Debunking myths – the whole truth about metabolism

Many people mistakenly associate the frequency of bowel movements with metabolic rate. They say that the more often you go to the toilet, the faster your metabolism. Of course, such statements have nothing to do with the truth.

Big misunderstanding

Very often you can come across opinions that your metabolic rate is determined by how often you go to the toilet. This, of course, is a misconception, because the metabolic rate has nothing to do with the rate of intestinal transit, these are two different aspects of human physiology.

It often happens that the intestinal transit rate is low, which may be due to too little fiber, and the metabolic rate is high, and vice versa, i.e., your metabolism may be slow, but the intestinal transit rate may be accelerated.

It turns out that people who belong to the fast metabolism class can suffer from constipation, just as people with a slow metabolism can suffer from diarrhea. Failure to differentiate between these aspects can sometimes lead to rash decisions.

As we know, a slow metabolism is largely associated with a tendency to accumulate fatty tissue, so people who want to lose weight often resort to laxatives in the hope that it will help them. In fact, this practice can lead to, among other things, weakening of the natural intestinal motility, which can cause a number of dangerous health consequences.

To be clear: metabolism is defined as a set of biochemical transformations and accompanying energy transformations that occur in the cells of living organisms. Metabolic changes include:

• catabolic (decomposition);
• anabolic (building) transformations.

These processes involve both enzymes and hormones secreted by the pituitary gland, vitamins, minerals, and other biologically active ingredients from food, so the rate of these changes can vary and depends on many factors.

“I can’t gain weight, but I eat a lot”

People who are unable to gain weight often attribute this to their fast metabolism. However, in practice it turns out that the above statement is very inaccurate, because it is not fast metabolism that limits weight gain, but the number of calories consumed.

It often turns out that a given person does not exceed half of his calorie needs. In order for the body to build muscle mass, we must provide it with the appropriate conditions, and we are talking about a surplus of calories, which must be rationally determined to meet the physiological needs of our body.

There is no doubt that our daily menu should cover the need for all essential nutrients (vitamins, minerals, exogenous amino acids, essential fatty acids and fiber). The diet should be balanced in such a way that it does not cause digestive problems, lethargy or poor health.