Latest / Fit for Hiking / Ep. 92 Unlocking the Secrets of a Healthy Metabolism
Transcript
- Hi, my name is Brady and I'm a longtime fitness professional and Midwest girl turned mountain living hiking addict. And combining my knowledge of fitness and passion for hiking, I've helped hundreds of women get lean and strong for the trails. Think of this as your one stop shop for both education and inspiration on all things female wellness, trail talk and adventure. Hiking, female metabolism, motherhood, nutrition, travel and fitness are all topics you'll hear discussed here. If you are outdoorsy and active, looking to level up your health, unlock your potential, and become inspired to live your most vibrant life, you're in the right place. You're listening to the fit for Hiking podcast. Hi and welcome back to another episode of the fit for Hiking podcast. This is your host, Brady. And today we're going to be talking about the metabolism. Um, this is a big old topic that is a lot more nuanced and kind of layered than I think people realize. Um, and I think that the, the word metabolism gets thrown around a lot. It's kind of a buzzword and there's just not a whole lot of actual understanding around what it truly means to support a healthy, thriving metabolism. So I want to talk about that today. And like I said, this is a big topic. So it's going to be kind of a lot. We're going to go over a lot of different things. Ten ways to really ensure that you have a thriving metabolism. Um, some things that will affect your metabolism. And I think I want to start off by just mentioning that a lot of times people think of having a healthy metabolism and they think, oh, I just need to like, do this one thing or take this one supplement or do this one workout. And unfortunately, it's not as simple as just one thing where like you hit a button in your body and boom, you have a higher metabolism, a faster metabolism. That is not how the body works. So the metabolism refers to. We're getting nitty gritty here. The set of life sustaining chemical reactions that occur within a living organism, aka us as humans, to maintain life. So these processes are responsible for converting the food we eat into energy, as well as building and repairing tissues, managing the body's waste products, um, and just supporting our overall health, energy levels, weight management, all of these things. So as you can see, there's a lot that the metabolism is responsible for. Therefore, there's a lot of different systems in our body that work together to create the metabolism, our basal metabolic rate and, and and to keep it healthy and thriving. So it's not going to be as simple as just doing one little tweak and boom, your metabolism is healthy. Everything is different. You can now eat 4000 calories a day and lose weight, right? It's not that simple. So let's talk about what goes into our BMR, which is the basal metabolic rate. So this refers to the number of calories that your body needs to perform essential functions while at rest. So just like breathing circulating blood regulating body temperature supporting organ function, there's a lot that goes into it. Okay, so what makes up our BMR is going to be our endocrine system. So this is like our hormones. Specifically, your thyroid hormone and gland are really gonna be big time helpers with regulating metabolism. So a higher level of thyroid hormones can increase your basal metabolic rate. Um, your insulin and cortisol can definitely influence your basal metabolic rate, uh, by affecting fat storage, metabolism, and energy balance your nervous system. Um, you're going to have a higher basal metabolic rate when you are in a sympathetic nervous system. So your nervous system definitely matters. Um, muscular system. The more muscle tissue you have, the higher your BMR will be. So you're just going to burn more calories at rest if you have more muscle versus fat tissue. Um, physical activity can temporarily increase your BMR during and after the activity. So the more active you are, the higher BMR you're going to have your respiratory system, just your breathing accounts for some energy expenditure, your cardiovascular system, um, your digestive system. Definitely. So the process of digestion itself requires energy. So this is known as the thermic effect of food. So for instance eating a high protein diet you're going to burn more calories just eating chewing digesting your food. If you're eating, uh, lots of protein versus if you're having just like, highly processed carbs and fat heavy food. Um, genetics. Your genetic makeup does play a bit of a role in determining your BMR. So this might be why some people just naturally are able to stay leaner more easily. I will say a lot of people just immediately blame their genetics when you can see this is just one tiny piece of the puzzle. There's so many other body systems that we do have a more control over that will affect our BMR. So if you feel like you've been cursed with a slow metabolism, I promise your genetics don't matter as much as maybe you think they do. So we don't want to just blame it on our genetics and give up and throw in the towel. Um, there's so much that you can control to build up your metabolic potential. Okay. Um, body composition. So, like, we're talking about fat mass versus lean mass, the higher lean mass. So your muscles, bones, organs you're going to