Metabolism: Can We Control It?

     The body’s metabolism is a unique process for each individual person. No two people metabolize food at the same rate therefore no two people have the metabolism. We all use our calories at different rates, with different results. Our metabolism, like our fingerprints is unique to each of us. But the need to understand and accommodate this metabolism is an issue that we all face.

    The dictionary defines metabolism as the sum of all biochemical processes involved in life, or the sustaining of life. In application concerning our health, metabolism is related to the intake and use of food. In reference to the case in point it is our ability to utilize our food to the fullest extent.

    Right now, the greatest results in raising our metabolism come from exercise and building our muscle mass, while reducing our body fat. Adding more muscle to the body, in turn causes us to burn more calories, and this helps to elevate our metabolic rate.

     Our metabolism functions also depend on how well we have taken care of our nutritional needs. Some people have really high rates of metabolism. In other words, when they consume food, their bodies burn it up almost as fast as then consume it. Then there are those of use who use our food intake so slowly, as to not even notice that we’re burning calories. These people who burn quickly are often slim and trim, the people who burn more slowly are the people with a tendency toward obesity.

     For years, people have sought ways to raise the metabolic rate. If you can raise someone’s metabolic rate, you are then better able to control the burn of calories, especially for overweight or obese people. This would make the goal of better or improved health a much easier reality for those people. Efforts to date have produced very little results. There are foods that we can consume that naturally raise our metabolic rate, but not to a great extent. What we need is a way to directly alter the rate. We need to be able to raise our metabolism to a point where we can actually see a benefit.

     This is where the effort to stay physically fit and active provides tremendous payoff. Over the course of your life, if you stay active, exercise, and maintain optimal health for your muscles, you will see a tremendous difference in the rate that your body metabolizes food. As people age, their metabolism quite naturally slows down. The greatest way to prevent this from happening is through exercise and staying fit.

     The best way to date to control our metabolic process is through proper nutrition, daily exercise, eating the foods known to have an effect on our metabolic rate, and plenty of rest. The metabolic process can be indirectly controlled by the methods we just discussed. Direct control is not available, to date.

     I believe through careful analysis, exercise, and attention to each person’s unique needs, we could bring about a more natural balance of the metabolic burn vs. the calorie intake. To a level where optimal health and weight control are in equilibrium.

Is There Health Without Water?

    Water makes up 98% percent of our body, and without this life-giving fluid, you and I would not survive. The human body can survive for up to 3 weeks on water alone. Try surviving without the water and you might make it 4 to 5 days. It’s a truly amazing and health sustaining fluid, and it’s just water!

    What really do we get from water, that our body must have, and can’t live without? It’s the benefit of the fluidity of water, and what it does for our bodies that is the most important part. All of our bodily functions rely on the cells in our bloodstream to supply them the nutrients and minerals that they need to carry out those vital functions. How do our cells achieve that end? They absorb the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients we take in during our digestive process. But they also absorb water, or liquid fluids that are a product in direct water intake or the digestive process, but either way, water must be a part of the formula. Since cells are also made of mostly water or fluid, it’s necessary to keep lots of water coming, and make sure that we include at least 64 ounces in our daily intake.

    Ask any health and fitness instructor, and they will tell you that you must consume plenty of water during your exercise routine, weight lifting, and physical activity requires us to take in water or some sort of sports drink. Most of the instructors will recommend just plain water. Why must we keep our bodies so hydrated? In order for the metabolic and muscle burn to occur, there must be plenty of water and plenty of oxygen. Oh, wait a minute, there’s another benefit of water. It contains oxygen, a substance our body cannot get enough of. Water also helps to flush the lactose acid that accumulates in our muscles when we work out, or use the excessively. The lactose acid can build up and cause soreness, stiffness, and muscle pain.

    So, if you look at the benefits that water supplies, and you are trying to maintain health and fitness, you can not ignore the fact that water needs to be a part of your daily intake. But how much water do we need to adequately supply our bodies, and help fuel our metabolic processes? The most often recommended quantity is 8 eight ounce glasses each day. Personally, I believe that amount should be closer to 10 eight ounce glasses each day.

