Zestt Wellness

08/04/2026

Most weight loss advice fails for one simple reason:

👉 It ignores your biology.

If you’ve ever felt like
you’re doing everything right…
but you're still stuck?

This is why.

When insulin is high, your body is in storage mode.

Not “burn fat” mode.
Not “use energy” mode.

👉 Store. Store. Store.

And here’s the kicker:

Even if you’ve got plenty of fat stored…
insulin levels block you from accessing it.

So what happens?

You get:
• Hungrier
• More cravings
• Stuck in a cycle that feels like a willpower problem

(It’s not.)

Now—this is where it gets interesting 👇

🥑 Fat doesn’t spike insulin much at all

So when you build meals with healthy fats, you:
✔ Stay fuller for longer
✔ Avoid the spike → crash → snack cycle
✔ Give your body a chance to actually burn stored fat

This isn’t about eating less.

It’s about changing the signal your body is getting.

Because once insulin settles…

✨ Hunger settles
✨ Energy lifts
✨ Fat loss happens

Your body isn’t broken.

It’s just been given the wrong instructions.

—

If this hit home, you’ll want to follow along -
I’m unpacking this and more on this page!

.biologist

07/04/2026

Insulin Resistance: The Metabolic Trap

I want to build on my last blog, where I stated that if you battle with weight issues, taking advice from people who have never been overweight might not be the best idea.

Here, I focus on the role that insulin plays in fat storage when you are overweight. I will also delve into how including fats in your diet might help with weight loss, which seems counterintuitive, but bear with me.

🙂 The normal function of insulin.

Under normal conditions, insulin rises after eating, helps move nutrients into cells and then falls again. The body easily switches between storing and burning energy - known as “metabolic flexibility.” It’s a good thing and allows our bodies to make optimal use of incoming fuel and stored energy.

When our bodies are healthy, we don’t notice any of this. However, as your weight creeps up, your biology changes. And herein lies the challenge; the change happens so slowly, you don’t realise what you’re losing.
What happens when the insulin loop starts to break down?

Like most systems in the body, the insulin loop can become dysregulated, especially after years of weight gain or high insulin exposure.

What most people don’t realise is that this insulin resistance path starts to happen well before a diagnosis of diabetes or chronic disease.

What's more, it is a vicious cycle 🔁

Once the cells in your body stop responding properly to insulin, your body produces more of it.

So, now you have:

⬆️ Higher baseline insulin
⬆️ Bigger spikes after meals
⬆️ Insulin staying elevated for longer

Now you are, in effect, swimming in insulin (slight exaggeration; it operates in tiny amounts, but it’s powerful). And it's doing its job - just more aggressively.

And that job is to:

-Store fat
-Prevent fat breakdown
-Keep energy locked away

So even when you have plenty of stored energy in the form of fat, your body struggles to access it.

Which leads to:

❌ More hunger
❌ More frequent eating
❌ More insulin release

And the cycle continues.

Here’s the crunch:

🔥 Insulin resistance doesn’t just make fat gain easier; it makes fat loss biologically harder.
This is why “eat less, move more” often fails over the long term for people who are overweight 🔥

Where Inflammation Fits In

Darcy’s favourite line is:
“Inflammation is the smoking gun at the scene of every crime.” 🔫

It’s not all about weight; it’s about what that excess weight does to your body (which I touched on last week, but here’s a little more).

Fat tissue (adipose tissue) is not passive. It’s an active endocrine organ.
In a lean state, it releases mostly anti-inflammatory signals.
But as fat tissue expands, particularly around the abdomen, it begins releasing more pro-inflammatory cytokines.

This creates a loop:

High insulin → increased fat storage → more inflammatory signalling → worsening insulin resistance → even higher insulin

Over time, this low-grade chronic inflammation can lead to:
❌ Type 2 diabetes
❌ Cardiovascular disease
❌ Joint degeneration
❌ Neurodegenerative conditions

So now we’re not just talking about body weight, we’re talking about system-wide stress on the body.

It’s not all bad - here’s what you can do

If insulin is driving your weight problem, then the strategy becomes simple in theory (and I recognise, not always so easy in practice):

Lower the insulin signal, without starving yourself

🤦🏽‍♀️ Having been on a multitude of diets myself, I know what it feels like to be constantly hungry and how quickly that turns into a starve-binge cycle which is not healthy mentally or physically.

