Metabolism Tune-Up

• Drink at least two quarts of water a day. Water is very important in helping to maintain a healthy metabolic rate and a fit body. At least two quarts a day, between meals, is essential – more if you’re physically active – that’s at least eight glasses of water daily. Water suppresses your appetite naturally. Have a large glass of water about 15-20 minutes before each meal or snack. I cannot stress enough how simply drinking purified water, between eight to ten glasses of water a day contributes greatly to fat loss and reshaping the body, even if you don’t change any of your other habits.

The liver’s main functions are detoxification and regulation of metabolism. The kidneys can get rid of toxins and spare the liver if they have sufficient water. This allows the liver to metabolize more fat. Adequate water will also decrease bloating and edema caused by fluid accumulation by flushing out sodium, acidic wastes and other toxins.

• Eat good fats. Sedentary, overfat people tend to eat a higher fat diet than people of healthy weight. Fatty foods slow metabolism and the body converts dietary fat into body fat very easily. Gram for gram, fats not only have twice the calories of carbohydrates and proteins (nine compared to four), they also burn only 2 percent of their calories to be stored as fat. Protein and carbohydrates, on the other hand will burn about 25 percent of their calories to be stored as fat. It is considerably more difficult to convert protein and carbohydrates into body fat: your body actually burns calories doing so. If you are currently maintaining your weight on 3,000 calories a day and then decrease the percentage of fat from 40 percent to 20 percent, you can lose 1 pound of fat in about 3 weeks – while at the same time eating 20 percent more food from complex carbs and protein. The bottom line: eating too much fat (especially from animal products) makes you fat.

But not all fats make you fat. In fact, you can also fight fat with healthy fat. Sounds paradoxical, doesn’t it? Omega-3 fatty acids can actually help increase your metabolic rate. They also rid the body of excess fluids and can increase your energy level. Omega-6 (LA) fatty acids (especially gamma linolenic add or GLA) are also essential to a healthy metabolism but are less likely to be deficient in a healthy diet. Good sources of Omega 3’s include flax seeds, flax meal, flax oil, walnuts, soybeans, tofu, leafy green vegetables and some fish like salmon.

• Meditate to reduce stress. Sometimes the things that you experience in your life can put a burden on you physically by causing endocrine or hormonal events that go on in your body. Medical experts now believe that this is at the root of many degenerative disease processes. In other words, stress has a biological as well as an emotional effect on you and, over time, it can diminish your body’s ability to fortify, protect, regenerate and heal itself.

Stress can be triggered by emotions, such as anger, fear, worry, grief or guilt. It can be the result of an injury or trauma, an accident or surgery. Everyday pressures, like family squabbles, impossible bosses, unfaithful spouses, unruly teens or overdue bills cause stress. An extreme change in sleep patterns, diets, exercise and even the climate you live in can also create stress. So can chronic illness, pain, allergies and inflammation. And too much work or too much of anything can create stress.

Produced by the adrenal glands and commonly known as the “stress hormone,” cortisol helps the body cope with all types of stress, from infection to fright, from a major job or home move to divorce and even death. Whether you are facing an emergency, an accident, a confrontation or just doing your job or getting some exercise, cortisol is there to get you up and going, to get you through the day. The cortisol that can flood your system to assist you in emergencies helps to provide your body with nutrients you need to cope with stress. Normally, once you have managed the stressful circumstances, the brain shuts off the production of cortisol, your physical reactions subside and soon you are back to normal.

But there is another side of the cortisol story. If the brain perceives that stress is ongoing or chronic, it can override the messages to shut off cortisol production. Cortisol production then stays elevated because the brain thinks the body needs it to cope with what it’s experiencing. So, as important and necessary as cortisol is, you can have too much of it. If too much cortisol stays in the body for too tong, a damaging cycle can begin that can lead to blood sugar problems, fat accumulation, compromised immune function, exhaustion, bone loss, even heart disease. If you experience one major stress after another and if you haven’t created ways to reduce and release that stress, it can have a detrimental effect on your waistline and your health.

A daily practice of meditation has been shown to cause a generalized reduction in numerous physiological and biochemical stress indicators such as a decrease in heart rate, respiration rate, stress hormones, pulse rate and an increase in oxygen consumption and stow alpha waves, a brain wave associated with relaxation. It is now being used successfully by people suffering from chronic pain and chronic conditions such as cancer and heart disease, as well as stress-related disorders such as abdominal pain, chronic diarrhea and ulcers.

For more than 30 years, I have been and avid meditator and give workshops and seminars on the benefits of mediation, offering simple ways too make it part of ones lifestyle.

• Nourish your spirit. To maintain a healthy body, you must first nourish your spirit. The real epidemic in our culture is spiritual heart disease – the experience of low self-esteem combined with feelings of loneliness, isolation and alienation that pervade our culture. Many people who suffer from spiritual malaise use food or stimulants such as drugs, caffeine, alcohol, sex or overwork to numb the pain and get through the day.

Stretching, deep breathing and meditation will relax your mind and you will experience a greater sense of peace and wellbeing. Then you’ll be able to make eating and exercise decisions and other lifestyle choices-that are life enhancing rather than self-destructive. Engage in physical activities that nourish your body and soul. Cherished activities I enjoy include hiking, in-line skating, gardening, walking in a botanical or flower garden or stretching or yoga (without being in a hurry).

So, in conclusion, dieting alone doesn’t work. Good nutrition combined with regular aerobic exercise is better, but it won’t replace the muscle tissue that’s lost in aging. It’s when you combine strength training, aerobic exercise, sensible eating, stress management, meditation and other nourishment for your spirit then you have an unbeatable combination for reaching and maintaining your ideal weight, improving your metabolism, creating a fit, lean body and celebrating life.

Susan Smith Jones, MS, PhD, is an internationally renowned motivational speaker, frequent radio/TV talk show guest, culinary instructor, holistic lifestyle coach and author of hundreds of magazine articles and 17 books, including her latest, “Unleash the Power of NatureFoods: 50 Revitalizing Foods & Lifestyle Choices to Promote Radiant Health.” To order NatureFoods (autographed copies available upon request ) call (888) 606-4599, ext. 0 (M-F, 9-4 MT) or visit: www.SusanSmithJones.com.