5 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

Good morning!  Have you ever looked at yourself and those connected to you genetically and thought, "We just do not have that great metabolism that a few people seem to have?"  We look around at the small percentage of people who seem as though they can eat anything and never seem to gain a pound.  I have learned how it is SO much more important to be healthy in general than it is to be a certain size.  Healthy is going to look a bit different on everyone but there will be some common traits.  So, what can we do to make the most of our metabolism?  There are MANY suggestions out there.  You can do some reading up on this topic and will come away with all sorts of information!  Today I am going to take a look at five things that I have implemented myself this past year.  

1) Eat 5-6 Small Meals/Snacks Throughout Your Day

This topic is one of the biggest areas where I have made changes in how I have done things this past year.  I used to think that just eating less in general was going to benefit me.  Sure, to some extent that may be true.  BUT if you are eating less often and not eating the right things, you are actually going to SLOW your metabolism.  This is one of the most frustrating realities of traditional "dieting" ~ if you cut out too many calories, your metabolism thinks times are lean and puts the breaks on fat-burning to conserve energy.  Rather than burning through what you are eating, your body decides it had better hold on to everything!  Eat smaller meals and snacks throughout your day to keep the metabolism fire burning!  It is also helpful to pair a complex carb and a lean protein throughout the day while also getting the right mix of healthy fats.

  

2) Build Lean Muscle

Build lean muscle. Muscle requires a considerable amount of energy to keep its fibers strong, especially when they are constantly being torn and repaired. By building lean muscle, your body will keep the metabolism going.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/way_5268623_ways-increase-metabolism.html?ref=Track2&utm_source=ask

Build lean muscle. Muscle requires a considerable amount of energy to keep its fibers strong, especially when they are constantly being torn and repaired. By building lean muscle, your body will keep the metabolism going.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/way_5268623_ways-increase-metabolism.html?ref=Track2&utm_source=ask

Last September I began my fitness journey with a workout program called "ChaLean Extreme".  This program involves some serious strength training and I was surprised to see how much I enjoy lifting weights!  Strength training is a key element when you are looking to boost your metabolism through exercise.  This is because strength training places your focus on building and maintaining muscle. Increasing muscle mass is going to offer an all-the-time benefit to your metabolism.  Our bodies burn a few more calories to maintain a pound of muscle than they do to maintain a pound of fat.  

Looking at the effects of your workout itself, let's talk about incorporating strength training within your typical cardio routine.  Lifting weights stresses and breaks down your muscles, which respond by building more muscle cells to compensate for the new loads being placed upon them. These new cells require energy. “With a standard cardio workout, once your heart rate goes down, the calorie burning process stops,” says Juliet Kaska, an ACE-certified personal trainer and owner of JK Zen Fitness in Los Angeles. “But with resistance training the caloric burn continues for several hours as your body recovers from the workout.”  

Our legs are made up of the largest muscles in our body.  Building strong legs is going to benefit our metabolism in the long run!

Build lean muscle. Muscle requires a considerable amount of energy to keep its fibers strong, especially when they are constantly being torn and repaired. By building lean muscle, your body will keep the metabolism going.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/way_5268623_ways-increase-metabolism.html?ref=Track2&utm_source=ask

Build lean muscle. Muscle requires a considerable amount of energy to keep its fibers strong, especially when they are constantly being torn and repaired. By building lean muscle, your body will keep the metabolism going.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/way_5268623_ways-increase-metabolism.html?ref=Track2&utm_source=ask

Build lean muscle. Muscle requires a considerable amount of energy to keep its fibers strong, especially when they are constantly being torn and repaired. By building lean muscle, your body will keep the metabolism going.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/way_5268623_ways-increase-metabolism.html?ref=Track2&utm_source=ask

3) Drink Plenty of Water

Your body needs water to process calories. If you are even mildly dehydrated, your metabolism may slow down. In one study, adults who drank eight or more glasses of water a day burned more calories than those who drank four. To stay hydrated, drink a glass of water or other unsweetened beverage before every meal and snack. Also, snack on fresh fruits and vegetables, which naturally contain water, rather than pretzels or chips. Although drinking water may not increase your metabolism directly, drinking more water increases blood volume in the body. This gets more oxygen and nutrients to cells and carries out more waste. These processes help increase the efficiency with which the body’s cells work.

4) Eat Breakfast!!

Make sure you eat breakfast. This is one area where I did the WORST in the past!  I would be so busy getting things going for the kids that I would overlook eating my own breakfast.  Even if I did eat something for breakfast it was very rarely an effective choice!  Eating breakfast gets the engine going and keeps it going. It's hard to argue with these results: According to the National Weight Control Registry (an ongoing study that tracks 5,000 people who lost an average of 66 pounds and kept it off more than five years), 78% of those who keep it off eat an a.m. meal every day.  

I now enjoy my Shakeology for my breakfast each morning.  I love that I am giving my body a super-charged start.  Plus it is delicious and super-convenient.  My own breakfast challenge has been solved!  Sometimes when I tell people that I use my Shakeology for breakfast, they think that it sounds pricey compared to the banana or granola bar that they usually grab for breakfast.  But it is a COMPLETE meal.  It is a huge boost to me to begin my day with excellent nutrition like this.  When I have my Shakeology for dinner sometimes, I think to myself, "Wow!  What a great value for a meal.  This is quick and convenient and is so good for me!"  Of course you don't have to incorporate Shakeology to get a good breakfast at your place.  Eating a nutrient-rich morning meal like oatmeal with almonds and berries, or a spinach-and-feta omelet with a slice of Ezekiel toast shortly after getting out of bed literally wakes up your metabolism.

