Your body's metabolism is one of those things that is widely misunderstood. Many people believe and have sworn to, eating a certain numbers a meals a day in order to speed up your metabolism. While that may help in some form, it is also good to mention that there are some foods you should stay away from because they actually slow down your metabolism and prevent you from losing weight. Here are the four troubled food to keep off your plate:
1. White flour
White flour is the main ingredient in regular bread and pasta and even though they might have a better taste than the ones made of whole wheat, that’s about the only positive characteristic that white flour products have. White flour is made of wheat, however, during the processing, all the grains’ best characteristics, like antioxidants and fiber are taken away. All you’re left with is something that tastes better and has a better texture but has a very low amount of quality nutrients.
And to make it worse, white flour contains low amounts of fiber, which usually slows down digestion, the stomach digests it quicker than whole wheat foods. This way the body needs less extra calories to burn in order to digest these foods which make your metabolism function at a slower rate. On the other hand, foods that contain higher amounts of fiber like whole wheat foods boost your metabolism because the stomach needs to burn extra calories to break down the ingested fiber which is much harder to digest.
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2. Apples
There's an age-old saying that goes “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Well, it has turned out that that is not entirely true. A recent study has found that a certain variety of fungicide that is sprayed on vegetables and fruits caused fat gain in mice and scientists say that the same may hold true for humans.
So, if you think you’ve finally started eating right and got yourself an apple, think again, since it might be stopping you from losing excess weight. The way you can counteract this is by limiting your exposure to various pesticides by buying organic foods of those vegetables and fruits that are more likely to soak up the pesticides and the bad bacteria. It goes without mentioning that you should always wash them first thoroughly before consuming them.
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3. Artificially-Sweetened Drinks
"Sweetened" drinks are the absolute worst beverages for health. A high consumption of sodas and other sugary drinks including many juices (please read the labels!) has been linked to all sorts of health problems, including...
... insulin resistance, diabetes and obesity.
Most of the negative effects of sugar-sweetened beverages can be attributed to fructose. Table sugar contains 50% fructose, while high-fructose corn syrup contains 55% fructose.
Results from a 2012 study suggest that frequently consuming sugar-sweetened beverages may slow down your metabolism.
In this 12-week controlled study, overweight and obese people who consumed 25% of their calories as fructose-sweetened beverages on a weight-maintaining diet experienced a significant drop in metabolic rate.
Your best bet? Drink water or have drinks where you can sweeten them yourself.
4. Farm-Raised Beef & Pork
It was once thought that protein was a great addition to your diet that would help speed up your metabolism. While some protein is good, it is important to note that "farm-raised" instead of "grass-fed" will lead your metabolism out to a slow grave.
Here's why: A 2013 study in the journal Frontiers in Public Health found that antibiotics in farm-raised beef can have a harmful effect on good gut bacteria. "his change in bacteria in the gut is correlated with an increase in weight gain, as it changes and negatively affects the way we process food. In everyday people terms this means, eating antibiotics from meat can make us gain weight. Choose grass-fed meat as often as possible.
