Dear readers,
Stubborn weight, fatigue, and poor sleep affect millions of men and women in America. A common thread between all these issues is a poorly working metabolism. Poor metabolic health is highly linked to a multitude of health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Metabolism is a series of biochemical reactions that happen to food after we put it in our mouths. Our metabolism determines if the food we eat is stored as fat, or if it is used as fuel for our bodies. We want our metabolism to store the minimal amount of fat that we need to be healthy and use the rest of the food we eat to fuel our daily activities. For a variety of reasons, this is not the case for 78% of Americans.
The modern American diet predominantly consists of highly processed foods, a stark departure from the natural diets of our ancestors. These chemically altered products often undermine our metabolic health. Moreover, physical activity has become optional for many, with conveniences like driving, fast-food drive-thrus, and home delivery minimizing the necessity for movement. This sedentary lifestyle significantly disrupts the proper functioning of our metabolism, which relies on regular activity.
Compounding this issue are obesogens, environmental chemicals found in the air we breathe and the plastics we use, directly interfering with metabolic processes. Lastly, the pervasive stress of contemporary life disrupts metabolic function, further exacerbating the challenges of maintaining a healthy metabolism.
The health of our metabolism largely depends on how our body manages glucose (blood sugar) and the level of insulin in our bloodstream. Glucose is the most basic building block of energy and is necessary to fuel our bodies. When we eat food, glucose enters our bloodstream from our digestive tract and has to be shuttled into our cells. Insulin is the key that opens the door to our cells and allows glucose to come in. When the amount of glucose in our bloodstream is too high too often, our cells become “insulin resistant.” The cells already have enough glucose and they don’t want to get overwhelmed. When insulin knocks to open the cell doors, the cells refuse or “resist” it. The body then produces more insulin to overcome this resistance in the cells. Unfortunately, insulin is the hormone that signals our bodies to store fuel as fat. So when it is overly abundant in the bloodstream, food is preferentially stored as fat, especially around our bellies. Because of this mechanism, we want to keep our blood sugars in the normal range to prevent excessive production of insulin and, therefore insulin resistance and metabolic damage.
So what does all this have to do with walking?
Luckily, there are a few simple techniques we can use to keep our metabolism healthy. One of these is walking directly after a meal. When we walk, our muscles are active and need glucose to function. Muscles are uniquely equipped to pull in glucose without the use of insulin, thus decreasing both blood glucose and insulin levels. This results in a healthier, more efficient metabolism with less fat storage and decreased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
Multiple studies over the last decade have confirmed improved glucose metabolism and metabolic health with walking after meals. The same benefits were not seen with walks before meals. The ideal walk is within 30 minutes of a meal and is brisk, but not overly demanding. Walks within 2 hours of a meal confer benefits as well, but this tends to be smaller.
Walking after meals is just one way to take care of our metabolism. Stay tuned for more tips and tricks to remain metabolically healthy!
With Support and Solidarity,
Dr. Gajer
