The Theory of Negative Calorie Foods

According to science, calorie or kilojoule is a unit of energy. The calorie of a food indicates the measure of its energy content. The food energy is expressed in kilojoules or calories.

All foods have some calorie content. Even the foods that have "negative calories" must also have some calories. Then why these foods are termed as "negative calorie foods"?

To understand this, we should take into account three things: the calorie content of the food, the energy required to digest that food and the net result of consuming that food.

Let us consider three possibilities:

(i) If we eat a food whose calorie content is more than the calorie needed to digest that food, our body gains in weight. Such foods are not the negative calorie foods. Fast foods are the examples of such foods.

(ii) If we eat a food which needs same number of calories as the calorie content of the food, then our body does not gain in weigh, as these foods do not add any calories to the body. Such foods may be termed as "zero calorie foods". Watermelon is an example of such food.

(iii) If we eat a food for which the calorie needed to digest that food is more than the calorie content of the food itself, then the calorie balance becomes negative. The additional calories needed in this process must come from the body.

The digestion of such negative calorie foods exhausts our body calories. These foods, though possess some calories, yet they are known as "negative calorie foods" because of this negative calorie balance in the process. According to the theory of negative calorie food, our body will burn more calories digesting it than the number of calories it can add to our body.

The Examples of Negative Calorie Foods

The negative calorie foods are mostly vegetables and fruits, which are low in fat and high in carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. Some of these foods are celery, broccoli, asparagus, spinach, melons, berries, etc.

You should eat these foods as raw as far as possible, without adding any butter or oil that will quickly make them fattening.

Negative Calorie Foods in Weight Loss

Following arguments are in favor of negative calorie foods and weight loss.

• As the negative calorie foods possess only a small amount of fat or no fat at all, they will not increase the body weight.


• The dietary fibers present in these foods will make you feel full for a longer time. So if you include these so called negative calorie foods in any diet, then you will not feel hungry.


• The carbohydrates in the foods need considerable number of calories in the process of digestion process. So these foods will add only a few calories to your body weight and will not increase the weight.


• Further, a cold low calorie food may become a negative calorie food, because the food needs to be warmed to body temperature, which involves energy expenditure.


• It is believed that certain negative calorie vegetables and fruits speed up metabolism, which is good for burning of calories and thus in weight loss.


• The negative calorie foods, because of their high water content, will decrease your appetite and make you feel full.

It is therefore beneficial to include these negative calorie foods in your diet along with some exercise to achieve weight loss.

1. Prev:Weight Loss: Have You Given Yourself Permission To Succeed?
2. Next:Losing Weight Can Make You Fat - Dont Let It Happen To You!