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Tips on How to improve Your Metabolism
for
More Effective Weight (Fat) Loss
March 30 , 2010
It seems that everyone is talking about how to loss weight
these days. At this point in time about 1/3 of the adult population
of the United States is obese, while many others are carrying a spare
tire of 5 to 10 pounds that they want to get rid of. I know from dealing
with many people over the last forty years that a lot of them have tried
many times to get rid of the excess fat pounds. Some people have lost
a considerable amount of weight, while others continue to struggle.
Whatever the case may be I wanted to provide some tips that will improve
the metabolism to assist you in your goal of shedding the excess fat
stores. And, if you are not overweight these same tips will help to
improve your health and energy levels while preventing the buildup of
excess fat as you age.
CoQ10
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a compound found naturally in the energy-producing
center of the cell known as the mitochondria. CoQ10 is involved in making
an important molecule known as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP serves
as the cell's major energy source and drives a number of biological
processes, including muscle contraction and the production of protein.
CoQ10 boosts energy, enhances the immune system, and acts as an antioxidant.
As we age we produce less CoQ10 which will interfere with the production of energy and using fat as fuel. The mitochondria use fat to produce energy but if we are deficient in CoQ10 it will negatively affect this process. By taking a supplemental form it will assist with the body’s ability to take the fat in the body and break it down to produce energy. Regular use of CoQ10 can improve your metabolism, increase your energy, and help you to get rid of unwanted fat stores.
Another benefit of CoQ10 is it helps to combat free radicals. Free radicals are damaging compounds in the body that alter cell membranes, tamper with DNA, and even cause cell death. They occur naturally in the body, but environmental toxins (including ultraviolet light, radiation, cigarette smoking, and air pollution) can also increase the number of these damaging particles. Scientists believe free radicals contribute to the aging process, as well as the development of a number of health problems, including heart disease and cancer. CoQ10, along with other antioxidants such as vitamins A, C, and E, can neutralize free radicals and may reduce or even help prevent some of the damage they cause.
Various factors reduce the concentration of CoQ10 in different organs such as;
* Use of statins
(cholesterol lowering drugs such as Lipitor) reduce CoQ10 levels
* Aging, in individuals older than 20 years, reduces CoQ10 levels in
internal organs.
* UV exposure reduces CoQ10 levels in the skin.
Enzymes Promote Healthy Body Fat Levels
Enzymes are needed to initiate every physiologic, metabolic, and chemical
process in the body. You can liken an enzyme to the key that starts
your car. You can have a car with every function known to man, but without
the key to start it you are going nowhere fast. So it is with the human
body. At birth you have an abundance of enzymes throughout the body,
including digestive enzymes that break down proteins, starches, and
fats. Without them you could not break down the food you eat for proper
absorption to nourish the body.
Besides the hydrochloric acid produced by the stomach to breakdown proteins
primarily from animal sources such as red meat, chicken, turkey, and
fish, and fats, you have an organ called the pancreas that secretes
the enzymes protease to breakdown proteins, amylase to breakdown starches,
and lipase to breakdown fats. Now here is where the problem comes in,
because people eat too much cooked and processed food devoid of enzymes
that raw foods contain, they eventually use up the digestive enzymes
stored in the pancreas. It is like a bank account, if you keep taking
more money out of the account than you deposit, the account eventually
becomes empty and you can longer withdraw money. Once you exhaust your
digestive enzymes the body tries to compensate, although not very effectively,
by taking enzymes from other areas of the body that are normally used
for thousands of other metabolic processes such as the repair of DNA,
energy production, brain function, respiration, and tissue repair. When
this occurs the body begins to weaken and deteriorate more quickly making
it more prone to store unneeded fat around the hips, thighs and waist.
