How to boost your metabolism? When most people talk about metabolism, they mean the metabolism of fat. The problem is that many dieters are doing things that actually slow down their metabolism rather than speeding it up, so their weight loss is often slow and frustrating.

Believe it or not, boosting your metabolism isn’t as hard as you may think. Here are a few tips on how to boost your metabolism to get you moving toward faster, easier weight loss:

How to Boost Your Metabolism Tips #1 – Green tea

Do you drink a lot of coffee? If so, you may want to consider swapping a few of those daily cups for green tea instead. Green tea has long been believed to stimulate your metabolism and help you burn more fat. Beyond weight loss, green tea also contains a lot of antioxidants, which help you prevent many illnesses.

How to Boost Your Metabolism Tips #2 – Eating frequently

One sure way to bog down your metaoblism is to skip meals and reduce your caloric intake too far. When you do this, your body immediately kicks into survival mode and slows down the fat burning process. It thinks you’re at risk of starving to death and tries to conserve energy and resources as much as possible!

Instead, if you eat something every 2-3 hours, your metabolism will speed up because it needs to keep moving to process the foods you eat. Since you’re eating regularly, you can easily reduce the portion sizes so you’re not overdoing it on calories. Also helpful is to include lots of lean protein, and moderate amounts of healthy fats because they keep you feeling satisfied for much longer than carbohydrates do. Read the rest of this entry

Fiber diet weight loss is a great helper for a few reasons: first, it helps slow the rate at which sugar is absorbed into your bloodstream, which can prevent rapid rises in blood glucose. Secondly, it helps you feel more satisfied even if you are eating less than you normally do. Last but not least, fiber promotes regular elimination, helping you to release toxins and keep your digestive system in top working order.

Here are 7 easy ways to get more fiber in your diet. You can also try this for your fiber diet weight loss program:

#1 – Snack on raw veggies

Raw vegetables like broccoli, spinach, avocado and tomatoes are high in fiber, and they make easy, delicious snacks. Try snacking on a handful of grape tomatoes, or dip raw broccoli florets into salad dressing. You can also enjoy a spinach leaf salad and cube some avocado on top.

#2 – Eat more fruit

Some fruits are loaded with fiber too – try apples, pears, bananas, figs, and strawberries. Eat them for breakfast or as a snack at mid-morning or mid-afternoon. Read the rest of this entry

Most of us have one thing in common when we decide to lose weight: we want to lose it FAST! Fast weight loss isn’t always the best way to go, simply because some of the methods used for fast weight loss are unhealthy or difficult to keep doing for a long enough period of time.

However, there are a few key things that are known to help speed up weight loss without harming your health:

1) Water is your best friend

Drinking plenty of water is an excellent way to help your body burn more fat, as well as release excess water you may have been retaining. Experts recommend a minimim of 64 ounces of water daily, but even more than that is safe to drink as long as you don’t overdo it.

2) Sugar is NOT your friend

Refined white cane sugar has a detrimental effect on the body, namely because of the way it sharply elevates blood glucose levels. This causes your pancreas to secrete insulin to bring blood glucose back to normal levels, and too much of this up-and-down fluctuation can wreak havoc on your body.

For losing weight quickly, there are few actions more powerful than eliminating white refined sugar (and its cousin, high fructose corn syrup) from your diet. If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll find that fruit is a great alternative, and so is low-glycemic agave nectar.

You don’t necessarily have to give up sweets completely – just choose healthier options to satisfy your sweet tooth.

3) Sodium makes you retain water

Reducing your sodium intake is another way to help speed up weight loss, simply because eating high amounts of sodium makes most people retain excess water weight. Not to mention that a diet high in sodium can contribute to hypertension (high blood pressure).

4) Starvation is bad

People often think that reducing their caloric intake down to almost nothing is a great way to lose weight quickly, but all it does is kick their bodies into self-preservation mode and slow down their metabolism.

A much better approach is to eat lean, low-calorie foods frequently throughout the day. This keeps your metabolism running strong, burning fat and losing weight. Not to mention you’ll have more energy and feel more satisfied all day long. Also including a moderate amount of heart-healthy fats (like those found in olive oil and avacados) can keep you from feeling hungry.

5) Burning more calories

Cardio exercises are known for their calorie-burning power, and effective weight loss plans will focus on creating a “calorie deficit”. To lose one pound, you need to either reduce your calorie intake by 3500 calories, or burn off 3500 calories with cardio exercise. Doing a combination of both has been proven to be most effective; for example reducing your daily caloric intake, AND burning calories via cardio exercise. So, if you reduced your calories by 250 daily (1750 weekly), and burned off 250 calories daily (1750 weekly), you would lose 1 pound that week.

Keep in mind that other factors can come into play so some weeks you may lose more and other weeks you may lose less.

6) Fiber keeps you moving

Increasing your fiber intake is another good way to speed weight loss, for a few reasons. First, eating high-fiber foods helps you feel fuller longer so you aren’t tempted to overeat. Fiber is also helpful in slowing the absorption of sugar into your bloodstream, which reduces the impact of high-glycemic foods and minimizes fluctuations in blood glucose levels. Finally, a fiber rich diet helps “keep things moving” in your digestive tract so you clean your colon and eliminate waste more easily.

7) Reduce stress

Last but not least, managing your stress better can help you lose weight more quickly. The hormone cortisol is prevalent in the stressed-out body, and cortisol contributes to the accumulation of belly fat. It’s virtually impossible to lead a completely stress-free life, but there are endless ways to better manage your stress so it doesn’t wreak havoc on your body. Try meditating daily for 10-15 minutes, deep breathing exercises, or a soothing exercise like yoga.