Increase Body Alkalinity to Lose Weight

The efficiency of the body's immune system, cardiovascular systems, bone health and even metabolism are dependent on the delicate alkaline and acid balance of blood and cell fluids in the body, which is measured on a scale known as pH. The pH for optimal health falls between 6.8 and 7.1. The good news is that the acid-alkaline balance can be affected by your dietary and lifestyle choices, which makes it fall right under your control.

It is generally suggested that increasing your alkalinity helps your body function more efficiently in general, which may ultimately lead to weight loss specifically. If you are wondering what may help you to increase alkalinity in your body then read on the below pointers which will definitely help you do that and also reduce some fat:

1. Drink 3-4 liters water every day- Proper hydration helps remove acids inducing toxins from your body

2. Eliminate foods that severely raise your pH level's acidity: all flours, most grains, white bread, white sugar, white rice, soy noodles, soy bread, pastas, oatmeal, dried beans, corn, beets, cheese, homogenized milk, peanuts, pork, shellfish, chocolate, sweetened fruit juice and cranberries. Also eliminate alcohol, artificial sweeteners, caffeine, tobacco and unnecessary OTC drugs.

Reduce foods that moderately raise your pH level's acidity: butter, cream, margarine, lard, brown rice, buttermilk, eggs, liver and other organ meats, fish, fowl, plums, prunes, brown sugar, honey, coconut, jellies and jams, pecans and hazelnuts, grapes, ketchup, sour cream and tofu. Also, keep in mind that some B vitamin supplements raise your body's acidity level.
- A balanced diet consists of only 35 percent acid-forming foods.

3. Eat more foods that increase your body's alkalinity: string and green beans, moderately ripe bananas, dandelion in the form of greens or tea, dates, figs, prunes, raisins, dried peaches, plums, pomegranates, apples, melons, lemons, limes, grapefruit, berries, avocado, Swiss chard, spinach, carrots, chives, endive, kale, zucchini, sweet potatoes, maple syrup, stevia, most herbs, garlic, onion, herbal teas, almonds, olive oil, flax seed oil, canola oil and yogurt containing acidophilus.
- Most fruits and vegetables have an alkalizing effect on the body.
- Choose organic foods whenever possible.

4. Counter the daily assault of stress and its negative effect on your body's pH balance by exercising every day. Have a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise a day, most days of the week. Increase this time to 60 to 90 minutes per day to aid in weight loss and to reduce the risk of diseases. Also include resistance exercise (weightlifting) in your routine, as well as mind/body exercise, such as yoga and meditation, which promotes relaxation.

Last  but not the least, you can self-monitor your pH levels daily or weekly by purchasing a pH test strip home kit, which is available at some drugstores and most alternative health stores and websites.

Metabolism Boosting Foods & Lifestyle

I find it really annoying to compare myself with people who can eat whatever they want and their metabolism works faster to keep them slim. Not all of us are genetically blessed to have high metabolism, but we have natural ways to boost the metabolic rate of our body. And its a fact that there is no better way to speed up fat burning rate than to increase your metabolism and the good news is that there are a variety of foods at your disposal that may help to increase your metabolic rate. Below is the list of foods which comprises of metabolism boosting elements:

1. High fiber foods– plant based foods are difficult to digest and therefore our body has to use extra calories to burn them. Some of the good examples are apples and grapefruits which are low in calories and high in fiber. Others worth adding in your list are spinach, beans, broccoli, and other green leafy vegetables which are best eaten in raw form to get the complete health benefits.

2. Omega 3 fatty acids– fishes like salmon and tuna contain ingredients in form of omega3 fatty acids that can alter the levels of leptin, a hormone which helps in metabolism process. The higher the leptin level, the faster the metabolism will be. So have regular intake of tuna fish and fish oils in your food to automatically reduce weight.

3. Spices– certain spices, like jalapenos or chili pepper, contain capsaicin chemical which (in spicy meals) can increase metabolism by 25%, as it can generates heat and speeds up the heart rate.

4. Rich in calcium such as low fat milk, oatmeal and whole grain cereal– calcium, complex carbohydrates and fiber can lower the insulin levels after eating fats which prevents body against storing fat and burning fewer calories with same effort.

5. Caffeine and EGCG beverages– caffeine in coffee increases the heart rate and speeds up process of burning calories. While epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG in green tea can also speeds up the nervous system and are linked to quick metabolism rate.

The rule of the thumb in faster metabolism is the fast rate of heart beat.

***please take note to limit the caffeine intake into 1-2 glasses of coffee a day.

Aside from the abovr list of food to increase metabolism, do take into account a healthy lifestyle. So below are some tips to maintain a healthy lifestyle to keep metabolism high and body slim:
1. Never skip breakfast- Skipping breakfast to lose weight is the downfall of many dieters
2. Have low caloric food- Low caloric intake of foods can help to raise metabolism rate naturally.
3. Drink lots of water and avoid too much alcohol, and sugary foods.
4. Build muscles through daily exercise, since it increases metabolism naturally

Increase metabolism naturally to get slim

Most of us fighting hard to lose fat and weight are taking the wrong approach towards their goals. Wherever one has a flab, be it stomach, arms, thighs or any other place, its almost impossible to lose fat unless you demystify how your metabolism works.

Metabolism, in layman's terms, is the process behind breaking down the food, giving you all the energy that your body needs to maintain itself. Several of us try to increase our metabolism in order to speed up process of weight loss, but many of us do it wrongly. So if you are wondering "How To Increase Metabolism?", then first you should know what impacts metabolic rate.

Now there are some factors which you can not change like age, height or genes, but still there are lot of things in your control to speed up your metabolism:
1. The ph level of your body– Keeping our body’s pH near 7 (Alkaline and not acidic) is essential for your cellular metabolism to work at optimal level.  Acidic state of body affects the state of your cells and your cells would stop functioning and die in highly acidic environment. So 1st step is to ensure that you have your body at alkaline levels. Now here is a link for you to find out stuff you can eat / drink to keep your body alkaline- "Increase body alkalinity to lose weight".

2. Day to day activities– If you do exercises / activities which builds muscles, your metabolism rate would increase automatically. So ensure having some weights or machine exercises along with cardio to speed up getting to the slim state.

3. The food which you eat– what you eat over a period of time determines the presence of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that will affect your metabolism rate. Your digestion system determines how well your body absorb the foods and metabolize the energy as well. Here is a link for you to find out food to boost your metabolism- "Metabolism Boosting Foods and Lifestyle".

4. Emotional health – Your emotional state plays a big factor in your body metabilism rate. Basically if you are emotionally happy and satisfied, you will generally have good metabolism rate and thus if you cope up with your stress well, you will significantly boost metabolism.

5. Having more enzymes in your body can also improve your digestion as well as increase your metabolism rate. When any food is eaten, enzymes are released in saliva to help digestion. Enzymes play a very important role in breaking down the proteins, fats and carbohydrates into amino acids, fatty acids and glucose.

To cut things short, 3 things that you would want to do to increase your metabolism are
- eating metabolism boosting foods
- exercising and building muscles
- staying emotionally happy