Negative Calorie Foods - Myth or Fact?
88Do Negative Calorie Foods Exist?
Negative calorie foods are the Bigfoot of the diet world -- some people insist they don't exist, but some swear by them, and in the end, most people aren't really sure, and have no way to go about investigating the truth. In order to decide if they are fact or fiction, however, we need to agree on a definition.
All edible substances contain calories. In this sense, no food actually contains negative calories, as it exists in the world. It is only inside your body that the "negative calorie" effect comes into play. After all, your body has to burn calories to function--to move your muscles, keep your heart beating, breathe, and to digest. A negative calorie food simply takes more energy (measured in calories) to digest than are actually in the food itself.
What are negative calorie foods?
- Negative calorie foods are foods that contain less energy (in calories) than they take to digest.
Negative Calorie Diet
The realization that some foods burn more calories than they contain was immediately applied to weight loss. Negative calorie diets sound appealing: eat as much as you want -- the more, the better! However, they're impracticial in reality. There is a limited list of negative calorie foods, and limited ways to prepare them, especially without adding extra calories. Steaming or boiling alone may not add calories, but they do make foods easier to digest, which may effectively cancel out the negative calorie effect.
There's also the fact that you have to burn 3500 calories to lose a pound of fat. A cup of raw broccoli is 30 calories, and takes about 80 calories to digest, which means you burn a net total of 50 calories. That means you'd have to eat 70 cups of broccoli to lose a pound! How long do you think that would take you???
While eating them alone won't melt the fat off you, it's still worth taking note of what foods are included on the negative calorie food list. Choosing one of these foods over a high-fat or highly-processed snack will definitely help--it's just not a magic trick to make pounds disappear.
- Onion
- Orange
- Papaya
- Peach
- Pineapple
- Radish
- Raspberry
- Spinach
- Strawberry
- Tangerine
- Tomato
- Turnip
- Watermelon
- Zucchini
Negative Calorie Foods List
- Apple
- Asparagus
- Beet
- Blueberries
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Cantaloupe
- Carrot
- Cauliflower
- Celery
- Cranberry
- Cress (garden)
- Chicory
- Chili (hot)
- Cucumber
- Garlic
- Grapefruit
- Green beans
- Honeydew melon
- Lemon
- Lettuce
- Lime
- Mango
Disclaimer: The list above is a list of commonly-billed negative calorie foods. I do not have the necessary data or expertise to make the calculations myself.
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Comments
Scary, isn't it?
Hey, Maddie. I read a similar article on this and found that the reason why these foods are classified as "negative calorie foods" is because they are much higher in metabolism than other foods. An easy way (as I found out) to decipher whether or not certain vegetables are high in metabolism is their color: The greener the better. I also found out that peppers are probably the best of the bunch, if you can handle its obvious spiciness: the hotter the better. Think habanero, jalapeno and Thai chili which are well known. Jolokia's are the world's hottest(3 times hotter than habanero).
Maddie,
I really like this article - I found it very informative and extremely useful.
Maddie you always provide very useful and excellent info, keep up the good work
This is very useful. Recommended for everyone.
Very informative article Maddie...Broccoli--YUCK!
Enjoyed your article. I agree with Nancy's comment about broccoli!
Great article, quick and easy to digest!! Cucumber being one of my fav..."neg calorie foods" is great in electrolytes. Super for hydration on a hot summer day
Be Blessed!
Maddie, years ago the 'grapefruit diet' was a big thing. You ate a grapefruit with every meal. I wonder if the negative calorie bit got that diet going. There are a lot of tasty food on that list. If it's true, you could gobble those blueberries like crazy.
I am assuming the listed foods are considered "negative calories" when raw?
I only ever heard of celery and pineapple before. This was interesting. :)
I had never had it explained to me that way. It puts it all into a whole new light. Thanks for the info.
It appears that the negative calorie foods are the ones we are told to eat a lot of if we want to be healthy and lose weight -- fresh fruits and vegetables.
Very interesting. I never thought of the food here being negative calorie. Guess what I'm having on my plate!
I bookmark this hub and my friend need this hub
I'm going to start adding these foods to my diet and see what happens. Thanks for the info!
Great hub. I wouldn't think watermelon would be on that list, but I guess I'm wrong.
Hi Maddy, I took these food for maintaining my body fat level especially for papaya, raspberry, pineapple and carrot...I usually cut them small in pieces and mix it well with olive oil and apple vinegar...sometimes i mixed them with fresh yogurt.....but i didn't insert salad cream as it contain high calories...and guest what...itz delicious:)...Thanks for your great tips:)
This is a great hub! I want to eat 70 cups of raw broccoli now ;)
This is a useful information. But, negetive foods are also necessery as they give us-vitamins, increase immunity, etc.
Fascinating hub Maddie, really enjoyed reading it. Found the list of negative calorie foods quite interesting, did for example not known that onion and pineapple would be on the list.
a good list, thanks for share
I notice that there are actually quite a few popular fruits and veggies on the list, my question becomes then, does that make vegetarianism unhealthy for healthy people.
Obviously, if you don't need to lose weight using negative calorie foods would be a great way to maintain it. However, my question becomes, what about those who eat fruits and veggies exclusively and also don't need to lose weight? Then doesn't it become akin to unwitting anorexia because you're starving your body of necessary calories...
I'm not sure if it really pertains to your article but reading your article brought that question to mind.
With all of the fad diets out there, I have never heard of the negative calorie food until now, Thank you. As someone who is always looking for ways to eat healthier and smarter I'm not sure one can survive on the items on that list alone. Correction, I could not live on those items alone....interesting read for sure, def prompting me to do more resarch.
I always knew it was better to eat vegetables raw so that you wouldn't lose important nutrients with cooking, but I didn't know about the negative calories ;)..I like it
Really I learned What is Negative Calorie Foods.
Very informative and useful hub.
Keep up the good work.
No surprise... once again we find that raw fruits and vegetables are good for us. And now they provide negative calories in some instances. Let's Eat! -Trig
Interesting knowledge for some one
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Rochelle Frank says:
4 months ago
So if I put whipped cream on my celery it doesn't really count?
I'm still trying to visualize 70 cups of raw broccoli.