The concept of thermal effects of food and thermogenesis can play a large role in increasing metabolism when the emphasis is placed on making better food selections.
Our chief nutrients are found in three groups: fats, proteins or carbohydrates. They are called macro nutrients because they are our source of calories and energy. Metabolism is the way our cells, organs and tissues in our bodies treat these foodstuffs. Macro means big, and these foods are required in huge amounts to keep up our development, metabolism, and other bodily processes. Our organic structure demands other nutrients, too, including vitamins and minerals. However, these nutrients are required in more modest measures and are named micro nutrients. In this context "micro" means a very small amount. While decisive for our body micro nutrients don't supply people with energy or calories.
Protein Increases Metabolism
Protein is the principal element of our organs, muscular tissue, all our living cells, and is present in all body liquids. Proteins are amino acids stitched together in chains. Twenty amino acids are needed and all must be present in sufficient quantities in order for body processes to function. Nine of the 20 amino acids are termed essential because they cannot be produced by the body; and must come from food sources.
Proteins that contain all 20 amino acids are called complete proteins, and they are found in animal sources: meat (poultry, fish and other meats) and dairy (eggs and milk products). Proteins that come from plant sources are considered incomplete because they do not contain all 20 amino acids, though you can combine different plant sources to obtain all of them. Proteins come in different forms and can be found in plants just as much as in animal products.
Fat: The Good, Bad and the Ugly
Fat, like protein, is necessary part of building body organs and cells, and it a helps in the absorption of some vitamins and other nutrients. And just as there are essential amino acids, there are essential fatty acids which must come from food sources. The secret is to consume as much of the unsaturated "good" fats and avoid as much as possible the highly saturated "bad fats."
Carbohydrates are chains of small, simple sugars that are a major source of energy. When consumed in the body, they are broken down in the stomach by various enzymes and absorbed as sugar or glucose into the blood circulation. When carbs are eaten in excess, some of them are stored for future use in the liver as glycogen, the rest are turned into fat. This process explains why everyone wakes up in the morning, often after 15 hours of no eating and the blood sugar is not zero.
Carbohydrates come in two forms: simple sugars like glucose, fructose, lactose and sucrose which are small molecules and are quickly absorbed by the stomach and raise blood sugar. Other carbs are larger molecules and take longer to process. The latter group includes starch, and cellulose. They are found in vegetables and unrefined whole grains.
Think you will lose weight using brown sugar instead of white, or avoiding the high fructose corn syrup for real sugar? Think again. Over the last year sugar research has revealed that all sugars: white, brown, raw and even high fructose corn syrup are the same 15 calories per teaspoon. No sugar is really "natural" and that high fructose corn syrup once thought "toxic" is not so bad. Thinking has swung around.
The real issue is the difference between all the sugars and the artificial sweeteners. That's where the obesity epidemic needs to be focused. Artificial Sweeteners Are Safe
Sugar has been taking a real beating in the past several months. Jane E. Brody a science writer for the New York Times (February 10, 2009) discusses some of the newest information on the role of sugar and weight gain. She points out that all sugars contain a combination of glucose and fructose, all are processed and all have exactly the same calories. If you understand the process, you will see how little difference there is.
How Thermogenesis of Food Can Be Used to Increase Metabolism
Proteins: 30% thermic: When it comes to thermogenesis, protein foods are the most significant. What does that mean? When you eat a 300 calorie chicken breast, it may take up to 90 calories to break it down, digest and absorb it. In reality, the 300-calorie chicken breast can end up being only 210 calories. Not bad, "you get your chicken and eat it too." Trying to achieve at least 0.8 grams of protein per lb. body weight provides a lot of support for your metabolism.
Carbohydrates are roughly 10-12 % thermic and fat is only 3% thermic. The marked difference between fat and protein should be noted. Why fat has so little thermic effect is unknown, most researchers think it is do to the very slow gastric emptying time and slow absorption of fats.
How Long Does This Increase Thermogenesis Last?
Most research studies indicates that metabolism begins to return to normal about 3 hours after the ingestion of the food.
Increasing Metabolism Means Eating More Protein.
Nearly every recent study reveals that eating plenty of protein can increase your metabolism, causing you to burn an extra 150 to 200 calories a day, says Jeff Hampl, Ph.D., R.D., a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association. "Protein is made up mainly of amino acids, which are harder for your body to break down [than fat and carbs], so you burn more calories getting rid of them," he explains.
