The idea of this article about metabolism came to me after several days without power due to Hurricane Wilma's quick and powerful rendezvous with South Florida.

It probably wasn't that smart of me to be standing on my screened porch as I watched trees fly by, but I'm alive. The lack of power or communication with the outside world (cell phones were out too) reminded me of some of my backpacking and camping trips of years past. It reminded me of times sitting around campfires with the guys and sometimes when I was lucky, girls.

A campfire is a perfect analogy for how our energy levels and metabolisms work. You have to be putting on the right amount of wood in the right increments to have a great campfire. If you don't put on enough wood or go too long without throwing some wood on the fire, it dies down. If you put on too much at the same time, the fire can be smothered.

Our metabolisms are the same. If we don't eat enough total quantity of food or we eat too infrequently, our metabolisms slow down and our energy levels will be low and unstable. If we eat too much, we feel sluggish and will likely store fat. Just think about the campfire when you are deciding what and when to eat. And just remember: To have a fast metabolism, you gotta put some logs on the fire!

This week be like a hot campfire and get some exercise in as well.