The Metabolic Switch – What It Is And How To Activate It To Lose Weight And Keep It Off

Written by: Dr. Christine Sauer, Executive Contributor

Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.

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Losing Weight can be hard. And losing weight with health issues like blood sugar issues, hypothyroidism, other hormone issues, arthritis, or other health issues can be even harder. Solutions that have been suggested are a calorie-restricted diet, increased exercise, or diets like intermittent fasting, low-fat, low-carb and many others.

Not being able to lose weight – or, as many of the many yoyo dieters experience – gaining the lost weight back and then some – leads to the typical frustrations of people with chronic obesity. The fact that many people still think that obese people must be lazy and have no willpower (when in all reality, the opposite is more true), and the resulting discrimination at the workplace leads to their health spiraling even more out of control, and the failure to heal the weight-gut brain-axis often leads to additional mental health issues. The statistics are bleak: 9 of 10 people who lose weight fail to keep it off in the long term.

There are many possible root causes for obesity, and the treatment of overweight and obese people needs to address ALL possible root causes in all 5 dimensions of health.

The solution, of course, can also only be 5-dimensional and includes the cooperation of different healthcare providers and trained coaches to achieve long-term weight loss success.

Basics of Energy Metabolism and Dieting

The traditional advice for weight loss is still calorie reduction. While that sounds reasonable in theory, when people try to “just eat less” and “exercise more” as overweight people often are told (I was myself very obese and still need to work on keeping the weight off), it doesn’t work for most people.

Why is that? Well, for one, if people just try to reduce calories, they often choose to reduce fats, resulting in a bland and unsatisfactory taste of foods. So, the cravings for “real food” increase until, at some point, the diet is dropped, and most people gradually go back to their old eating habits.

But slowly, especially in the holistic health community, it is realized that food quality matters more than food quantity. And even more than calories.

As an alternative to mindless calorie counting and guaranteed failure, the techniques of fasting and intermittent fasting, as well of low or very low carbohydrate diets (ketogenic diet) have been developed. One of the best books that exist about intermittent fasting and its practical applications when it comes to weight loss has been written by Dr. Jason Fung.

Flex Fuels We Use to Generate Energy

Another way to describe our metabolism is the ability to switch fuel to generate energy for our metabolism. All humans can either burn sugar (glucose) or fat (ketone bodies) to generate energy.

And, of course, humans also have the ability to break down a third energy source, protein (mostly from muscle tissue) and use it for our mitochondria, the energy factories, to generate energy and supply amino acids to maintain cell integrity.

Both glucose and fat as fuels have advantages and disadvantages. The proponents of a ketogenic diet often state that is a “cleaner” fuel that the brain prefers. And that it would “starve” cancer and contribute to healing.

The truth, as often, is in the middle. Our bodies, like some cars, run on flex fuels, and both fuels have its advantages. Protein as the main fuel source is not recommended, as the breakdown products can cause kidney overload (detoxification failures)

Why is our body so well equipped when it comes to using different energy sources?

The reason is, of course, like with many other features of people and of animals, the survival of the species.

Historically we humans had to endure periods of varying lengths of time where we had no food. And evolution (or design, depending on your beliefs) equipped us with the ability to use our stored food sources for energy, glucose for the shorter term and fat in the longer term.

I describe this mechanism in more detail in my free web class.

What is the Metabolic Switch?

In the earlier chapters, we learned that our body could break down different fuels for energy, especially sugar and fat, but also proteins.

And not one of them is “better” for us in the long run.

When we go back in our ancestral history to see how humans were designed to eat, we realize that periods of varying lengths of time with fewer foods, different foods (e.g., seasonal harvests of sweet vegetables) or no foods – and smaller periods of feasting and eating lots of fatty foods (e.g., after harvesting an animal) was the way humans ate for millennia. This is what our body is meant to experience.

And we realize more and more that in our modern time of food abundance and (too many) choices, switching our metabolism from burning sugars to burning fat – and back (or a cyclical ketogenic diet) – is one of the best ways to achieve long-term health and vitality.

I call the mechanism by which our metabolism switches between food sources the metabolic switch.

The Difference between IF, TRE, Fasting, Keto and Using the Metabolic Switch

Intermittent fasting (IF), Time-restricted eating (TRE), Fasting, and Ketogenic diets, whether longer-term or cyclical, all use the metabolic switch to change fuels and, as such, improve vitality and energy levels, help to clear brain fog and lower inflammation.

Together with choosing foods that are closest to the foods of our ancestors and only minimally processed, all these diets, when done in a reasonable way, can lead to significant weight loss while increasing energy levels, brain power and mood.

The main differences are in the details of the methods, how flexible they are, how much work they require on the side of the dieter (the more, the less likely is a long-term success) and how costly they are.

Benefits of Using Your Metabolic Switch

People who lose their ability to use their innate metabolic switch, usually by eating the standard American diet high in simple carbohydrates and high in highly processed, not very nutrient-dense foods, often suffer from what we call metabolic syndrome or syndrome X. This is a symptom complex consisting of central obesity, high blood triglycerides, elevated (bad) cholesterol levels, impaired glucose tolerance and increased fasting insulin levels (and insulin resistance on the cellular level). Often chronic inflammation accompanies and aggravates this syndrome X.

It is a precursor or goes along with a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes and can also commonly be found in people with depression, dementia, autoimmune disorders, and cancers.

If we learn how to activate and use our metabolic switch and restore a normal – flexible - metabolism and immune system as well as optimize other factors that can lead and increase inflammation and impair mitochondrial health, we can often restore vitality and even reverse certain disorders that go with it. This hasn’t been proven yet by mainstream science, but most holistic practitioners are very aware of the increasing research around these topics and often experience dramatic improvements for their patients and clients. Our body is meant to function in homeostasis, which means that it needs constant small moves in either direction of an ideal median to return to and maintain long-term balance.

How Can You Use Your Metabolic Switch to Lose Weight?

Once you learn how to activate and use your innate metabolic switch as well as learn what foods align most with your ancestral heritage and cultural preferences, i.e., how your individual body functions, and what foodstuffs (=highly processed artificial foods) you should better avoid and what foods are better for you to eat (I describe that concisely here), as well as when you have the necessary support in place to make success more likely, your weight will come off – and you will feel empowered and even excited to keep it off for good.

Will you fall off the wagon and regain a few pounds? Of course, life never is perfect, and neither can we. But once you have learned the proven strategy and tools in place to get back on the bandwagon and go back to what you know works well, you can switch your metabolism into high gear whenever you need to and get back to your healthy weight.

In view of the bleak statistics, many people still feel that there is no hope for them to lose weight and keep it off in the long run. This article is meant to encourage you to seek out the tools, resources, and people you need to finally lose all the fat forever – and feel great doing so.

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and visit my website for more info!

Read more from Dr. Christine!

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Dr. Christine Sauer, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine

Dr. Christine Sauer is a German-trained physician and naturopath, as well as a gastrointestinal disease specialist, currently working as a Holistic Brain and Mental Health Professional, Coach, and Educator. Her own struggles with chronic pain, weight loss, and mental health issues have led her to dedicate her life to improving the gut health and brain/mental health of others and enabling them to drop unwanted pounds - all with natural means. She wrote 1 bestselling books and lectures on the topics and coached individuals, groups as well as families. As “The Doctor who Knows how You Feel,” she is known to make a lasting impression and positive difference in the lives of her clients and followers.