanks Josh for sharing so much of his knowledge and experience and signs off until next time.

Mentioned in this episode

Levels

More about your guest

Find out more about Josh Clemente

More about your host Sachin Patel

How to speak with Sachin

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Books by Sachin Patel:

Perfect Practice: How to Build a Successful Functional Medical Business, Attract Your Ideal Patients, Serve Your Community and Get Paid What You’re Worth

The Motivation Molecule: The Biological Secrets To Eliminate Procrastination, Skyrocket Productivity, and Get Sh!t Done