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Healthy Ways to Boost Metabolism

Many pills on the market promise to boost your metabolism, burn more fat or burn it quicker, and transform you into a calorie machine that allows you to eat as much as you want and still lose weight. While some of those pills do have a slight effect on metabolic rates, most come with serious side effects, such as an erratic heartbeat and high blood pressure. Instead of risking your health to boost your metabolism, do it the natural way.

  1. Diet

    • Meals that are high in sugars and fats slow you down, while those that combine healthy whole grains with lean protein produce a boost of energy and help you fight fatigue. B vitamins and magnesium are both needed for the metabolism to work properly, so consider increasing your intake of spinach, broccoli, soy, oatmeal and nuts. Spicy foods also seem to raise metabolism, as do green tea, coffee and ginseng.

      When you eat also impacts your metabolism. Starving yourself during a diet, for example, slows down your metabolism since the body tries to preserve energy by burning fat as slowly as possible. In fact, any diet that puts your caloric intake under 1,000 calories will give your body the idea that you're starving and slow down your metabolism. The same thing happens when you skip breakfast or spend more than four hours without eating anything. On the other hand, eating small, frequent meals--as many as six a day--will boost metabolism and help you burn fat faster and more effectively. Keep your meals small--about the size of a fist.

      Water also boosts metabolism since it is an essential part of the energy burning process. Cold water is better, since your body will burn more calories trying to heat it.

    Exercise

    • Cardio exercise is good for health and weight loss, but weight training is what effectively increases metabolism. This is because muscle takes more energy to maintain than fat, causing the body to work harder and burn more calories. This happens even when the body is at rest. Exercising in the morning will keep your metabolism raised throughout the day.

      Interval training is especially good for increasing metabolic rate. Interval mixes high intensity bursts of exercise with longer periods of lower-intensity exercise, and is good for teaching the body to use oxygen and energy more efficiently.

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