How to boost your metabolism to shift more weight
Mastering your metabolism means loving your thyroid. This is one of the most vital components for optimal health and vitality. If the thyroid falters, you could get fat, moody, fatigued, and your metabolism will slow down.
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not the amount of exercise or how much you eat which has a direct effect on metabolism. It’s your thyroid health. If your thyroid slows down, so will your metabolism.
How might a sluggish metabolism make you look and feel?
-Hair loss
-Greying hair
-Dry flaky skin
-Constipation and digestive problems
-Slow or slurred speech
-Cold hands and feet
-Extreme morning fatigue
-Lack of concentration throughout the day
All these signs are indications that your metabolism is not functioning optimally, most commonly due to a sluggish thyroid.
The best way to be sure of thyroid function is to get a full blood test to check your levels of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), active T4, and active T3, because getting a complete view of how the thyroid functions will help determine how it should be treated.
However, even before you get tested there are ways to help nourish and support your thyroid naturally. Following these steps will help reinvigorate you, and give you sustained energy through the day.
Tip Number 1
Keep your blood sugar steady
This is the most important bit of advice I give to people. It is one of the most important things to consider if you don’t feel like your optimal self. 9 times out of 10 you will feel better just by regulating your blood sugar through diet.
The best ways to stabilize blood sugar
– Don’t eat sweet foods in the morning. Have savoury instead
– Have three complete meals per day containing protein, fat, and carbs
– Snack on protein or healthy fats, such as avocado, nut butter with veg sticks, or a small salad with protein.
– Include fat in your diet
Tip Number 2
Rethink your morning exercise
This one is most relevant to women, and it’s a sensitive topic, but one that I like to touch on, especially when talking about your optimal vitality and thyroid function. Exercising intensely in the morning, especially doing vigorous cardio, puts a strain on the thyroid gland. First, it puts pressure on the adrenals, which have an effect on the thyroid.
In addition, it wreaks havoc with blood sugar and leptin levels. I know that for many, early exercise is therapeutic, but I suggest you opt for a different type of exercise first thing. Better options are yoga, Pilates, and even weights are ok in the morning.
Suggested morning exercises
-Yoga
-Walking
-Pilates
-Tai Chi
Tip Number 3
Rediscover your gut health
Gut health is imperative for a fully functioning thyroid. If your gut is toxic or you have leaky gut, it is going to interfere with active thyroid hormone function. Our gut is responsible for many things, and one important function is the conversion of T4 to T3. In order for this to occur properly, your gut needs to be full of friendly bacteria and yeast.
In a compromised gut, all sorts of funky things happen, T4 does not get converted, estrogen gets turned into testosterone, and in some cases, estrogen continues to get synthesised to cause oestrogen dominance, which is a precursor to estrogen-dependent cancers. Your gut should remain a priority when trying to get your health back on track.
Healing your gut
The first place to start is to remove inflammatory foods such as dairy, gluten, soy, and in some cases eggs. Then start using probiotics, activated charcoal, and fermented foods to cleanse your digestive tract. Consuming homemade bone broth daily is a great way to feed bacteria and also heal the gut lining.
You can also eat certain foods, which feed friendly bacteria, such as blueberries, also see my healthy berry crumble recipe. Carrots, basmati rice, sweet potatoes and legumes, these all provide the nutrition to help friendly bacteria repopulate. Foods that damage the gut are sugars, processed fats, and alcohol. Also be careful of any foods that give you discomfort, cut that food out while you are healing your gut.
Morning digestive routine
1) Wake in the morning, and have half a squeezed lemon in water
2) Followed by a probiotic
3) Consume a green smoothie for breakfast (even if you don’t change anything else, this will go a long way to healing and cleansing your gut)
Tip Number 4
Cleanse Your Cells
Heavy metals and toxins are the enemies of the thyroid; nothing destroys the thyroid like the metals mercury, aluminium, and lead. These slow the thyroid down. If you suspect that you may have been exposed to heavy metals; which could be from cans, working with pesticides or fungicide, living in an inner city, or even just exposure via amalgam fillings.
Then it’s most likely you need a cleanse too. Greens are the best way to cleanse, the particles in the vegetables, called chlorophyll, grab onto toxins and help flush them out of your system. If you want the process sped up, you can try chlorophyll or spirulina.
Tip Number 5
Get the Right Nutrients
The thyroid relies on certain nutrients to perform its job, and make thyroid hormones. One of the most important is iodine. There is lots of controversy surrounding iodine, this is because it can flare up autoimmune conditions, you should never take too much iodine without first checking your iodine levels with a urine test. If they are found to be low, you can supplement with Lugols iodine, and always ensure you take selenium to ensure toxicity does not occur.
