Eric Bakker, naturopath from New Zealand.
Thanks for coming back.
Have you got a slow metabolism?
Have you got a fast metabolism?
Is it sabotaging your ability for your body to lose weight?
What is metabolism?
What the hell's this word?
It sounds like a fancy kind of South Korean car or something, doesn't it, metabolism.
Well, metabolism or basically the resting basil metabolic rate, your basil metabolic
rate is what your body is... basically, your body produces energy.
It needs energy to maintain all these physiological process like muscle movement, and blinking
of the eyes, and digestion, and keeping your body warm, and moving the blood around, and
lots of processes work.
We call this your metabolic rate.
The metabolic rate can be set at a normal level.
It can be set at a higher level.
It can be set at a lower level.
Lots of people talk about boosting metabolism with things like [inaudible] or stuff like
that.
How can we quickly get a lot of weight off by speeding the metabolic rate up?
Nothing really works well with boosting.
Pushing really hard, and especially short term for purposes of losing weight, is a really
dumb idea, don't you think?
It's probably like thinking you're going to make millions of dollars in a very short period
of time too.
It just doesn't happen unless you rob a bank.
It ain't going to happen.
Unless you get amputation, you're not going to lose weight.
You've got to do it in a steady, slow, progressive kind of a way.
Have you had your thyroid checked?
Have you had your adrenal function checked?
Thyroid, we're going to talk quite a bit about in videos ahead about thyroid function.
The thyroid is the biggest endocrine gland you've got that wraps around your neck.
It serves many different purposes, but one of the big reasons it functions is to keep
your metabolic rate active and viable.
It produces various thyroid hormones that achieve that end quite well.
I can speak from my personal experience with thyroid dysfunction.
My grandmother had it.
My mother's had it.
I've had thyroid issues, and I've had thousands of patients with thyroid problems, which I'll
teach you about over time.
I'll show you a lot of different tricks and tips I know about thyroid function.
Your thyroid stimulating hormone is certainly worth getting checked out by the doctor.
The TSH level, thyroid stimulating hormone, and also adrenal function is worth getting
checked.
If you've suffered from stress and a stressful lifestyle, this could be a big part of the
reason why you're metabolic rate could be a little bit all over the show at the moment.
Your metabolism is very affected by stress, but your metabolism is affected by also your
genetics, what you eat, how you work, where you live, many other factors, how you exercise.
There's no simple fix to a slow metabolic rate, just like there's no simple fix to a
high metabolic rate.
It's not like an automobile that if it's going too fast the mechanic can put a screwdriver
in, turn the screw, and it will go slower.
If it were that easy, I'd have an enormous set of screwdrivers for every condition you
can imagine, but that's not how the body works.
What factors account for metabolism?
Well, if you are a bigger person, and you feel you've got issues with your metabolism,
and you can't lose weight in spite of every single thing you've done, it's definitely
worth going to someone like me, but I'm not practicing of course, but going to see someone
who can check you out thoroughly and understand what's happening with your metabolic rate.
Maybe they'll give you some expert advice on how to fine tune that and get it working
a bit harder.
In my opinion, the thyroid is one of the most important organs with metabolic rate.
I lost 10 pounds in a very short period of time just by taking iodine, for example.
I'll talk about that, again, on a subsequent video, but don't go in and just pop iodine
pills thinking they're going to be the magic bullet for you.
The most important thing for you to lose weight and maintain that weight loss, is what is
most important for you.
If you've got a low functioning thyroid sabotaging your metabolism, then that's the key thing
that needs fixing up.
If you've got a high functioning thyroid with a high metabolism, for example where you can't
gain, and I've got plenty of patients who can't gain an ounce.
They can eat two or three thousand calories a day.
They can't gain weight.
Their metabolism is running too fast.
So their thyroid is basically just pushing their body too hard.
That's a special kind of work that I do with patients, the hyperthyroid patients.
They're a bit different from the hypo.
But remember, adrenal function can masquerade as low thyroid function, so you may have an
adrenal problem thinking you've got a thyroid problem and vice versa.
That's why it's important to see someone who's an expert in these areas that you can discuss
all your health problems to.
The person can do specialized testing, and then work out if your metabolism is sabotaging
your ability to lose weight and maintain that loss.
Certainly worth getting checked out.
Your family doctor may be able to help here as well, particularly if you're interested
in weight and you're talking about metabolic function.
You'll need to get some basic stuff done, blood tests, blood pressure checks, weight
checks, all that kind of stuff.
It's well worth doing because if you do find a problem and work on it and you're sincere,
you'll likely get the outcome you're looking for.
Thanks for tuning in.