Your body needs a minimum number of calories to sustain essential body functions. Metabolism converts calories into energy. The metabolic rate can increase or decrease due to a variety of factors.

What is metabolism?

All the chemical processes your body needs to break down food into energy are called metabolism. Even when you are resting, your metabolism continues to produce energy. This energy is used to fuel the essential functions of the body, such as breathing, digesting food and repairing cells. There are two main types of metabolism: anabolism and catabolism. Anabolism involves storage of energy. Catabolism is the opposite. That is, it involves the breaking down of stored energy.

If you have a fast metabolism, your body burns more calories even while at rest. If you have a slow metabolism,  your body needs fewer calories to keep it going. A fast metabolism does not necessarily lead to thinness. In fact, research has shown that overweight people often have fast metabolisms.

What factors affect metabolic rate?

There are many factors that accelerate or slow down metabolism, including:

●       Some disorders: Endocrine disorders such as Cushing's syndrome or hypothyroidism can cause your metabolism to work slower.

●       Muscle mass: It takes more energy to build and maintain muscle than fat. People with more muscle mass often have faster metabolisms.

●       Age: You lose muscle as you get older, which slows down the metabolism.

●       Gender: Men usually have a faster metabolism than women. This is because anatomically, men have more muscle mass, larger bones and less body fat.

●       Genetics: The genes you inherit from your parents or other relatives play a role in your metabolic rate.

●       Physical activity: Living a physically active life burns more calories than living a sedentary life, causing your metabolism to work faster.

●       Smoking: The nicotine in cigarettes speeds up your metabolism, so you burn more calories. This is one reason people who quit smoking may put on weight. But the many health consequences of smoking far outweigh any benefit you might get from burning a few extra calories.

●       Diet: What you eat and when and how many times you have a meal a day affects your metabolic rate.

●       Sleep: A lack of sleep causes your body to have trouble with glucose levels, leading to a lack of energy. In other words, lack of sleep causes your metabolism work slower. Good sleep habits can help you boost your metabolism. Rather than counting minutes, you can make sure you are getting good sleep by going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day.

How to boost your metabolism?

There are many ways to boost your metabolism, including:

●       Building muscle: Your body burns calories even when you are at rest. People with more muscle mass have faster metabolisms and thus burn more calories even when they are doing nothing. Doing sports that will help you build muscle are therefore a good idea.

●       Pace: Even if you do exercises that do not build big muscles, they boost your metabolism in the hours after a workout. You can speed up your metabolism even more by stepping up your workout.

●       Water intake: The body needs water to burn calories. If you are even mildly dehydrated, your metabolism may slow down. You can take care to drink enough water to stay hydrated. You can also snack on fruits and vegetables that are naturally rich in water, rather than salty snacks that retain water.

●       Diet: Eating smaller, more frequent meals can help your metabolism to work faster. Diets where you don't eat for a prolonged period of time each day, such as intermittent fasting, cause the metabolism to slow down. You can make your metabolism work faster by having a small meal every 3-4 hours.

●       Spices: Adding red or green chili pepper to your meals is a good way to boost your metabolism. This effect is usually temporary but the benefits can add up if consumed regularly. If you are not used to spicy foods or have a stomach disorder, you should consult a specialized doctor first.

●       Calorie deficit: The minimum daily calorie intake is 1200 for women and 1800 for men. Diets that create a calorie deficit can help you lose weight but they cause your metabolism to slow down drastically.

What foods boost or slow down metabolism?

Certain foods can speed up or slow down metabolism. Eating meals high in protein can boost your metabolism for a few hours as the body needs to burn more energy to digest protein. Examples of protein-rich foods include lean meat, eggs, fish and nuts. Eggs are not only a good source of protein but also low in calories. They are also a good source of B vitamins, which have been shown to boost metabolism. Protein-rich diets help you preserve muscle while reducing the risk of a slowed-down metabolic rate during weight loss. Beans and legumes such as lentils and chickpeas are also known to be rich in protein. Eating legumes also also good for gut health as they feed the good bacteria in your gut. Another type of food good for your metabolism is foods rich in minerals. When there is enough iron and selenium in your body, your thyroid gland can function properly. Proper functioning of the thyroid gland positively affects metabolism.

Ginger is known to boost metabolism in a healthy way. It can also help you manage your weight. Studies have shown that drinking 2 grams of ginger powder mixed in water burns more calories than drinking plain water. It is also suggested that ginger mixed in water can increase the feeling of satiety. Cocoa is one of the sweets that boost metabolism. It supports the metabolic processes and can also help reduce hypertriglyceridemia (high levels of fat in blood). If you want to consume cacao, you can choose unprocessed cocoa. Avocados are also rich in unsaturated fats that promote satiety and boost your metabolism.

Drinks that can rev up your metabolism include coffee, tea and water. The caffeine in coffee helps boost your metabolic rate. Caffeine can also help you burn body fat. However, these effects may differ from person to person. Green tea is known to help you burn calories. It contains catechins, a substance shown to rev up metabolism, but as with coffee, this effect may vary from person to person. Drinking enough water during the day is a great way to boost your metabolism. Research has shown that drinking water may briefly boost metabolism by 24–30%. However, the effects only appear to last for 40–90 minutes after drinking water and the strength of the effect may vary from person to person. Therefore, it is recommended to drink water frequently, without too long intervals in between.

In addition to foods that speed up metabolism, there are also foods that do the opposite. It is important to know these foods and to cut back on them when it comes to metabolism. Refined grains slow down your metabolic rate. You can find them in white bread, pasta, pastry items, rice and processed, packaged foods. These foods contain empty calories, lack fiber, and can cause blood sugar spikes, leading to a sudden feeling of fullness followed by sudden hunger. Although it’s often promoted as a good food for dieting, granola is high in calories and fat, and the high sugar content in most types can spike your blood sugar and make you feel hungrier.

Sweetened beverages can slow down your metabolism. A study found that eating a high-protein meal with a sugar-sweetened drink may negatively impact energy balance. Moreover, while fruit juice may not contain added sugars, juicing strips the fiber content from fruit.

References:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/21893-metabolism

https://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-boost-your-metabolism

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/metabolism-boosting-foods

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3408800/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3809630/

https://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/best-worst-foods-boosting-metabolism/

https://bmcnutr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40795-017-0170-2