|  | Diet Nutrition | Weight Control

Foods That Speed Up the Digestive System

The body's digestive system settles into its own pace when metabolizing daily food intakes. The types of food and the amount of exercise a person gets play a pivotal role in determining how fast the digestive system works. Certain fat-burning and "negative calorie" foods can be incorporated into the diet to help increase the body's metabolism rates.

  1. Fat-Burning Foods

    • The digestive system follows a certain order of events that rely on chemicals and hormones to assist in the breakdown of food materials. Fat-burning foods are known for their ability to promote the chemical and hormone secretions that speed metabolism along according to Fit FAQ, a nutrition resource site. For example, fish such as tuna, salmon and sardines contain omega-3 fatty acids, which affect how the body secretes a hormone called leptin. Leptin levels in the bloodstream affect how the body burns calories. The more leptin that's present, the less calories the body burns. Other foods known to increase metabolism rates include spicy foods, foods with a high calcium content and liquids such as coffee, green tea and black tea.

    Negative Calorie Foods

    • The digestive system actually uses energy to metabolize food materials, and any process that uses energy burns calories. Negative calorie foods are known for their ability to make the body work during the digestion process, yet contain fewer calories than the amount burned off during digestion, according to Fit FAQ. In effect, the body ends up drawing from its own fat or energy reserves in order to metabolize a negative calorie food. In addition, some of these foods also stimulate the chemicals and hormones that speed up metabolism processes. Negative calorie foods include a variety of fruits and vegetables, such as broccoli, celery, onions, green beans, grapefruit, apples and oranges. In effect, the digestive system can be speeded up considerably on a diet made up of both fat-burning and negative calorie foods.

    Eating Patterns

    • The body's metabolism processes naturally settle into its own rhythm based on the types of food a person eats and how often he eats, according to the Consumer Affairs resource site. The old saying, "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" bears witness to how the digestive system makes the most of what it has when a person skips breakfast. A missed or skipped meal prompts the body to slow metabolism processes in order to make what nutrients it has available for use. On the other hand, eating small portions throughout the day speeds up digestion processes since needed nutrient supplies are present. In effect, a person can significantly speed up his digestive system by including fat-burning and negative calorie meals within a six-meal-a-day plan of small-portioned meals.

Weight Control - Related Articles