Are you looking for ways to Boost Your Metabolism? Burn Fat Faster?
What IS a metabolism anyway? According to Web MD, in an article by Colette Bouchez entitled Make the Most of Your Metabolism:
Your metabolism . . . involves a complex network of hormones and enzymes that not only convert food into fuel but also affect how efficiently you burn that fuel.
Metabolism is influenced by age (it slows as you get older), gender (men usually have a higher resting metabolic rate than women), and the amount of muscle mass you have.
There isn’t much you can do about your age and gender (generally speaking!). Of course you can increase the amount of muscle you have by doing regular resistance training. It also helps your bones, which have a much larger role in the health of your body than you probably learned in school (More about Bones in another article!). Did you know that each pound of muscle you have burns 35 calories a day, while fat only burns 2?
Aerobic exercise will also burn calories, and regular practice can help you lose weight faster than dieting alone.
Some people try skipping meals in order to lose weight faster, but that strategy can backfire. The longer you go without eating, the more your metabolism actually slows down. Then by the time you eat again, not only are you REALLY hungry and likely to eat more, but your metabolism has slowed down and will try to hold on to as many calories as possible.
A double whammy!
Eating small snacks between meals can help keep your metabolism revved up and if you include some high-quality protein it can help even more, as protein takes 25% more energy to digest.
Are there any other foods that boost your metabolism? Continues Bouchez:
(A) . . . small study, published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, reported that male athletes who added red pepper to high-carbohydrate meals boosted both their resting and active metabolic rates 30 minutes after the meal. But there was no evidence this burn power was lasting.
The same appears true for green tea, which contains a substance called EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), a powerful antioxidant that some believe can bring about the same kind of calorie-burning effect as hot pepper.
From her point of view, it does NOT appear that there are many viable options other than workouts and eating small but frequent meals…
But Joanna Dolgoff, M.D., reporting for the Huffington Post in an article entitled Foods That Can Rev Your Metabolism, has a different viewpoint!
She claims there is a process called dietary induced thermogenesis (Metabolism Boosting!), and there are foods that can create this state in different ways.
1. Low-Fat Dairy, including Milk, Yogurt, Cottage Cheese – studies have shown that people on reduced-calorie diets that have 3-4 servings of low-fat dairy lose more weight than people eating the same number of calories in a low-dairy diet. One reason this may occur is a hormone that causes fat-storage that gets released when you do not get enough calcium.
2. Berries – these low-fat, low-calorie fruits are high in fiber, which not only helps you to feel more full and satisfied, but that fiber moves fat through our digestive system more quickly. That gives your body less opportunity to hold onto it!
3. Citrus Fruits – the Vitamin C contained within citrus can help your fat stores metabolize faster, and may also help to reduce insulin levels.
4. Green tea – the combination of caffeine and ECGC is a mild stimulant that can help burn more calories while you are at rest.
5. Water – this miracle drink helps get rid of toxins that could be slowing down overall metabolism. There are studies that show that metabolic rate can be increased by drinking water. (It also helps keep down the bloat of water retention when you drink it steadily throughout the day).
6. Fatty fish, containing omega-3 fatty acids, which alter levels of leptin, a hormone that plays a key role in determining whether to burn calories or store them as fat.
7. Lean Proteins – as mentioned previously, it takes more energy to digest protein, which means a bigger calorie burn.
8. Spicy Peppers – the chemical compound capsacin can speed up metabolism for up to 3 hours.
9. Broccoli – the combination of calcium and vitamin C in this fiber-rich vegetable help boost metabolism as mentioned above. It also contains phytonutrients that can boost your immunity at the same time!
What do YOU think? How do you boost YOUR metabolism? Let us know by commenting below…
