Have you gained weight you can’t seem to get rid of? Or do you constantly feel tired, have dry skin or feel bloated? Then it might be a sign of poor metabolic health. Fortunately, there are ways to improve your metabolic health.
You can improve your metabolic health through lifestyle changes such as reducing stress, eating an anti-inflammatory diet, resistance training and aid in supplements that support your metabolism. If you experience poor metabolic health due to conditions such as insulin resistance, diabetes, Gaucher disease, Hereditary hemochromatosis, etc. you may need to consult your doctor for additional advice on how to improve your metabolic health.
In order to address how you can improve your metabolic health, we’ll go through symptoms, causes of weight gain, the 6 metabolic diseases and how to fix poor metabolic health.
What Are The Symptoms Of Poor Metabolic Health?
Have you ever wondered why doctors and nutritionists emphasize the importance of taking care of your metabolic health? Well, that’s because your metabolism is vital for keeping your body healthy and functioning.
Research shows that your metabolism plays a crucial role in converting nutrients from the foods you consume into fuel. With this fuel, your body gets the energy to do everything from breathing and moving to circulating blood and repairing tissues and cells.
Therefore, it is highly important to maintain a healthy metabolic state. If your metabolic health is poor, it can have adverse effects on your overall well-being.
Are you wondering how you can improve your metabolic health? There are several ways to assess its condition and ways to improve it.
One of the most common symptoms is weight gain or difficulty in losing weight. If you are eating healthy and exercising, yet still experiencing weight gain, chances are you have poor metabolic health.
This is because a slow metabolism burns fewer calories, leading to more calories being stored as fat in your body.
Research suggests a link between poor metabolic health and obesity, particularly when there is an increase in BMI, which can serve as an indicator of metabolic disorders.
If you feel tired and sluggish almost all the time even after getting an adequate amount of sleep, it could be a sign of poor metabolic health.
Study propose that unhealthy metabolic function can affect your hormonal signaling, leading to fatigue. This occurs when your body struggles to convert glucose into energy. Since glucose is the biggest source of energy for your body, this change can have a negative impact on your energy levels, leaving you feeling sluggish.
Feeling bloated can also be an indicator of poor metabolic health. This may come as a surprise but your gastrointestinal system, responsible for breaking down food and producing hormones, is one of the most complex systems in your body.
Research indicates a connection between metabolic disorders and gut issues, particularly bloating. If you frequently experience bloating, even after consuming a normal amount of food, it may be an early sign of your metabolic health worsening.
Dry skin and acne are commonly observed symptoms in individuals with metabolic dysfunction. These issues often arise when someone is overweight or has high insulin levels, both of which can be caused by poor metabolic health.
There is a strong relationship between poor metabolic health and mood changes as well. Your metabolism plays a crucial role in hormonal balance.
When metabolic health is compromised, it can lead to hormonal imbalances, resulting in elevated levels of insulin. Study proposes higher insulin levels can suppress serotonin, a hormone responsible for feelings of happiness.
Consequently, you may experience feelings of depression and anxiety. If you want to learn more about your hormone type, I’ll suggest you take my FREE Hormone Type Quiz to figure out how to balance your hormones. Now that you are aware of some symptoms of poor metabolic health, let’s delve into metabolic syndrome and its causes.
Does Metabolic Syndrome Cause Weight Gain?
Research indicates that metabolic syndrome and weight gain have a complex relationship that can vary from person to person. Metabolic syndrome is a result of poor metabolic health and encompasses five key risk factors.
If left untreated, it increases the chances of developing conditions such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease.
The five factors associated with metabolic syndrome are as follows:
- Increase in fat around the waist
- High blood pressure
- High levels of blood sugar or insulin resistance
- High levels of triglycerides
- Low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or “good” cholesterol
Experiencing more than one of these factors could be a sign that you are suffering from metabolic syndrome. As metabolic syndrome is a cluster of these interconnected issues, all these factors contribute to weight gain.
