If you start browsing the internet looking for a simple and efficient diet plan, you will probably read about negative calorie foods. The concept sounds so appealing that it’s hard to resist – foods that burn more calories than they contain, helping you lose weight.
The negative calorie diet is based on lowering your daily calorie intake by adding negative calorie foods like celery or lettuce. But does that really work, or is it just too good to be true? Do negative calorie foods exist?
What Are Negative Calorie Foods?
The word ‘negative’ is usually quite unappealing. But when it comes to calories, less is better if you want to lose weight. So you want your calories to be negative, as strange as that may sound. Why? Because that’s when they work in your favor. At least, that’s what the theory says.
To understand how the negative calorie diet is supposed to work, we need to look at the connection between digestion and weight loss. More specifically, the thermic effect or the caloric cost of digesting the food.
Your body uses energy while digesting food, so it burns calories. So it’s a matter of caloric intake vs. the calories your body burns to process that food. And the negative calorie diet plan relies on foods that lean the balance in the right direction.
Negative calorie foods are foods that burn more calories than they contain. That means that the process of digesting these foods uses more energy compared to others. Foods that have negative calories are usually rich in water and fibers and low in calories. So, in theory, by burning more calories than they bring, they can help you lose weight while digesting your meal.
These foods that take more calories to digest sound like the ideal solution if you want to lose weight without starving yourself. But, as it usually happens, things that sound too good to be true turn out to be less exciting than you thought.
Are Negative Calories Possible?
In theory, negative calories are possible, but there aren’t any dependable studies that confirm this idea. So let’s take an example to understand this matter better. Celery burns calories up to a point where it’s become the star of the negative calorie diet.
It’s 95% water and only brings you about 16 calories per 100 gr. So it may seem relatively easy to create a caloric deficit eating celery. Most negative calorie foods have similar compositions. But here’s the thing; every organism is different, and it’s pretty challenging to determine precisely how many calories you burn with every meal.
Eating celery burns calories, for sure. Probably more than when you eat other types of foods. You burn calories by chewing, digesting the food, absorbing it into your body, and transporting it throughout the digestive system. But the percentage is not as high as you may hope.
In fact, according to an article I found, this is the percentage of calories you probably burn during thermogenesis:
- Fat: 0–3%
- Carbohydrate: 5–10%
- Protein: 20-30%
- Alcohol: 10-30%
Fibers are the element that makes negative calorie foods a better option, and they bring some advantages, no doubt. It takes longer to chew them, and you burn more energy doing so, and you feel full easier and for a long time.
Negative calorie vegetables are also high in water, and that’s why it seems possible to create a caloric deficit using negative calorie foods. Water actually has zero calories, and your body needs to burn energy to heat it and take it through the digestive system.
But the fact is you would have to ingest enormous amounts of water actually to create a caloric deficit. And even water can be bad once you pass a certain level. Your body needs nutrients to function correctly; ingesting nothing but water and fibers is unacceptable.
What Foods Give You Negative Calories?
Even if negative calories foods seem to be just a shiny myth we would all love to believe, they are still a far better option than other foods. They may not create a caloric deficit magically, but they do keep the count pretty low.
It’s definitely a great idea to include them in your diet as much as you can. So let’s see precisely which are the ‘minus calorie foods. ‘
Negative calorie foods list:
| Negative calorie foods | Calories per 100 gr | Water percentage |
| Lettuce | 13 | 96% |
| Cucumber | 16 | 96% |
| Celery | 16 | 95% |
| Broccoli | 34 | 90% |
| Tomato | 18 | 95% |
| Watermelon | 30 | 92% |
| Carrots | 41 | 86-95% |
| Apple | 52 | 86% |
| Grapefruit | 33 | 91% |
| Strawberry | 33 | 92% |
| Arugula | 25 | 90% |
| Bell pepper | 20 | 92% |
The list can go on, as so many fruits and vegetables give you fibers and a lot of water. Yes, broccoli is high on the list, to my dismay. No surprise there, I already knew it was very healthy.
Do Negative Calorie Foods Make You Lose Weight?
That’s the main question. Do these so-called negative calorie foods actually help you lose weight? Of course, they do! We’re talking about the healthiest options for your meals; ask any expert! Greens, veggies, and fruits are excellent whether we are referring to nutritional value or weight loss.
Negative calorie foods make you lose weight, just not as dramatically as the negative calorie diet suggests. You won’t create a caloric deficit that easily. Not to mention you cannot stick exclusively to these negative calorie foods for weight loss; your body needs many other elements to function well. And those extra nutrients come with their share of calories.
The relation between negative calorie foods and energy is slightly different from other foods because of their high percentage of water and fiber. Indeed, they use more energy during digestion. But you cannot make those calories disappear unless you make an extra effort to burn them. So sticking exclusively to negative calorie foods for fat loss won’t bring you results.
Still, even if your body cannot burn all those calories you ingest, you will have great results if you add these foods to your plate as often as you can. A negative calorie smoothie, for example, is a far better option for a snack than those high-calorie foods you may be tempted to try.
You need to create a balance in your eating habits, so a negative calorie diet isn’t such a great idea. You could try it for a couple of days, but you will probably end up feeling hungry and weak. Besides, negative calorie recipes aren’t that tempting; you will feel the need to add at least some protein.
And the truth is adding these so-called negative calorie foods to your diet isn’t difficult at all. There are all sorts of salads, snacks, smoothies, juices you can try.
The Baby Spinach and Strawberry Salad is a great example.
Are negative calorie foods a solid option? No, not in the sense that they deliver what they promise and burn more calories than they contain. But they are an excellent option for staying healthy and losing weight, as long as you remember to combine them with proteins and healthy fats.
FAQs
Can you live off of negative calorie foods?
You cannot live off of these foods exclusively. That would be surviving, not living. And eating like you are stranded in the middle of nowhere with nothing to eat but fruits and vegetables is not an intelligent strategy.
If you want to stay healthy and have the energy to perform all your daily tasks and keep your brain functioning well, you need a balanced diet.
Is watermelon a negative calorie food?
Being mostly water, watermelon is a negative calorie food if we consider negative calorie foods a real thing. In any case, watermelon is very healthy and makes you feel full while also tasting great.
There’s even a watermelon diet that you can try for a couple of days to fight water retention and lose a bit of weight. Just be sure to go back to eating mindfully after those two days.
Are bananas negative calories?
No, bananas aren’t on the list. In fact, most diets will tell you to stay away from bananas or only eat a small portion if you want to lose weight. This is because you get 89 kilocalories per 100 gr, much more than you get from other fruits.
But that doesn’t mean you should avoid them altogether. Bananas are an excellent source of potassium, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and manganese.
Will negative calorie foods break a fast?
Whether regular or intermittent, your fasting is based on a particular period when you aren’t supposed to eat anything. Negative calorie foods are no exception. As experts say, the negative calorie foods myth doesn’t stand. That means that despite the high percentage of water and fiber, these foods still bring you some calories. So they aren’t compatible with fasting. You will need to stick to water.
Written by Mia Davis