May 24

May 24 Does Your Metabolism Rev Like a Race Car or a Golf Cart?

Hi, I’m Liz Moser, and I’m a Mayo Clinic and National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach.

In last week’s blog, I shared what I eat on an average day, and several people remarked that it’s a lot of food. I agree I think I have an efficient metabolism, particularly for my age!

This week, I thought I’d discuss some metabolism boosters so that you could get your engine revving more like a race car and less like a golf cart!

For the record, I think my metabolism is somewhere between a golf cart and a race car. Perhaps it’s similar to my current vehicle, a Mini Cooper Countryman. My Mini is strong and steady, and with all-wheel drive, it plows through just about anything!

6 Ways To Rev Up Your Metabolism:

1) Whole foods: Eat single ingredient foods that run, fly, swim, or grow out of the ground.
As a vegan, I eat plenty of fruits, veggies, and whole grains, and most of what I eat is a single ingredient. The exceptions are hummus and vegan yogurt.

2) Circadian rhythm fix:
Feeding and fasting window: at least 12 hours (8-10 hours is better) I’m usually done with dinner by 7:15 pm and then eat breakfast at 7:30 am. That time frame gives me a minimum of 12 hours.
Front-loading calories: Eat more calories earlier in the day. Yes! My breakfast is enormous, and my lunch is slightly larger than my dinner. I showed you that in last week’s blog.
Optimize meal timing: Eat dinner 3 hours bedtime. I’m usually done with dinner by 7:15 and in bed by 9:30 or ten, so that's not exactly 3 hours but pretty close.
Consistent wake and sleep schedule: I do this! I’m up at 5 am and in bed by 9:30 pm or 10 pm.

3) Get rid of toxins:
Remove processed food and eat organic if possible: Yes! I do this!
Purify air and water: We have an air filter in the bedroom, and I drink filtered water. Our shower water isn’t filtered, though, and we could use a few more plants in the house! Yes, house plants detox your home environment if you remember to water them!
Remove toxins from your kitchen-particularly plastic containers and kitchen products with non- stick chemicals:
We mostly use glass containers. However, I haven’t found a toxic-free alternative that I prefer over my 32oz BPA free water bottle. Please note that BPA free means the company uses another kind of toxic plastic. I know this yet keep using it. Not good! Furthermore, although we have iron skillets, we generally still use the Teflon pans. In this category, I’m going to give myself a C- rating!
Beauty and personal products: None of my products are organic. I’m a complete failure here! Please do better than your wellness coach in this category!

4) Detox: Some detoxing methods are chlorella, sauna use, turmeric, cruciferous veggies, and milk thistle. I eat plenty of cruciferous vegetables, particularly kale and broccoli, and I mentioned in last week’s blog how I consume a ¼ tsp turmeric every day. I do use my sauna, but mainly for the red and near-infrared light, not for the heat and subsequent sweating and detox.

5) Hormesis: metabolic stress on the body.
Intermittent fasting: I fast for 12 hours and subsequently have a 12-hour feeding window.
Intermittent nutrient cycling: I keep my meals similar day to-day. So no, I don’t do this.
Cold: Colder the better at night when I sleep, but otherwise, no. And I spend most of my time bundled up in my bathrobe!
Heat (sauna is a miracle drug): I have a sauna, but lately, I use it more for the red and infrared light than the heat.
Exercise: Yes and No. I do a quick 10-minute workout every morning, walk 70K steps per week, and do Hatha, Vinyasa, and Yin yoga. Technically only the vinyasa and morning calisthenics would be considered exercise. The rest falls into the NEAT category (non-exercise, activity, thermogenesis). You can think of NEAT as any movement other than a workout.
Red and Near-infrared light: Yes, every day in my sauna, although maybe I should rename it my Hormesis chamber!
Dietary phytochemicals: garlic, ginger, cayenne, cumin, nigella sativa-black cumin, and turmeric. I consume turmeric daily.

6) Energy Flux: another way to explain the concept of metabolism. Flux is a paradigm to strive for: eat more and move more! People with high metabolisms have high flux.
Lo flux: chronic yo-yo dieters, slow sluggish metabolisms, lo-energy.
High flux: athletes, faster metabolism, improvements in insulin sensitivity, less hunger a body more willing to release excess fat, more energy. When you eat more, you’re also consuming more phytonutrients, and micronutrients.

In-crease flux by increasing:
Exercise:
Food: increase food, particularly protein and veggies
NEAT: non-exercise, activity, thermogenesis

An easy way to increase your flux is to increase NEAT activity. I’m embracing NEAT with my 70K steps per week and plenty of yoga. Namaste.

How my metabolism-boosting strategies stack up:

I eat mostly single ingredient Whole Foods:
I guard my Circadian Rhythm: Feeding and fasting window, Front loading calories, Optimize meal timing, and Consistent wake and sleep schedule.
Eliminate Toxins: Yes, on organic foods. No, on beauty and personal products!
Detox regularly: turmeric and cruciferous veggies, but I could sauna more. Hormesis: I get plenty of NEAT exercise, red and near-infrared light, and dietary phytochemicals like turmeric, garlic, and cumin.

As you can see, I adopt some of these metabolism-boosting strategies; however, not all of them. That’s life. We do what we can.

That said, I employ enough of them to have a metabolism like my Mini Cooper Countryman instead of a golf-cart. I also explained how I could improve my flux or metabolism and ultimately trade in my Mini Countryman for a speedier vehicle if I so choose.

So, please reach out and let me know:

Which of these metabolism strategies do you use?

Which are you excited to try? (Cold showers, anyone?!)

And

If your metabolism were a vehicle, what would it be? Golf Cart? Race Car? Or somewhere in between like my Mini Cooper Countryman?

I’m Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach. If you have any questions about these metabolism-boosting strategies, or if you have any questions about health and wellness or wellness coaching, please contact me through my website at lizmosercoaching.com