Food Choices Affect Metabolism

Metabolism, or the rate at which we burn calories, can be affected greatly by our food choices and how those foods are prepared.

Some foods require more energy to eat and digest than others.  The mere act of chewing foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean cuts of meat can increase your calorie burn by up to 30% and this is before your stomach and intestines even begin to do their jobs.  In a Japanese study, researchers found that women who ate the foods that required the most work had significantly slimmer waistlines than those who ate the softest, easiest-to-eat foods.

The 3 Types of Metabolism Boosting Foods

1. Hearty Foods: lean meats, nuts, whole fruits and vegetables, brown rice, beans, legumes and whole grains.  These foods are dense (and must be chewed) which makes the body work harder to digest them beginning in the mouth and then to the stomach and, eventually, through the intestines. Of course, these foods should be eaten in their "whole" state e.g. eat peanuts instead of peanut butter to maximize energy output.
2. Warming Foods:  garlic, vinegar, mustard, cinnamon, cloves, peppers and ginger.  These foods bind to nerve receptors and send fat-burning signals to your brain.  Chili peppers contain a substance called capsaicin which raises the heart rate and makes you feel warm as it brings about the chemical reaction that leads to fat burning.
3. Energizing Foods:  Coffee, dark chocolate and tea.  Each of these contains metabolism boosting caffeine.  Green tea doesn't have much caffeine but it does contain catechins, an antioxidant that raises resting metabolism by 4%.  Dark chocolate (preferably with a cocoa content of 70% or greater) contains both catechins and caffeine.

Ice water has been shown to have a positive effect on metabolism, as well, because the body burns extra calories to keep itself warm to offset the coldness of the beverage.

According to Prevention Magazine, protein boosts post-meal calorie burn by 25 to 30% and keeps you from quickly feeling hungry again.  Fruits and vegetables up your calorie burn by 20%. They're also lower in calories and higher in fiber than other carbs, so they digest more slowly to keep you full longer.  Foods high in fiber--whole grains, legumes, and starches such as potatoes and corn--fill you up faster and give you a 10% bump in calorie burn.

Refined and sugary foods take very little energy to digest.  They also encourage fat storage in the body due to the overproduction of insulin.  To keep metabolism and fat burning high, these foods should be limited:

• Fruit punch or fruit juice cocktails
• Soda
• Candy bars and candy
• Pasta
• White rice
• Ice cream 
• Sweetened cereals
• Bagels, muffins, doughnuts
• Sweet tea
• Refined bread
• French fries, potato chips
• Biscuits
• Cookies, pie, pastries

Now that we've detailed the foods that increase metabolism, we should be better able to make the right choices when it comes to meal preparation.  While combining lean protein and the right carbohydrates is easy to do, most people get bored with the same old combinations.  Or they don't have recipes that include metabolism boosting foods they never used before.  More and more, chefs and nutritionists are developing recipes which not only incorporate metabolism boosting foods but actually focus solely on those foods.   The recipes are not limited to entrees, either; drinks and desserts can contribute to fat burning, as well.  

Today, recipes are available that are designed to boost metabolism, keep us feeling full longer and help us be healthier.  As we begin to incorporate the creative side of healthy eating into our everyday lives, our bodies will surely benefit greatly.

To learn more about creative, metabolism boosting recipes, Click Here.

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