You’ve probably seen the name Calley Means popping up in your feed lately. Maybe it was on a Joe Rogan clip, or perhaps you saw him testifying about the "unholy trinity" of the American food system. People are constantly searching for what "good energy Calley Means" actually signifies. Is it just another wellness buzzword? Honestly, it’s a lot deeper than that.
It isn't some New Age "vibe" or a spiritual aura. When Calley and his sister, Dr. Casey Means, talk about Good Energy, they are talking about your mitochondria. Specifically, they are talking about the literal, biological ability of your 37 trillion cells to take food and oxygen and turn them into the fuel that runs your life.
When your cells do this well, you have Good Energy. When they don't, you get what they call "Bad Energy," which manifests as everything from brain fog and acne to the "big" chronic diseases we all fear.
The Real Story Behind the Movement
Calley Means didn't start as a health guru. He was a lobbyist. He worked for Big Food and Big Pharma. He saw the "playbook" from the inside. Basically, he realized that the system is designed to keep people just sick enough to need lifelong medication but not so sick they stop working.
The turning point was personal. Calley and Casey lost their mother to pancreatic cancer in 2021. It was a wake-up call. They realized that the medical system—the one Casey was trained in as a Stanford surgeon—was excellent at managing late-stage symptoms but almost completely blind to the root causes.
That root cause? Metabolic dysfunction.
What Most People Get Wrong About Metabolic Health
Most folks think "metabolism" just means how fast you can burn off a slice of pizza. That's a tiny part of it.
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Metabolism is the process of energy production in the body. If your cells can't produce energy efficiently, your body enters a state of "threat." It starts prioritizing survival over thriving. This leads to chronic inflammation and oxidative stress.
According to the research cited in the book Good Energy, roughly 93% of American adults are metabolically unhealthy. That is a staggering number. It means almost all of us have some level of "Bad Energy" brewing under the surface.
The Five Biomarkers You Need to Watch
If you want to know if you actually have Good Energy, you can't just go by how you feel. Feelings are subjective. Data isn't. Calley and Casey advocate for tracking five specific metrics that most doctors might gloss over unless they're already "out of range."
- Triglycerides: Ideally under 100 mg/dL.
- HDL Cholesterol: Ideally over 50 mg/dL for women and 40 mg/dL for men.
- Waist Circumference: Ideally less than half your height.
- Blood Pressure: Ideally 120/80 or lower without medication.
- Fasting Glucose: Ideally under 100 mg/dL (many functional medicine experts prefer under 90).
If even one of these is off, you’ve got a metabolic "smoke detector" going off.
The "Unholy Trinity" of the Modern Diet
Calley is particularly vocal about the three things destroying our cellular health. He calls them the "Unholy Trinity." These aren't just "unhealthy" snacks; they are biological disruptors that tell your cells to stop making energy properly.
- Refined Sugars: They spike your insulin and eventually make your cells "deaf" to the signal (insulin resistance).
- Refined Grains: These are essentially sugar in a different costume. They lack fiber, so they hit your bloodstream like a freight train.
- Industrial Seed Oils: Think soybean, canola, and corn oil. These are highly processed and high in omega-6 fatty acids, which can trigger systemic inflammation.
It's kinda wild when you look at a grocery store and realize that 80% of the products on the shelves contain at least two of these three ingredients.
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It's Not Just About Food
One thing the "Good Energy" framework gets right—that many diets miss—is that our environment affects our mitochondria just as much as our lunch does.
We are biological creatures living in a digital, indoor world. Our bodies evolved to be in sync with the sun. When we stare at blue light from phones at 11 PM, we are telling our mitochondria it’s midday. This creates "circadian mismatch."
Your cells don't know whether to store energy or spend it. The result? You wake up tired even after eight hours of sleep.
Why Movement Matters (Beyond Burning Calories)
In the world of Calley Means, exercise isn't about punishment for what you ate. It's about "mitochondrial biogenesis." Basically, when you move, you're telling your body, "Hey, I need more energy!" Your body responds by literally making more mitochondria.
More mitochondria = more Good Energy.
You don't need to run a marathon. Even "soleus pushups" (lifting your heels while sitting) or a 10-minute walk after a meal can significantly lower your post-meal glucose spike. It's about consistency, not intensity.
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Actionable Steps to Reclaim Your Energy
So, what does this actually look like in real life? It’s not about a 4-week "cleanse" and then going back to old habits. It’s a shift in how you view every input into your body.
Audit Your Kitchen
Go through your pantry. If a food has soybean oil, "enriched" flour, or added sugar in the first three ingredients, it’s a Bad Energy source. Replace them with whole, one-ingredient foods. Think avocados, wild-caught fish, and colorful vegetables.
Fix Your Light Hygiene
This is a big one. Try to get 10 minutes of direct sunlight in your eyes (without sunglasses) within an hour of waking up. This sets your master clock. Conversely, use blue-light-blocking filters or glasses after the sun goes down.
Demand Better Data
Next time you see your doctor, don't just settle for "your labs look normal." Ask for the raw numbers. If your fasting glucose is 99, you are technically "normal," but you are on the edge of a cliff. Use tools like Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) if you can access them. They provide real-time feedback on how that "healthy" oatmeal is actually affecting your blood sugar.
Build Muscle
Muscle is your body’s largest "glucose sink." The more muscle you have, the more "room" your body has to store sugar without it causing damage to your system. Resistance training twice a week is a non-negotiable for metabolic health.
Manage Biochemical Fear
Chronic stress is a metabolic toxin. When you are constantly in "fight or flight," your body releases cortisol, which dumps sugar into your bloodstream for a "fight" that never happens. This leads to fat storage and energy crashes. Find a way to signal safety to your body—whether that's through breathwork, time in nature, or just turning off the news.
The "Good Energy" movement is really just a return to biological common sense. It’s about realizing that we aren't just a collection of symptoms to be treated by different specialists. We are a single, integrated system powered by the energy produced in our cells.
When you fix the energy production, the symptoms often take care of themselves. That is the core message Calley Means is trying to get across to a country that is increasingly sick, tired, and over-medicated. It’s about taking the power back from a system that profits from your dysfunction and putting it back into your own hands—and your own mitochondria.