It changes the food into particles that can be used by the body so as not to waste what we eat. When your body is healthy, metabolism changes food into useful resources that can repair damage, heal an injury, or help the body to rid itself of damaging toxins. Metabolism helps us to maintain a healthy functioning body and helps us to be able to stay alive.
How do you achieve a healthy state of metabolism?
A body needs nutrition, hydration, and physical activity to maintain a healthy metabolism. Not just any amount or quality of nutrition, hydration, and physical activity will result in healthy metabolism. In order for healthy metabolism to occur, we must take in a healthy, balanced diet (nutrition), we must consume adequate amounts of water (hydration), and we must achieve the proper level of physical activity. If our diet is poor, we don’t drink enough daily water, and we lead a sedentary lifestyle, then our metabolism will not be healthy.
There are two forms of metabolism that the body uses: anabolic metabolism and catabolic metabolism. Anabolic metabolism uses enzymes to structure larger molecules from smaller molecules. Catabolic metabolism breaks down chemicals and nutrients in the foods and drugs that we consume so that they are smaller particles that the body can then use.
You may have heard of metabolism regarding weight loss. Those who want to lose weight need to burn off more calories than they take in. This ability to burn off more calories than is consumed depends on how much food (calories) the individual consumes and how active the metabolism is at breaking down and burning off those calories. When the metabolism is healthy, it can burn off calories at a better rate than when those 3 ingredients we mentioned earlier are not at the best levels for a healthy metabolism (nutrition, hydration, physical activity).
When taking in nutrition, eat foods that are going to make you healthy (fruits, vegetables, and lean meats) and consume appropriate amounts of calories. Drink more water (a minimum of eight oz glasses) a day to keep the metabolism working at a good rate, and get plenty of daily physical activity that will burn off calories and keep your heart pumping to boost metabolism.