Wrong.  Some foods increase metabolism inasmuch as the body has to do more
to use them.  Essential fatty acids, for example, are sometimes caught up
by the cellular membranes and used to do the work needed there - so those
calories aren't used in the rest of the base metabolic processes.  That's
just one example.  (And won't work if you've already gotten enough EFAs.)
Pretty much any stimulant is another example.

Wrong.  Bones, fat, and organs are all metabolically active.  My memory
says that some of the organs are the biggest energy hogs.  I don't know
how much control you have over your liver functions, for example, so
replacing less metabolically active fat with more metabolically active
muscle seems like one of the more useful strategies to increase your
metabolism.  But it's not like only muscles use energy.

Slim is also not unhealthy.  Having heart disease and migraines is
unhealthy.  Being slim is not even correlated with those illnesses to my
knowledge, much less causitive.

My reading of Covert Bailey and Dr. Hussman (see
http://www.hussman.org/fitness/index.htm) suggests that your body can
become trained to use fat more efficiently by increasing the balance of
fat-burning enzymes in the muscle cells and decreasing the number of
fat-storing enzymes associated with insulin production.  This is done by
training your body to NEED to burn fat suddenly through vigorous exercise
that tends to be anaerobic like sprints and weight-lifting.  The muscles
receive the unexpected sudden demand for more fuel and have to figure out
a way to get more of it out of fat stores.

You also need aerobic exercise for heart conditioning, so I'm not saying
that isn't important to health, but for increasing your metabolism you
want to do short, intense exercise rather than long-slow cardio.  I'd
rather burn 200 calories in a 1/2 hour and increase my metabolic rate all
day long than to burn 400 calories in an hour and have it stop the moment
my heart rate returns to normal.  

Personally, I do all four of Covert Bailey's "Four Food Groups of Good
Exercise": Aerobics (cardio conditioning), cross-training, wind-sprints
(intense short duration work) and weight-lifting.

Wendy

Not true, according to what I've read.  One pound of muscle burns between 30
and 50 calories per day.  One pound of fat burns about 3 calories a day.

And yes, I'll hunt for the cite on that...[searching, searching....]

And the winner is!   I CAN'T FIND ONE!  :-)  Not a reliable one, that is.

I find those numbers in a LOT of places.  Some seemingly reputable, some
slime ball websites.  A majority of them say "according to recent studies",
but the "study" is never cited.

But, I can't find those numbers anywhere on something like WebMD, Dr.
Koop.com, or the cdc.gov!

So, my above often stated "fact" may not be true.  I stand corrected!

I see Bonnie Kaye's website cited a lot for that statement.  I would LOVE to
e-mail HER and find out where she got it.  Probably from the itnernet.
(ha!)

Slim is not NECESSARILY healthy.