Secrets of Food That Will Increase Your Metabolism
by Alan Bryan
Simply defined, your metabolism is the amount of energy your body uses to burn off the food you have consumed. Metabolism never stops; it is constant no matter what you are doing. The process itself is quite complex, various chemical reactions take place as food is processed, however, the speed and efficiency of this process can be adjusted through your actual diet.
One of the biggest problems with all the fad diets today is they do not promote change to your metabolic rate. People who struggle to increase muscle while losing body fat are most likely slowing down their metabolic rate through not feeding it properly. Protein and carbohydrates are vital ingredients to increased metabolic activity.
One significant challenge with low carb and low protein diet plans is how to get your metabolic rate to increase to burn off the calories needed for weight loss. Since your metabolism thrives on these ingredients to operate, starving your metabolism of them will actually cause a reduction in overall metabolic rate. A real challenge then arises as your body will fight harder to keep fat stored in order to survive.
Foods rich in carbohydrates and protein actually increase metabolism by increasing the rate in which your body burns calories. However, it is important to understand the types of protein and carbohydrates that are best fit for consumption to increase your metabolism. While breads are a great source of carbs, avoid at all costs breads with processed flours and other refined ingredients. Those will be full of harmful sugars and other unnatural ingredients that wreck your metabolism.
Go for whole grain breads that are made with unprocessed ingredients, and also contain a good amount of fiber. Fiber helps along the processing of food and helps your metabolism become more efficient. For proteins, the best sources are not necessarily that ribeye steak or hamburger. Look to foods such as fish, nuts (especially almonds) and natural lean beef to get the protein your fat burning metabolism craves.
Additionally, there is another way to give yourself a great chance at a successful diet. Lean muscle development through light weight lifting will allow for another rise in your metabolic rate. It is well known that lean muscle works harder to burn more calories, meaning your metabolism will be running faster. Having lean muscle development work together with your simple diet changes will put you on the right track to sustained weight loss.
A popular method of diet is to stick with the three large meals per day approach, and just cut back on portions at those meals. This is actually counterintuitive to increasing your metabolic rate as only fueling three times per day, and at reduced calories, will cause the body to think food is at a shortage and fat storage increases.
Instead, eat as many as six times per day, only smaller portions each time. This reduces the number of calories introduced at any one time, and your body eventually is trained to understand it can burn off many of those calories immediately, as they will be replaced again very soon. Couple this with the increased muscle mass, which burns more calories, and your body will start to turn into a calorie burning machine.
One reason it always seems so easy to lose weight at the beginning of a diet is because your body is working overtime to process all the calories from being overweight. The reduction in calories alone will allow that metabolic rate to start causing a negative calorie balance, and weight will be lost very quickly. However, your body will adjust and eventually slow down the metabolic rate. This makes it more difficult to lose weight in the middle of the program. By building lean muscle, avoiding processed foods, eating healthy protein and carbohydrates in appropriate amounts, and exercising a little, your chances at weight loss and muscle gain are greatly increased.
For more practical tips on diet, weight loss, muscle building and even food that increases metabolism, come visit e-dietnews.com.