Most people are looking for ways to speed up the metabolism, but a minority suffering from too little weight is required, on the contrary, slow down a fast metabolism Rapid metabolism: the cause of rapid aging? . Fortunately, there are several ways to make the body burn less calories.

General recommendations

• Include in the diet higher in fat and protein.
• Eat only one or two large meals a day.
• Avoid caffeine and other stimulants.
• Avoid foods that contain a lot of sugar and artificial sweeteners.
• Shorten the duration of a cardio workout.

I want to gain a few kilos. You can start to eat hamburgers?

Those who want to increase the weight, really, you need to eat more fats and proteins. However, include in a diet fat and protein foods that have not undergone heat treatment or another, or have undergone minimal processing. Hamburgers, unfortunately their fans that do not meet the requirements.

Natural fats help to not only slow down your metabolism, but also increase the weight faster. One gram of natural fat (such what is contained in avocado, olive, coconut and other vegetable oils, nuts, fresh meats and cheeses) contains nine calories. The same amount of carbohydrate or protein contains, on average, four kilocalories.

If you have a small weight, it is likely that your body burns carbohydrates too quickly. A diet rich in fats and proteins, will provide you with materials that will be processed longer, and much of which is the creation of fat and muscle tissue.

There are a few meals a day is useful for metabolism?

If you want to get your internal engine, ie metabolism work faster, then - yes, you need to eat several times a day, small portions. But if you need to slow down your metabolism Improves metabolism and losing weight without dieting There will have to rarer.

You are accustomed to eating 4-5 times a day? Begin to gradually reduce the number of meals. For example, try to eat a hearty breakfast (eg scrambled eggs with bacon or sausage and cheese, whole wheat bread, yogurt, a handful of nuts or seeds) by 4.5-5 hours - lunch (salmon salad with lots of olive oil) for dinner - any dish In high in protein and fat. Over time, you can reduce the number of main meals to one or two per day. But we should not sacrifice the well-being and vigor for the sake of lowering metabolism. Eat enough to retain the ability to deal effectively with daily activities.

Refuse to caffeine?

If you really need caffeine to feel normal, drink only one cup of coffee a day - preferably in the morning, after you drink a glass of water and ate breakfast. Drinking coffee in the morning on an empty stomach you will, on the contrary, accelerates metabolic processes. If during the day you will need an extra dose of caffeine, drink green tea - it contains caffeine in smaller quantities, but as a rule, sufficient to how to cheer.

Overweight people eat a lot of sugar. Is sugar does not help me too to gain weight?

It is more important to increase the amount of muscle, rather than fat tissue, and eating large amounts of sugar will only lead to unwanted fat deposits. Furthermore, when too much sugar in people with fast metabolism Metabolism: The basis of life of all living things Like everyone else, increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Do cardio workout is not useful?

Cardio training is certainly beneficial to health; they improve the condition of the heart muscle, stimulate circulation and increase vitality. But those who want to slow down your metabolism, will have to reduce their duration - with the usual 45-60 minutes to 20. The remaining time is dedicated to strength training, which will help to increase the weight of light build muscle.

Thyroid hormone receptors are intracellular DNA-binding proteins that function as hormone receptor transcription factors are very similar to steroid hormone receptors. Thyroid hormones enter cells by membrane transport proteins.

Number of transport proteins in blood plasma has already been established, and the relative importance of the different carriers are not yet clear, and can be molded into various body tissues. Once inside the cell nucleus, the hormone binds to its receptor and the complex is a hormone - receptor interacts with specific DNA sequences in the controllers of certain genes. Thus, the hormone-receptor complex by binding to the DNA affects gene expression by stimulating or inhibiting transcription of specific genes.

To better imagine how it works, we explain an example of one mechanism by which thyroid hormone increases the strength of cardiac contractions. Myocardial contractility dependent, in part, on the ratio of different types of proteins in the cardiac muscle myosin. Thyroid hormones stimulate the transcription of certain genes myosin and inhibit transcription of others. Normally, the hormone must act so as to change the ratio in the direction of greater myocardial contractility.

Physiological effects of thyroid hormones

While it is not proven, but scientists believe it very likely that thyroid hormones can affect absolutely all cells of the body. Although they are not absolutely necessary to sustain life, thyroid hormones play a key role in many physiological processes, such as development, growth and metabolism Improves metabolism and losing weight without dieting And the deficit of thyroid hormone is not compatible with normal health. Furthermore, many of the effects of thyroid hormones were determined in the study of conditions associated with deficiency or excess of them.