have a higher basal metabolic rate. So what you can control there obviously you can't control like your bone and your organ mass, but you can control your muscle mass. Um, so having excess fat mass will lower your BMR because fat tissue requires less energy to maintain versus muscle tissue requires more energy to maintain. Um, and then even just temperature regulation, maintaining body temperature, um, particularly being like in cold environments is going to burn more energy. So as you can see, there is so much, so many different systems and things that are going on in our bodies every single day that we don't even think about, that are affecting our basal metabolic rate and our metabolic potential. So when I say metabolic potential, I'm talking about the fact that we all have kind of where our BMR, our basal metabolic rate is right now, and that's due to all of these things that we just talked about, as well as what your body has adapted to as far as food intake, your stress, your sleep, your movement, all these different things. The body's always reading the room and adapting, okay, in a sense, so your body knows what it's used to. It knows what to expect based on how you've treated it and what you do, kind of what your norms are, especially around food intake and activity. So basically you can have your basal metabolic rate. You can have your typical daily energy expenditure due to all of these different things that affect your BMR as well as what your body's used to. As far as like thermic effect of food, your activity, your meat, your non exercise activity, all of these different factors. Um, but you also have your metabolic potential. So these are areas where maybe you could be improving your metabolism. But you maybe just haven't tapped into those areas of potential yet, so there's ways that you can improve it. So that's what I want to talk about today ten ways to support your metabolism okay. And so we'll talk about this a little bit at the end. Don't get too overwhelmed here because a lot of people are not even doing the basics for their health. So if you're like oh my gosh, there's so many things I need to be doing, please remove the overwhelm a little bit. I'm going to go over just some basics at the end of things that if you're not doing those yet, start there. Okay. This is kind of higher level. So if you are someone who's already really active, already doing a lot for your health, and you already feel like you have this foundation of the basics, how can you refine and work on your metabolism even more on a high level? Okay, so let's get into it. Ten Ways to Support Your Metabolism one is very basic stay active and increase your need. Um, so regular physical activity, especially strength training is going to help boost your metabolism because like we talked about before, muscle mass increases your BMR. So building muscle through strength training is going to just help burn more calories at rest. Your non exercise activity thermogenesis aka a neat you maybe heard me throw around that um acronym before. Um is the energy burn from daily activities. Just like walking, fidgeting, standing, pacing around, cleaning your house, getting up and doing things. So looking for ways to not only increase your exercise, but also your neat like taking the stairs, walking more throughout the day, taking phone calls, standing up, looking for opportunities to just move your body even in ways that don't feel like exercise. Okay, so kind of pairing those two together, um, is the best way that you can support your metabolism. And notice, I'm not saying that you need to do hours of cardio every week, tons of hit, tons of crazy things that are taxing on your body. No, no, no. I'm saying you need to focus on building muscle. Through some form of resistance training that you enjoy doing that regularly enough to actually elicit a muscle building response from your body, and then increase your need to move more throughout the day. If that includes some cardio, awesome. But it doesn't necessarily have to. Okay, so it's actually a lot more simple than sometimes we think it should be. Um, and sometimes that almost holds us back because it feels better to do more. Like sometimes we want just like, give me all the things that I should be doing when really we don't need to be doing that much as far as exercise and movement to maintain a healthy BMR and minimize stress in our life, that's another component too. So just making sure that you're doing some form of weight bearing activity 3 to 4 times a week consistently, though, that's the key. Not just doing it for 1 or 2 weeks and then falling off for a month, but doing that week in and week out every week of the year, if possible, and also looking for ways to get your step count up on a daily basis. Just nailing these two things consistently is so much more effective than going in these cycles of like, doing crazy intense hip classes for a week or two and then falling off the wagon and doing nothing for a month, right. Okay. So focus on the consistency component there. Number two is to eat protein rich meals, so eating protein rich foods can increase your thermic effect of food. Like I mentioned briefly earlier, which is the energy required to digest, absorb, and process the nutrients. So protein helps with muscle building repair as well. So it's kind of multifaceted. It's also the most satiating