10 easy ways to boost metabolism

 From moving to thinking to growing our body needs energy to do everything. Metabolism is the process by which the calories of what we eat and drink is converted into energy, combined with oxygen to release the energy our body needs to function with. Specific proteins in body control chemical reactions of metabolism. A person’s metabolism is not just one thing. An entire process that includes how your body stores food, converts food, burns energy and keep you active for day to day activities is referred to as metabolism.

Some benefits of boosted/increased metabolism

Higher the metabolism, more the calories you burn and easier it is to burn them. Higher metabolism helps in providing more energy, burning more calories and aiding weight loss and promoting better sleep time.

Here we 10 easy ways that help you boost your metabolism for a good health

1. Drink plenty of water

Drink enough water turns out one of the easiest way to help boost your metabolism.

Water fills you up and drinking water boost your metabolism up to 25% nearly an hour after drinking it. It has calorie burning effect, this effect can even be greater if one drink cold water as the body uses more energy to heat the body to its core temperature. Comparing with regular water, cold water burns 4-7 calories extra.

2. Consume enough Protein

Eating protein rich food causes the largest rise in thermic effect of food (TEF). Thermic effect of food is caused by the extra calories that are required to digest, absorb and process the nutrients present in the food. Eating protein makes you eat less and increases your metabolic rate by 15-30% . It makes you feel full, prevent you from overeating and reduces muscle loss( reduction in muscle loss is a common side effect of dieting) rather helps in increasing muscle mass and building strength. It helps extremely in weight loss by reducing appetite and hunger pangs. In short, eating more protein in your food becomes strong reason when wanting to boost metabolism and increase fat burning.

3. Exercise

Cardiovascular exercises like running, swimming and aerobics stimulates your metabolism and help you burn even more calories. Although a lot of people get stick to few exercises, a combination of exercise, cardio and weight training is always better.

Weight training helps toning muscles and boosting lean tissue mass. The more the lean muscle tissue, more the calories burn.

In simple words, get yourself do a lot of cardiovascular exercises, the biggest calorie burn comes from it and give your body strength training atleast twice week which could be done through weight lifting and add a tinge of a brisk walk whenever needed. The combination of all these help boost up your metabolism.

4. Eat spicy food

Does spicy food matter when it comes to boosting metabolism? Well, yes! Spicy food contains capsaicin. Higher the level of capsaicin in spicy food, higher is the metabolism increase. The capsaicin compound gives a powerful kick to heat generation which help burning more calories. An average bowl of chili in your average meal can increase the metabolic rate upto 8%. Analysis say that besides this increase, spicy foods increase energy expenditure and reduce appetite, may increase the feeling of satiety thereby aiding weight loss.

5. Avoid sitting for longer hours

Sitting for longer hours is compared to smoking by a lot health commentators which can low down metabolism and can lead to conditions like obesity. If you have desk job, you must try to stand in between the intervals for short periods to break the monotony of long sitting hours. If seated for longer hours, the best way to raise your metabolism is simply by moving. Moving prevents your body from being stiff.l more a person moves, the better.

6. Drink green tea

Consuming green tea may help boosting metabolism as the caffeine it contains have been shown to boost metabolism and increase fat burning. Although there is no specific timeline to have your cup of green tea but the best time is an hour or half an hour before or after the meal. It contains effective compounds and beneficial nutrients like antioxidants that help improving the overall health. It is high in type of antioxidants called catechins that has been highly associated with weight loss and fat loss.

7. Eat whole grains

Avoid eating refined and processed grains as they are hard to breakdown and digest by the body. Eating whole grains keep your metabolism high and are easy to digest by the body. Whole grain like oatmeal, quinoa and brown rice are foods rich in fiber and boost metabolic rate. The energy expenditure provided from whole grain foods get increased by 50% in comparison to processed grain food.

8. Eat garlic and ginger

Adding garlic to food prevents from damage that foods rich in fats and carbohydrates do to the body. Garlic in food helps boosting immune system and is a remedy to issues like inflammation, heart diseases and low blood pressure. Ginger tea (preferably ginger and lemon when consumed together) gives you a metabolism increase. Apart from boosting metabolism ginger tea minimises hunger, increase feeling of fullness all of which promotes weight loss. It’s medicinal properties help curing cold, reducing inflammation and soothing sore throat. Additionally, gingerols present in ginger help stabilizing blood sugar levels.

9. Grab a bowl of yoghurt

Despite the content, eating Greek yoghurt provides you with healthy fats and fibrous carbohydrates that makes a person burn more calories, aids weight loss and boost metabolism. Yoghurt is one of the fermented foods whose good bacteria help process the food in the gut more efficiently. Studies suggest that eating yoghurt as a part of meal can help you slim down.

10. Get enough sleep

Sleep is an important part of an overall wellbeing. If you are gaining those extra kilos without an extra grain of food, then you might be lacking good sleep in your daily routine. Sleep is connected to various metabolic processes and is important in maintaining metabolic homeostasis. Homeostasis refers to the state of equivalence within a system or more than one system within the human body. A lack of sleep can cause various metabolic problems and profound metabolic implications like burning few calories and lack of appetite control. Therefore a regular quality and timely sleep can really make a difference in boosting metabolism and weight maintenance.