Have you ever wondered how to increase metabolism? Before I knew much about nutrition, I thought about this often because it made sense to me that there must be and of course I was in that constant obsessive thinking of what's the newest food fad I can try to reach my goals. Anything that seemed logical to me at the time, wasn’t. So, years later when I started learning about the science of food and weight loss, I was able to get to the bottom of what I thought years ago.
By eating low glycemic foods, we can boost our metabolism and create more energy due to something called the Thermogenic Effect. This is created by the heat certain foods cause once they reach our stomachs. Because of this heat the body is forced to work harder to process them, leading to an increase in metabolism, extra energy expenditure(or calorie burn) and optimal digestion. With this said, some foods can create more metabolic boosts than others. These food categories include lean proteins, vegetables and spices.
Chicken is one of the leanest meats and is high in protein, therefore an excellent thermogenic food. Chicken and other protein-packed lean meats burn a little more calories during the digestive process because our bodies need more energy to break down lean meats than carbohydrate or fat-rich foods do.
Fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines and mackerel, which are high in Omega-3 fatty acids, help to boost our metabolism and burn more calories during the digestion process than when processing carbs and fats. Although fish is typically not as high in protein as meat, is digests easily, creates the metabolism boost we’re looking for and increases energy.
Add spices like cayenne pepper, black pepper ,jalapenos, cumin, mustard seed, cinnamon and ginger to your foods, veggie shakes and teas to add a metabolic boost for the day.
So, remember that eating low glycemic foods that are lean, high in protein and low in carbohydrates can keep your body in fat burning mode as opposed to fat storage mode. In addition to that, by choosing some foods over others, you can create an additional boost in your metabolism and burn more calories throughout your day.