PRACTICAL WAYS TO BOOST OUR METABOLISM – PART I

Another benefit to eating enough throughout the day is that you will have a healthier relationship with food – and who doesn’t need that. Being deprived can increase cravings and cause you to be preoccupied with food. Balance and moderation of the right foods will help you make better decisions long term, and you will be able to go longer periods without snacks and avoid blood sugar and mood fluctuations.

Get Plenty of Rest. There is a proven link between proper metabolism and getting adequate sleep and rest. Lack of sleep can mean lack of weight loss, because the body works to conserve energy when it is fatigued. Seven to nine hours are needed every night to keep hormone levels in check – including our stress hormone, cortisol. High cortisol levels are directly associated with lack of sleep, weight gain and insulin resistance. It’s not just any old weight gain either. It’s visceral fat, which is the fat around our organs that creates inflammation in the body.

Do Surge Exercises or HIIT Training. Exercise isn’t necessary for weight loss for the majority of our clients, but that doesn’t mean exercise isn’t important or helpful for weight loss. If you stay active and maintain your muscle mass, your metabolism won’t decline as much as you age. HIIT or Surge is a form of exercise that utilizes intervals that alternate between all-out effort and a short period of rest. It is known for jump starting metabolism. This form of exercise actually helps the body to burn fat for up to 36 hours after your workout is over. It is anaerobic exercise and is different than aerobic, which doesn’t contain a rest cycle and only burns in the moment. Aerobic exercise produces cortisol, which can increase blood sugar and actually make weight loss difficult or even cause you to gain. The best part about Surge or HIIT is that it only takes 12-15 minutes three times a week, yet it provides greater results.

HIIT/Surge actually uses higher levels of oxygen to recover following intense physical activity and burns more fat over the course of the day. It also builds more muscle, improves metabolic function and improves insulin resistance.

Start Lifting Weights. This can help increase your metabolic weight because it builds lean muscle mass, which burns more energy than fat. You can do this simply with dumbbells or body resistance moves at home or with equipment at a local gym. Try to do several reps of each muscle area 3-5 days a week. It doesn’t have to involve heavy weights, either.

Avoid Inflammatory Foods. Certain foods slow down digestive processes and increase free radical damage. The body actually recognizes and processes inflammatory foods as toxins. Eating these triggers causes your body to engage it’s fight or flight response, increasing your stress hormone (cortisol) production and slowing metabolic function. That’s one of the reasons why your GHS weight loss plan is anti-inflammatory.

Inflammatory foods include: sugary drinks and sweets, processed foods made with grains – especially those containing gluten (like cereals, crackers, bread, pasta, desserts, chips and granola bars). Granola bars are really just candy bars trying to disguise themselves as health food. All refined vegetable oils like corn, soybean, canola and cottonseed; artificial sweeteners and ingredients and preservatives, and low-quality dairy and animal products.

Next week we will look at a few metabolic power foods, and foods that work against your metabolism.