When I talk to a client for the first time I always ask them, “How frequently are you eating?” They usually answer with, some days I wait up to 5 hours without eating. I'm always blown away by this and at the same time share compassion. We live in a busy time, this is why some people put off eating or taking care of themselves to get things done.
But can you really get things done when you have no energy? Nourishing yourself has to be a top priority if you're going to strive to have more energy and a healthy well functioning metabolism. Contrary to popular belief, your body needs food on a regular basis in order to regulate your blood sugar and keep all systems functioning optimally.
If you have trouble losing or gaining weight you may want to start by nourishing the body on a daily basis. Eating a small meal every two hours then tapering off once your metabolism begins to function more efficiently.
Even though food frequency seems like such a simple solution, I find it’s the most underestimated factor in most people's nutrition program. People are just not doing it. Maybe it’s because of our busy stressful lives or maybe it's because calorie counting has been drilled into our psyche as the best way to lose weight and get healthy. Whatever the reason, at some point our bodies are going to slow down if we’re not giving them enough fuel.
I think eating clean organic foods is really important, but if you’re not eating frequently enough to balance your blood sugar each day, you’re simply not going to be able to meet your body’s metabolic needs, thus slowing your metabolism down and storing more calories as fat.
This can also sets the stage for hormonal imbalance and thyroid slow down which can make it basically impossible to lose weight.
The goal is to heal the metabolism first. Excess weight will come off when the metabolism and thyroid are healed and working efficiently again. You can do this simply with the right foods in the right amounts and at the right times.
5 Simple Things You Can Do To Heal Your Metabolism
1. Eat every 2 hours. When you’re training your body to run on glucose instead of adrenaline it’s really important to eat every 2 hours until your body is able to run more efficiently. If you go too long without food you run the risk of going into an adrenaline mode and your body can go into it’s cortisol reserves. Doing this too often can slow down your thyroid which is what regulates your metabolism. You want to avoid this hormonal fluctuation by eating frequently enough to meet your body’s metabolic needs. This will depend on the person.
2. Eat food with your coffee in the morning. It’s ideal to eat food with your morning coffee to avoid a blood sugar spike. I also recommend adding organic heavy cream and/or gelatin to your coffee to slow down the effects of the caffeine. The nutrients you get from the heavy cream and gelatin will help your body metabolize the coffee.
3. Be prepared. Plan ahead for your meals and snacks for the week. You can easily avoid moments where you realize you have nothing to eat. Because you waited so long to eat your body rebounds by overeating at the next meal. You can avoid this by simply planning ahead. Shopping on the weekends and having enough snacks on hand to keep the blood sugar regular throughout the day.
4. Eat balanced ratios of macronutrients in every meal. What are macronutrients? It's your protein, fats and carbohydrates. Each one should be represented at every meal to avoid blood sugar fluctuations.
5. Eat before, during and after your workout. Exercise can create inflammation and lactic acid in the body as well as cause a temporary drop in blood sugar. In order to minimize this response I suggest eating a small meal 30 minutes before your workout. You could even sip OJ with gelatin added to it during your work out and eat a meal right after.