Lose Weight With a Higher RMR © Dr. Eileen Silva 2006

Do you go up a jean size just watching your best friend dive into a banana split, while she licks the bowl clean and walks away looking slim and trim? Do you feel like a calorie magnet, while she has some sort of force field going that protects her? That’s not the really the difference, although it feels like it is. The difference is metabolism.

Metabolism varies from person to person, but choices you make can also affect it. Your resting metabolic rate (RMR) is 60-75% of your total metabolism, so even when you’re not working out you can be burning those dreaded calories. Of course, exercise does boost your metabolism, but you can keep it higher all day long if you avoid four common metabolism mistakes.

Do you skip breakfast?. If you don’t break your night’s fast, your body will go into conservation mode, thinking that it will receive no fuel that day. In fact, any time you miss a meal, your body starts to conserve fuel by burning less calories, so you can actually get less good from the workout you do if you have not eaten properly beforehand.

Your body also conserves fuel if you become dehydrated. If you don’t drink enough water (at least two quarts a day), or if you drink dehydrating caffeinated beverages or alcohol, your body temperature drops, and your body stores fat. If you must drink these beverages, always drink twice as much water to compensate for the water they leach from your body.

Do you fuel up with carbs? Did you know that carbs don’t rev up your metabolism nearly as much as protein does. In fact, when you eat and digest protein, it increases your RMR two to three times more than eating and digesting carbs.

And, when you work out, I suggest that you concentrate on your body’s level of lean muscle mass instead of cardio-loading. Heart-pumping workouts do burn calories, but they don’t have the impact on metabolism that muscle mass does. The more muscle mass you have, the more energy will be required to maintain it, and the more calories you’ll burn when working out or even when resting.

If you avoid these common mistakes, you will raise your metabolism, and you may even be able to join your best friend in an occasional banana split.

Balance is the Key to Good Health © Dr. Eileen Silva 2006

Do you live a balanced life? Relationships, activities, work, health, attitudes --- any way you look at it --- a balanced life is a healthy life. This is especially true with health and your body’s functions. When body systems are out of balance, you suffer, whether you realize it at the time or not.

I’m sure you know the consequences of not eating enough and of overeating. However, do you realize the consequences of poor eating choices that upset the balance of the body’s source of necessary nutrients and result in poor heath? Do you understand the necessity of the correct pH balance in your body and the consequences of an incorrect balance?

We all know the benefits of balancing rest and sleep with healthy exercise, but are you aware of the critical need to maintain your body’s water intake and usage balance? Your body requires at least 2 quarts of water a day, more if you are overweight, to efficiently run all its systems.

A balance in your digestive/elimination system requires you to eat a balanced diet of the proper foods. This allows your digestive system to absorb the nutrients that your body needs to function at an optimum level, and requires your elimination system to dump toxins and waste effectively. If your body gets out of balance in any of these areas, the other systems in your body will become unbalanced as well.

Your oxygenation/circulatory system requires enough water to keep the blood running easily. It also needs nutrition from a proper diet that doesn’t clog the arteries with fats and cholesterols, and toxin-free air with enough oxygen to enable your cells to do their work.

Think about the fact that your liver/cleansing system cannot function properly if the level of toxins in the body is out of balance with the body’s ability to expel them.

Your body is extremely complex, but this simple word keeps it healthy – balance. A key to obtaining balance is moderation. Practice moderation and maintain sensible balances in everything to enjoy a healthy, happy life.