Book Review
Title: Metabolism Makeover: Ditch the Diet, Train Your Brain, Drop the Weight for Good by Megan Hansen, RDN
Genre: Non-Fiction, Medical, Science
Rating: 4.25 Stars
The introduction of Metabolism Makeover simply sets out the goals of the book which aren’t to provide set meals and exercise plans like most self-help books but rather to help us how our bodies work in regards to food and the processing of food. If we understand this better than we can better met our body’s needs while also maintaining the ideal weight loss. The author also relates to this struggle as she had her own issues with weight and food while studying and through her own research rather than what she was taught, she learnt that she could lose weight without depriving her body of what it needs in order to survive.
Chapter One focuses on introducing us to the metabolic system and what it actually does when we eat and how it responds differently depending on the types of food we consume. Hansen makes it clear early on that the diet industry and culture often set people up to fail as it doesn’t provide them with the right tools for their goals. In most cases, people start with the physical aspect, such as increasing exercise and restricting their calorie intake which does lead to weight loss temporarily. However, it also leads to an unhealthy relationships with food and a wretched metabolism, Hansen’s approach is the reverse to start with fixing the metabolism and creating a healthy relationships with food which ultimately leads to sustainable weight loss in the long term. Hansen walks us through the metabolic ecosystem and the six pillars it contains: blood sugar control, movement, muscle, good sleep, stress management and healthy gut as well as looking at your relationship with food. These six pillars in harmony create a productive ecosystem but she works on the 80/20 rule meaning that if 80% of these pillars are good you can give yourself some grace with the remaining 20%. For me personally, my lowest score were in muscle and movement because I live a sedentary lifestyle but score highly in all the other areas.
Chapter Two moves on to managing our blood sugar which is actually something many people struggle with since they don’t recognise the signs of their blood sugar rising or falling. This where most of the science kicks in as Hansen explain how are body metabolises different types of food and the effects these have on our blood sugar. Carbs will cause your blood sugar to spike and when the converted energy is stored in muscles and fat cells, this causes a drop in blood sugar leading us to feel hungry again. The easiest way to prevent this is to slow down the metabolization of the carbs by balancing them with proteins, healthy fats and fibre. Throughout this chapter Hansen gives many different examples of different foods you can use in meals with carbs in order to slow down the drop in blood sugar meaning you stay fuller for longer. She also provides a few different meal plan options but leave it open because everyone is different and has different dietary requirements. This chapter was really helpful as it helped me understand the amount of these foods I should be eating for the size I am and the effects these will have on me. I also apricated that Hansen doesn’t believe that the BMI index works because it doesn’t take into account this like muscle and bone density, which can affect weight or things like race and other factors that might contribute to someone’s weight and that we should ignore that using other methods of measuring weight instead.
Chapter Three focuses on muscle, Hansen discusses here the role muscle and muscle mass plays in weight loss. Most people don’t seem to know that having more muscle mass actually means you burn more calories at rest since it costs your body a lot more energy in order to maintain these muscles even when not actively trying to enhance or grow them. What this means in reality when compared to cardio is your weight loss might be slower and less noticeable on the scales at first since you are swapping fat for muscles which scales can’t distinguish but in the long term you are going to burn more calories at rest by gaining muscle than you will be doing intensive cardio workouts. This doesn’t mean you have to cut out cardio, you’re just shifting your perspective in order to make your body more efficient at burning calories in the long run. What this means for most people is that you will lose weight, maintain that weight loss and be able to eat more within reason since you have more metabolic flexibility.
Chapter 4 moves onto living in motion which is aimed at people like me that have a more sedentary lifestyle or don’t actively workout. Much like the previous chapter, Hansen drives home the point that some movement is better than no movement, so even if you can’t hit the gym three times a week a 20 minute walk a day or twice a day if you can manage it is more than sufficient to begin your weight loss. Looking at the real account of people Hansen has helped allows us to see the real results of these facts and methods and it really suits anyone. Even for me, who lives a very sedentary lifestyle I can incorporate the right food, good sleep and a small walk a day and still lose weight over time.
Chapter 5 is one that Hansen has been referring to for a while and this chapter focuses on sleep. Most of us underestimate the role sleeps plays in the body and how many different areas it can affect if you sleep poorly or don’t get enough sleep. Not only does a lack of sleep or quality sleep affect our moods, it also affects how we eat and metabolise food, which means poor sleep can actually lead to weight gain over time. Having suffered myself with poor sleep for years I completely agree with Hansen on these points, in recent months I have fixed my sleeping pattern and even take small naps during the day which has not only improved my mood and productivity, I also snack a lot less frequently than I used to.
Chapter 6 is the chapter Hansen has referred to the most in the course of the book so far and it is most likely the issues that most people struggle with and that is stress management. Much like sleep, how you manage or don’t manage stress it can have a huge impact on your body over time. Hansen goes into detail on how stress can affect you physically including weight loss. This is due to raise hormone levels within the body during times of stress, you do have to remember that small amounts of stress are useful but prolonged periods can be extremely damaging. Hansen most effective advice here is to get rid of the small stressors in your life and to manage the ones that you can’t get rid of.
Chapter 7 continues from the chapter on stress as it focuses on gut health. The health and state of your GI tract actually plays a huge role in weight loss. Obviously, there is a lot of bacteria in your gut, most of which is extremely useful to your body but when the GI tract is thrown out of balance but illness, poor diet and much more can actually have a lot of negative effects. This is because the body’s efforts are focused on fixing the issues like illness and weight loss is virtually impossible during this time. This links to Chapter 6 because we know that stress can suppress the immune system leading to illness which can completely derail any planned weight loss.
The final two chapters are intertwined so I will discuss them together. These chapters focus on the mental mindset you need to have in order to get effective and sustained weight loss and how you can use the information in this book in order to achieve it. The mental mindset is probably the most important part of this book because we form a lot of subconscious habits and when we try to break these habits and it fails many see it as a lack of willpower when it is actually a subconscious habit. With any habit, these are easy to form and a lot harder to break and have to be dealt with first before you can use any of the other information in the book. Overall, I found a lot of the information in Metabolism Makeover to be useful although I do disagree personally with some parts. If you’re like me and have struggled with weight loss using conventional diets then I’d highly recommend picking this book up but do use your own judgement before putting anything into practice since everyone is built differently.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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