Heat Up Your Metabolism While Making a Spicy Valentine’s Day Dinner
Your metabolism is the internal process that converts fuel to energy (think of many little machines that input digested food and output energy molecules). There are ways to make these machines work faster so here is a healthy valentines day dinner menu with fun date night ideas to heat up your metabolism while kindling the romance with your significant other. The highlighted foods and exercises will enhance your metabolism for a couple hours so work them into your regular routine too.
Appetizers and Interval Games: Small meals every 3-4 hours will rev your metabolism. Start out your Valentine’s evening with healthy appetizers like red peppers with hummus and green tea. Plan your appetizers 2.5 hours before dinner so you get hungry again and have time for these metabolism-boosting interval games or exercise. If you work up a sweat during the appetizers, you can shower and get dolled up before dinner.
Play like kids again with hide and seek indoors. The short sprints and bursts of energy will zap your metabolism as well as your adrenaline. Or, go for a walk together and speed walk for 30 seconds, slow down for 60 seconds (talk about fun memories), then repeat for 20 minutes.
Cooking with High Intensity: After your fun and games, focus on magnesium (regulates energy and blood sugar) and B vitamins (important for fat metabolism and energy production). Try a spinach and kale salad with almonds. Whisk Dijon mustard with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dressing.
Roast sweet potatoes with olive oil and cinnamon. Skip the brown sugar tonight to prevent the inflammatory effect and let the cinnamon heat your metabolism.
Make a rub for chicken, pork tenderloin or lean beef. Combine chili powder, lime juice, garlic, cumin, oregano, oil, salt, pepper and cinnamon to form a wet paste. Rub it on the lean protein and grill or bake.
While you are prepping the meal, take turns doing sets of 10 high intensity exercises like jump squats, mountain climbers or burpees. High intensity exercises jump-start your metabolism with a beneficial effect for several hours.
Dessert with Body Weight Exercises: Muscle burns more calories per hour than fat so build muscle while you prepare a tasty dessert together. Do sets of body weight squats, push ups and backwards lunges while mixing Greek yogurt, unsweetened dark cocoa powder, maple syrup, vanilla and melted 70% cocoa dark chocolate. Dip strawberries in this dip and relax for the rest of your evening!