Foods That Speed Up Your Metabolism – Pick The Right Foods! Lead A Healthy Lifestyle!

Proper sleep and a regular exercise can help you maintain a good metabolic rate! Interestingly, choosing right foods is the smartest way to boost metabolism! Here are 11 amazing foods that speed up your metabolism. But, why do you actually require a good metabolism?

Here is a simple understanding of what exactly is metabolism and the best list of metabolism boosting foods to make your lifestyle interesting.

Metabolism Put In Simple Terms!

Just like a car uses up the fuel to run efficiently, our body uses up the energy to function in a healthy way.

We need a good metabolism to lose weight and shed the unnecessary fat! Here is everything put in simple terms: The rate at which our body performs certain metabolic processes like digestion, respiration and other activities is known as metabolism.

How Does It Help You Lose Weight?

When metabolism occurs, our body spends certain energy. This is when calories are burnt and losing calories means losing those extra kilograms! The rate of metabolism varies from one person to other!

People whose metabolism is slow, end up gaining weight because their body doesn’t burn calories. So, they end up storing more calories in their body which leads to a weight gain.

However, the good news is that you can choose to control your metabolism with these simple and easily available metabolisms boosting foods.

11 Foods That Speed Up Your Metabolism

All you need for a good metabolism is Hot peppers, foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, foods high in proteins, foods that are rich in selenium, Zinc, Iron and certain beverages like coffee, green tea, and apple cider vinegar.

1. Foods High In Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3 fatty acids can increase the production of a hormone called leptin which increases your metabolism.

This is because leptin can promote certain fat burning enzymes and decrease the number of fat storing enzymes.

A good number of fat burning enzymes increase your metabolism because your body utilizes the energy to burn excess fat.

Fish like salmons, tuna, and sardines are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. Consuming at least two fish per week can boost your overall metabolism. (1)

It is usually recommended to take 250-500 mg of omega-3 fatty acids per day.

Surprisingly, 1 ounce of Salmon (28 grams) gives you 633 mg of Omega-3 fatty acids. (2)

1 ounce of Tuna (28 grams) gives you 78.7 mg of omega-3 fatty acids. (3)

1 ounce of sardines (28 grams) gives you 414 mg of omega-3 fatty acids (4)

2. Protein-Rich Foods

The quickest and the most efficient way to speed up your metabolism is to consume protein-rich foods.

This is because proteins require much energy to get digested by your body. This increases the metabolic rate and your body uses up more calories to finally get the proteins absorbed.

People looking for a quick way to lose weight are suggested to consume protein-rich foods since proteins help in a greater fat metabolism. (5)

Moreover, experiencing an extensive degree of fat loss does not cause fatigue because the proteins are restored in muscles.

This ultimately builds our muscle strength while simultaneously reducing our body fat.

Foods like legumes, fatty fish, dairy products, nuts and seeds, and healthy meat are the best protein-rich foods that boost your metabolism.

3. Hot Peppers

Capsaicin which is a compound present in hot peppers is responsible for causing a pungent smell and a spicy essence to the foods belonging to this variety.

The same compound plays a vital role in increasing the metabolic rate because it burns excess fat and calories, thereby helping in proper weight management. (6)

Remember how your body got all heated up when you once consumed that overly spicy food? This was probably because of the increase in the internal temperatures!

An increase in the temperature helps in burning your calories, thereby increasing your metabolism.

Hot peppers not only boost your metabolism but also decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes since they reduce the levels of insulin.

Research conducted on the effect of capsaicin in relation to the reduction of calories proved that consumption of capsaicin helped in burning 50 extra calories in a day.

4. Green Tea

It is a well-known fact that green tea is suggested for people who wish to lose weight. All the credit goes to certain phenolic compounds called catechins present in the tea.

Catechins are known to increase the metabolic rate by breaking down the fats at a much faster pace.

So, the best way to boost metabolism is to continue the consumption of metabolism boosting foods and consume green tea twice a day so as to achieve a quick and healthy weight loss.

The presence of caffeine in Green tea is an added advantage because of its ability to boost metabolism and burn excess calories! (7)

It is usually advisable to drink coffee prior to your workout regime since it helps in much better utilization of fat cells.

If you are also looking forward to working out along with consuming high metabolic foods, sipping a cup of coffee just before hitting the gym is the best tip you can follow to increase your metabolism and obtain the best results!

5. Why Is Broccoli The Best Food That Speeds Up Your Metabolism?

The presence of both Vitamin C and calcium in Broccoli is a great advantage for a metabolic boost since both these nutrients can burn the calories much quickly.

This results in an effective weight loss. It is the intake of calcium that helps in upgrading your metabolism. But, the intake of calcium alone would not benefit in increasing your metabolism.

