As you age, your body’s overall working slows down. So naturally, it also affects the working of your metabolism. Apart from aging several other factors such as wrong eating habits, lethargic life style and heredity can cause slow down in metabolism. It is very difficult to get back the active metabolism that you had during your twenties and teens.
When your metabolism is working at the top speed, you can eat whatever you want at the breakfast, lunch or dinner and still can maintain normal weight. But as you grow older, if you do not watch what you eat, you will start noticing a major difference in your body shape which will start bulging especially in certain areas such as upper arm, waist, abdomen and hips.
So how do you speed up your metabolism?
Here are some tips that will help you to improve your rate of metabolism and loss weight in the process. The tips will not only rev up the calorie furnace within you but will also help you to feel energized and leaner.
1. Never Skip Breakfast
The furnace of metabolism constantly needs something to burn at regular intervals. When you wake up after 7 to 8 hours sleep, your body is craving for food so that it can release the energy required to carry on with your daily tasks. And if you eat a meal heartier enough to satisfy your taste buds as well as body requirement, you will feel energetic and happy all the day through and will also eat less food all over the day.
In case you do not eat the breakfast, your body goes into a mode of starvation slowing down your metabolism so that it can conserve energy. According to a study carried out on volunteers, people who ate regular breakfast and gained 22 to 55% of the overall calories through it gained only 1.7 pounds of weight in four years approximately. On the other hand, those who skipped morning meal or got only 11% of their calories, through breakfast gained around three pounds.
It means having breakfast in the morning is quite crucial for keeping your metabolism burning. So what should you eat at breakfast? Your choice should be any food that lets you feel fuller for long and takes long time to digest such as a combination of healthy fats, complex carbohydrates and lean protein mix.
A power-packed breakfast that includes an omelet made from one egg and 2 egg whites, onions and mixed peepers, half cup of steel-cut oats with frozen berries and one teaspoon of fish oil loaded with omega-3 is just an ideal way to start your day and give a boost to your metabolism.
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2. Drink Ice-cold Water
Drinking hot water with lemon and honey is quite a well-known therapy to treat slowed metabolism. However, the latest and the most workable theory says that drinking one glass of chilled water increases your metabolic rate. The researchers at the Utah University found out that volunteers drinking around 8 to 12 ounces of ice-cold water had much higher metabolic rate than those who drank four glasses of plain water.
According to Madelyn Fernstrom, the director and founder of the University of Pittsburg Medical Center Weight Management Center, the body burns a bit more calories when it has to heat up the cold water to bring it to core body temperature making you lose weight and speed up metabolism. Although, you will not notice a substantial drop in weight merely by following this method, when combined with the other tips, you are sure to get good results.
3. Eat 4 to 6 times a day
Traditionally, eating a big lunch and lavish dinner was considered good enough to provide adequate nutrition to your body. But the modern science says, that eating small meals all through the day benefit the body much more. According to a health nutritionist, Kelly, breaks are good for health and giving a window of 4 to 6 hours in between the meals is sure to increase the human growth hormone level in the body.
These increased level of testosterone and other growth hormones maintain the lean muscles mass and help you drop pounds. However, while breaking your meal in smaller portions make sure that you do not starve your body. Each portion should be enough to satiate your hunger for couple of hours. In case you feel hungrier during the breaks, you should add healthy fats such as walnuts or almonds to your meal that also add extra fiber thereby providing the right amount of fuel to your body for keeping the furnace of metabolism burning at regular speed.
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4. Workout Hard
Exercise is necessary to keep the metabolic rate high, to keep the weight, blood sugar level and blood pressure under control. Generally, a brisk walking session of 30 to 45 minutes is enough for you to fulfill the exercise requirement of the body. However, if you want to improve your stamina and keep yourself in top gear, health experts advise alternating between using light weights one day and high intensity interval training the other day.
The benefits of this form of exercises include rapid fat burning and muscle building. Both are extremely helpful in keeping you fit and healthy. So apart from keeping you active all through the day sweating it out in the gym will really help you to pep up the speed of your metabolism.
5. Sip Green Tea During Breaks
The author of the ‘Fire Up Your Metabolism: 9 Proven Principles for Burning Fat and Losing Weight Forever, Tammy Lakatos Shames, R.D., says that green tea works like a magical potion to boost your metabolism. It is rich in ECGC, a compound known for promoting fat burning. Experts recommend consuming 2 to 4 cups of green tea per day to burn 50 extra calories.
The ideal way to drink green tea is to steep it for three minutes and drink it hot.
6. Include Protein-rich food for Lunch
Protein helps to build and also maintain lean muscle mass. Moreover, it also keeps you satiated for long. Hence, to cut down calories in every meal, adding protein rich food to it is a good idea. Since protein-rich foods take some time to digest you, should include such foods for lunch so that you feel full all through the day and get the right amount of nutrition and calories that your body needs without adding pounds. Every adult should aim to include around 30 gm proteins in his diet, which is almost equivalent to four-ounce boneless chicken breast or one-cup low fat cottage cheese at each meal.
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7. Repair the Damage with Dairy
At times, despite of all the resolutions and commitment to stay away from junk foods you cannot put down that bowl of French fries or potato chips. It happens! But you can easily overcome the damage by opting for a calcium-rich food in your afternoon snack such as a cup of low-fat yoghurt.
Calcium metabolizes the body fat efficiently due to which fat do not get absorbed and is eliminated as waste according to University of Copenhagen study report. Remember, supplements can never give the same effect as these natural damage-repairing foods.
8. Add Spices
Latest research suggests that spices can boost metabolic rate when added to your daily diet. Hot spices including ginger, cayenne pepper and cinnamon stimulate the body’s circulation and also detoxify the cells. Some other spices that enhance the rate of metabolism include nutmeg, turmeric, allspice and more.
9. Make it Real Hot
The compound capsaicin gives the mouth-searing quality to the chili. What is heartening is that it can equally fire up the metabolic rate. Eating green or red chilies (albeit in moderation) increases heat production of your body and activates the sympathetic nervous system. The study report in the Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology says that use of capsaicin compound in diet spikes up the metabolic rate by 23%. You can use it in salsas, as pizza toppings or in pastas and stir-fries.
10. Increase your Iron Intake
Iron is extremely important to keep you energetic. Women usually suffer from iron deficiency especially if they are suffering from heavy menstrual bleeding. There can be other reasons in a person causing iron deficiency such as low intake of foods rich in iron or even long term illness.
Low iron levels in the body can disrupt the metabolic machine as iron plays a major role in carrying oxygen to the muscles. In the absence of oxygen in adequate amount, your energy level takes a dip and you would feel tired and lethargic all the time. To cover up the iron deficiency along with the iron supplements recommended by your health caregiver you should also include foods rich in iron such as bok choy, broccoli, spinach, beans and iron-fortified cereals.
Thus, you can improve your metabolism by following all these tips above. The key to good health and maintaining normal weight is to eat in portions, choose quality food options and keep you active all through the day. Rest is achievable by trying out the above tips.
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