To assist your body to have a healthier metabolism that is more efficient at preventing the buildup of excess fat stores and improve your overall health, try to eat at least 50% of your food raw to obtain the enzymes and quality nutrition. For help in learning how to eat more raw food I suggest the book Raw Food Made Easy: For 1 or 2 by Jennifer Cornbleet (Kindle Edition - Aug. 31, 2005) - Kindle Book.
Another way to support your body with enzymes is by taking a high quality and well formulated digestive supplement.
Internal
Cleansing
At birth everyone’s digestive system is clean and healthy allowing for
efficient digestion, assimilation, elimination, and well functioning
metabolism. However, as the years go by the digestive system becomes
worn out and clogged up from too much cooked and processed food and
drink. This results in a malnourished body reducing the metabolism encouraging
the accumulation of excess fat on the body. I have seen time and again
over the years, that when people perform a proper internal cleansing
program, along with proper eating and exercise, the results have been
phenomenal in terms of weight (fat) loss, inches lost, especially around
the waist, hips, and thighs, and improved energy and well being. And,
one of the most amazing and pleasant side effects was that many people
actually had to increase their intake of food because their body’s metabolism
had become more efficient at burning calories.
If you have never done an internal cleansing program before, or you are thinking about doing one again, please examine the program at Internal Cleansing for Improved Health and Energy .
Liver
Over the years the liver becomes layered in fat and severely congested
due to poor eating habits. By cleansing the liver and building it up
you will improve your overall health and breakdown excess fat deposits
that may have accumulated over the years reducing your waistline and
other areas that may have excess fat stores. Liver cleansing is covered
under Internal
Cleansing for Improved Health and Energy .
Food
Combining
Application of food combining principles will allow for more efficient
digestion and absorption of nutrients improving your metabolism. Food
combing also takes a tremendous amount of stress off of your digestive
system allowing your body to use the extra energy to rebuild and restore
health. If you have more energy you feel like moving and exercising
more which in turn burns more calories. There are many good books on
food combining, one is Food Combining Made Easy (Paperback) by Herbert
M. Shelton. You should be able to find it at your local health
food store, bookstore, or online. Very inexpensive.
Move
More
Our modern society has made people lazier. They have cars, elevators,
moving sidewalks and escalators at airports and shopping malls, watch
too much TV and play too many video games. People get less exercise,
burning fewer calories, and eat too much food high in fat, sugar, and
salt. Start making it a habit of taking stairs and parking further away
form the stores and other destinations so that you have to walk further.
Get into a habit of walking at least 30 minutes a day and start and
keep a regular program of excercise.
Exercise
Everyone should have an exercise program. The adage - You
will lose it, if you don’t use it! - is true. The body
is designed to be used and functions best and stays healthier when we
exercise it regularly. You don’t have to kill yourself to get the benefits
of an exercise program. You have heard people say - No Pain No Gain!
Well, that is not true. I always tell people to train smart, and that
if their program makes them struggle, causes too much discomfort, and
makes you dread to go exercise, then you are doing something wrong.
An exercise session should leave you feeling refreshed and energized.
You should be excited and looking forward to your exercise session.
Tips
On How to Exercise
You will need to perform aerobics for your cardiovascular health and
resistance movements, such as weight training to keep your muscles strong,
toned, and flexible, and bones healthy. Weight training is also very
effective at ramping up your metabolism as it helps to build and maintain
muscle which burns calories. Fat does not burn calories. Because of
a lack of exercise people lose muscle as they age which reduces their
metabolism, or calorie burning efficiency. Even if you don’t increase
your calories over the years, you will still store fat because you have
lost muscle which used to burn the calories. So by resistance training
you can get back the muscle you lost and increase your calorie burning
efficiency, or metabolism.
How
to Perform Aerobics for More Effective Fat Burning
Many people like to do a lot of aerobics by running for miles, using
machines such as treadmills, stair climbers, and elliptical equipment
for an hour or more, but that really is quite unnecessary. For fat burning
it would It would be far more efficient to perform about 15 minutes
of aerobics 3 days week where the first five minutes are used a warmup.
