Anyone over
40 might notice a slowdown in their metabolism, the rate at which her body burns calories. To remedy this, eat a balanced diet that includes several small meals and smaller snacks a day. This keeps blood sugar level to ward off binging.
Resist fad diets--follow My Food Pyramid from the USDA to lower weight safely. Add enzymes from fruits and supplements and eat no more than 10 percent saturated fat, 30 percent fat overall, per day.
Exercise daily to burn off more calories.
Keep Blood Sugar Level
It is easy to diet during the day when you are distracted by work, but nighttime overeating, at dinner or afterward while watching TV, can derail any diet.
Split your total calories into four or five meals and two smaller snacks. Eat protein at breakfast and choose non- or low-fat milk, yogurt and cheeses.
By eating small meals and snacks all day until three hours before sleeping, you keep your metabolism stoked, which makes you burn calories more efficiently.
Calculate Your Daily Calories
Consult reputable sources such as My Food Pyramid from the USDA on structure your diet. To lose one pound, you must trim 3,500 calories per week from your diet. You could add 20 to 30 minutes of walking to burn 200 to 300 calories a day, or trim 500 calories per day.
Do it by eating lean cuts of beef, poultry, fish and legumes, whole grains and whole fruits and vegetables. Eat flax seed, hemp seed and olive oils instead of butter.
Bake, broil, steam and grill while avoiding frying, which produces heart-congesting trans fats and can increase the risk of hypertension.
Drink filtered water between meals. Take a good multivitamin with iron, magnesium and calcium.
Consume Enzymes and Probiotics
Anyone over 30 could experience a downshift in metabolism. The exception are those who exercise: they build lean muscle tissue and burn calories efficiently.
If you are over 40, you may produce less stomach acid--hydrochloric acid (HCl)--and this can make digestion sluggish, resulting in weight gain. Counteract it by eating fruits high in enzymes such as pineapple or papaya, or buy enzymes made from the same.
Also consume probiotics to boost beneficial flora in the gut: acidophilus lactobacillus or bifidus. These live cultures are found in yogurts labeled as such and can help increase absorption.
Tags: burn calories, Anyone over, Food Pyramid, Food Pyramid from, from USDA, meals smaller