• Metabolism

Thyroid hormones stimulate a variety of metabolic processes in the most body tissues, leading to an increase in basal metabolic rate. One consequence of this mechanism is to increase the heat generation body, which in turn is considered to result from increasing the oxygen consumption and increase the rate of hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate. Figuratively speaking, the action of thyroid hormones can be compared with the wind blowing on the embers. A few examples of metabolic effects of thyroid hormones:

• Lipid metabolism

Increased thyroid hormone stimulates what is called fat mobilization. This leads to increased concentrations of the fatty acids in the blood plasma. Thyroid hormones also stimulate fatty acid oxidation in many tissues. Finally, the plasma concentration of cholesterol and triglycerides is inversely proportional to the level of thyroid hormones - one of the diagnostic criteria for hypothyroidism is to increase the level of cholesterol in the blood.

• Glycometabolism

Thyroid hormones stimulate almost every aspect of the metabolism of carbohydrates, including glucose uptake by cells and accelerate the process of gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis, during which generate free glucose.

• Growth

Thyroid hormones are essential for normal growth of children and young animals, as evidenced by slower growth, noted in the deficiency of thyroid hormones Deficiency of thyroid hormone - revealed a previously unknown reason . It is not surprising that the effect of thyroid hormones, influencing the growth process is closely linked with the action of growth hormone, which once again shows how difficult it is designed the human body, and how many of the factors depends on his health.

• Development

A classic experiment in the field of endocrinology was a demonstration of the fact that the tadpoles deprived of thyroid hormones, could not pass the natural metamorphosis and turn into frogs. The extreme importance of thyroid hormones in mammals is the fact that the normal level of hormones necessary for brain development in the fetus and newborn.

Other effects

Perhaps we do not have the organs or tissues that are not exposed to thyroid hormones. Here are some of the most well-studied effects tireodinyh hormones:

• Cardiovascular system

Thyroid hormones increase the indicators such as heart rate, myocardial contractility and cardiac output. In addition, they promote vasodilation (relaxation of smooth muscle of blood vessel walls), which leads to an increase in blood flow to many organs.

• central nervous system

And increase and decrease in the concentration of thyroid hormones in the blood leads to changes in mental status. Too little hormone - and the person becomes inattentive, more passive than usual. Excess hormones leads to anxiety Anxiety - how to distinguish normal from disease?   and nervousness.

• Reproductive system

Normal reproductive behavior and physiology depend on the level of thyroid hormones. Hypothyroidism is often associated with infertility.

Diseases associated with thyroid hormone

As the excess or shortage of thyroid hormones can lead to diseases that are approximately equally manifest in humans and animals.

Hypothyroidism is the result of any breach of which leads to a deficiency of thyroid hormones. The most common of these disorders are:

• Iodine deficiency. Iodine is essential for production of thyroid hormones. If the body does not come sufficiently iodine synthesis of thyroid hormones becomes impossible. Previously, iodine deficiency commonly suffered by people living in the inland regions, where the nutritional substance is virtually contained. Today, the problem can be solved by using iodized salt, and taking vitamin supplements with iodine.
• Inflammatory diseases of the thyroid gland Thyroid disease - women at risk Which destroy the portion of the breast may also cause hypothyroidism.
• Common symptoms of hypothyroidism developing in childhood are apathy, fatigue, weakness, intolerance to cold, hair loss and dysfunction of the reproductive system. The severe form of the symptoms may be present in patients with myxedema - it's hard to disorder in which the rate of basal metabolic rate is reduced by 30-40%.
• The most severe and destructive form of hypothyroidism observed in children with congenital deficiency of the thyroid gland. If the child is not adjusted using the special treatment immediately after birth, he may develop cretinism - a form of irreversible delay physical and mental development. In most cases, hypothyroidism successfully treated using oral synthetic thyroid hormone. Previously effective medicine for hypothyroidism, the thyroid gland was considered Dried animals.
• Hyperthyroidism is caused by excessive secretion of thyroid hormones. One of the most common causes of hyperthyroidism is Graves' disease - an autoimmune disorder in which autoantibodies bind to receptors of thyroid stimulating hormone and activate them, which leads to constant stimulation of thyroid hormone synthesis.

The main symptoms of hyperthyroidism opposed to those that are characteristic of hypothyroidism: nervousness, insomnia, increased heart rate, anxiety. For the treatment of Graves' disease are commonly used antithyroid drugs (such as propylthiouracil and methimazole), which inhibit the synthesis of thyroid hormones.