Your Metabolism - What It Is and Why it Matters
 I have to warn you that this is not going to be a scientific discussion of metabolism, but, merely a simple explanation of this thing we hear so much about these days.
The problem is, that even though we do seem to see and hear the word "metabolism" fairly regularly, many people are still not quite sure of what metabolism is and why it matters. Even if they know WHAT it is and WHY it matters, they often still are not quite sure about what they can do to improve the efficiency of THEIR metabolism and what affect that will have on their lives.
If you are not exactly certain what your metabolism is, I guess you could say that your metabolism, at least as we are concerned with it, is simply the speed with which you burn calories.
That's pretty simple, I know, and there's a great deal more to the subject of metabolism than that, but, for the purposes of today's discussion, that's what you need to know.
Another point is, that a relatively high metabolism, or metabolic rate, is usually a good thing, as this helps keep our weight down and helps prevent some of the ills that can befall us as we age.
The problem is, however, that as we do age, our metabolism tends to slow down.
There are a couple of reasons for this.
One reason common to all of us is that as we grow older, it is normal that we tend to stop doing some of the activities we did when we were younger. Our bodies sense our change of lifestyle and make quite normal adjustments, including slowing down our metabolism.
Another reason is simply that slowing of the metabolism to some extent is built into the intricate system we call our body.
As a natural part of aging, our metabolism slows and, at the same time, we often become less active. This means that we burn fewer calories. Unfortunately, to make matters worse, we don't always change our eating habits, and, even if we simply did that one thing, the decreased activity levels of our older years would still be working against us.
Many of us, as we grow old and accumulate experiences, also learn to enjoy certain foods we might not have had access to before, and may feel the need to take advantage of opportunities to relax and kick back where, in earlier times, we would have been "raring to go".
Well, eating a lot of calories, combined with decreased activity levels, is an equation which equals weight gain, and that weight will be fat, not lean muscle mass. To make things worse, the natural slowing of our "resting metabolic rate", the basic speed with which our bodies use calories when we are NOT active, just compounds the problem. We tend to grow fatter with the years, and the fat we add to our bodies helps accelerate many of the degenerative processes which come with aging.
Additionally, becoming overweight can be the precursor of many diseases
and conditions at any age, but particularly in later years. Cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, glaucoma, diabetes,
and many other debilitating conditions have already been linked to being overweight.
HOW TO SPEED UP METABOLISM
There are two basic ways of speeding up metabolism:
Supplement to Increase Metabolism - Raspberry Ketones
While there are many so-called weight loss supplements being touted, there are only a few which can really help boost metabolism. One of the more effective of these is Shaklee Metabolic Boost.
Increased Physical Activity or Exercise
During any activity, the metabolism is elevated. This simply means that while exercising, or doing other physical activities, such as gardening or even cleaning out the garage, we are burning extra calories which helps prevent weight gain.
Perhaps an even better benefit is the fact that if we indulge in regular physical activity or exercise, we can actually elevate our basic metabolic rate and help burn excess calories even when we are NOT exercising or engaging in physical activities.
Combining regular physical activity with a sensible selection of enjoyable, yet nutritional, foods can help us achieve a level of health, fitness, and weight which will help us live longer, happier, healthier lives in the...dare I say it...LONG run.
About the Author:
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Donovan Baldwin is a 77 year old freelance SEO copywriter residing in the Dallas - Fort Worth, Texas, area and is a University of West Florida alumnus. He is a member of Mensa
sas retired from the U. S. Army after 21 years of service. In his career, he has held many managerial and supervisory positions. However, his main pleasures have long been writing, nature, health, and fitness. In the last few years, he has
been able to combine these pleasures by writing poetry and articles on subjects such as health, fitness, weight lifting, yoga, weight loss,
the environment, global warming, happiness, self improvement, and life. He also is a well known poet, some of whose poetry, and other writings can be seen on his blog at ravensong-poetry.blogspot.com.
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If you want to learn how to burn fat, a great book to read is Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto
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