You need good amounts of vitamin C so that calcium gets absorbed much easily by your body.

Just one cup of chopped broccoli contains 81.2 mg of vitamin C which fulfils more than 100% of your daily vitamin C requirement. (8)

The same quantity of broccoli gives 42.8 mg of calcium which fulfils 4% of your daily calcium requirement.

6. Which Fruits Increase Metabolism?

Including fruits in your diet not only improves your metabolism but also enhances your overall health in many ways but you need to remember that not all fruits can increase metabolism!

Certain citrus fruits like grapes contain a compound called ‘Naringenin’ which is a type of antioxidant that serves your body in numerous ways apart from increasing your metabolism.

These antioxidants also help in efficient utilization of the hormone insulin so as to prevent the risk of diabetes.

Ensure that you include more of citrus fruits in your diet along with other regularly consumable foods that speed up your metabolism for quick results.

7. Water -The Most Essential Metabolism Booster!

No matter how many metabolism boosting foods you take, not drinking enough water can be a disadvantage since water increases your ability to burn fat.

Drinking more water causes your body to spend more energy. The influence of drinking water was studied on the functioning of a fat tissue called adipose tissue.

This proved that drinking at least 500 ml of water can enhance the rate of metabolism by 30%. This happens because of thermogenesis (which can be referred to as the production of heat in certain animals). (9)

In fact, the metabolic boost could reach its optimum levels within just 30-40 minutes!

You can make a habit of drinking water on an empty stomach, early in the morning to keep your brain active and alive throughout the day.

Set a target of reaching 2.5 litres per day and keep sipping water at regular intervals to reach your target!

8. Apple Cider Vinegar

Though many sources claim that apple cider vinegar boosts metabolism, it is still a hypothetical statement!

Research conducted on mice in relation to their consumption of apple cider vinegar proved that the mice which consumed apple cider vinegar could witness an increase in the cells that burn fat and decrease in the number of cells that store the fat! (10)

Whether or not apple cider vinegar helps in increasing metabolism, it definitely results in an effective weight loss.

Weight loss is totally possible because apple cider vinegar decreases your appetite by keeping your stomach full for prolonged periods.

However, overdoing the consumption of apple cider vinegar may cause side effects. So, it is advisable not to consume more than two tablespoons of this acidic juice per day.

9. Why Are Whole Grains The Best Metabolism Boosting Foods When Compared To Refined Grains?

Foods like whole wheat flour, oatmeal, and brown rice are usually considered as whole grains while other foods like white rice, white flour and white bread are classified as refined grains.

Whole grains are the best foods that increase metabolism and burn fat because of their ability to burn calories.

Moreover, whole grains are nutritious when compared to refined grains because the bran and germ along with some other nutrients remain intact in whole grains.

Refined grains undergo the process of refinement where the bran, germ and other essential nutrients are lost.

The process of refinement is done to increase the shelf life of refined grains! Considering whole grains is of a superficial advantage because of the presence of fiber in them which assists in an easy and healthy weight loss. (11)

10. Low-Fat Dairy Products

Dairy products are the best foods that speed up metabolism because these are a great source of two important elements – Calcium and proteins both of which play a major role in improving your metabolic rate.

Proteins require much energy to get broken down and absorbed by your body which burns extra calories due to increased metabolism.

Calcium, on the other hand, increases thermogenesis (increase in body temperature) which in turn burns fat.

You just have to ensure that you are consuming those dairy products that are completely low in fat or those which are available in the market with zero fat content!

If you are aiming for a strict weight loss, the best tip to follow is to consume around three servings of dairy products per day. Apart from helping in fat metabolism, dairy products can also keep you full for long hours due to their protein content.

11. Using Coconut Oil As Cooking Oil Can Improve Your Metabolism!

Apart from increasing your metabolism, coconut oil improves the levels of your good cholesterol (HDL) and reduces your appetite.

Coconut oil contains medium chain triglycerides which are the main reason why they improve metabolism.

Apart from using this as your regular cooking oil, you can also utilize this oil to cook other occasionally consumable foods like popcorns and other cooking methods like stir-frying!

Coconut oil reduces fat content and provides energy.

Bottom Line

Exercising and sleeping are the best ways to speed up your metabolism but you can also make a smart choice and boost your metabolic power by including certain metabolism boosting foods into your diet.

Foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, protein-rich foods like legumes, beans, dairy products, hot peppers, broccoli, green tea, citrus fruits, apple cider vinegar, and whole grains make up to the best list of foods that increase metabolism and burn fat.

Apart from consuming the above-mentioned foods that speed up metabolism, drinking around 2.5 litres of water per day and using coconut oil for cooking are the best tips you can follow to boost your metabolic rate and lose weight so as to maintain a healthy lifestyle!