How to Increase Your Metabolism

As individuals, we all have different metabolic rates, also known as the speed at which the body burns calories. The faster this is, the easier it is to maintain and lose weight. Read on to discover some simple ways to increase your metabolism using food and drinks.

Increase Your Metabolism with Beverages

1: Drink More Water

Research suggests that your resting metabolic rate is increased by 10-30% after drinking a 17oz (0.5 liter) glass of chilled water. Drinking the water chilled is important because your body uses calories to bring it up to body temperature. The effects of this increased metabolism should last for approximately 60 minutes. Therefore, this is a great way to increase your metabolism before a meal.

There are two more reasons why drinking water before a meal helps weight loss. Firstly, because the water fills the stomach so that you eat less during the meal.

Secondly, hunger is often mistaken for thirst; therefore, if you hydrate yourself before you eat, you shouldn't feel as ravenously hungry as your thirst will have been satisfied.

2: Drink Green Tea

Green tea has long been known as a weight loss aid, and for good reason. Drinking a cup of green tea can help your body to burn more fat, with an increased rate of 10-17%.

The sugars and chemicals in processed soft drinks are known to prevent weight loss. Therefore, swapping sugary and artificially sweetened beverages for green tea and chilled water will also benefit weight loss as you will be cutting your sugar and chemical intake.

Increase Your Metabolism with Food

1: Increase Your Protein Intake

Protein helps to increase your metabolism by 15-30%. This is a considerable increase when compared with carbohydrates at 5-10% and fats at just 0-3%. This increase in metabolic rate happens because protein takes more calories to digest than the other two macronutrients.

Protein also aids weight loss because it helps you to feel more satisfied after eating than fats or carbs. Aim for 30% of your food intake to be clean protein.

2:Add Spices to Your Food

Spices not only make food more delicious, but they benefit weight loss too! There are several reasons for this.

Firstly, spices such as chili, cinnamon, and ginger increase metabolic rate. This is because of the compounds capsaicin and gingerol, which are thought to boost metabolism by 20%. Cinnamon is particularly good at increasing glucose metabolism, i.e., the rate at which the body converts sugars into energy. More sugar to energy conversion means less sugar to be stored as fat.

Secondly, adding spices and herbs give food more flavor, meaning you don't need to add other flavor enhancers such as sugar and salt. Sugar is the enemy of weight loss, and excess salt consumption can lead to water retention. So spice up your meals instead and enjoy maximum weight loss benefits!