7 Foods That Boost Your Metabolism

Water stimulates the metabolism.
Image from vibevixen.com

One of the best ways to ensure that your body keeps on burning excess calories instead of storing them as fat is to keep your metabolism going. Many of us have jobs where we sit all day (guilty), and that’s B-A-D for your body. There are lots of ways to keep your body active during a typical workday, but today I want to talk about the foods (and drinks) you can consume to help.

 Water—no joke, when you get dehydrated your body’s metabolism slows down. People who drink plenty of fluids every day tend to burn more calories than those who don’t.

Salmon—Foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids help our bodies build muscle. More muscle means more calories burned. Omega-3 is also thought to help reduce cortisol levels, which in turn would reduce how many calories our bodies convert to fat (this has not yet been proven).

Coffee—As long as you don’t overdo it, drinking coffee can be a great metabolic aid. Just one cup of coffee contains enough caffeine to speed up our metabolism by up to 15% and keep fat-storing processes at bay.

Hotter is better! Eat chili peppers to burn more calories.
Image from growers-market.org

Avocado—The essential oils, fats, and antioxidants present in avocados help keep our blood vessels healthy and inflammation down, meaning that our metabolism can function well. Avocados also have lots of fiber, which speeds up our metabolism as well.

Beans—Because our bodies have to work extra hard to process the fiber and resistant starch in beans, we burn more calories doing so. Studies suggest eating foods with high levels of resistant starch (beans, whole grains) can boost metabolism up to 24% throughout the day.

Chilies—Spicy foods that contain chilies also contain capsaicin, which boosts calorie burn. The hotter the better!

Green Tea—The combination of caffeine and antioxidants in green teas naturally stimulate our bodies and speed up our metabolism and increase fat burn. Various studies have suggested that drinking green tea on a regular basis can help people stay slim.

Green tea's antioxidants and caffeine can help us stay slim.
Image from bubblews.com

Other foods that you can eat to give your body a natural boost include almonds, apples, pears, broccoli, cinnamon, curry, grapefruit, lean meat, oatmeal, spinach, unsweetened soymilk, and yogurt. I don’t know about you all, but those are some of my favorite things to eat anyway!

For more information on these foods and others, check out “Surprising Foods That Fight Fat” on Health.com and “16 Foods that Naturally Boost Your Metabolism” on Organic Authority. I used both as sources.

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Why I Eat Whole Fats Over Sugar

I have a confession to make: I don’t buy “low fat” foods. Like, ever. I order my lattes with whole milk and I buy Greek yogurt at the store. When I read the labels on the back of my food, I look for one thing above all else—and unlike many people, it’s not the amount of fat or calories. It’s the sugar content.

Image from pcmlifestyle.com
Low fat options usually include more sugar

Certainly, I look at other things besides the sugar content (ingredients list and sodium come next), but that’s where I start. As someone who tries to be conscientious about my health and what I feed my body, I find that my main concern when choosing food is how much sugar I’m putting into my body.

Why? Fat has for a considerable amount of time been labeled as the culprit for making people… well, fat. That claim certainly has some basis to it. Fat contains more calories per gram than sugar does and it’s very nutrient dense, which means that large amounts of it can reside in small amounts of food.

That can be both good and bad. “Good” fats reside in many natural foods, like nuts, avocados, seeds, and dairy products. Our bodies need fat to function properly because it helps protect our hearts and organs, feeds our metabolism, and gives us energy. These natural fats also help sustain our bodies for longer and fill us up faster, which means that we can eat smaller portion sizes and last longer on them.

Image from freegreatpicture.com
Nuts contain natural "good" fats that our bodies need

Sugars can also occur naturally, but that’s not usually what I’m looking for when I read labels. I’m looking for added sugars, like high fructose corn syrup. It’s in an astounding amount of foods (Did you know ketchup has it? How about most Chinese foods?). Unfortunately, the more sweet foods we eat, the more we seem to crave sugar—and unlike natural fats, these calories are empty.

It’s not just a little sugar, either. An Arizona Raspberry Iced Tea contains 66 grams of sugar in a single can. Most sodas have similar amounts. These things often don’t fill us up, either, which means we eat several hundred calories’ worth of sugar only to get hungry again shortly.

Furthermore, daily consumption of sugar forces our bodies to constantly release insulin to manage blood-sugar levels and the storage of sugar. Besides having excess sugar turned into stored (bad) fat, sugar also causes a number of other health problems like tooth decay, iron and magnesium deficiencies, arthritis, sleep problems, digestive problems, and weight gain.

