1. Drink Water: Apart from making you feel sluggish, dehydration slows down all your bodily functions, including your metabolism. Ideally, to keep your body moving, try to drink 8 glasses of water daily and make them icy. Drinking cold water makes your body work harder – burning calories to heat it.
2. Spice Things Up a Bit: Chilli pepper and mustard seeds – two spices often found in Thai, Mexican and Indian dishes – can help your body burn extra calories thanks to a process called thermo- genesis. Spicy dishes such as Thai green curry encourage your body to heat up, and extra calories are burnt in the process of bringing your body back down to normal. A study conducted in the US found that when people consumed just one teaspoon of chilli sauce, their metabolic rate surged by an average of 25%. An extra bonus is that if food is super-spicy then it may stop you from over eating!
3. Eat Good Protein: Replace starchy foods at lunch time – such as sandwiches made with white bread and jacket potatoes- with whole wheat turkey wraps, baked salmon with brown rice or a vegetable stir-fry. Many people think that if they eat a large plate of pasta they will be full all day but in fact, unless it’s whole wheat, which has a low glycemic index (GI) and releases energy slowly, that feeling of being full wears off quickly leaving you hungry and heading for the cookie jar when your carb crash kicks in.
4. Fill Up on Apples: Who would have known that the trusty apple actually contains the power to make you lose weight? Apples are full of fibre and contain a substance called pectin that makes you feel full. They are also packed with friendly bacteria that are essential for good digestive health. The healthier your gut, the better it will digest food which is vital for efficient metabolism.
5. Beetroot: The next time you make a salad, toss in some grated beetroot. Beetroot is packed with beta-carotene – a powerful anti-oxidant that’s great for your liver. Nutritionists call them blood cleansers and the healthier your blood cells and liver are, the easier it is to lose weight because they’re then more efficient at getting fat soluble toxins out of your system.
6. Eat Broccoli: Like kale, cauliflower and cabbage, broccoli is great for balancing hormones. For your metabolism to work properly, you need to make sure you don’t have too much oestrogen or testosterone in your system. Too much oestrogen can make you crave chocolate and other sweet things. Too much testosterone will affect your hormone levels, so it’s important to keep your diet rich in fibrous green veg.
7. Go Green: As well as cleansing your system, a hot cup of green tea can really kick- start your body’s engine. It contains anti oxidants that are essential for keeping your body working well and keeping you energized throughout the day,