Metabolism is the rate at which our bodies burn energy from food calories.  When you were in your teens, your body was a raging, hormonally inferno.  Your burn rate drops by about 2% every 10 years from your 20′s on.  What happens to energy that is not used:  it gets stored as fat. So….the more muscle you have, the hotter your fire burns (metabolism is boosted!)  Muscle is several times more metabolically active than fat. You can activate your muscles and burn fat through physical activity, and that potential fat burn can last up to 24 hours.  Just get moving, even if you have to bust out with some old exercise tapes or DVD’s.

Studies show that people who don’t eat breakfast and 4 1/2 times more likely to be obese than people who make time for it.  Going without breakfast can slow your metabolism by 10%. Protein jumpstarts your metabolism, good fats stabilize blood sugar, and fiber helps gets rid of waste in your system. Include protein in your breakfast, and you will be more satisfied.  An ideal breakfast would be something like 2 organic, cage-f*ree eggs, 1/2 an avocado, and some fruit.  You have protein, good fat, and fiber in that meal.  It’s a perfectly balanced breakfast, and a power breakfast, for sure.

You are made out of water – over 60%, for the most part.  So you need to drink lots of it.  In the past 30 years, we’ve more than doubled the number of calories we drink, raising it to about 450 a day on average.  Why?  Because so many have stopped drinking water and drink sugary beverages.  If you want something super awesome, instead of Power Aid or Gator Aid or Vitamin Water (all sugary drinks), drink Suero-Viv instead!  The very name means “Whey of Life.” It is amazing, cultured living beverages, and there is zero sugar in it.  It has real organic honey as the sweetener.  It is packed with potassium, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, essential oils, and probiotics.  It does not get any better than that!  See it here.

Those labels only confuse people, and usually they are loaded with so much junk.  Look instead, for good whole food nutrition.  Eat more foods without labels, like fish, greens, beans and fruits. Also, consider certain spices like chile pepper, which can also fire up your metabolism.  Ground cinnamon helps control blood sugar, and prevent insulin resistance. If you love cheese like I do, please get yourself the Beyond Organic Really Raw Cheese.  There’s NOTHING like it, and I eat it every single day. There are no grains in the Beyond Organic meat or dairy or ANY of the Beyond Organic foods and beverages.  Only A+ great whole food nutrition!

5.  Shrink Your Pot Belly.

Keep in mind.  The larger the plate, bowl or glass, the more you will eat or drink.   This “supersize” me issue has been a real problem for a long time.  So what to do?  Simple.  Enjoy smaller portions of the foods you love, and eat SLOWLY, savoring every bite. So for example, instead of having 1 cup of ice cream, have 1/2 a cup of ice cream and 1/2 cup of sliced stawberries.  Just an idea for you.  I don’t recommend this at night.  If it’s the weekend, and you want a treat — then really enjoy it because it’s not about deprivation.  Monday, however, get back to living healthy and loving it!