Metabolic Secrets for Staying Slim

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METABOLIC SECRETS FOR STAYING SLIM

Herbal Medicine Research Report: Volume 1 No. 3

1998

 

 

 

by Udo Erasmus, Ph.D.

 

In your younger years you may have been able to down a cheeseburger, hot dog,

fries and a milk shake — all in one sitting — and still have room for dessert.

These days, a meal of that variety results in an expanding waistline and an

upset stomach.

 

Many people in midlife notice that while they may be eating less, the pounds are

piling on, the belt needs another notch, and the get-up-and-go seems to have

gotten up and left.

 

In midlife there is a new set of rules. Your metabolism — how your body converts

food into energy and then burns that energy as calories — is slowing down. Once

you reach adulthood, energy needs decline at the rate of about three percent to

five percent each decade, starting at age 30. Fewer calories are burned, and

more are stored as fat. Without physical activity to prevent this loss, you may

lose about six pounds of muscle each decade. You'll become heavier and less

energetic, and you'll be at a higher risk for health problems including high

blood pressure and heart disease.

 

The slowdown happens because of a change in body composition. As we age, we tend

to lose muscle and gain fat. Since muscle burns a lot of energy, our energy

needs diminish as we lose muscle, and our metabolism slows.

 

Metabolic rates differ from one person to another, from one time to another in

the same individual, and varies with the total nutrient mix. Genes, hormones,

nutrition, exercise and state of health affect metabolic rate.

 

Some people are born with a high metabolic rate and never gain weight no matter

how much they eat. Thyroid activity affects metabolic rate, down to underactive

or lowered rate.

The slower the rate, the less calories are burned, and the easier it is to put

on weight. Essential fatty acids, B-complex vitamins, and minerals including

potassium, iron, magnesium, calcium, and manganese, increase the efficiency of

oxidation, and raise metabolic rate, energy, and activity level.

 

Sugar-fat connection

 

Eating large amounts of refined sugars can upset the metabolic balance. Refined

sugars lack the vitamins and minerals required for their own metabolism, and

must draw on our body's stores of these nutrients

 

.. As these are depleted, our body becomes less able to carry out other functions

that require minerals and vitamins to be present: to metabolize fat and

cholesterol; to convert cholesterol into bile acids for removal from our body

through the stool; or to burn-off excess fats as heat or increased activity. As

a result, our cholesterol level rises, our metabolic rate goes down, fats burn

more slowly, we feel less like exercising, and we may gain weight.

 

Calories as a source of fat

 

Refined " empty calorie " foods are likely to cause us to gain fat. They cause us

to overeat. One of the mechanisms that turns off hunger is a feeling of

fullness.

 

By the time we've filled up on these concentrate-calorie, fiber-poor foods,

we've eaten more calories than we need. The excess turns to fat.

 

When we obtain adequate amounts of all essential nutrients, biological hunger

ceases. If our foods are nutrient-deficient, we may overeat until we get them,

which is one reason why nutrient enrichment is important for staying slim.

 

Foods cannot be metabolized properly without important nutrients. The energy

that empty calorie foods contain becomes unavailable to our body and is stored

as fat until we get the necessary minerals, vitamins, and essential fatty acids

at some later time. In the meantime, we feel hungry, and eat more.

 

Kicking into high gear

The good news is that your metabolic rate isn't completely beyond your control.

You can turn it up a notch, and perhaps more important, keep it from slowing

down at times when it tends to do so on its own. Aerobic exercise, strength

training and eating wisely are good ways to fan the flame.

 

Aerobic exercise — walking, riding a stationary bike, aerobic dancing, any

activity that boosts your heart rate for 20 minutes or more — increases

metabolic rate, so calories are incinerated for hours after you've stopped.

Strength training also helps to increase metabolism.

 

Maintaining muscle tissue takes four to five times more calories than

maintaining fat tissue. So, the greater your muscle-to-fat ratio, the higher

your metabolic rate is likely to be. Pumping iron won't leave you looking like

Arnold Schwarzenegger. A recent Penn State University study suggests that people

55 and older could change their muscle-to-fat ratio by lifting weights for 30

minutes, three days a week.

 

Many of us believe that to lose weight we can just cut the calories. But there's

an unfortunate side effect. The human body doesn't know you're on a diet. It

thinks you're starving to death. So instead of burning fat, your metabolism goes

into famine mode, trying to preserve your fat stores.

Low calorie dieting can decrease the metabolic rate by 15 to 30 percent, making

weight loss even more difficult. While you may lose weight on a low calorie

diet, you lose muscle along with the fat, so you end up with less metabolically

active tissue.

 

Rather, our bodies are designed for the nibbling of high-fiber, low-fat foods,

not the gorge and fast eating of modern society. That is, ditch the idea of

having three large square meals a day. The body is better adapted to

(metabolizing) small doses of fuel and nutrients all day long than to handling a

glut of food every so often.

 

Another suggestion for losing weight and maintaining high metabolism levels is

to look at our eating habits. Most people eat out of habit at regular, clocked

intervals, before actually experiencing hunger.

 

One writer suggests that the difference between being slim and overweight is

this: slim people eat only when hungry, eat whenever they like, and stop when

the hunger subsides. Overweight people constantly think about food and dieting,

eat whenever they see food, and stop eating when all the food is gone.

 

When our foods are natural, nutrient rich, fiber-rich, and we eat only what we

need to still our hunger, then hunger takes care of our caloric needs, essential

nutrient requirement, essential fatty acids, and fuel needs, taste buds, ideal

body weight, and physical health, regardless of the changes and conditions

through which we pass in our lifetime. When we use our body for regular physical

activity we can maintain both a trim body shape and fitness into old age.

 

REFERENCES:

 

L.H. Thomas, Hydrogenated Oils and Fats, The Presence of Chemically Modified

Fatty Acids in Human Adipose Tissue, 1981

 

Jay Robb, Flaxing Your Muscles, Fatty Acids for Fitnesss, Health World, 1990

 

Obesity Linked to Metabolism in Brown Fat, Chemical Engineering News, February

1981

 

Marvin L. Bierenbaum, M.D., Tom R. Watkins, Ph.D., Improving Atherogenic Risk in

Hyper-lipidemic Humans with Flax Seed Supplementation

 

Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Metabolism and Biological Effects, C.A. Drevon, et al,

Advances in Life Sciences, 1993

 

About Udo Erasmus, Ph.D.

Udo Erasmus is an internationally recognized authority on the role of fats,

oils, and cholesterol in human health. He received his Bachelor of Science

degree in Honours Zoology with a major in Psychology from the University of

British Columbia, followed by graduate studies in biochemistry and genetics.

Several years of research in the field of nutrition led to him write his first

book, Fats and Oils, which earned him a Ph.D. in nutrition and was later

expanded and republished as Fats That Heal Fats That Kill.

 

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DietaryTipsForHBP

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