Your Metabolism and How It Impacts Your Health

We talk a lot about metabolism, how it affects our energy, our weight. But what exactly is your metabolism? Where is it in your body?

Your Body's Energy

Simply put, your metabolism is how your body produces energy. The term "metabolism" refers to every physical and chemical process in your body that creates or uses energy.
This means that your metabolism is really a network of processes within you that involves your brain, gut, muscles, lungs, veins, and even your nervous system.

Because the primary way we obtain energy is through food, your metabolism is linked very closely to your nutrition. Each metabolic process needs nutrients to break down and thus produce energy, which is then used to do things like move, balance hormones, control your body temperature, heal and even manage our mood.

The main types of nutrients your metabolism uses and breaks down likely sound very familiar. These are the things you might find in the "Nutrition Facts" box on foods you buy at the store:

• Carbohydrates: Typically found in one of three forms (sugars, fibers and starches), carbs produce glucose through digestion, which is your body's main source of energy.
• Proteins: A part of every cell in your body, proteins build and repair tissue, supply nitrogen for energy production and are involved in numerous other vital processes throughout the body.
• Fats: Heavily concentrated sources of energy, fats produce twice as much energy as carbs and proteins based on weight.

In addition to these main energy-giving nutritional components, vitamins and minerals play a major factor in your metabolism. Minerals like calcium and iron as well as vitamins like Vitamin D and Vitamin B12 are important to your metabolism because many of them are essential for particular bodily functions and deficiencies can cause complications. Additionally, our bodies cannot produce vitamins on their own and must rely on what we consume to support things like growth and cell reproduction.

Nutrition counselors at EvergreenHealth are here to help you develop an individualized diet plan so you get the most out of your favorite foods.

Your Body's Metabolic Health

Typically, when we talk about metabolism, we're talking about its speed and our ability to lose weight. However, since your metabolism is really just a group of processes occurring throughout your body, the speed at which it performs relies on other health factors, nutrition, movement and overall wellness.

Similar to the rest of your body, eating healthy portions of balanced nutritious foods, getting regular movement and exercise, and focusing on wellness with stress management and plenty of rest are great strategies to ensure your metabolism is performing at its best.

While it is true that your metabolism does slow down somewhat as you get older, most weight gain in adults occurs because responsibilities begin to take precedence over regular movement and we lose focus on our wellness. Many of us begin moving less, have less sleep and increased stress as we focus more on our jobs and families and our metabolism slows down resulting in weight gain. Genetics also plays a role.

There are other health factors and conditions that can have a major impact on your metabolism and, consequently, your overall health. For instance, pre-diabetes and diabetes affects how your body metabolizes glucose, and hypo- or hyperthyroidism affects how much energy your cells use based on hormones released by your thyroid gland. Sleep apnea can increase stress hormones to such levels your body's sleep and overall well-being are negatively impacted resulting in a decrease in your metabolic processes. Deficiencies of certain minerals and vitamins can also result in difficulty losing weight.

This is why annual checkups with a primary care provider are essential to a healthy lifestyle since your doctor will be able to run tests, including a Comprehensive Metabolic to ensure your metabolism is performing at the right level.

The EvergreenHealth Weight Loss & Bariatric Care team can also help you understand your metabolic process better and work with you to come up with a care plan that fits your lifestyle.

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