Foods That Raise Your Metabolism 

Asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, lettuce & zucchini.

by Giselle Sanchez
You want to know a surefire way to lose weight? Eat fast food. No, not that type, but rather the super-charged, metabolism raising foods.

What exactly are these metabolism boosting (or negative calorie) foods?

Although no food is actually "negative calorie", there are certain foods that have such few calories that the act of digestion in the body will burn more calories than the food itself, creating a negative calorie balance.

For example, a 25 calorie piece of broccoli (100 grams) requires 80 calories to digest it in the body which results in a net loss of 55 calories! Some great foods which are extremely low in calories and require lots of energy for the body to break them down include asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, lettuce and zucchini.

A negative calorie diet is probably the best and most effective way to raise metabolism and burn calories. Eat these foods and you're guaranteed to burn more calories...while doing nothing! They are great foods to include in your weight loss plan.

This program identifies over 100 negative calorie foods that safely force your body to work harder during digestion thus, turning your body into a fat burning machine! It will help you understand how to lose that stubborn belly fat permanently in a way that is safe on your body.

More about which other foods & diets which will increase your metabolism later... First, here are some tips, ideas and natural ways to raise your metabolism rate...

Raising Your Metabolism Ideas 

Best ways & tips to raise your metabolism - naturally

• Eating healthy and small meals more often and regularly is one great and simple method. Metabolism is always raised with the intake of food. The frequent small meals you consume keep the metabolism going for a longer duration.
  
  
• Eating protein-rich foods like low-fat dairy products, lean meat and skinless chicken is found to increase metabolism. Include fish, dark green vegetables and foods high in fiber to your meals. There is evidence to show that foods rich in protein increase the burning of calories by about 25%. More about foods to raise metabolism below. Also, drink at least 2 litres of water every day!
  
  
• Consume foods that contain antioxidants for speeding up your metabolism. For instance, green tea will raise metabolism better than coffee due to its high antioxidant content.
  
  
• The temperature of your body environment affects your metabolism. If it is very cold or very hot, the rate of metabolism is found to go up by about 20%. You can manipulate that temperature. You can either chill out or have a sauna to raise your metabolism.
  
  
• Keep yourself active and moving throughout the day. When you increase your physical activity, your muscle increases and, consequently, the metabolic rate also goes up. Aerobic exercises coupled with resistance training and exercises are very useful in this regard. If you have a job that requires you to sit at the desk for long hours, find ways to incorporate some physical activity and movement that takes you away from the desk, even for short durations, as often as possible.
  
  
• By increasing the heart rate, you can raise your metabolism rate. Adding spices, especially chili or green pepper, to your food will most likely do that. (see below). It is believed that spices speed-up the metabolism by about 50%. But you have to develop considerable tolerance for the spicy condiments if you do not already have it.
  
  

Metabolism Raising Foods: Low Fat Milk, Whole-Grain Cereal & Oatmeal 

Secret Ingredients: Calcium, complex carbohydrates, and fiber

• How they work: ==> Complex carbohydrates and fiber raise your metabolism by keeping insulin levels low after you eat.

That's good, because spikes in the production of insulin send a signal to the body that it's time to start storing fat. And in order to stockpile fat, your body has to slow down your metabolism, causing you to burn fewer calories, says Margaret McNurlan, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition and medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Since oatmeal breaks down slowly in the stomach, it causes less of a spike in insulin levels than foods like bagels, she says.

Besides helping to keep insulin production down, eating breakfast can also help stoke your daily calorie burn. When the U.S. Navy studied the metabolisms and eating habits of a group of its personnel, it found that eating breakfast helped raise the men's metabolisms by as much as 10 percent. "By skipping meals, you slow down your metabolism and prime your body to store fat," says McNurlan.

The calcium in milk is a metabolic trigger as well. A University of Tennessee study found that dieters who consumed between 1,200 and 1,300 milligrams (mg) of calcium a day lost nearly twice as much weight as dieters getting less calcium.

Foods To Raise Metabolism: Salmon, Tuna & Sardines 

Secret Ingredient: Omega3 fatty acids

• How they work: ==> By altering levels of a hormone called leptin in your body.

