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1. Eat at approximately the same time every day.
By establishing regular meal times, you can train your body to feel hungry only during those specific times. This actually speeds up your metabolism. If you eat the exact same amount of food each day, but eat that food during routine mealtimes instead of sporadically nibbling on various foods throughout the day, you will actually burn more fat. Interestingly, eating at regular mealtimes instead of snacking throughout the day can actually improve your cholesterol profile, even with no change in food choice or quantity.
2. Eat your larger meals in the earlier hours of the day, and avoid establishing mealtimes after dark.
Just by eating your largest meal earlier in the day (as breakfast or lunch), you will burn more fat than if you eat your largest meal in the evening. Going to bed on a full stomach can cause you to get a poor quality of sleep, which causes belly fat accumulation even with no change in amount of food and physical activity over a 24 hour period.
3. Increase the protein content of your meals to at least 30% of calories.
Protein increases your metabolism and also keeps you feeling fuller longer. It also helps control insulin spikes, preventing fat cells from getting bigger. This causes your body to burn more fat and feel more satiated than if you had eaten the same amount of calories as carbohydrate. Whey protein from grass-fed dairy is the most thermogenic (fat-burning) type of protein.
4. Increase your intake of polyphenols, antioxidants and other phytonutrients!
Make sure those carbohydrate-containing foods that you do eat are rich in nutrients — not anti-nutrients! A good sign that a food is rich in metabolism boosting nutrients is the food will be brightly colored — dark greens, vibrant yellows and reds, and deep purple and blue hues. Mushrooms and teas also tend to be rich in nutrients. Foods that need to be cooked for long periods of time to render them edible (grains, beans, legumes, soy) tend to be low in phytonutrients and high in lectins and phytates (anti-nutrients). Those foods can slow down your metabolism and cause you to store more fat.