    What other benefits can water provide, other than the obvious ones of adding fluid to our bodies? Water helps keep our skin healthy and glowing. It helps in the reduction of wrinkling, and aids in our ability to flush fat, toxins, and any other unwanted or foreign substance from our bodies. Flushing our intestines with plenty of water allows us to maintain stable and safe quantities of yeast and bacteria. Plenty of water keeps our thought processes and brain function at optimal levels, and prevents headaches that are caused from not enough hydration. It’s pretty amazing what that one little glass of water can do!

Information on Wellness

    What is wellness and where do we go to learn about wellness? Wellness is defined as our overall good health, and the condition sustained by healthy eating and fitness habits. We have so many places to turn for wellness information, that it would be impossible to cover all the possibilities in one article. However, we’ll cover the most common places to look, and let the reader take it from there.

    The major sources of wellness information are available to everyone, everywhere. Libraries, the internet, your physical fitness instructor, and your health teachers are all viable avenues of information sources. The library contains more information about health and wellness than you could possibly read in a year’s time. There are magazines, periodicals, medical journals, and all sorts of books written on ways to become fit, to maintain fitness, or to participate in fitness activities. There are sources of information that explain the benefits of being well, the physical benefits, the mental benefits, the social benefits, and the self-esteem and emotional benefits. The library will also usually have video and audio information available on almost any topic covered by the reading material. They may even have wellness tapes available for viewing. Often, the library provides the opportunity for the low-income to access materials that otherwise would not be available. Video and audio tapes are examples of this opportunity.

    The internet opens more windows on wellness than the library, since the internet is a compilation of many libraries, news articles, newspapers, and individual input. You have only to type in the word wellness using one of the available search engines, and suddenly you’ve got more sources of information than you can research. The search engines often return information in the order of actual relevance to your search words. So bear that in mind as you search. The first couple of pages will contain the most relevant information on wellness. You can locate information about wellness, local wellness programs, and instructors who specialize in one-on-one wellness evaluations and personal attainment plans.

    Your local school physical education instructor and health teachers are invaluable sources of wellness information, in that they have an education in health and well-being. They are privy to the most sought after reliable sources of real wellness benefits. Many of the articles you will find, and much of the information you read, is not 100% accurate, ask a teacher, or instructor actually involved in wellness programs, and you are going to receive much more accurate feedback

    Your federal government publishes massive quantities of information about the health and wellness in this country, from many different perspectives. The United States Department of Agriculture is responsible for determining our daily recommended allowances, and as such, accumulates much information about wellness programs, the state of physical and mental wellness in the United States, and how well we participate in wellness programs.

    Past these sources, check out your local fitness center. Quite often they have random information posted, current magazines, and periodicals that address current wellness issues and often offer interested persons the chance to observe wellness in action.

Information on Fitness

    What is fitness and where do we go to learn about fitness? Fitness is our ability to function with alertness and energy over the course of our daily activities. We have so many places to turn for fitness information, that it would be impossible to cover all the possibilities in one article. However, we’ll cover the most common places to look, and let the reader take it from there.

    The major sources of fitness information are available to everyone, everywhere. Libraries, the internet, your physical fitness instructor, and your health teachers are all viable avenues of information sources. The library contains more information about health and fitness than you could possibly read in a year’s time. There are magazines, periodicals, medical journals, and all sorts of books written on ways to become fit, to maintain fitness, or to participate in fitness activities. There are sources of information that explain the benefits of being fit, the physical benefits, the mental benefits, the social benefits, and the self-esteem and emotional benefits. The library will also usually have video and audio information available on almost any topic covered by the reading material. They may even have fitness tapes available for viewing. Often, the library provides the opportunity for the low-income to access materials that otherwise would not be available. Video and audio tapes are examples of this opportunity.

