5 Foods to Boost Your Metabolism

Read Time: 3 Minutes

If you're trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy body weight, you've likely heard of the term "metabolism." Your metabolism is essentially the process by which your body converts food into energy, and it plays a crucial role in determining how many calories you burn each day. While there are many factors that can impact your metabolism, including genetics, age, and lifestyle, there are also certain foods that have been shown to boost it. In this article, we'll take a look at six such foods:

1. Lean protein

Lean protein is by far the best food source to increase your metabolism. During protein metabolism, there is a thermic effect (TEF) that actually heats your body up. Ever go too hard at a barbecue and end up with the meat sweats? Congratulation, you just increased your metabolism. While all foods have a TEF, lean protein has up to six times greater than carbohydrates and ten times greater than fats. Eating a high-protein diet (≥0.8g per pound of bodyweight) may be necessary to achieve a meaningful change.

2. Green tea

Green tea is loaded with antioxidants and other compounds that have been shown to boost metabolism. Specifically, green tea contains a compound called EGCG, which has been shown to increase metabolism by up to 4%. However, dosages necessary too cause a meaningful change are roughly 10 times the amount of EGCG found in a cup of green tea. This will mean you either need to drink a ton of tea or will have to find a reputable supplement to reach these amounts. Interestingly, when paired with caffeine, there is a compounding effect on metabolism.

3. Coffee

Well, caffeine in general will boost your metabolism. But, coffee includes several nutraceuticals that have other effects on health. Caffeine is a stimulant, which will have a direct effect on your metabolism. There is a possibility of building a tolerance to it’s effects, but taking a break for a week seems too re-sensitize your system. However, despite common lore, there are actually benefits of regular coffee consumption that decrease or disappear when you “cycle off”. Getting 400mg of caffeine (~5 shots of espresso) is a safe amount with generally no negative effects and has a greater effect when split into two doses.

4. Nuts and Seeds

Nuts and seeds are a great source of the mineral selenium. While this may not have a direct effect on increasing your metabolism like other foods, it is a necessary micronutrient for proper thyroid function. The thyroid is an endocrine organ, which means it secretes hormones. Specifically, it secretes hormones that regulate your metabolism. That is why individuals diagnosed with hyper and hypothyroidism often have difficulty related to weight gain and loss. The easiest way to get your dose of selenium is to eat a couple Brazil nuts each day.

5. Water

While not a food, drinking water can also help boost metabolism. Studies have shown that drinking water can temporarily increase metabolism by up to 30-40%, specifically cold water. Your body likes to maintain it’s temperature. We often think about that in regards to sweating. But downing 16 to 20 ounces of cold water will signal to your body that it needs to turn on the heat. Granted, this is only temporary but if it happens every time you drink water you’ll get quite a few bumps as you hit the goal of 0.5 ounces per pound of bodyweight.

So there you go, five foods (and drinks) that will help boost your metabolism. Of course, it's important to remember that no single food or nutrient can work miracles on its own. Eating a well-balanced diet that includes a variety of whole foods, combined with regular exercise, is key to maintaining a healthy metabolism and body weight. While each of these have been shown to increase your metabolism, even when taken all together they will pale in comparison to the increase you’ll see lifting weights most days of the week.

If you’re looking to make a change in your bodyweight, or just want tips on how to include these foods into your regular diet, head over to schedule a consultation and we can hop on a call and make a plan.