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What comes to mind when you think about metabolism? Do you only think about it when you are trying to lose weight? Although most people only think about their metabolism rate when they are trying to slim down, you really should be in tune with your rate at all times. This way you can keep it at it’s highest level all day so that it is burring calories efficiently.

When people notice that their metabolism had slowed down they will often start doing a search for the latest and greatest weight loss pill that promises that their body will become a fat fueling furnace. Unfortunately either the product does not work as claimed or the side effects outweigh the results.

Instead of looking for pills or potions we should be looking at our current and past diets to see where how can improve what and when we eat. In the past have you been into fad diets? A fad diet may be popular and it may give excellent results but the weight slowly returns. Fad diets often leave out one food group or restricts it’s use greatly – think low carb or no carb diets. It may sound good at the time but in the long run it slows down your metabolism and causes you to start gaining weight when just a bit of this “forbidden” food is added back into the diet.

So how can food help us boost our metabolism?
You are probably already familiar with the term “starvation mode”. This is when you cut back so severely on calories that your body slows down all calorie burning and holds on to as much fat as it can because it believes that it is literally being slowly starved. So in order to have your body believe that food is plentiful you should be feeding it often. Sounds easy doesn’t it? Well, it’s really not that easy, because we all know that if we over eat we become fat so here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Try to keep your stomach always digesting food. This is easy accomplished with eating 6 smaller meals every day instead of 3 large meals. By this I mean to eat a bit less for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then have 3 healthy snacks in between.
Try to eat the food in it’s most natural state. Instead of drinking juice, eat the whole fruit instead. A glass of orange juice has approximately 100 calories and very little fiber. By eating an orange which has only 85 calories and much more fiber keeping your stomach feeling fuller longer and since it contains more fiber the sugar will get digested more slowly so that you don’t have a spiking of blood sugar.

Increase the amount of fiber you eat daily. Your body uses a lot more calories to burn a high fiber food then it does for a low fiber food. When you have a choice of white flour breads or pasta choose 100% whole grain products. These will not only cause your body to burn more calories to digest but also like the whole fruit keep your body working longer to digest them so that your body does not believe it is going into starvation mode and your metabolism will stay high.

Choose your fat wisely. Fat is not your enemy, it is needed by the body to keep up with normal bodily functions. Instead of eating fried foods or processed foods with additional fats saturated or trans fats added choose low fat dairy products, lean meats, fish or use a small amount of olive oil on your salad. Like fiber, having fat in your diet will keep you feeling satisfied and not hungry.

If you follow the above tips daily you will be keeping your metabolism rate high and you will be training your body to utilize food more efficiently. This will in turn will help you burn more calories every day and you will find that you can “cheat” every once in a while a not have to worry about the scale always creeping up. It will also help you keep your weight in check so that you don’t have a need to look for the latest fad diet or diet pills.

Do you know that sometimes weight loss is not only associated to exercise and diet?
Sometimes it’s also about our metabolism or our ability to digest food and turn it into energy.
However there are some individuals that have hereditary or health problems that alter their metabolism to a faster or slower level.

But normal people should be able to alter it easily. Metabolism is usually dictated by lifestyle and if you know what lifestyle change you need to do, you can easily alter your metabolism to lose weight quicker. Before we can change our metabolism we should know its basic components.

It is made up of several components:

1. Movement and Physical Work – 25% of your daily caloric expenditure is used for movement and physical activity.

2. Basal metabolism – 60-65% of daily caloric expenditure are spent on basic bodily functions to keep you alive. This means that even if you sleep and sit around all day you still need 60% of your normal food intake just to get you going.

3. Heating Effect of food – 10% of your daily caloric expenditure is spent digesting the food you eat. A simple example would be, if you eat 2000 calories a day, you should be burning 200 calories a day simply eating and digesting your food.

Increasing Your Basal Metabolism
Metabolism is usually genetic, but you can increase your basal metabolism by building muscle. Muscle cells can be eight times more metabolically efficient than fat cells and they also burn more calories than fat. Of course the best way to increase muscle is to lift free weights or through strength training with exercise machines.

Good metabolism also entails complex bodily processes that rely on supplements and vitamins. These substances are extremely important to correct any imbalances your body may have.
Finally, dehydration also contributes to an inefficient metabolism, by affecting body temperature. When you are dehydrated, your body temperature lowers a bit and causes your body to store fat to raise or maintain temperature. This is why you can sometimes break through a weight loss plateau just by increasing your water intake.

Make sure you drink enough liquids, preferably at least 64 ounces of water per day, to avoid this metabolic pitfall.

Increasing the Heating Effect of Food
Resting metabolic rate typically increases as much as two to three times more after eating proteins versus carbohydrates and fats. Complex, high-fiber carbohydrates like high-fiber vegetables and cereals burn more calories than simple carbohydrates. You can increase the heating effect on metabolism by eating a lot of quality protein, high-fiber fruits and vegetables, with occasional high-fiber grains.

