The Science Behind Metabolic Balance®: Exploring the Research and Evidence

In a previous article I wrote about why as an anti-dieting clinical naturopath I love Metabolic Balance®. In this article I am going to get into the science behind why it works.

Have you heard the saying “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food” – Hippocrates (460 -377 BC)? Well this is something that in the natural health world we continue to wholeheartedly believe in. It acknowledges the importance of healthy eating, and embraces the knowledge that the nutrients in wholefoods have healing properties designed to keep us healthy. This wisdom from Hippocrates is the foundation that Metabolic Balance® is built upon. 

Metabolic Balance® was developed by Dr Wolf Funfack, a medical doctor and nutritionist, Birgit Funfack, a naturopath and Silvia Burkle, an Ecotrophologist (for those of you who don’t know what that is, it's someone who specialises in nutritional application, household management and economics, a career mostly found in Germany). Since its conception, Metabolic Balance® has won multiple prestigious awards and helped over one million people with a proven high success rate. 

Metabolic Balance® is based on the assumption that every person has the ability to produce the hormones and enzymes needed in order to have a well balanced metabolism so long as they are provided with the necessary building blocks (vitamins, minerals and trace elements) with well balanced and targeted nutrition. Based on this assumption, 20 years of research and an in-depth and modern understanding of nutritional biochemistry, Metabolic Balance® creates a personalised nutrition plan that helps to optimise and balance hormones and restore both metabolism and biochemistry. Once someone has restored their metabolism they are able to choose foods that serve their nutritional needs and use their internal signals like appetite and aversion to choose foods their body actually needs. They are also able to enjoy food in a way that isn’t inflammatory to the body. 

From my personal experience, Metabolic Balance® shows people how good their bodies are designed to feel and how when in balance, the body really does know what foods it needs in order to thrive. 

There are four phases in Metabolic Balance® (I go into the different phases here). Through a temporary restrictive phase the focus is on setting up the foundations for longevity. By this I mean, being able to maintain healthy habits, gain a better understanding of your current relationship with food and be able to live a more balanced lifestyle. The goal here is not for you to live the rest of your life restricted from consuming certain foods but rather, set you up with a better understanding of how food makes you feel and set you up for a more balanced approach with your relationship to the food you eat. 

It's designed to help you establish what health looks and feels like for you and in doing so, your metabolism and hormones will be balanced and your body will be able to reach and stay at your ideal weight without the yo-yo effect you might be used to from other things you’ve tried. 

Metabolic Balance® also plays a pivotal role in helping to stabalising blood sugar levels and avoid the common spikes that really, aren’t great for any of us. It’s not just diabetics that should be conscious of this, flattening these spikes is what helps us to transform our health and is one of the key things Metabolic Balance® helps us to do. I recommend you check THIS article for further insight into the role of glucose, insulin and the importance of taming those spikes. 

Why the rules?

There are 8 rules in Metabolic Balance. Let’s have a look at the science behind a few of these.

Allow 5 hours in between each meal

The 5 hours in between each meal allows your body time to fast, resetting your metabolism and supporting weight loss. It allows your digestive system time to do its thing and process what it needs to without the overload. Allowing 5 hrs in between meals also helps to keep insulin levels in check and because you are not snacking you’re able to avoid hitting those elevated insulin levels that tend to make it harder for us to burn fat. Keeping insulin levels balanced is what helps us to avoid hormonal dysfunction and any associated inflammation. So allowing the 5 hrs in between each meal as well as an extended fast overnight is pivotal in helping people to lose weight, improve food cravings and energy levels and avoid those blood glucose spikes which are so damaging to our health. 

Start each meal with two bites of protein

Speaking of blood glucose spikes, this brings me to another rule of Metabolic Balance®. Start each meal with two bites of protein. Why is this important? Research tells us that eating protein and fibre before we touch anything else on our plate helps to improve our glycemic control and slow down the release of insulin and glucose. Protein sends a message to the hormone glucagon (who has the role of controlling glucose levels in the blood and is in opposition to insulin) allowing us to feel satisfied faster and helping to lower our insulin levels post meal. This helps us to have better metabolism and avoid the feeling of hunger and food cravings after we are done. Personally, I ask my clients to start with two bites of protein and then have a bite or two of fibre to really set themselves up for a great metabolism. 

Drink water. 

This one is simple and something that we all should be doing. Water is essential for good health and required for all biological functions in our body. It helps to eliminate waste and toxins from our body, regulate our body temperature, lubricate our joints and protect our spinal cord. It helps with brain function, prevents constipation and aids digestion. It also helps with nutrient absorption. So you can see, this is why when you’re on Metabolic Balance® meeting your water target is one of THE main rules you must follow for life. 

Don’t eat after 8pm 

Well some say 9pm but if you’re a client of mine, you will be asked to eat no later than 8pm. Preferably done and dusted by 7.30pm. Why? When you eat late at night, you move away from your body’s natural circadian rhythm and what we are naturally designed to do with food, use it for energy. You confuse your body and mess up those insulin levels I keep talking about. Our bodies are designed to eat for energy and when we eat late at night, we promote insulin resistance. The result of this is rather than using the food for energy as it's designed to do, it is stored as fat. This makes losing weight very hard if not impossible and further complicates our hormones. 

Eat an apple a day

Apples  have more than thirty minerals, trace elements and vitamins. They also contain numerous fibres and secondary plant substances (polyphenols and flavonoids).  When polyphenols from the apple reach the colon they get to work, helping to calm down inflammation, enhance the growth of beneficial bacteria and reduce that pathogenic bacteria we really don’t want. The flavonoids in apples help our gut health by also calming down inflammation and working to protect our intestinal tissue. Apples not only supply the body with important substances but they also bind released toxins and help to lower uric acid. All of this and more is why they are the absolute little powerhouses in the fruit world. 

Metabolic Balance® is not a quick fix

There certainly isn’t anything fancy about the plan. In fact, often when I present plans back to clients they seem a little surprised at how basic it is. Some even have that look of disappointment because they were secretly hoping for a miracle cure. Something easy. That is until it starts to work for them. This is my favourite time with a client, when the light in their eyes returns and they’re feeling amazing. 

Often what we see as simple and basic has an undercurrent of brilliance to it and this is the case with Metabolic Balance®. It isn’t about eating some exotic fruit you have to spend $100 on because it’s being marketed as the new weight loss or health wonder. Metabolic Balance® uses real food. It looks at what's going on in your body and the kind of foods that need to get in there and subtly get to work, making a big difference with how you look and feel. With Metabolic Balance®  the plan you get provides you with a very detailed overview of what to expect and what to do. Alongside the naturopathic support you get from me really is a winning combination.

If you would like to learn more about Metabolic Balance® I recommend checking out this article on why stabalising blood sugar levels is not just an issue for diabetics and how Metabolic Balance® can help.

And if you would like to book a discovery call to find out if Metabolic Balance is right for you, you can do so HERE.