Four ways to give your metabolism a kick

I'll eat almost anything from Saxelby Cheesemongers.

Greetings, all, from the Seattle-Tacoma Radisson! Yesterday’s original plan had been to make it all the way to Vancouver, where I’m supposed to be blogging Olympics stories for Aol’s health/fitness site. The hurricane, of course, had other designs, and after a rollicking adventure at the airport, here I am. The funny thing is, I kind of don’t mind. Not only do I feel pretty proud of myself for getting (read: “lucking”) onto any flight at all, but I’m also from out here (I was born in Seattle, and grew up in Eastern Washington), so even being at the airport hotel makes me feel weirdly cozy.

That said, I also feel completely sedentary and slightly disgusting, probably connected to the many, many airline pretzels and sour patch kids I had for dinner. From that perspective, this post turned out to be timely. From what to eat to when, these metabolism boosters are things I’ll be working on today…

1) Pair your meals to your metabolism’s peaks and valleys: Metabolism is highest at midday—right when you’re most active—so try thinking about lunch, not dinner, as your biggest meal. Also critical is breakfast: According to a Johns Hopkins study, people who skip breakfast are 4.5 times as likely to be obese. And here’s an astounding one I learned on a recent story: Fuel these meals with protein, and not only will you build energy and satiety—protein take 25 percent more time to digest than other foods—but you’ll also increase post-meal calorie burn by as much as 35 percent. Lastly, as for dinner, you’ve probably heard the whole stop eating 2 hours before bed. This is because sleep hormones such as melatonin are working to slow your system, and your metabolism with it.

2) Muscles burn calories–so build ‘em. (plus, a few foods to help things along): Muscles are energy furnaces; the more you have the more calories you’ll burn throughout the day. Core exercises (think yoga) are great for muscle-building, since they efficiently work large, connected key groups in one swoop. In terms of diet, vitamin D plays a role in maintaining muscle mass, while iron helps shuttle oxygen so calories burn at optimal levels. Finally, this was a fun one: According to a study published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, athletes who added red pepper to high carb meals did slightly boost their resting and active metabolic rate for 30 minutes after the meal.

3) Use high antioxidant foods (like green tea!) to minimize physical responses that can drain resources: Getting sick, stressed out, or eating something tough to tolerate (drinking ’till you get a hangover fits here) all diverts energy away from metabolism and toward other physical responses. Until your system determines the “crisis” is over, metabolism will stay slow. Researchers are starting to think that inflammation–the body’s long-term response to these factors as well as poor diet–does much the same thing. For all the above, make sure you’re getting plenty of antioxidants (green tea is a great source, and–additional plus–some studies show it can also slightly increase calorie burn) and omega-3s. Both top the list of anti-inflammatories.

4) Temper quickly metabolized foods with high fiber ones: Your body barely needs to break down foods high in simple carbs and sugars (like, er, my pretzels and gummies), so they enter your system all at once (this in turn causes your insulin levels to spike, causing more of what you’ve eaten to be stored as fat). Fiber, by contrast, is not only itself a slow burn, but can also act a little like a sponge, slowing the rate all food enters your bloodstream. Crazy as it sounds, some research has shown that fiber can increase fat burn by up to 30 percent. The takeaway here? Make sure to add something with fiber to whatever meals and snacks you’re eating. (My strategy is apples. They’re good for fiber and antioxidants, and–for just around 100 calories–are surprisingly satisfying.)