What Nutritional Type Are You?

While doing a Perfect Cleanse and boosting the amount of fiber in your diet are important first steps in reaching your perfect weight, you need to understand that the nutrients in our food proteins, fats, and carbohydrates are like putting fuel in your car´s gas tank. When you eat the right foods, you should notice an improvement in your energy level, an uptick in your mental agility, a stabilization of your emotional well-being, and an overall feeling of well satisfaction. But if you finish a meal and notice your energy level dropping, or you feel grumpy then you have eaten an improper combination of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.

Since we´re born with different metabolisms, it stands to reason that certain foods can affect you in different ways, which, in turn, can positively or negatively influence your digestion, your mood, and, ultimately, your perfect weight. The idea of eating for your unique metabolism is a concept called "metabolic typing," which was introduced by William Keliey, DDS, in the 1960s

Various health researchers believe that people fall into three general metabolic types:

1. Protein types burn, or oxidize, carbohydrates quickly and must eat protein and fat to slow down this process. Protein types tend to be frequently hungry and often feel edgy and anxious.
2. Carb types have generally weak appetites, love sweets, have problems keeping weight off, and are often hooked on caffeine.
3. Mixed types generally have average appetites, no huge cravings for sweet and starchy foods, keep their weight under control, but tend to feel fatigued, anxious, and nervous about life.

Jordan Rubin in Perfect Weight America presents a simple test, although it´s not foolproof, to determine what metabolic type you are, or what he prefers to call "nutritional type". See page 57 of Perfect Weight America for more background information on protein and carbohydrates and how these nutrients impact your body.