Need another reason to love your
body? It burns calories all by itself -- as long as you don't get in the
way. See, every cell in your body plays a role in energy metabolism --
the process of turning the food you eat into energy that keeps your
heart beating, lungs pumping, and muscles moving. The faster your
metabolism, the more calories you burn. And just like there are ways to
speed it up -- by working out, for instance -- certain habits can hit
the brakes on your natural calorie-churning engine.
Here are 10 things to avoid in order to keep your metabolism humming.
Pesticides in Produce
Organochlorines (chemicals in pesticides) can interfere with your body's energy-burning process and make it harder to lose weight, according to a Canadian study. Researchers found that dieters who ate the most toxins experienced a greater-than-normal dip in metabolism and had a harder time losing weight. Opt for organic fruits and veggies as often as you can.
Here are 10 things to avoid in order to keep your metabolism humming.
A Weird Eating Schedule
In a 2012
Hebrew University study, mice fed high fat foods sporadically gained
more weight than mice that ate a similar diet on a regular schedule.
Researchers suspect that eating at the same times every day trains the
body to burn more calories between meals. Pesticides in Produce
Organochlorines (chemicals in pesticides) can interfere with your body's energy-burning process and make it harder to lose weight, according to a Canadian study. Researchers found that dieters who ate the most toxins experienced a greater-than-normal dip in metabolism and had a harder time losing weight. Opt for organic fruits and veggies as often as you can.
Skimping on Sleep
A 2012 study
found that people who sleep less move less the next day, which means
they burn fewer calories. But it gets worse: Sleep deprivation actually
reduces the amount of energy your body uses at rest, according to the
German and Swedish researchers.
Eating Too Little
When you skimp on calories, your body switches into starvation mode, slowing your metabolic rate to conserve the fuel it's got.
Sitting Too Long
It takes only
20 minutes in any fixed position to inhibit your metabolism, according
to Carrie Schmitz, an ergonomic research manager for Ergotron.
Jet Lag
Your internal
clock directly controls the part of your cells that keeps your
metabolism chugging along. But when you disrupt your so-called circadian
rhythm -- by crossing time zones, for instance -- your cells don't
function the way they should and your metabolism suffers, according to
researchers at the Center for Epigenetics and Metabolism at University
of California - Irvine.
Not Getting Enough Calcium
Another
reason to drink your milk: Calcium plays a key role in regulating your
fat metabolism, which determines whether you burn calories or store them
as fat. A diet that's high in calcium could help you burn more fat,
according to research conducted at the Nutrition Institute at the
University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Dehydration
All of your
body's cellular processes, including metabolism, depend on water. If
you're dehydrated, you could burn up to 2 percent fewer calories,
according to researchers at the University of Utah.
Skipping Breakfast
When you miss
breakfast, you don't just set yourself up to overeat at lunch. You
actually tell your body to conserve energy -- which means it burns
calories more slowly. That's one reason a study from the American
Journal of Epidemiology found that people who skip a morning meal were
4.5 times more likely to be obese.
No comments:
Post a Comment