revving up your metabolism
TRANSCRIPT
Revving up your metabolism
Heidi LaForge, DO
Family Medicine, Via Christi Clinic
Running on empty
As women, we burn our candle at both ends Shuffling kids to and from sporting events, working,
cooking, cleaning and organizing our lives one task at a time
Our bodies may not be burning calories quickly because of poor eating habits or a sedentary lifestyle.
Fortunately, we can take control of speeding up our metabolism with a few easy steps.
Overview
Our metabolism can be affected by: Sleep Crash diets Water Calcium Spicy foods Exercise
Get more sleep
A good day starts with a good night’s rest.The number of zzz’s you catch can have a big effect on your waistline. Many women don’t start to gain weight until after having children. While some of these changes are hormonal, sleep plays a huge factor in this as well.
Research shows that sleep deprivation alters hunger and appetite hormones. This is also why people with sleep apnea tend to weigh more.Sleep deprived people tend to eat unhealthy foods to help them stay awake, and then are too tired to exercise — vicious cycle!
“Freshman 15”
A four-year joint study by the University of Wisconsin and Stanford University found that adults who regularly slept only five hours a night increased their levels of hunger-inducing ghrelin by 14.9% and lowered their levels of appetite-suppressing leptin by 15.5%.
Going about it all wrong
Don't skip meals. Dieters often try to get that extra weight-loss edge by cutting entire meals instead of just cutting calories throughout the day.
This is counterproductive Skipping meals forces your metabolism to
slow down and conserve calories to compensate for the lack of food.
But I like to eat
Keep healthy snacks like fruits, veggies, nuts and yogurt with you throughout the day so you do not get tempted to run crazy and wild.
If you do choose to have a snack, make sure your main meals are smaller to accommodate this, or you’ll load up on extra calories you don’t need.
Our changing bodies
Studies show that our natural metabolism slows by 5% every 10 years.
So every 10 years we need to decrease our daily calorie intake by 100 calories.
20 yrs old = 2000 calories 30 yrs old = 1900 calories 50 yrs old = 1700 calories
Foods to avoid
Simple sugars — cereal, donuts, candy (these are empty calories)
High fat meats — hot dogs, bacon, sausage Foods you can’t pronounce — if you need a chemistry
degree to decipher the first few ingredients, don’t put this food in your cart
Canned foods high in sodium Fake health foods — they say they are low in fat or low
in sugar but they are still cookies … many loaded with calories. There is no such thing as a healthy cookie.
Avoid these drinks that may seem healthy
Juice Parents often ask me, “When is it a good time to start my
child on juice?” … Umm, never is a good answer. Children need vitamins not sugar water. Give them fruit instead.
Vitamin water AKA sugar water mixed with poor multivitamins
Gatorade / Powerade Only drink this if you are working out like an Olympic
athlete. Otherwise, plain water will hydrate you just fine with zero calories or chemicals.
Shop the perimeter
A good way to find healthy foods at the grocery store is to stay along the outside walls where all of the coolers are.
These tend to house fresh foods with fewer chemicals and preservatives.
Raise a glass
The number on the scale may look good when you haven’t had enough water, but you risk major weight gain by not drinking enough. Being down one to two pounds does not impress me at your office visit … do not fool yourself. You are only hurting your kidneys if you’re not consuming enough water.
Dehydration
Dehydration can trick your brain into thinking you’re hungry; so instead of reaching for a cold drink, you may reach for whatever snack is nearby.
Importance of hydration: 8 ounces of water = 0 calories 1 candy bar = 270 calories
Add a little spice
Turning up the heat on your meals may do more than just add fun flavor. “Hot” foods, such as jalapeños, chili peppers and spices like curry and cayenne increase body temperature. This is why you sweat when you eat them.
Body temperature and metabolism are related: As you burn energy, heat is released.
By increasing your internal body temperature, spicy foods may temporarily raise your metabolism and stimulate the use of stored fat as energy.
Moooo
In a National Dairy Council-funded study, researchers found that a high-calcium, low-calorie diet boosted fat loss by 42%, compared to only 8% for just a low-calorie diet.
Mmmm Mooo
Studies also show that dairy lovers are less likely to suffer from metabolic syndrome
Symptoms include high blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides, poor blood sugar control and increased abdominal obesity — all factors that increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
If you don’t eat enough calcium-rich dairy foods, such as yogurt, skim milk and low-fat cheeses, start adding them to your diet or take a daily calcium supplement.
Am I mooved?
Of course the last study mentioned was funded by the people that produce milk … but drinking a glass of milk daily is a good idea because healthy bones are important for exercise and preventing osteoporosis.
Get moving
You can and should work out every day in some way. Cardiovascular exercise (running, swimming, aerobics, walking) stimulates your metabolism, helps you burn calories and can even temporarily suppress your appetite post-workout.
If you work all day you can always do things faster or differently. Doing squats or lunges to and from the bathroom and parking farther away from your destination are just a few ideas.
Weight can be good
When you lift it … ha!Weight training tones your muscles and boosts lean tissue mass, which burns more calories per pound than fat. The more lean muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn daily.
Whether you are used to 12 oz. curls or 20 lb. curls, you need to start with small weights and slowly increase weight to avoid an injury.
