By Bonnie Jenkins

How would you like to blaze through calories without sweating at the gym? Most of us would jump at such a plan—and plenty of diet products actually make these promises. But before you start popping the latest diet pill, discover how simply eating the right foods can help rev your metabolism.

Your metabolic rate is the rate at which you use energy or calories for the processes that run your body. You burn the most calories each day just to accomplish basic bodily functions like breathing, circulating blood and maintaining your body temperature. This is your basal metabolic rate, which accounts for 60 to 75 percent of your total calorie needs. Physical activity and digestion make up the rest.

Age, gender and genetics—things you can’t change—largely determine your metabolic rate. Diet, exercise and body composition also influence your calorie-burning potential, but many diets and diet aids make exaggerated claims that their product is the magic bullet to metabolic bliss. While these claims are usually bogus, there are some easy metabolism-boosting strategies you can use to help your body function at a higher metabolic rate—and most are as close as your kitchen.

First up—protein. More calories are used to process protein than for carbohydrates or fat, so beefing up your intake of protein can help you burn more calories. But protein provides other benefits, as well. Adequate amounts of protein build lean muscle and help you feel full longer.

Adding spice to your meals also help increase your metabolic motor. Capsaicin, the compound responsible for the burn of chili peppers, is an especially potent thermogenic. These hot peppers can bump up your metabolic rate and help you burn about 76 calories per day by stimulating your sympathetic nervous system. In addition, hot peppers appear to reduce appetite. The caveat: The effect is temporary and, because capsaicin is so pungent, it’s hard to consume it regularly over the long term. In addition to including it in food, you can also reap its benefits by taking it in supplement form. Look for a cayenne pepper extract that is standardized to .25 percent capsaicin.

A lot of diet drinks and pills rely on caffeine to jump-start your metabolism. Just as caffeine speeds your heart rate, it can also speed your metabolic rate. When 10 lean and 10 obese women drank caffeinated coffee during one study, researchers noted that their metabolic rates jumped on average 174 calories for the lean subjects and 98 calories for the obese subjects. The boosted metabolic rate didn’t last till the next day, but it did last longer in the thin women than in the obese women. But, just be aware that, even though caffeine can enhance your metabolism it also has a dark side. Studies show that overindulging in caffeinated drinks like coffee and cola can lead to insomnia, restlessness and that jittery feeling.

There is one source of caffeine that not only enhances metabolism, it can also boost your antioxidant levels, guard against a variety of cancers and promote a healthy heart. If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m talking about green tea. A clinical trial in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that drinking green tea boosts the oxidation of fat by an impressive 17 percent. Earlier studies suggest that green tea can spike metabolic rate by four percent (which burns about 78 calories.) Tea compounds called catechins might be responsible for this jump by affecting brain neurotransmitters. What if you don’t like tea? You can also get these benefits by taking a standardized green tea extract daily.

But, even though protein, capsaicin and green tea are healthy ways to get your metabolism going, nothing beats exercise. When you increase your physical activity, you raise your metabolic rate significantly. According to the Compendium of Physical Activities Tracking Guide (a listing of more than 600 activities and their expected calorie burn), an individual weighing 140 pounds blasts through 570 calories during an hour of vigorous cross-country skiing, 320 calories per hour of low-impact aerobic dancing and 210 calories for 60 minutes of walking at three miles per hour.

Your muscle mass also drives your metabolic engine. As we age, we lose muscle mass, giving us a slower metabolism. Lifting weights slows this loss and builds more lean muscle. The more lean muscle you have, the more calories you burn.

If you’re new to exercise, try to include at least 30 minutes of exercise into your routine five or more days a week. Along with its impact on metabolism and weight, exercise is the single best thing you can do to safeguard your heart, protect against diabetes and osteoporosis, and even thwart certain types of cancer. No, it’s not a magic bullet. But it is a win-win strategy that can keep you happy, healthy and lean for life.

References:

Bracco D. Effects of caffeine on energy metabolism, heart rate, and methylxanthine metabolism in lean and obese women. American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism. 1995;269: 671-678.

Potteiger JA. Changes in resting metabolic rate and substrate oxidation after 16 months of exercise training in overweight adults. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. 2008;18:79-95.

Venables MC. Green tea extract ingestion, fat oxidation, and glucose tolerance in healthy humans. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2008;87:778-784