Top 2 Metabolic Boosters: How to Increase Your Metabolic Rate Naturally

Metabolism is a general term that deals with the biological and chemical processes that your body's cells perform to maintain life. Generally speaking, it is the rate at which your body burns calories to sustain life.

There are three components that we can talk about here:

1. Basal metabolic rate (BMR) - is the calories that you burn just to keep you alive. On average, this amounts for about 60% of calories daily. Even if you don't move, you would still require these calories to support basic body functions. Depending on your genetics, age, and the amount of muscle this number varies. Muscle requires more energy to sustain itself than fat does, so two people of the same weight and height can have two different metabolic rates if one has a higher percentage of muscle mass.

2. Physical Activity - About 25% of your calories are spent for physical activity.

3. Digestion of Food - The rest 10% you need to digest and eliminate the food you eat. For example, if you eat 1800 calories a day, you should be burning 180 calories a day simply eating and digesting your food.

Peope often try to fix their problems by buying a product that will do it for them - in this case you may be looking for some magic pills or supplement formula to boost your metabolism.

However, there are many ways in which you can boost your metabolism naturally. Unfortunately, part of the aging process involves our metabolism slowing down - which is largely the reason why older people find it harder to keep weight off than when they were younger.

By far the best metabolism booster is exercise - it works wonders in increasing your metabolism and in conjunction with a range of metabolism boosting foods and supplements, you will be well on your way to the fastest metabolism possible!

Any exercise will work, however, probably the best type is the exercise that builds muscle, so invest in some ajustable dumbbells, or other exercise equipment for your home and start training!

The best exercises are short, intense and immensely efficient. Rather than focus all of your time and energy on workouts that are ineffective, you will be much better suited by exercising the right way.

Aerobic exercise, such as walking, running, swimming or cycling, has the added benefit of speeding up your metabolism for 4 to 8 hours after you stop exercising. This means, more calories will be burned long after you stop exercising.

Weight lifting, resistance or strength training, does not speed up your metabolism by itself, but it does burn fat and increase your lean muscle mass which increases your resting metabolic rate.

Fresh and raw (or very lightly cooked) vegetables, fruits, leafy greens, as well as legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds are best foods to improve your metabolic rate. These foods contain plenty of fiber, as well as nutrients that are vitally important for your health.

Fibrous vegetables, such as spinach and broccoli are some of the best metabolism boosters, as the body requires a lot of energy to digest fiber. As your body burns more calories to digest these foods, it in turn speeds up your metabolism. A very good reason to start eating your greens!

If you are not crazy about greens, don't worry! Simply adding green smoothies to your daily routine will do the trick. Read my lens about how to prepare low-fat smoothie recipes or visit greensmoothiespower.com for tips and recipes. Also read my recommendation for best blender for making smoothies

Lean meat is another one of the best metabolism boosters around. Some of the best lean meats for boosting your metabolic rate include turkey, chicken, eggs and fish. They also contain high vitamin B content - another metabolism booster.

Nuts and seeds work by providing you with the good fats that your body needs to be able to work properly - and are essential when you are exercising. The best nuts for metabolism boosting include almonds and sunflower seeds. The fats in these nuts work to suppress ghrelin - the hormone that tells you that you are hungry.