Metabolism: Truth and metabolism misconceptions
THE WORD "METABOLISM" OFTEN USES TO A PLACE AND NOT TO A PLACE, but not everyone fully understands what metabolism is and according to what laws it functions. To understand this, we asked Leonid Ostapenko, a sports nutritionist, a member of the International Association of Sports Sciences (ISSA), and Anna Nazarenko, clinical psychologist, founder of the Eating Disorders Clinic, what you need to know about metabolism and how not to harm your body in trying to change it.
What is metabolism
Metabolism, or metabolism, unites all chemical reactions in the body. They occur continuously and include catabolism - the destruction of proteins, fats and carbohydrates for energy and "building materials" - and anabolism, that is, the creation of cells or the synthesis of hormones and enzymes. Our skin, nails and hair and all other tissues are regularly updated: for their construction and recovery after injuries (for example, for healing wounds), we need "bricks" - first of all, proteins and fats - and "workforce" - energy. All this is called metabolism.
Metabolism means the turnover of energy necessary for such processes. Its costs in the main exchange are calories that go to maintain body temperature, heart, kidney, lung, nervous system. By the way, with the main exchange of 1,300 kilocalories, 220 of them account for the work of the brain. Metabolism can be divided into the main (or basal), which occurs constantly, including in a dream, and additional, associated with any activity other than rest. The metabolism is in all living organisms, including plants: it is believed that the fastest metabolism in hummingbirds, and the slowest - in the sloth.
What affects the metabolic rate
We often hear the expression "slow metabolism" or "fast metabolism": they often mean the ability to keep slimness without restrictions in food and physical exertion, or, conversely, the tendency to easily gain weight. But the metabolic rate is reflected not only in appearance. People with fast metabolism have more energy spent on vital functions, such as the work of the heart and brain, at the same time than those who have a slow metabolism. With equal loads, one person can have breakfast and dinner with croissants, instantly burning all the calories received, and the other will rapidly gain weight - this means that they have different basal exchange rates. It depends on many factors, many of which can not be influenced.
Metabolic factors that are not amenable to correction, are called static: it is heredity, gender, body type, age. However, there are conditions that can be influenced. These dynamic parameters include body weight, psycho-emotional state, the organization of the diet, the level of hormone production, exercise. From the interaction of all the above and depends on the rate of exchange. If you correct the factors of the second group, you can speed up or slow down your metabolism to some extent. The result will depend on the characteristics of genetics and the stability of the entire exchange system.
The Internet is full of calculators, allowing you to calculate the speed of your basal exchange on the basis of only gender, age and body mass index, but what it really is is not so easy to learn. A normal metabolism is considered one that provides all the body's needs for energy and nutrients without symptoms of ill health; With proper exchange, all fabrics are updated at normal speed. Against the background of harmful standards of beauty, which emphasize harmony, it was felt that slow metabolism is bad and fast is good. However, too fast exchange can also be harmful.
← How thyroid function affects metabolism
Sometimes the accelerated metabolism appears when the hormonal status is disturbed and can lead to problems in the formation of bones and muscles in children and adolescents, weakening of immunity, stunting, menstrual disorders, tachycardia and anemia. Some diseases, such as ichthyosis, are also accompanied by an accelerated metabolism: our heroine spoke about the difficulties associated with this. In turn, too slow metabolism leads to excessive accumulation of body fat and obesity, which can increase the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.
Metabolism slows down with age: according to Leonid Ostapenko, an average of 5% for every ten years, lived after 30-40 (however, these are very approximate, averaged estimates). The main reasons are changes in the hormonal status, as well as reduced mobility and a decrease in muscle mass. Such a stressful situation, such as pregnancy and childbirth, can also lead to changes in the basal exchange. Doctors call the early pregnancy periods an anabolic state: the maternal organism lays off nutrient reserves for further needs, both its own and the fetus. And in the later stages, the catabolic state turns on: so that the fetus develops normally, the level of glucose and fatty acids in the blood rises.
