Six ways to help your metabolism

Robin and I have both heard more times than we can count, “I wish I could speed up my metabolism”. We at some point, we may have even said those words ourselves. Today we are going to talk about what people really want when they say they want a faster metabolism (which is probably to be able to eat whatever they want without gaining weight), why a faster metabolism is scientifically hard to accomplish, and why you really don’t want a faster metabolism, for example many small animals, like squirrels, have a very fast metabolism, but accompanying that is a very short life span. The cost of a faster metabolism can be seen as a shorter life.

Dr. Kevin Hall at the National Institute of Health (NIH) summarized metabolism like this- It is the “complex sequence of chemical reactions inside every cell in our body that harnesses the flow of energy and matter to basically create all that we are and all that we do”. So metabolism is every chemical reaction in our bodies and has different steps and chemical reactions depending on whether we ate carbohydrates, proteins, or fats, but each results in energy to fuel us. These complex chemical reactions that are always going on, consume the vast majority of our calories every day. You read that right…  Breathing, keeping your heart beating, digesting, cell repair/regeneration, and thinking use more calories every day than movement/exercise. Our brain alone consumes about 20% of our calorie intake. That usage that everyone says they want to increase is called our basal metabolic rate (BMR). The BMR can be measured in a number of ways, but the NIH uses OXYGEN in vs CARBON DIOXIDE out which shows how many calories a day a person expends taking care of those basic functions.

These complex chemical reactions are pretty similar in all of us. There are some differences in BMR for much larger or smaller people, but after adjusting for size differences, the calorie requirements, or burned calories, only differs by about 300 calories per day. Controlled, scientific studies have found time and time again that it is much easier to slow someone’s metabolism than it is to speed it up. Outside of banned substances, like ephedrine, or being pregnant, the only significant increase in BMR comes from drinking water- so more on that later. Conversely, lowering our metabolism comes much easier. FAD or crash diets, insulin resistance, gal bladder, thyroid, or sleep problems will all lower our metabolism. Inflammatory foods like gluten, dairy, highly refined oils, and highly processed foods will lead to insulin resistance, gal bladder and thyroid problems (among others). FAD and crash diets often result in weight loss because of muscle loss, and muscles are cells. Less cells for your metabolism to work on equals lower metabolism.

Earlier I mentioned insulin resistance and the gal bladder which both deserve a little more discussion. Two out of five (40%) of people who develop insulin resistance will develop type 2 diabetes, and insulin resistance is way more common than you think. Anyone who eats a lot of processed foods or foods with added sugar are at risk, but so are people who routinely load up on white bread, rice, and pasta. These refined carbs, with little fiber, spike blood sugar and lead to insulin resistance. Make sure to check your fasting blood sugar and your A1C every year when you have your physical. When someone is insulin resistant the insulin receptors don’t take up the insulin and then the sugar in your blood doesn’t get used up, resulting in high insulin, because you need to release more to get the same effect, and high blood sugar. The excess sugar in the blood gets converted to fat and stored. Fat cells don’t get repaired or regenerated so don’t do anything good for your metabolism. The Gal bladder is a little simpler to describe- it directly effects the thyroid. A sluggish gal bladder drags down the thyroid function and many of us have heard how a misfiring thyroid causes weight gain (or even know someone struggling with weight due to thyroid problems).

How then do we actually keep our metabolism and if not speed it up, at least prevent it from slowing down? Well, there are about six ways you can impact your metabolism, either directly or indirectly. I will list them and then go into each of them a little more. We could go into each of them a lot deeper but then this blog would become a short book instead of a quick primer.

1. Eat whole foods.

2. Eat enough.

3. Eat consistently.

4. Sleep enough.

5. Stay hydrated.

6. Move your body.

First on the list- eat whole foods. This can not be stated enough! If you eat foods that aren’t processed, don’t have ingredients list, and don’t contain added sugar you will have a hard time eating too many calories and your blood sugar and A1C will naturally go down. Skip the processed foods, refined carbs, and added sugar, add some healthy fats into your diet, and your body will thank you in countless ways.

Next eat enough and eat consistently. When you don’t eat enough, your body tries to save calories by skipping essential functions like cell repair and cognition, or cognitive tasks, and keeping your blood pressure, pulse, breathing, and other behind the scenes functions running smoothly. So eating enough and consistently is critical to keeping our metabolism up to speed, so to speak. While there is something to be said for fasting and intermittent fasting, it can be counterproductive to our metabolism if not done correctly. Eating 3-4 times per day is generally better for it.

Coming in at number 4 but just as important as eating, is getting 7-9 hours of sleep per night. You may think you feel ok after 5 or 6 hours but research proves that 90% of adults need 7-9 hours. When we don’t get this much sleep, our blood sugar patterns get screwy and our cortisol (stress hormone) shoots up, both of which lower our metabolism.

Then there is the age old advice to stay hydrated, but with a twist. Recent research showed that getting two cups of water (16 oz) caused a 60% increase in norepinephrine and increased the BMR of men and women in the study by 30% and it stayed higher for up to 90 minutes.

And finally, move your body. While movement only accounts for around 10% of our calories burned per day, the overall impact on your metabolism can be much greater. Movement encourages cell growth and regeneration, increased cognition, and improvements to a host of other bodily functions, including our cardiovascular health.

Metabolism is a part of everything our body does whether we are aware of it and actively involved or whether it is automatic like breathing or our heart beat. Rather than try to adjust it, or a magic pill to speed it up, we will do our best for our metabolism by giving our bodies the right fuel, along with plenty of water and some healthy, fun movement.

Here’s to your health!