You don’t get fat because you have a fast metabolism, but I gain weight with nothing I eat. If we were asked to use the term metabolism in a sentence, that is the typical one we would use. And you are right (in a small part) since each organism can metabolize more or less efficiently. Does food have something to do with it?
What is metabolism and why do we seek to speed it up?
Before getting into the relationship between metabolism and food, we are going to briefly comment on what metabolism is and its relationship with body composition. By metabolism is meant all the physical and chemical processes in the body that convert and use energy.
Among them we find breathing, blood circulation, regulation of body temperature or the functioning of the brain and nerves. all those processes occur at all timeswhether we are sleeping or doing a high-intensity workout.
There are others such as muscle contraction and the digestion of food and nutrients that are directly linked to training and nutrition. As many of the latter as those of the previous paragraph vary according to our lifestyle, being a more active metabolism that of those people who need a greater conversion and use of energy.
Metabolism and basal metabolic rate
Metabolism is an extremely complex chemical process, so the ease with which our body gains or loses weight cannot be simplified. A part of it is the basal metabolic rate which measures the rate at which a person “burns” energy as calories while at rest.
This basal metabolic rate itself can influence the tendency of people to gain or lose weight. A person with a low basal metabolic rate burns fewer calories at rest or while sleeping. Conversely, a person with a high basal metabolism burns more calories while resting or sleeping.
The rate of metabolism depends on our genes, our health and our physical constitution. We cannot modify our genetics, but we can influence our physical constitution and health (in part). This is where the role of food on the basal metabolic rate comes into play.
Short-term nutrition and metabolism
Role of diet in short-term metabolism
By consuming energy our body starts complex mechanisms for breaking down food into substances that it can use or store to give us energy later. This is where proteins break down into amino acids, fats into fatty acids, and carbohydrates into simple sugars.
These processes are called “metabolize”. To perform them we need energy so part of those calories ingested will be used to break down food and take them to their place. It is at this point where we directly relate food and metabolism.
Thermic effect of food
One of the processes of metabolism is the digestion of food and nutrients. The metabolism, therefore, it is activated yes or yes when eating food since it has to use energy to break it down. The amount of calories our body needs to digest, absorb, and process nutrients from food is called the thermic effect of food.
Protein consumption has a thermic effect of 15% – 30%, carbohydrates 5% – 10% and fats 0% – 3%. That means that we use more calories to absorb protein than carbohydrates and fat.
It is as if we ask for a loan from three different banks. The protein bank gives us a higher interest in “storing” its amino acids. The carbohydrates have a somewhat lower interest to store simple sugars and fats have a low interest to accumulate fatty acids.
There we see how protein consumption is the one that uses the most energy to break down protein into amino acids. Thus, diets with sufficient amounts of protein are necessary for both health and aesthetics.
Respiration, blood circulation and regulation of body temperature
In addition to the digestion of food and nutrients, metabolism uses energy in respiration, blood circulation and regulation of body temperature. These processes can also be affected by food.
Some foods like hot chili peppers or beverages such as coffee or tea They can slightly increase metabolism. This is because, as we saw at the beginning of the article, metabolism encompasses the chemical processes that convert and use energy.
Foods such as those mentioned in the previous paragraph can stimulate metabolism by minimally altering breathing, blood circulation and body temperature. An example is cold water that needs energy to be brought to our body temperature.
Coffee can speed up metabolism by 3% – 11%, just like green tea. Spicy foods that contain capsaicin they can also momentarily stimulate metabolism.
This is where the myth of “negative calorie foods” comes from. instead of eating calories, you expend them. In a small part he may be right, but it is much more complex than that reduction.
In any case, although there are certain foods that can activate or accelerate the metabolism in the long term, the ideal is to have a proper diet accompanied by physical activity.
Long-term nutrition and metabolism
Momentarily raising metabolism is not the same as doing it chronically. As we have seen in the previous section, it is possible to activate the metabolism temporarily with some foods. Nevertheless, after a short period of time everything returns to normal.
Increase metabolism chronically it is also possible, especially if we have deficiencies in our diet. Deficiencies in vitamins and minerals will make our body not work as efficiently as possible. On the contrary, following a healthy and complete diet is the best way to ensure that our machine is well cared for.
The iron and selenium, for example, are necessary for the proper functioning of the thyroid gland that regulates metabolism. A diet low in these minerals can slow down our metabolism.
To this are added all the other nutrients and minerals, proper hydration and an adequate supply of energy from both proteins, carbohydrates and fats. If we have covered all those needs we will have our metabolism accelerated permanently. In the opposite case we will have a slowed metabolism.
if we want help that metabolism acceleration we will have to add both strength and resistance training, have an active lifestyle and rest well. All this will be our best long-term activator and metabolism accelerator.
In Vitónica | What you need to know about metabolism: can we speed it up or make it faster to lose weight?
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