Maintaining a Healthy Metabolism Rate
Understanding how to boost your metabolism
Metabolism is a commonly found term in health magazines, health and lifestyle journals, health blogs, school science textbooks, health commercials, and also on television commercials of energy booster drinks!
Why it's so important for your body? Do you always worry about amping up your metabolic rate? Have doubts about maintaining a good metabolic rate after a certain age or during old age? If the answer to any or all of these questions is yes, then you have come to the right place.
The process of converting food into energy for each body cell to function and operate is known as metabolism. Metabolism is a chain of chemical reactions happening in each cell of the body. Metabolism takes place in the body in two ways.
- Catabolism - The breakdown of food to obtain energy for bodily functions.
- Anabolism - The synthesis of all compounds needed by the body's cells.
Each organ in our body needs nutrients from the food we eat to function properly. Metabolism is closely linked to the availability of nutrients. Thus, having a healthy metabolism or metabolic rate is vital. To put it simply, the metabolic rate or rate of metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories per unit of time.
A derivative term of this is BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). BMR is the amount of energy used by a body during the state of rest. Almost 70 percent of the energy is used due to the basal life processes, such as:
- Breathing
- Blood circulation
- Nutrient processing
- Body cell production
Another 20 percent of energy is used in physical activities and lastly, 10 percent is used in food digestion. Since metabolism is the most essential process to maintain life inside each cell of our body, it is of utmost importance to know and maintain your body's metabolism at all ages of life.
Metabolism is affected and determined by a lot of factors, including the following aspects.
- Sex
- Weight
- Height
- Age
- Ethnicity
- Weight history
- Body composition
- Genetic factors
- Hormone function
- Physical activity levels
Since metabolism is affected by the above factors, a change in body composition or weight will trigger changes in it. Thus, weight loss and muscle gain are the best and most natural ways to change or improve your metabolic rate. Resistance training can improve lean body mass composition and maintain fat mass reduction, increasing BMR.
Ways to improve and increase your body metabolism
Eating protein-rich diets
Protein is the most complex compound to digest and thus utilizes a lot of energy to burn as compared to carbs or fats. Proteins are expected to increase the metabolic rate by 15-30 percent, as compared to 5-10 percent for carbs and 0-3 percent for fats.
Drinking lots of water
We all know that drinking lots of water helps in losing weight faster than drinking any other packaged juices or drinks. It also protects from getting dehydrated. Drinking eight glasses of water daily is said to improve metabolism by 10-30 percent.
Doing high-intensity interval workouts
Exercising regularly by including high-intensity interval workouts will help lose fat and gain muscle mass which will change your body composition and as a result, trigger your metabolism.
Our body is generally in the calorie-burning stage even after we have finished working out. That's the simple reason most gym trainers and dieticians suggest eating a high-protein diet after workouts.
Stand up more
Sitting continuously for long periods is bad for your health, especially your metabolism. When working from home, almost everyone is a slave to lethargy and working from the comfort of couches and beds, thus disrupting physical health to extremes.
Standing up during breaks or walking in between work can help channel the metabolic rate in a better direction.
Getting enough sleep
Taking full 7-8 hours of sound sleep is always recommended for the better functioning of all aspects of mental and physical well-being.
Since sleeplessness triggers the hunger hormone ghrelin and decreases the fullness hormone leptin, it can cause obesity and thus lead to lower metabolic rates. Hence, the more sleep-deprived you are, the less metabolic rate you will have.
Dietary rules to maintain healthy metabolism
In such modern times, when each individual is so careful of their body weight and age, every other person wants to be fit and feel young, have glowing skin, and fewer health issues; metabolism is the only integral aspect one needs to keep in mind for achieving all of that.
Since age is an important factor that determines and affects the metabolic rate of a person, it becomes crucial to know how to regulate it positively.
Since metabolism is the process of energy production from the food one eats. Hence, the quality and type of food is the most important factor directly affecting the rate of metabolism. Having a healthy meal thrice a day will positively affect your metabolic rate.
Let us discuss some dietary tips to increase and improve metabolism.
Protein
As stated earlier, you must rely on protein to boost your metabolic rate. When you consume protein-rich foods like fish, eggs, pulses, nuts, and seeds, you significantly improve your metabolic rate. These food items should be part of your diet daily.
Green tea or oolong tea
Green and oolong tea have shown to increase the metabolic rate by 4-5 percent. They help in weight loss and weight maintenance as well.
Pepper
Eating spicy foods such as pepper which contains capsaicin, boosts metabolism.
Black coffee
Drinking black coffee which contains caffeine helps cut down weight as well as boosts metabolism by 3-11 percent.
Coconut water
Coconut water contains bio-active enzymes which aid in digestion as well as metabolism. Avoid tetra packs and opt for fresh ones.
Coconut oil
Coconut oil contains medium-chain fats which increases metabolism by 12 percent as compared to high chain-fats found in other cooking oils and butter.
Apple cider vinegar
Consuming apple cider vinegar is a natural and healthy way to improve metabolism and suppress feelings of hunger. Moreover, it also helps in weight loss. Having a spoonful of it in half a glass of water once or twice a week will do wonders.
Lemon water
Lemon water is the best morning routine to adopt. Having it on an empty stomach first thing in the morning will recharge and detoxify the body. Lemon has high metabolism-boosting properties, so intake lemon as much as possible in your diet.
Ginger
Ginger is believed to have metabolism-boosting properties. Thus having ginger tea, and ginger powder in hot water and involving fresh ginger in meals will help boost metabolism.
Iron, zinc, and selenium
Iron, zinc, and selenium-rich foods help in the proper functioning of the thyroid gland, which regulates metabolism. Thus eating iron, zinc, and selenium-rich foods is important.
Bottom Line
Including these aforementioned food items in your diet will benefit your metabolic health. Some lucky individuals have naturally high metabolic rates and so they don't have to work out so hard or keep a check on their diet as often as most of us.
Nothing too much is ever good. Having a naturally fast metabolic rate comes with its own pros and cons. Losing excessive weight, being fatigued, or being anemic is a health problem and should be consulted with a medical practitioner as soon as possible.
So if you've reached here, that means you now know about body metabolism, metabolic rate, and the ways to keep it at good levels. So, keep practicing these healthy habits and lead a good life
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