"That doesn't mean you have to live on the high-protein Atkins diet. But you should make sure that 10 to 35 percent of your total daily calories come from protein. So if you're on a 1,800-calorie diet, 360 to 630 of those calories should come from lean sources of protein, such as fish, chicken, low-fat cheese, yogurt and legumes. Aim to have a serving of protein, a hardboiled egg, a stick of low fat string cheese a small can of tuna, a turkey or ham roll, or even a small protein bar. Here are some of the easy to protein snacks which serve not only to prevent your blood sugar from falling during the
day, but to keep your metabolism high.
Protein for Breakfast Raises Your Metabolism All Day
"Going to the gym or breakfast" may be the choice facing some well intentioned dieters every morning. If you had only time for one of these, which would be more important?
The answer is clear, breakfast trumps exercise every day. How can that be? Why is breakfast so important? It can add calories. The answer is simple, if you look at all of the overweight people that lost and kept their weight off, the one thing in common is that 90% of them have breakfast most days of the week. In terms of exercise: 50 to 60% exercise 4-5 days a week. Just using this data, as unscientific as it is, suggests that breakfast may be very important. The HCG diet has at least 15 grams of protein for
breakfast.
Here are the reasons breakfast is more important than exercise: It's about eating and it's about metabolism.
1. It's easy for something in everyone's life to come in the way of exercise-exercise for most busy people is low down on priorities.
2. Breakfast, especially when eaten in the car, at school or at work takes no time.
3. Breakfast prevents most people from crazing during the morning, and making poor selections at lunch. It helps us slow down how fast we eat lunch. Fast foods and big restaurant type of lunches are easy to consume, especially if co-workers are eating them, breakfast helps protect us from this kind of eating.
4. Eating breakfast speeds up your metabolism, just like eating small meals all day. However, it's not nearly as great as you might think.
If you are struggling to lose weight, think "breakfast." At home, in the car, at work, at school anywhere as long as you don't skip it. "Your metabolism slows while you sleep, and it doesn't rev back up until you eat again," explains Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., professor of nutrition at Penn State University and author of The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan. So if you bypass breakfast, your body won't burn as many calories until lunchtime as it would have been if you had breakfast.
In a study from the American Journal of Epidemiology, volunteers who got 22 to 55 percent of their total calories at breakfast gained only 1.7 pounds while those that ate zero to 10% of their calories at breakfast gained more than 3 lb. over the same time period. In another study published in the same journal, volunteers who reported regularly skipping breakfast had 4.5 times the risk of obesity as those who had at least something to eat for
breakfast.
Pick Protein for Lunch To Continue Your Metabolism All Day
More than 140 years ago, Dr. Burney highlighted the misconception that lunch should be the large meal of the day. This remains a misconception to this day. Your lunch should be a small meal. For many reasons, people think they will not burn off a large meal if it is consumed at night. However, most of us with sedentary jobs (you spend 75% or more of your work time inside a building or vehicle) cannot burn off large meals any time, regardless of whether it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Pick as Much Protein as Possible for Dinner: The Final Large Protein of the Day
The more protein and the least carbs for the evening meal the better. However, you need to watch the calories as well. Some proteins like fatty beef or pork, or cheese Have too many calories. Lean meats, white meat of chicken and fish are the best Choices. Avoid as many carbs as possible.
How Many Times a Day Should My Family Eat?
The traditional answer is to eat every 3 or 4 hours, or six times a day, since this will increase your metabolism. The problem is that people struggling to lose weight need to eat less and become less fixated on food. What happens to most people when they eat 6 times a day, is the calories and snacks get out of control and they gain weight.
Is metabolism really increased by frequent meals? The answer is YES, but not very significantly which can easily be cancelled out by the increase in food.
The answer: Have a high protein breakfast, lunch and dinner. Avoid the carbs. Have a high protein snack late in the afternoon and one in the evening if you chose. That's 3 meals and 2 snacks a day.
The recent experience with the HCG diet suggests this may be the perfect diet to increase metabolism, burn fat
and reduce hunger and cravings.
Richard L. Lipman M.D., a board certified internist and endocrinologist has been treating weight and metabolic problems for 30years in his Miami office. His recent book, New Pounds and Inches, an update of Dr Simeons Diet reviews his recent experience treating thousands of his patients with the HCG diet. You can preview his book and review his new plan at http://www.bestbuyhcg.com/
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