Boost Your Metabolism & Lose Weight?  

by Johnny Bowden

“Boosting Your Metabolism” is probably one of the hottest topics for popular magazines. I myself have been interviewed on the subject at least 9,000 times (OK I exaggerate but not by much). Reporters (and readers) want to know what foods or supplements or exercises will “boost their metabolism”.

But they may be asking the wrong question.

Most people who ask “how can I boost my metabolism?” are actually using the question as a code for “how can I lose weight?” There’s not a great answer to the first question, but there are many good answers to the second.

Having a “slow metabolism” isn’t always the culprit when it comes to excess weight. Many “fat” people have very rapid metabolisms. Think Newman, on Seinfeld. Always darting around, always sweating, always in motion. That’s a fast metabolism in an overweight body if I’ve ever seen one, and I’ve seen plenty.

So the better question might be this: “How can I help my metabolism function optimally, and, in the process, how can I lose some body fat?”

Ah, now you’re talking.

The first thing you can do is to eat foods that will not raise your blood sugar too high or too fast, and will therefore not boost your body's production of the fat-storage, sugar-chasing hormone insulin higher than it needs to be. That would create less of a metabolic environment geared to fat storage, and more of a metabolic environment geared to fat loss.

The second thing you can do is plug the holes that are slowing you down. Let me explain.

A guy in a rowboat who wants to go faster should first check to see if the bottom is leaking water. If it is, plugging the holes is the first order of business; buying the best titanium oars in the world won’t do much good if the boat is sinking.

Many people who ask “how can I boost my metabolism?” are just like that rower. They want to know what magic foods to eat, what terrific supplements to take, what exercises to do to “boost their metabolism” but they’re like swimmers with heavy weights attached to their legs. The answer to “how to swim faster” is not necessarily in changing your freestyle stroke, or getting better space-age material Speedos (or searching for the top ten “metabolism boosting” foods or supplements). These strategies pale in comparison to simply dropping the weights from your feet.

That’s where nutrients, whole foods, stress management, water and rest come in.
 

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