After childbirth, some cannot lose a few pounds as easily as they used to, while others, on the contrary, become thin. Ideally, a perfectly healthy person living in a favorable environment, after pregnancy, the body should return to the previous equilibrium. In reality, this is not always the case - the endocrine system often experiences stress, like a hammer on the clock: it seems that all the gears are in place, but the clock is in a hurry or lagging behind. Hormonal shifts after childbirth can manifest as thyroiditis (thyroid inflammation), estrogen dominance syndrome when there are too many in the body, or adrenal fatigue syndrome, in which the adrenal glands produce too much adrenaline and little cortisol. All this is reflected in the mood, and the tendency to easily recover or lose weight. Unfortunately, it is impossible to predict with accuracy how hormonal balance and metabolism will change after delivery.
Is it possible to independently change the metabolic rate
Influencing the metabolism is only with its violations. For example, in violation of thyroid function, which produces thyroxin, and so-called hormone metabolism. When thyroid hypofunction is in a state where an insufficient amount of its hormones is produced, the metabolism slows down, and tablets are prescribed for treatment of thyroxin. Doctors-endocrinologists who make the diagnosis are engaged in it. Unfortunately, it is not always obvious even with access to the best clinics: the famous TV presenter Oprah Winfrey was diagnosed with hypothyroidism only by the fifth doctor to whom she turned.
Healthy people often want to speed up their metabolism in order to calmly eat what they like, not thinking about excess weight and not spending days and nights in the gym: as we remember, with fast metabolism, more calories are burned at rest. It can be accelerated, but the methods are not always safe or even legal. Steroid hormone preparations and some narcotic drugs give a quick effect, but their use is associated with high medical risks and violation of the law. How to speed up the metabolism, while not harming health? In the first place - to increase overall daily activity and increase muscle mass. The more energy is consumed during the day, the more calories the body will burn in a dream to restore its reserves; the greater the mass of muscles, the more energy is needed to maintain their vital activity.
The World Health Organization recommends 75-150 minutes of intensive (or 150-300 minutes of moderate) aerobic exercise per week, which corresponds to the passage of 7-8 thousand steps per day. Among the recommendations and the implementation of strength exercises twice a week or more. Leonid Ostapenko also includes in the list and this method of accelerating metabolism, as the control of the daily norm of calories. Of course, in order to achieve a new balance in metabolism and fix it, physical activity must be made regular, and the new diet - stable.
How not to harm the metabolism
In order not to harm the metabolism, only two things are required: a balanced diet and optimal physical exertion. Extremes such as grueling workouts, extreme diets or fasting can lead to the opposite of what you want. The body includes a "survival response" and begins to slow down the rate of exchange, because it lacks the incoming energy. According to Anna Nazarenko, after a long fast, a person begins to overeat, primarily for a psychological reason: the subconscious mind “demands” to return a tenfold amount of what has been in short supply for so long. If we add to this a slowdown in metabolism (and during fasting almost all metabolic processes slow down), it becomes clear why after radical diets the weight returns so easily and even becomes more than before.
Throwing from one extreme to another - either malnutrition or overeating is the most unfavorable option. It can disrupt the balanced functioning of the pancreatic islets that produce insulin. Since endocrine processes are complexly interrelated and an increase in the level of some hormones leads to an increase or decrease in others, the entire endocrine system is hit. This ultimately disrupts the exchange rate, often in an unpredictable direction. The fact is that the metabolism is affected by the hormones of almost all glands, including the pituitary, adrenal glands and gonads; they also affect each other, so self-prescribing anabolic steroids or insulin can lead to unpredictable effects.
So, it is necessary to interfere with the metabolism only if the endocrinologist diagnosed his disorders and prescribed a treatment regimen, which you will carefully follow. Even in healthy people, the metabolism is different, and each of us can maintain an individual rate with the help of our favorite sport and a balanced diet. Go on foot more, eat vegetables and greens, do not smoke and do not abuse alcohol - these are standard recommendations for the prevention of various, including exchangeable, disorders. It is worth remembering that beauty and the conventional "ideal figure" are not synonymous, and the race for imposed standards can harm health.
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