What is Metabolism?

The process of converting food into energy is known as metabolism.

In medical terms, we look first at the biological mechanisms which take place in metabolism of food.

FOOD into FUEL = METABOLISM. The process as mentioned above in terms of Western medicine, is a biological process. The essential functions of the body require energy and we get some of this energy from the metabolism of food.

Even you ability to read the words on this page are literally controlled by metabolism. Without the metabolic proces that converts food into energy, you would not be able to move.

The fact is, if you had not been able to metabolize food, those essentail physiological processes which take place in the body, such as exchanging, oxygen for CO2, excretion of waste through the kidneys and the circulation would have ceased without the energy harvested through basal metabolism.

Metabolism refers to all the chemical processes in the body can be referred to as a function of metabolism, even though it being a single term, we can think it means a single process.  During every moment of your life - even, of course, when you sleep - numerous chemical conversions are taking place through metabolism.

In a certain light, the metabolism has been referred to as a harmonizing process that manages to achieve two critical bodily functions that, in a sense, seem to be at odds with each other. Anabolism and Catabolism.

The first function is creating tissue and cells. Literally it refers to the building up of proteins. Dead cells are replaced each day. Even those of the liver and brain are regenerated over time. That's right! Every 6 months you have a new liver and every year you have a new brain.

As soon as you are injured, e.g. cut finger - without even wasting a moment or asking your permission -the process clotting and new skin cell creation healing process begins immediately. This is indeed a metabolic response, and is called anabolism.

The metabolic process of breaking down food for energy can be called catabolism, e.g. when we need more calories for increased exercise.

The metabolism is a constant process that takes care of two seemingly opposite functions: anabolism that uses energy to create cells, and catabolism that breaks down cells to create energy.

So metabolism acts as a way of bringing the body into harmony - breaking down and building up cells when we need them.