subject: You Can Boost Your Metabolism Naturally And Easily [print this page] Whether you have a genuinely slow metabolism, or are just feeling generally sluggish, lacking in energy and below par, you should consider safe ways to gain a bit more energy. First, we should go through a simple introduction to how your metabolism works and what affects it. Then we'll see what natural methods you can use to give it a boost.
Simply put, your metabolism is a series of life sustaining processes that go on in your body without your conscious control. These processes are essential to life - if your metabolism stops, so do you! Broadly speaking, your metabolic activity can be divided into two types of processes. (Hope I'm not going too fast for you here!)
Catabolism is the term used to describe the breaking down of organic matter. As your body breaks molecules down into smaller units (the component building blocks), energy is released. This energy is then used by the body to fuel muscle movement, repair damaged tissue, take toxins out of our system - everything that's needed to keep us going, day to day.
Anabolism is the process of constructing new material - for instance proteins, an essential component of new cells. And of course this process requires energy - the energy released by our catabolic processes. Without catabolism (breaking things down), anabolism (building the new material) can not occur. The one series of processes depends on the other.
So, what sort of things can cause your metabolism to slow down? Well, both anabolic and catabolic processes depend on enzyme activity. Without a sufficient reserve of these enzymes (or the material required to manufacture them) these processes simply can't occur. So, looking at things very simply, your metabolism slows down because of a decrease in the amount of enzymes required by your body to complete the anabolic and catabolic pathways.
Now, there are several contributing factors, some or all of which might be relevant to you:
1. You eat too many foods which lack the minerals or enzymes necessary for your body to process them efficiently (highly processed , refined foods)
2. Your diet contains too few calories (is this really likely?)
3. You don't get enough physical activity daily (sound more like it?)
4. You drink too many calories - either as alcohol or in beverages loaded with sugar.
5. You have more fat than lean muscle (muscle is naturally more metabolically active than fat).
6. You have poor sleeping habits (sleep is the time when anabolic processes are most efficient).
7. You don't drink enough pure, clean water (water is essential for all the body's processes and being even mildly dehydrated has a slowing down effect).
By simply correcting even one of these six points, you can usually speed up your metabolism to some extent. However, sometimes even correcting all of them just isn't enough. Sometimes the problem relates to hormone production (one of your anabolic processes). Many people feel there is nothing that can be done about poor hormone levels other than getting hormone injections. This is absolutely not true. In any case, hormone injections can create a number of dangerous side effects ... including very serious complications like liver damage or cancer.
However, you can increase your hormone production without injections. This can be done using natural supplements. These replace some of the enzymes that your body is no longer producing efficiently enough.
The message is - you don't have to live with a slow metabolism. There are things that can be done naturally to increase your metabolism and hugely improve your health and the quality of your life.
