Firstly, what the hell is metabolism? Well, by definition it’s the set of chemical reactions that happen in living organisms to maintain life. In other words, your biochemistry. How efficiently this works varies from person to person dependent on a number of factors, including but not limited too;
• Body Size ( the larger the person, the more cells to maintain)
• Body composition (ratio of fat to muscle on a body)
• Age (unfortunately our metabolisms inevitably slow down with age)
• Diet (what you put in your mouth effects metabolism)
• Hormones (play a key role in the effective workings of your metabolism)
• Psychological state (stress and anxiety can upset metabolism)
• Drugs (many pharmaceuticals can influence the metabolic rate)
So what are some things we can change in order to affect our metabolism and get in kicking and working in tip top shape? Well, we can’t rightly change body size, no matter how much you’d like to be a few inches taller it’s not going to happen, so just stick to the jimmy Choos for that! Age, is not something we can change either unfortunately because as much as we’d love to stay forever 21, it ain’t going to happen in this lifetime anyway. But we do have control over our diet, and body composition, our psychological state and the drugs we take, all which affect the hormones that rev our metabolism and can keep it at a fat-burning pace (which is where we want it)!
I don’t want to get all scientific on you here but a healthy diet, regular exercise, and de-stressing all have positive influence on little hormones like Insulin, Leptin, Cortisol and Ghrelin, to name a few, which ultimately decide whether you will continue stacking the weight on or whether you will burn it all off.
The problem with our society today is that these little hormones are all out of whack in our bodies, (too much of one and not enough of another). For example, too much insulin circulating in the body all the time can lead to Diabetes. But what causes the excess insulin? Blood sugar spikes from the foods we consume. Eating too many refined high carb foods like doughnuts, and French fries and bread.
All that refined, processed anti-food garbage we shovel into our mouths day after day, and not to mention all the toxins and pollutants in our air and our products at home have thrown our chemical balance all off. But it is not too late to fix it.
• Constant yo-yo dieting is not the way to fix a metabolism, in fact it severely disrupts it and causes a lot of damage. But adopting a healthy diet for life, free of refined foods like white sugar, white flour, trans- fats, hydrogenated anything, foods with ingredients you can’t pronounce, but full of wholesome real foods like fruits and vegetable and organic meat and dairy, can all aid in restoring the balance of your metabolism.
• Exercising is another great way to restore the metabolism to proper working order. It affects the amount of lean muscle to fat ratio in your body, and muscle burns fat by increasing your metabolic rate. Exercise not only stimulates your muscles during a workout but for hours afterwards.
• De-stressing is easier said than done I know, but stress really is I believe the number one silent killer. Make sure you take time to relax every day. Adopt a form of meditation, even if it’s just some occasional deep breathing throughout the day, or join a Yoga class, get eight hours good quality sleep a night and don’t work ridiculously long hours a week.
It seems like simple advice but you must follow it if you want to balance out the destructive behavior that has caused your metabolism to slow down. Remember all those little hormones are there for you, waiting for you to help them out and give them what they need to work properly and build up and break down the energy stores and body tissues like they’re supposed to in order to keep your body healthy. Help them out! Feed your body nutritious foods, get out there for a brisk walk, take a long relaxing bath and you’ll see your body returning the favor both physically and mentally!
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