by C. M. Erickson

Created on: March 25, 2008

Your metabolism is the chemical process that burns calories in your body. Often a slow metabolism is the culprit for stubborn pounds that refuse to budge. While genetics determine the vast majority of your metabolism's speed, you can still have some measure of control. By paying attention to what you eat and how much exercise you get, you can prod your sloth-like metabolism into gear.

A slow metabolism is caused by genetics, lack of sleep, poor diet, and lack of exercise. You cannot change your genetics. Some people were born cheetahs, and others were born Clydesdales. But even a Clydesdale can be fit, sleek, and strong. The key is a holistic approach to achieve a permanent increase in your metabolism.

YOUR DIET
To raise your metabolism, you need to eat whole foods spread at regular intervals throughout the day. Your body burns calories by digesting food, so you can raise your metabolism by eating hard-to-digest foods with four to six small meals throughout the day. You will keep your digestive tract working hard all day to process those complex carbohydrates and fiber, and you will feel the benefits of increased energy, alertness, and a shrinking waistline.

When considering foods to eat to speed up your metabolism, avoid prepackaged or "fast" food at all costs. These foods have additives to increase flavor and shelf life that slow your metabolism greatly. You will need to shop for and fill your home and work area with whole foods that look as close to their natural form as possible. Try to only shop the outside of your grocery store, as you will find the natural, unprocessed foods there. Purchase foods such as oatmeal, low fat milk and yogurt, fresh fruits and vegetables, broth based soups, lean meats like chicken or turkey, eggs, and whole grain cereals.

YOUR EXERCISE HABITS
Another metabolism booster is regular exercise. You do not have to run a marathon or hike Mt. Everest, but you do need to get thirty minutes of exercise a day. For two to three days of each week you should mix intervals into your exercise routine. Intervals consist of periods of hard exercise followed by periods of easy exercise to recover. For example, you could walk for five minutes, then powerwalk one minute, walk two minutes at a regular pace, and repeat those three minutes seven more times, then finish with four minutes of regular walking. Intervals are proven to boost your metabolism for at least an hour after your workout, which helps keep up the caloric "afterburn."

If you cannot do thirty minutes in one block, split it up throughout the day. By exercising for fifteen minutes in the morning, then fifteen minutes in the evening, you spread the benefits of post-exercise raised metabolism across the day.

YOUR SLEEP
Proper sleep is also critical to increase your metabolism. Most people are short on sleep as they try to pack very full lives into a finite twenty-four hour period. Lack of sleep slows your metabolism and causes you to eat more. When you starve your body of sleep, it does not have a chance to properly rest and recover from the previous day. Your body will be more sluggish, and you will be drawn to high-sugar foods as your body seeks to fill the energy deficit caused by sleep. How do you know if you are shortchanging your metabolism with lack of sleep? If you hit your snooze bar more than once in the morning, you need more sleep!

Should your metabolism be too slow, you can regulate your metabolism to a healthy level by following this advice. Take control of your health and your life by taking control of your metabolism!

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