Inside Scoop: These are our favourite Metabolic Balance® plan guidelines that everyone should implement into their lifestyle.

I am an anti-diet advocate, and I’m planning on dabbling in a ‘diet’.

Now hear me out.

I’m one of those people that you’ll meet that’s always symptomatic. Sleep issues, fatigue, brain fog, allergies, sinus infections, skin issues, digestive issues… the list goes on.

But, I’m also one of the so-called ‘healthiest’ people you know.

I exercise regularly, I limit my meat consumption, and I also limit my sugar and dairy. I don’t eat highly processed foods, every meal I eat consists of a pile of vegetables, and I have a couple of drinks 1-2x a month.

So you may be wondering why, after changing my eating habits, I would still need to take on a specific diet plan.

Alongside my healthy lifestyle, over the past 2 years I have been diagnosed with postpartum anxiety, fatty liver, a small arterial blockage, and although not properly diagnosed, there’s no way I don’t have severe digestive problems. I have cut grains out of my life, I can’t eat a huge list of foods (including most fruits), and, even though I’ve regulated my diet and lifestyle to limit my symptoms, to this day my issues just keep getting worse.

See how the picture of health can be so subjective?

No matter how mindful I am, how much yoga I do, how healthy I eat, I have no control over how I feel on a day-to-day basis.

This is precisely why, even as an anti-diet ‘diet’ advocate, I am taking on a health plan that was designed to help me feel better! And the Metabolic Balance® plan is my way of bridging the gap from my healthy lifestyle into something that allows me to feel healthier for the long-run.

You can read more about the basics of the Metabolic Balance Diet® here.

The Metabolic Balance® plan is much more than your basic weight loss diet. The whole core purpose is to help you restore homeostasis (or balance) in your body by allowing it to do some proper healing.

It teaches you the fundamentals, puts you through a protocol that helps to detox your organs, balance your hormones, and finally, puts you on a path that helps you:

• Manage your weight
• Keep your blood sugar levels stable
• Reduce sugar and carb cravings
• Increase your energy levels, naturally
• Feel lighter and less bloated

The Metabolic Balance® plan is a 4 phase approach that’s formulated by medical doctors, naturopaths and executed by nutrition experts. So instead of a DIY health plan, or something that you’ve been told will help you by a friend or colleague, this plan is scientifically backed, using your own bloodwork as a road map to help you:

• Keep the weight off, for good!
• Manage your stress effectively
• Possibly reduce or eliminate your medications
• Prepare simple and nutritious meals for you and your family
• Lower and manage blood pressure
• Reduce your risk for disease
• Balance your hormones
• Reduce inflammation

If you are struggling with your weight, have medical issues, numerous symptoms that you can’t control, or are having a really hard time sticking to a health plan that’s tailored to your needs, here are just some of our favourite science-based benefits of taking on the Metabolic Balance® plan.

THE METABOLIC BALANCE® PLAN IS BASED ON SCIENCE, HERE’S HOW IT WORKS

First and foremost, the Metabolic Balance® creed comes from ancient wisdom:

“Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food” – Hippocrates (460 -377 BC).

It is a science-based holistic weight management program that was co-founded in Germany by Dr. Wolf Funfack, Internist & Nutritionist, Birgit Funfack, Naturopath and Silvia Bürkle, Ecotrophologist.

To date the program has served more than one million participants with a proven high success rate, and has also won multiple prestigious awards.

Metabolic Balance® is based upon two fundamental premises:

1. Every person is able to produce the necessary hormones and enzymes essential for a well-balanced metabolism, when supplied with the required building blocks (vitamins, minerals, trace elements) through appropriate nutrition.
2. Every person with a well-balanced metabolism, is able to choose the food items which contain exactly these building blocks with the help of their inner signals (appetite or aversion).

In layman’s terms, this means that you are in control of what you eat, and when choosing the appropriate eating plan, you have the ability to balance your metabolism through nutrition that fits your own personal needs.

This is something we love about Metabolic Balance®.

Though it has a temporary restrictive phase, we don’t want to label it as a diet in the traditional sense. Rather, an individualized holistic approach that focuses on building and maintaining healthy habits and a balanced lifestyle.

While you may be restricted from consuming certain foods for a short period, the ultimate goal is to ease you into a healthy way of eating, that doesn’t restrict, but rather sets you up with a successful outlook on what health means to you.

Once your metabolism and hormones are balanced, your body can naturally reach its ideal weight without the yo-yo effect.

WHY INSULIN IS KEY

One of the main focuses of the program is on insulin, a hormone that “opens the doors” to our body’s cells, allowing blood sugar to enter and supply the body with energy.

Highly-processed foods, a diet high in sugar and stress can disrupt insulin levels and the Metabolic Balance® plan helps to stabilize the body’s insulin levels, which helps to keep you feeling full after a meal and balance your metabolism.

