METABOLISM – TAKE A BREAK
Our metabolism is very individual, and the good news is that genetics is not the only thing that determines it. A look at diets of indigenous peoples, show that they have healthy body compositions and optimal metabolic situation, despite different diets. The East African Maasai, for example, eat a diet consisting of more than 60% fats, contained in meat and dairy products, and have a much lower risk of metabolic diseases such as arteriosclerosis than those of us who eat a Western diet, despite a high cholesterol intake. In contrast, the Kitava people eat primarily carbohydrates high in fiber and do not suffer from metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, coronary heart disease or stroke. This illustrates how individually nutrients eaten are metabolized and why therefore no “one fits all” solution for the perfect metabolism and optimal health exists.
How your lifestyle determines your metabolism and what are the functions of your endocrine system.
Here are the most important metabolic tips from our expert Dr. Lutz Graumann at a glance.
What we understand by metabolism is that we take in substances from the environment, such as food, drink, air and light, these are converted into energy in our body and in the end, what we cannot use is excreted. This means that at the end of the day, all that remains is a little CO2, water, stool and urine. In the following short videos, our experts Anna Gellert and Lutz Graumann go into detail about how genetics, hormones and our digestion as well as other lifestyle factors such as fitness level, stress management and nutrition affect our metabolism. Click on “Implementation in everyday life” to learn the important metabolism tips for each area.
GENETICS
“Our daily habits trump inherited risks!”
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An unhealthy metabolism not only hinders weight loss, but also leads to other diseases due to deficient or excessive hormone production or excessive production of waste products. Thus, overeating, or deficient intake of nutrients can lead to metabolic disorder. This increases the risk of metabolic diseases such as obesity, type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure and elevated blood lipid levels – the so-called metabolic syndrome. Therefore, our daily diet, exercising and sleep patterns affect our metabolism. The good thing about it – these are all building blocks that we can influence by healthy routines and habits.
Digestion
„By chewing well you can ease your digestion!“ – already when we salivate and chew our food it is not only broken down, but carbohydrates are already broken down into simple sugars and pathogens are warded off.
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Implementation in everyday life
Our metabolism already starts with digestion, or more precisely, in your mouth. Our body first has to break down everything we eat into its smallest basic components – molecules – in order to absorb them via our intestines.
KEY TAKE AWAY: Mindful eating is a very good way to train your sense of hunger and satiety and to enjoy meals consciously. You can start with one meal or the first two forks and chew each bite at least 15 times. Try it with a piece of bread and chew it at least 15 times and you will see how it tastes sweeter and sweeter!
Microbiota
We have 10 times more intestinal bacteria than own body cells! A healthy microbiota is therefore the key to a healthy metabolism.
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Implementation in everyday life
After our food is digested in the stomach it drops into the small intestine, where the absorption of the smallest components of our food now begins: sugar molecules, fatty acids, amino acids, minerals and so on. For this to function properly, a healthy microbiota is essential! Not only nutrients play an important role, but also indigestible food components, such as dietary fiber, when it comes to a healthy metabolism.
KEY TAKE AWAY: Eat fermented foods like natural yogurt, sauerkraut or kimchi to keep your microbiota in balance! Combine these with plenty of fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains, as these are food sources that improve your gut (and overall) health.
Fitness level
The WHO’s recommendations for physical activities are at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous-intensity.
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Implementation in everyday life
Physical activity is defined as movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in energy expenditure. Therefore, any kind of physical activity, such as walking, cycling, dancing, but also gardening and housework counts as well. More intense physical activity includes sports. Sports, in turn, can be divided into “competitive sports” with a competitive character and fitness training. Fitness can therefore be positively influenced by your leisure activities, such as a walk with the family or a bike ride on the weekend. In addition, you should include physical activities that increase your heart rate, like slow jogging or fast walking. The great thing about this is that you can start according to your fitness level and gradually increase. You should also implement high intensity exercises, like jogging, zumba, spinning or functional training, that’s up to you – do what you do for fun! In this way, you increase your fitness level and, for example, your muscle mass. The higher the percentage of muscle mass, the more calories are burned, even at rest. This means that two people sitting next to each burn different amounts of calories in order to maintain the metabolic processes.
KEY TAKE AWAY: Find out here how you can integrate more physical activity into your daily work routine and try different exercises or training plans in the media library and get started right away!
Stress management
About 40 percent of people change their eating behavior when stressed. In most cases, increased sugar consumption can be identified by the consumption of sweets or fast food with added sugar.
