Foods that raise your metabolism

I have done some research to see what foods you can eat to raise your metabolism and some of them are hot peppers, whole grain oarmeal and Brown rice, broccoli,apples and pears,spices such as garlic,cayenne, and cinnamon, citrus fruits (grapefruit or oranges), leafy greens (collards-they are high in calcium),natural nuts, and water. You are suppose to drink half of your body weight in ozs of water.

Eating small meals every 3 hours also gets your thyroid to work much more efficiently boosting your metabolism. So it isn't just what you eat its also how often you eat. There are more foods to go on that list. It isn't complete.
Many say the general rule is to drink half your body weight ( lbs) in ounces of water spread out through the day. On hot days or high levels of physical activity you may need more. The cells in your body can only hold so much water. When you drink water while all your cells are full you'll pee it out real fast. Too much water can be harmful, but it takes a very large amount to harm adults. To much water in infants is extremely dangerous.

The water tip just scares me!! I heard that about six months ago and realized thatI I weigh a lot I always feel like I'm water logged . . . That and constantly being in the bathroom!! The joys of healthy living

I know that there are more foods to add to the list, these are some that stood out with me. Water should not scare you, Skitch. Water is good for you as long as you drink the amount for you.

Don't count on eating foods that will raise your metabolism as a big part of your plan. It's still the calories you consume vs those you use that make the difference in whether you gain or lose.

No foods or meal frequency are proven to affect you metabolism. Common myth.

there are no foods or magic pills to raise metabolism except for substances such as caffeine that might have ugly side effects and will never have any huge impact on the long term results. A common misconception is linked to the thermal effect of food ie some foods require more calories to be digested and therefore the net calories absorbed are lower.

This is in part true, but I would advice to avoid looking for shortcuts, that is only going to sabotage the efforts in the end. The only strategy that work is to consume less calories than you burn, all the diets out there provide plans to do just that.

Just pick whatever approach is easier to follow for you long term (ie for life) and ignore the tons of BS that the dieting industry throw at you every second. Most of all avoid supllements, pills and gurus )

The funny thing is, that now experts are saying that actually eating LESS often raises your metabolism. Just google intermittent fasting or search for videos on youtube. Supposedly after, I believe a minimum of 12-14 hours, metabolism is increased and growth hormone is elevated to preserve muscle mass. So which is it? More meals or fasting? Fasting is the only one with scientific backing.

If you think about it, our ancestors did not have food always readily available. They went through long periods with no food, then when they finally killed their prey, they feasted. IF uses the same concept.

well you could see both ways, if you buy the ancestor's stories, it might also make sense that after fasting the body should try to accumulate as much fat during the feast as possible in view of future lack of food. Personally I still have to read convincing evidence of all these theories. There are a lot of logic arguments to be made either way ...

Yeah, the calories would be stored for energy(fat and glucose) and repairing of muscle tissue. That would hardly make a caveman fat. If anything, he would simply gain the weight back that he lost over the week+ long fast. I believe I've read that at most the body could make use of 15-17000 calories. So, 4-5 lbs. That could easily be burned and then some between the feast and the next meal.

Also, I've been doing this since January, if waiting to eat large meals made you gain weight, I wouldn't have lost 42 lbs.

We need to consume protein every day to maintain our bodies. Calories stored as fat cannot repair muscle tissue. Only protein intake can repair and rebuild muscle. Stored fat serves as energy, but cannot rebuild muscle, because it lacks the necessary amino acid components.

Every day you consume no protein is a day you have lost lean body mass.

eKatherine, do you have a link proving your last comment? Also who said anything about avoiding protein? I'm pretty sure a deer or any other animal meat has a ton.

"Efficient adaptation to famine was important for survival during rough times in our evolution. Lowering metabolic rate during starvation allowed us to live longer, increasing the possibility that we might come across something to eat. Starvation literally means starvation. It doesn't mean skipping a meal not eating for 24 hours. Or not eating for three days even. The belief that meal skipping or short-term fasting causes "starvation mode" is so completely ridiculous and absurd that it makes me want to jump out the window.

Looking at the numerous studies I've read, the earliest evidence for lowered metabolic rate in response to fasting occurred after 60 hours (-8% in resting metabolic rate). Other studies show metabolic rate is not impacted until 72-96 hours have passed (George Cahill has contributed a lot on this topic).

Seemingly paradoxical, metabolic rate is actually increased in short-term fasting. For some concrete numbers, studies have shown an increase of 3.6% - 10% after 36-48 hours (Mansell PI, et al, and Zauner C, et al). This makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. Epinephrine and norepinephrine (adrenaline/noradrenaline) sharpens the mind and makes us want to move around. Desirable traits that encouraged us to seek for food, or for the hunter to kill his prey, increasing survival. At some point, after several days of no eating, this benefit would confer no benefit to survival and probably would have done more harm than good; instead, an adaptation that favored conservation of energy turned out to be advantageous. Thus metabolic rate is increased in short-term fasting (up to 60 hours).