macronutrient. And it's also going to burn the most while you are digesting and absorbing it. So protein is just like this multifaceted wonder macro that most people are not eating enough of. And so if you're not sure if you're eating enough, I would definitely recommend keeping track of your protein intake for a few days or a week or more and really getting honest with yourself of like, how much protein are you eating on a regular basis? A lot of ladies come in to Mountain metabolic coaching, and that's one of the first things we have them do, is keep track of overall intake and just keeping a food diary, having some awareness around what they're eating on a regular basis, but definitely keeping track of protein because a lot of ladies are eating somewhere between 40 to 60g of protein a day, which is not even close to enough to really reach our potential and thrive. Um, yes, you can get by, but you're probably not going to be building muscle. Um, you're definitely not increasing your thermic effect of food with just that amount of protein per day, and you're really not going to be able to optimize how you're feeling as well as your body composition with that low of protein. So lots of benefits to protein. You want to get upwards of 100 to 150g a day, depending on your body size. Okay, so it's definitely not one size fits all. And that's we're working with a coach is helpful. But in general try to avoid under eating protein especially drastically like a lot of women unfortunately are. Number three is to drink enough water. Drinking water can boost your metabolism. Cold water might have a slight advantage because your body has to work harder to warm it up to body temperature. So while there's so many benefits to drinking enough water, um, especially like kind of flushing out your liver, promoting proper lymphatic drainage, making sure that all your organs are functioning properly, that you're hydrated so that you can feel your best on a day to day basis. There's also benefits metabolically to being hydrated. So getting enough water on a day to day basis. General rule of thumb is probably should be shooting for about 100oz of water per day. Um, so again, it really starts with awareness. If you have no idea how much you're drinking on a regular basis, just take a few days to track and see what your typical water intake looks like, and then you can go from there. Number four is not skipping meals. Skipping meals can slow down your metabolism over time as your body adapts, basically, so your body is going to be adapting to that lower intake. If it's used to not getting consistent food or just getting really low calories, that kind of becomes the new baseline. That's what your body has adjusted to what it expects. So then when you have these random big spikes in how much you're eating, like maybe on a regular basis, you're having like a thousand calories a day, which is like how much a toddler should be eating. Okay, so grown adults should be eating way more than a thousand calories a day. Um, but that's your normal. Like, you've just kind of, like, gotten into this routine of you skip breakfast, your coffee, and then you don't eat until 2 p.m. because you're just so busy. And then you have, um, like kind of a smaller meal and then a massive meal at night or maybe kind of binge on some unhealthy things after dinner. Um, and that's your daily routine. And your body has now gotten used to that. However, then you randomly will have these weekends where you go out, you're eating out a ton, you're drinking, and your calorie intake is super high. Well, then what is what happens in that scenario is that your metabolism is not flexible. It's not resilient. So then. You're going to see dip or increases in your weight more frequently. When you do have those big high calorie days or weekends because you're you're now in a massive surplus, uh, because your, your basal metabolic rate has lowered. So your body is expecting the small amounts of calories, and then you're throwing massively high calorie days or weekends at it. And it is not good at adapting to that. Okay. So that's where we get in trouble. And that's where people see, um, weight gain, even though they're like most of the time I'm eating so low calorie, I don't understand. While it's because your body's adapted to the low calories, your BMR is lowered. And then when you do have days of just eating like a normal person, your metabolism is not flexible enough to handle that. Okay, so skipping meals and chronically under feeding yourself might lead to some initial weight loss, but over time, it is not the best strategy because you're not going to have a resilient and flexible metabolism. What happens when you go on vacations? What happens when you want to have a girls weekend? What happens when you are no longer in a season of life where you're so busy you can't eat and you start to just eat normal amounts of meals again, right? So we want to be prepared for that so that your body handles it well by building up a better metabolism and, um, kind of reaching your metabolic potential ultimately. Um, so making sure you're not skipping meals and that you are actually eating enough for your body type and the activities that you are doing. And again, if you're not sure where the heck to start with that, this is something that we handle in Mountain metabolic coaching. Number five is getting enough