ATHE_Transcript_Ep 529_Top 5 Foods to Boost Metabolism Naturally for Women Over 40
JJ Virgin: [00:00:00] Hey, this is JJ Virgin. Thanks so much for joining me. This is Ask the Health Expert. In each episode, I put the Power of Health in your hands and share ways to get healthy, lose weight, heal your gut detox, and lots more. So you can look and feel better fast if you'd rather watch the video. Hey, I did put on my makeup and do my hair, so check it out on my YouTube channel.
It's a myth that your metabolism slows down as you get older. Well, mostly a myth. A recent international study actually showed that your metabolism stays pretty stable throughout your adult life until the age of 60. So then why are you having so much trouble losing weight now that you're over? , is it harder to lose weight?
Really? Does it feel like your metabolism has come to a [00:01:00] grinding halt? If all of this is true for you, even a little bit of it, you are not crazy. If you aren't paying attention to a few key things, your metabolism is gonna slow down as you age, and there are other hidden factors that are gonna make it harder for you to lose weight.
However, good news, there are some key foods that you can add to your. They're gonna make a significant difference without you feeling deprived. So there was a 2021 study published in the Journal of Science that showed that your metabolism plateaus after age 20 until about age 60, when it starts to slowly decline by less than 1% a year.
So you can't blame the weight gain on your age, and this is good news. because you can't turn back time, but you can tackle the other reasons that you have a sluggish metabolism. So first of all, what are the signs of a slow metabolism? Well, obviously weight gain, right? And difficulty losing weight. But is your metabolism really slow?
So the way you can check if your metabolism is slow is you can either do a breath test or you can get it [00:02:00] predicted from doing a DEXA body composition or using a body composition scale, and they're gonna predict it from your muscle mass because there are two big determin. of your metabolism. One of them is muscle mass and one of them is thyroid.
Now, likely if you're 40 plus, both could be an issue. So for thyroid, cuz we gotta clear that elephant in the room. Go get it. Checked with a good functional medicine doctor. Now here's a couple things to think about if you're noticing fatigue, low energy, constipation, dry or brittle, hair, hair drier, brittle hair, skin or nails.
If you're depressed, if you're having some hair loss, if your hands fall yellow tinge with them. If you're eating a lot of carrots, if you've got elevated LDL cholesterol, then these are things that are all symptoms of low thyroid function. Again, you wanna go to a functional medicine doctor. Or you can go get your own direct to consumer lab testing done.
I use your lab work. We'll make sure to include that information and you can get a really good lab panel that looks at TSH free T3 and t4, reverse T3 and thyroid [00:03:00] antibodies. All things you need to look at to really get conclusive. About if you've got low thyroid function, do not go by the regular norms of A ts H.
You need more information than that. So now let's talk about muscle mass, cuz there's this thing called sarcopenic obesity. That means that you've got not enough muscle mass for your ideal body weight. And this is super duper important because it turns out that after the age of 40, we start to lose up 1% of muscle a year if we are not using it.
And we've gotta make sure that we're using it because muscle. Everything for your metabolism. So the first thing that we're gonna wanna look at here for metabolism is protein. Now here's the deal, toss the R D A, the R D A will help you avoid like, you know, the, it's the minimum that you basically need to survive.
It's not the optimal that we wanna have for you really being at your best. So, protein's key and critical, cuz number one's the most, thermic. Macronutrient takes about 20 to 30% of the protein. Eat is [00:04:00] used in digestion. You're not absorbing those calories. They're used to assimilate the protein and it's slower to digest, so it's more satiating.
It triggers the release release of different peptides that tell you that you are full. So it's very satiating and it's very thermic to really big bonuses here. The other thing that it does is it triggers the release of something. mTOR, this helps your body go through muscle protein synthesis. mTOR or mammalian target of rapamycin is an enzyme that acts as a protein kinase and plays an important role in cell growth and maintenance.
It's involved in the regulation of cellular function such as protein synthesis, metabolism, and autophagy. And when you activate mTOR cells, increase protein synthesis and muscle. But if you inhibit it, you are going to have decreased muscle growth and you need about two and a half to three grams of leucine, which is really rich in animal protein to trigger mTOR activation.
So what's important is if you are looking to [00:05:00] lose weight or if you're restricting calories, , you gotta make sure that you're holding onto muscle mass and having optimal protein that's 0.8 grams per pound of ideal body weight or more is gonna help you do that along with making sure that you are doing resistance training, lifting heavy weights, doing heavy body weight, doing stuff that's hard for your body to do along with protein is gonna help you hold onto our build muscle.
