l Ultrametabolism Part II

In part I of this 2 part series, we reviewed the concept of tuning your metabolism for optimal health and painless weight loss. Today we'll review further the views of Mark Hyman MD in his book Ultrametabolism ( www.ultrametabolism.com) with a more in-depth look at how and why it works.

There are 7 Keys to Weight Loss;

These Keys are essential to getting the weight off. Each of us may be more prone to one problem than another. We will all need to find the key/keys that help each individual start shedding the pounds. We need to pay attention to all of the keys at the same time however to create our own ultrametabolism.

His "First Key" is to control the appetite and metabolism by understanding how the brain, gut & fat cells communicate through hormones and neurotransmitters in the brain to drive eating behavior. This key has several steps;

Step 1 Compose healthy meals; real foods, right fats, balanced diet with low glycemic index (avoid sugar & especially High Fructose Corn Syrup [HFCS] at all costs!)

Step 2 Eat early and often

Step 3 Enjoy foods that control your appetite and avoid foods that send it out of control

Step 4 Use herbs to optimize your hormonal balance

Step 5 Use supplements to control appetite and balance brain-fat-gut cell communication

Step 6 Consider appropriate medical testing to find the cause of an out of control appetite.

Beware if artificial sweeteners which are toxic and of HFCS.
The Metabolic Syndrome is a good indicator that your metabolism is out of control. This combination of obesity, high blood pressure, cholesterol & triglycerides with altered lipoprotein profiles is a dangerous precursor to diabetes

Herbs such as Ginseng, Green Tea, Fenugreek & Cinnamon can help reduce appetite, Glutamate can help diminish carb-craving.

The "Second Key" reviews the roll that stress plays in raising your body's cortisol production which tends to make us pack on the pounds through the brain-fat-gut network. Herbs such as Ginseng, Rhodiola, Siberian Ginseng, Ashwagandha & Licorice can help reduce stress. Adrenal testing such as saliva cortisol testing, 24 hour urinary cortisol testing and IGF-1 level testing can help determine how much stress may be contributing to your obesity.

The "Third Key" factors inflammation caused by fat into the complex equation of what sets our metabolism awry. Stress, and obesity all by themselves cause inflammation. Antioxidants can help reduce inflammation as can exercise. Certain foods can cause inflammation. We all know that if a person is allergic or sensitive to a given food, that food will trigger inflammation. Allergies are mediated by IgE antibodies, there are also sensitivities mediated by IgG that may not signal problems until several days after a single episode of consumption of them. Blood testing will help reveal these hidden saboteurs. High glycemic load foods such as table sugar & HFCS are another major source of inflammation. Gluten, the protein in grains such as wheat, rye, barley, spelt, kamut & oats affects 1% of the general population yet is often undiagnosed as the testing hasn't been done. Testing such as hs-CRP can help diagnose general inflammation levels. Herbs such as Capsaicin, Green Tea, Ginger, Quercitin, Turmeric & cocoa (yes, chocolate can be GOOD for you!) will help quell inflammation. Inflammation is also related to Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, allergies, autoimmune disorders, cancer, diabetes & heart disease. Inflammation and obesity are tied together and create a vicious cycle in which one causes the other triggering the first as they as well as your weight and health spiral out of control. This is reversible with appropriate diagnosis and therapy.

Oxidative Stress, or "Rust" is the "Fourth Key" that needs to be controlled. Free radicals are highly reactive & damaging molecular components that damage everything that they come into contact with. Think of a fireplace spitting sparks out onto and scarring a carpet. Free radicals are those sparks at the molecular level. Our cells have mitochondria that "burn fuel" to get energy to keep us alive. This fuel creates free radicals as it burns. It is becoming clear that atherosclerosis or "hardening of the arteries" is more likely due to problems with inflammation and oxidation than simply cholesterol; this "causes the inside of your pipes to rust". These are controlled by our "anti-oxidant" system. Without this healthy intact system we have many problems such as fatigue, poor concentration & memory, weakness, aches, digestive problems, anxiety, depression, headaches, hypoglycemia and a myriad of other symptoms that may sound familiar to you... To many calories without adequate antioxidants in our food are the source of these problems. Even lack of exercise will play a role in this problem. Tests such as evaluate of serum or urine lipid Peroxides (TBARs), urinary 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosone, Ferritin, Iron, Vitamin A, Carotene, Vitamin E, CoQ10 can help elucidate the problem. Herbs such as Ginkgo, Ginger, Green tea, Pycnogenol, Milk Thistle, Rosemary & Turmeric can be helpful antioxidants. Supplements such as reduced glutathione, N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC), Alpha-lipoic acid & CoQ10 can also help. Remember that reduce rust = reduced weight and that processed foods usually have the antioxidant processed right out of them.

The "Fifth Key" involves turning calories into energy by increasing your metabolic power. It's time to go have fun! We need to get moving to turn up our metabolic rate. The reason that muscle burns a lot more energy than fat lies in those mitochondria. The more active we are the more energy creating, fuel burning mitochondria we have and the more activities we'll be capable of. They need adequate oxygen to be able to burn that fuel too. Even those with lung disease benefit from exercise as it helps the body to become more efficient; this means we can burn more fuel (fat)! Aerobic exercise burns fuel at a rate that allows your oxygen intake system (lungs etc) keep up with the amount being used by our cells, Anaerobic exercise is a brief spurt of exertion that exceeds the amount of oxygen required. This requires your cells to create an oxygen debt and burn fuel inefficiently which is good for weight loss. Interval training is the concept of aerobic exercise (Eg. walking) with brief periods of higher speed (running or power-walking) that leave you short of breath (a sign that you've successfully created oxygen debt). If you're older than 50 and perhaps out of shape, you may want to have a stress test done first to figure out how much you can safely exercise. Testing with an Organic Acids urine test can give an idea of how efficiently your mitochondria are performing. Supplements such as NAC, Acetyl-L-Carnitine, Alpha Lipoic acid, CoQ10, NADH, Creatinine, Asparginine, Aspartic Acid & D-Ribose can all help improve mitochondrial function.

The "Sixth Key" involves ensuring that your thyroid is doing it's job. Many foods such as gluten and to much soy protein can interfere with thyroid function. There are many environmental toxins that can damage the thyroid as can stress. Your immune system may have set itself out to damage your thyroid as well. None of this will be found without appropriate testing.

Finally, "Loving your Liver" is the "Seventh Key". The liver is one of the main removers of toxins in your body. We live in a world of toxins. There are so many man-made chemicals we come into contact with daily that our liver really wasn't designed by God to deal with, but it does the best it can. This inevitably leads to build up of toxic byproducts and deficiencies of the raw materials needed to detoxify the various by products of metabolism and life in a toxic environmental soup. Many of these synthetic chemicals mimic and disrupt our hormone systems, some as they're absorbed, others after partial metabolism by the liver. Minimizing exposure to processed foods and toxins is a great initial tactic. Sweat is a great way to rid yourself of toxins. There are many foods, herbals and supplements that also help such as Milk Thistle (silymarin), green Tea, Vitamin C, NAC, Taurine, Glycine, Alpha lipoic acid, Bioflavenoids, Quercitin, Pycnogenol, Rutin & Probiotics.