5) Get Enough Protein

Your body digests protein more slowly than fat or carbs, so you feel full longer.  In a process called thermogenesis, your body uses a greater percentage of your "protein calories" in digestion than it would with eating that same amount of calories via a simple carb.  Check out my blog entry on the importance of getting enough protein. So, because it takes longer to burn protein than carbs or fat, your body expends more energy absorbing the nutrients in a high-protein diet. Another bonus: One recent study from Purdue University found that diets higher in protein may help preserve lean body mass, which is the best fat-burner of all.

As part of a balanced diet, replacing some carbs with lean, protein-rich foods can boost metabolism at mealtime. Good sources of protein include lean beef, turkey, fish, white meat chicken, tofu, nuts, beans, eggs, and low-fat dairy products.  When I am fitting in enough protein during my day, I am way less likely to feel hungry and then wind up with a desire to reach for things that are just not good for me.  Last year at this time I was eating 1-2 servings of protein per day and that was just not helpful!  Now I am at 5 or 6 protein servings and this has made a significant difference in my overall nutrition.  

Complex Carbs vs. Simple Carbs: Classifications & Impact!

Hello!  Thanks for stopping by my blog.  Today we are going to take a look at  carbohydrates or "carbs".  Just hearing that word can evoke a variety of images and emotions.  Some may hear the Jaws music beginning to play in the background, others may picture a favorite dinner at the Olive Garden, and some may think back to the days of the Atkins Diet.  I have been asked MANY times if my lifestyle change to clean eating is the same thing as "low-carb".  Nope!  Through my balanced menu planning, my days are low in carbs.  But carbs still have their place.  I have learned quite a bit about how to pair carbs and when it is most beneficial to enjoy them - but that is a topic for another blog entry!   As you think about carbs and your own menu plan, you may regard them as "most-craved" or "avoid most-of-the-time" or something in between.  So what is the deal with carbs?  What is the difference between complex and simple?  What effect do they have on our bodies?  This is a BIG topic and we are going to take a bird's-eye view look at it today.

I was reading an excellent article on the site called "A Calorie Counter" and I am going to include some of that information here.  

Carbs can be a confusing topic since there are several different ways to classify them:

• good vs. bad
• healthy vs. unhealthy
• slow vs. fast
• simple vs. complex
• high glycemic vs. low glycemic

I guess the potential for confusion is pretty high when you’re trying to keep track of all of these different classifications.  So, to help clear up this confusion once and for all, let’s take a look at the different types of carbs, and find out the truth behind them.

Complex Carbs vs. Simple Carbs

Foods containing carbohydrates can be defined as either complex or simple, based on their chemical structure.  The more “complex” a structure is, the slower the digestion and absorption process will be (think vegetables, beans, grains, etc.).  The “simpler” a structure is, the faster your body will digest and absorb that food (think sugar, candy, soda, etc.).  Digestion and absorption rates are important because the faster these processes take place within your body, the more it spikes your blood insulin levels.  For this reason, diets high in simple carbs have been shown to increase our risk of diabetes and heart disease, while diets high in complex carbs have actually been shown to help do the opposite.

Simple carbs tend to be highly processed junk that lacks any nutritional value of any kind, while complex carbs are typically unprocessed, high in fiber, and high in various other important nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.  Simple carbs are also less filling, which means you’ll be hungrier sooner after eating them - not to mention a large spike in blood sugar will result in a crash soon after, and that crash signals hunger and food cravings.

So, as you can clearly see here for many obvious reasons:

• Simple carbs should typically be greatly limited/avoided.
• Complex carbs should comprise the majority of your daily carb intake.

 

HOWEVER…

There’s just one tiny problem with all of the above. The classifications of “complex” and “simple” doesn’t tell the whole story.  It turns out that certain foods that technically fit the “complex carb” label can actually end up causing a rapid spike in blood sugar levels. Similarly, there are some foods fitting the “simple carb” label that really don’t have much of an effect on blood sugar at all.  Confusing, right?  Well, to better understand this whole carb situation, let's learn about the glycemic index (GI).

The Glycemic Index: High GI vs Low GI

The glycemic index classifies carbs based on how quickly and how high they raise blood sugar levels when compared to pure glucose (sugar), although white bread is now used as the reference food in its place.  Despite the fact that the glycemic index was originally created for diabetics as a way of figuring out which foods would be best for them, it quickly became used by bodybuilders, athletes, and regular people who just want to look good and be healthy.

Utilizing the glycemic index allows us to maintain steady blood glucose levels throughout the day by choosing the right types of high-carb foods.  This of course is useful for many reasons, the most important of which are controlling hunger, maintaining energy levels, improving the way our bodies look/perform and preventing a variety of health/medical issues associated with frequent and sustained spikes in blood sugar levels (like type 2 diabetes and heart disease).

A carbohydrate with a high glycemic index (high GI) breaks down quickly during digestion and releases glucose into the bloodstream rapidly.  Some common foods with a high GI rating include white bread, white rice, corn flakes, crackers, and most sugary and/or highly processed snack foods.

A carbohydrate with a low glycemic index (low GI) breaks down more slowly, causing a much slower and more gradual release of glucose into the bloodstream. Some common foods with a low GI rating include most fruits, vegetables, and beans.

In conclusion, there is a helpful bottom line to keep in mind with most of what we are eating on a daily basis ... here it is!  Remembering even this idea is a great place to begin as you weigh the value of your daily carbs!  Check out the image below.