Then over the next ten minutes you would alternate your intensity. Speed
up, or increase your intensity for about one minute, then reduce your
intensity for about one minute, then increase your intensity again for
about one minute. You do this until you have complete your final ten
minutes. This method of performing your aerobics is far more effective
at burning fat, and the fat burning effects will actually continue for
many hours even after you are done.
If you haven’t performed any aerobic activity in a while you should start with about 2 to 3 minutes three days a week. Begin by walking, or using a piece of aerobic equipment such as a treadmill, elliptical, or stair climber. Warm up for the first two minutes under low intensity, then increase the intensity for 1 minute then lower the intensity again until your rate heart slows down to normal. After one week of this you can increase the duration by adding another minute. Keep adding one more minute each week until you are up to 15 minutes. On the other four days during the week try to walk a minimum of 30 minutes at a comfortable pace where your heart rate becomes slightly elevated but not so much so you become breathless. Once again if you have not exercised in a while start with just 5 minutes four days a week and add 1 minute each week until you reach 30 minutes.
How
to Incorporate A Weight Training Program
Just as with the aerobic exercise, so it is with the resistance training,
start slowly and work your way into it. To burn more calories and improve
the metabolism for fat burning you should focus on multi joint movements.
This means exercises that involve more than one joint such as squats
(hips and knees), bench presses (shoulders and elbows), lat-pull-down
(shoulders and elbows), barbell and dumbbell presses (shoulders and
elbows). Multi joint movements involve more muscles thereby burning
more calories. Also, squats are a great exercise for not only improving
the contour and shape of the hips and thighs they also stimulate the
metabolism for more effective fat burning and getting the body and cardiovascular
system into shape.
Another great exercise is called the dead-lift. This one exercise works every muscle in the body and is great for improving the strength and posture of the spine, overall fitness, and metabolism due to the many muscle groups involved.
Your weight training program should be performed a bare minimum of two times a week for about 30 to 45 minutes made up of multi joint movements. However, you can perform the sessions three times a week by using what is called a rotating split routine.
Example:
Upper body - deadlift,
lat-pull-down, or dumbbell row, flat bench or incline press, and barbell
or dumbbell press for shoulders.
Lower Body - squats ( can be done free hand with no weight, touch and go off of a chair or bench without weight, or with weight, such as dumbbells in the hands, using a balance ball against a wall.)
Note: You should exercise your abdominal muscles three days a week just before your workout which will help with your warmup.
Take the Upper Body Routine and the Lower Body Routine and rotate them each week. If you did your upper body on Monday and Friday, you would do your lower body on Wednesday. The following week you reverse it by having the lower body on Monday and Tuesday and upper body on Wednesday.
Start with 1 set of each exercise with a very light weight for 10 repetitions. If you are very weak in the legs just do 3 sets of 3 reps with a little rest (30 to 60 seconds) in between. With time you will be able to perform the 10 repetitions without stopping as 1 set.
After two weeks of just 1 set, on the third week add another set of 10 repetitions. Perform the first set of 10 repetitions, rest about 1 minute, then perform another set of 10 repetitions.
Start with a low enough weight that you can perform the first set of 10 repetitions comfortably without straining. The same for the second set of 10. If you increase the weight make sure you can complete the 10 repetitions without straining.
After a period of time if you wish you can add a third set of 8 repetitions. However, I would caution you that if you have not exercised for some time, stay with the two sets for about 3 months.
If you want to get the most out of the program make sure your perform the movements properly. This may mean you would have to hire personal trainer for a couple of sessions. If you do, do not let them add any more exercises or sets than I have listed, or alter the types of movements unless you have some injury, health issue, or joint probelm that would prevent it.
Also, please consult your physician before undertaking any exercise program to rule out any complications that may arise because of a health issue.
