When I first heard about negative calorie foods, I was in awe.
“Trust me,” I told my friends, “This is awesome. You can eat as many of these foods as you want, ‘cause they burn more calories during digestion than the amount of calories that they contain.”
My girlfriends wanted more details, so I decided to do some research. I stumbled on a complete list of negative calorie foods on Livestrong.com: celery, cucumber, garlic, lettuce, green bean, spinach, zucchini, onion, radish, asparagus, cabbage, cauliflower, carrot and beet root.
The fruit list included: peach, pineapple, tomato, watermelon, cranberries, blueberries, apple, grapefruit, mango, orange, lemons, limes, papaya, cantaloupe, honeydew, raspberries, strawberries, tangerine and watermelon.
Convinced I had found the secret to weight loss, I reveled in the fresh taste of those fruits and veggies. They made me feel full, and they were flavorful, too.
After a while, my friends started to question my new eating habits.
“What if it’s one of those weight loss myths?” they said. “It sounds too good to be true, and if it were, then more people would be talking about it.”
Their skepticism made me stop and think. I began to wonder whether this negative calorie thing was a diet gimmick. I consulted MayoClinic.comand read what Donald Hensrud, M.D. had to say:
“Here’s the reality. Throughout the day, about 10 percent of your total energy expenditure goes to digest and store the nutrients in the food you eat. Foods that contain few calories, such as celery, require a relatively large amount of energy to digest compared with the amount of calories they provide. That means it’s theoretically possible to have a negative calorie food, but there are no reputable scientific studies to prove that certain foods are negative calorie or that they aid in weight loss.”
I sat back in my desk chair and sighed. I thought I was onto something. As it turned out, my incredible weight loss secret has yet to be proven.
I did realize one thing, however: although there is no concrete evidence supporting negative calories, it’s still important to load up on healthy foods. Fruits and vegetables offer key nutrients, and they fill us up too, which curbs hunger cravings and makes us feel satisfied.
So, negative or not, keep eating those superfoods. It’s the healthy thing to do.