How Do I Fix My Metabolism?

How can I fix my metabolism? It’s a good question and a common one. Unfortunately, diet culture misleads us with half-truths or exaggerated claims. We are here to debunk myths around metabolism and then discuss what really helps metabolism to get you feeling good!

Warning: this episode contains diet culture concepts such as weight, fat, obesity, and calories. We use these words not in support. We use these words to argue against their short-comings. That said, if you are not ready in your journey to be exposed again to these concepts, honor your mental health first and skip this episode. 

Highlights of this episode:

• Energy and Metabolism
• Debunking Myths around Fixing Your Metabolism
• What Helps Metabolism

Episode Show Notes*: 

*Not a transcript

[00:50] How can I fix my metabolism?

We get this question quite often from many clients and from a lot of people in different ways. “I don’t know how to get my energy up,” or “my energy just been zapped,” or “I’m gaining this weight because my metabolism has slowed down,” or “I need to fix my energy because if I have better energy, I’ll be able to lose weight.”

There is a difference between your energy and your metabolism. Knowing the difference can help untangle diet culture’s misleading claims.

[03:37] What is Energy and Metabolism?

All living organisms need energy to grow and reproduce. We need energy to maintain our body and to respond to our environment. Energy is essentially needed in order to maintain ourselves through cellular processes.¹

Metabolism is the set of processes that make energy available for those energy cellular processes. Metabolism is a combination of chemical reactions. For example, they are spontaneous and non-spontaneous and both require energy as well in order to proceed. Metabolism provides energy needs and requires energy to give energy. In order to get energy, living organisms must take energy from food. We get it from nutrients. For example, B vitamins help us in the process of energy metabolism. Sunlight is also necessary in order to carry out these metabolic or cellular processes.¹

[05:37] Debunking Myths around Fixing Your Metabolism

• Very low-calorie diets or skipping meals help boost your metabolism

The claim is that they jumpstart weight loss because of the energy deficit and requiring your body to supply energy. Now, there’s a part truth to that. When the body is not getting the energy from food, your liver and your muscle store some excess glycogen. Glycogen is glucose or sugar stored in the muscle. First, that sugar is released by the liver and then some of it is released by the muscle. This is called gluconeogenesis.¹

At the same time, fat is also being liberated by fat tissues, generally in the liver, in the form of triglycerides. So, the combination of the stored sugar and triglycerides help metabolically process energy.¹ Some people have this misconception that gluconeogenesis can supply you with energy you need. But this process only works if there is energy available to be able to do that.¹

Also, fat is a very laborious chemical to break down. It requires a lot of excess energy. You may lose some fat, but you also lose a considerable amount of readily available glucose or stored energy.¹

These diets actually create a stress response to the body.² Diets actually create a need to increase its energy demand due to the stress response.¹ In the long run, diets are not a way of improving or helping your metabolism.

• Eat Less, Move More

If you exercise a whole lot and you don’t provide your body with enough food, your body is getting these severe mixed signals. There’s a huge demand of energy and on the other hand, there’s a restriction of energy. That is not sustainable and will not “fix or boost your metabolism.”³

• Eating late

People will often say that they shouldn’t eat after 7pm, or maybe they shouldn’t eat after 8pm because the metabolism slows and therefore there’s a greater likelihood of gaining weight.

We actually do not see studies showing that. However, what is very common is not eating enough during the first half of the day. Eating throughout the day helps maintain the amount of energy that you need. Without that consistent eating, you’ll end up having a greater desire to eat more food. This can become so habitual that it’s automatic. Then, people will say something like, “oh, I’m a night-time eater” or “I’m a nighttime snack” or They have it in their mind that it it’s just how their bodies are.

• Certain foods

Sorry, there’s no magic food that increases your metabolism. There are studies that show that caffeine, caffeine derivatives, and compounds in tea like catechins can help boost your metabolism. The jitters through any stimulant can do this. But it doesn’t last very long. We dive into why certain claimed foods are a myth.

[14:07] Fixing Your Metabolism Click Bait

Diet culture encourages blog articles for clicks, like fixing your metabolism. Healthline is one of these online blog articles. Even though they are written by someone with a corresponding college degree or healthcare professional, when you really do a deep dive into the literature, the claims are misleading based off what the research actually says.

A big THANK YOU to dietetic intern, Samantha Cullen, at Georgia Southern University who did a deep dive into a Healthline blog article about foods that fix your metabolism.

The article looks into each one of these 12 foods: protein-rich foods, mineral-rich foods, chili peppers, coffee, tea, beans/legumes, ginger, cacao, apple cider vinegar, MCT oil, water, and seaweed. Let’s start with protein rich foods, ginger, and MCT oils.

• Protein Rich Foods

What does this claim mean? Animal protein or from beans or vegetable sources or even bugs? What does it mean? Or does it mean protein that’s man-made hydraulic hydrolyzed in a lab somewhere and in a powder form?

According to the blog’s cited study, energy restricted high protein diets have shown favorable results for body weight management. This study did not explicitly observe an increase in metabolism or the absence of a decline in metabolism because of protein. The study used protein powder. In theory, you might have been able to preserve a little bit of lean tissue with higher protein. But we do not know the long-term effects. Most Americans are eating a tremendous amount of protein, even if we’re not in an intentionally high protein diet.

