Are you looking to slim down before summer? Here, we have great advice from Benjamin Carter, a Naturopath at Six Senses Sanctuary Phuket, on how to increase your metabolism for weight loss.
Most of the articles and information around these days focuses on the same 10 – 15 types of specific foods and supplements to aid in our ability to increase our own metabolism for the aim to lose weight or decrease fat, i.e. an assortment of various chilies, green tea, almonds, coffee, pork, salmon, apples, pears, essential fatty acids, calcium, carnitine etc. But of these, only several have been shown to actually raise metabolic rate slightly between 21 – 79 calories over a 24-hour period.
So what does this mean?
When looking at raising the body’s metabolic rate, we look to several functions in the body, mainly two in particular; increasing muscle metabolic rate and another process called thermogenics, or improving the body’s ability in producing heat, thus burning energy.
Increasing muscle metabolic rate is the easy one, simply perform an increased amount of exercise, whether it is cardiovascular or weight bearing workouts. When we look at a process called thermogenics, though, two main factors play a role, diet and more diet.
Yes, several of the above mentioned foods and supplements will boost your metabolism in general to burn more calories, but what of the rest of your diet? Is it up to par? Or, are you just achieving an increase in your metabolic rate to end up feeding that increase with more of what has led you to be where you are now…
Sound confusing? Actually, no it isn’t, just remember to keep things simple and remember what the goal is, improving your body’s ability to burn energy.
Here are 2 simple steps that also help you to remember one of the key Naturopathic principles, to look at the “whole” picture and not just the sum of its parts;
1. Spread your meals to 4-6 smaller meals per day.
This has an effect opposite to several of the before mentioned more popular foods, which, in several articles have been described to slow down your digestion. This puts more of a load/stress on the stomach and increases the energy required for the digestion of those foods.
Fundamentally that sounds practical, but let’s keep in mind that the goal is increasing metabolism, not slowing things down. Spreading out your meals into 4-6 smaller meals per day puts less stress on the digestive process allowing it (and the rest of the body) to work more efficiently and keep it constantly working burning more calories, whilst also having a great effect on regulating blood sugar levels, spreading daily calorie intake over a longer period and regulating the hormones and functions of the body that will allow this metabolic increase.
2. Eat the right foods.
Above, I mentioned several individual foods, instead try to look at the right food groups with the principle that ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’. By this, I mean consume a more “whole food” diet by the means of reducing or eliminating processed and packaged foods.
It has been shown that a diet rich in complex-carbohydrates through food groups such as whole grains, raw nuts/seeds, low Glycemic Index fruits and fibrous or green vegetables stimulates a thermogenic response by ways of being less calorically dense (which improves blood sugar levels) and aids to increase the amount of brown fat (the kind which generates heat and burns energy). Add to this, a small amount of animal protein in the forms of lean meats, fish, eggs or yogurt and you have a wonderfully nutritious meal, which will also benefit you in many other physiological aspects to achieving optimal health!
The Six Senses recently won a raft of prizes in the World Travel Awards, see our article in the Travel section for more information.