Nutrition

What Are The Best Foods To Boost Your Metabolism?

What Are The Best Foods To Boost Your Metabolism?

If you’ve been part of our community at Team Worx in Alexandria, VA, you know that exercise is just one of the many things that can boost your metabolism. Food can also put your calorie-burning fires in high gear, just as other lifestyle changes can help. Eating healthy and getting plenty of exercise should be at the top of your list for changes if you’re having problems losing weight or just want to make the process faster and keep the weight off permanently.

How does increasing your metabolism help with weight loss?

Your metabolism has to do with your body breaking down food for energy. If your metabolism is high, you’ll burn more calories than someone whose metabolism is functioning in low gear. If you have a slow metabolism, gaining weight is easy, but losing it seems almost impossible. An increased metabolism, based on resting metabolic rate, affects the calories burned 24/7. It’s a measure of the calories burned just to perform basic bodily functions, such as brain activity and pumping blood.

Aim for a high-protein meal with lots of fiber if you want to increase your metabolism.

Protein is necessary for tissue growth, tissue repair, and keeping your metabolism higher. Unlike sugary products and other simple carbs that digest quickly, protein takes far longer to digest, so means your body has to work harder. Consider both animal and plant proteins like lean meat or legumes. Don’t set aside all carbs. They can also boost your metabolism, especially those high in fiber. Fiber can help reduce inflammation, which slows metabolism. Fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and legumes are high in fiber content.

Don’t skip fat!

Some fat is unhealthy. Trans fats, for instance, can cause damage to your body. That shouldn’t stop you from eating fat. Your body needs fat, but it needs healthy fat, like that from avocados, fatty fish, and nuts. It not only uses fat to create many hormones, but healthy fat also helps burn fat, and increases the metabolic rate. Too often people fall for the low-fat, no-fat options in food, but those are often unhealthy. Since fat provides both taste and texture, removing it affects both. To combat the bad flavor, manufacturers often add sugar, which causes inflammation that slows metabolism.

  • Add some spice to your life and indulge your taste buds with cinnamon, ginger, or hot peppers. While other spices also raise body temperature and increase metabolism, these are leaders of the pack.
  • You don’t have to eat a special meal to increase your metabolism. Staying hydrated can keep you moving at peak performance, flush out toxins, and increase metabolism.
  • Exercising regularly can also boost your metabolism, especially HIIT workouts. It builds muscle tissue and muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain than fat tissue does, so the more you have, the higher your metabolism.
  • Have a cup of green tea or coffee. Both contain caffeine and speed up your metabolic rate. Green tea contains catechin that helps break down fat while increasing metabolic rate.

For more information, contact us today at Team Worx Fitness


How Do You Lose Weight During Menopause?

How Do You Lose Weight During Menopause?

You might feel like it’s an impossible task to lose weight when you’re going through menopause, but it’s not. Even if you’re doing everything right, it’s still a bit harder than it was when you were in your twenties. During menopause, sex hormones are out of balance and HGH is lower. Muscle mass is also dwindling, making weight loss even more difficult. The hormonal changes can also affect how weight is distributed.

Start simple.

A few things can help that take very little effort. Eating more fiber is one of those. Fiber fills you up and helps you eliminate it easier. Drinking more water is another important part of weight loss, like fiber, it can fill you up so you eat less. Your body also dehydrates faster, so you’ll rehydrate, boosting your energy, while making your skin more youthful. Getting adequate sleep is important. When you don’t get enough sleep, it interferes with the balance of the hunger/satiety hormones, while reducing the potential for insulin resistance.

Choose a low carb or keto diet to help maintain blood glucose levels and reduce insulin resistance.

Choose foods higher in protein, which also helps keep you feeling full, while aiding in building muscle mass. If you’re still having problems with weight loss, give up all foods with added sugar or restrict consumption or try intermittent fasting, where you reduce the window where you consume food. You start by eating later, say starting at 11:00 a.m. and don’t eat after 7:00 p.m., narrowing your food intake to an eight hour window.

Exercise, exercise, exercise!

Your body needs all types of exercise. You need flexibility training, endurance, balance and strength training. Strength training is particularly important for preventing bone loss. The more muscles you have, the more they tug at the bone and the more calcium the bone uptakes to maintain strength. HIIT—high intensity interval training—is also exceptional for weight loss.

  • Try yoga and meditation. The simple stretching of yoga can also build strength. The breathing exercises and meditation can help reduce stress, which can cause weight gain by increasing insulin resistance.
  • Cut out the alcohol and switch to water. Alcohol is notorious for weight gain. It’s digested first and eliminated from the body, leaving the other calories to go to fat. Get rid of processed snack foods and opt for fresh fruits and vegetables.
  • Switch out foods that are inflammatory, such as highly processed foods or foods with added sugar. Inflammation can lead to oxidative stress, insulin resistance and weight gain.
  • Find active pastimes you enjoy and do them. Getting exercise isn’t all done at the gym. Just walking more can be a big benefit to your body. Find ways to add steps to your days.

For more information, contact us today at Team Worx Fitness


How To Meal Prep Healthy School Lunches

How To Meal Prep Healthy School Lunches

Not all school lunches in Alexandria, VA, are healthy, which is why many people include them in their meal prep plans. By making the lunches at home, you can ensure that your child will at least be given a healthy option, even if he or she doesn’t eat everything. You can boost the potential by creating healthy options for kids that taste delicious and are fun. You also can make ones the whole family will love.

