Are you gaining weight easily or can’t you lose weight easily? Here you can find the possible causes and solutions related to a slow metabolism .
When your body decides to slow down its metabolism it’s about one thing: survival. It is not that your body is trying to conspire against you and ruin your life.
It’s your body making a wise decision to sacrifice long-term health for short-term survival because it is being told to do so (usually through food / nutrient shortages).
The slowing of metabolism allows your body to last longer with less food. The body also tends to hold on to fat as a protective mechanism.
So if this is where you are, you should know that there are ways to reverse the slower metabolism. Knowing what habits to change is the most important place to start.
Step 1: Identify the cause of slow metabolism:
Not eating enough food
To make an analogy, think of your body as a house. If you are not making enough money to pay the electricity bill, what do you do? Well, you turn down the heat in your house to compensate, just as you may not turn on the lights as often or stop doing regular maintenance.
The body works in a similar way. When not enough calories are entering the body, it saves energy by lowering body temperature ( causing slow metabolism ), rejecting digestive juices ( making digestion weaker ), reducing pulse, and slowing thyroid function ( resulting in less energy ).
A slow metabolism is a built-in survival response by the body, to help you go more with less food. Slow metabolism is not a bad thing. It’s actually a very good thing, because it’s going to help keep you alive in the event of an emergency or famine.
Not eating enough carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are actually the most important macronutrient when it comes to metabolism (macronutrients are proteins, carbohydrates, and fats). All macronutrients are extremely important, and none should ever be limited in any intentional way.
Adequate carbohydrates in the diet are very important, since the conversion of T4 (inactive thyroid hormone) to T3 (active thyroid hormone) depends on sufficient glucose (sugar) and stored glycogen (sugar) in the liver. So you need regular carbs to set the stage for that to happen.
Other causes of a slow metabolism
If you’re eating enough calories, carbohydrates, nutrients, and you’re still having trouble, there are a few other things you might want to think about. Consider if any of the following might apply to you:
- Liver malnutrition – Often caused by not enough high-quality (animal) protein. Common in those with a history of veganism or a low-protein vegetarian diet and who do not knowingly follow the diet.
- Nutritional deficiencies : Fat-soluble vitamin deficiencies are common due to the popularity of low-fat diets, as well as some other common nutrient deficiencies.
- Poor Digestion : Weak digestion often lowers appetite regulation due to bloating, constipation, and often makes you unable to enjoy as many calories.
- Hormonal Imbalance: Low progesterone levels or estrogen dominance can slow metabolism by interfering with the body’s ability to convert thyroid hormone (T4 to T3).
- Toxic lifestyle and / or poor liver detoxification: Excess toxins in the diet and lifestyle, as well as poor liver detoxification, burden the metabolism further.
- Stress: the conversion of the hormone cortisol blocks the conversion of the thyroid hormone, which protectively slows down metabolism over time.
- Inflammation: food sensitivities, food allergies, polyunsaturated fats (vegetable oils) are common causes of inflammation.
- Excess exercise: Excess exercise, especially when diet is poor, is a sure way to put your body into survival mode by slowing down your metabolism.
Step 2: How to Naturally Reverse a Slow Metabolism
Once you’ve discovered the cause or causes that are contributing to your slower metabolism, it’s time to make some changes.
The longer the time your metabolism has slowed down, the more causes you are likely to find, and the longer it will take to turn it around.
- If the cause is not eating enough food and / or nutrients, it is time to eat more real food and stop counting calories.
- If eating too little carbohydrates is the cause, now is the time to gradually work some nutrient-dense carbohydrates into your diet.
- If the cause is nutritional deficiencies, now is the time to fill in the nutrient “gaps” in your diet.
- If the cause is a malnourished liver, it is time to nourish the liver with the right foods.
- If the cause is poor digestion, it is time to learn about which foods are the easiest to digest and work with your body to regulate your digestion as much as possible over time.
- If the cause is hormonal imbalance, now is the time to make sure that you are supporting hormone production to give your body enough of the raw materials it needs to produce hormones.
- If the cause is toxins, now is the time to get rid of toxins from your food, and detoxify your lifestyle.
- If the cause is excessive exercise, now is the time to make sure you are supporting your energy balance on a day-to-day basis (avoiding a calorie deficit).
Step 3: Be consistent and patient
Be patient with your body. You don’t get a slow metabolism overnight, and you won’t get a recovery in a day, a week, a month, 6 months, or even a year in some cases. Understand that your body is doing its best to find balance and homeostasis (balance) again.