This post will inform whether negative calorie foods are existent and whether they contribute a role in weight loss. We will attempt to examine examples of these foods and their impact on weight management.
If you’re intending to lose weight , you may have come across a number of diets that encourage the intake of negative-calorie foods to achieve fast weight loss. These diets may claim that these acclaimed negative calorie foods will aid you to lose weight as they do not provide you with calories. But are these just allegations or proven facts?
First, we will seek to comprehend what negative- calorie foods are. Negative calorie foods are foods that require more calories or energy during digestion than that which they can provide your body with.Supposedly, when you ingest them, a lot of the energy from them will be expended during the digestion process that very little will be left for your body to use. The ideology evoked by negative- calorie food concept is that you can consume as much of them as you want without ever gaining weight.
Negative calorie foods
The foods categorized as negative calorie foods include:
- Celery
- Lettuce
- Cucumbers
- Courgette
- Broccolli
- Cauliflower
Essentially, these are mostly foods with high water content.
Are there really negative- calorie foods?
Realistically, even the very low calorie foods contain a higher energy content than that utilized in digestion (chewing, absorption , excretion). Only a part of the calories in any food are used in digestion ,while the remainder is utilized for bodily functions. Besides, there is not sufficient data indicative that negative calories exist as this would imply that you can consume such foods and see yourself losing weight. But surely , this is not the case. For any food you consume, you will always get something out of that food in form of calories.
Having said that , you should not discount these foods as part of your diet as they are still good for you due to the nutrients they provide and because they contain low calories. They can significantly aid you in weight loss as you will have to consume a lot of them to even notice an increase in weight. But even so, do not consume them alone while excluding other macro-nutrients-to avoid nutrient deficiencies and unsustainable weight loss.
Instead of following diets that ask you to only consume the claimed negative-calorie foods, incorporate healthy practices that will allow you to achieve sustainable weight management. Consume a variety of adequate nutritious foods. Indeed, you may include these foods as they will provide you with nutrients but not at the expense of omitting or severely restricting other nutritious foods. In addition to prioritizing proper food choices, you should also consider portion control and regular physical activity as you aim to attain your desired weight.
There are no negative calorie foods. However, the alleged negative-calorie foods are still nutritious and should be part of your diet.