For example, insulin resistance is a key feature of metabolic syndrome. Insulin plays a crucial role in regulating blood sugar levels and promoting the storage of excess glucose as fat.
However, if you are experiencing insulin resistance, it starts affecting your body’s ability to utilize glucose as a source of energy. This leads to elevated blood sugar levels, which contribute to weight gain, particularly in your abdominal area.
When your body has a low level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, it leads to an increase in levels of dense low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles, which can contribute to weight gain.
Similarly, elevated levels of triglycerides can result in increased fat storage. When your body stores more fat than it burns, weight gain occurs, particularly in the abdominal region.
Study show that metabolic syndrome is also associated with chronic inflammation, driven by the aforementioned risk factors. Unfortunately, inflammation may disrupt normal metabolic processes and promote weight gain by increasing your appetite and altering fat storage patterns.
While metabolic syndrome itself might not directly cause your weight gain, the interconnected issues and metabolic disturbance certainly play a role in the experience of weight gain.
Now, you may be wondering about the metabolic diseases you can experience due to poor metabolic health.
What Are The 6 Metabolic Diseases?
Your body is highly sensitive to any disruptions in metabolism, as even a slight abnormality in chemical reactions can have significant impacts.
When your body experiences an imbalance in metabolism, it may result in producing certain nutrients in either excessive or insufficient amounts, leading to the development of metabolic diseases.
You may develop a metabolic disease if any of your organs stop functioning. Often, these diseases are attributed to factors such as genetics, hormonal deficiencies or other underlying conditions.
While there are numerous metabolic diseases, let’s explore some of the most common ones:
Diabetes stands as one of the prevalent metabolic diseases. It is a condition that impairs your body’s ability to regulate levels of glucose with insulin. There are different types of diabetes, each with its own characteristics:
- Type 1 diabetes: This autoimmune disorder in which your immune system starts attacking cells in the pancreas mistakenly, resulting in reduced insulin production.
The lack of insulin can lead to complications such as nerve and kidney damage, impaired eyesight, and heart and vascular diseases.
This is why if you suffer from type 1 diabetes, you need to take insulin medications daily in order to regulate your blood glucose. - Type 2 diabetes: In this type, your body struggles to utilize insulin effectively. Type 2 diabetes can develop at any age and is often associated with factors such as poor diet and an unhealthy lifestyle.
- Gestational diabetes: This condition affects certain women during pregnancy and generally resolves after giving birth. However, it increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the future.
Gaucher disease is an inherited metabolic disorder that prevents the breakdown of a specific fat, leading to its accumulation in the spleen, bone marrow, and liver.
As a result, individuals with Gaucher disease experience extreme bone pain, an increased risk of fractures, enlarged organs, anemia and even death. The primary treatment for Gaucher’s disease is enzyme replacement therapy.
Another notable metabolic disorder is maple syrup urine disease, in which your body is unable to process certain amino acids – specifically isoleucine, valine and leucine.
Elevated levels of these amino acids in your body can be highly toxic, resulting in a distinctive sweet smell in your urine and the degeneration of neurons in your body.
Additional symptoms may include seizures, poor feeding and developmental delays. If left untreated, maple syrup urine disease can be fatal in newborns within the first few months of life.
Glucose galactose malabsorption is a condition in which a child’s body is not able to effectively absorb the fundamental sugars glucose and galactose. You can manage the symptoms by eliminating lactose, glucose and sucrose from the diet of the child.
Research shows that phenylketonuria (PKU) is when an individual is born without the ability to produce a specific enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase – an enzyme responsible for breaking down amino acids.
These amino acids are essential for building proteins necessary for your body’s development and growth.
In PKU, the inability to break down these amino acids leads to an excess accumulation, resulting in intellectual disability, developmental delays, organ damage, unusual posture and brain damage. Treatment for PKU involves restricting the dietary intake of specific proteins.