sleep. Lack of sleep can negatively affect your metabolism and lead to weight gain. Um, so making sure you're getting enough rest to support healthy metabolic function. And the less sleep you get, you're also more likely to kind of trigger a cascade of hormones where your your hunger hormones are going to go up in your satiety hormones are going to go down. So it's just kind of a vicious cycle where you don't get enough sleep, then you're eating like crap the next day, and then you're lower energy because you aren't getting good quality food. Um, and then you're not working out because you don't feel good. Right? So we want to make sure that we're setting ourselves up with a good night's sleep that will affect so much of your next day. And so when we don't prioritize sleep, we find that it's kind of a ripple effect of negative consequences, little things that what might happen the next day, decisions that you're prone to make or not make, um, the ability to increase your need or just stay active or make healthy food choices. All of these things can really hinge on how you slept the night before, so don't sleep on sleep quality. It is so important. And this is something that I talk about with my clients all the time, when they're finding that their days just aren't panning out the way that they want. I'm like, okay, well, what does your bedtime routine look like? What's your sleep quality look like? And then what's your morning look like? Because all of these things are going to be a cascading effect of decisions and habits, and how you're able to show up for yourself the following day. Number six support a thriving liver, so the liver plays a crucial role in metabolism. It acts as the body's central metabolic hub, and it actually makes up 15% of our basal metabolic rate, which a lot of people don't know that. So if you have a sluggish liver where your liver just isn't functioning optimally, you are potentially really cutting off a big source of your metabolic potential. So that's an area where you might be able to get your BMR higher just by flushing out your liver, making sure that your liver is thriving. So, um, the liver helps regulate and coordinate various biochemical processes necessary for just kind of maintaining homeostasis. So here are the key roles in the liver in metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, lipid metabolism, protein metabolism, detoxification. Um, so basically the liver is detoxing any harmful substances such as alcohol, drugs, environmental toxins, um, antibiotics, things that we're putting into our body, any sort of like toxins from our foods, hormonal toxins that can build up over time, especially if you're taking birth control for years and years, all of these things, and it converts them into less toxic compounds makes them more water soluble for excretion into urine or bile. Okay. So that's kind of what the liver is taking on. So it's a lot. So if you're throwing at your liver um, you know just all the regular like food processing plus a ton of alcohol plus a ton of environmental toxins, maybe you have a ton of, um, very fragrance heavy makeup and skin products, and you're using basic name brand cleaning products that are really high in toxins, and you're touching bpas all the time and heating up your food in plastic. Um, you know, and taking in hormonal birth control for years. All of these things will affect your toxin load over time. This is why a lot of people don't experience these ramifications when they're in their teens or early 20s, but over time now they're in their 30s and 40s, and they're having all of these different hormone imbalances, sluggish liver, all these different things are affected in their body. And it's like, well, of course your toxin load has been high for 40 years now versus when you were 20. It hadn't quite caught up with you yet. Okay. So having a liver that's able to take all of that on and handle it well is very, very crucial to a thriving metabolism, as well as just handling all of this crap and getting it out of your body properly. Um, the liver also handles the storage of vitamins and minerals. Um, so the liver stores essential vitamins such as A-D, B12 and minerals, iron and copper, and releases them when the body needs them for various functions. Um, it also handles the regulation of hormones. So liver plays a role in regulating various hormones, including those involved in the metabolism. For example, IT metabolism metabolizes insulin and glucagon, which are key hormones and regulating blood sugar levels. Okay, so as you can see, the liver is doing out here doing the most it's doing a lot. So we want to make sure that we are supporting a thriving liver. And that is something that we are really tapping into this year in Mountain metabolic Coaching. I've kind of talked about this a little bit on a few episodes, how we are working on implementing a liver flush, which I'm so excited about. So if this is something that you suspect could be holding you back, then you can get on the waitlist to chat about coaching, learn about the flush. And that's something that you could do this year, uh, makes a massive difference in improving your metabolic potential. And the liver also directly affects gut health and so many different other areas. So, um, if you want to chat about that, you can definitely check out the application in the show notes. All