Activate metabolism by eating: myth or reality?

How many times have we not heard about metabolism, its wonders for weight loss, and how as we grow older, it slows down and that's why we gain weight?However, we really know little about this process and whether it is truly responsible for making it harder or easier to maintain our weight.What is metabolism?We call metabolism the set of chemical reactions that occur within the body's cells. These reactions are responsible for transforming all food into the fuel needed to perform activities ranging from breathing and moving to regulating temperature when it's cold or hot, in addition to ensuring that cells are healthy and functioning properly.When we talk about having a slow or fast metabolism, we refer to the speed at which our body performs all these functions. And this is indeed important regarding our tendency to gain or lose weight.When our metabolism is faster, the body burns more calories, even when not engaged in any physical activity: this is known as basal metabolism, which is the energy our body consumes daily to function without any additional activity beyond essential functions.Although having a fast metabolism or not largely depends on each person's genetics and other hardly alterable factors like sex or age, it does slow down after the age of 40.However, it is possible to speed it up with certain habits that we can influence.Eat every three hoursWhen you go a long time without eating between meals, blood sugar levels drop, causing you to feel tired and fatigued, and your metabolism slows down. If you eat a snack between meals, you won't feel hungry, you'll consume less at the next meal, and you'll keep your metabolism revved up.Eat proteinsOur body takes longer and needs more energy to break down and digest protein than to process other types of food, which means it spends about 20 to 30% of the calories provided by proteins on digesting them, compared to the 5 to 15% required to process fats or carbohydrates.Drink coffeeDespite the contradictory information on this topic, coffee is one of the few substances that speed up metabolism and help with fat burning. The drink is also a great ally if you exercise, as caffeine increases adrenaline levels and prepares the body for incredible physical effort: it causes fat cells to break down body fat, releasing it as free fatty acids, which we use as fuel when we exercise.Weight loss doesn't only happen through exercise. If you follow these small tips in your diet and daily routine, you will activate your metabolism to burn more calories.