Simply put, negative calorie foods cause us to burn more calories through digestion than the food actually contained in the first place. It sounds a little bit confusing doesn’t it? So let’s take a look at a quick example:
1. Imagine your favorite candy bar; it contains 250 calories. In order for your body to digest the candy bar it only burns up 75 calories. So you are left with a net gain of 175 calories.
2. Now imagine eating a raw apple; this food contains roughly 55 calories. In order for your body to digest this food, it uses up 70 calories. This time you are left with a net loss of 15 calories.
So it seems as though these negative calorie foods could be a great weapon in our battle to lose weight, right? Let’s find out more about them.
The Negative Calorie Effect
No food actually contains “negative calories”; the name comes from the negative calorie effect. This is what you can see taking place in example 2 above.
So what causes this effect? Well, all foods contain micronutrients (i.e. carbohydrates, protein, fat), vitamins and minerals. The number of calories contained within a food depends on the quantity and structure of these micronutrients.
Once you eat the food, the micronutrients stimulate our cells to produce enzymes that break down (digest) the nutrients. Negative calorie foods stimulate the production of so many enzymes, that not only are the calories in the food burned, but also extra calories from the body are used up too!
But don’t worry, this process is completely harmless. In fact it has positive health effects!
Calories From Natural Foods
I’m going to give you a sample list of these foods in a moment, but it might not come as a surprise to find that they are all natural, fresh and unprocessed foods.
If you are a regular reader of my blog, you’ll know that I am a great believer in natural and unprocessed foods; I think they are vital to losing weight, burning fat, building a lean physique and promoting a healthy immune system.
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One of the reasons for this is that all of the calories in unprocessed foods come from natural sources. That means that they are jam-packed with the nutrients you need to boost your metabolism and create a fat burning hormonal response in your body.
Free List Of Negative Calorie Foods
Negative Calorie Fruits:
Apples
Oranges
Strawberries
Raspberries
Mango
Tomato
Blueberries
Grapefruit and many more…
Negative Calorie Vegetables:
Asparagus
Broccoli
Hot Chilli
Spinach
Onion
Celery
Cabbage
Turnips and the list goes on…
Just look at all of the nutritional powerhouses in the free list of negative calorie foods above!
Negative Calorie Diet?
If you are burning more calories than you are eating, it seems like an excellent opportunity for us to burn up our fat stores, right? Heck, there is even a negative calorie diet, or zero calorie diet on offer.
One word of warning though, it doesn’t matter how many negative calorie foods you eat, you’ll never shift your unwanted weight if your diet still includes too many processed, junk foods.
I believe that it is all about creating a balanced nutritional program, and negative calorie food certainly has its place. We’d be crazy not to use such a potent fat fighting weapon, right? But don’t go believing you can survive on these foods alone!
What do you think about negative calorie foods? Do they have a place in your diet, or is it just a bunch of hype? Why not leave a comment below and let me know what you really think.
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