Low Metabolism Diet

Those plagued with a lower than average metabolism understand the host of associated maladies: decreased energy, increased fat gain and an overall feeling of sluggishness and malaise. Fortunately, however, one's metabolism is not set in stone -- it fluctuates in response to perceived demands.

Eat More Often

Your metabolism is akin to a fire -- if you feed it more fuel, it will burn brighter and hotter. To that end, your low metabolism diet should include frequent feedings. Eat every two to three hours for a total of five to eight mini-meals a day. This will keep your metabolism stoked and burning bright all day long.

Eat the Right Foods

Eat more of the right foods. Make sure your frequent feedings are primarily comprised of lean cuts of meat, fruits and vegetables at least 90 percent of the time. If you are eating an average of six times a day (forty-two meals a week), you can "cheat" on four of those meals. Remember that cheating is either (1) eating something other than lean meats, fruit and vegetables; or (2) skipping a planned meal.

Exploit the thermic effect of food

Perhaps surprisingly, digesting food burns calories as well. This is referred to as the thermic effect of food. All calories are not created equal, however. It takes more energy for the body to digest a gram of protein than it does for the body to digest a gram of fat or carbohydrates. Exploit this fact by ensuring that every meal has an adequate amount of protein. Eating twenty to thirty grams of protein per meal will go a long way toward making your metabolism work harder and faster to digest the meal.

Exploit fat-burning substances

Certain foods have additional fat-burning potential. These should be included in your diet to help increase the metabolism and destroy fat at a faster rate. Green tea (and the caffeine contained therein) has fat-mobilizing and metabolic-boosting properties. Include at least two cups of green tea in your diet every day. Along the same lines, coconut oil has been shown to increase thyroid function, which can in turn also boost metabolic processes. Including some raw coconut or cooking meats in organic pressed coconut oil can help solve your metabolic woes.