right. Moving on. Number seven is gut health. So gut health also plays a significant role in the metabolism influencing how your body processes food absorbs nutrients and regulates energy. So here's a few ways in which gut health may be impacting your metabolism. One is your gut microbiome. The trillions of bacteria and microorganisms in your gut are crucial in breaking down food, particularly fiber fermenting it into short chain fatty acids. Um, so basically all of this helps regulate your fat storage, your glucose metabolism and inflammation, which all influence metabolic function. I'm going to try not to bore you with all of the sciencey stuff, but gut microbiome is kind of like the landscape or environment of your gut, and we need that to be healthy and thriving. Um, number two is nutrient absorption. So having a healthy gut lining allows for proper, proper nutrient absorption if the gut is inflamed or damaged. Um, and like conditions like leaky gut or just over time, um, it's kind of like withered down or got some holes in it. This can lead to malabsorption of nutrients and impairs metabolic function, leading to deficiencies. Okay, so it's great if you're eating really healthy, but if your gut can't absorb those nutrients properly, then we're really mitigating the benefits. Number three is insulin sensitivity. Research suggests that the gut microbiome influences insulin sensitivity sensitivity, which is how effectively your body uses insulin to manage blood sugar. So imbalances in your gut bacteria can lead to insulin resistance, which is a key factor in metabolic disorders. Four is appetite regulation. The gut communicates with the brain via hormones like ghrelin and leptin, which regulate hunger and satiety. So a disrupted gut can affect these signals, which leads to overeating or just poor appetite regulation, both of which can affect the metabolism. Inflammation and unhealthy gut can lead to chronic, low grade inflammation, which can impair metabolic processes. Um, so inflammation is linked to things like obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Those are really big conditions to be living with. And the gut affects all of those, which is kind of crazy. I think oftentimes we just think of the gut as like, um, just where we process food and that's it. And there's so many key functions in the body that are affected by our gut health, um, energy expenditure. The gut microbiome can also influence how your body burns energy. Certain bacteria may promote fat storage, while others may encourage fat burning, and imbalance could lead to more fat accumulation or a lower rate of energy expenditure. Okay, so all of these different things, um, can really affect your metabolism via the gut. Um, so in short, maintaining a healthy gut is really important to help optimize metabolic processes. Um, so there are a few basic things that we can do for a healthy gut, such as just following a balanced diet in general that's rich in fiber. Um, probiotics, prebiotics. Chewing slowly in a relaxed state actually goes a long way for gut health, especially if you struggle with, like, bloating or stomach discomfort after eating. Minimizing processed foods and antibiotics when possible. Keeping stress low, big time matters. There's such a big connection between the brain and the gut. Um. So all of those things you can do definitely will make a difference. And those are just kind of like basic things that you can apply in your day to day life. But the gut is very nuanced. And so it is its own microbiome. Um, and if the microbiome is no longer in balance, some serious work may be required to get it back to a healthy place. So think about it like tending to a lawn or a garden. Um, you can't just like, throw a probiotic at that. Like you can't just say, okay, here's my yard. It has a million weeds. There's all of these issues. So I'll just throw these seeds down and everything will be taken care of. Right. Really, you have to first remove the weeds and seeds from the lawn, then replace with healthy soil, then repopulate it with new seeds, then restore the healthy nutrients fertilizer, fill in the holes, and then just work towards maintaining that balance of a healthy environment to support the new lawn. The gut is the same way. It takes several steps. It's a process. And if we just throw a probiotic or like drink kombucha and think that that's enough, it's not going to deal with all of the bad or the damage that's taking place that you have to address before trying to kind of re inoculate and repopulate with the good bacteria. So, um, that is another, uh, really awesome benefit of this flush that we're going to be providing for clients. Um, there's a gut protocol within that that is really effective. And, um, really gets to the nitty gritty of all of this. And so if you feel like you're struggling with gut health again, the flush might be very, very beneficial for you. Number eight manage stress. I feel like we talk about stress so much on this show, because I am just such an advocate for managing stress and how this is such a ripple effect in our lives and in our health. So chronic stress can definitely lead to an imbalance in cortisol, which can affect your metabolism. So it's really important to stay on top of your stress and actually get real with yourself about the stimuli in your life, everything that's piling up and how stressed you actually