Tips to Boost Your Metabolism as You Get Older

What Once Wasn't Important Now Is

Metabolism is when substances are broken down to yield energy. So the higher the metabolism the more "substances" your body breaks down to energy. The faster your metabolism the more calories you burn. The more calories you burn the easier it is to drop pounds. 

A Women's Metabolism As You Get Older

A woman's metabolism slows by about 5 percent with each passing decade. Hormones play a role, but mostly it's because as you get older, you typically become less active. As a result, you lose muscle mass, a major consumer of all those calories you scarf down.  You can outsmart the aging process with a few tips. If you don't here's what will happen. 

• 20s:Your muscle and bone mass are at their peak.

• 30s: Your mitochondria—cellular powerhouses that fuel muscles to use more oxygen and burn more energy—become less effective.

• 40s: A drop in estrogen production further slows metabolism.

• 50s: Sharp decreases in activity reduce the levels of hormones responsible for maintaining lean muscle mass and bone density.

You can help speed up your metabolism by what you eat and how you exercise. Here are a few tips that I'm going to be trying out to throw my metabolism into overdrive.

• Eat a good breakfast

• Sipping coffee/tea -- Caffeine -- first thing in the morning  

• Drink eight 12 oz glasses of cold water

• Eat protein at every meal

• Drink Greet Tea

• Eat more chili peppers 

• More dark leafy greens - spinach, broccoli

• Get plenty of sleep

Other Tips to Help Boost Your Metabolism

Calcium-rich afternoon snack -- eight ounces of milk or six ounces of low-fat yogurt. 

Calcium helps your body metabolize fat more efficiently by increasing the rate at which it gets rid of fat as waste 

Eat Organic  - researchers in Canada found that dieters with the most organochlorides (chemicals found in pesticides) stored in their fat cells were the most susceptible to disruptions in mitochondrial activity and thyroid function. In other words -- Their metabolism stalled.

Can't afford a full organic switch check out foodnews.org/fulllist for the most (and the least) contaminated foods.

Slow down strength training -- when lowering the weight count to three and lower it slowly.

Mix up the intensity when running or biking -- short bursts of sprints.