Question

Is our metabolism only influenced by genetics or can we change our metabolism?

Answer 1

You can't change it, but you can either boost it or decrease it.

Metabolism originates from our genetic material. Changing it would require changing our genetic material. Which is currently impossible on an individual level.

Why we can't because it would require us to change the genetic material (DNA) of every single cell in our body. Changing it might (depending on the change) have an effect on the cell itself.

This effect might vary from being neglectable to fatal to the cell itself. Because metabolism, in general as you asked, refers to all the chemical reactions that occur in our body in order for it to live and function.

Our metabolism is extremely coordinated in a very delicate rate. Changing any of this fine balance invasively will result in severe effects on the body, mostly negative effects.

However, our metabolism can adapt to certain conditions by either increasing or decreasing. This generally includes food intake, activity, and temperature.

Although it is impossible to change your metabolism overnight, eating the right foods can help speed up your metabolism over time.

Healthy foods such as oatmeal, asparagus, ginger, beans and almonds, are all examples of foods that will help speed up your metabolism.

Unhealthy foods such as refined carbohydrates (bread and pasta), sugars, fatty foods, and foods high in pesticides, can all affect your metabolism in a negative way by slowing it down.

Answer 2

1. What is metabolism?
   Metabolism is a word describing all the processes, both chemical and physical, your body does in order to convert or use energy. All living organisms have their own, unique metabolism that allow them to breakdown food and create energy.
2. What Factors Influence Metabolism?
   Many factors influence a specific person metabolism, making it unique to themselves. One major factor is age; as we age our metabolisms slow due to a loss in muscle mass and a change of hormones. Another major factor is physical activity; if you are more active, you are more likely to have a faster metabolism and be able to burn food into energy faster.
3. How can you change your metabolism?
   One way to significantly increase the speed of your metabolism is to workout daily, or on a regular basis, doing both cardio and strength increasing exercises. Over time, your body will have an increase in muscle mass and decrease in body fat percentage, making your metabolism faster. Another way to change your metabolism is to change your diet. For example, if someone is not eating enough iodine, which is found richly in seafood, eggs, and diary, their metabolisms will slow down due to non-opitmal thyroid function. Lastly, a way you could change your metabolism is by environmental temperatures. If your body needs to work extra hard to keep itself either cold or hot, a persons metabolism will increase. You could accomplish this type of change by regularly using or going in hot rooms, or saunas, and cold rooms.