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Posted on Friday November 28, 2025 in Metabolic Health
An article written by Dr Edward Leatham, Consultant Cardiologist © 2025 E.Leatham
A new SCVC book on personalised metabolic and cardiovascular health
At Surrey Cardiovascular Clinic, one consistent pattern stands out: even when two people share the same diagnosis or the same medication, their bodies respond differently. Appetite, sleep quality, glucose responses, muscle mass, cravings and stress patterns vary widely between individuals.
A new 24 page diary — N-of-1 — is written to reflect this reality.
As a companion book in the VAT-TRAP series, N-of-1 introduces the concept of personalised metabolic improvement: you are your own study, your own experiment, your own N-of-1 trial.
Whether you need to lower your blood pressure, weight or waist to improve your metabolic health and healthspan, the N-of-1 technique is a personalised experiment where you:
This mirrors how clinicians personalise treatment daily.
Rather than following generic rules, you work with your own biology — a precision-medicine approach that research increasingly supports¹².
The book series draws on years of cardiology practice treating people with raised visceral adipose tissue (VAT, or belly fat), metabolic drift, glucose variability, weight regain and midlife loss of metabolic flexibility.
A key insight emerged:
Metabolic decline is slow, subtle and often symptomless — and metabolic recovery must be slow, steady and data-guided.
VAT accumulates invisibly over years³⁻⁷.
Sleep disruption, glucose spikes, rising fasting insulin and gradual muscle loss quietly shift the brain’s “defended” weight set point.
Short programmes and rapid weight-loss plans do not reverse these deeper systems.
N-of-1 offers a more realistic path:
a structured, reflective approach that uses small weekly changes to drive measurable long-term improvement.
Modern cardiometabolic science makes this clear:
N-of-1 shows how to use these tools intelligently — without overwhelm.
Small weekly experiments guided by your own data, not guesswork.
Because VAT biology, mitochondrial function, appetite signalling and liver metabolism adapt gradually⁴⁻⁷.
Excerpts explain simply and practically.
Including glucose responses, body composition, measurement of VAT risk, and understanding GLP-1 effects.
Not via intensity or restriction, but by steady repetition, reflection and insight.
This book is suitable for:
Fast approaches often:
Slow change allows the body to realign core systems — hypothalamic signalling, insulin sensitivity, muscle glucose uptake and circadian rhythms⁴⁻⁷.
This is the physiological basis for N-of-1:
small, steady improvements beat dramatic short-term efforts.
GLP-1 mimetics such as semaglutide and tirzepatide:
But they must be paired with nutrition, sleep and resistance training if long-term metabolic stability is the goal⁹.
N-of-1 explains how to integrate medication safely into a sustainable metabolic plan, and how to taper thoughtfully when appropriate.
N-of-1 is not a diet, a challenge or a fixed programme.
It is a mindset — a precision, personalised approach to long-term health.
Using modern tools, weekly reflections and structured self-experimenting, the book helps you understand:
You cannot rush metabolic health.
But you can reclaim it — one week, one habit, one experiment at a time.
Learn more at: www.vat-trap.com
Or see the metabolic toolkit page to link to recommended books with a link to the N-of-1 companion diary
An article written by Dr Edward Leatham, Consultant Cardiologist Tags: VAT, Diabetes, NH1, search website using Tags to find related stories. While everyone might think the term ‘VAT’ stands for value added tax, we all need to recognise this new health […]
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