✨Metabolism Series, Part 2: what your METABOLISM is ACTUALLY doing for you.
Usually when we refer to metabolism, we look at it as either “good” or “bad”.
Good = I can eat anything I want and I never gain a pound. Bad = my metabolism sucks. It’s slow and I gain weight by just looking at a cookie.
There’s a problem with this for many reasons, but mostly because our metabolism can’t be defined as “good” or “bad”, and when we put it into a corner like that, we’re COMPLETELY ignoring it’s entire function in our body. (Also, skinny people can have horrible metabolisms, but it just doesn’t express itself as weight gain. This is why skinny does NOT equal healthy).
To put it simply, our metabolism is responsible for converting food into fuel. It’s the fire in our bodies that keep us alive and going. The health of our metabolism defines the health of our:
1️⃣Body temperatures
Body temps matter because if our metabolism is supposed to be our fire, we want to make sure it’s burning hot and staying hot throughout the day.
Low body temperatures AKA low metabolism over long period of time can lead to conditions like suppressed hormone function, weight gain, always feeling cold, slows the movement of food through the digestive tract, which can lead to bacterial overgrowth in the gut (and cause bloating, gas, burping, constipation, diarrhea, etc.), and more.
2️⃣Hormones & ovulations
In order for our hormones to function properly, our bodies NEED to feel safe. How do our bodies feel safe?
By having a properly-functioning metabolism. A properly-functioning metabolism means your body is well-fed, and can focus on other things besides just trying to keep you alive (not eating enough and putting your body in starvation mode means your body can ONLY focus on keeping you alive).
When your are thriving instead of just surviving, hormones are revved up and can easily maintain themselves in healthy ranges, and create conditions for healthy ovulations.
3️⃣Ability to maintain a healthy weight
Depriving ourselves of healthy carbs & sugar teaches our bodies that they need to store carbs & sugar away, instead of burning it for fuel.
When we train our bodies that they have to survive without their preferred form of fuel (sugar), we store it away in order to survive.
THIS is where weight gain/inability to maintain a healthy weight comes in. We can all be low-carb for a certain period of time, but eventually, we’ll hit a wall (because our body is like HELLO I’m not meant to live on stress hormones & adrenaline), and so when we finally cave and give our bodies what they want, the pounds pack on.
It’s NOT meant to be like this, and this can be easily stopped by eating healthy carbs, good forms of sugar (honey, maple syrup, and coconut sugar are my faves), and just eating enough in general.
If your metabolism is wrecked, good news. You can easily restore your metabolism with just a little work and a lot of love.
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