5 Ways To Speed Up Your Metabolism

So much of wellness is about listening to your body and feeling how food, exercise and thoughts can all have an effect on our overall happiness. Our metabolisms have a huge role in the overall picture, and I believe it's our duty to stay in touch with our bodies and listen to what they are telling us. Some of us are blessed with extremely fast metabolisms, while some of us are not. However, the good news is that there are things you can do to kick start that metabolism to start working at top speed!

Metabolism is the rate at which we burn calories and how efficiently our bodies do this. I try to choose foods that will work my digestive system and get my metabolism going, and here are some tips: 
Here are 5 ways to speed up your metabolism: 
1. Keep your body warm. 
Keeping your body warm can trick your body to believe it is in a colder climates than it really is. For example, look at animals that live in cold weather versus animals that live in warmer climates. The extra body fat is necessary in order to stay warm. When we look at warm climate animals such as snakes, lizards and cheetahs, they tend to be thinner. They need to stay slim and shed off insulation in order to stay alive and not overheat. Want to be a warm climate animal? Try hot yoga!!
2. Have small meals every 3 to 4 hours.  
This keeps your metabolism working! Here are some small meals I like: plain yogurt with berries, sliced apple with peanut butter, almonds, carrots with hummus, and lastly, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on gluten-free Bread. (Note: gluten-free bread is much easier to digest and will cut down on the bloating!) 
3. Gain muscle, burn fat with weight training.  
Weight training helps us gain muscle and when we gain muscle, we burn fat! Dense muscle requires more energy to keep up. In order for our bodies to keep up with these muscles, our body burns more calories just by doing nothing. Yes, that's right — nothing! You can just be sitting on your couch and be burning calories! So pick that muscle gaining CrossFit class over your cardio-burn treadmill class!  
4. Drink lots of water.  
The body needs water in order to process calories. If your body has not had enough water, your metabolism will suffer and slow down. Studies have shown that people who drank eight or more glasses of water a day burned more calories than those who drank four. Drink that H20.
5. Try yoga! 
Yoga can help to boost your metabolism. Yoga incorporates twists, which activates your digestive system and metabolism. Get to a yoga class!

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

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