This is where fat comes back into the conversation.

For decades, fat was positioned as the enemy. But metabolically, fat behaves differently from carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates → break down into glucose → raise insulin
Protein → can stimulate insulin and convert to glucose in excess
Fat → has minimal direct effect on insulin

That’s the key.
Fat allows you to eat in a way that:

✅ Keeps insulin relatively stable
✅ Provides steady energy
✅ Reduces hunger

So instead of constantly triggering “store mode,” you create the conditions for your body to access stored fat again (this is a good topic for next week - more on the metabolic switching).
Fat as a Practical Tool
This isn’t about eating unlimited fat or chasing extreme diets.
It’s about using fat strategically to manage your hunger and help you lose kilos.

When you include fat in your diet it:

✅ Slows digestion
✅ Improves satiety
✅ Reduces the need to snack

10 High-Fat, Satiating Foods to Build Meals Around

🥑 Avocado
Rich in healthy fats and fibre; excellent for fullness (and if you are lucky enough to have an avocado tree like Rose, my mother-in law, then avocados in smoothies are the bomb!).

🫒 Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Drizzle generously over salads, vegetables and protein.

🍳 Eggs (whole eggs)
Fat + protein combination makes them highly satisfying.

🍣 Fatty Fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel)
Packed with omega-3s and very filling.

🥩 Grass-fed Red Meat
A nutrient-dense staple with omega-3s such as EPA and DPA (a lesser-known but biologically important omega-3).

🥛 Full-Fat Greek Yoghurt
Creamy, nutrient-dense and easy to build meals around.

🥜 Nuts (walnuts, macadamias, almonds)
Energy-dense; best used with meals.

🧀 Cheese (cheddar, parmesan, feta)
Small amounts go a long way for satiety.

🧈 Butter or Ghee
Cook vegetables or protein in it to make meals more satisfying.

🫒 Olives
Underrated, portable and rich in healthy fats.

These fats:

✅ Keep insulin more stable
✅ Reduce hunger and cravings
✅ Support a shift toward fat being used as fuel.

The Bottom Line

If you’ve never struggled with weight, this may all sound unnecessary - and that’s okay.

But if you’ve been overweight or metabolically unwell, the biology changes.
Insulin rises. Fat storage increases. Inflammation builds.

And the system gets stuck.

Until you address insulin resistance, your body will continue to prioritise storing fat.

But when you lower insulin and use fat as a tool to make that sustainable, the system can start to shift.

🏆 Hunger settles
🏆 Energy lifts
🏆 Inflammation reduces
🏆 Weight starts to fall.

And for the first time in a long time, your body starts working with you, not against you 😊

26/03/2026

Obesity 💥
Don’t take Advice from Someone Who has never been Overweight

I had a brave doctor who addressed obesity with me. At the time, I was experiencing knee issues and trying to figure out what was going on - I wanted to get back on the hockey field. After many referrals and weeks of poking, prodding, twisting and scanning, it turned out that I had the beginnings of osteoarthritis in one of my knees.

The doctor told me, “It’s time to give up hockey and play golf instead.”
He then added, “You might want to lose some weight as well.”

What a brave man! My eyes popped—did he just say what I thought he said?

I felt like crying and laughing at the same time. It made me realise how tough a message it is for doctors to impart. I never saw him again (what would he know?), but I never forgot the conversation. I thank him for that. It helped me start moving the needle on my metabolic health (albeit slowly).

Here is the acid on obesity: it leads to poor metabolic function, which in turn drives chronic inflammation and contributes to chronic disease.

But here is the problem no one talks about.

⚠️ Once you have been overweight, the rules and biology that apply to lean people may not apply to you anymore.

And this is where things get interesting.

Much of the mainstream advice around weight assumes that obesity is simply about eating too much and moving too little, or calories in, calories out. But that explanation doesn’t match what many people experience, particularly those who have struggled with weight for years.

Right now, I am deeply diving into books by investigative health journalist, Gary Taubes (The Case for Keto, Rethinking Diabetes …).

He goes into the history of research into diets and diabetes - a fascinating read and argues that hormones, especially insulin, play a more central role once we have tipped into the overweight category.

