Can you eat your metabolism into high gear? You have all read the ads that claim to show you how to lose weight by eating more. But can you really eat so much that it makes you lose weight? You wish! The answer is no. There is always more danger in a half-truth than in a complete falsehood and all this about eating to keep your metabolism fired up
falls into the category of dangerous half-truth.
You can slow your metabolism by not eating enough. In fact, you can slow your metabolism significantly by not eating enough. That is one of the problems with fad diets that severly restrict calories. You may be thinking diet but you body is thinking famine and it goes into survival mode: "Don't burn anymore calories than absolutely necessary until the famine is over." You all know what happens. When the diet ends you go back to eating as usual but with a now slow burning metabolism and the pounds come back with a vengance. The good news is that once you return to your normal eating, your metabolism returns to normal. Of course it is a little late then; the pounds are already back on.
Perhaps someone using poor logic reasoned that since severly restricting calorie intake lowered your metabolic rate then eating more would fire it up. Eating more will accelerate your metabolism only if you are coming off a fast, i.e. diet. But then it will only bring it back up to normal which wasn't all that great at the start.
Yesterday I read an article suggesting you could increase your metabolic activity by eating more and/or more frequently because you kept your metabolism busy digesting food. As a matter of fact, we do experience a "thermic effect" from eating, i.e., we burn calories breaking down our food by digestion. But, unless you have a serious life-threatening problem, the thermic effect of food will never burn more calories than you take in. This theory falls into the same category as the "negative calorie" food theory. If it, whatever 'it' may be, produced negative calories, it wouldn't be food. Think about it. How long would you live if you required more energy to digest your food than you were getting from your food?
Don't misunderstand, eating more frequently can have a positive effect on weight management but that is because eating more frequently provides the blood sugar stabilization some need to fight off the high glycemic, high calorie, low nutrition snack attach and the pig-out at the next meal. Eating small, nutritious meals and snacks frequently (three small meals and 3 to 4 small but nutritious snacks) can be very beneficial to weight management.
Is it possible to increase you metabolic rate? There are foods and food combinations that will improve metabolic activity so, Yes! it is possible to make some increase in your metabolic rate by eating, but you won't make a significant, beneficial change in it by eating alone.
falls into the category of dangerous half-truth.
You can slow your metabolism by not eating enough. In fact, you can slow your metabolism significantly by not eating enough. That is one of the problems with fad diets that severly restrict calories. You may be thinking diet but you body is thinking famine and it goes into survival mode: "Don't burn anymore calories than absolutely necessary until the famine is over." You all know what happens. When the diet ends you go back to eating as usual but with a now slow burning metabolism and the pounds come back with a vengance. The good news is that once you return to your normal eating, your metabolism returns to normal. Of course it is a little late then; the pounds are already back on.
Perhaps someone using poor logic reasoned that since severly restricting calorie intake lowered your metabolic rate then eating more would fire it up. Eating more will accelerate your metabolism only if you are coming off a fast, i.e. diet. But then it will only bring it back up to normal which wasn't all that great at the start.
Yesterday I read an article suggesting you could increase your metabolic activity by eating more and/or more frequently because you kept your metabolism busy digesting food. As a matter of fact, we do experience a "thermic effect" from eating, i.e., we burn calories breaking down our food by digestion. But, unless you have a serious life-threatening problem, the thermic effect of food will never burn more calories than you take in. This theory falls into the same category as the "negative calorie" food theory. If it, whatever 'it' may be, produced negative calories, it wouldn't be food. Think about it. How long would you live if you required more energy to digest your food than you were getting from your food?
Don't misunderstand, eating more frequently can have a positive effect on weight management but that is because eating more frequently provides the blood sugar stabilization some need to fight off the high glycemic, high calorie, low nutrition snack attach and the pig-out at the next meal. Eating small, nutritious meals and snacks frequently (three small meals and 3 to 4 small but nutritious snacks) can be very beneficial to weight management.
Is it possible to increase you metabolic rate? There are foods and food combinations that will improve metabolic activity so, Yes! it is possible to make some increase in your metabolic rate by eating, but you won't make a significant, beneficial change in it by eating alone.
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