might be, especially if you tend to kind of already be like an anxious, high stress type, a type of person. Managing stress is going to go such a long way in reducing inflammation, keeping your gut healthy, and keeping your nervous system, uh, in a state where it can thrive and you can just burn higher, higher amounts of calories at rest like we talked about before. Number nine thyroid health. Um, the thyroid plays a key role in regulating metabolism. Um, so the hormones that are associated with the thyroid are produced by the thyroid gland, which is located in the neck. Um, and when the thyroid is functioning properly, it's going to help maintain a balanced metabolic rate. So supporting thyroid health is important for overall well-being. Um, and just overall energy levels too. So here are some tips to support thyroid health. Uh, one is eating a balanced diet. So getting some key nutrients like iodine, selenium, zinc, vitamin D and antioxidant rich foods. These are some things that you can incorporate in your diet. Um, if you suspect that you might have a sluggish thyroid. Avoiding goiter genic foods in excess. So these are foods like soy, cruciferous veggies like, um, kind of just like your green veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, kale especially raw. If you, um, struggle with any sort of thyroid imbalance, making sure you're cooking your green veggies, cruciferous veggies is really important. And certain fruits can actually interfere with thyroid function when you're consuming them in large quantities, especially eaten raw like I just mentioned. Um, so cooking these foods can be a massive game changer. So maybe avoiding like just the big raw kale salads or raw broccoli, raw cauliflower, things like that. And make sure making sure you're cooking those things properly. Managing stress is a big one. Um, chronic stress can negatively affect thyroid function, so making sure that you are especially paying attention to stress management. If you have been told that your thyroid is imbalanced, if you struggled with hypothyroidism, um, or if you're just suspecting. And I definitely do recommend getting some testing done if you're not really sure, because oftentimes we tend to like, think, oh, it must be this, it must be this. And um, it could be or it could not be. So that's where getting some testing done goes a long way. Getting regular exercise. Physical activity supports thyroid function by increasing circulation, boosting metabolism, and improving hormone regulation overall. Um, so we don't want to be doing anything crazy. Crazy, you know, seven days a week or two days or things like that, that's actually going to really, um, kind of backfire, especially as far as stress management and thyroid health, but doing some weight training, some walking, some low intensity, steady state cardio, things like that are really great. Um, ensuring healthy gut function. Um, so a healthy gut actually does affect thyroid health. Um, so everything that we just talked about with gut health is also going to translate to how well your thyroid functions. Pretty cool limiting toxin exposure. So chemicals like bpas, heavy metals, certain pesticides um, and trying to choose organic food when you can. Obviously this is not always realistic or doable, but having an understanding of the dirty dozen and the clean 15 is really helpful when you're looking at produce and really making sure that you're purchasing good quality meats and probiotics or supplements, um, that are low on fillers and low on antibiotics and things like that. Um, to avoid extra toxins when possible. And then mind your medications. So, you know, this is a tricky one because some people really do need to be on these chronic medications for certain conditions. However, we do want to be mindful that just being on certain medications all the time can really affect your gut health and your thyroid health. So making sure that you're not just kind of blindly taking medications in excess for life without asking the hard questions. And now number ten, our final tip is eating small frequent meals. So the science on this is kind of mixed. But it kind of goes along with when we talked about not having times where you're skipping meals and dieting unknowingly. So eating smaller frequent meals helps kind of mitigate that. So especially if you do fall into that category of eating like 1 or 2 times a day and you're typically overeating because you're so ravenous by the time you're eating, or you feel like your nutrition habits are not supporting your metabolism. This could be a good switch for you. Um, and it just might help you regulate your, um, insulin better, which will affect your energy and regulate your metabolic function. So if you're someone who skips a lot of meals and feels like you could benefit from this, just start with having maybe four smaller meals a day and see how that feels. As far as energy, your ability to get more protein and micronutrients in and keep your metabolism in a healthy spot. Okay, so I know that this can be a little bit overwhelming. Keep in mind that most people are not even doing the bare minimum to support their health and metabolic function. So let's talk about what are the basics. Because sometimes you see a list like this and you're like, Holy crap, I don't even know where to start. I don't know where I might be falling short or I don't