When we eat foods that raise insulin (particularly refined carbohydrates and sugars), the body is signalled to store fat. Over time, persistently high insulin levels can make it harder for the body to access that stored fat for energy.

In other words, the biology shifts. Hunger, energy use and fat storage no longer behave in the same way they do in someone who has always been lean.

How I have come to think of it is that once you are overweight/obese, your body changes at multiple levels. Here’s an example.

Fat tissue can secrete more than 50 hormones and signalling molecules (referred to as adipokines). These adipokines play a crucial role in immunity and glucose metabolism.

Adipose tissue from lean individuals secretes anti-inflammatory adipokines.
In contrast, obese individuals have adipose tissue that predominantly secretes pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Scientists don’t fully understand why these pro-inflammatory cytokines are released, but one theory is that the body is trying to disrupt further fat storage when it senses excess.

Great plan, but not so useful when the calories keep coming, insulin remains elevated and the body slips into a state of sustained obesity and chronic inflammation.

Over time, this creates a vicious cycle. Elevated insulin promotes fat storage.
Expanding fat tissue increases inflammation. Inflammation worsens insulin resistance. And insulin levels rise further.

⚖ Calories-in Calories-out is too Simplistic a Solution for Long Term Weight Loss

This is why the experience of someone who has been overweight is fundamentally different to someone who has always been lean. It’s not just about willpower. It’s about biology that has adapted and in many cases, become dysregulated.

So when advice comes from someone who has never been overweight, “Just eat less,” “Just move more,” it can miss the mark entirely.

Because for many of us, the challenge is not simply how much we eat but how our bodies respond to what we eat 🥦

If this is you, then reducing foods that spike insulin can help shift the system back into balance. Appetite settles. Energy stabilises. Fat becomes more accessible as a fuel source again (I will discuss this in my next blog).

How to do this?

If you think you are in this category (and I am), it’s about balancing what you eat.
Reduce the foods (simple carbohydrates and sugars) that increase insulin levels - breads, potatoes, cakes etc 🍰

But don’t starve yourself and end up feeling ravenous all day - this is not a salad diet! Instead, replace these foods with:

✅ Fat (yes, I know!) - but fat does not increase insulin levels and is a legitimate fuel source;
✅ Protein - carefully, because this will break down into glucose if you overdo it
✅ Leafy greens and vegetables.

Does this sound difficult?

Here’s an example of the type of meals to eat which support sustainable weight loss without the hunger pangs and the yo-yo bounce back (providing insulin-inducing high carbs don’t sneak back into your diet)!

🥑 Salmon with a large leafy green salad (avocado, spinach, rocket, cucumber, herbs) dressed generously with olive oil and lemon, topped with a handful of nuts.

Eggs cooked in butter with sautéed mushrooms, zucchini and spinach, finished with feta and fresh herbs.
Roast chicken thighs (skin on) with broccoli and cauliflower, drizzled with olive oil or tahini dressing.
Pork belly, kale crisps and broccoli salad (that’s what I had for dinner last night!).
Greek yoghurt (full fat) with chia seeds, walnuts, almonds and berries.

These meals are not about restriction; they are about keeping insulin stable, staying full and giving your body access to its own stored energy again.

Darcy has lost 40kg eating like this, and I have lost 10kg. However, it’s a long-term change, not a quick weight loss journey.

The question to ask yourself when you look at food is - how much will this raise my insulin levels?

20/03/2026

If You Could Age Backwards … Would You?
🫁 The latest research into lung fibrosis repair

My Grandpa used to tell me stories - larakin tales from his boyhood as well as more circumspect reflections of World War II, electronics, farming, family and everything in between. At the end of a story, he would often say,

“But I wouldn’t go back.”

He would have been in his seventies, and to me, he was an old man. I found it hard to believe that he would choose to stay an old man, rather than go back to being his younger self.

As I age, I understand his sentiment. It’s great to reflect with my daughter about my old boyfriends, but I wouldn't want to be her age again. Similarly, I would love my body to do and look like it was in my twenties, but that would mean having to live through all those tough (yet wonderful) years again.

Of course, it’s all theoretical, as much as we might want to, we can’t go back in time.

Yet this week, I had lunch with a colleague whom I had worked with decades ago. His name is Dr Chunyi Li, and he is a globally recognised expert in deer antler regeneration.

How are deer antlers relevant?