Increasing Physical Exertion
Aerobic exercises that increase the heart rate can raise metabolism while you’re exercising. Some experts believe that aerobic exercise also boost resting metabolism for several hours, because muscles burn calories to recover and grow.

The Hypothyroidism-Metabolism Problem
If you have an undiagnosed hypo-thyroidism, or your illness is not treated properly by your doctor, almost anything you do to raise your metabolism will fail.
So the first, essential step is to get a thyroid test. And if you have been tested and already being treated, you need to make sure your treatment is optimized; including the proper medicine and dosage, as well as supplements to support your thyroid function.

Exercise + Diet = Weight Loss

Long-term weight loss doesn’t happen without a combination of exercise and decreased calorie intake. It’s much easier to add exercise to your day to burn extra calories then it is to try and lose weight just by cutting back your calorie count

In the end however, people lose weight because their calorie intake is less than their calorie burn. You pick the diet that works best for your life-style and beliefs.

The downside to diet only is that your body goes into starvation mode with a decreased calorie intake. This means your metabolism slows dramatically and doesn’t increase when your calorie intake goes up. That is why it is so easy to gain weight once you’ve stopped dieting.

On the other hand exercise can trick the body into keeping your metabolism higher and thus stops the yo-yo effect of diet, gain weight, diet, gain weight.

Exercise also has some degree of flexibility. There are some basic rules however, to choosing an exercise program designed to help you lose weight. The greater the amount of weight you have to lose the more flexible your initial exercise program can be.

People who are more than moderately over weight can begin an exercise program using brisk walking or easy bike riding while still burning enough calories. As a person loses more weight it becomes more important to maintain exercise over a period of 30-40 minutes that keeps your heart rate elevated.

Swimming can be a good overall exercise that uses many of the body’s muscles continuously. Fast walking, jogging, resistance training, biking and elliptical trainers all provide exercise that raises your heart rate and that can be done for extended periods of time.

The trick is to pick an exercise program that you can maintain. Choosing a program that looks good on television or promises extensive weight loss won’t work if it stays in the box or on the shelf. It is easier to go for a brisk walk each night for 40 minutes, which requires little to no special equipment purchase, than to engage in a difficult routine that may require sport specific equipment.

It may take you several different tries before you find an exercises workout for you-but don’t get frustrated. Each time you try a new exercise routine you work different parts of your body and it gets you so much closer to a healthy and fit body.

Although we all know that we need some type of cardio daily, we often don’t have time to go to a gym or may live in a neighborhood where jogging isn’t safe.

Have you though about jumping rope?

Jump Ropes don’t take up space- Not like bulky gym equipment or bicycles. They can also easily fit in your suit case whilst you are traveling if there is no gym in the hotel you are staying at.
It can be done indoor or outdoors- If it is raining, as long as your ceilings are high enough, you can jump rope in your lounge room.

It can be good for cross-training- Many sports stars jump rope as a form of cardio training different to their regular training.

It is one of the larger calorie burning cardio exercises- With jumping rope, you can burn up to 1000 calories an hour.

It also works out your muscles- Jumping rope works out every muscle group in the body, making it a more effective full body workout than cardio exercises like cycling.

Jumping rope is good for both men and women as it burns calories, strengthens muscles (but doesn’t overly bulk you up) and you can fit it into your lifestyle. Just jump rope 5 minutes here and there and you can easily get an excellent workout.

If you are concerned about losing fat, the newest jump ropes track calories burned and keeps track of time jumped. This makes it easy to track your progress.

If you haven’t jumped rope since you were a kid, then get back into it and you’ll see that not only is is fun but will help you reach your fitness goals.

It is recommended that we all consume 30-35 grams of fiber a day. This will help keep our weight down and also is good for colon health. If you have been thinking about dextoxing or using a colon cleaner, you can avoid the need by making sure that you have enough fiber and water intake daily.

1. Fiber can actually help with overeating. High fiber foods will take longer to chew and digest, making you feel satisfied longer. Try oatmeal for breakfast. It will keep you full and is better for you than sugary cereals or energy drinks.

2. Most popular foods don’t have enough fiber. If you like the more popular foods, you probably need to increase your intake of fiber. Think fast food, many tv dinners and snack food- they all all low in fiber.

3. 100% Whole Grains offer the most fiber. Dietary fiber is actually plant matter that we cannot digest. The best sources are whole grains and concentrated grain products.

4. Kids need fiber as well. Children that are older than 2 years of age should consume a daily intake of fiber. Kids are most receptive to fiber found in fruits, vegetables, and even fortified breakfast cereals.

5. More fiber needs more water. In order to keep fiber moving through your digestive tract, you’ll
need to consume a lot of water. With your diet of fiber, you’ll need eight or more glasses of water every day.

If you have been eating a diet low in fiber, be sure to increase your fiber intake gradually and als increase your water consumption other wise you might get constipated.

Happy Eating!