Ever found yourself envying that one friend who always eats as much as they want, yet they never seem to put on any weight? While some are genetically blessed with a more efficient metabolism, for many it comes down to two simple elements: diet and exercise.
And according to a leading Australian dietitian and author, some foods can be more helpful than others when it comes to managing your appetite and losing weight. Eggs are one of them.
Your metabolism is the amount of energy your body uses to keep itself functioning. Energy is needed for example, to keep your heart functioning, your brain working and to keep your body temperature stable. The higher your metabolism, the more calories you use in a day meaning the more food you can consume without gaining weight. Metabolism can slow down as we age, lose muscle or go for long periods without eating. According to Sharon Natoli, dietitian and author from Food & Nutrition Australia, one of the most effective ways to boost your metabolism is to eat protein rich foods, like eggs regularly, and to undertake regular exercise.
With a high protein meal, including eggs, you can burn up to twice as much energy compared to a meal that is high in carbohydrate and over the course of a day, you can burn 100 extra calories. Protein requires more energy to be broken down and digested compared to carbohydrate or fat, so your body burns more calories and increases your body’s base metabolic rate. Over time, this helps you to maintain or lose weight. Studies have shown that eating higher protein meals can increase total energy burnt for up to seven hours.
Dietitian Sharon Natoli said, “to boost your metabolism and therefore increase the number of calories burned at rest, eat sufficient amounts of protein-rich foods with every meal. Eating a higher protein meal can increase your metabolism almost instantly and can help you burn more energy for hours after you’ve eaten. Eggs contain the highest quality protein on the planet so are the perfect staple to include in your daily diet. They also contain healthy omega-3 fats and one egg has fewer calories than a medium sized apple so is a great inclusion as part of a well-balanced diet.”
Highly processed foods, such as white bread, white rice and sugary drinks, are best kept to a minimum as they are easily digestible leaving you feeling hungry again quickly. Eggs have the added advantage of keeping you fuller for longer, helping to reduce the drive to snack on unhealthy foods that may lead to consuming more calories than what you need. Eggs are versatile and affordable and contain 11 different vitamins and nutrients including vitamin D, choline, omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants.
As fad diets come in and out of fashion, it is important to be aware of the long-term effects restrictive diets can have on metabolism and health. Eating regular meals is important to maintain metabolism and eating too little may see quick weight loss but it is difficult to sustain. When we reduce our intake of food drastically, over a period of time the body will start conserving energy as it thinks we’re in a famine situation and as a result, will respond by slowing down the metabolism.
Natoli said, “when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off in the long-term, it’s important to take a balanced approach. While fad diets can help you lose weight quickly, often there’s a negative effect on your metabolism and overall health. Ultimately, this will make it harder for you to keep weight off in the long term and may see you sacrificing your energy and happiness in the short term. Slow and steady is the way to go.”
While food is part of the puzzle, regular exercise also impacts the speed of metabolism. Physical activity burns calories but also boosts the body’s metabolic rate after exercising so is important to include in a balanced lifestyle. Maintaining lean muscle mass is important for metabolism too. The more muscle mass you have, the more your metabolism works and burns, so building muscle through strength training is beneficial to burning more calories and keeping body fat down.
Natoli continued, “one of the common causes of a lower metabolism is skipping meals, and not keeping active. Eating a well-balanced diet, full of nutrient-rich foods, including enough protein to ensure optimal health, and enjoying regular exercise to maintain and build muscle mass, are important ways to ensure a healthy metabolism.”
The simple and best way to keep your metabolism in check is to exercise regularly and eat a healthy, balanced diet. Including a staple protein, such as eggs, in your everyday diet will help ensure you fuel your body with all the right vitamins and nutrients which promote general health and wellbeing.
Sharon Natoli has shared her top tips for a healthy metabolism:
- Eat high protein, lower calorie foods such as eggs, skinless chicken, fish and tofu every day
- Consume the right amount of high protein foods after physical activity to help build muscle mass
- Incorporate resistance and strength training into your exercise regime to maintain and build muscle
- Choose wholegrain varieties when selecting foods such as bread, rice and other grains as they have more fibre which helps with satiety
- Avoid fad diets and any diet that restricts whole food groups for a long period of time
- Fibre rich foods require more energy for your body to digest, so ensure they’re in your weekly shopping basket
- Limit your intake of highly processed, high sugar foods that are quickly digested
- Foods and drinks that can be helpful at further increasing metabolic rate include chillies, eggs, green tea, grapefruit, ginger, coffee and pepper
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