Boost Metabolism with Super Foods

So what exactly is metabolism?  In simplest terms it’s how your body converts food into energy.  Your body’s metabolism is actually at work throughout the day and night while you are exercising, while you are eating, even while you are sleeping.  Weight, however, is not just dependent on your metabolism. It also depends on how many calories you eat versus the number of calories you burn.  If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight.  But if you burn more calories than you eat, you lose weight. 

     There are several factors that affect our metabolism.  The first factor is how much lean muscle mass you have in your body.  The more lean muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolism will be because lean muscle mass burns energy all the time—even when you’re not exercising.  Unfortunately, age is another factor.  As we age, our metabolism naturally slows down.  Studies have proven that your metabolism declines every decade after the age of 20 due to the fact that your body loses lean muscle over the years and that muscle turns to fat. Since lean muscle is more metabolically active than fat tissue, your metabolism slows down.

     Another factor that determines metabolism is our gender.  Unfair as it is, men just naturally have higher levels of lean muscle mass.  So they have higher metabolism rates than women because they’re larger and have less body fat.  Also, men are generally taller than women and need more calories to keep energized.  Genetics also play a part in our metabolism.  Some families just naturally have high meta-bolism while others have low metabolism.

So, with everything seemingly against you, can you speed up your metabolism to burn more calories?  Sure you can.   Understandably, exercise is important—but just as important is nutrition.  Eating the right foods is the key but it’s not only what you eat, but how you eat that can help to boost your metabolism even higher.  First, never skip breakfast.  Experts have said those who eat breakfast within two hours of waking up have a better chance of controlling their weight.  It’s also very important to not skip any meals.  Your body will think it’s going into a starvation mode and your metabolism will naturally slow down.  So, try to eat something at least every 3-4 hours.  Eat protein at every meal, because protein will give you a bigger metabolic boost that carbohydrates or fats will.  Plus, protein builds more lean muscle mass.

     The metabolic rate slowdown is not inevitable.  You can prevent it—reversing the muscle loss with a little effort, once again returning to the metabolism of your youth.  In fact, researchers have found that individuals who maintain their lean muscle mass through exercise and nutrition have only a .36% drop in their metabolic rate per decade, compared to the 5-7% that most adults experience.