8 Ways You Can Naturally Boost Your Metabolism
8 Ways You Can Naturally Boost Your Metabolism
Do you find it hard to lose weight? Or have you found that you gain weight easily? Do you perhaps find yourself unable to shake that tired, groggy feeling after a good night’s rest? Or maybe you get sleepy too easily. All these might indicate that you have a slow metabolism.
Metabolism refers to all the processes and reactions that occur in your body to keep it functioning. It can also mean the rate at which your body burns calories to provide energy. Your body needs calories to carry out all its basic functions like breathing, thinking, digesting food, and blood circulation. Speeding up your metabolism can provide you with more energy, as well as the ability to burn calories faster and lose weight.
The rate at which metabolism occurs in the body is dependent on various factors like gender, age, diet, body size, and genetics. While the genetic influence on your metabolism is out of your control, there are certain things you can do to boost your body’s metabolism. Some of them include:
- Eat More Protein
You might not be able to increase your metabolic rate by reducing calories, but you can do that by making better choices. It is tempting to load up your plate with carbs, but including more sources of protein like meat, fish, or eggs on your plate is more beneficial to your health and metabolism.
After eating, your body’s metabolic rate temporarily rises in a bid to digest and absorb the nutrients from your food. Proteins, compared to carbs and fat, cause a higher increase in your body’s metabolic rate after eating compared to carbs and fat. Consuming more protein can also help minimize weight loss’s impact on metabolism.
- Add More Muscle
Another way of speeding up your metabolism naturally is by building muscle. A great way to do that is by using heavy resistance, followed by eating a high-protein diet. Most of the energy your body burns is from your resting metabolism, that is, your body’s basic functions when you are at rest.
Building more muscle can help increase the rate of your body’s metabolism, even while at rest, like when you are sleeping or sitting. Research also suggests that when you have a higher muscle mass, your body uses energy more effectively.
- Get Enough Sleep
Constantly pulling all-nighters for work or binging Netflix’s latest series (we’ve all been there) can harm your metabolism. Sleep isn’t a luxury; it is as vital to your health as food and exercise. When you don’t get the recommended hours of sleep, your body reacts in different ways. One of those ways is that your body reduces its metabolic rate to conserve energy. This could lead to weight gain and sluggishness.
The lack of a good night’s sleep can also increase your cravings for energy-dense, high-carbohydrate foods that can negatively impact your metabolic rate.
- Drink Green Tea
Adding a cup of green tea to your daily diet can boost your metabolism. Studies reveal that people who drink green tea every day can burn up to an additional 100 calories per day. Green tea contains two compounds – caffeine and catechins – that can help speed up your metabolism. These compounds can cause your body to burn more energy, even at rest. Green tea extracts can cause about a 3% to 4% increase in your metabolic rate. They could even raise it as high as 8%.
- Spice up your food
Spices like chili or jalapeños contain a compound called Capsaicin. Including these spices in your meals can make your body release hormones that can boost your metabolism, increase the number of calories your body burns, and slow down your appetite.
The effect that spicing up your meals has on your metabolism is mild but could prove advantageous to you when you combine that with other metabolism-boosting strategies.
- Get Enough Calories
Skipping meals might seem like the right way to go about losing weight or boosting your metabolism, but it is actually counterintuitive. When you habitually eat food that isn’t filling or doesn’t consume enough calories, your body senses that food is scarce and slows its metabolic rate down to conserve energy.
Studies show that eating too few calories can reduce the number of calories your body burns by as much as 23%.
- Eat More Fiber
Adding more fiber to your plate is also an effective way of boosting your metabolism. The recommended daily allowance of fiber is 21g to 25g for women and 30g to 38g for men. Yet, most adults in the U.S. take only about 9g to 11g daily.
Fiber makes you feel full and helps cut down cravings. Your body cannot digest fiber, but it burns calories trying anyway. Research shows that increasing the amount of dietary fiber on your plate can improve carbohydrate metabolism.
- Drink More Water
Water is essential to the normal functioning of the body. It has a myriad of health benefits but did you know it could also help boost your metabolism?
Some research shows that water can increase the number of calories your body burns and can also boost your metabolism by up to 25%. Drinking water can help you curb unnecessary snacking that might not benefit your body, as well. It helps you feel fuller and reduces feelings of hunger.
Most strategies that can help boost your metabolism are also strategies to live a healthier lifestyle. You might not be able to control many factors about your body’s metabolic rate; however, you can naturally boost your metabolism by choosing to lead a healthier life.
Written for Tennessee Fitness Spa by Jacquelyn O.