Eating
a Healthy Unprocessed Diet
I am not going into an in-depth discussion about eating but I am going
to offer some healthy advice. Remove all junk food from your house so
that you will not be tempted to eat it. The more natural unprocessed
food you eat the better off you are. Fresh vegetables and fruits, whole
grains that you cook, not box cereals including the ones sold in health
food stores, whole grain breads and pastas such as Food
for Life Ezekiel . Products made from flour and box cereals convert
to glucose too fast increasing insulin causing the body to store fat.
Also increases triglycerides. Eliminate all dairy. Don’t use soy unless
it has been fermented such as miso and tempe. Use almond, hazel, and
coconut milk. Unpasteurized goat milk if you can find it. Use goat and
sheep cheese. Eliminate all oils except unrefined extra virgin olive
and sesame. Eliminate margarine and butter substitutes and use real
non- GMO butter. Use organic eggs with the yolk. The yolk actually contains
the nutrition that keeps your heart healthy and prevents fat buildup.
Studies have shown that eggs help to reduce cholesterol. Eat fish two
or more times a week. If you eat red meat, eat grass fed. Chicken and
turkey should be organic. Try to reduce your intake of animal flesh
and eat more beans and lentils. For example; you can eat one meal a
day, say lunch, consisting of some sort of animal protein such as fish,
chicken, turkey, eggs, or grass fed meat, breakfast would be some sort
of grain such as oatmeal, brown rice, buckwheat, quinoa, millet, combination
of, or any other grain you want to try. Supper could be made of various
grains and vegetables with different types of lentils and beans (no
soy beans) and other legumes.
Water
and Other Fluids
People do not drink enough healthy pure water free from chemicals such
as chlorine and fluoride. Our body is about 70% water and is required
to maintain its health, elimination, and metabolism. Eliminate all sodas,
including artificially sweetened, and sweet drinks, including fruit
juices. These will dehydrate the body and increase fat storage. If you
are going to make fresh juice lean more toward vegetables as they have
less sugar and more nutrients. Try to keep coffee drinking to one or
two at the most per day as it is very acidic to the body and contributes
to dehydration.
Artificial
Sweeteners and Weight Gain
In an attempt to avoid calories people use artificial sweeteners such
as NutraSweet. It has been demonstrated NutraSweet, also known as an
excitotoxin, causes damage to the hypothalamus in the brain. The hypothalamus
gland releases hormones that travel to the pituitary, also known as
the Master Gland, to stimulate it to release its hormones to most of
the endocrine glands such as the adrenal glands, the thyroid, and the
reproductive organs which in turn secrete their own hormones into the
blood. Due to its involvement with the endocrine system, the pituitary
is called the Master Gland, as it is required to regulate growth, metabolism,
and the onset of puberty.
Besides it involvement with the pituitary, the hypothalamus also controls sleep and waking cycles, the autonomic system, our emotions, and hunger and satiety, or when we are satisfied when eating.
By damaging the hypothalamus the natural balance on hormones in our body becomes disrupted and can produce many negative side effects, one of which is abnormal weight (fat) gain. Research has demonstrated that this artificial sweetener also destroys brain cells, effects the memory and induces headaches.
Avoid all artificial sweeteners , including Splenda, also known as sucralose (it also contains the toxic chemical chlorine), and use natural healthy ones such as Stevia, Really Raw Honey, and Suzanne’s natural rice syrup.
Final
Tip
Of all the tips I can give you for losing weight and keeping it off,
the most important one is to sit down with a pen and paper and write
out your plan and goals. Set a date and stick to it. If you don't do
that you will continue to get up and go through the same routine allowing
more time to pass and perhaps gaining even more weight. Just think if
you had started 6 months ago where you would be right now. And, remember
you don't want to go on diet where you try to starve the fat off, because
it will not work. It will only make your metabolism slower and you will
gain back even more weight. When you do that you make your body a fat
producing machine. What you want to do is make your body a fat burning
machine. This you can do by making lifestyle changes, eating properly
combined with an regular program of excercise, and following the tips
that have been provided.
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