Of course, fat isn’t all good. If you gorge yourself on avocados, nuts, or coconut oil, you’ll probably gain some weight. But the point is, you’re less likely to do that than to overindulge on sugary foods.

Image from sugarstacks.com
Sugar is packed into sweet snacks like soda

One last thought: fat often helps give our foods flavor and substance. For example, I don’t like skim milk in part because it just tastes like water with a tiny bit of milk flavor mixed in. When you take that fat out, most of the time it ends up being replaced with something. Any guesses what that might be?

Bingo. It’s sugar, all right. Low-fat varieties of coffee creamers, flavored milk, and even yogurt often have higher sugar content than whole-fat ones. In my mind, I figure that while one may be higher in fat (and even calories), if it keeps me full for longer, I’ll be less likely to get hungry and have to snack before my next meal.

I don’t deny that there’s merit in watching our fat intake, and I do so especially with processed fats. But I do think that the mentality that “fat” is the main culprit for weight gain is a false one. In our sweet-toothed country, I point my finger at sugar.

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Have a Happy, Healthy Valentine’s Day

Image from plottingprincesses.blogspot.com

Holidays are the death of healthy eating. We’ve developed a habit of wanting to celebrate by eating sugary, fatty, unhealthy food—under the assumption that if it tastes good, it must not be good for you. Wrong! Some of my favorite foods are also incredibly healthy. Consider these fun Valentine’s Day themed food treats this year as an alternative to the traditional candy and sugar overload:

Smooties: Combine your favorite berries with yogurt to make a healthy treat. If it’s ice cream you’re craving, use frozen berries!

Fruit Bars: Blend together strawberries and bananas, then freeze them onto popsicle sticks. Give it a few hours, and then you’ll have a fresh, frozen treat!

Image from wholefoodsmarket.com

Fruit Kabobs: Pick out three or four of your favorite pink and red fruits, then cut them up and make kabobs out of them. If you’re feeling really indulgent, get some pure dark chocolate and melt it for dipping sauce.

Chocolate Avocado Pudding: Sounds strange, but I’ve heard nothing but good things. This recipe calls for avocado, banana, cocoa powder, dates, and vanilla extract—that’s it! Top with a few raspberries or strawberries to brighten it up.

Watermelon Hearts: Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut watermelon into tiny hearts or use a paring knife to do the same to strawberries. Serve with a tiny bit of fresh whipping cream.

Tomato Tarts: If you want something a bit more savory, try these heart-shaped tomato tarts. All you need is puff pastry, Dijon mustard, and tomatoes.

Image from uniqueandamazing.blogspot.com

Love Day Punch: To avoid sugary drinks, try making a healthier version using cranberry juice and seltzer water. You can even make heart-shaped ice cubes using pink lemonade or add fresh fruit.

Do you have any other healthy Valentine’s Day treats you’ll be trying at home this year? I plan on making the chocolate avocado pudding, hands down. If you have any other ideas or recipes, please feel free to share them here! Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

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15 Cleanest Foods to Buy

Image from rockislandfarm.blogspot.com
Onions are the least likely to be contaminated with pesticides

In my last post, I talked about foods that were best when bought organic because of the high occurrence of pesticides found in them. That list included popular fruits and veggies like apples, strawberries, and spinach (read the full article here!). Pesticide contamination for apples was around 98%, and some other food items were likely to be contaminated with dozens of chemicals and pesticides of varying toxicity. On celery and strawberries, one sample revealed the presence thirteen different pesticides on each. Yikes!

But enough about the contaminated foods. You can read aboutthat in the other post. Here I wanted to talk about the 15 cleanest foods to buy. These are the foods that, if you can’t afford to buy everything organic, are much less likely to be contaminated with pesticides in their non-organic forms. Here are the “Clean 15” as provided by the Environmental Working Group (EWG):

Image from iloveorganicgirl.com
Some non-organic foods are cleaner than others

1. Onions
2. Sweet Corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Cabbage
6. Sweet Peas
7. Asparagus
8. Mangoes
9. Eggplant
10. Kiwi
11. Cantaloupe (domestic)
12. Sweet Potatoes
13. Grapefruit
14. Watermelon
15. Mushrooms

Image from alwatermelon.org
Watermelon is among the cleanest of produce

If you can’t afford to buy all produce organic, these are the safest produce items to purchase non-organic varieties of. The health risks from consumption of pesticide-contaminated foods are grave. Because health risks depend on the amount of pesticides consumed and the toxicity of individual pesticides, avoiding the most contaminated foods while eating more of the least contaminated foods will help keep you out of harm’s way. 

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