Speeding up your metabolism gives you more energy, and enables you to burn more calories, lose fat and increase lean muscle tissue. Research has shown how exercise boosts metabolic rate, the rate at which your body uses energy. Some foods have a similar effect on metabolism and offer you an additional way to achieve weight-loss goals.
Food and Metabolism
The food you eat supplies the energy or calories required to keep your bodily processes functioning, including the metabolic process of digestion. When you eat, you are not only taking in calories, your body burns a percentage of them to fuel the digestive process. According to MayoClinic.com, digestion burns up approximately 10 percent of daily calories. Some foods take longer to digest and therefore increase your metabolic rate, causing you to burn more calories, including fat stores. Fruits and vegetables are among the foods that boost metabolism. The Harvard School of Public Health recommends 2 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups of fruits and vegetables each day, adjusted according to caloric needs. For example, a person who requires 2,000 daily calories to maintain weight should eat 2 cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables, for a daily total of 4 1/2 cups.
How Fruits and Vegetables Boost Metabolism
Fruits and vegetables contain dietary fiber, most of which passes through the digestive tract undigested. Fiber takes longer than other carbohydrates, such as sugar and starches, to transit your digestive tract. The longer it takes to metabolize food, the more calories and fat are burned up in the process. In addition, because fiber moves slowly through your system, you stay fuller longer.
Vitamin C, a component of some fruits, increases fat metabolism, according to Linda Quass, R.N. The citric acid in vitamin C prevents the accumulation of fat molecules by breaking them down and making it easier to flush them from your body. Quass recommends tomatoes, which contain vitamin C, as excellent fat burners. Other vegetables containing vitamin C include potatoes, carrots and sweet peppers.
Fruits and Vegetables that Boost Metabolism
Citrus fruits that boost your metabolic rate include oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, lemons and limes, says Quass. Among the best foods to boost metabolism, Laurie Hedlund, L.P.N., recommends dark green leafy vegetables and blueberries. Other fruits and vegetables that burn additional calories during the digestive process include apples, strawberries, grapes, pears, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, asparagus, spinach, celery and radishes.
Additional Metabolism Boosters
Like fiber, protein foods, such as lean meat, chicken and fish, digest slowly and boost metabolism. Protein plays a role in building muscle, which accelerates calorie-burning, according to Quass. Other foods that increase metabolism include oats, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds.
References
- MayoClinic.com; Metabolism and Weight Loss -- How You Burn Calories; October 2009
- Harvard School of Public Health: Vegetables and Fruits: Get Plenty Every Day
- American Diabetes Association: Carbohydrates
- Women, Menopause and Weight Loss; Foods that Burn Fat and Increase Metabolism; Linda Quass, R.N.
- ConsumerAffairs.com; Speed Up Your Metabolism; Laurie Hedlund, L.P.N.
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