Hereditary hemochromatosis is another type of metabolic disorder that affects your body’s ability to regulate iron absorption. This disorder causes excessive iron deposition in various organs, leading to symptoms such as joint pain, darkening of the skin and fatigue.
If left untreated, hereditary hemochromatosis can contribute to the development of diabetes, heart disease and liver cancer. Treatment involves regular removal of your excess blood to reduce iron levels.
If you’re having any type of medical condition, I’ll recommend you to consult with your healthcare practitioner. However, if you’re having poor metabolic health due to lifestyle factors, you may wonder how you can improve it.
How Do You Fix Poor Metabolic Health?
While poor metabolic health can lead to extremely adverse health disorders, the good news is that you can address it through your doctor and make a few adjustments yourself in your lifestyle.
Study propose drinking water might speed up your metabolism temporarily. Therefore, it is recommended to increase your water intake. Additionally, water can make you feel fuller, resulting in you consuming fewer calories.
Chronic stress can lead to metabolic imbalances. Thus, it is beneficial to adopt stress management techniques such as meditation, yoga or engaging in activities you enjoy to reduce your levels of stress.
Surprisingly, lifting weights can help boost your metabolism. Research shows that building muscle increases your metabolism, allowing you to burn more calories even when you are at rest. Therefore, incorporating weightlifting into your routine can aid in retaining muscle.
Getting a good night’s sleep can do wonders for your metabolic health. Research found that when you get only 6 hours or less of sleep it can lead to impair glucose metabolism and elevate insulin levels. Therefore, giving your body enough rest at night helps provide energy for optimal functioning.
Considering that weight gain is a common factor in poor metabolic health, you may wonder how you can both improve your metabolic health and lose weight.
How Do You Lose Weight With Metabolic Syndrome?
Losing weight with metabolic syndrome may be quite challenging. However, it is possible with a healthy lifestyle and consistency. There are numerous things that you can incorporate into your lifestyle to help achieve weight loss.
Before you begin any weight loss plan, it’s crucial to consult with a professional who can provide you with proper guidance tailored to your medical history and needs. If you’d like a personalized program and want to get started, you can book a session with me here.
Eating protein is associated with losing weight. Research suggests that eating protein makes you feel fuller, reduces your appetite and prevents overeating.
Engaging in physical activity daily can assist in managing risk factors such as obesity, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol. Try to do about 30 to 60 minutes of exercise daily in order to support weight loss with metabolic syndrome.
Another approach to losing weight when dealing with metabolic syndrome is adopting a heart-healthy diet.
Choose meals that include more vegetables, nuts, fruits and whole grains while being low in saturated fat. Additionally, you may benefit from a diet that suits your specific hormone type. For detailed, step-by-step guidance, you can refer to my eBook, Kickstart To Hormonal Balance.
Since following a specific diet may boost your metabolism, you might be wondering what food helps in increasing it?
Foods That Increase Metabolism And Burn Fat
The best way to increase your metabolism and burn calories is by consuming foods that are anti-inflammatory or enriched in omega-3, protein and other nutrients that boost metabolism.
Some of the foods are as follows:
- Fish and shellfish
- Legumes and beans
- Chili peppers
- Lean meats
- Broccoli
- Lentils
- Ginger
- Apple cider vinegar
- Berries
- Almonds
- Tempeh
- Seaweed
In addition to these foods, you might be thinking about what drinks may help in speeding up metabolism.
Drinks That Speed Up Your Metabolism?
There are a few beverages that you can drink to boost your metabolism. Additionally, these drinks help make you feel fuller, promoting weight loss.
Some drinks that can help speed up your metabolism include:
- Green tea
- Coffee
- Lemon detox water
- Water
- Black tea
- Apple Cider Vinegar Drinks
- Ginger tea
- Vegetable juice
However, keep in mind there’s no magic drink or food that can fix your metabolic health, but by consistency and healthy lifestyle changes, you may be able to improve your metabolic health.
