Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Negative Calorie Foods


Is this possible? Can certain foods actually have not only "no calories", but even negative calories? Could you literally eat your way to fat loss...the more you eat the more you lose?

OK, before you all get excited over this concept, there is such a thing as negative calories, but it’s not exactly something that cancels out other foods and fat which have calories. Foods which are considered to have negative calories actually do have calories, but because they are complex foods which are difficult to breakdown, the body uses more energy to break it down (calories used) than what the calories the food itself contains.

So for example, if you ate an apple which has 100 calories, your body may need to use 150 calories of energy to break it down and digest this food. Hence by eating the apple, your body just lost 50 calories. Comparative to eating a slice of cheese cake which has 300 calories and only takes 100 calories to digest, then you have gained 200 calories.

Of course the question now is, how do you incorporate this into your lifestyle / diet to make it work for you? Below is a listing of negative calorie foods which have less calories than it takes for your body to breakdown. Meaning low calorie foods which are complex and difficult for your body to break down hence causing a negative calorie "gain".

Negative Calorie Foods - Vegetables
Asparagus, Beet, Broccoli, cabbage (green), carrots, cauliflower, Celery, Chili peppers, cucumbers, garlic, letuce, onions, Spinach, turnip, zuchini
Negative Calorie Foods - Fruits*
Green apples, cranberries, grapefruit, papaya, lemons, mangos, orange, pineapple, raspberries, strawberries
* juicing these fruits and drinking them don't count. You got to eat these fruits whole.

So the idea here, is of course to try and increase the intake of these foods while reducing those other foods which are high in calorie and bad for our gut. I have read of diets which consist of only these foods, and honestly, I think that is a silly idea for the sole reason that it is too drastic and you will not be able to stick with it. So instead of doing that, why not try to eat more of these foods during your meals or maybe even switch one of your meals to just these kinds of foods. These foods will you up fast and keep you full for longer as well... so you really don't have to starve yourself to lose weight. It is a great way to naturally burn some additional fat while eating. Who would have thought that would be possible.

Look forward to hearing your comments as usual.

4 comments:

anfield devotee said...

Same like booze la.

Drink until you puke. All good, nay calories . . . just a MASSIVE hangover . . .

Rajan said...

AD: i like your thinking. but how often do you drink and puke? hehehehe

Anba said...

What abt durian bro...negative or positive calories?

Rajan said...

Anba: I am pretty sure durian is positive calories macha...even though when you eat too much you will get a tummy ache. heheheehehehe