Get more energy, a healthy appetite, restful sleep and reach your weight loss goals with our metabolism support plan!
- Find out if your metabolism needs support
- Discover these simple changes that will help your body type
- Learn how to retrain your metabolism to stop storing excess weight and feel more energised
- Eat these top metabolism boosting foods
What is metabolism?
Metabolism or metabolic rate is the speed your body uses the food you eat for energy. Many of us think that we’re stuck with a slow metabolism, and worry that it slows down as we get older.
Signs of a slow metabolism
- Low body temperature – a temperature of less than 36.6 C / 97.8 F, especially if your hands and feet are always cold. Take your temperature on waking before getting out of bed every morning for 5 days and work out the average to get a good idea of whether it’s normal or that your metabolism could be on the slow side.
- Feeling tired all the time – low energy levels, slow movements and slow mind! You can’t get going.
- Gaining weight easily and difficulty losing weight – although most people find it difficult to lose weight, if you’re also showing 1 or 2 of the other symptoms in this list, it could indicate a slow metabolism.
- Hormonal signs – (in women) suffering from an array of menstrual symptoms or irregular, or heavy periods. Thinning hair, and losing the outer edges of your eyebrows.
- Your body is under stress – physical stressors such as food intolerances and sensitivities, drastic changes to your sugar levels (caused by intensely sweet foods, refined carbohydrates like white bread, pasta, pastries, and a grande latte habit), over-exercising, as well as emotional stress can all negatively affect metabolism.
If you’ve said yes to any of these classic signs, read on to find out the tips that will help you...
"Low body temp, feeling tired, gaining weight and menstrual symptoms are signs of a slow metabolism."
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Types of metabolisers. Which one are you?
Because we’re all different, it’s important to tweak any health advice to suit your own needs and lifestyle.
1. Sedentary: You spend most of the day sitting down. Symptoms include insulin resistance (feeling tired, big appetite, brain fog) and being over weight.
Do this: Train your metabolism to burn fat with a low carbohydrate diet.
- Avoid sugar (sweets, candy, desserts, cake, biscuits) and starchy food (bread, rice, potatoes).
- Eat a portion of protein and fat-containing food at each meal, such as nuts, seeds, coconut oil, eggs, fish, meat. This keeps you going, plus eating fat gives your body the message to use fat for fuel!
- Stick to 3 regular meals a day and avoid snacking. Take 1 teaspoon of Organic Burst Spirulina in a glass of water with a squeeze of lemon to block sugar cravings.
- Fast overnight - have at least 12 hours without eating every night. This means that if you eat dinner at 8pm, wait until after 8am the following morning before you have breakfast.
"Train your metabolism to burn fat by fasting. Have at least 12 hours without food overnight."
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2. Active: You’re physically fit and train at the gym or studio 5 times a week. But you often get colds, infections and feel run down.
Do this: Give your body more fuel to keep going by customising your carbs to your exercise level.
- If you have high-level goals, or you’re performance training, think about what your sport demands – for high impact, high intensity training (anaerobic activities) you may need some more starchy foods.
- A diet low in starchy, carbohydrate foods like grains and flours can be great for losing weight but to perform well in intense exercise, carefully chosen carbohydrates will help keep your metabolism and immune system keep functioning well.
- Try including buckwheat or quinoa, sweet potato, celeriac, swede, and parsnips into your routine e.g. a portion for lunch in advance of an afternoon session, and another with your evening meal to refuel after exercise. See if this works for you by testing and assessing your progress.
3. Skinny: You’re a life-long ‘dieter’, you haven’t eaten carbs since the 90s, you eat little and don’t do much exercise because you have low energy. You seem to feel the cold more than other people.
Do this: Kick your metabolism into action with regular nourishing meals and more exercise.
- Eat more and move more! Eating and exercise increase your thermal rate, which improves your metabolism. Incorporate 3 meals and 2 snacks per day. Plus some exercise that you enjoy 4 times per week – walking, running, bouncing on a trampoline, yoga, etc.
- Eat 1 tbsp coconut oil every day – the type of fat in this oil is used quickly and easily in your body for a burst of energy (not stored as fat).
- Incorporate natural, whole carbohydrate foods like sweet potatoes, buckwheat and quinoa on days when you’re exercising, e.g. a portion of buckwheat porridge for breakfast with some Organic Burst Maca, then ½ a sweet potato with butter or coconut oil with your dinner after the gym.
- The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn when your body is at rest (yes even when lying down). Support the development of your lean muscle mass by eating plenty of good quality protein from fish, nuts, seeds, quinoa, meat and Organic Burst Spirulina – a complete protein that’s quickly digested and used in your body.
4. Hormonal: Your hormones are out of whack, your hands and feet are always cold, your periods are all over the place, you put on weight too easily.
Do this: Help your hormonal balance by reducing stress on your body and support your thyroid gland, which controls your body’s metabolic rate.
- Reduce caffeine, alcohol, and sugary foods, which cause spikes and dips in blood sugar levels and push your body into a state of stress.
- Get some support at work or at home to improve situations that are making you feel stressed. This could be a chat to your boss or switching to online grocery shopping, just think about what could make your life easier and do it!
- Reduce foods that are famous for causing irritation and sensitivities (in other words: stress) in the digestive system, this includes gluten-containing grains like wheat, barley, rye and oats, plus dairy products, additives in processed foods and pesticides from non-organic food – go for natural, organic, whole foods as much as possible. Learn more about food sensitivities here.
- Eat more foods containing iodine, including seaweed, seafood and choose natural sea salt to season your food. Iodine nourishes the thyroid gland Get lots of sleep – your sleep (or circadian) rhythm regulates your hormones and your energy burning ability. Aim to be asleep before 10.30 pm and get 8 hours per night – a great tactic is to start getting ready for bed an hour before you’re aiming to be asleep.
Top metabolism foods and drinks
Here are our favourite foods, drinks and seasonings to support your metabolic rate and help you convert energy from food brilliantly!
- Green tea – drink 3-5 cups a day.
- Organic Burst Wheatgrass – add 1-2 tsps per day to a glass of water with lemon, green juice or add to food and dressings.
- Cinnamon – add to breakfast bowls and warm drinks.
- Hot spices like cayenne & chilli – to heat your body. Use in cooking and sprinkle on to sweet foods to stop you eating so much of them!
- Coconut oil – eat 1 tbsp per day, stirred into porridge, Organic Burst Chia pudding, or use to fry meat, vegetables, etc.
- Protein – easily absorbed complete protein such as Organic Burst Spirulina powder in a glass of water with lemon – take within an hour after exercising.
- Natural sea salt or Himalayan pink salt – add to food instead of industrial table salt to help your body utilise iodine better.
"Top foods for the metabolism: cinnamon, chilli spice, coconut oil, protein-rich spirulina, green tea."
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It’s easy to make a few simple changes to give your body the support it needs to be firing on all cylinders! Get on the Organic Burst journey and you’ll be feeling full of life in no time!