Well, the cells that regenerate deer antlers are unusual.
Unlike almost any other tissue in mammals, deer antlers regrow completely every year. Not repair—regrow. Fast, full and scar-free. That makes them one of the most intriguing models in biology for understanding regeneration and ageing.

Dr Li’s research has taken this one step further, asking whether the same biology that allows a deer to regrow an antler could help humans heal damaged lung tissue (published in Nature).

In particular, scientists have been studying tiny particles released by these antler stem cells called exosomes. Think of them as biological “messages in a bottle,” packages of proteins and genetic signals that tell other cells what to do.

Instead of transplanting stem cells, researchers used the exosomes in a mouse model of pulmonary fibrosis - a disease where lung tissue becomes stiff and scarred, making it progressively harder to breathe.

The results were striking.

The treated mice had less lung damage, less scarring and better survival. But what’s particularly interesting is how this happened.

Most medical approaches to fibrosis aim to alter the behaviour of immune cells once they arrive at a damaged site. This research suggests a different strategy: stop the wrong cells from showing up in the first place.

The antler-derived exosomes reduced the number of inflammatory immune cells that drive fibrosis. They did this by reducing chemical signals that normally attract these immune cells to injured tissue.

Fewer inflammatory cells means less scarring.

It’s a subtle but powerful shift in thinking. Rather than trying to fix the damage once it’s underway, the body is nudged to avoid overreacting in the first place.

There’s also something deeper here.

As we age, many of our chronic diseases, from lung fibrosis to metabolic dysfunction, are driven not just by damage, but by dysregulated repair. Too much inflammation. Too much scarring. Not enough regeneration.

Deer antlers don’t follow the script.

They don’t “go back in time.” They don’t become young again. But they do retain the ability to rebuild complex tissue in a controlled, efficient and scar-free way.

We’re still a long way from turning antler biology into human therapies - but you can bet I discussed this with Dr Li!

His research opens an intriguing door: what if healthy ageing isn’t about trying to return to youth, but about learning how to repair better, respond better, and regenerate more intelligently?

My grandfather was right; not many of us would truly choose to go back.

But perhaps, with help from nature, we can live with vigour for longer.

26/02/2026

Eating for Immunity 🥬 🥩

Beyond Boosting - The Biology of Food and Immune Health

The number of people who look at me like I am a whack job when I talk about food and immunity is high. Immediately, I am banished into the world of alternative therapy and magicians. I am not sure why. The old adage “Food be thy medicine, medicine be thy food” is widely accepted, yet we don’t seem to make the direct connection between food and health, unless we are talking about obesity.

But food and health are far more than just whether someone is overweight. Let’s take a look at food and its connection with immune health.

The Immune System is Not Static

✅ The immune system adapts and changes from birth through old age with two interacting pathways:

✅ The innate immune response, which reacts quickly and nonspecifically to pathogens (and other invaders)

✅ The adaptive immune response, which builds memory and long-term recognition of pathogens.

As you age, your immune system can deteriorate in the following ways:

⬇️ Diminished T-cell function (a type of white blood cell)

⬇️ Reduced antibody production

⬆️ Chronic low-grade inflammation.

The interacting parts of your immune system mean a single immune booster is simplistic. What needs to happen is consistent support for the whole system through your lifestyle, including diet, sleep, movement, social connectivity and managing stress levels.

🫛 Nutrition as a Modulator of Immunity

Nutrients and dietary patterns affect immune cells, inflammation pathways and gut microbiota. Certain micronutrients are essential for immune function, including:

✅ Vitamin D supports innate and adaptive immunity

✅ Zinc and selenium are involved in antioxidant and antiviral mechanisms

✅ Vitamin C supports barrier function and immune cell activity

✅ B vitamins vital for energy metabolism and immune cell proliferation.

Beyond vitamins and minerals, plant bioactives such as polyphenols and flavonoids, which are found in colourful fruits, vegetables, teas and spices, support immune defences by modulating inflammation and enhancing antioxidant capacity.

Oxidative Stress: The Invisible Link Between Diet, Ageing and Immunity

As you age, your body's oxidative stress increases. Every cell in your body produces reactive oxygen species as part of normal metabolism. In excess, these molecules damage DNA, proteins and membranes, accelerating ageing and impairing immune signalling.