    The internet opens more windows on fitness than the library, since the internet is a compilation of many libraries, news articles, newspapers, and individual input. You have only to type in the word fitness using one of the available search engines, and suddenly you’ve got more sources of information than you can research. The search engines often return information in the order of actual relevance to your search words. So bear that in mind as you search. The first couple of pages will contain the most relevant information on fitness. You can locate information about fitness, local fitness center locations, and instructors who specialize in one-on-one fitness plans.

    Your local school physical education instructor and health teachers are invaluable sources of fitness information, in that they have an education in fitness. They are privy to the most sought after reliable sources of real fitness benefits. Many of the articles you will find, and much of the information you read, is not 100% accurate, ask a teacher, or instructor actually involved in the fitness process, you are going to receive much more accurate feedback

    Your federal government publishes massive quantities of information about the fitness in this country, from many different perspectives. The United States Department of Agriculture is responsible for determining our daily recommended allowances, and as such, accumulates much information about fitness alternatives, the state of fitness in the United States, and how well we participate in fitness programs.

    Past these sources, check out your local fitness center. Quite often they have random information posted, current magazines, and periodicals that address current fitness issues and often offer interested persons the chance to observe fitness in action.

How the Brain Affects Our Health

    Almost everyone is aware today, of the importance of protein in our diet. Protein directly affects our muscles, tissues and organs. It also directly effects the development of these organs, our brain included. What happens if we don’t get the necessary protein or any of the other many nutrients our body, not just our brain, needs to function correctly? It is through the use of our mind (or brain, whichever term you prefer) that we are able to absorb the necessary facts and figures and process it into usable pieces of information.

    Nutrition refers to the nurturing of our body, in our ability to keep it healthy and functioning as it is supposed to do. Our ability to provide the body with all the necessary food, vitamins, and minerals so that we continue to thrive in our daily life processes.

    How do we determine that we are providing the essential nutritional needs? That knowledge comes by educating ourselves about what our individual needs are, the needs of our family, and then taking that knowledge and applying it to the foods we buy, that we prepare, and that our families consume. Once again, through the use of our minds, we are able to take the guidance provided by the USDA, develop a journal and establish what our daily requirements are, so that take care of our necessary nutritional needs.

      According to the guides published by the USDA, calorie needs vary from one age group to another, one gender to another. So how do you determine what your individual needs are? You can setup a journal for recording your daily caloric intake for about a month. Make a note of your weight each day. If you don’t gain any weight during the course of that month, you’re eating your recommended calorie level in order to maintain your weight. Now, take that calorie information, check with a nutritionist about the recommended daily allowances of vitamins and minerals that you need. Take both pieces of information, calorie intake and nutritional requirements, use the food pyramid and comprise a combination of foods that will help you achieve these recommended daily intakes, and still be enjoyable food. You now have an individualized healthy eating plan.
    Over the course of absorbing the instructions for a healthy, well-balanced eating plan, we have used our mind through the whole process. Our ability to think and reason, our level of education, and the exposure we receive to outside input on a daily basis affects our entire environment, but especially our health. We make choices based on the information we have previously absorbed. Our food, exercise, and recreation choices are no exception. It just so happens that these choices can immediately affect our health.
   
    Maybe now you have a clearer picture of the opportunities we have for our brain to affect our health. It is more than just conscious decisions. It is a result of brain development through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. It is a result information we have previously absorbed, and input we will continue to receive.

Fitness Terminology

There are many words today associated with fitness. Many of those terms are new for readers, and some of the terms are interchangeable between fitness, wellness, and health. So let’s take a minute to explain some of the terms you may see from time to time.

Fitness is defined differently from different sources, but the overall meaning of fitness is our ability to function with vigor and alertness throughout the course of our day to day responsibilities.

Fitness refers to the condition of our physical body and mental fitness would of course be addressing our mental state. Often we will join and participate in fitness centers that provide personal trainers, and stationary fitness equipment. There are numerous pieces of equipment available that perform many different exercises to address specific areas of the body. The best time to learn about this equipment is during the orientation session of the fitness center you have chosen.

