11 Best Ways to Boost Your Metabolism
If anyone asks you what’s going on in your body right now? Your answer might be what you are feeling at that particular moment like feeling hungry, or tired, or sore muscle or pain, etc. But move past your consciousness and go even deeper to have a look at what’s going on in your cells. If you can do that, you would find that inside of a cell is a remarkable activity hub in which energy is continuously being transformed and chemical reactions are undergoing to keep you functional and alive.
We all talk about boosting up metabolism, but how many of us know what exactly metabolism is and what are its effects on the body? Metabolism is a chemical reaction that occurs in the body’s cells which changes food into energy. The better or higher our metabolism is, more calories are burnt and it becomes easier to lose weight. High metabolism helps in boosting energy levels and makes us feel better.
This article will talk about metabolism and the ways by which you can boost it up. Learning more about metabolism and how the body burns energy will help you with healthy food decisions and also physical activity.
What Is Metabolism?
Cells are working constantly and carrying out numerous chemical reactions that are needed for the cell and body to stay healthy and alive, and these chemical reactions are known as metabolism. The Thyroid gland releases T3 and T4 that controls metabolism.
There are two processes of metabolism, which are regulated carefully by the body to keep it in balance. They are as follows:
- Catabolism – Food components are broken into simple forms, which in turn used in providing energy.
- Anabolism – It is a part of metabolism that requires energy from food for repair. When a person eats more than needed for anabolism, the excess is stored in the body as fat.
The Purpose Of Metabolism Is
- Converting food into energy to run vital cellular processes.
- Converting food to building blocks for proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and nucleic acids.
- Eliminating metabolic wastes.
If a person’s metabolism is high, more calories will be burnt at rest or during activity. So a person with high metabolism needs more calories to maintain weight. Food that boost metabolism are protein rich foods like meat, dairy products, eggs, fish, seeds, pulses, legumes, and coffee.
Lets Know More About Nutrition, Metabolism And Energy
Nutrition is crucial in metabolism as it banks upon nutrients for the production of energy. This energy is utilized by the body in synthesizing molecules like new proteins and nucleic acids. Food provides various substances which are necessary for the functioning of the body. This is the reason that diets include crucial nutrients like carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, phosphorus, and vitamins, minerals, water, and various other inorganic elements.
Carbohydrates In Metabolism
Body is getting carbohydrates in three forms, starch, sugar and cellulose. Sugar and starch is the main source of energy whereas fiber adds bulk to the diet. Carbohydrates yield glucose by metabolism which is needed by the tissues for all activities. Food such as wheat, rice, potatoes, is the source of carbohydrates.
Proteins in Metabolism
Protein is essential for tissue build up of the body. Proteins are important for cell structure and function, hemoglobin formation, and humongous variety of functions of the body. It also supplies nitrogen for DNA and RNA and production of energy.
Foods that are a rich source of protein are milk, eggs, soybeans, meat, grains and vegetables.
Fat in Metabolism
The energy produced by fat is twice as much as either by carbohydrates or proteins. Fat helps in forming the cellular structure, a protective cushion around the vital organs, absorbing fat soluble vitamins, and fat is reserve storage for energy.
Essential fatty acids are unsaturated fatty acids like linolenic, linoleic, and arachidonic acids. These unsaturated fatty acids need to be included in the diet. Saturated fatty acids with cholesterol are responsible for arteriosclerosis and heart diseases.
Minerals And Vitamins In Metabolism
Minerals directly do not contribute to energy needs but are essential in metabolic pathways of the body. Their deficiency results in specific deficiency symptoms.
Important minerals are iron, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, sodium, copper, cobalt, manganese, zinc, fluoride, iodine, magnesium.
Vitamins important in metabolism are vitamin B2, vitamin A, Pantothenic acid and nicotinic acid.
11 Best Ways To Boost Your Metabolism
Boosting metabolism is a crucial topic for weight watchers everywhere. Men burn more calories than women even while at rest, there are few lucky people who inherit fast metabolism and for some people metabolism slows down after 40 years of age. Gender, age or genetics can’t be controlled but there are various other ways to boost metabolism. Following are few of them:
1. Metabolism Boosting Breakfast
Include a type of food in your plate that really helps in boosting metabolism. Your food choice should be low in glucose and high in protein.
2. Cardio Exercises
With basic cardio you will burn the calories only when you are active, but with HIIT and strength training metabolism stays elevated for hours afterwards.
3. Increase Fiber Intake
Fiber rich diet boosts metabolism because it is indigestible. Fiber is of two types: soluble fiber, that lets you feel fuller for longer as it takes water on digestion, and insoluble fiber that simply passes through the gut and aids in passing stool.
4. Green Tea
Consuming green tea is known to boost up your metabolism. Green tea contains caffeine and catechin (a type of flavonoid), which is an anti-oxidant, these compounds speed up metabolism. Catechin breaks down the extra fat.
5. Muscle Build Up
Lean muscles speed up the metabolism by raising BMR. Muscle burns more calories at rest as compared to fat. Thus increasing muscle mass will boost up the resting metabolism.
6. Enough Sleep
Lack of sleep causes an imbalance of hormones that in turn results in deregulations of hormones that affects hunger and appetite. Hence sleep deprived people will be hungrier throughout the day with craving for sugary foods hence making it difficult to maintain good body weight.
7. Micronutrients
Certain minerals and vitamins are known to support healthy metabolism. While we can get these from various food items, it is recommended to have supplements also sometimes. Vitamin E and C are important for a healthy metabolism. Vitamin D is mandatory to take from supplements.
8. Hydrate Yourself Enough
Drinking more water is linked with burning more calories.
9. Stand Up
If you are sitting for a long period of time you will end up burning a few calories. Increase your time of standing to boost up the metabolism.
10. Consume Whole Grains
You can boost your metabolism by consuming foods that the body has to work hard to digest. Body makes extra effort to break down whole grains as compared to refined and processed grains. Consume brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa, sprouted grains, etc.
11. Avoid Stress
Stress results in production of more cortisol, a hormone that regulates appetite. Abnormal cortisol level results in disordered eating pattern which in turn disrupt metabolism.
Conclusion
In the article we have discussed metabolism and how to boost it. So follow the 11 ways mentioned in the article to boost your metabolism so that you can burn more calories and it becomes easy for you to lose weight. In addition to weight maintenance it will also help you be in a more energetic state and you will feel better.
