By: Francesco CasilloFood's consumption involves digestion of foods and absorption of nutrients (proteins, carbohydrates and fats). Digestion and absorption require energy to occur.
So, food consumption leads the body to spend energy to support digestion and absorption processes.
The increased frequency of food intake throughout the day will boost your body's metabolism for the following 2 main reasons:
* Your body will be forced to increase the daily energy expenditure because of the frequent activation of digestion and absorption processes induced by the repeated food intake throughout the day.
* Eating frequently is perceived by the body as a sign of energy/food abundance.
Because of this, the body will increase energy expenditure (increased metabolic rate) since there's no need for such frequent calorie intake to be stored as energy depots (such as fats in the adipose fat tissue); which happens during starvation states (occurring during periods of food deprivation).
2. Consume Protein-Rich Food Sources At Each Meal To Boost Your Metabolism!For every one of your daily meals make sure you include foods that contain high quality proteins (poultry, eggs, protein powders, red meat, fish) if your goal is to increase your metabolism!
Proteins have the highest T.I.D. among all the other nutrients (carbohydrates and fats). T.I.D. stands for Thermogenesis Induced by the Diet.
Explanation: each nutrient (protein, carbohydrate and fat) needs energy to be digested by the gastrointestinal system and then absorbed into the bloodstream. The energy the body burns to digest and absorb the nutrients is named T.I.D.
3. Eat Carbohydrates With A Low Glycemic Index! Glycemic Index (GI) is the rate at which a carbohydrate contained in a food is converted into glucose (simple sugar) and enters into the bloodstream.
So, the higher the GI of a carbohydrate the faster it enters the bloodstream, the lower its GI the slower it enters the bloodstream.
Carbohydrates trigger insulin secretion. The faster a carbohydrate enters into the bloodstream the higher the insulin secretion.
Insulin is an anabolic hormone. As such it's also responsible for the growth of the adipose tissue (fat gain) through an increased conversion of carbohydrates into fats.
So, the lower the glycemic index of a food, the lower the insulin secretion and the less likely the tendency of a carbohydrate to be converted into fats.
4. Limit The Consumption Of Fructose-Rich Foods To The Morning!Fructose is a simple sugar that is contained in fruits!
It's a controversial type of sugar - since being a simple sugar one would think it enters the bloodstream at a faster rate, and therefore should trigger a higher insulin secretion which would ultimately promote fat gain!
Instead fructose, although a simple sugar, has a very weak tendency to stimulate insulin secretion because of its low glycemic index (GI).
For this reason fructose has been speculated to be a diet-friendly sugar since it doesn't stimulate the secretion of high insulin levels, and as such wouldn't promote fat gain!
Well, let's defy the myth: "Despite the fact that fructose has a low GI and doesn't stimulate insulin levels to raise so much, IT ACTUALLY MAKES YOU FAT"!
5. Perform High Intensity Weight Training To Lose Fat!Intensity is a parameter of physical effort determined by:
* Number of reps.
* Weight used.
* Rest period between sets.
By manipulating each of these factors intensity will vary accordingly.
A number of reps between 6 and 12, the use of a weight meant to reach muscle failure within such range of reps, and the 60 second rest period between sets are the presuppositions for the highest intensity reachable through the weight training.
High intensity weight training translates into optimum fat loss for 2 main aspects:
* High intensity increases the levels of "Epinephrine" and "Noradrenaline". Epinephrine and Noradrenaline are hormones! These two hormones target specific receptors located on the fat cells that are responsible for fat loss!
* High intensity weight training promotes the production of a high quantity of lactic acid. Research has shown that lactic acid increases the secretion of Growth Hormone (GH). Growth Hormone is also one of the most powerful fat loss agents!
So, increase your workout intensity to trim down your fat!
6. Perform Aerobics In The Morning On An Empty Stomach! Aerobics is well known for its fat loss properties so people use treadmill and every other cardio equipment mostly for this reason.
Unfortunately, fat loss is more a matter of manipulating hormones favorably rather than merely manipulating calories.
In a few words the fat loss is more related to increasing the secretion of fat loss hormones (such as: Glucagon, Growth Hormone, Noradrenaline and Epinephrine) and inhibiting the secretion of fat gain hormones (such as: Insulin) than shifting negatively the total daily calorie balance through an increased calorie expenditure (with exercise) and reduced calorie intake (with a calorie restrict diet).
Remember insulin promotes fat gain, boosts glucose utilization and puts a halt to fat use for energy production to sustain physical effort.
7. Take A Powerful Fat Burner Before Your Aerobic Session! A good fat burner taken on an empty stomach prior to your early morning aerobic session will increase and optimize the favorable fat loss hormonal and metabolic cascade induced by exercise.
At the present time there are many effective supplements for fat loss.
A good supplement for such purpose would be a combination of synephrine and caffeine.
Synephrine increases the secretion of Noradrenaline which is a powerful fat loss agent.
Caffeine destroys chemical agents produced during exercise that normally interfere by slowing down the fat loss process. So caffeine allows the fat loss process induced by Noradrenaline to last longer!
8. Drink Plenty Of Water During The Day To Boost Your Metabolism! Drinking a high quantity of water not only makes you get rid of subcutaneous water retention but also increases your metabolic rate!
In fact, scientific studies show that drinking 17 ounces (approximately 500ml) of water increases the metabolism by 30%!
The increased metabolism was measurable in just as little as 10 minutes after fluid intake and the peak of the body's thermogenic response to fluid intake was 30 to 40 minutes after the fluid intake!
9. Supplement Your Diet With Calcium! Scientific research found that calcium intake increases fat loss!
In detail, researchers found that supplemental calcium (800mg/day) or high dietary intake of calcium (1200mg/day) promoted a greater fat loss (38-64%) compared to subjects on a low calcium diet (500mg/day).
Furthermore, it's been seen that dairy sources of calcium promotes 50-100% more fat loss than supplemental calcium.
10. Get A Good And Restful Night Of Sleep To Trim Down! A good night's sleep is a potent stimulator of growth hormone secretion. As mentioned above, GH is one of the most powerful fat loss hormones within the human body! Scientific studies show that an adequate night's sleep is essential in order to get the six pack!
In order to see if nighttime GH secretion is fundamental to fat loss, the researchers measured the fatty acid mobilization from adipose tissue under 2 conditions:
* During a good night's sleep.
* During the night's sleep in conjunction with the administration of a drug that inhibits GH secretion.
The result was that the inhibition of GH release during night's sleep shuts down the fatty acid mobilization from adipose tissue!
The take home message is that not getting an adequate quality and quantity of sleep at night will blunt your efforts toward fat loss!
Keep the Faith! 
August 12, 2009, 05:29:23 AM
