Five foods that can help boost your metabolism

From coffee to pulses, here's a list of easily available foods to help you out!

Let’s get real – since the pandemic hit, and we got stuck at home, we’ve all been eating our feelings and not really feeling ourselves as much as we were right before, are we right? The good news is, you can control that waist from months of binge eating if you just start eating the right foods. Foods that increase your metabolism!

A faster metabolism means that your body burns fat faster, helping to maintain and/or lose excess weight. Healthline compiled a list of such foods that can help you increase your metabolic rate, and here are five that you can incorporate in your diet.

Coffee

Ever noticed how you almost always have a healthy bowel movement when you have a cup of coffee in the morning? According to studies, caffeine found in coffee can help increase the metabolic rate by up to 11%.

That’s not all. Numerous research also found that caffeine may also aid in burning body fat for energy and is especially effective at boosting your workout performance.

Pulses

A staple on this side of the world, legumes, and pulses, such as lentils, peas, chickpeas, beans, and peanuts, are also great for burning excess fat. They are high in protein compared to other plant foods. This, according to various studies, means that your body burns a greater number of calories to digest them, compared to lower-protein foods.

A particular study found that humans following a legume-rich diet for eight weeks saw beneficial changes in metabolism and lost 1.5 times more weight than the control group.

Ginger and Cayenne Pepper

Some spices can easily be classified as metabolism-boosting spices, and ginger and cayenne are two such examples.

According to research, dissolving two grams of ginger powder in hot water and drinking it with a meal helps to burn about 43 more calories than drinking hot water alone. On the other hand, adding cayenne pepper to your meal may increase the amount of fat your body burns for energy. Beware of the spice levels though!

Tea

Of course, coffee helps your metabolism thanks to the caffeine in it. Tea, on the other hand, has two such components to help you out. Caffeine and catechins.

To put it in perspective, green tea may help boost your metabolism by 4–10%! That’s not all, it may also help your body use stored fat for energy more effectively.

Coconut oil

Rich in medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), coconut oil is a great alternative to regular fats in your diet; most other types of fats contain higher amounts of long-chain fatty acids. MCT’s are more easily absorbed by the liver, which means that it is less likely for excess fat to be stored in your body. Researchers also found that a daily intake of 30 ml of coconut oil can help to reduce waist size in obese individuals.

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