The Relationship Between Food and Metabolism According to Sarah Bowmar

Here’s a question that everyone’s asked about at least once in their life–does the food I eat affect how my metabolism works? 

The short answer is yes.

But to understand it more clearly, we talked to leading fitness expert and CEO of Bowmar Nutrition and Apex Protein, Sarah Bowmar, who has written a very informative blog about metabolism recently. And according to her, the key is to first understand what metabolism is. “At its most basic definition, the google machine gives us this: Metabolism is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. During this complex process, calories in food and beverages are combined with oxygen to release the energy your body needs to function. So, we all have a metabolism, obviously. Is there such a thing as a “slow” metabolism? It’s EXTREMELY rare and not to blame for the rising obesity and overweight pandemic,” she explains.

Sarah is a certified nutrition specialist, personal trainer, and prenatal and postpartum trainer, who has helped countless individuals–some famous personalities included–achieve their dream bodies through the combination of proper, sustainable nutrition and exercise. She also hosts her own podcast with her husband and has appeared on various television shows and has served as a subject matter expert for popular publications like Pop Sugar, MSN, and Eat This Not That, among many others.

Explaining how your food intake influences your metabolism, she says, “What people need to understand is that nutrient processing burns calories. This means that you are literally burning calories when you consume food because the process requires energy from your body (digestion, metabolization, absorption, etc). Roughly 10% of the total calories you burn throughout the day comes from breaking down food. This is why it is recommended to not have 2 large meals a day. There isn’t a magical number of meals per day but the more spread out your meals are, the better your body can digest the food!”

She adds, “Do you know which of the three macronutrients–carbs, fats, and protein– requires the most energy to break down? It’s protein! Which is another reason it is so important to hit your protein macros for the day. It literally helps you burn more calories, in addition to helping you gain more muscles.”

Sarah adds that aside from food, one of the things that affect a person’s metabolism is their movement. She emphasizes that burning calories does not only happen inside the gym. It happens all the time and the key to making sure you burn calories is that you keep moving. 

“If you can increase your steps from 3,000 a day to 7,000, you have essentially doubled your NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) calories. Increasing your number of lifting sessions per week will increase EAT (exercise activity thermogenesis). But this does not mean spending hours in the gym, nor does it mean skipping rest days. It simply means staying as active as you possibly can, regularly.”

To read more about Sarah’s explanation of how metabolism works, you may visit her blog post here. You may also follow her on Instagram to stay updated about her latest projects and activities.