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Do You Know Your Metabolic Type?

(And Why You Should) - Part 2

In Part 1 of our series we introduced the concept of Metabolic Typing and why we believe it’s critical for weight loss, optimal body tone, and your all-round, long term health.

 Today let’s continue our journey by interpreting the results of your 21 Day Food Diary (if you haven’t downloaded and completed it yet, now’s the time!).  Which Metabolic Type are you?
There are three basic Metabolic Types:

• Protein Types, who burn (or oxidise) carbohydrates quicklyCarbohydrate Types, who oxidise carbohydrates slowly
• Mixed Types, who sit somewhere in the middle

Protein Types (fast oxidisers)  

Some characteristics of people who are a Protein Type are:

• strong appetites (live to eat)
• cravings for salty and fatty foods
• failure with low calorie diets
• fatigue
• anxiety
• nervousness

Protein types burn (or oxidise) carbohydrates quickly and must eat more protein and fat to slow this process down. Protein types also have a higher requirement for purines, which is a type of amino acid found in dark meats, such as red meat, chicken legs and anchovies. A typical ideal ratio of carbs, protein and fat for a Protein Type would be: 

35% carbohydrates

45% protein

20% fats and oils 

This diet resembles Dr. Barry Sears “Zone Diet”. If you get good response scores when your pie chart looks like the one below, you’re probably a Protein Type.  

Carbohydrate Types (slow oxidisers)  

Some characteristics of Carb Types are:

• weak appetite
• high tolerance for sweets
• type-A personalities
• variable energy
• caffeine dependency

Carb Types burn (or oxidise) carbohydrates slowly, but burn fats and proteins inefficiently, and therefore require a higher amount of carbohydrates to use as fuel. Remember that not all carbohydrates were created equal so it doesn’t mean you can eat all the pasta you want!

Check out our Food Pyramid for more on different types of carbs.

Carb Types often do well on meals consisting of around: 

70% carbohydrates

20% light meats or other source of complete protein if you’re vegetarian (not regular soy) 10% fat 

This diet resembles the ‘Ornish Diet’. If you get good response scores when your pie chart looks like the one below, you’re probably a Carbohydrate Type.   

Mixed Types  

As the name suggests, Mixed Types sit somewhere in the middle of the two graphs above. If you’re a mixed type, much more experimentation and attention to your response scores will be required to find your perfect fat, protein and carb meal composition.

Some characteristics of Mixed Types are:

• variable appetite
• cravings for sweets and carbs
• weight control problems
• fatigue
• anxiety
• nervousness
  

Here’s how the whole thing looks on a sliding scale, as you can see the Mixed Types occupy a large space in the middle and can vary from being more towards the Protein Type end of the scale to being more towards the Carb Type end. Where do you fit in? 

<----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Carb Type                                              Mixed Type                                             Protein Type

Is Metabolic Typing just another nutritional fad?

It would be easy to think so. As far back as the 1st century BC Lucretius said: "What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others", and it seems to us that Metabolic Typing is just a new name we’ve given to knowledge and wisdom that has been around for a long, long time.

Since the beginning of human evolution, and way before we had trucks, trains and planes to transport our food, different cultures have had to adapt to the surroundings they have lived in - including the available food within their immediate environment.  

As a result of these differences in environment, including the differences in available foods, variations in our nutritional requirements and how we use these nutrients have evolved.  In his ground breaking book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Dr. Weston A. Price documented the vast differences of diet among 16 indigenous cultures. 

One striking example he discovered was between the Inuit (Eskimos) who eat lots of fat and protein, while the Quetchus Indians of South America ate mainly plant based foods and only a small amount of meat.

Both indigenous cultures were equally healthy and had excellent physiques on vastly different diets. Would you get the same excellent physiques and all-round health if the Quetchus were eating the Inuit diet and the Inuit eating the Quetchus diet? Maybe not, and this is the essence of Metabolic Typing.

You can see that popping down to your local book store and buying the latest one-size-fits all diet is a bad, bad decision. Most diet books out there have been written by people who have no appreciation of Metabolic Typing, leading (amongst a litany of other dietary crimes which we won ’t cover here), to many people eating to the exact opposite of their Metabolic Type. Not clever. 

You can also see that with the abundance of foods available at the store, our food environment has radically altered compared to that which our Metabolic Type was designed for. What would the Quetchus and the Inuit of Dr Price’s book make of a trip to your local supermarket? Would most of the foods stocked be right for their Metabolic Types?

Finding your Metabolic Type

In Part 1 of our Metabolic Typing series we recommended using our Food Diary to help you find out your Metabolic Type.

All you need to do is sign up for our FREE Elimination Diet. With it you’ll receive our Food Diary – fill it in carefully, taking the time to listen to your body after every meal. Pay particular attention to completing the pie charts.  Working out how much of a meal of food was fat, protein or carb can feel a little tricky at first, but it’s well worth the effort. 

After 21 days you’ll begin to see a clear pattern of responses to high or low carbohydrate meals and foods, and you’ll be able to take the first step on your own personal path to your perfect biochemical balance.

 Here are a few other resources that can help you work out your Metabolic Type:

1. On mercola.com is a very basic test available for free (10 questions). Mercola.com is the largest online health newsletter and amazing resource for holistic health

2. Paul Chek’s excellent book ‘How to Eat, Move and be Healthy’ also uses a basic Metabolic Typing test (14 questions)

3. The Metabolic Typing Diet by William Wolcott has a 65 question test4. Find a professional Metabolic Typing Advisor (for further information go to www.metabolictyping.com) who uses a comprehensive online questionnaire that examines physical and psychological traits and reactions to food

Our own extensive experience with our clients suggests that most people start out scoring themselves as a Mixed Type. Often we see this as a result of a low level of self-awareness, influenced by a lifetime of being told what is (or isn’t) good for you. As meal response awareness and self-awareness grows however, we see people scoring themselves more towards either end of the scale above.

It just goes to show that fine tuning over time, focus, and patience are required to find your Metabolic Type.  The results show that getting there can unlock a lifetime of great health, a body you won’t be ashamed of when you look in the mirror, and some positive changes in energy levels.

Next month we continue with our Metabolic Typing series by taking a look at an interview we did a while ago with a Metabolic Typing Advisor called Sally Taylor. Sally will outline more of the practical implications involved in Metabolic Typing and address many of the commonly held beliefs.

Yours in health, 

Craig Burton and Matt Brereton-Patel