Eat What Makes Sense! Reset Your Body This Spring with Metabolic Balance®

The warm weather is around the corner! Are you READY? Did you put on a few pounds over these cold winter months?

Metabolic Balance is a holistic approach to “resetting” your body’s metabolism into a healthy balance and reaching your ideal weight, whether you need to lose weight or gain weight.

With a balanced metabolism, each individual will select foods containing the nutrients their body needs, which in turn, will allow the metabolic pathways to function at an optimal level. Most of us have lost this ability and eat until we are overly full or eat very minimal amounts. Nutritional balance provides the basis for energy, health, and is the corner stone for all bodily functions.

The North American society is consuming more light and low fat diet foods than ever before, but getting progressively heavier as the years go by. This is because we eat too little of what our glands actually need.

25 – 30% of the Canadian population has Metabolic Syndrome. This figure is even higher is the USA.  Metabolic Syndrome includes, but is not limited to, obesity, hypertension, fat metabolism disorders, Gallstones, type 2 diabetes, gout, erectile dis-function, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and cardiovascular disease. These conditions all involve inflammation. Metabolic Balance® is a great healer of inflammation!

Metabolic Balance® goes beyond mere nutrition; it addresses the body’s wisdom that lies within all of us to vastly improve our quality of life.

So what is metabolism all about?

1. The chemical processes occurring within a living cell or organism that are necessary for the maintenance of life. In metabolism some substances are broken down to yield energy for vital processes, while other substances, necessary for life, are synthesized.
2. The processing of a specific substance within the living body i.e. water metabolism, iodine metabolism, and insulin metabolism, to name a few.

Metabolism is about the proper functioning of the heart, circulation, respiration, liver, kidneys, digestion, bone structure, glands and hormone production, and regulation.

Following are some examples of the hormones that are brought into balance with the Metabolic Balance® program:

Insulin: Insulin is a natural pancreatic hormone which controls the level of the glucose in the blood. Insulin “opens the doors” and enables the body to take glucose from the bloodstream to the cells. The cells might use glucose for production of energy, if required, or insulin converts the excess glucose into glycogen, removes it from the bloodstream, and stores it in the liver and muscles. Once the need has been met, within the cells, the door closes. The excess blood sugar, that cannot be stored as glycogen, will be converted to new fat and stored in the adipose tissue (butt, hips, abdomen, and back). Insulin commands the body to save food energy stored in fat cells for a time when no food is available. However, in more sedentary North America, this is a very rare occurrence.

Insulin resistance is the pathway to diabetes. It is brought on by the constant demand for and continual release of insulin, via the excessive consumption of carbohydrates.  Increases in insulin concentration lead to high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, higher levels of stress hormones, adrenaline, and cortisol.  Insulin increases the building up of fat and increases blood clotting (strokes). High insulin levels make us permanently hungry, stops the burning of fat and increase the storage of fat.

Leptin is a very powerful and influential hormone normally produced in fat cells.  If your Leptin signalng is working properly, when your fat stores are “full,” there will be a surge in your Leptin level. This surge signals your brain to stop feeling hungry, to stop eating, to stop storing fat, and to start burning off some extra fat. The only way to eat less, in the long-term, is to not be hungry. The only way to do this is to control the hormones that regulate hunger; the primary one being Leptin.

It turns out that overweight people, especially children, produce large amounts of Leptin naturally. As we age, the body can develop an unresponsiveness or resistance to it, just as it may become resistant to insulin. Due to this resistance, satiation is not induced. The only known way to re-establish proper Leptin and Insulin signaing is to prevent those surges.

Ghrelin is another hormone which regulates hunger. It is produced mainly by the stomach to stimulate appetite when the stomach is empty and the walls are not stretched.  Your body’s level of Ghrelin can be influenced by many factors, including your lifestyle habits. For instance, chronic lack of sleep increases Ghrelin, making you feel hungry when you don’t need to eat. This is likely one reason why a a lack of sleep can make you gain weight. Insulin is known to increase levels of Leptin, the hormone that tells your brain you are full. When you eat foods that have no effect on Ghrelin and, instead, interfere with Leptin communication, this important cycle does not occur.

Melatonin, the hormone that manages sleep and wake cycles, is fat soluble and is stored in fat cells. When we decrease fat cells, the melatonin is released into circulation and is now available for our use, so we sleep better.  To burn fat you need higher amounts of oxygen. If we have low insulin levels when we are sleeping, we have more spare oxygen that will burn more fatty tissues.  Metabolic Balance helps you lose weight while you sleep better.

Most of us have tried many methods for losing weight, only to find it has made everything worse in the long run. On low protein diets you might lose a lot of weight quickly, but this is mostly the body’s own protein stores from muscle and organs.  The body has protein memory so when the diet is over you will be hungry and keep eating until the protein levels have returned to original levels. This usually means that fat levels will have doubled.  With low-carb and low calorie diets, you may eat more protein, but the brain, hormone producers, and blood cells depend on glucose and cannot burn fat. If the brain does not get enough glucose, the body will create its own glucose from protein. The result is that we will lose a great deal of our own protein (muscle and organ mass) because we aren’t getting the carbohydrates that we need.

How is metabolic balance® different?

A personalized nutritional plan is drawn up for every client. There is no question “Is this plan right for me”?

The metabolic balance® program is based on your personal:

• Medical history
• 36 laboratory blood values
• Body measurements
• Food likes and dislikes
• Known allergies
• Your ideal weight goal

• Protein, fats and carbohydrates are calculated in appropriate amounts for you-this prevents the yo-yo effect and the loss of your own body proteins.
• The relationship between carbohydrates, fats and proteins, as well as their influence on the endocrine system, is of utmost importance. This is what will balance your metabolic systems.
• The selection of foods is not based on their caloric content but on their essential components
• Individualized amounts of pure drinking water depending on a person’s initial weight and current metabolic load.
• Whole foods-no shakes, pills, injections, calorie counting or special food purchases.
• A selection of optimal foods to balance your metabolism

Metabolic Balance® takes you from where you are right now, directly to your desired destination with measurable improvements in your laboratory parameters, weight regulation, and general well-being.

Contact Us to get started on your personalized metabolic journey today!