Kick starting your metabolism may be easier than you think. Even if you’ve been a yo-yo dieter for years, even if you feel that your metabolism is shot, you can still kick it into better shape by following my simple 5 tips on how to kick start your metabolism.
Your metabolism is how your body uses glucose, and turns it into energy to fuel your body. Your metabolism is affected and slowed down by so many different things: stress, illness, excess body fat, lack of sleep, and the biggest culprit – a diet full of refined sugars and grains.
We are now just beginning to understand how inflammation in the body affects our metabolism. This is because inflammatory messengers (that are spurred into action from unwanted invaders), divert glucose away from the metabolic organs into our bloodstream because our immune system needs the energy. This means that the calories we ingest, that should be used for fuel, are now floating around in our bloodstream – hello high blood sugar!
Kick starting your metabolism is a holistic endeavor, which includes good nutrition, exercise, and sleep. It’s about bringing your body back into balance, so that it can do what it is supposed to do – which is to efficiently burn the fuel that you put into it. A healthy metabolism means that not only will you be in a much better place to achieve and maintain your ideal weight, but also that you will feel alive, full of energy, and ready to live your life to the fullest.
Try to follow my 5 simple tips, and you’ll see huge results!
- Avoid refined sugar and flour: The simple reason is that you won’t burn fat if you eat these foods that spike your blood sugar. Your body needs to deal with the sugar situation first, and thus fat metabolism gets pushed further down the priority list.
- Don’t Skip Breakfast: Studies have shown that those who skip breakfast will eat significantly more calories later in the day. Eating a healthy breakfast will jump start your metabolism and get your insulin levels in check.
- Exercise Right: It’s been found that short duration, moderate-high intensity workouts for 30 minutes, 5 days a week, will do the trick in terms of kicking your metabolism into shape. These exercise sessions should ideally include both cardio and resistance training. High Intensity Interval Training is the gold standard for priming your metabolism. This basically means doing 30-second bursts of all-out-effort exercise, followed by 4 minutes of low-to-moderate exercise.
- Sleep Good: Studies have found that sleep deprivation can actually lead to significant weight gain. This is because of changes in sex hormones that are lined to increased belly fat and poor glucose control. Just two consecutive nights of only four hours of sleep can increase the hunger hormone, ghrelin by 28%. Sleep deprivation also alters blood sugar balance. So do try to get around 8 hours a night!
- Healthy Gut: Your gut microflora play a vital role in the onset and development of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Just one day of eating a junky diet can lead to changes in your gut microbiome and your metabolic pathways for fat storage. Remember, our gut microflora participate in every aspect of our metabolism, from extracting energy from our food, to fat storage, and insulin regulation. A healthy gut also affects our appetite and satiety signals.