And muscle really is that metabolic spanx. It's holds everything in tighter right, and boosts your metabolism. So super. Next one is spices. I like to say pump it up, then spice it up, and you're gonna spice it up with, first of all, cayenne pepper. Now, I don't tend to like hot foods. My husband is like a hot food, enthusiastic throws red pepper and hot sauces on everything.
Me? I do not like it. I wish I did because. Cayenne pepper especially contains Capsaicin. And caps helps stimulate body heat, and that means you burn more body fat. Chili peppers and any kind of Capsaicin consumption helps the body, [00:06:00] helps reduce body weight, and it's like a great little way to help fight obesity.
Now here's how I do it. Since I don't really like hot foods, I found this drink from Soja called Lemon Love. That's lemon juice. A little Stevia. Cayenne pepper and I'll do that. So that's a great one cuz you get the lemon juice too. That lowers the blood sugar response. So first one is red pepper is cayenne, is Capsaicin.
The next one is ginger. Now there was a study in 2017, it was a randomized double blind, placebo controlled trial, which is like the gold standard. Amazing for studies. It was published in the International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism and there were 50 patients with type two diabetes that were divided in two.
and they were received either 2000 milligrams a day of ginger or a placebo for 10 weeks. And what they found was the ginger consumption significantly reduced serum levels of fasting blood glucose, and hemoglobin a1c. So ginger is another big one. So when you get the sushi and they give you the ginger eat it, and then curcumin, which we know [00:07:00] reduces inflammation and inflammation
blocks muscle protein synthesis. So there's this thing called anabolic resistance that starts to happen as we age, where muscle cells become resistant to the anabolic effects of muscle building hormones and signals. So you really wanna make sure that you are block and lowering that inflammation so that you can hold onto and build muscle.
Now, I already mentioned lemon juice, but let's talk lemon juice and apple cider vinegar. Because what we know is both of these can help lower the blood sugar response to a meal. Apple cider vinegar can improve insulin function and lower blood sugar levels. And remember, lemon juice can lower the blood sugar response to a meal.
So both these things are amazing and easy enough. Hey, extra virgin olive oil, a little a c v. You've got a great salad dressing too because you gotta have lower insulin and good blood sugar. So your body Then can use stored fat for fuel when it needs energy. Now the next one are prebiotic rich fiber foods think barely ripe bananas.
So green bananas, but not so green. You can't peel 'em. Garlic, sun chokes, dandelion [00:08:00] greens, onions leaks, oatmeal. Apples, cacao, flax, and jicima. The sum of them. And these prebiotics are great because they stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut. And this is important because the type of bacteria you have in your gut can make the difference between you storing more calories from the food you eat as fat, which we do not want to do.
Or burning it off. Plus gut bacteria also plays a big role in blood sugar balance. Now, gut bacteria ferment fiber, including resistant starch to support the production of short chain fatty acids. And these short chain fatty acids produce a fatty acid called butyrate, and butyrate can improve colon health and the balance of gut bacteria.
So butyrate's super cool. I talked about this actually on Dr. Oz about, you know, the resistance starch of cold potatoes and green bananas. of producing butyrate and butyrate being like a fat burner. It helps with suppressing appetite, it helps you burn fat better, and it promotes a healthy metabolism.
Butyrate increases thermogenesis. That's how your body creates [00:09:00] heat, so it can help you burn fat. And then two of my most favorites, coffee and green tea. I always say, you know, like I can pretty much don't take away my drinks. I could go without eating, but I really love my coffee and my green tea and green.
has been part of my daily routine since I lived in Japan. Oh, so many years ago. I got hooked on it. And I also love, I start every day with organic black coffee. I really drink green tea because of what it does for you. There's a load of research on the main polyphenol and green tea. It's called EGCG I always think of egg with a C in it, and EGCG can increase fat and calorie burning even at rest.
There was a study out of the Spain Journal, the nutrition hospital area. and what they found there was that 100 to 460 milligrams a day of E G C G has the strongest effect on fat loss and weight loss after 12 weeks. And by the way, since I'm talking fluids, the other one I wanna talk about is water, because mild dehydration enhances fat storing.
Your body basically is going into [00:10:00] hibernation. I did a really cool episode with Dr. Rick Johnson of Nature Wants You to Be Fat, talking about how dehydration causes weight gain and holding onto fat. It also causes you to raise cortisol, which of course then can spike your blood sugar and cause more belly fat.
Now, I always like to start with food because getting healthy starts with changing what's at the end of your fork, but there are also a few other ways to improve your metabolic health outside the kitchen, and you can learn more in this video. On six ways to get metabolically healthy.
For more info on this and other health topics I cover or to rate and review, find me on Instagram, Facebook, and my website jjvirgin.com/, and don't forget to subscribe to my show so you won't miss a single episode. Go to subscribetojj.com. Thanks again for being with me this week.[00:11:00]