Want to speed up your dragging metabolism?  How about eating more?  More often, that is.

When you skip a meal your autopilot gets worried. “Fuel is running short,” he signals to all your organs. “Everyone slow down and conserve.”  And your body obediently drags to a halt and tries to avoid losing fat.

Now the conscious you who pilots your body on an aware level knows very well that there is plenty of fuel packed around your middle.  You would be delighted to have less of it.  It is the part of your brain that controls your body functions while you go about your life that controls your metabolism, though. So you have to keep your autopilot happy.  Eat small, low glycemic snacks throughout the day.  Studies have shown that people who eat three small/moderate meals and a couple of snacks a day have a higher metabolism.  They also eat less at mealtimes.

People who skip breakfast and lunch but pig out at dinner have the opposite result.  After admonishing your body to conserve fuel all day, your autopilot sighs in relief when the food actually arrives.

“Tank up guys,” he radios to the team. “This may just be an oasis. We might be back starving in the desert tomorrow.”  So your body efficiently stacks the calories away just in case tomorrow is another famine day.  Your hunger hormones also encourage you to eat A LOT so you will have plenty to spare in case of another emergency.  It seems you just can’t get full and you eat way more than you should.

And the next day you start off more slowly because your body is checking to see how the food situation is going. If you skip meals again, the cycle starts over with a bit more “oomph” to it.

So plan ahead and eat a high protein, low glycemic breakfast.  Take along nuts, an apple, a boiled egg, or raw veggies to munch on between meals.  Plan a low glycemic lunch and take time to sit down and enjoy it. When dinner comes you won’t be starved and won’t get the message from your hunger hormones that you need to pack it in.

Your autopilot is smart — and is doing the things that would be important to keep you alive in case of a disaster.  You just have to make allowances and work with your body so that it doesn’t pack on the fat and lead to health disasters even more devastating than starvation!

Eating to live and living for Christ,

Susan Jordan Brown