Duh. Put simply – really simply – metabolism is the sum of the chemical reactions going on inside your body. Many of these reactions cannot occur without adequate water. More water = more chemical reactions = more calories burned.
A breakfast based on protein and fat will help stabilize your blood sugar and decrease cravings for sugar.
Legendary Olympic coach Charles Poliquin recommends a “Meat and Nuts Breakfast” for his athletes who need to drop body fat. You can do this quickly and easily by popping leftover meat into the microwave and grabbing a handful of nuts (if you’re giggling here, you really need to work on your maturity :-)
And, of course, there’s the classic bacon and eggs. Of you can go with my personal standard, the Keifer Coffee [my corny name, not his] from John Keifer of Carb Nite and Carb Backloading fame – coffee with up to 20 grams of protein and about 1 TBS of coconut oil. Many people get great results from the 30-in-30 or 20-in-20 technique. That’s 30 [or 20] grams of protein within the first 30 [or 20] minutes after you wake up.
The active ingredient in green tea, EGCG, is a proven metabolism booster. The challenge here is that you may need as many as 6 cups of (relatively) freshly brewed – not the stuff sitting in plastic jugs at the grocery store – green tea a day to make a discernible difference. You may want to go with Green Tea Extract instead.
Studies show that people who don’t sleep enough are far more likely to make poor food choices starting with breakfast and continuing throughout the day.
An easy tip if you’re convinced you can’t possibly get to bed earlier or wake up later, is to stay away from the electronics right before bedtime. Bright screens (think phones and tablets) stimulate the pineal gland in your brain and can throw off your circadian rhythm.
No, not that silly “park farther away” stuff. Try to walk a little more each day outside and squeeze in a long walk every other week. I’ll give you bonus points for walking on unpredictable surfaces (think hiking vs. asphalt streets) and/or wearing minimalist shoes. Learn more in the book, Move Your DNA.
