ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Metabolism is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. So, could revving up your metabolism with certain foods help you burn more calories? Ivanhoe breaks it down.
Exercise … eating right … and drinking enough water … there’s no magic bullet when it comes to weight loss.
“I just hear about myths around certain foods that can burn fat or promise the world to you,” said Tara Collingwood, RD, Dietician with Diet Diva.
While it’s your total daily calorie intake that matters most, some research shows what you eat can slightly affect your metabolism. For instance, your body uses the most energy to break down proteins, so you’ll burn more calories on a high-protein diet. This is called the thermic effect of food. And studies show processed foods take less energy to digest which means you burn fewer calories when you consume them.
“One of the best ways to eat for good energy throughout the day is to eat small, frequent,” continued Collingwood.
Protein-rich foods like meat, fish, eggs, nuts, and seeds could help increase your metabolism for a few hours. Research also shows compounds in chili peppers, green tea, and coffee may slightly boost metabolism as well. A recent study from Columbia University found having a hot beverage containing ginger powder with meals increased the thermic effect of food helping you to burn more calories. But remember, weight loss is a long-term plan that won’t happen by just adding certain foods to your diet.
“One of the things that I recommend when you’re trying to lose weight is the slower it comes off the more likely it is to stay off,” Collingwood explained.
Even if you incorporate these particular foods, you’re not likely to see results unless you also cut your overall daily calorie count. A well-rounded diet that includes proteins, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and beans is recommended to support a healthy metabolism.
Contributors to this news report include: Julie Marks, Producer; and Roque Correa, Editor.
REPORT #2907 FOODS TO MAXIMIZE METABOLISM … IN A HEALTHY WAY!
BACKGROUND: Metabolism is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. During this process, calories in food and beverages are combined with oxygen to release the energy your body needs to function. Even when your body is at rest, it needs energy to function for breathing, circulating blood, adjusting hormone levels, and growing and repairing cells. The number of calories your body uses to carry out these functions is known as basal metabolic rate. Because metabolism is a natural process, your body has many mechanisms that regulate it to meet your individual needs. While it’s true that some people can lose weight more quickly and easily than others, everyone loses weight when they burn up more calories than they eat.
(Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/metabolism/art-20046508)
FOOD AND METABOLISM: The digestion and processing of food, including carbs, proteins, and fats, require energy. Some foods take more energy to break down than others. For example, fat takes less energy to digest than proteins and carbs. A 2021 study determined that a high protein diet, consisting of 40% protein, produced higher total energy expenditure and increased fat burning, compared with a control diet that contained 15% protein. Compounds found in foods like chili peppers, green tea, and coffee may slightly boost metabolism. Studies show that consuming green tea catechin extract products may increase daily calorie expenditure by as much as 260 calories when paired with resistance exercise. One study showed that having a hot beverage containing ginger powder with meals may slightly increase the energy to digest food by about 43 calories per day. But this would have no significant effect on overall energy expenditure or weight loss.
NEW RESEARCH ON METABOLISM: New research shows evidence that age 60 is when metabolism starts to dip, which is far later than previously believed. “This data will help frame how people approach metabolic health going forward,” said Anthony Ferrante Jr., MD, a professor of medicine and chief of preventive medicine and nutrition at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. What they discovered were metabolic life stages that don’t necessarily line up with big milestones like puberty, pregnancy or menopause. Controlling for body fat and muscle percentage, women’s metabolisms were essentially the same as men’s. Within the larger population-based trends, individual metabolic rates varied significantly. Some subjects had rates 25 percent above average for their age, while others had rates 25 percent below average. Experts say these new understandings on metabolism will have implications beyond just weight control. For example, there may be applications for drug dosing as it relates to the rate at which your body breaks down medication. It might also change the way we treat diseases such as cancer. Herman Pontzer, an associate professor at Duke University says, “Tumor cells metabolize energy as they grow and divide. So cancer may progress differently in younger people with faster metabolisms compared to older people with slower metabolisms.”
(Source: https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2021/metabolism-research.html)
* For More Information, Contact:
Tara Collingwood, Public Relations
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