How to speed up your metabolism
Raise your hand if you don’t have a friend with an enviable silhouette, who devours everything and more at the table, and who, when you ask her what her secret is, answers: “I have a fast metabolism!”
On the opposite end of the spectrum, many of us struggle to slim down our waists despite personalized diet regimens and intensive gym sessions. The likely culprit? Still the metabolism, in this case slow or asleep. We know that metabolism plays a key role in the relationship between the food we eat, our energy and our body weight. We hear a lot about it, but to understand how to speed up your metabolism, we must first understand what it is.
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What is Metabolism?
“Metabolism is simply the process by which our body converts the calories from the food we eat into energy,” Karen Cummings Palmer, nutritionist and integrative health coach. “Metabolism is determined and influenced by gender, age, hormonal balance, muscle mass and especially physical activity. The ambient temperature also influences the metabolic rate: extreme heat or cold, for example”.
Fast or slow metabolism? What is the difference?
“And fast metabolism burns calories quickly even at rest. A slow metabolism it means fewer calories are needed, and therefore fewer calories are consumed to keep the body going.”
How to wake up a sluggish metabolism?
“How and when we eat matters: eating too much obviously leads to weight gain, too little and the metabolism slows down. Balance is key: I recommend three meals a day. One or two protein or low sugar fruit-based snacks may be useful, but nibbling all day is not,” says the nutritionist. Dramatically reducing calories in our diet can therefore have a boomerang effect on metabolism. Under, 8 natural ways to give it a boost without going hungry.
8 TIPS TO ACCELERATE METABOLISM
1. DRINK MORE WATER
Drinking lots of water (at least 2 liters a day) is essential, especially in the morning on an empty stomach and between meals. “Staying well hydrated is key. Not only will it help you feel fuller (we often confuse hunger with dehydration) but a lack of water can cause your metabolism to drop as your body needs water to process calories,” she says. Cummings-Palmer.
2. TRAIN!
“Physical activity is essential for speeding up your metabolism: Just ten reasonably strenuous minutes (enough to get your heart rate up) three times a day will change your health. Also incorporate weight training into your routine to build muscle mass, which will help you burn more calories even when you’re relaxing,” says Cummings Palmer. Pair cardio with resistance training and also Pilates, where resistance is provided by body weight.
3. EAT PROTEIN
“Eating protein helps increase your metabolism, not only because it supports your muscles, but the very act of eating it requires your body to work harder (and therefore use more calories) to digest and assimilate it,” explains Cummings-Palmer.
4. REPLACE THE COFFEE WITH GREEN TEA
Can’t do without your morning caffeine fix? Green tea contains less caffeine than coffee (and therefore maybe we have to drink more), but it brings a plethora of benefits for our body: it is rich in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant substances including epigallocatechin gallate, a polyphenol that helps to speed up the metabolism.
5. INCLUDE MORE “LIVE” FOODS INTO YOUR DIET
Eliminating processed, refined, preserved and pre-cooked foods from our diet as much as possible, and inserting fresh and “live” foods such as seasonal fruit and vegetables, but also whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, brings not only benefits to our health in term of micronutrients, but it will help us burn more calories. In fact, refined foods are digested quickly and require few calories for digestion, while foods rich in fiber involve a greater caloric expenditure.
6. WORK STANDING
Ever heard of standing desks, desks for working standing up? Working standing up is trendy, and not just for reasons of overall health: sitting for long periods of time burns a minimum amount of calories, while breaking up work sessions with a stroll around the office and a little stretching, or using a “suspended” desk, we give a shake to our metabolism.
7. CHOOSE SPICY FOODS
Consuming more spicy foods could have a boosting effect, albeit moderate, on our metabolism. In fact, chilli peppers contain capsaicin, the substance responsible for the burning sensation we feel in the mouth when we taste it: which, in addition to having anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties, performs a thermogenic function, which can stimulate the metabolism.
8. TREAT YOUR SLEEP
Even if sleep doesn’t directly affect metabolism, a sleepless or disturbed night creates a hormonal imbalance that increases appetite stimulus throughout the day, making us perpetually ravenous. To compensate, we find ourselves indulging in “energetic” snacks that weigh on the calorie balance.