Foods that boost your metabolism
As you might expect, the foods you eat can have a pretty big impact on how your body functions.
Some foods are easier to digest than others, others keep you feeling full longer, others help build and repair muscle and others can cause rapid blood sugar swings that can affect how your body stores fat.
Well I’ve got a list of power-packed foods that can help give you a healthy, all-natural boost for your metabolism:
Protein-rich foods: Eating foods high in protein (meat, eggs, fish, legumes, tofu, etc.) rev up your metabolism because it takes more energy for your body to digest them.
This is called the thermic effect of food – different foods require more energy than others.
A bonus with protein is that you’ll be helping to build/ repair muscle and having more lean muscle will help keep your metabolism humming along.
Legumes: On top of containing plenty of plant-based protein, legumes (lentils, black beans, kidney beans, etc.) also contain resistant starch. That’s a form of fibre your body can’t digest.
Resistant starch can help improve your metabolism because it helps stabilise blood sugar and improve insulin sensitivity, both of which are key in fat storage.
Ginger: One study found that adding a heaping teaspoon (2 grams) of ginger powder to hot water and drinking it after breakfast raised metabolism – people burned about 43 extra calories AND they didn’t feel as hungry for the next three hours. How true this is, I don’t know, but ginger has such a wealth of benefits so it’s certainly one to add to your day.
Water: Drinking 2 cups of cold water temporarily boosts your metabolism by as much 30% for up to 40 minutes after you drink it. Much of the increase has to do with how hard your body works to warm up the water. Again, that thermic effect.
Chili peppers: Add some red pepper to your dinner to fire up your metabolism! Many studies have investigated supplements containing capsaicinoids, which is the component that gives chili peppers their 'heat'.
You can get some of the same benefits from food by adding the spicy peppers to your recipes. Throw them into some chili with black beans and turkey mince for a 1-2-3 metabolic punch. Boom!!
It’s important to know that none of these foods will suddenly make your body burn hundreds of extra calories a day ... but it’s pretty surprising how quickly layering in small, consistent changes can rev your daily burn!
I hope this list helps!
And, if you want to work on your metabolism more then come join me for my 5 day Metabolic Jumpstart programme. Learn the small nutrition, fitness, and lifestyle changes you need to make to fire up your energy burn. BONUS: these steps all work together to help you feel amazing!