Several recent studies suggest that leptin directly influences your metabolism, determining whether you burn calories or store them as fat.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that mice with low leptin levels have faster metabolisms and are able to burn fat more quickly than animals with higher leptin levels. The best way to lower your leptin? Eat fish.

Mayo Clinic researchers studying the diets of two African tribes - one of which frequently ate fish and one of which didn't-found that fish eaters had leptin levels nearly five times lower than the levels found in tribes that primarily ate vegetables.


The good news, if you don't like fish: Fish-oil supplements may work just as well as the stuff with scales. French researchers found that men who replaced 6 grams of fat in their diets with 6 grams of fish oil were able to boost their metabolisms and lose an average of 2 pounds in just 12 weeks.

Foods That Raise Your Metabolism: Lean Beef, Pork, Chicken & Turkey 

Secret Ingredient: Protein

• How it works: ==> It takes more energy for your body to digest the protein in meat than it does for it to digest carbs or fat.

According to Doug Kalman, R.D., director of nutrition at Miami Research Associates, a nationally recognized pharmaceutical-research facility..."The more protein you eat, the harder your body has to work to digest it, and the more calories you'll burn in the process," he says.

When researchers at Arizona State University compared the benefits of a high protein diet with those of a high-carbohydrate diet, they found that people who ate a high-protein diet burned more than twice as many calories in the hours following their meal as those eating carbs.

Even better, researchers in Denmark found that men who substituted protein for 20% of the carbs in their diets were able to boost their metabolisms, increasing the number of calories they burned each day by up to 5%.

Great Books on How To Raise Your Metabolism on Amazon 

Crack the Fat-Loss Code: Outsmart Your Metabolism and Conquer the Diet Plateau

by Wendy Chant

Amazon Price: $11.62 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $10.71

The South Beach Diet Supercharged: Faster Weight Loss and Better Health for Life

by Arthur Agatston, Joseph Signorile

Amazon Price: $15.57 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $12.87

Ultrametabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss

by Mark Hyman

Amazon Price: (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $7.32

From Belly Fat to Belly Flat: How Your Hormones Are Adding Inches to Your Waist and Subtracting Years from Your Life -- the Medically Proven Way to Reset Your Metabolism and Reshape Your Body

by C.W. Randolph M.D., Genie James

Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 07/26/2008)
Used Price: $10.09

Metabolism Raising Foods: Green Tea and Coffee 

Secret Ingredients: Caffeine and a chemical in the tea called EGCG

• How they work: ==> Caffeine helps speed up your heart rate.

The faster your heart beats, the more calories you burn. EGCG works in a similar way, but instead of revving up your heart, it causes your brain and nervous system to run more quickly - again helping you burn more calories.

In studies, researchers found that a combination of caffeine and a 90-mg dose of EGCG taken three times a day can help you burn an extra 80 calories a day. And that's just when your body's at rest.

A study conducted by the Canadian government found that soldiers who consumed caffeine in the 12 hours prior to a physical-fitness test not only were able to work out longer before becoming exhausted, but also consumed more oxygen while working out. The body's oxygen requirements are directly related to the speed of your metabolism, so the more oxygen you use, the more calories you burn during your workout.

Foods That Raise Metabolism: Jalapeno, Habanero & Cayenne Peppers 

Capsaicin - the chemical in peppers that gives them their bite

• How it works: ==> By speeding up your heart rate.

A study from the late '80s found that eating a single spicy meal can raise your metabolism by up to 25%, with the spike in calorie burning lasting for up to 3 hours after you finish eating.

More recently, a study from Laval University in Quebec found that men who consumed coffee plus red pepper packed snacks and meals were able to burn nearly 1,000 more calories a day than a control group.

Small snacks can also help keep your body from running out of fuel - preventing those 3 p.m. office blahs. "When you restrict the number of calories your body has for fuel, your metabolic rate can drop temporarily," says Susan Roberts, Ph.D., chief of the energy-metabolism laboratory at Tufts University in Boston. That makes it easier to pack on the pounds and harder to burn them off again.

