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There are a variety of ways that you can increase the speed of your metabolism, and one of the easiest is through your cooking. A healthy diet is obviously essential for weight loss, but aside from the base ingredients of your meal, even the spices you’re using to season your dishes can have an impact on your body’s fat burning capabilities depending on the ones you choose.
Streamlining your metabolism is essential for healthy and sustainable weight loss as it increases fat burn naturally, so you don’t need to cut down to a dramatic calorie deficit in order to achieve the weight loss you’re working towards. We checked in with Dr. Gretchen San Miguel, MD and Chief Medical Officer for Medi-Weightloss and Dr. Nancy Lin, PhD and XPRO for YogaSix GO, to get their take on the most powerful spice to include in your daily cooking for a faster metabolism, and this is what they had to say.
When it comes down to it, it’s actually curcumin, the active ingredient in certain spices, that can make the most significant impact on your metabolism, rather than one spice being more powerful than the rest. The primary ingredient found in turmeric and ginger, curcumin is one of the strongest metabolic stimulants which can help to cut through inflammation and bloating, while boosting body heat to increase the amount of fat you can burn each day.
“Spices such as these have a thermogenic effect on the body and cause the body to generate more heat, thus burning more calories,” explains Lin. “Aim for about 190-280 milligrams of curcumin a day for adults, and consume with a healthy fat, like avocado, extra virgin olive or coconut oil, because it is more bioavailable in the body that way.”
Turmeric, which is packed with curcumin, has been known to have a number of positive benefits on the body, even aside from boosting your metabolic rate. “The antioxidant property of turmeric can help decrease insulin resistance, blood sugar, cholesterol levels, and other metabolic conditions resulting from obesity,” explains San Miguel.
Great in recipes such as curry and other Indian foods, you can even make turmeric tea in order to get the benefits of this spice without cooking with it. As for serving size, San Miguel suggests about 1 ½ teaspoons daily to reap the most benefit both in fighting inflammation and bloating, as well as increasing fat burn.
Ginger is another spice which contains ample amounts of curcumin, and can provide the same anti-inflammatory benefits as turmeric while also soothing the stomach from any discomfort or nausea you may experience in your day to day life. “Ginger helps control blood sugar and also has the same fat-burning, or thermogenic, properties as turmeric and cayenne,” notes San Miguel. “Ginger has also been shown to decrease pain and improve mobility for people with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.”
Much like turmeric, ginger can be a great addition to your teas, but can also be included in curry and other soups to help provide metabolism boosting benefits. However, San Miguel warns that if you struggle with a blood disorder or take blood thinners, you should speak with a doctor before including this spice as a mainstay in your diet as it may make it more difficult for your blood to clot.
On top of a balanced diet and exercise plan and alongside ample hydration, certain spices containing curcumin may be just what your diet is missing for a natural metabolism boost that will allow you to lose weight with ease.
While there is no cure-all for weight loss and cooking with turmeric or ginger will not cause the weight to simply fall off, it will increase the fat burning capabilities within your body, allowing you to use food as fuel more effectively without storing it as extra pounds. Next time you’re cooking curry or brewing up a warming evening tea, don’t skimp on turmeric or ginger for health benefits that may fly under the radar but can ultimately streamline weight loss over time.
