How to boost your metabolism, burn fat and lose weight more easily
Our metabolic rate is the rate at which our cells burn and produce energy. This gives us the energy we need to function both physically and mentally. To create energy our cells can burn fat, protein or sugar. Usually we burn a combination of all three but the proportions vary under different circumstances. For weight loss the aim of course is to trigger as great a percentage of fat burning for energy as possible.
Many people want to lose weight to be healthy but the catch 22 is that our cells need to be healthy first before they can burn fat for energy. Unhealthy cells that are toxic or inflamed can’t use fat well for energy production. This is why many people go on detoxification programmes to help achieve their weight loss goals.
Eating more alkaline foods also assist in reducing inflammation in the body and encouraging more fat burning. The most alkaline foods are the greens as chlorella, spinach and kale due to their high levels of chlorophyll and minerals such as magnesium.
Another important aspect to boosting your metabolism and losing weight is to increase your ratio of muscle mass to fat mass in your body. Muscle tissue is the most metabolically active tissue in the body and burns the greatest amount of energy. Having a high quality protein supplement such as an organic fermented rice protein powder ensures adequate absorption of protein for reduced sugar cravings, energy and muscle production.
Probiotics are also a very important part of improving your metabolism. Medical research has found that overweight people have more bad gut bacteria in their intestines than slim people. Healthy bacteria help reduce inflammation and lower the numbers of bad bacteria in the gut.
Another very important aspect for helping to maximise fat burning is to increase the amount of available oxygen to the cells. Without adequate oxygen fat burning can not occur efficiently. It is important to think about your breathing as it can become very shallow with stress. We are meant to breathe deeply into our lower lungs where we see and feel our abdomen rise. This is how babies breathe. Deep breathing exercises morning and night can help with this.
Effective stress management is crucial for triggering fat burning for energy. When we are stressed our bodies go into survival mode, also called “fight or flight” where our sympathetic nervous system activates. In this state we need to create energy as quickly as possible and this is done by burning protein or sugar and reduces fat burning as it takes too long to get energy from fat. Relaxation exercises, having good quality time with loved ones and looking after ourselves triggers the opposing calming parasympathetic nervous system that encourages our cells to return to the desirable state of burning oxygen and fat.
I will go into each of these aspects in more detail in future posts.
If you have a topic that you are specifically interested in please let me know
Wishing you all the very best of health
Dr Elen
