Negative Calorie Diet

The theory behind the “Negative Calorie Diet” is extremely appealing. It works on the idea that your body has to burn energy in order to digest certain foods. It may seem strange to hear that there are “negative” calories. Well, there is no such thing. It’s just a figure of speech to express in practice a phenomenon.

The Negative Calorie diet works on the premise that certain foods create negative calorie effects (negative calorie foods), allowing you to lose weight. The Negative Calorie diet is controversial because the theory is not scientifically sound. No foods actually possess ‘negative calories’. However, advocates of the Negative Calorie diet say that you can literally eat your way to weight loss.

The term “negative calorie foods” refers to certain foods require more calories o process than their own calories. Theoretically the idea of this method is based on the fact that when you eat an apple, which contains approx. 50 calories; these calories are consumed to process a certain amount of energy to extract vitamins and nutrients from apple. Basically you consume more than 50 calories.

So, the theory goes like this: Your body burns some of the calories in your food to run the chemical and mechanical processes that digest the food. But some foods contain fewer calories than are needed to digest them—so by eating such foods, you actually lose weight.

1. The Negative Calorie diet – For:

a) Little effort involved
b) Promotes consumption of foods rich in vitamins and minerals
c) Increases the body’s metabolism

2. The Negative Calorie diet – Against:

a) No scientific proof to confirm its effectiveness
b) Very little information surrounding diet
c) More theoretical than practical

 3. Foods that Supposedly Have Negative Calories:

Fruits:

Apples; cranberries
Oranges; tangerines; Clementine; grapefruit; lemons.
Pineapple; mango; papaya;
Strawberries; raspberries; blackberries;
Apricots; peaches;
Watermelon

Vegetables:

Asparagus, beets, celery, endive, carrots; cabbage;
Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach; beets;
Chili, garlic, onions, leeks, turnip;
Cucumber, tomato, pumpkin, green pepper; zucchini.

Foods to Be Avoided:

Junk food: candy, cookies, chips;
Fast food
Hyper-caloric foods: pizza, ice cream;

 4. The Process:

The process starts by chewing.
Then your esophagus moves everything down to your stomach. This usually takes anywhere from a few minutes to a half hour.
For about four hours, your stomach mixes the food up with acid and sends everything down to your small intestine.
For approximately another four hours, your small intestine receives very strong alkaline (digestive) juices from your gallbladder and pancreas.
These digestive juices mix with the now liquefied food and your body starts to absorb it. This process continues on down to your large intestine where the rest of any food and fluids are absorbed into your body. This may take up to 12 hours!
Any residue that is left over is eventually eliminated, but here’s the GOOD NEWS! This entire process BURNS CALORIES and results in weight loss!

 5. The Potential for Weight Loss:

The negative calories diet claims that weight loss of up to two pounds daily is achievable. Even if this were true, weight loss this drastic would never be recommended to anyone who is not under the strict supervision of a physician. A generally accepted rate for healthy, sustainable weight loss is considerably slower – 1 to 1.5 pounds per week.

 6. Conclusion:

All foods have some calories. No food is actually “negative calorie food”. BUT the overall effect of certain foods in our body is that of “negative calories”. Negative calorie foods said to be good for weight loss and overall health.

If you have been living an unhealthy lifestyle then you should ease into the negative calorie diet and do a detoxification first.