When you throw in the fear that people have with carbs, we’re eating a tremendous amount of protein by far.  But 2/3 of the population (who are categorized as obese) are not losing weight or are not able to keep it off. So, proteins are not it, folks (Check out the podcast episode eight red flags to weight loss research). The Healthline blog is really just encouraging diet culture.

[23:49]

• Ginger and related spices

The research cited states “reveals that dissolving two grams of ginger powder in hot water and drinking it with a meal may help you burn up to 43 more calories than drinking hot water alone.”

The big problem here is that this study is a pilot study. A pilot study may only show reasons to do a study. Ginger had no effect on total resting energy expenditure. Resting energy expenditure represents the amount of calories required for a 24-hour period by the body during a non-active period. The bump of about 43 calories wasn’t directly related to the ginger either.

There was no objective measure of the food intake. They weren’t looking at how much they were consuming throughout the day. They did a minimal analysis.

All the participants were men within the overweight category. Since BMI says nothing about body composition, is that overweight because of fat or is that overweight because of muscle, where they football players, where they bodybuilders, where they athletes? So maybe the 43 calories was something that happened because they had an exercise bout or something not so long ago.

Diet culture is definitely present in the Healthline article and the research.

[29:45]

• Medium Chain Triglyceride (MCT) Oils

MCT oil is a type of fat found in certain plant oils. This claim cites a meta-analysis of randomized control trials. A meta-analysis is essentially a whole bunch of studies analyzed together. Sounds good, but the authors do not have a clear conclusion because there were so many variations from the studies collected. The study designs varied considerably with regard to dosage, duration, and control of energy intake.

They state some studies have shown that MCT oil consumption can increase metabolic rate in humans. How? Once MCTs are absorbed, they go directly to the liver to be turned into energy. The assumption is that MCTs are less likely to be stored as fat and therefore provides metabolic benefits.

There is so much we don’t know after the meta-analysis which the authors are transparent about: long-term effects and safety, MCT variations in food, different effects from demographics, the effect on adipose tissue and muscle mass. Six out of thirteen studies were at high risk of commercial bias.

The Healthline article does not clarify that, even if MCT oil can reduce body weight and enhance metabolism, the findings from this study were quite minor to begin with and may not make a difference in someone’s total weight if they consume MCTs.

The common theme here is the authors just really glaze over the abstract of the research. They really don’t go into taking the time to understand and study and that’s normal because a lot of these authors are getting paid to write these blog articles. So, they’re just really telling you what you already want to hear.

[36:10] Things that Actually Help Your Metabolism

1. Eat regularly throughout the day, have regular intervals of eating. Yes, that means breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

It’s really about paying attention to your hunger and honing in on what your body is telling you. Now that takes a little bit of practice and probably working with a dietitian who understands the nuances. At Orozco Nutrition, we focus on whether you are eating enough food that helps you maintain your energy levels on a regular basis.

2. Get regular sleep.

Between seven to nine hours, within that range on a regular basis over time. Sleep is what then sets your circadian rhythm. It helps you recover, rejuvenate, recharge, rebuild and therefore, get you ready for the next day. Consistent eating can then fuel the metabolic functions through the evening. Sleep and eating regularly build a circadian rhythm.

3. Hydrate yourself adequately.

That doesn’t mean drink a gallon of water. It means get enough water or liquid in the day, so that you’re peeing adequately. If your pee is lighter than lemonade, you’re good. Darker than lemonade, you need to hydrate more. Thirsty all the time? That could also mean that you may need more foods with more water volume in them, as well as consume more water.

Be careful with how much liquid you consume close to bedtime because that can cause wake events to go pee. Even if you don’t go pee, it may be a bladder full can wake you up. And then once you’re up, you’re now awake and you’re ruminating and you can’t shut your mind off. And then you’re awake for two hours. At least that’s what happens to people over 50 (speaking from experience).

      4. Eat adequate amounts of different foods. Eat foods that you need and eat foods that you want.

There are roughly six food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, dairy, and fat. Remember don’t sacrifice your hunger because you have to find perfect eating that will really catch up with you in the future. Of course, this is only good advice if you are privileged to have food security and access 24/7. For those who have to rely more any type of food just because it’s food available, eating something is more important.

       5. Manage your stress

If you’re able to manage your stress, the greater the likelihood that you will recuperate that energy and you won’t be draining so much of it where you, by the end of the day, get this energy fatigue or this decision fatigue. This includes emotional stress and physical stress from excessive working out.

6. Finding a fitness or a joyful type of movement that you can do on a consistent basis.

Don’t go and do stuff because other people are doing them and you don’t really like it because it’s cool or other people are doing it, do something because you enjoy it because that’s also, what’s going to endure.

One Small Bite To Help Your Metabolism

Choose one of these and start working them on a regular basis, commit to doing something that is small and realistic. Look at what you can do consistently over time and even asked yourself, is this something that I can do for the rest of my life? No matter what’s going on in my life? If the answer is yes, then that is probably a good way of committing.

Resources:

Get Your Copy of the book – One Small Bite: Anti-Diet Stories that Empower You To Build a Positive and Secure Relationship with Food

Get Unstuck Class – Starts July 12, 2022. There’s an early bird special. Classes are on Zoom, so no travel necessary. Read about it here: https://orozconutrition.com/courses/

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Chop the diet mentality; Fuel Your Body; and Nourish Your Soul!