Metabolism – What Is it?

Metabolism is a word which is bandied about frequently when it comes to health and weight management. What is it actually, and how does it affect your system?

Your metabolism is a collection of processes, as opposed to one ‘thing.’ It keeps you alive – just as you can’t put your hand on ‘breathing,’ the same is true of metabolism. In a nutshell, metabolism is the outcome of physical and chemical processes combined, which produce energy.

Information comes from your brain, via your thyroid, pituitary gland and hypothalamus, which instructs your metabolism which speed to run at, based on your energy requirements and external factors.

Your metabolism can be affected by a range of things including:
– your age
– your gender
– your body composition i.e. muscle-to-fat ratio
– your diet
– your level of physical activity
– overall lifestyle

Your age and gender tend to have the greatest impact on the efficiency of your metabolism (sadly!), but you can make a considerable contribution to a healthy metabolism by the food you eat.

To keep your metabolism and therefore, all the processes in your body running smoothly, you need to make sure that you’re giving your body the fuel it needs – energy. Every metabolic process in the body requires energy to occur.

Your ‘metabolic rate’ is the speed at which your body burns energy to function. There are a few ways you can increase your metabolic rate (which is the aim of many people who would like to lose weight). Firstly, here is typically how the food you eat is put to work:

• 60-70% of the total energy your body uses is for vital functions such as breathing, heart rate, and regulating body temperature.
• 15-30% is used by daily activities such as physical activity, housework, gardening, exercise etc
• 10-15% fuels your digestive processes – to break down food into useable compounds to repair, rejuvenate your body

To promote optimal health, support your metabolism by focusing on a healthy diet and lifestyle.

• Eat a diet mostly comprised of whole foods (minimally processed)
• Hydrate well with water
• Increase your intake of colourful fruit and vegetables for quality nutrients and fibre
• Eat lean protein, which helps maintain lean muscle mass
• Eat more slowly and stop when you feel satisfied, not full
• Choose healthy fats for their anti-inflammatory properties (olive oil, fish, nuts, seeds, coconut oil)
• Support your thyroid by eating iodine-rich foods (seafood and dark green vegetables), and those containing selenium (brazil nuts, tuna, mushrooms and sunflower seeds)
• Keep up your vitamin D levels by spending 10-15 minutes in the sun at safe times of the day (eg morning and late afternoon)
• Exercise regularly to maintain muscle mass, which requires more energy than fat to maintain, thus requiring your body to burn more energy.

Your metabolism is the fire that keeps your body burning. Feed it well and take good care of its processes.