Optimizing your METABOLISM - Part 2

Optimizing your METABOLISM - Part 2

As I mentioned in last week's post (https://icaro.med.br/module-seu-metabolismo-e-tenhamantenha-resultados/), when it comes to optimizing your metabolism, the ideal is to be assessed and monitored by a trained professional. After a thorough medical history and examinations, they will guide you through the most appropriate strategies for your case, taking into account that each patient is unique and requires an individualized prescription. But if you're sure you need to speed up your metabolism, here are some effective tips, when applied correctly, and an explanation of why they work. I would stress that the explanations are simplified and, obviously, are not intended to exhaust such a broad subject, but rather to make it easier to understand the basics of each tip:

🟢 Never let water or food run out regularly: An accelerated metabolism increases the consumption of nutrients and water. If these are lacking, the brain tells the body to slow down.

🟢 Eat less, more often and without “skipping” meals: When you eat large quantities, you force your body to spend more energy on the digestion process, energy that largely comes from slowing down other organic processes. Skipping meals causes your body to lack energy for long periods of time; as a result, your body “slows down” so as not to “go hungry”.

🟢 Eat more sources of fiber: Fiber is not absorbed by the intestines, but in addition to facilitating their cleansing (and thus better absorption of nutrients), it stimulates their movement (peristalsis).

🟢 Have an excellent breakfast, especially with good sources of protein: Proteins are excellent thermogenics and because they are more “difficult” to digest, they force the body to expend more energy.

🟢 Improve the functioning of your digestive system: The digestive system is mainly made up of muscle tubes of different calibers; therefore, every more difficult digestion requires more of these muscles, increasing the digestive energy expenditure.

🟢 Never completely remove carbohydrates from your diet for long periods: Carbohydrates are the body's main source of energy, especially for the brain and heart. Radically cutting them out can lead to what has already been said: slowing down to save energy.

🟢 Avoid sugar (simple carbohydrates, the really sweet ones): The more sugar a food has, the more insulin it will make your body release quickly (even too quickly), which at the same speed can cause “reflex” hypoglycemia, with a slowing down of the metabolism to protect body and mind.

🟢 Exercise at least three times a week: Regular physical exercise causes the metabolism to speed up in order to perform better and causes physical and hormonal changes in this sense for up to hours after its execution.

🟢 Acquire and maintain good muscle mass: As a result of regular exercise (especially strength training), muscles use up a lot of energy to merely survive and function (thus increasing energy expenditure with the so-called basal metabolism).

🟢 Avoid any excesses, whether in food or activities: Any excess pushes the body beyond its limits and the depletion of reserves causes a reduction in metabolism.

🟢 Sleep well: Even a machine needs to be turned off from time to time to avoid breaking down; it is during sleep that the body and mind receive the necessary repairs and “upgrades” to face each new day. Therefore, when sleep is insufficient/inadequate, the metabolism is slowed down the next day to avoid overloading the body.

🟢 As soon as you wake up, don't take too long to eat: After hours of working (albeit more slowly, during sleep) but without a supply of water or food, it is clear that the body wakes up needing to receive them; and until this happens, it will work more slowly.

🟢 Reduce your stress: Acute stress (initial or interspersed, for short periods) even causes the metabolism to speed up, but anything that is accelerated for too long, without proper rest, ends up evolving into true exhaustion; and it is clear that something that is exhausted cannot be accelerated at the same time.

🟢 Keep an eye on your “genetic” tendencies and manage them well: Yes, you may already have an inherited family tendency towards a slower metabolism; in these cases, speeding up can even have side effects.

🟢 There are foods that increase the speed of metabolism: Examples: chili peppers, “spicy” spices, green tea, coffee, cinnamon, ginger, sesame, dark chocolate (above 70% of cocoa), guarana, etc.

🟢 Suitable supplements, prescribed and monitored by a competent professional.

Enjoy! Cheers

Ícaro Alves Alcântara