Rule of thumb
Always take iodine with selenium. Take low doses, for a short period of time, and always get checked out by your health practitioner.
Selenium and zinc
Selenium and zinc are both super important in helping you create thyroid hormones, if you are low in zinc or selenium, then it’s likely your thyroid is bearing the brunt. Eating two Brazil nuts daily will help you to get a good amount of selenium, you need to be wary of supplements, as selenium can be toxic. Zinc can be found in pumpkin seeds, oysters, and there are high amounts in meats, especially organ meats.
Tip Number 6
Heal your hippocampus
Why is this so important?? The hippocampus governs not only the nervous system but also the endocrine system. Without it, we have nothing for the glands to process. This is a very important, yet underrated part of our brain. It’s normally due to malnutrition in childhood, stress, or even viral infection, that our hippocampus is first affected.
A hippocampus can actually shrink in size due to childhood trauma, this can lead to issues with mental health all through your adult life. The hippocampus is the hardest to nourish and heal, as it’s not as simple as taking a supplement to get it working again. It takes patience and persistence, the focus needs to be on lifestyle.
Calming down the hippocampus has a nourishing effect on the adrenals, once you get the adrenals strong, they will take the strain off the thyroid, and this gives it space to heal.
Your Mind Can Heal Your Brain
Not all is lost, your brain is so resilient, it can heal and rewire itself, you need to ensure it’s getting the right nutrition, which means lots of vitamins from fresh food, along with plenty of fat including saturated fat. Make sure you include lots of butter, ghee, and animal fat to help restore the brain function.
Next, you can try techniques such as meditation, EFT, NLP, and kinesiology. These are all techniques to try to reverse some of your brain’s faulty wiring. Only then can your adrenals and thyroid have space to strengthen and heal.
How to Rewire your Stressed Hippocampus
Mindfulness
Using mindfulness is one of the most effective ways to rewire your brain. It can be hard to start, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll reap the rewards. Start simply, be mindful about your environment. Go outside in nature, hear the birds, listen to the wind, feel the leaves rustle. Try this daily for a few minutes. Slowly, this will spill over into your daily life.
Breathing.
Just simply breathe in while counting to 5, and breathe out while counting to 5. Do this a few times in the morning, this deep breathing helps to reset your stressed-out brain.
Eat Fat
The brain is made of fat, so it makes perfect sense that fat is the best brain food. The best type of fat is coconut oil, MCT oil, in particular, which the brain absorbs like a sponge. After upping your coconut oil, you’ll notice an improvement in the simple functioning of the brain. Krill oil is a great brain healer, try a good quality brand and take it daily for 6 weeks. The krill oil will dramatically reduce any neuro-inflammation.
Light Exercise
30 minutes of exercise each day has been shown to be tremendously beneficial to help heal a worn out brain. Not only does the exercise pump blood and nutrients to the brain, it helps to detox it. Exercise has also been shown to promote neurogenesis. Try a variety of exercises focusing on yoga, Pilates, and Tai Chi. Walking and cardio are other good options.
The mechanism of action is not wholly known as yet, but a hypothesis is that blood, nutrients, and oxygen are increased, along with endorphins which promote brain healing. The trick is to also get that nice balance because over-exercising can starve the brain, so ensure you do what is right for your body to get the most out of physical activity.
Good Quality Sleep
Sleep is the simplest thing you can work on to perfect the best night’s sleep. Quality sleep helps to relax the nervous system; have you noticed that it is mainly evening time that your fears and worries seem magnified, then after sleep, you feel less afraid and stress? Sleep has this effect. You need 5 to 8 hours of great quality sleep.
Do what you need to do to make your bedroom into a sleep haven. Ensure your bed is comfy, get the temperature right, block out any light. Don’t neglect your bedroom. Spend time and money to make it into the perfect sleep cave. Keep it clutter free, airy, quiet, and dark.
Boost Your Metabolism Overview
1) Keep your blood sugar steady all through the day
2) Opt for more nourishing morning exercise routines
3) Heal your gut
4) Cleanse your body
5) Get the right nutrients
6) Heal your hippocampus
7) Join the Master Your Metabolism Challenge HERE
Feel free to leave some feedback below, especially if you have any stories or experience with healing your brain, and also let me know if you would like me to go deeper into any aspect of the above information.
Remember To Breathe …..