Illustration by Joel Holland

To keep your metabolism in gear, you need to combine exercise with simple dietary changes. For starters, eat 200 fewer total calories a day than you did in your 20s. (That means 1,800 to 2,200 calories, depending on how active you are.) Make sure your diet includes metabolism-boosting foods like peppers; research subjects who took a supplement with a compound like the one that gives chilies their spice burned about 100 extra calories a day. And don't forget to load up on protein (a minimum of 46 grams daily), which requires at least twice as many calories to digest as carbs.

Try this tuna-vegetable wrap for a protein-packed meal with a kick.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Sriracha-Sesame Sauce:

• ½ cup low-fat mayonnaise
• 2 tsp. Sriracha sauce
• ½ tsp. dark sesame oil
• ½ tsp. low-sodium soy sauce

Wraps:

• 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 12 ounces fresh tuna
• 1 tsp. salt
• 8 large Bibb lettuce leaves
• 1 small cucumber, sliced
• ½ cup halved grape tomatoes
• 1 avocado, pitted, peeled, and sliced
• 1 cup Napa cabbage, shredded
• 2 scallions, green part only, sliced on the bias
• 12 sprigs cilantro

Directions

Combine all Sriracha-sesame sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisk well. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Preheat oven to 375°. Place tuna in a shallow baking dish, season with salt, and coat with olive oil. Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Remove tuna from oven, flake into large pieces, and cool 30 minutes.

Make 4 stacks of 2 lettuce leaves and top each with 1 Tbsp. sauce, 1/4 of the tuna, and remaining vegetables before rolling leaves around filling.

Adapted from True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure (Little, Brown), by Andrew Weil, MD, and Sam Fox, with Michael Stebner.

More Healthy Recipes

• Acorn squash with ricotta and sage
• Red lentil soup with fried tofu and chile oil recipe
• Smoked salmon pâté