ONE DIET doesn’t FIT ALL
EVERYTHING SEEMS to be becoming more bespoke these days. There are customised beauty products that change to suit your skin tone, or personalised running shoes to improve performance – so it’s no wonder the world of nutrition is becoming individualised. After all, no two bodies are the same!
Metabolic Typing is an approach to eating that is not influenced by dietary trends or weight loss ‘wonder products’ because it’s dictated by your body and brain. It accepts that a diet which works for one person, could have opposing biochemical effects on someone else. This is because we all digest and metabolise food differently.
This holistic approach to health and nutrition was given widescale prominence in the late 70s and early 80s by William L. Wolcott, who wrote The Metabolic Typing Diet (Doubleday) having discovered the interrelationship between the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the oxidative system. With regard to the latter, in Metabolic Typing, you are categorised as ‘fast’, ‘mixed’ or ‘slow’ in food oxidisation terms, meaning how quickly your body is able to convert the food you eat into energy for the rest of your brain and body
Your ANS, which regulates metabolism and controls involuntary bodily activity, including heartbeat, digestion, cell turnover and the immune system, is divided into two parts: the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems (PNS). The first system speeds up aforementioned functions and is often called the ‘fight or flight’ branch. The PNS controls functions that pertain to energy conservation and is often called the ‘rest and digest’ branch.
In Metabolic Typing, you’re classified as being parasympathetic or sympathetic dominant, or balanced between the two. In most people, one branch tends to be stronger than
