loan

subject: Understanding Your Metabolism: Myths and Facts [print this page]

Understanding Your Metabolism: Myths and Facts

Losing weight and adopting a healthy lifestyle seems to be

the mantra of our times. An individual's metabolism has a

key role to play in this. Unfortunately, there are a lot of

myths surrounding this physiological chemical reaction in

our bodies. Read on to get your metabolism facts right.

Myth: Metabolism is Genetic

Your basic metabolic rate (BMR) is unique. It could be very

fast, very slow or anywhere in between. Even if your parents

have a slow metabolic rate, you don't necessarily have the

same; and even if you do, you can increase it with lifestyle

changes.

Myth: Eating Very Little Will Cause Me to Lose Weight

If you've drastically reduced your calorie consumption,

you'll lose weight in a few days, but your body will go into

starvation mode soon, assuming that it's not going to be fed

regularly in optimum quantities. So when you do eat, no

matter how little, your body stores all of those calories as

fat for the long run.

Myth: Gaining Weight with Age is Inevitable

As we get older, we start gaining fat tissue and losing

muscle which causes weight gain. But, gaining weight doesn't

have to accompany old age. With an active lifestyle, ample

exercise and a balanced diet, you can ward off weight gain.

Fact: Men Have Faster Metabolism

Men have bigger muscles than women and muscular bodies burn

more calories. In any case, men's BMRs are only about 5-10%

higher than that of women and there's no reason why, with

exercise and protein consumption, you cannot match a male

metabolism.

Fact: Smoking Increases One's Metabolism

When you smoke, your heart beats about 15 times more each

minute compared to its normal rate, increasing your BMR. But

smoking is a really bad way to boost your metabolism. It

increases the BMR temporarily, but harms your heart in the

process.

Fact: Dieting Can Slow Down Your Metabolism

When you starve yourself, your body shifts to famine mode

where it conserves energy from everything you eat by

reducing your BMR. The trick is to graze all day - eat six

small meals a day to get your body into maintaining (or

increasing) your BMR.

Fact: Low-carb Diet Will Slow Down Metabolism

We derive the majority of our energy from carbohydrates. So

when you reduce carb intake, your body doesn't have enough

energy. The result - it will slow down your BMR because it

wants to conserve calories.

Fact: Some People Can Eat a Lot Without Gaining Weight

This could be because they are born without the enzyme MGAT2

or because they might have a very high BMR that converts

everything they eat into energy. These factors enable them

to eat whatever they want without worrying about weight

gain.

Fact: Spicy Food and Green Tea Boost Metabolism

Research has shown that some food and drinks can naturally

boost your metabolism. Green tea, spicy food (with lots of

hot peppers), yoghurt, spinach, curry, cinnamon, whole

grains and grapefruit are good examples.

Fact: Eating Before Bedtime Causes Weight Gain

Your metabolism slows down at night and so it's best to

avoid eating right before bedtime. Ideally, you should stop

eating at least 3-4 hours before you sleep to give your body

a chance to burn off all those calories from dinner.

Green Tea

welcome to loan (http://www.yloan.com/)