Exercises (Workouts) To Raise Metabolism 

Resistance training, weightlifting & turbulence training

What you do in terms of exercise is equally important if not more so than your diet to raise your metabolism rate.

This is because muscle is the most metabolically active tissue in your body and it's your "furnace" for burning calories throughout the day.

If you can add 1 extra pound of muscle, it will burn about 50 extra calories a day!

Therefore, increased muscle mass is ABSOLUTELY NESSESARY to raise your metabolism rate. It's very important to include some type of strength training routine into your overall fitness plan.

===> Turbulence Training - is an exercise program to raise metabolism which I highly recommend you try. It works on the principle of a high intensity, low volume, quick workout that combines resistance training and interval training to lose body fat and build muscle at the same time.

===> Interval Training in particular allows you to push your body for a short period of time and then take a period to rest and recover before going once again. This system of workout is much more effective than the standard pace, long duration cardio because it helps you develop your fast twitch muscle fibers and will kick your metabolism into high gear.

Raising Your Metabolism - Your Tips & Suggestions 

Let's share thoughts and ideas!

Your ideas on the best foods, diets and exercise programs to raise the metabolism rate:

Joan4 This is certainly a helpful lens. I learned more about foods that will boost my metabolism. Thank you! Posted July 23, 2008

cyprestxmom Great lens! I love all the hints Posted July 10, 2008

MiaBellezza Great info. Thanks for sharing! ***** Posted July 05, 2008

jessica-garner77 Excellent information. This is a very good lense with some great information. I am actually giving away an ebook on how to raise metabolism for weight loss so your readers may be interested in it. They can find it at Learn To Lose Weight For Free Lense Posted June 28, 2008

beeobrien This sounds like good, sensible advice. I'm 49 yo and I can really use a metabolism boost right about now. Posted June 27, 2008

sisterra Great lens and info. I'm going to give this a try! Posted June 25, 2008

Dad-The-Lad Really Good. One of the most interesting and useful lenses I have read. I can now justify spending alot of time in the Sauna after I workout. Well done. Posted June 24, 2008

AbbasAbedi Useful info. Posted May 27, 2008

CleanFace Nice pictures and useful information. thanks! 5 stars. Posted May 17, 2008

jeanne

47 years old and in best shape ever by following this advice. I eat all these foods, work with weights and stay active. Finally firm and toned after 5 kids, thanks for this info, it works!!!

Posted May 16, 2008

margin-strategies Thank You Ronald. But please everyone - no spam. This forum is for posting ideas on raising metabolism. Use it for such and lets share food ideas. Please note that I do not endorse the below website. Posted May 08, 2008

Ronald Godlewski

Wow, good information. Appreciate the perspective and learned a few new things. I am very interested in the health benefits of vitamins and minerals. I wrote a bit about liquid supplements at
http://www.pillfreesupplements.com/
Thanks again. I'll be sure to return often!

Posted May 08, 2008

luiyuming interesting piece! Posted May 07, 2008

beachbum_gabby thanks for the very nice and helpful tips. Posted April 27, 2008

MrCooker

Great great tips. And a very good explanation of things. I'm sure these will help me lose a few pounds

Posted April 26, 2008

WhippetTalk Great information. I'm going to implement some of this into my diet. Thank you! 5* Posted April 24, 2008

collagen Great lens I am sure will be helpful for many and solving problem for others. Keep up a good work. Health Beauty and Skin Care Posted April 17, 2008

Bethany

This is exactly what I've been looking f's almost identical to the diet my Dr. gave me! I've already lost nearly 50 lbs. but I seem to have plateaued, so I'm going to add some Green Tea & hot peppers to my diet. I'm already eating everything else listed plus doing strength training 4 days a week. Thanks for the tips, it was just what I was looking for!

Posted April 15, 2008

tom191085 Great lens. I've given it five stars and added you to my lensroll. I particularly like your section on metabolism raising foods. If you get a chance please check out my Free Fitness Tips lens which contains some related metabolism boosting tips. Posted March 24, 2008

Denise_RN An excellent lens, with easy to use methods that can be put into practice immediately. Five stars! Posted March 17, 2008

 

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