Metabolism 101

I thought since I refer to our metabolism, oh... just about every post,  I'd do some explaining specifically on our metabolism, instead of only explaining how food and exercise affect it.  I like the explanation the Flat Belly Diet from Preventative gives for the metabolism:

"The word metabolism refers to the number of calories you burn per day. Some of that comes from the energy your cells use to perform everyday lifesaving functions...That's called your basal metabolic rate.

You also burn calories through activity, whether that's taking out the garbage or running a 5-k. The last piece of the metabolism puzzle comes from digesting your food, which burns calories. This is called the "thermic effect" of food. The sum of all the calories you burn (basal + activity + digestion) equals your total metabolism, or total metabolic rate.

"Being less active affects your metabolism in two ways: it makes the second 'plus' in this equation smaller, but you also lose muscle, which reduces the basal number in the equation."

Ah ha.  So basically you want that Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR to be as HIGH as possible because that means you're burning the most amount of calories during the day, without even trying.   That's why it's important to stick with whole foods, avoid trans fats or man made foods, and stay active.  That doesn't mean going to the gym for a half hour everyday, but laying around for the rest of the day.  (Who has the time to do that anyways?)  But, trying to stay active during the day besides your work out is important too.

Hopefully now when you read posts about specific things to eat or avoid eating and how they affect your metabolism, you will understand it better because you understand that your metabolism is the key to the way you look, and feel.

In a nut shell - it's all about your metabolism baby!  You take care of it, and it will surely turn around and return the favor.  Unfortunately the opposite is also true.  If you neglect it and don't take very good care of it, it won't work as hard for you and burn as much as you'd like.  So baby that metabolism by staying active, eating whole foods, and avoiding junk such as:

• Refined or non-whole grain flour products, all types of bagels, breads, rolls, wraps, and pastas
• Sugar- candy, cookies, cereals, pastries, pies, sodas, etc.
  
• Artificial sweeteners- Aspartame, Stevia
• Sugar alcohols- sorbitol, maltitol
• Artificial colors
• Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils
  
• Canola and Peanut Oils
• Fat Substitutes- Benefat, Olean
• Sodium Nitrate
• Caffeinated drinks

Flat Belly Diet