Many of the same nutrients that support immune cells (micronutrients, vitamins, and plant compounds) also play roles in antioxidant defence. A diet rich in colourful plants increases antioxidants throughout your body, neutralising the reactive oxidative species.

🌏 A Holistic View

The word “holistic” often triggers eye-rolling, yet the biology is undeniably interconnected. Nutrients shape immune cell metabolism, influence the microbiome and regulate inflammatory pathways. Diet interacts with sleep, movement, stress and social connection to determine how effectively the immune system responds.

💥 These daily inputs matter more over time because immune function shifts with age.

23/02/2026

What Comes First? Autoimmune Disease or Gut Health Problems?

It's a chicken-and-egg question 🐣, but whatever the answer, part of the solution is to improve your gut health.

Darcy, Zestt's cofounder, suffers from Sarcoidosis and Ankylosing Spondylitis and had an autoimmune system that was raging.

Pharmaceuticals calmed his system down for the short term, but added to his gut health problems.

Darcy knew he also needed to make lifestyle changes to get back to full health. The changes he made meant he went from 26 pharmaceuticals to 3.

The changes Darcy made were:
🥬 Diet: high-fibre, protein and fat, low sugar and processed foods.
💤 Improving sleep routine
🚴‍♂️ Regular exercise: walking, cycling and muscle building
⭐️ Zestt Gut+ and Zestt Breathe+ lozenges for digestive and respiratory health

Go to Zestt Wellness for more stories and information
www.zesttwellness.com

20/02/2026

A recent randomised controlled trial tested a “big breakfast” weight loss approach.

Participants ate
45% of their daily calories at breakfast
35% at lunch
20% at dinner

for four weeks.

All meals were provided. Calories were controlled.

One breakfast was high in protein.
The other was high in fibre.

Both diets led to weight loss, with the high-fibre diet losing more weight:
4.9kg for high-fibre
3.9 kg for high-protein

Other findings:

The high-protein breakfast suppressed appetite more
The high-fibre breakfast improved gut microbiome biomarkers

The Zestt Takeaway

Combine a high-fibre, high-protein breakfast if you want to:
✅ Lose weight
✅ Feel fuller for longer
✅ Improve your gut health.

🔥 Include Zestt Gut+ lozenges for better metabolic health

The study was published in 2026 in the British Journal of Nutrition.

17/02/2026

17/02/2026

I grew up believing women were at lower risk of heart disease than men.
At least that's what my Dad told me and he was a doctor.
He was right - until women hit menopause.

After menopause, women have the SAME risk of dying from cardiovascular disease as men. 💔

And yet
• Most women do not know this
• We are underdiagnosed
• We are often dismissed

It is time to retire this myth. 🚫

Here is what is really happening:

🔎 For women, the symptoms do not fit the textbook; medical diagnostics were built around male coronary disease.

Women are more likely to have these issues:
• Microvascular dysfunction
• Diffuse plaque
• Fatigue, nausea, breathlessness
• Jaw or back discomfort (instead of crushing chest pain)

Tests can look normal.
Disease can still be present.

📉 And for women, risk gets minimised

• Abdominal weight gain is dismissed as just menopause
• Blood pressure creeping up is described as "borderline" or a "bit high"

🧠 Women are told it's in their heads

Women with palpitations chest tightness, fatigue, or dizziness are more likely to be told it is stress or anxiety.

Advocate for yourself.
Push for appropriate testing.

What to do

1️⃣ Know your numbers
Blood pressure
Lipids, including LDL and ApoB
Glucose and HbA1c
Hip to waist ratio

2️⃣ Do not ignore subtle changes
New breathlessness
Reduced ability to exercise or do things you used to do easily
Unusual fatigue
That quiet inner voice saying something is not right

Ask your doctor directly

💥 Could this be Cardiovascular?

Here is the truth:

Women after menopause have been understudied and underestimated for decades.

Your cardiovascular health is not background noise.

It is central to how well you age.

Treat it that way. ❤️

17/02/2026

Darcy Schack, the CoFounder of Zestt Wellness, suffers from two autoimmune diseases: sarcoidosis and ankylosing spondylitis.

As part of his disease, managing his gut health has been a constant challenge.

Listen to his tips on managing gut dysbiosis.

13/02/2026

Zestt Wellness wishes You a Happy Chinese New Year!
Year of the horse 🐎