10 Tasty Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

Getting in the best shape of your life is giving 70 per cent of your effort to your diet and the rest for your workout. Watching what you eat can be tough especially if you love snacking - everyone's favourite pastime during the lockdown!

So, we spoke to Ridhima Batra, certified diabetic educator, sports nutritionist and founder of Nutrition Defined, for foods that can help you burn calories by boosting your metabolism. A higher metabolism means burning more calories hence it is easier to maintain or get rid of unwanted weight. Check out her pick of goodies to binge on:

Chili Peppers

A spicy meal containing fresh or dried chilli peppers can improve your sluggish metabolism. Capsaicin, a compound in peppers,  not only helps burn calories but can also minimise pain and swelling, serve as an anticancer agent, and provide the benefits of antioxidants. Capsaicin also alerts the hormones, raises your heart rate, and motivates the body to burn calories more quickly. Every day, nutritionists suggest adding a tablespoon of chopped chilli peppers to your meal.

Brazil Nuts

Loaded with selenium, a mineral important for metabolism, reproduction and immune function, Brazil nuts are a great addition to your diet. Selenium is particularly necessary for the thyroid gland, a gland that controls metabolic activity and produces many important hormones.

Green Tea

Green tea includes bioactive substances such as caffeine and epigallocatechin gallate (or EGCG), which have been shown to increase metabolic rates significantly. Research shows that green tea improves your metabolism over 24 hours by four per cent. This means you're going to lose about 3 kilos a year or 30 kilos in 10 years!

Legumes

An excellent source of protein that keeps the metabolism going at a high velocity, beans and legumes are also rich sources of resistant starch. This starch is harder to break down for the body, which means it helps keep us fuller longer, may minimise our blood sugar reaction and allows our body to burn more calories to break it down. The high fibre content in legumes may also help reduce the body's fat accumulation and stimulate bowel movements, which is also helpful for improving a healthy metabolic system.

Eggs

Eggs are an excellent source of protein, healthy fat and a good source of B vitamins, which have been shown to improve metabolism. Vitamin B helps convert digested food into energy, which means that it helps in better processing of calories so that they can be used for energy.

Garlic

The sulfuric acid compounds in garlic are strong enough to eliminate bacteria and infections. It also improves your gut health, making your metabolism working just fine. 

Water

If you do everything right and still do not lose weight, dehydration is probably the reason. A dehydrated body never makes it a priority to burn fat. According to many reports, drinking water raises the metabolic rate by 30 per cent. In addition, water is a natural appetite suppressant, so make it your best weight loss friend.

Dark Chocolate 

The best pick-up for your mood and your metabolism is a slice of dark chocolate every day. It is loaded with monounsaturated fatty acids that help increase the metabolic rate so that calories are consumed more quickly. Cacao is also filled with magnesium (which is plentiful in dark chocolate), which activates adiponectin, a fat-burning hormone.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon increases your metabolism, can clear your arteries and combat ageing with its thermogenic properties, which means it increases the temperature of your body and triggers it to start calorie burning. Eating 1/4th teaspoon of cinnamon powder per day will also help reduce your sweet cravings.

Ghee

This saturated desi-butter packed with fat that is made from pure cow's milk increases satiety and enhances metabolism. The fat contains linolenic acid that is conjugated, which will help you lose stubborn fat. It mobilises fat cells, allowing them to let go and shrink from their energy supply.