How-Flexible-Are-You
It all begins with an idea.
2021-4-1_ So are you flexible? Trust me, you want to be. AND NO! I am not talking about how bendy you are. What I am referring to is your metabolism. But before you think on that, let's back peddle a bit and examine your food practices.
How often are you eating each day? Do you even know? And when I use the word "eating" I mean anything with a calorie. So if you chew gum or suck on hard candies or put cream or sugar in your coffee or tea, if you pop a cracker in your mouth or take a bite of your kid's sandwich...this all counts as meals. So count all of then up and see what you come up with-more than two is a lot and here's why.
We live in a FOOD ON DEMAND kind of world and most of the food that we are stuffing into our mouths is processed and loaded with harmful grains, refined flours, processed sugars and vegetable oils, all of which compromise our health greatly. Our guts never have the opportunity to rest and our cells rarely get the chance to recycle themselves thanks to the constant influx of calories and glucose.
Ideally, we want extended periods of non food or eating in between meals in order to increase our insulin sensitivity, strengthen our mitochondria and repair our microbiome. Extended periods of not eating (and this can vary) is a tough practice to succeed at if the meals you are eating aren't nutrient dense. High quality protein, healthy fats and the least toxic plant foods need to be the mainstays of your diet in order to become metabolically flexible.
Okay, now let's get back to the topic du jour of metabolic flexibility...which is your body's ability to tap into different fuels sources based on the need. Most people are metabolically inflexible, again thanks to constant consumption of poor quality food. So by increasing the quality of our plates and reducing the frequency of our meals (two per day is the sweet spot) our bodies can then become fat adapted-thus enabling us to be free of the shackles of poor quality food and eating constantly. Our bodies can easily torch through carbohydrates, fat, protein and our OWN BODY FAT! Becoming fat adapted will enhance mitochondrial function, increasing their fat-burning abilities, and even improve mitochondrial biogenesis. Our mitochondria are the power plants of our cells and the more efficiently they work, so do we!
Chronically elevated insulin levels over time is not a good thing and will inevitably create problems, big ones. Too much insulin in the body for too long can lead to diabetes type 2, obesity, high blood pressure, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancer etc. the list goes on. Becoming metabolically flexible lowers insulin over time and ensures that many healthful mechanisms in the body like ketosis, autophagy, mitochondrial biogenesis and improved gut health can occur. Thus, it's important to examine our daily food practices and then make two changes happen: reduce the frequency of your meals and improve the nutrient density of your plate.
Enrollment for SPRING FITCAMP 2021 starts April 15th. I encourage you to think on this opportunity to work with me and turn your health status around. I will teach you how to become fat adapted over a 6 week period through healthful plate building strategies. This is a community based program that is entirely virtual and totally worth it. Click below for more information! I look forward to your transformation story!
SPRING FITCAMP
--to your health!
xoxo Paige