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Boosting Metabolism
Boosting metabolism should be a major concern if you are interested in losing weight. Metabolism refers to your body's use of food to release energy. The body needs energy ALL the time in order for you to stay alive. If you have an active metabolism then you are releasing energy from your food at a high rate. You can think of this as being a controlled burning reaction, the food that is not burned is deposited as fat, this is why your metabolic rate has such an important bearing upon your weight.
An important way of boosting metabolism is to increase your muscle mass because muscle cells have high metabolic activity. Keeping well hydrated will aid your metabolism because the efficient operation of your body's chemical processes depends upon a sufficient supply of water.
Although it seems to defeat the object of weight loss, actually eating more is another way of boosting metabolism but the key is to eat SMALL amounts of HEALTHY food more often. If you don't eat much then your metabolism goes down because the cells lower their metabolic rate to conserve energy. This is sometimes called starvation mode. This mode is how your body would behave if there were a famine. Cells don’t work as well in starvation mode. This is why it is important to eat breakfast each day. Spicy foods have been shown to help in boosting metabolism, sugary foods lower it.
If you are stressed an increased level of a hormone called cortisol lowers your metabolism, we are also more likely to eat less healthily when we are stressed. Learning a relaxation technique would be useful. Sleep is also good for boosting metabolism. Eight or nine hours are best for most people.
Keeping active is important for boosting metabolism especially as you get older and your metabolism naturally slows down. Walking is one of the best ways of staying active. As mentioned above muscle-building exercises are also important in addition to an aerobic exercise like walking. Whatever age you are, if you do these exercise your metabolism will slowly increase as the cells in your body consume more as they become more active. If you exercise on a REGULAR basis your metabolism will naturally function better.
By John Kirkham
An important way of boosting metabolism is to increase your muscle mass because muscle cells have high metabolic activity. Keeping well hydrated will aid your metabolism because the efficient operation of your body's chemical processes depends upon a sufficient supply of water.
Although it seems to defeat the object of weight loss, actually eating more is another way of boosting metabolism but the key is to eat SMALL amounts of HEALTHY food more often. If you don't eat much then your metabolism goes down because the cells lower their metabolic rate to conserve energy. This is sometimes called starvation mode. This mode is how your body would behave if there were a famine. Cells don’t work as well in starvation mode. This is why it is important to eat breakfast each day. Spicy foods have been shown to help in boosting metabolism, sugary foods lower it.
If you are stressed an increased level of a hormone called cortisol lowers your metabolism, we are also more likely to eat less healthily when we are stressed. Learning a relaxation technique would be useful. Sleep is also good for boosting metabolism. Eight or nine hours are best for most people.
Keeping active is important for boosting metabolism especially as you get older and your metabolism naturally slows down. Walking is one of the best ways of staying active. As mentioned above muscle-building exercises are also important in addition to an aerobic exercise like walking. Whatever age you are, if you do these exercise your metabolism will slowly increase as the cells in your body consume more as they become more active. If you exercise on a REGULAR basis your metabolism will naturally function better.
By John Kirkham
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