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Implementation in everyday life
Adrenaline and cortisol are stress hormones, which are released during periods of stress. These in turn activate the hormone insulin and thus our metabolism. The mechanisms that take place in our bodies are evolutionarily the same as they were thousands of years ago – the difference, however, is the circumstances and situations that lead to these mechanisms. Stress does not initially mean anything negative it helps us to boost our body and mind into enhanced functioning to help us increase performance and attention when necessary.
KEY TAKE AWAY: Moments of rest, but also relaxation techniques such as yoga or meditation support your healthy stress management. For example, try the bodyscan method in the evening and integrate mini-breaks into everyday work. You can find out how nutrition supports you in mastering stressful phases here.
Intermittent Fasting
Autophagy begins after about 14-16 hours. This means that our body “cleans itself” and removes diseased or old body cells.
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Implementation in everyday life
Counting hours instead of calories – that’s what is called intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting is not therapeutical fasting in the classic sense. In this method, periods of food intake alternate with periods of complete abstinence. For our ancestors, who lived as hunters and gatherers, it was normal not to have a continuous supply of food. This sounds dramatic to us at first, but intermittent fasting is said to have many positive effects, from more energy to losing weight to improved performance. Through targeted meal breaks, we can boost our lipid metabolism and at the same time stabilize our blood sugar level. In addition, we strengthen our immune system, relieve our organism and thereby increase our performance and ability to concentrate. There are different types of intermittent fasting.
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE BODY
Constant snacking is taboo during intermittent fasting, as the body releases less insulin. During a period of fasting the metabolism of your body switches to lipid metabolism. This leads to burning your fat reserves, which will have many health benefits. Intermittent fasting also activates autophagy – the self-cleaning process of the human body. This self-cleaning process removes old body cells and the body detoxifies. The result: blood sugar level and cholesterol level as well as inflammation decreases and it promotes the quality of sleep and daytime performance.
INTERMITTENT FASTING – THE 16:8 METHOD
This method is a form of time-restricted fasting. The day is divided into 16 hours of fasting and consuming food during a period of 8 hours. If, for example, you skip breakfast in the morning, you don’t have to watch your colleagues eat during the lunch break and can also enjoy a delicious dinner in the evening. The flexibility of this method is the reason why the method is a quite popular type of fasting – Cause depending on your preference, the 8 hour-window can be set flexibly. If you don’t want to miss out on a balanced breakfast before work, it is advisable to start the 8-hour window in the morning. Your food intake would then be, for example, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. In this case, you would have to skip dinner (the so-called dinner-canceling method). You can also adjust this time window as you like and start at 12:12, for example, and slowly increase the fasting period from 12 hours to 16 hours or limit it to 12 to 14 hours – every hour counts!
Recommended Foods
Intermittent fasting should not be a free ticket for junk food. Anyone who wants to benefit from intermittent fasting should also focus on healthful eating and balanced diet. That means lean protein sources, healthy fats, whole grains and complex carbohydrates as well as a sufficient intake of vitamins and minerals. Meals that contain a lot of refined grains, like white flour and added sugar are unfavorable as they make us tired and raise our blood sugar level. Basically, you should eat meals that will keep you full for at least four to five hours without having an additional snack. You can create a balanced meal by using the healthy eating plate.
TIPS
- Choose the intermittent fasting method that best suits your daily routine and living conditions.
- Eat healthy and balanced meals.
- During the first phase of fasting, your thoughts will likely revolve around food. Distract yourself – over time, this will work better and better, as appetite and hunger automatically decrease.
- Consume at least 1.5 liters of water or unsweetened tea regularly throughout the day.
- Practice mindful eating – enjoy the food and take your time for it, to avoid binge eating after a fasting period.
Despite the promising positive side effects of intermittent fasting, it should be noted that the results are based on only a few human studies. Nevertheless, in our opinion, it is worth trying this form of nutrition, because fasting periods do not harm the body in any way. Ultimately, it is about finding your own way to permanently integrate a healthy diet into everyday life, so you can decide for yourself whether intermittent fasting will help you or if you would rather go a different way. Because, as always, there is no such thing as a “one fits all” diet.
Our experts for this topic
– Anna Gellert –
– Dr. Lutz Graumann –
References:
- Spreadbury I. (2012). Comparison with ancestral diets suggests dense acellular carbohydrates promote an inflammatory microbiota, and may be the primary dietary cause of leptin resistance and obesity. Diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity : targets and therapy, 5, 175–189. https://doi.org/10.2147/DMSO.S33473
- Schlieper: Grundfragen der Ernährung, 21. Auflage. Ernährung HT. Hamburg. 2014.
- Silbernagel, Despopoulos: Taschenatlas Physiologie. 9. Auflage. Thieme. Stuttgart. 2018.
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12876-019-1132-8
- Can Fam Physician 2020;66:117-25
