Holiday parties can definitely take their toll on the body, so it's important to learn tricks that can help boost metabolism and burn calories while the body stays idle.
Kimberly Taylor, founder of Christian weight-loss website takebackyourtemple.com, shared with Charisma News five little-known secrets for boosting the metabolism.
"While none of these tips alone causes a huge metabolism boost, the combined effects along with consistent exercise, strength training and solid nutrition will turn your body into a more efficient fat-burner," she wrote.
First, Taylor suggested drinking green tea with lemon. "Green tea has a component in it called 'catechins' which can increase your ability to burn fat and calories," she explained. "It can also lower your risk of heart disease and stroke."
Unfortunately, less than 20 percent of catechins in green tea survive digestion for the body's use. But if people add lemon juice to their drink, the catechins' absorption rate increases by 13 times more than drinking green tea alone. For those who don't like the taste of lemon, they can switch to orange, lime or grapefruit juice. Taylor said what's important is that they put vitamin C in their drink.
Eating spicy food is a surprising metabolism booster as well. Taylor said food such as red pepper contains a substance called capsaicin, which is the heating component found in cayenne pepper, chili pepper, and red pepper flakes.
Third, Taylor said people who don't suffer from jittery reactions from drinking coffee would be well-off drinking two cups each day to boost the metabolism. But "don't overdo this one; overdosing on caffeine can contribute to heart irregularities," she warned. "Go easy on the sugar and cream, too — the extra calories they add would cancel out the extra calories you burn."
Fourth, lifting weights is a great exercise to jumpstart the metabolism. Metabolism drops 2 to 3 percent after people reach the age of 20, and they start to lose lean muscle. "Muscle burns five to 10 times the number of calories than fat does at rest, so if you aren't strength training, and you are eating the same number of calories as you did when you were younger, you will automatically gain weight," she said.
Lastly, Taylor suggested that people eat more protein such as chicken, turkey, fish, lean beef, eggs and meat substitutes. When people eat protein, she said that only 80 percent of the calories are available for the body's use. The rest of the calories are burned off just breaking down the protein for digestion.
