J'AIME FEBRUARY 2020

suppressed, and a poor diet will make you susceptible
to getting sick more often. Eating a varied diet full of
dark-colored fruits and vegetables, nuts and fish will
provide your first line of defence. Make a sustainable
plan that suits you, and one you can stick to forever.
EAT! Simply eat what your body needs and
boost your metabolism
Starvation is not good! Some people confuse fasting
with starvation. There are different intermittent
fasting methods which can help in the mission of
burning stored fat. However, it is very important to
get all the nutrients your metabolism needs in the
eating window you have (time you’re allowed to eat).
This point requires a full article within itself, so for
more information, please feel free to contact me.
We have to be aware, here, that starvation can
cause our metabolism to slow down. It becomes
more efficient and learns how to function with less
calories, so the extra calories are stored in the form
of fat, which of course we don’t want! In fact, we are
aiming for the opposite.
Metabolism is, simply put, the process by which our
body converts food into energy. The body takes the
calories from what we eat and drink and uses oxygen
to release the energy we need to function. So how do
we increase our metabolism?
Muscle cells require more energy than fat cells, so
people with more muscle than fat tend to have a
faster metabolism. Including strength training in
your weekly plan would boost your metabolism.
Eating plenty of protein at every meal - not just postworkout
- is essential because the amino acids are
used for building lean muscle mass.
MEAL PREP CAN HELP
YOU STAY ON TRACK
DON’T STOP AT FIVE A DAY -
FILL UP ON GREENS
The more active you are, the more calories you
burn. Some people who are said to have a fast
metabolism are probably just more active than
others. Furthermore, it has been proven that after
high intensity training, the afterburn effect continues
for a few hours in your body, making you burn more
calories than in your normal state.
Having a good sleep can have a positive effect on
our metabolism too, not to mention
it also reduces our levels of stress
hormones.
Treats
It can feel like many diets kill all the
pleasure of eating, and when the
diet regime is finished, people feel
free again to ‘go bananas’ eating
anything and everything! Find
a way of eating healthy, maybe
discovering new spices and flavours
to add to your food to enjoy it that
little bit more. Of course, treats
have their place, limiting them
totally will only make us want them
even more so that certainly isn’t the
answer.
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