Our metabolism helps process food efficiently, which has a major impact on our weight, our muscle mass, our energy levels, even our mental sharpness. But as we age, our metabolism starts to slow down, which can cause us to gain fat, lose muscle tone, and see decreases in energy and mental sharpness. There are a number of things that we can do, though, to boost our metabolism, both temporarily and permanently, to help restore our body’s functions back to levels seen when we were younger. Here is a list of six scientifically proven metabolism boosters.
1. Lift weights. Muscle burns 6 calories a day just to sustain itself, whereas fat only burns 2 calories daily. Weightlifting helps activate your muscles, which raises
your resting metabolic rate.
2. Work out intensely. Studies have shown that aerobic exercise can increase your metabolism hours after your workout. Higher intensity workouts, with short bursts of activity, such as Tabata or HIT (High Intensity Training) have a larger and longer impact on metabolism than low- or moderate-intensity workouts.
3. Drink more water. Your metabolism will slow down if it doesn’t have plenty of water to process food. One study showed that adults who drank 8+ glasses of water per day burned more calories than those who drank four.
4. Take a dietary supplement. Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine recently discovered that the reason your metabolism slows as you age is that two key amino acids become depleted. Taking a supplement, such as Pruvin (www.pruvin.com) that replaces these amino acids will restore your metabolism to younger levels as long as you keep taking it, and help you gain muscle, lose fat and increase energy and mental sharpness.
5. Drink caffeine. The reason you feel a boost in energy and concentration after drinking caffeine is that it temporarily boosts the metabolic rate. One study showed that after drinking 2-4 cups of tea, the body burned 17% more calories during moderate exercise for a short time.
6. Eat Well and Often. Trying to lose weight by eating fewer calories can backfire, because your metabolism learns that it’s not getting as much food, so it slows
down, causing you to lose less weight. And when your calorie reduction makes you lose muscle, the metabolism slows even further. The best way to boost metabolism is to eat lean protein (which causes the body to burn more calories than by eating carbs or fat), such as white chicken meat, turkey, eggs, tofu, nuts, beans, low-fat dairy, fish and lean meat. And eating snacks between meals (every 3-4 hours) keeps your metabolism in high gear, and also reduces your appetite at meal time.
Why: As we age, our bodies gradually lose the ability to produce two key amino acids. The resulting metabolic decline leads to our bodies gaining fat while losing muscle and energy. This typically starts happening at around age 40, and increases with age.
What: Scientists at Baylor University School of Medicine, led by Rajagopal Sekhar, M.D., over the course of 14 years, developed the science behind a unique dietary supplement that rejuvenates the metabolism of adults 40+, returning fat burning, muscle building, and energy production, back to their peak levels. The product, called Pruvin, has 21 patented health benefits and its benefits have been published in four peer-reviewed medical journals. It is taken once daily as a powdered drink mix. Results start within two weeks and continue as long as the product is taken daily. One published study showed the average user lost three pounds of fat and gained two pounds of lean muscle in the first two weeks.