Another really amazing thing about this individualized plan is that Metabolic Balance® considers your blood lab values, health profile, diseases, medications, and overall lifestyle, including food likes/ dislikes and allergies, which creates a tailored nutrition plan that works for you, and you only.

You’ll eat foods based on your bloodwork, alongside 8 simple rules that promote healthy hormones and help to rebalance your body, all supported by a nutrition expert coach.

To read more about the basics of the program and the 4 phases, you can go here.

3 WAYS THE METABOLIC BALANCE® PLAN WORKS FOR YOU

1) EAT 3 MEALS A DAY WITH 5 HOURS IN BETWEEN 

Here’s the thing.

Although we’ve been told time after time that 5-6 mini meals throughout the day can help you lose weight and keep you feeling full, there is now ample research that supports fasting for re-setting your metabolism and losing weight.

While snacking, or grazing, may be okay for some of us (especially if you have issues where you can’t digest large meals), a lot of us would benefit from fasting to help us deal with our cravings and metabolic conditions.

How exactly does grazing make metabolic conditions worse?

 If you’re having 5-6 meals a day, or are snacking constantly in between meals, then insulin levels remain continuously elevated, which makes it much harder for you to burn fat.

This can also encourage your body to produce more fat instead of boosting muscle mass. In addition, when insulin is constantly elevated it throws off the synergy between hormones, potentially keeping the hormones that protect our bodies from inflammation and ageing from being produced.

There’s a reason why intermittent fasting has gained so much popularity over the past couple of years, it’s intuitive and it’s also backed by strong scientific studies to help with weight loss, cravings, energy and inflammation.

The Metabolic Balance® plan follows the research and has you consuming 3 meals a day, and if possible, extending your night-time fast to at least 12-14 hours.

2) START EACH MEAL WITH TWO BITES OF PROTEIN

We generally don’t think about what we should eat FIRST when we are eating a meal. For us anyways, we just want our bites to taste delicious, so we dive right in.

However, if we consider eating certain foods before others, it might actually slow down the release of insulin, post meal.

Some studies show that eating protein or vegetables before eating carbohydrates can actually improve your glycemic control after the meal is over.

In addition, protein signals the secretion of the hormone glucagon that opposes insulin. This helps to trigger satiety faster and leads to lower insulin levels post meal which promotes a better metabolism and prevents hunger and cravings.

That’s why the Metabolic Balance® plan has a two-bite protein rule. Essentially, take two bites of protein before you eat your meal to help bring balance to your insulin and glucose levels.

3) DRINKING ENOUGH WATER

Water is essential for all biological functions in our bodies and it also helps in keeping us regular as well as removing waste products which kick-starts metabolism.

The Metabolic Balance® plan recommends that you drink at least 35 ml of water per kg of body weight. You can find some simple tips for drinking more water here.

HOW SHOULD I EAT DURING THE 4 PHASE APPROACH?

This is one thing we talk about a lot. If you’re going to follow a plan, it needs to be realistic and it needs to take into account that you’ll eat out, go on vacation, host a party and that means enjoying yourself.

So, here are some tips for enjoying eating out during the plan:

• Start your meal with a little bite of protein.
• Drink water before and after your meal.
• For the remaining meals on that day, try to keep it light with focusing on more nutrient dense greens, healthy fats and protein.
• Generally, try to avoid rich and heavy sauces, fried foods (or if you’re having ask for half-fries half salad for example) and heavy desserts.
• Limit your alcohol consumption and always ensure to drink a glass of water for each serving of alcohol.

Ready to try the Metabolic Balance® plan?

Expert coaches are available in over 35 countries worldwide and you can find a certified coach in your area here.

A Note For health and wellness practitioners:

Health and wellness practitioners can also complete the Metabolic Balance® online program and get certified to add this program to their services. For more info on becoming a coach please go here.

And in the meantime, feel free to contact us and let us know if you have any other questions about the Metabolic Balance® plan, or if you are wondering if this program is right for you can reach us any time at hello@naughtynutrition.co.

Disclaimer: This post was developed in a paid partnership with Metabolic Balance®. All partnerships we promote align with our core nutrition values and teachings. And, all opinions in this post are genuine. You can find more about our NN Approved Healthy Brands here.

Medical Disclaimer: Metabolic Balance® is not a medically supervised program. The Metabolic Balance® plan and system is designed to help healthy individuals lose weight and achieve a healthier lifestyle. It is a recommended dietary program only and in no way represents a medical treatment or medical advice. The program does not constitute a medical product or service, and does not diagnose or treat any medical condition or disease. It does not accommodate for physical or medical conditions, food allergies or the taking of any medications. All medical conditions and your current health status should be discussed with your physician prior to beginning this, or any other, weight loss program.