How does Food affect
your Metabolism
In scientific term, metabolism is
the chemical process that occurs in a living organism in order to maintain
life. Metabolism has three main functions in the body. First of all, its main
function is to convert food/fuel for cellular process. The second function of
metabolism is to convert food into building blocks such as proteins, fats,
lipids and carbohydrates. The last function is to remove nitrogenous waste from
the body. The word metabolism can also refer to
the sum of all chemical reactions that occur in living organisms, including
digestion and the transport of substances into and between different cells.
However, in general a slow metabolic rate means your body absorbs more and
makes you heavy. People with a fast metabolism don’t gain so much after eating
much. If you are eating next to nothing and still are unable to lose weight
this could be because of a slow metabolism.
Diet and Metabolism
Other than genes, gender, age and
body type, you diet may play a key role in affecting your metabolism. If you
are unable to lose weight or are too skinny this is because of your metabolism.
Your diet may have an effect on your metabolism. Some foods are easier to break
down than others. For example, junk food or highly processed food is high in
calories and easier to digest. If you have been eating junk food for a long
period of time your body may have adapted to an easier digestive routine. This
will slow down your resting metabolic and make you fat.
Your metabolism may also be
dependent on hormones in your body. Foods may cause hormonal changes in the
body which may in directly cause changes in your metabolism. If your diet
consists of foods high in sugar, keep in mind that Sugar leads to the spikes of
the hormone insulin, which works to move the sugar out of the blood stream and
into the cells. Normally, the body needs to have a balanced intake of sugars,
proteins, and fats to choose from to get energy. A healthy body with balanced
hormones is able to shift back and forth between sugar and fat metabolism. When
you eat a diet high in sugar, your insulin levels will be elevated chronically
until such time that your cells will develop resistance. As this is happening,
your body is focusing more on insulin and processing the sugar and not on the
other hormones, causing an imbalance in estrogen, testosterone, progesterone
and other hormones. An imbalance of the hormones in the body may also affect
your metabolism.
If you often find yourself
craving for sugar this may be a sign. When your body’s blood sugar levels drop,
you might find yourself craving sugar and calories to make up for it. In
addition to regulating when stored fat is converted into energy, your adrenal
glands keep your metabolism functioning properly. If your adrenal glands are
‘out of whack’ and you find yourself craving sugar to make up for a lack of
energy, it may be an indicator that your metabolism is affected as well.
Your thyroid Gland is an
important gland of the body which controls a lot of important bodily functions
such as metabolism. You should eat cruciferous vegetables to boost glutathione
levels to maintain thyroid function.
Foods may alter your metabolism
by causing:
·
Hormonal changes in the body
·
Changes in the flora of the gut
·
Insulin resistance
·
Changes in thyroid due to poor nutrition
5 foods that may cause
a slow metabolism
1 White flour
Although that bread tastes so good and you
can’t keep your hands off it, you may still wanna aloof yourself from ingesting
it. White flour is processed wheat that has all of the wheat grains' best
attributes, like fiber and antioxidants, stripped away. As a result, you're
left with something that might have a better taste and texture, but is incredibly
low in nutrient quality. What's worse, because white flour has little to no
fiber, which actually slows down digestion, your body breaks it down more
quickly than whole wheat goods. The body does not have to burn any extra
calories to try to break down these easy-to-digest-foods, leaving your metabolism
operating at a slower level.
Farmed beef (vs. grass-fed)
Farmed beef has more antibiotics
than grass-fed beef. Ingesting meat with antibiotics causes us to gain
weight. This may be due to the fact the antibiotics alter the gut flora in our
digestive systems. One should try to refrain from eating Farmed beef.
Conventional apples
Although a fruit like apple may
not sound hurting at all but this may not be the case always. A study published
in Environmental Health Perspectives claims that a type of
fungicide applied on fruits and vegetables caused weight gain in mice, and
researchers hypothesize that the same is true for humans. So just when you
thought you were eating a healthy piece of fruit, the truth is, it could
actually be impairing weight loss. By limiting your exposure to fruits with
pesticides you will able to maintain a healthy metabolism. Always wash your
fruits thoroughly before eating them.
Omega-6 fatty acids
You must have heard of the
benefits of omega-3 fatty acids—you know, the ones you find in chia seeds,
walnuts, wild-caught salmon, and egg yolks—but those are not to be misjudged
with omega-6 fatty acids. The latter, present in foods like butter, pork
products, chicken-thighs, biscuits may be responsible for slowing metabolism. Diet
used to be balanced in both omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, before, but today,
higher processing has filled with vegetable oils and hydrogenated fats,
both high sources of omega-6, which are pro-inflammatory, and the consumption
of these are correlated with obesity. Omega 6 fatty acids are responsible for
slowing down your metabolism.
Fizzy Drink high Fructose corn syrup
High-fructose-corn-syrup is
an ingredient you should refrain from consuming. It can cause "metabolic
syndrome, essentially a group of risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and
stroke. This sweetener, present in many processed foods and fizzy drinks,
is as damaging as it is cheap. It has been argued that fructose consumed in the
same quantities as other sugar has more damaging effects on the metabolism.
A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded
that high fructose corn syrup may lead to obesity because of its ill effects on
the metabolism.
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