Again, I have choosen extreme examples to show how absurd the myth of "starvation mode" is - especially when you consider that the exact opposite is true in the context of how the term is thrown around."

http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/fasting-for-weight-loss/will-you-lose-muscle-with-fasting/

Oops, this is the quote that is more relevant from the same lean gains article.

"6. Myth: Fasting causes muscle loss.


Truth


This myth hinges on people's belief it's important to have a steady stream of amino acids available to not lose muscle. As I explained earlier, protein is absorbed at a very slow rate. After a large high-protein meal, amino acids trickle into your blood stream for several hours.

No studies have looked at this in a context that is relevant to most of us. For example, by examining amino acid appearance in the blood and tissue utilization of amino acids after a large steak, veggies and followed up with some cottage cheese with berries for dessert. That's easily 100 grams of protein and a typical meal for those that follow the Leangains approach. We are left to draw our own conclusions based on what we know; that a modest amount of casein, consumed as a liquid on an empty stomach is still releasing amino acids after 7 hours. With this in mind it's no stretch to assume that 100 grams of protein as part of a mixed meal at the end of the day would still be releasing aminos for 16-24 hours.

Few studies has examined the effects of regular fasting on muscle retention and compared it to a control diet. None of them are relevant to how most people fast and some are marred by flaws in study design and methodology. Like this study which showed increased muscle gain and fat loss, with no weight training or change in calorie intake, just by changing meal frequency. While I would love to cite that study as proof for the benefits of intermittent fasting, body composition was measured by BIA, which is notoriously imprecise.

Only in prolonged fasting does protein catabolism become an issue. This happens when stored liver glycogen becomes depleted. In order to maintain blood glucose, conversion of amino acids into glucose must occur (DNG: de novo glucogenesis). This happens gradually and if amino acids are not available from food, protein must be taken from bodily stores such as muscle. Cahill looked at the contribution of amino acids to DNG after a 100 gram glucose load. He found that amino acids from muscle contributed 50% to glucose maintenance after 16 hours and almost 100% after 28 hours (when stored liver glycogen was fully depleted). Obviously, for someone who eats a high protein meal before fasting, this is a moot point as you will have plenty of aminos available from food during the fast."

Wow, Diablo! Thanks for all this great information. I am ready to throw my starvation mode belief right out the window now!!!

First you will find tons of info supporting both eKatherine and Diablos sides of the argument. Trust me there are people of here that will preach tillyour ears bleed! Just to show my point here's just the first thing that came up when I did a search:


"If you are having success on a low-protein diet plan, be aware that you may actually be losing pounds from body systems that can ill afford to lose mass. This is the warning message of a recent study completed by Dr. George Bray of Louisiana State University and published in The Journal of American Medicine. He found that while this type of diet is an effective weight loss tool, it comes at the cost of lean body mass, according to a report by The New York Times.

What Is Lean Body Mass?

Lean body mass, simply put, is everything in your body that is not fat. Builtlean.com defines this as including organs, blood, bones, skin, and muscles. When you lose weight from your lean body mass as the result of a low-protein diet, some of that weight comes from your muscles. This causes the muscles to become weaker and function less effectively. A serious lack of protein contributes to muscle wasting and diseases of malnutrition.

The Results of the Study

Dr. Bray hospitalized 25 volunteers, feeding them a weight-stabilizing diet for about three weeks. They were then put into three groups and fed either a low-protein (5% of caloric intake), medium-protein (15% of caloric intake), or high-protein diet (25% of caloric intake). The goal was to cause weight gain in the volunteers, and they were therefore fed 40% more calories than they had been during the weight-stabilizing part of the study. As expected, all the groups gained weight. The low-protein diet group gained the least amount, which may sound promising. However, it was also the only group that actually lost from their lean body mass while gaining fat mass. Simply put, this volunteer group lost muscle while gaining fat."

And I could find something just as fast to support Diablo's point but as I said...


Katrina - all I will say is remember we are individuals and no research is an absolute for everyone. Whenever I have bought into a linear way of thinking (as in this diet or that) I would gain weight, stall and hit a wall, something. I have found that I needed to take a bit of this and that and found what worked for me. For example I am hypoglycemic. Fasting or even IF is NOT an option for me. When I tried it I wasn't thinking and it did a such a job on me that I ended up in the ER. All I am saying is listen to your body, not your mind or psych but your body. I know it sounds silly but it works. Personally I have found that Higher protein (but no where near Adtkins) and clean food without the refined carbs works for me. Eating 5-6 times a day regulates my blood sugar and keeps the hunger pains at bay. My sister who is NOT hypoglycemia has found it works for her too. Experiment, log log log and use this site to it's fullest. Listen to yourself more than "science" and you will have success that you are able to maintain. Good luck !

I like the basic approach of building lean muscle tissue through weight resistance and cardio and spreading out meals throughout the day. Keeps me satiated and looking gooooood! Keep it simple.