How Your Body Really Works
Part 1: you are your metabolism
the first two letters in metabolism are ME
At the most basic level, your body is just a big, interactive “chemistry set.” Your chemistry set is comprised of biochemicals that make up the cells of your body, your skin, bones, organs, and glands. Other biochemicals such as antibodies, neurotransmitters, and hormones regulate the functioning of the cells of your body, essentially, every aspect of your physiology. Still other biochemicals provide the energy you need to function each day. All of these structural, functional, and energy biochemicals constantly interact with each other. In doing so, they condition each other’s behavior, that is, the way they act and, therefore, their effect. This is why, as I often say, nothing in physiology happens in a vacuum. Whether directly or indirectly, everything affects everything else.
Your metabolism determines how well your body functions, how healthy or sick you are, how you feel, and how long you live
Now, what I want you to understand is that each of the millions of chemical actions that occurs each day falls into one of two categories, either “Building” or “Using.” In other words, your metabolism has a Building Side and a Using Side.
In very basic terms, Using is what happens all day long from the time you wake up in the morning until you go to sleep at night – and even while you are asleep.
By being active, busy, stressed, even just thinking, reading, or watching a movie, no matter what you do, you wear out or damage the biochemicals that comprise the structures of your body (structural biochemicals) and deplete the biochemicals that regulate the functioning of your body (functional biochemicals). And, of course, you use up the biochemicals that give your body the energy it requires to do all of the amazing things it does (energy biochemicals).
Your metabolism determines how well your body functions, how healthy or sick you are, how you feel, and how long you liveThe totality of the millions of chemical actions and interactions that constantly occur in your body, day in and day out, constitutes your metabolism. Despite what you may have been told, your metabolism is not a measure of how efficiently you burn calories. Rather, your metabolism determines how well your body functions, how healthy or sick you are, how you feel, and how long you live.
Now, what I want you to understand is that each of the millions of chemical actions that occurs each day falls into one of two categories, either “Building” or “Using.” In other words, your metabolism has a Building Side and a Using Side.
In very basic terms, Using is what happens all day long from the time you wake up in the morning until you go to sleep at night – and even while you are asleep.
By being active, busy, stressed, even just thinking, reading, or watching a movie, no matter what you do, you wear out or damage the biochemicals that comprise the structures of your body (structural biochemicals) and deplete the biochemicals that regulate the functioning of your body (functional biochemicals). And, of course, you use up the biochemicals that give your body the energy it requires to do all of the amazing things it does (energy biochemicals).
Just by being alive and active each day, you wear out, deplete or use up your structural, functional and energy biochemicals.
Living is a constant process of Using and Building, of degeneration and regeneration. If, each day, you restore what you have used, if Building consistently keeps pace with Using, you have a balanced metabolism. Maintaining a balanced metabolism is the key to having a long, healthy, and carefree life.
If you don’t repair or replenish all the biochemicals you use up each day, if regeneration does not keep pace with degeneration, then you have what is called metabolic imbalance. Metabolic imbalance accelerates your aging process and it promotes degenerative disease and the numerous health problems that plague people from middle age through the end of their lives. To be clear, by degenerative diseases, I am are referring to heart disease, cancer, type II diabetes, Alzheimer’s dementia, osteoporosis, and stroke – the diseases that now kill over 90% of adults in the developed world.
When you think of it, it makes sense. If you deplete more of something than you generate, you have to tap into some kind of reserve to make up for the deficit. Finances are a great example. If you regularly spend more than you earn, you have to dip into your savings or use available credit. In both cases, you are depleting and undermining your financial foundation — your “net worth.” If you do so for just a month or two and then are able to replenish your savings or pay back the debt, it’s not so much of a problem. But, if you constantly overspend your income, in time you will so severely erode your financial foundation as to put yourself in financial jeopardy. Your metabolism is the foundation of your health. If you constantly Use more than you Build, if you are constantly in degeneration mode, you are on the path from having a healthy metabolism to having a damaged metabolism.
A central message in everything we will be talking about is the importance of Building always keeping pace with Using. Certainly, one of the ways to make sure this happens is to focus on how to maximize Building, which I will help you to do. The other strategy, of course, is to be careful about how much you Use.
I said above, “Within limits, there is nothing wrong with Using.” For many people, Using exceeds those limits because they Use unnecessarily. It’s just like overspending. Lots of people spend money for things they really can’t afford. Then they have to go earn more money to offset their “waste spending.” Otherwise they have to borrow money or liquidate assets to pay for their excessive spending.
Because of their Habits, most people Use excessively. There are a number of things you can do to reduce such “Excessive Using.” And, doing so doesn’t mean you have to sit around doing nothing. I’ll show you.
For now and forever, remember that a balanced metabolism – Building keeping pace with Using – is the key to a long and healthy life. And, the key to keeping your metabolism balanced is to maximize Building and avoid Excessive Using. How do you do this? Well, it starts with understanding hormones, what they are, what they do, and how they do it, which is the focus of our next session.