Planning the meals is a step toward success.

If you preplan all the meals, you’ll be using food more effectively with little or no waste. Leftover chicken can be a chicken salad or a salad in a jar. Did your child love the meal? You can use leftovers for school. Make roll-ups for a unique option. Use the protein source, such as chicken, turkey or beef roast and if dice it fine. Mix with some chives and cream cheese and spread on whole wheat bread that had the crusts removed. Put a midget or baby gherkin at one end and roll the bread around it, making a log. Put in toothpicks about an inch apart and slice the log for pinwheels. It’s a fun meal and you can vary the recipe to suit your child’s taste.

Always include a container of fresh fruit with nuts, cheese or peanut butter.

Keep it simple and let them assemble a healthy lunch. It makes it more fun. Include the utensils for spreading peanut butter or cream cheese on sliced fresh fruit or veggies. A plastic spoon works well. If you want to assemble something fun for a treat, make ants on a log. Fill the center of a piece of celery with peanut butter and top with a line of raisins, to look like ants crossing a log.

For older children, assembling tacos is a treat.

Include all the fixings and several soft taco shells. Include leftover taco seasoned meat in one container, chopped lettuce, tomatoes and onions or other taco fixings mixed in others. Include a spoon and it’s ready to assemble. You can make healthy muffins that contain all the nutrients of a meal, which include veggies. A hard-boiled egg, hummus dip, fresh fruit and veggies can all be the basis to build a meal. You can even include salsa and chips for scooping.

  • To keep fresh cut fruit like pears and apples fresh, toss in a 1:1 mixture of lemon juice and water. Then store them in an airtight container. Topping sliced avocados with lemon juice can also prevent it from browning.
  • You can make sandwiches ahead, but always seal in the freshness of the bread, so it doesn’t get soggy. Use a fatty spread like butter or mayonnaise. Toast the bread lightly before assembly, add the spread and assemble,
  • If your sandwich tends to be wetter, with ingredients like saucy condiments or tomatoes, store it in parchment paper wrapped deli-style to prevent it from getting soggy. If it’s a drier sandwich, make it ahead and store it in a plastic bag to prevent drying out.
  • Make lunches fun. Include pita pockets and containers of ingredients to stuff them. Flat bread roll up sandwiches are also more fun. You’ll be amazed at how your kids will eat a salad with chicken bits when it’s stuffed in a pita pocket.

For more information, contact us today at Team Worx Fitness


Alternative Breakfast Ideas To Mix Things Up

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Undo the Weekend (48 hour recovery)

What a weekend that was! You went out, you ate and drank and had a blast! And now the fun is over and the consequences are setting in…you feel terrible. You woke up with a headache, an overall feeling of bloating and a sluggishness that you can’t shake.

It’s time to undo the damage brought on from that epic weekend. Here’s how…

  1. No More Junk! It may sound obvious, but the first step to recovering from all that fun you had is to stop the damage. No more naughty foods. No more alcohol.

When you are vacationing or partying it’s easy to remove your mindful eating and drinking mechanism, and to replace it with the anything-goes mindset. This makes sense for party-mode, but once you come back home and get back to real life it’s important to firmly put an end to the junk food and calorie-laden beverages. If you don’t then your weekend diet may continue into your week, resulting in tons of extra calories that quickly add up in unwanted pounds.

  1. Flush Your System. For the next 48 hours your main mission is to drink as much water as possible.

All of those poor food and drink choices result in dehydration, which manifests in a pounding headache and a feeling of sluggishness. Plan to sip on water throughout the next two days, adding in fresh sliced fruit, cucumbers, mint or basil to add a refreshing and rewarding flavor.

  1. Get Some Rest. End the party or vaycay Sunday afternoon so that you can get into bed early in preparation for the week ahead.

It may not sound super exciting to plan an early-to-bed night at the end of your weekend but, come Monday morning, you will be functioning much better with a little rest under your belt. Plan to get to bed early the next couple of days as well, and fit in a nap if possible.

  1. Eat Cleansing Foods. You’ve stopped eating junk, now fill your diet with small light meals consisting of fiber and a serving of protein. Stick with only whole foods for the next 48 hours.

Fruits and fresh veggies should make up the bulk of your calories as you recover. Asparagus, leafy greens, citrus fruits, and raw veggies are all wonderful items to enjoy in addition to high quality, low fat protein.

  1. Avoid Going Extreme. Yes, you ate and drank a LOT this weekend, but swinging the pendulum too far in the other direction isn’t actually going to help. Overcompensation is rarely a winning idea.

Fight the urge to skip meals or to over-exercise in response to your indulgences. Going from one extreme to the other creates a bad cycle that leaves you feeling even more tired. In addition, taking your body from feast to famine will actually make you more prone for fat storage.

Getting and staying in great shape will not only help you bounce back from the weekend faster, it will also help you achieve healthy habits that will stick with you even as you party and vacation.

My programs are designed with your overall lifestyle in mind and I’m here to get you (and keep you) in your best shape ever!

Call or email me now to get started on a fitness program that’s specially designed for you. Let’s do this!

www.theworxbymaia.com