Snack away during the day
Grazing is a surprisingly good
idea because it helps you avoid metabolic slowdown. "Your body will be
tricked into thinking it's constantly eating, so it will never slow your
metabolism down," explains Bauer. Aim for five small meals (200 to 500
calories) a day rather than three large ones. Also try not to go more
than four hours without eating -- if you eat breakfast at 7am, for
example, have a snack at 10am, lunch at noon, another snack at 3pm and
dinner at 7pm.
Skip the starch
Carb crazy? Consider
this: Refined carbohydrates, such as bread, potatoes and rice, create a
surge in insulin that in turn drives down your resting metabolic rate,
explains Aronne. "It's important to keep carbohydrates in your diet, but
really focus on fruits, vegetables and whole grains, which have less of
an effect on insulin levels," he explains. And when buying whole-grain
breads and cereals, make sure the first ingredient listed is whole
wheat, whole oat or cracked wheat.
Break up your workouts
Try dividing your workouts into two shorter 20-minute sessions. You'll
rev up your metabolism for an hour or two after each workout, which
means you'll burn more calories than if you did one longer session.
Don't have time? Even small bursts of activity will get your metabolism
chugging again, according to a study in Nature. "Just a
five-minute walk around the house every hour translates into an extra
200 to 300 calories burned every day," says Peeke.
Pace while you're on the phone
People who are constantly in motion -- crossing and uncrossing their
legs, stretching and pacing -- burn more calories. When researchers at
the Mayo Clinic asked subjects to eat an additional 1,000 calories a day
for eight weeks, they found that only the nonfidgeters stored the
calories as fat
Eat more bananas
They're full of potassium, which revs up
your metabolism by regulating your body's water balance, says vitamin
expert Susan Lark, M.D., author of The Lark Letter. If you're
dehydrated, you'll burn fewer calories. Make sure you're getting at
least 2,000 mg: a banana has 450 mg, a cup of milk has 370 mg and an
orange has 250 mg.
Get enough z's
Yeah, Russell Crowe may be on Letterman,
but it's way more important for your waistline if you don't stay up. A
study at the University of Chicago Medical Center found that people who
got only four hours of sleep had much more difficulty processing carbs.
The culprit? Increased levels of insulin and the stress hormone
cortisol. "When you're exhausted, your body lacks the energy to do its
normal day-to-day functions, which includes burning calories
efficiently," says Talbott. So the best way to make sure your metabolism
runs smoothly is to get six to eight hours of shut-eye each night.
No comments:
Post a Comment