What Determines Your Metabolism? |
| Written by Schizoidman | |
| Monday, 19 May 2008 | |
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Your metabolism is the process that is involves the conversion of molecules such as sugars into energy and also the rate at which this energy is consumed. In order to understand how food is used to run your metabolism, it is important to know a few things. Your metabolism is a combination of physical and chemical processes called anabolism and catabolism. Anabolism is the constructive or building phase of metabolism in which body cells synthesize muscle and protoplasm for growth and repair. This is a series of articles that will dwell on various aspects of your metabolism. I will cover a few topics that are important in understanding metabolism, your health and ways to help reduce your weight with understanding a little about your metabolic processes. What are Calories?The amount of energy that each food group produces is measured in Calories. A calorie is the amount of energy required to heat one gram of water, one degree centigrade. There is an important distinction between calorie and Calorie. One Calorie is 1,000 calories. We assign a “calorie” in lower case form and a “Calorie” in upper case form and this makes the distinction. In every pound of fat there is 3500 Calories. This is the amount of energy to heat 3.5 kilograms of water (3,500 cubic centimeters – cc’s) one degree centigrade. Basal Metabolic RateOur Basal Metabolic Rate (or Resting Metabolic Rate) is the number of calories we need to burn in order to fuel essential bodily processes and keep our organs and tissues in working order. Typically, this accounts for 60 per cent of all calories consumed. The heavier the person, the more calories he/she needs to fuel these essential processes. All other calories are used to meet our additional energy needs based on our level of physical activity. What Determines Our Metabolic RateSeveral things determine our metabolic rate, including:
Some people have a naturally faster metabolism
Our muscles consume about 8 times more energy than our fat cells. The more muscle mass one has the faster the metabolic rate.
As we age, our calorie needs decrease. On average it drops 2 per cent each decade.
Exercise burns calories. Even after we stop exercising, the effect continues. So we burn calories at a faster rate for several hours afterwards.
Our metabolic rate increases during digestion of food, a process known as the Thermal Effect of food. In simple terms, if we go too long without food (5 hours for men; 3 hours for women), our body thinks there is a food shortage and our metabolism tends to slow down.
Our metabolism is also governed by a number of other factors such as vitamin levels, minerals and other nutrients. The water soluble vitamins are especially important- Vitamins B and C. Our metabolism is governed by many chemical reactions which require these vitamins in order to operate our cells energy production machinery. Our metabolism operates by maintaining homeostatic energy levels. The quality of the energy source is very important in not throwing off your body’s equilibrium. Some foods such as simple sugars go right in to your blood stream and are converted to glycogen, fat and other compounds which sustain us. We have a problem with a lot of sugar at one time. Our body tries to regulate this with the production of insulin. Too much insulin and we experience a “Hypoglycemic” crash. As a result of eating too much sugar the insulin we produce causes our blood sugar shoots below what is required for our health. We suffer from low energy, irritability, headaches and other problems. To avoid having this hypoglycemic reaction, it is important not to eat too much refined and high sugar foods at one time. Bookmark! |
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