Boost Metabolism on a Whole Food Plant-Based Diet

Do you know someone who eats like there’s no tomorrow yet still manages to stay skinny?

I think we all know lucky people like that, and if you ask them their secret, they’ll probably say they don’t have one. But whether they realize it or not, the reason they can eat like kings and queens and never gain a pound is their metabolism.

What is metabolism?

The term “metabolism” actually encompasses all the processes your body uses to maintain life, but it’s commonly used to talk about the process of turning the food you eat into energy to fuel your body.

Quite simply, if you have a higher metabolism, you’re going to burn more calories and find it a lot easier to lose weight and keep it off.

I don’t have a high metabolism, so I have to work harder at it. A lot harder. And I know a lot of people who are in the same boat.

Our metabolism gets slower as we age

And even though it’s always been a struggle for me, aging makes it worse for everyone.

Do you ever look back on all the junk food you ate as a kid and wonder how you ever stayed thin when now it’s a challenge just to shed a few pounds despite eating a lot healthier?

It’s not just your imagination – your metabolism slows with age, so it really is harder for you to stay trim as you get older, even if your eating habits haven’t changed. The decline in activity as we get older combined with the loss of muscle mass and the aging process overall contribute to the slowing of our metabolism.

Experts say women hit their peak basal metabolic rate in their late teens or early 20s. This rate refers to how many calories your body burns just to function at rest.

Once that stage is firmly in the rearview mirror, you’ll start losing 1 to 2 percent of your basal metabolic rate per decade. And for many of us, this decline starts becoming noticeable around the same time we settle into the workforce – often with a desk job – so there’s this perfect storm of events working against us.

Hormones play a role, too. In your 30s, your body doesn’t produce as much human growth hormone as before, which causes your metabolic rate to drop. And if you’ve had a baby, I don’t need to tell you what that can do to your body – it’s worth it, of course, but it does pose some new challenges!

How to speed up your metabolism

The good news is that if you weren’t naturally blessed with a high metabolism or you’re trying to counteract age-related slowdown, there are ways you can give yours a boost.

Here are some foolproof approaches.

1.      Drink cold water

That’s right – raising your metabolism really can be as easy as drinking more cold water.

I’m not saying you can chug water all day and fit into size 2 jeans a month from now, but studies have shown that drinking half a liter of water can raise your resting metabolism by anywhere from 10 to 30 percent for around an hour. If the water is cold, the effect is greater as your body uses more energy to heat that water up to body temperature.

Of course, it’s also true that drinking water fills you up and helps you eat less, so this really is a no-brainer.

2.      Lift something heavy

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times. Lots of women think lifting weights is going to give them a bulky and masculine body, but this just isn’t true – and those who skip it are missing out on a solid natural metabolism booster.

I’m not saying you need to fight over the weight bench with the bodybuilders at the gym. (Please don’t do that.)

But I am saying that if you regularly lift heavy objects – yes, your toddler counts, but weights are more effective – you’re going to burn more calories every day, even when you’re at rest. That’s because muscle is just more metabolically active than fat is. Building muscle is a very powerful tool for fat burning.

3.      Eat more protein

When you follow a whole food plant-based diet, you’ll be nourishing your body with the right foods for your hormones and metabolism automatically, especially if you’re following Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen. (Check my Daily Dozen article out if you have no idea what I’m talking about.)

Eating any food will increase your metabolism for a few hours as you digest it, but eating protein raises it the most.

On a whole food plant-based diet, we eat a lot of protein-rich beans and pulses, so this is something that you might accomplish without even really trying!

4.      Drink green tea

There is one specific food that deserves a mention here, and that’s green tea. Studies have shown that it can raise your metabolism by 4 to 5 percent. It can also help convert some of the fat your body is storing into free fatty acids, which can raise fat burning by as much as 17 percent.

Although some studies about its effects on metabolism are a bit contradictory, there are so many health benefits that this is one approach that is definitely worth a try.

5.      Get more sleep

Sleep deprivation can wreak havoc on your metabolism, and it can also raise your body’s levels of ghrelin, a hormone that makes you feel hungry, and lower leptin, a hormone that makes your body feel full.

So as hard as it is to get more rest, making the effort to get to the heart of what’s holding you back from a good night’s sleep could really pay off in terms of your metabolism and weight.

6.      Keep a regular schedule

Getting plenty of sleep is important, but so is consistency in your sleep schedule – and that extends to other aspects of your daily routine as well.

You’ve probably heard that shiftwork can cause people to pack on the pounds, but even just sleeping in on the weekends can be enough to mess up your metabolism.

Meal regularity is just as important as sleep regularity, with studies showing that eating an irregular pattern of meals can cause people’s insulin sensitivity to drop and cholesterol to rise, reducing calorie burn and spurring overeating.

7.      Be friends with Vitamin B

B vitamins play an important role in metabolism, especially thiamine, riboflavin, and pyridoxine. You can find B vitamins in whole plant foods like bananas, spinach, peas and whole grains. Adding these foods to your diet is an easy way to boost metabolism naturally.

What about supplements?

We all love the idea of just popping a pill and solving our problems, but there are a few reasons this is a bad idea.

First, because metabolism is tied so strongly to weight, there are a lot of scams out there looking to capitalize on people’s desire to shed some pounds. Dietary supplements are not monitored by the FDA, so there is no way of knowing whether what you’re buying contains what it claims it does or if it’s even safe.

Plus, there are so many natural ways you can accomplish this while also gaining other health benefits that the safe route simply makes more sense.

(Check out my article “What supplements do you need on a whole food plant-based diet” to learn more about this topic.)

The bottom line

Growing older is a blessing and a gift from God, but it’s important to be mindful of how our bodies change and how we can adjust our diet and lifestyle to keep those differences from wreaking havoc on our waistline ­– and our overall health.