Meditation, an exercise recommended for everyone, but especially those of use with hectic, stressful lifestyles, is defined as an engagement in contemplation, especially of a spiritual or devotional nature. Meditation has been shown to be an effective method of lowering blood pressure, relieving stress, and promoting overall good health, by simply reflecting upon our day, and finding happiness within ourselves.

Your nutritional needs refer to the physical supplements of vitamins, minerals and calories needed in order for you to sustain optimum physical health. Much discussion is centered on this topic right now, because our nation faces obesity problems of epidemic proportions.

Alternative therapies refer to the alternative medicine options such as chiropractic care, acupuncture, herbal cures, and holistic medicine. Of the examples given here, chiropractic and acupuncture are becoming more widely accepted as complements to the traditional form of western medicine. Studies are conducted often that support the evidence that chiropractic care and acupuncture are effective forms of medicine.

Herbal cleansing and healing are terms used by many of the natural healers to describe what ingestion of certain herbal combinations can provide for the body in the effort to bring it back to optimal health, or to sustain optimal health.

Exercise covers a lot of ground. There are so many forms of exercise that we can only try to cover some of the more popular and well defined programs. There are aerobic programs that focus on heart rate and your cardio health. There are water aerobics that again focus on your heart health. Weight training and free weights are used for building muscle mass, and sculpting the body. Walking is one of the best exercises available, as it doesn’t jar our bodies, but uses all parts for toning and building heart rate. Running, swimming, jogging, and skiing are all forms of exercise, but not recommended for the novice.

Today fitness is used not only in conjunction with health and wellness, but also fitness of the mind, body, and spirit. There is an ever increasing movement among the health conscious citizens, that fitness should include not only our physical being, but our mental and spiritual fitness.

Fitness of the Spirit

    Fitness of the spirit refers to our ability to cope with the everyday stresses and strains of living our life. Quite often, the ability to cope overwhelms us, and if we don’t give sufficient time to the fitness of the spirit, or soul, we lose our ability to function properly.

    Today, the evidence of that inability exists in the form of anxiety attacks. The attacks can range from extremely mild to unbelievably severe. What is happening to us when we experience anxiety attacks? Our system goes into a form of shock. I refer to as a sort of “soul shock”; nothing is physically wrong that should cause us to become ill, and nothing is wrong mentally that should cause us to experience the panic; it is within our spirit that we have lost control.

    This loss of control can be momentary, or it can last for years. The most debilitating part of the process is the inability to function even in the most usual of routines. Short trips to the grocery store become impossible, because of the panic they create within the person.

    Having experienced these panic attacks for a brief period of time, I can attest to their reality. It is a frightening event that only serves to add to the panic. The person experiencing these attacks feels as if they have lost control over their ability to function. They cannot meet deadlines; they aren’t able to provide for their family, there are a host of reasons that cause us to come to the place of loss of control.

    I believe the hectic pace of life in this 21st century only serves to enhance the need to give our spirit, our soul, our inner voice a chance to be heard. We drown out any opportunity to connect with ourselves during the course of our day, because we schedule everything, multi-task everything, and leave no down time for a conversation with our self. It’s impossible to listen to your inner needs, if you’re talking on the phone, listening to the radio, or interacting with your children.

    At the same time this era has taken from us any chance meeting of our spiritual needs, it has also provided more opportunity for planned downtime. We have audio, video, and even massage clinics that offer us the chance to slow down and connect with our inner self. Never before has there been so much available to help us help our selves. What is the hold up? The biggest detriment is our lack of discipline and devotion to our own health and well-being. What we tend to forget during this age of super-human feats, is that the only way to sustain the super-human person, is to keep that person, all aspects of that person, well.

    Fitness comes through concentrated effort, discipline, and devotion, to our body, mind and soul. The fitness of our spirit or soul affects all other parts of our person, as evidenced in the presence of panic attacks, mental breakdowns, and the inability to cope. The need to attend to our fitness needs should be added to our daily “to do” list, so that we schedule in enough time for our selves!