Our hormones are also affected by what we eat, when we eat, how much we eat and how often we eat. The two main metabolic hormones are insulin and glucagon. Insulin removes sugar from blood and stores it as fat. Glucagon takes the stored fat and breaks it down into sugar, thus, “burning fat.” Both hormones are secreted when carbohydrates are eaten. They ebb and flow unless the meal is imbalanced with too many carbohydrates. In this case, the insulin overwhelms and shuts off glucagon. This blocks muscle maintenance, blocks fat burning and slows metabolism. It also makes us sluggish, drowsy, irritable and anxious within an hour-the classic after lunch crash.
Not eating enough protein releases Cortisol, causing muscle loss, thus, slowing metabolism. Eating less often forces your body to burn calories slower in an effort to maintain energy equally in between meals, thus, slowing metabolism. This also negatively affects your thyroid hormones.
There are several keys to increasing the rate of metabolism by what you eat and how you eat. One is to eat the right foods frequently. This starts with breakfast which jump starts your metabolism which naturally slows during sleep. Eating small to medium sized balanced meals every 3-3 ½ hours is optimum. A balanced meal is one which has proper portions of the most natural unprocessed protein, carbohydrate and fat. Eating unprocessed food increases it's “thermic effect,” thus, requiring more energy to digest, burning more calories and raising metabolism. Refined/processed foods are simple to digest and and have no thermic value because they've been striped of their complex components. Spicy foods have been found to raise metabolism.
Being dehydrated, even by 2%, releases cortisol and slows metabolism. Dehydration forces your liver to assist your kidneys instead of performing its main function of burning stored fat.
How you sleep affects your hormones and metabolism. Sleeplessness is a stress and causes the release of Cortisol, a hormone which halts fat burning and muscle maintenance/building.
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