Tag: metabolism

According to Wikipedia, Metabolism is the set of life-sustaining quemical reactions. The three main purposes of metabolism are: the conversion of food to energy to run cellular processes; the conversion of food/fuel to building blocks for proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and some carbohydrates; and the elimination of nitrogenous wastes. These enzyme-catalyzed reactions allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments.

It occurs within each one of the 50-100 trillion cells of our body and it looks something like this:

Yes, it is complicated but we can just say that what metabolism does is:

TURN FOOD INTO ENERGY & NEW CELLS

The intensity of your metabolism depends on many factors.

The faster (more intense) it is, the more calories you burn.

The Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the amount of calories you burn in a day at rest. And there are many ways to accelerate it.

Burning calories faster, will help you successfully control and maintain your weight in the long term and, it will ultimately have a positive influence on your overall health.

So, here are some ways you can boost your metabolism:

EAT BREAKFAST EVERY DAY

By skipping breakfast, you send a signal of hunger to your body, and your body responds by spending less energy (burning less calories) to protect itself from “starvation”.

And how does it protect itself? By segregating hormones that hinder metabolism and prevent the loss of energy carriers (fat and sugar), which leads to an increase in body fat deposits.

EAT SEVERAL TIMES A DAY

Having five or six small meals a day will help you prevent hunger, they will lower blood sugar levels and they will boost your metabolism.

If you only eat two or three larger meals a day, this will decelerate your metabolism, it will increase the pressure in the digestive system and result in only partial assimilation of food.

EXERCISE DAILY

All kinds of exercise are good (swimming, walking, jogging, cycling, fitness) if you do it for enough time (30 to 60 minutes a day) and with enough intensity.

You can easily boost your metabolism with exercise because muscles burn 6 times more calories than fat when they are at rest … and up to 300 times more during exercise.

DRINK ENOUGH WATER

Remember the entire metabolic process is carried out in a liquid medium. So, taking at least 10-12 glasses of water a day will help your digestion, it will improve cleansing the body of waste and it will accelerate your metabolism.

Avoid carbonated sugary drinks, as they damage your teeth and bones and promote weight gain.

EAT HEALTHY FOOD

Eat unprocessed natural foods: vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, eggs, fish, lean meats…

Select foods with lower glycemic index and higher nutritional value.

Avoid industrialized foods and artificial flavors & colors.

HAVE A LIGHT DINNER

Have dinner two hours before going to bed so that the food will leave your stomach and go to your small intestine. Otherwise, instead of getting digested, it will decompose during the night.

Avoid all simple carbohydrates (sugars) after 5 PM.