Here’s What You Need To Know About Negative Calorie Foods

Weight-watchers and gym-goers would be familiar with the term Negative Calorie foods. Those who are preparing to hit the gym this January better get acquainted with the term as it can be dangerously deceiving. The term, negative Calorie Foods has been widely plastered on many vegetables like Celery and fruits such as apples. These fiber-rich foods have comparatively low calorie content and hence the trend stuck on. 

Negative calorie foods

Negative calorie foods are foods that take more calories to digest than what they contain. In simpler terms, a food might contain only 3 calories but it takes up to 50 calories to digest the food. This concept obviously helps in weight-loss. These foods became collectively known as the Negative Calorie Foods.

Do they exist?

Yes. But only in theories. So far, there has been no scientific evidence to support the theory. “Negative-calorie foods is an absolute myth. You can’t burn fat by drinking water or tea” says a renowned Dietitian Dr. Dharani Krishnan. So many other dietitians, both globally and locally confirmed have time and again confirmed this shaky myth. 

Is it impossible? 

The theory begins to explain the concept by saying any food with calories less than five are negative calorie foods. Water also is indefinitely placed under this category because it has zero calories. Theoretically, negative calories happen when the calories in the food are lesser than the amount that’s required to burn them, hence the result is negative. It has been proven that most of the foods use up one-fifth of the energy, sometimes even 50% but not higher than that. It is possible, but there’s no evidence so far. 

Beverages

Water helps but does very little to do so. It would take a person to drink 6-8 glasses of water everyday for a  year to lose a pound of fat. What’s more is that drinking too much water is dangerous for health. Cold beverages like zero coke are also known to carry the “Negative Calories” tag because our body spends extra energy to heat up and adjust to the temperature. But again, the effect is fairly minimal. 

What’s the weight loss link? 

These foods do help you lose weight but not the way they are perceived to. They have high-fiber content and keep your stomach filled, restraining you from eating further. There ends their work. The whole theory of these foods burning extra calories has never been proven. The only right and working way to burn calories is through exercise. 

“Zero” Calories food 

Water has zero calories but most other food and beverages other than water do not exactly have zero calories as they claim. Even zero coke has o.5 calories. Other foods like celery have five calories are less and they are widely advertised as zero calorie foods. In most of the countries, there is no rule by the FDA to not allow this zero calories tags for food that contain four calories or less. 

Interesting facts 

Celery, apple, cucumber, onions, capsicum and cauliflowers are known to have zero calories while in fact they have 16, 52, 16, 40, 40, 25 calories per 100 gms each. 

Coke was sued for promoting misleading advertisements among the public about their beverages burning fat. Coke had to may millions to settle the law suit. 

So, next time someone tries to fool into believing that they actually exist smack them with some celery sticks and break the myth!