Metabolic food

While metabolic rate can be raised by eating food, carbohydrates and fats can also change the type of calorie you burn. Research studies show that a very high carbohydrate diet will cause your metabolic efficiency to adapt and preferentially burn sugar but not fat. This is because the stimulation of insulin by carbohydrates can prevent fats from being metabolised. Raised blood sugar concentrations can then be reduced by the cells that are burning sugar. In the short term, a high-carbohydrate diet will not gain weight, but over many years it will contribute to not only weight gain but also insulin resistance. Insulin resistance maintains fat stores, which make it harder to lose weight as we get older.

The opposite is also true: a high-fat diet will cause the efficiency of metabolism to drop and burn more fat than sugars. Weight gain through a high-fat diet may not only create a nutritionally unsound diet but possibly prevent sugar mechanisms from working well. That’s why a diet of moderation is recommended so we can burn both fuels. This moderate diet includes all three calorie types and is recommended for everyone who does frequent but moderate exercise and would like to maintain their weight.

There are no known common foods that directly stimulate the metabolism. In fact, it’s not recommended that you seek out any herbal, medication, supplement or food that purports to stimulate metabolism so you can lose weight. Most of them are harmful, don’t work or make you reliant on that product to obtain weight loss. As an example, L-Carnitine is supposed to assist in the transfer of fats into cells so they can be metabolised. In theory, this is true; there is an L-Carnitine process within your cells that facilitates the transfer of fatty acids. However, research shows that the supplement does not reach the bloodstream, is digested or filtered out by the liver or, once in the bloodstream, is prevented from entering your cells.

When you do get weight loss from herbs, medications or supplements, have you thought about why that weight loss is occurring? Have you really hit on the best method of weight loss? Have you learnt anything about your lifestyle or your body that originally caused the weight gain?