Hello,
Over my adult lifetime I’ve fluctuated a pretty good amount with weight. I’m relatively slow to put on muscle mass and very quick to put on body fat. I’m probably close to the heaviest weight I’ve ever been but it’s a good mix of fat and muscle. I likely have the most muscle I’ve ever had and the most belly fat as well. I have a great six pack under all that chub haha. I have some siblings that have a similar metabolism but I think some of the women have a harder time because of giving birth and different hormones.
I believe that overall a slow metabolism is a major blessing. Many of us with this great blessing can live off very few calories and still be able to put in strong physical labor (it may take practice). Throughout the bulk of human history this can keep families alive. I can literally eat about four decent meals a week and not waste away. Intermittent fasting works very well for my body, and I think this is true for many people with slow metabolisms. Many nomadic and tribal people in the past (and some rare groups today) lived with intermittent fasting but didn’t really think of it like that. The men would have a good hunt and afterwards the community would have a great feast and wait a while for the next big hunt and feast. In some tribes this was a rite of passage, you were considered a man after your first big game taken down by yourself – often with a spear. The women would gather food to store (nuts, roots, and berries were common) and the men would hunt for the feasts. Much of the time it was probably the women that kept the community alive with the buffer foods when animals weren’t available. Many tribesmen could go out and hunt in conditions that most modern people would think is on the brink of starvation, and they would have plenty of energy for the hunt, sometimes running many miles and then carrying back a heavy carcass. In the more nomadic tribes many of them would also have sheep or cattle with them for milk and to eat as a needed feast as they roam around. Those that did not herd their own animals would be following the wild herds and migrating through good hunting and gathering areas.
As people settled into towns with agricultural skills they would have a more steady supply of food. However depending on the year the swings of food availability would change dramatically. So on the drought, pesty, cold, or whatever else type of year giving meager yields the people would have overall far less calories. This was more dramatic in areas further from the equator and with less consistent moisture. In these types of communities the common man put in a lot more physical labor than today’s office folk. So those with slow metabolisms could continue to put in hard labor during the good times and bad. The slow metabolism was a great blessing and really helped with survival overall. Store up a little extra fat during the high production times, and trim up during the lean times – overall all was well enough in that regard.
So now fast forward to modern times… We now have an abundance of calories and a lack of physical labor with a large portion of the population with a slow or medium metabolism built from the generations of lower or inconsistent calories available. This turns the blessing of a survival trait (slow metabolism) into a curse. It’s fairly cheap and easy to get massive amounts of calories. For those with a slow metabolism it tends to bloat us up pretty quickly. It’s very easy to have it get out of control and give us problems. The heavier I get the more often I get knee pain, I can get it while lower weight as well, but it is far more frequent while heavier. I get shoulder, elbow, hip, lower back, neck, and wrist pain as well and that can happen thin or thick. I call this “migratory pain.” But along with other people that have slow metabolism with easy calories and easy weight gain, especially fat, there are many other health concerns.
On top of all of this with our industrial human feed (that’s what I like to call our low quality human food sources) it is often toxic calories for one reason or another. Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, synthetic additives, heavy metals, and just plain stripped-of-nutrients macro nutrients gives us more problems than merely having a slow metabolism with excess calories. Another more controversial issue is vaccinations, I think those are more problematic than mainstream healthcare dares admit. I believe this toxicity through life might be a major contributor to my joint pain. Also food void of micro nutrients (white flour, modified corn starch, white rice, white sugar, corn syrup, etc, etc…) give us the sensation of being full far too late in the meal. Another factor is that our body is craving the micro nutrients and fiber that have been stripped away in processed foods so we come back for more way too quickly. This often creates a carbohydrate addiction, that’s what superficial hunger is – merely carbohydrate withdrawals caused by eating too many simple sugars and starches. With healthy whole foods it’s easier to keep weight a bit more under control because of satiation from a meal full of both macro and micro nutrients. However that alone does not keep my weight in a great place and that is true of many other people I’ve known. Many of us can eat very healthy whole foods and still have too much body fat. Something nice about eating whole foods and less “empty calories” is that it is much easier to intermittent fast.
If the world builds up in the grand strife that it continually escalates we may come into times of pain. And those of us who have a slow metabolism may weather the storm much easier than those who do not. If we can wean off of eating too much of the empty calories and eat more whole foods, that will help. If we can practice intermittent fasting that will help. If we can grow and raise our own foods that could help even more. Stop thinking of junk food as a reward, it is a punishment – reward yourself with clean whole foods from healthy soil. If you have a slow metabolism keep in mind that in reality it is not a curse. It truly is a blessing that is ignored and isn’t harnessed to our benefit. Being able to eat four or even ten meals in a week and have enough energy to do much physical labor is a super power. Maybe us fatties in the world will become the lean mean working machines to help the bony fast metabolism wusses survive (not all of those with a fast metabolism are weak without food — no offense intended). I’ve had super high metabolism friends that are useless without triple or more the intake I need to function well. In times of want the high metabolism folk can slowly walk around the garden planting and harvesting (mostly sitting and conserving their strength) while us slow metabolism folk can pull carts, dig holes, scythe grain, and other such things to survive a collapse.
Further reading:
Eat to Live – by Joel Fuhrman, MD
Nourishing Traditions – by Sally Fallon
The Complete Guide to Fasting – by Dr. Jason Fung with Jimmy Moore
The Omnivore’s Dilemma – by Michael Pollan
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration – by Weston A. Price, DDS