Speed Up Your Metabolism with the Right Foods

As a health conscious person, it’s important to consider how your food intake is affecting your metabolism; the faster your metabolism, the quicker your body will burn up the calories you’re eating.

While living an active lifestyle is integral to burning calories and staying in shape, eating the right food can make all the difference. If you live a busy life or are stuck in a chair all day, what you put in your body will be integral to your overall health. Consider how you can integrate some of the best foods for a healthy metabolism into your current lifestyle.

Hot Peppers

Any type of hot pepper – from jalapenos to habaneras – contains the compound capsaicin. This compound has been found to stimulate pain receptors, which translates to increased blood circulation, therefore improving your metabolic rate.

Speed it up: Toss hot peppers into an otherwise dull Mexican dish – whether it’s fajitas, tacos, or nachos.

Water

Water keeps you full, improves your skin, and helps rev your metabolism. If your body is dehydrated, if even a small amount, your metabolism quickly slows down making staying hydrated critical to a speedy and healthy metabolism.

Speed it up: It’s recommended to drink eight 8-oz glasses of water a day. Fill up a water bottle that shows ounces so you can be sure to get the recommended daily amount.

Green Tea

This modern day herbal remedy is a great addition to your daily diet, naturally speeding up your metabolism thanks to caffeine and antioxidant compounds called catechins. Together, these improve insulin sensitivity and aid in preventing fat storage enzymes. Ultimately, green tea is helping your body oxidize fat at a higher rate.

Speed it up: Swap out one cup of coffee a day for green tea. You’ll still get the caffeine boost with added benefits of improved metabolism and fat burn.

Citrus Fruits

Citrus fruits contain a variety of vitamins and minerals that are beneficial for your body, especially Vitamin C. Vitamin C has been found to reduce insulin spikes, keeping your metabolism humming at a steady rate throughout the day, instead of spiking up or down.

Speed it up: Nosh on an orange or grapefruit with your morning snack or add some citrus fruits into a daily smoothie.

Calcium

Calcium is not only important for bone strength and structure, but it aids in converting carbohydrates into energy. While this isn’t directly related to metabolism, any bodily process that creates energy is considered integral to your metabolism as a whole.

Speed it up: Add leafy greens, white beans and plain yogurt into your meals to improve total intake of potassium and calcium.

Celery

Because celery is made mostly of water, it takes more to eat and digest this food than the amount of calories you get from it. Known as a thermogenic food (food that aids in thermogensis, a process that burns calories), it’s a smart snack option for a healthy metabolism.

Speed it up: Have celery with hummus or peanut butter for an afternoon snack, which will give you energy and keep your metabolism running.

Garlic

Not only is garlic a staple in many dishes, but it can be a great metabolism booster. Garlic raises your body temperature which stimulates fat burning, while the oils aid in peristalsis, which loosens fat and then helps flush it from your system.

Speed it up: Almost any meal can benefit from adding garlic, from pasta to stir fries. Try to include this in a few meals a week to see some benefits.

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil has well over a hundred uses, one of which is to boost your metabolism. This oil differs from others in that it it’s made up of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), which are significantly smaller making them easier to absorb. This in turn speeds up your metabolism.

Speed it up: Use coconut oil in a Thai-style stir fry or put it in a breakfast smoothie.

Though there are a number of ways to speed up your metabolism, like staying active, eating the right food will make all the difference. From green tea to an extra glass of water, be sure to include any and all of these metabolism boosting foods into your daily diet to keep your metabolism humming all day long.