Foods That Boost Your Metabolism

Why is it that some foods that make you fat and others don’t? This because the foods that cause you to gain weight take very little energy to burn. They are processed almost immediately and usually stored in your body as fat. Foods that make you skinnier are usually foods are harder to digest and therefore speed up metabolism by using up more energy during the digestion.

The foods that speed up metabolism are considered “negative calorie foods”. Unfortunately these foods don’t possess any magical properties that erase the number of calories in your body (don’t we wish?) so the name can be a bit misleading, but they are still beneficial.

What really happens is that these foods make your body work harder while digesting them. Foods like this already possess a lower amount of calories to begin with but are also full of fibrous materials that the body cannot easily break down, therefore it uses more energy.

What this means is that your body creates more energy to turn the food into fuel (burns more calories) than the total amount of calories in the food to begin with. Thus, there is a negative amount of calories; you’ve used enough energy to burn off the calories of the food you ate PLUS some! Your body then has to use stored fat to convert into energy to finish the digestion process. In turn, you speed up your metabolism.

Did I confuse you? Here is another example. I’ll keep it simple.

Let’s say you eat half of a grapefruit that contains about 40 calories and it takes your body 90 calories to digest it. You have used all of the grapefruit’s 40 calories PLUS 50 additional calories from stored fat resulting in a net calorie loss.

In reality, for most of us, it usually works just the opposite way. We consume a rich fudge brownie that contains 180 calories but our body on uses 80 calories to digest it. We have essentially GAINED 100 calories which will be stored as fat for later use. That’s not a healthy thing. Unless you are exercising on a regular basis to burn up those calories, they are going to just sit there around your waistline adding to your already pudgy midsection.

So to get you started with negative calorie foods that speed up metabolism, I have created an extensive list consisting of mostly fruits and vegetables. Add these to your menu and you will begin to see and feel the natural changes in your body.

Salads – lettuce, carrots cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, onion, and radish; go easy on the dressing. Use toppings like raisins or sunflower seeds sparingly.

Steamed vegetables make a healthy side dish using foods like broccoli, green beans, spinach, zucchini, carrots, onion, cauliflower, cabbage and asparagus. You can add garlic if you choose.

A low fat fruit cup is a healthy dessert. Try using strawberries, cranberries, mango, orange, pineapple, raspberries, tangerine, papaya, grapefruit, cantaloupe, honeydew, apple slices, and watermelon.

Smoothies are always a welcome item. You can use any combination of the fruits above mixed with ice or low fat frozen yogurt. You can also use these fruits in their juice form however fresh-squeezed is healthier than juice from concentrate.

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3. Interpreting Food Labels
4. How Do Low Carb Diets Work?
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