Many people have attempted to increase their metabolism as a way to lose weight easily. By increasing metabolism, energy is burned throughout the day, and less exercise is needed to achieve weight loss. Several methods can be used to increase your metabolism, such as exercise and eating patterns. By adding more protein to your diet in place of carbohydrates and fats, you can speed up your metabolism and burn more calories.
The Basics
Your metabolism is all of the chemical reactions and physical processes that keep you alive. This life-sustaining process consumes energy. Several factors affect rate of consumption, such as age, gender, diet and the muscle-to-fat ratio.
Protein to Increase Metabolism
One of the easiest ways to increase your metabolism is by swapping out carbs and fats for proteins that take more energy to digest. While the small increase in metabolism from the additional 25 percent of energy needed to digest proteins does not make a significant difference over the short term, the increase can make a big difference over time.
Sources of Protein
Protein is readily available in meat, dairy, legumes, nuts and grains. By avoiding high-fat foods and sticking with a high-protein diet, you can increase your metabolism greatly.
Risk of High Protein Diet
Although a high-protein diet is good for boosting your metabolism, it doesn't come without risks. In 2001, the American Heart Association released a statement saying that individuals on a very high protein diet might be at an increased risk for bone diseases. Patients with an existing kidney disease could make matters worse with a high protein diet.
Animal protein is high in sulfur-based amino acids, and those acids are believed to be the main cause of calcium loss. If the kidneys are not able to keep up with sulfur-based amino acids, the bones have to release calcium to reduce amino acid levels.
Patients suffering from a kidney disease should only consume half of the recommended daily amount of protein to avoid speeding up the progression of their illness by overwhelming the kidneys and decreasing their ability to filter substances properly.
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