Ted Health: Can I Speed Up My Metabolism?

Podcast Release Date: 06/06/2022

Podcast Duration: 33:03

4 Key Takeaways

1. People with more muscle mass usually have a faster metabolism

2. Dieting cannot "ruin" your metabolism

3. The body will burn primarily stored fat during a caloric deficit (eating fewer calories than your body uses in a day)

4. Ultra processed foods cause people to overeat

What is metabolism?

1. The complex sequence of chemical reactions inside every cell of our body that harnesses the flow of energy and matter to basically create all that we are and all that we do

   1. The process in which food is converted into energy in the body

3 Fuels in the Food that we Eat

1. Three Macro-nutrients

   1. Carbs

      1. 4 calories per gram

   2. Fats

      1. 9 calories per gram

   3. Proteins

      1. 4 calories per gram

2. Our Metabolism has different chemical steps to process each macro-nutrient

   1. The product of the metabolic chemistry is Energy (ATP) to power the body and nutrients that build and maintain your bodies organ systems

Energy

1. Measured in calories

   1. To your body, a calorie is a calorie

   2. It doesn't matter what kind of food was broken down to make it

   3. Most people think that the body uses most of its energy for movement

      1. This is FALSE

2. Energy demands are highest for:

   1. Keeping our heart beating

   2. Building cells

   3. Digestion

   4. Brain function (20% of energy needs)

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

1. The number of calories a person burns in a day to take care of the basic bodily processes (Does not include calories burned during exercise)

2. Variables that alter BMR:

   1. Body size (greatest impact)

   2. Age

      1. Toddlers have highest metabolic rate

      2. Elderly people have the slowest

   3. Pregnancy

   4. Gender

3. Are there people that have faster metabolisms than others? YES

   1. Faster metabolism is not linked to having a thinner body

4. Muscle is metabolically demanding (requires a lot of energy)

Ketogenic vs Plant Based Diet for Metabolism

1. Slight difference on the animal protein plan

   1. Burned marginally more calories than the plant based diet (less than 100 calories a day)

2. Keto diet is not a “trick” for burning more body fat

   1. If you eat more fats, your metabolism will burn more fats, but not necessarily the fat on your body

   2. Metabolism will only burn stored fats if you are eating fewer calories than your body needs (caloric deficit)

Ultra Processed Foods

1. No one diet is better or worse than another EXCEPT diets that are high in ultra processed foods

   1. Foods that are high in calories, fat, sugar, salt and low in nutrients

   2. These foods cause people to overeat for several reasons:

      1. They have low satiety levels (not filling)

      2. Release "happy chemicals" in the brain making them addicting

      3. Usually cheap and come in large portions

2. Affected behavior

   1. Unprocessed foods

      1. People ate slightly less than normal

3. Ultra processed foods

   1. People ate more than normal

Noteworthy: You cannot BOOST your metabolism…but you can SLOW it down

Study on the contestants of the Biggest Loser

1. People that lost the most weight

   1. Greatest decrease in metabolism

2. Long term effects

   1. The more weight a contestant regained, the more their metabolism rate increased

   2. People that kept more weight off had a slower metabolic rate

      1. They burned fewer calories at rest

Myth bust: you cannot wreck your metabolism at efforts of weight loss

Too Much Activity

1. Overtraining syndrome (not giving your muscles time to recover between workouts):

   1. Can slow metabolism

   2. Immune and reproductive system crashes

   3. Women stop menstruating

   4. Injuries take longer to heal

   5. Illness takes longer to get over

2. Assumption: more activity/movement in a day= more calories burned

   1. This is not true when overtraining