Is thermogenesis slowing your weight management goals?
Part three in the reasons for unsuccessful weight management.
Alice knows green tea increases her thermogenesis!
For those of you who are not familiar with thermogenesis, the term refers to the generation of heat in the body created by the conversion of the foods you eat into energy (metabolism). We all know someone who can just eat and eat and never seems to put on weight well these people most likely have excellent thermogenesis mechanisms. For the rest of us burning the calories we eat from food can be a little harder and this can result in it being that much tougher to stay within our target weight range. And to add to our trouble as we age our metabolic rate seems to slow down so we are hit with a double whammy! For some people metabolism can slow up to 0.5% per year after the age of 20, mostly related to overall losses in muscle tissue as we age. This can add up to a 5% decrease in calorie needs every 10 years. What this means is the older you get the less calories you need. But the good news is there are simple and effective ways to increase your thermogenesis and this will help you burn more calories and manage your weight more effectively.
Step 1: Make sure the diet you follow is geared up to maintain cortisol and blood sugar levels within their normal ranges. This can be done by making sure you take care of stress levels and support your adrenal glands, by eating good quality meals containing nutrient dense foods, protein and good fats, by eating high protein low sugar snacks regularly throughout the day, and always eat a good quality breakfast low in sugars.
Step 2: Do more weight resistance training. While there is no doubt that aerobic exercise is extremely important for overall health and can contribute to muscle quality by increasing the quality of your muscle tissue and reducing overall body fat, resistance training is extremely important to build up energy consuming muscle tissue mass. The more good quality muscle mass you have the higher your thermogenesis and the more fat burning.
Step 3: Do not restrict your overall calorie intake too much. Sudden and rapid calorie restriction is accompanied by a sharp drop in your temperature and metabolism and this can lead to less calories being burned. A real ‘no no’ if you are trying to successfully manage your weight.
Step 4: Drink plenty of fresh filtered water. A dehydrated body is not as efficient at fat burning, maintaining muscle mass, or maintaining overall metabolism. Even a slight drop in internal hydration can result in cortisol levels rising and metabolism dropping and this is definitely counterproductive to successful weight management.
Step 5: Replace refined carbohydrates with proteins. Evidence suggests that protein consumption increases thermogenesis, improves satiety, and can help decrease calorie consumption.
Step 6: Drink green tea. Green tea is an amazing powerhouse helper if you are trying to control your weight. Not only does it help increase calorie expenditure via its actions on the sympathetic nervous system and adrenal glands, it can also reduce fat absorption and digestion via its ability to inhibit the fat digesting enzymes in the gut. One study published In The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has shown that green tea can increase 24hour energy expenditure by up to 14% or 280 calories and fat oxidation by up to 34% in the same time period..really exciting news for weight control. Other studies add the beneficial effects of green tea in increasing insulin sensitivity and fat metabolism for energy expenditure.
healthy diet + hydration + improved muscle mass + cortisol and blood sugar level control = up metabolism = up heat in the body = up calorie burning = successful weight management
The Core Naturopathics Holistic Weight Management program uses up to date bioimpedence technology to track your weight management progress. Bioimpedence is an invaluable tool for measuring your muscle to fat ratios, quality of muscle tissue, and cellular fluid and hydration levels, all indicators of how your thermogenesis is working for you. The great thing is you can see with your own eyes how this is changing as you follow your weight management over the course of the program. It truly is a fantastic motivator.