Metabolic Typing

What is it?

Metabolic typing is a way of determining how your body best processes foods and how it reacts to the nutrients within your diet. Because everyone has a unique physiology, we all tend to react differently to the same foods and nutrients. This explains why some people do very well on certain diets and food types whilst another can become quite ill. Knowing your metabolic type is a proven and effective method of establishing which foods are best to eat and which ones to avoid, in order to optimise your health and performance.

How it works

Metabolic typing looks at the 2 most significant systems that have the largest role in regulating your body and all its functions.

• The Autonomic Nervous system (Autonomic System)
• Energy production at the cellular level (Oxidative System)

The Autonomic System can be thought of as the master regulator of metabolism. It involves the control of all of the involuntary mechanisms that keep us alive, such as digestion, elimination, heart rate and the immune system etc. There are two branches of this system; sympathetic and parasympathetic, which work together to provide metabolic balance and efficiency. For example the sympathetic branch if stimulated will speed up the heart rate, where as if the parasympathetic branch is stimulated it will cause the heart rate to slow down.

For hereditary reasons a person can be more stimulated by either branch of the autonomic system. For example a Sympathetic Metabolic Type has their organs and glands more stimulated by the sympathetic branch, and this person will require foods that support and strengthen the parasympathetic branch in order to balance their system.

An imbalance occurs in some people because they "burn" carbohydrates too quickly. This imbalance effects you at a cellular level and relates to the Oxidative System and people who exhibit this characteristic are known as Fast Oxidisers. In this case the system is balanced by eating more protein and fat. Other people are Slow Oxidisers and these people require less protein and fat, but more carbohydrate.

It can easily be appreciated that different people not only have different systems that are imbalanced, but the extent to which these imbalances exist also varies tremendously. In addition to this, each person is "dominant" in one of the controls (the oxidative system or the autonomic system) and it is this system that will dictate how nutrients behave in their body. This is very significant because it means that what will work for one person will have the opposite effect on another person.

The approach that is taken in Metabolic Typing is always to strengthen the weak parts of the system to achieve balance rather than weakening the strong parts. This means that the system as a whole becomes much more effective.

By assessing your metabolic profile, we can establish which foods you need to eat in order to balance the various systems of the body. These systems must be balanced if you are to achieve long lasting health, and perform to the best of your ability