GirlsGuideTo | Bikini Body Bootcamp Day 4

It's Day 4 of our Bikini Bootcamp so hopefully you've started your food journal and are feeling more confident about how to maintain a healthy diet. As they say, you are what you eat. The goal is to speed up your metabolism not slow it down so we've compiled a list of the types of foods you should/should not eat.

Here are the five major food groups that slow down your metabolism...

Sugar: Eating too much sugar overloads your body and causes your blood sugar levels to rise rapidly and this in turn makes your body go into conversion mode meaning you will store extra fat and burn less calories.

White Bread: White bread is made from wheat flour which then has the bran and germ removed. White bread is bleached to remove any yellow color which destroys many of the vitamins contained in the wheat plus it is full of sugar.

Fried Foods: Fried foods are very low in nutritional value and easy to digest. They are also very high in calories and full of saturated fats. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature, generally come from an animal source, make your body produce more cholesterol and slow down your metabolic rate.

Processed Foods: The vast majority of processed foods and ready made meals are also lacking in nutritional value, contain dangerous trans fats and are high in chemical preservatives. Again this combination of factors in processed foods means that they reduce your metabolic rate.

Alcohol: Alcohol is full of sugar and calories which restrict your metabolic rate. Alcohol is also known to have a dehydrating effect if you are not fully hydrated your metabolism does not work as effectively.

And the four food groups that will help boost your metabolism...

Superfoods: Super foods are foods which are deemed highly beneficial to your health. They offer protection against a number of diseases, provide you with energy, and are full of anti-oxidants. They can also help boost your metabolism. Some of the most popular super foods are blueberries, grapefruit, oranges, tomatoes and yogurt.

Spicy Foods: Most spicy foods have a mild thermogenic effect which means that they can help activate your body’s fat burning process.

Protein: Protein has a number of metabolism boosting benefits. According to the Journal of the American College of Nutrition : “convincing evidence exists that protein exerts an increased thermic effect when compared to fat and carbohydrate” which in simple terms means that your body uses more calories when processing protein than carbohydrates or fats. So by increasing the amount of protein you eat each day you can suppress your appetite and burn the amounts of calories you burn.

Water: I know this is not technically a food group but it is a part of your diet which can make or break your metabolism. If you are not properly hydrated then your metabolism does not work as effectively and ultimately you burn less calories when resting. It is therefore really important to stay hydrated at all times if you want to maximize your metabolism.

Written by our fabulous Fitness and Wellness Expert, Jennifer Era. Check out her site at http://jenniferera.com and follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/JenniferEra

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