Contrary to popular belief our metabolism is not as simple as calories in and calories out. Our ability to burn fat depends on our muscle to fat ratio, inflammation and energy hormones.
If you are having trouble burning fat easily at lease one of these factors will be out of balance.
Muscle is the most metabolically active tissue in the body meaning that it burns the most energy. The more muscle we have the higher our metabolism and more quickly when burn fat. The formation of muscle requires easily available protein. Many people don’t realise that they often don’t absorb all of the protein such as legumes, meat and eggs that they eat. Protein is one of the hardest foods to break down and requires the presence of hydrochloric acid in the stomach which is reduced if we are stressed or taking antacid medication. One of the most easily absorbable proteins is from a protein powder such as bio-fermented rice protein. A serve of 20 gm daily is usually enough to ensure adequate intake for muscle health. Muscles also require a reason to get larger and weight bearing exercise is the most effective form of exercise to achieve this.
Inflammation from any source, such as infections, toxins and bad bacteria in the gut damage the mitochondria in our cells responsible for energy production and fat burning. Mitochondria need a lot of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants to function efficiently. Reducing the inflammatory burden on these little intracellular organelles but supporting the immune system and reducing bad bacterial numbers in the gut can make a huge difference to their ability to create energy and improve your metabolism. A fermented food detox program greatly assists in re balancing this while improving gut health and reducing the inflammatory load on the body.
Energy hormones such as thyroid hormone and adrenaline and cortisol play a huge role in how our cells create energy and what they burn to achieve this. Thyroid hormones turn the cells energy production enzymes on. If this level is low then the energy production of the cell and hence fat burning is reduced. When stressed our bodies are in survival mode and want to create energy quickly. The more efficient way to do this is to burn sugar as it takes too long to create energy from fat. Many people run on stress hormones as a back up plan for any energy at all as they are so tired and burned out. Calming and restoring the body’s energy reserves are essential to achieving normal metabolic balance. Cortisol and thyroid hormones can be measured through a blood test with your health practitioner.
Achieving normal fat burning can be quite complex for some people and can require a body composition review, a physical examination, stress assessment and blood testing with an analysis of hormonal and inflammation levels. Once this information is available a better understanding of why the metabolic imbalance is affected for each individual is understood and can then be addressed and managed.