know if I have a healthy liver, I don't know if I have a healthy guy, all these things. So let's just talk about some basics that you can be doing right now, literally starting today, every single day that will affect all of this positively. Okay, so one is lifting weights regularly. You gotta start there. Gotta get your muscle mass up and get some activity in your life. If this is an area where you are not consistent, I definitely would recommend focusing on this 3 to 4 days a week of resistance training. Also going for daily walks, getting more steps in, focusing on your needs. Not being sedentary. Getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. Drinking sufficient water. You can start with 100oz a day. Eating protein with each meal. If you know that you're not getting a ton of protein in, focus on getting a really good protein source at least 20g of protein at each meal. Eating fruits and veggies every single day. This sounds so basic, but a lot of people are not even doing this. Okay, we need to be eating the rainbow, getting tons of phyto and micronutrients to support a healthy gut. If all we're eating is just processed stuff out of boxes and cans and things like that, the likelihood of us meeting our nutritional needs are low. So we got to make sure we're getting our vitamins and minerals in, um, minimizing processed foods. That's a big one. A lot of people are way over eating processed foods, not cooking at home enough, and not prioritizing food quality. Okay, so yes, quantity matters for your body size, body composition, your weight, all of that. But food quality matters in how you're feeling and how you're feeling. Your body, your gut health, which as we know, affects so many other systems that affect your metabolism. Um, spending time being active outside this is so important for your nervous system, so beneficial for mental health, um, which affects your cortisol and your physical health. And then working on stress management like we've talked about many times today. So if you're struggling just to do these basic things consistently, I would definitely just start there, nail these, focus on these things. They're not flashy, but they are going to move the needle the most more than any one supplement, more than any one food, more than any specialty thing that you can do. Focus on these. Okay. Um, and if you're struggling to just be consistent with those, it might be time to invest in some accountability. Um, get honest with yourself. Like if you've known that you need to do these things for years and you're not doing them, get accountable to somebody, because that might be the only thing that will be the difference in you actually doing them versus saying, oh, I know I should do those things. And then a year from now, you're still not doing them right. Additionally, if you are doing these things consistently, consistently, and you feel like it might be a higher level issue that's holding you back, such as gut health, liver health, thyroid or hormone health, etc., we would love to chat with you. Um, So either way, if you are not doing the basics consistently or you are doing the basics consistently, you still feel like you have a sluggish metabolism. Um, definitely start with our application process for metabolic coaching. This is what we do. Okay, so right now listeners can get half off of their first month of coaching just by being a listener of the podcast. So you can start by checking the link in the show notes, um, where you can apply once you fill out that little application form, it's super quick. Takes like 3 to 5 minutes at the very most. Just answer some quick questions, then we will reach out, get you on a call and chat much more in depth. This is kind of our time to learn about you, um, where you're feeling stuck, where you're feeling frustrated, and then go over all the program details and just ultimately see if it's a good fit for you. Um, and that's where you can let us know. Hey, I'm a listener of the podcast and you can get your first month half off of coaching. So, um, I hope that this has been helpful today to really understand the metabolism from a more holistic basis, instead of it just being a buzzword where it's like, oh, if you just drink apple cider vinegar or lemon water first thing in the morning, you're immediately going to boost your metabolism. And you can really understand the nuance to this and that. There's so much that goes into it, but there's also so much that we do have power over to improve our metabolic potential, which is really, really cool and empowering. Okay, so I hope that this has been helpful. If you like this episode, please give us a little rating and review or a shout out on social media. All of that is really helpful for small shows like us. Um, and thank you so much for listening. I will chat with you all in the next episode. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the fit for hiking podcast. As always, I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and informed on how to take your health and adventure into your own hands. For more content like this, be sure to follow along with my daily posts at Ponytail Underscore. On a trail that's ponytail underscore on a trail. You can also stay up to date on my new episodes being released at Fit Underscore for hiking, and find more free resources at Pony Tail on a trail.com. Happy and healthy trails.