Best Foods & Exercises To Raise Your Metabolism - Naturally!

Foods That Raise Your Metabolism
Asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, lettuce & zucchini.
You want to know a surefire way to lose weight? Eat fast food. No, not that type, but rather the super-charged, metabolism raising foods.What exactly are these metabolism boosting (or negative calorie) foods?Although no food is actually "negative calorie", there are certain foods that have such few calories that the act of digestion in the body will burn more calories than the food itself, creating a negative calorie balance.For example, a 25 calorie piece of broccoli (100 grams) requires 80 calories to digest it in the body which results in a net loss of 55 calories! Some great foods which are extremely low in calories and require lots of energy for the body to break them down include asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, lettuce and zucchini.A negative calorie diet is probably the best and most effective way to raise metabolism and burn calories. Eat these foods and you're guaranteed to burn more calories...while doing nothing! They are great foods to include in your weight loss plan.

More about which other foods & diets which will increase your metabolism later... First, here are some tips, ideas and natural ways to raise your metabolism rate...
Raising Your Metabolism Ideas
Best ways & tips to raise your metabolism - naturally
Eating healthy and small meals more often and regularly is one great and simple method. Metabolism is always raised with the intake of food. The frequent small meals you consume keep the metabolism going for a longer duration.
Eating protein-rich foods like low-fat dairy products, lean meat and skinless chicken is found to increase metabolism. Include fish, dark green vegetables and foods high in fiber to your meals. There is evidence to show that foods rich in protein increase the burning of calories by about 25%. More about foods to raise metabolism below. Also, drink at least 2 litres of water every day!
Consume foods that contain antioxidants for speeding up your metabolism. For instance, green tea will raise metabolism better than coffee due to its high antioxidant content.
The temperature of your body environment affects your metabolism. If it is very cold or very hot, the rate of metabolism is found to go up by about 20%. You can manipulate that temperature. You can either chill out or have a sauna to raise your metabolism.
Keep yourself active and moving throughout the day. When you increase your physical activity, your muscle increases and, consequently, the metabolic rate also goes up. Aerobic exercises coupled with resistance training and exercises are very useful in this regard. If you have a job that requires you to sit at the desk for long hours, find ways to incorporate some physical activity and movement that takes you away from the desk, even for short durations, as often as possible.
By increasing the heart rate, you can raise your metabolism rate. Adding spices, especially chili or green pepper, to your food will most likely do that. (see below). It is believed that spices speed-up the metabolism by about 50%. But you have to develop considerable tolerance for the spicy condiments if you do not already have it.


Metabolism Raising Foods: Low Fat Milk, Whole-Grain Cereal & Oatmeal
Secret Ingredients: Calcium, complex carbohydrates, and fiber

How they work: ==> Complex carbohydrates and fiber raise your metabolism by keeping insulin levels low after you eat.That's good, because spikes in the production of insulin send a signal to the body that it's time to start storing fat. And in order to stockpile fat, your body has to slow down your metabolism, causing you to burn fewer calories, says Margaret McNurlan, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition and medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Since oatmeal breaks down slowly in the stomach, it causes less of a spike in insulin levels than foods like bagels, she says.Besides helping to keep insulin production down, eating breakfast can also help stoke your daily calorie burn. When the U.S. Navy studied the metabolisms and eating habits of a group of its personnel, it found that eating breakfast helped raise the men's metabolisms by as much as 10 percent. "By skipping meals, you slow down your metabolism and prime your body to store fat," says McNurlan.The calcium in milk is a metabolic trigger as well. A University of Tennessee study found that dieters who consumed between 1,200 and 1,300 milligrams (mg) of calcium a day lost nearly twice as much weight as dieters getting less calcium. Be careful though as milk and calcium can cause bloating and colon problems.
Foods To Raise Metabolism: Salmon, Tuna & Sardines
Secret Ingredient: Omega3 fatty acids

How they work: ==> By altering levels of a hormone called leptin in your body.Several recent studies suggest that leptin directly influences your metabolism, determining whether you burn calories or store them as fat.Researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that mice with low leptin levels have faster metabolisms and are able to burn fat more quickly than animals with higher leptin levels. The best way to lower your leptin? Eat fish.Mayo Clinic researchers studying the diets of two African tribes - one of which frequently ate fish and one of which didn't-found that fish eaters had leptin levels nearly five times lower than the levels found in tribes that primarily ate vegetables.The good news, if you don't like fish: Fish-oil supplements may work just as well as the stuff with scales. French researchers found that men who replaced 6 grams of fat in their diets with 6 grams of fish oil were able to boost their metabolisms and lose an average of 2 pounds in just 12 weeks.