Most people understand metabolism as the function that sets your ability to burn calories.
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If you have a high metabolism you are thin and struggle to gain weight. If you have a slow metabolism you are fat and struggle to lose weight.
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Metabolism is SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT!
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Metabolism isn’t just about burning calories. It influences every aspect of how our bodies function.
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This process of turning food into energy determines our cellular health and it responds to much more than just food scarcity or food availability.
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Our metabolism responds to
Psychological stress
Light
Temperature
Sleep
Hormones
Oxygen
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There are numerous factors controlled at various levels that impact metabolism.
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The body is like a large city. Like a city there are lots of roads and highways. Each car on the road is like a cell in the body. There is lots of traffic so it can be hectic. Lots of things to pay attention to, but from an aerial view it looks orderly.
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An aerial view reveals traffic is moving down the road. Some cars wait while others go. Some slow down on roads and speed up on highways. Cars change lanes and other cars yield to let them. Even more some cars break down and are stuck roadside.
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If we try to take in the specifics of each car it’s too much to assess but when we look at the big picture it is working. People are getting places and the city is alive.
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What stops the flow of traffic? A variety of things pot holes, accidents, lights, drivers.
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This is the way we should view human metabolism.
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What impacts the flow of metabolism? Diet, light, sleep, alcohol, drugs, stress, inflammation.
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Symptoms and illness are like traffic jams. They happen for different reasons in different people but the outcome is the same. Traffic is stopped.
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How do we avoid traffic jams?
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Development: Lifestyle.
Function: Make sure the actions correlate with intended outcomes. It works!
Maitinence. Regular daily service.
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We don’t get in a car and drive with no road in place to get to our destination. Yet when it comes to our health we are led to believe we don’t need a plan?
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Support healthy metabolism it’s way more than the ability to burn calories.