Here's how you hijack your metabolism this Chinese New Year

If you’ve started stocking up on pineapple tarts, cornflake raisin cookies, kueh bangkits, and peanut cookies for Chinese New Year, you’re probably in the same situation as us – counting calories and wondering, “How many cookies can I eat per day?”

Although this Chinese New Year 2021 will definitely be a quieter one with fewer visitors and visiting trips, no one said there will be lesser food. In fact, with lesser guests coming round to your place, you can now invest in better quality and artisanal cookies (have you seen the ones from Bloomsbury Bakery?) for your own indulgence.

Okay, but back to calorie-counting. How many cookies can you eat a day? And, if we definitely have to eat lots of food over reunion dinner and lunches, how can we keep our metabolism high and running in overdrive so we don’t put on too much weight?

We turned to a book titled The Metabolism Reset Diet penned by a naturopathic medical doctor, Dr. Alan Christianson. In his 300-page book, Dr. Christianson debunked myths and common questions related to metabolism, diet, and how you can hijack and reset it.

What Is metabolism?

Metabolism is basically the way your body coverts food into energy. And if your metabolism is functioning well, your body is able to store and retrieve fuel easily to convert them into energy.

If your metabolism isn’t working as well, then your body will end up storing more fuel – which leads to health ailments such as digestive issues, lethargy, diabetes, and more, says Dr. Alan Christianson in his book, “The Metabolism Reset Diet”.

It's all in your liver

Your liver health is key. According to Dr Christianson, people with an unhealthy liver tend to store more fat around their midsection (aka your belly and hips). And no matter which diet you try, you will not be able to shed weight if your liver is unhealthy.

In a nutshell, “a healthy liver can either store fuel or burn it. An unhealthy liver can only store [fuel].” So, if your liver is unhealthy, you can continually embark on trendy diets (ketogenic, intermittent, potato, no carbs, anyone?) but you will not shed any weight.

Is my liver clogged?

But… how do I know if my liver is clogged or I am at risk of liver disease? You can get a clue from your lifestyle habits: you drink alcohol daily, you have high blood pressure, sleep apnea, thyroid or gallbladder disease you take lots of supplements and long-term medication, you are exposed to environmental toxins, and you have weight gain around your mid-section.

You can undo the damage

Good news is this: you can reset your liver health in just a few weeks of good and disciplined diet, says Dr. Christianson. Now, it’s all in the foods you eat. You want good foods packed with nutrients that the liver needs in the fats removal process – and not more fats that will continue to clog it.

Stop eating bread

Remove sugars, butter, and bread totally from your diet. Dr. Christianson himself completely removed these three ingredients from his diet for a decade, instead replacing them with protein powder shakes.

In fact, just pop in to any nutritionist or dietitian and you will find that most of them will tell you the same thing – stop eating processed breads (basically everything you find at our usual Singaporean supermarkets and neighbourhood bakeries), biscuits, and crackers because they are pretty much empty calories with no nutrients – and high on the glycemic index (means higher chance to cause diabetes, heart disease, cancers, and obesity).

Phytonutrients

Add this word to your vocabulary and Google it: phytonutrients. You want to have a phytonutrient-rich diet ’cause they are crucial to the fat-removal process. To be specific, phytonutrients latch on to, and eliminates shattered pieces of fats out after your liver has broken down the fats.

So, which foods are rich in phytonutrients? Here’s an easy way to remember – the red, orange, yellow, and dark green vegetables and fruits.

And these nutrients, too

Also remember these words: protein, fibre, and micronutrients. All these nutrients help with the unclogging of an unhealthy liver. Protein-rich foods include lean meats, seafood, and dairy. Fibre-rich foods include wholegrain, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and beans. Micronutrient-rich foods include citrus fruits, tomatoes, peppers, seed oils etc.

If you’re already Googling these words to make a list of fresh ingredients to buy, you’re on the right track. In Dr. Christianson’s book, he dedicated entire chapters to easy-to-make meals and recipes – including stuff that you actually don’t mind eating such as slow-cook chicken, sesame beef and broccoli, grilled salmon bowl, seared cod, smoothies, and sweets.

Sleep

Food isn’t all. You need other lifestyle factors to help you out too, such as stress level management, and high quality sleep. Here, we’re not just talking about how much you slept last night but your total sleep debt that you may have accumulated over the years – most of us do.

So, how to pay off this major sleep debt? According to Dr. Christianson, you take what he dubs a “sleep vacation”. Check into a hotel (cue those Singapore Rediscover vouchers), and sleep your way through.

Exercise

Finally, you need to work out. Don’t go crazy on a hard workout though. According to Dr. Christianson, a really strenuous workout session may put more stress on your liver functions and processes.

Instead, you may want to opt for (achievable) 10 to 20 minute-long daily light workouts such as walking, jogging, running, and cycling. Remember, working out is not an all-or-nothing affair. You can increase the workout intensity bit by bit each day – and make it a family activity!

This article was first published in The Singapore Women's Weekly.