Foods that
Speed Metabolism

"Yes, it is true that there ARE foods that speed metabolism. The more of it you eat, the more you lose"

I have read a lot of blog posts and books and magazine articles that have this title or heading but when I read the actual articles I find that the foods are different in a lot of the articles or blog posts.

Most of them are suggestions based on what most people want to hear. It is like an effort to get an unhealthy food and try to make it seem or appear healthy in some way.

I saw an article headline that said something like, "Chocolate Without The Weight Gain"

There might as well be a headline like, "How To Enjoy Cocaine With Less Risk of Death"

The only way to really make it with your weight loss over the long-term is to change what you do, not to change diet and exercise to fit what you want. I wish it were another way but it is not.

So, What Are The
Foods That Speed Metabolism?

There are three categories and I will explain why they do what they do.

Raw foods that are high in moisture content
Protein

Let's go over how these are foods that speed metabolism. Fat, in any form is broken down by a process called hydrolysis.¹

Hydrolysis means breaking something apart using water. “Hydro” means water and “Lyse” - lyse - break apart. Chemically, water is necessary to turn body fat into usable energy by the body. You can read more about how water is needed for fat metabolism on the section, “Water In The Human Body.”

Also, water is what releases stored energy from your cells.² If your body believes there is enough energy in your cell then it stops trying to convert your food to cellular energy and it coverts it to body fat.

Many people who cannot lose weight also cannot release energy from the cells. That is why they also feel very tired all the time. The reason water is not doing what it is supposed to do in these people’s bodies is because there is a mineral deficiency. You can read about this more on the page, “energy balance”

Alkaline Foods are also a part of the high moisture content food category. In fact when you look at the success of the raw food diet, alkaline diet, Ornish diet, some vegan diets, the common denominator is the moisture content of the foods!

This is how raw-high-moisture foods are foods that speed metabolism.

You can read about these foods in Raw Food Diet Weight Loss

Second Category of
Foods That Speed Metabolism

Dietary protein is a category of foods that speed metabolism.

It is proven that dietary protein causes release of human growth hormone and glucagon.³

Human growth hormone is a powerful anti-aging & fat burning hormone. You can read about it on the page, human growth hormone.

Glucagon is another very important hormone that does the opposite of insulin. Insulin will convert blood glucose to body fat. Glucagon does the opposite. Here are where you can read about glucagon.

Proteins are molecules. To many, protein means meat. Meat is just a source of protein. I am not against eating meat. Sometimes keeping meat in the diet is the only way to help a client lose weight.

For some, there is a hormone imbalance that prevents them from losing weight. They simply have too much fat storing hormones and too little fat burning hormones.

When protein is combined with starches is lowers the insulin response of the starch. When consumed before resistance training, there is a surge of human growth hormone and testosterone during the first 30 - 45 minutes of the workout.

If you do eat dietary protein, though, keep it small. 20 - 25 grams or 3 - 5 oz per serving is a good upper limit of the size of the serving.

Contrary to popular myth, protein does cause an insulin surge. It is just less than starches.

The easiest way to gauge a serving size is to look at the size of your palm and chose a serving of dense protein food that is that size.

One of the main reasons the Atkins diet and the Zone Diet by Barry Sears works when they do is because of the reduced insulin response and the fat burning hormones released by the increase in protein.

Also for people with adrenal fatigue and excess cortisol they will need more dietary dense sources of protein because the cortisol is eating away the lean muscle and using it for body fuel. That is why their muscle tone is weak, their hips and thighs are thin and they have a harder time walking up the stairs.

So there you have it, the two groups of foods that speed metabolism.

Caveats to
Foods that Speed Metabolism

Having said all I said, you also want to try to make all the foods you eat organic produce for fruits and vegetables. For animal products you want to see labels that say “grass fed” or “free range.” For fish you want to see labels that say “Not Farm Raised” or “Wild Caught”

Without these labels you will be consuming chemicals that have proven to cause weight gain.

When it comes to fruits and vegetables the herbicides used to kill weeds and the pesticides use to protect crop are endocrine disrputors and Xenoestrogen that cause your body to react like there is more estrogen in your body and thus create and store more body fat..

Many “farm raised animals” bred for the meat and poultry industry are fed estrogen hormones. Estrogen produces body fat. You can read more about environmental estrogen on the page, "Estrogen Dominance."

Fish that are farm raised or farm bred are also fed or exposed to endocrine disrputors that are Xenoestrogens.

Many of these endocrine disruptors have been proven to cause reduced thyroid output and also subclinical hypothyroidism.

Because of these factors foods that speed metabolism can be a trojan horse if you don't keep it organic.

Metabolism Makeover

The world of weight loss has gotten complex and overwhelming. I compiled all the essential information you need to navigate your own path to your weight loss goals.

You are unique so you need a weight loss program that will guide you specifically to where you need to go. You don't need a general guide. You need something you can tailor to yourself.

By healing your body, you can lose weight. Learn about my method in my book, Metabolism Makeover.

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References

1. Vladimir Stich, Isabelle Harant, Isabelle De Glisezinski, Francois Crampes, Michel Berlan, Marie Kunesova, Vojtech Hainer, Michele Dauzats, Daniel Rivière, Michel Garrigues, Cecilia Holm, Max Lafontan and Dominique Langin. Adipose Tissue Lipolysis and Hormone-Sensitive Lipase Expression during Very-Low-Calorie Diet in Obese Female Identical Twins. Jour Clin End & Metab Vol. 82, No. 3 739-744.
2. http://www.rpi.edu/dept/bcbp/molbiochem/MBWeb/mb1/part2/bioener.htm.
3. Guyton, Arthur C. Textbook. 7th ed. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1986. p. 930-931.

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