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AMPK Activators: What They Are & Why They Matter

  • Writer: Marcie Vaske, MS, LN, CNS
    Marcie Vaske, MS, LN, CNS
  • 2 days ago
  • 7 min read

Hi and welcome back to our channel.


Today we're going to be talking about AMP activators, what they are and why they matter. And before we dig in, my name is Marcie Vaske. I'm a licensed nutritionist with Flusso Nutrients. At Flusso Nutrients, we work very hard to help you understand different types of supplementation, adaptogens, and different things that you can add in.


Now there's a world of supplements out there and there's new ones being made every day, but how to incorporate them, do you even need them? And so that's what we try to answer questions about today.


Like I said, I'm going to talk about AMPK activators. And just a reminder, this is just information. You want to always make sure that you talk to a supplement literate specialist who understands maybe the medications you're on or even other supplements to make sure that nothing is contraindicated.


So without further ado, let's dig into the topic of today.



[Video Transcript Below + Supplement Links Discussed In Video]


So what is AMPK?

AMPK stands for AMP Activated Protein Kinase. This is an enzyme that's actually found in every cell in our body, and it's really often called the metabolic master switch. So when it's activated, AMPK helps the body to burn fat for energy, helps to improve our insulin sensitivity, so our body is able to take this glucose and the insulin from our bloodstream and bring it into the cell. It helps to reduce inflammation in our body.


Also, AMPK helps to boost cellular cleanup. So the word autophagy, you've heard this when we talk about intermittent fasting. And lastly, it helps to enhance our mitochondrial function. So increases your energy in your body. You can kind of think about AMPK as your body's internal switch that turns on our fat burning that helps support our energy and that also has anti-aging pathways, which is super exciting.


How is AMPK Activated?


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And AMPK is actually naturally activated in low energy states. So things like fasting or even calorie restriction or doing exercise, but there's also certain foods and nutrients and even lifestyle habits that can turn that switch to AMPK on a few of those.

Intermittent Fasting

AMPK lifestyle changes or activators that need to be made that help turn this on for you would be number one. Intermittent fasting. And intermittent fasting is where you have a period of time that you don't eat and then you have a window of time where you do eat. So a very common one is 16 hours of no eating, eight hours of eating. But during that 16 hours of eating, you are increasing or activating your AMPK pathway. That's also kind of coincides with calorie restriction during that time. Fasting you're not eating. So that would be a calorie restriction. Now if fasting isn't for you, there's also calorie restriction in general. I'm not a big fan of that. I think it's more, it's better to have a better balance of food throughout the day. I think it supports people better, but that's why the intermittent fasting and the calorie restriction really just go hand in hand there.


Exercise


Then we have exercise that helps to activate our AMPK and the exercise of hiit. So high intensity interval training, this type of exercise are short bursts with a little bit of rest, and then you burst with exercise again and they last anywhere from, you've seen programs from eight minutes to 30 minutes, and it's really dependent upon obviously where you're starting with hit. But doing those fast bursts of exercise helped to kind of turn it on. And then you have that rest. And so this is where those AMPK activators can be helping you.


Two other things that are going to be turning this or activating it will be cold exposure. Now, this is newer in the last 10 years maybe, but you've heard a lot more talk about taking cold baths, right?


Cold Plunge


So cold plunges and this cold exposure can actually, because it's downregulating your body, it activates this AMPK to support you.


Saunas


Now also saunas. So heat exposure. So just doing the opposite also does it. And you hear of people doing the cold plunge and then they get in the sauna and some people even go back and forth doing this for a bit of a routine that they're in. It definitely can do so many positive things.


But today we're talking about these activators to help support fat burning, anti-aging, as well as just reducing inflammation even. So those are some lifestyle ways that we can help support this AMPK.


Nutritional AMPK Activators


Now we do have nutrients that can also support AMPK, and that will activate this, and one of 'em is going to be berberine. And I think if you've been on social media, you've definitely seen more and more about berberine. But berberine helps to balance our blood sugar levels. That's one of them. And now it increases or it activates this AMPK, so this fat burning piece of our cells also Resveratrol. This is another nutrient that can be helpful. Curcumin. This is a piece of turmeric, so obviously turmeric. When you hear of that, you think of anti-inflammatory properties of this and all the benefits it has. And so another benefit is going to be curcumin using to activate this fat burning piece of the AMPK. Then we have Quercetin. You're going to find in onions and apples and thing capers actually. And so cetin, again, a good activator.


Another one is EGCG, and this is basically green tea. Alpha Lipoic Acid will also be another activator. We've got cinnamon. So the best cinnamons to kind of balance blood sugar for yourself is going to be Ceylon and Cassia cinnamon. Then we have herbal teas that can be helpful. And also we have Olive Leaf and Extra Virgin Olive Oil that turn on this AMPK.


So it's fun to talk about some of these different nutrients that we're maybe naturally having in some of our foods or we're even able to supplement with. So you can use lifestyle, you can use nutrients to activate this AMPK.


Why Activating AMPK Matters


And so overall, AMPK can help to encourage your body to burn fat. It will help improve the insulin sensitivity, so it can help reduce type two diabetes. It also supports our cellular repair, and that autophagy that happens also supports our longevity and has anti-aging properties.

So AMPK is definitely something we want activated in our cells. And so by incorporating some good lifestyle habits, maybe you exercise, maybe you do the sauna, maybe every few days you do the cold plunge and you exercise or you just find a way or maybe one day you intermittent it fast. And then incorporating these things. It doesn't have to be one thing and that's it. I think it's using the information you have and working it into your life the best you can and a way that's going to be sustainable and maintainable for you. And so using these also nutrients to increase the AMPK kind of the way that it works for you is also going to be beneficial. You can do so now you get like two for ones pretty much. So overall, all of those are great things. All of those are relatively easy to add into our life.


Inhibitors of AMPK Activation


But we need to understand too that there's things that we do that can inhibit our AMPK. And so really one of them is going to be just overeating or constant snacking. So if you are a grazer, this is an issue. Not only if you have gut health isn't an issue, but if you're trying to activate that AMPK, it's not going to happen if you're eating basically all day long. Another one is eating high amounts of added sugars or refined carbohydrates. Definitely going to down-regulate things. A sedentary lifestyle if you're not moving and you don't have to just do hit, I mean, that's an example of really ramping up that AMPK. But even if you just get on and move, that's going to also increase your insulin sensitivity and you're going to get a benefit even if what you're doing is just walking.


And then lastly is another one that gets in the way. It will be chronic stress and poor sleep. And this is one that's across the board struggling with either both or one of them. Chronic stress is part of life, and if we just need to learn how to adapt to it, how to work through our stress, because it's always going to be there and getting adequate amounts of sleep is one great place to start.


Bottom Line: Making It Work for You


So really the bottom line here is activating your AMPK is going to be very doable. It is just adding in some of these things I chatted about and making some lifestyle changes, increasing healthy foods, getting movement in thinking about doing the sauna or the cold plunge. Just doing some of these things instead of just thinking about, oh, I wish I could just do this, which maybe is just sitting, which some people, if you're not able to get up and move, there's always the other things that we can do. And so it's like thinking outside the box for yourself.


So I hope this video helped you. If you have questions down below, please feel free to leave them. We're happy to answer. And also if you have stories to tell, we love that as well. And thinking about ways that you can increase your AMPK activators is just another way to help support you to have a healthy and long life.


Thanks for watching.



Check out the high-quality supplements we discussed in this video - links below for your convenience!

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