You will find a free list of “negative” calorie foods below,
but first let's consider what this means.
There is no such thing as a “negative”
calorie - a calorie is a unit of heat and it cannot be negative.
However, when people
talk about “negative” calorie foods, they're referring to foods whose calorie level
is low enough that it takes more energy
to eat and digest it than the food contains.
For example, if you consider water to be a food, then cold
water is certainly a negative calorie food. It contains no calories at all and
the body has to expend energy to bring it up to blood temperature. So every
time we drink a glass of cold water we burn up a couple of calories. But there
are very few foods like this.
Most foods that are on the list do not really use
more calories than they add, or if they do the effect is negligible. Celery for
example, does not give us enough calories to cover. So that is why people call
it a negative calorie food.
Negative calorie foods are most attractive to anorexics. A
negative calorie diet would obviously result in starvation in the long term and
nutritional deficiencies can occur over time.
Once the body has lost excess fat, the calories burnt then come from
muscle mass. With this, the result is
debility and wasting.
A more healthy way to use a negative calorie diet is as a
form of fasting or detox.
It is something you can do for one to three days right after
the Christmas season or another time when you have been eating an over-rich
diet. Provided you are otherwise healthy it can be a great way to clean out the
system. However it is still best to take medical advice before attempting this.
If you decide to use a negative calorie detox, keep the
following points in mind:
1. It is never a good idea to eat huge quantities of one
type of food, especially fruits. A lot of foods contain substances that can be
damaging if consumed to excess. For example, the acid in grapefruit and
pineapple can damage your stomach lining. Other foods put an excessive burden
on the liver or may cause diarrhea. So try to use all the different foods in
small quantities.
2. Do not spend all day just eating to be eating. You will become
bloated and ‘heavy’. You’d probably make
yourself feel sick. If you are only doing this for a couple days, you should
not feel too hungry. Plan four or five salad meals each day, and let your
digestion rest at other times.
3. You will feel more satisfied if you eat slowly and chew
your food thoroughly. You will also use more calories that way. So if the foods
can be eaten raw, that will be more effective than cooking them. Foods like
carrots and beets will also be more satisfying if you eat them grated.
4. Schedule time when you do not have any important
commitments. As with fasting or any kind of detox, you may suffer some
uncomfortable symptoms including headaches, tiredness, depression and irritability.
If these become severe, stop the diet and see a doctor; otherwise, tough it
out.
5. When you end the detox, plan a gradual return to normal
eating.
If all the above points are checked and passed, let's move
on to the list of foods.
* Apples
* Asparagus
* Beets
* Blueberries
* Broccoli
* Cantaloupes
* Carrot
* Cauliflower
* Celery stalk
* Celery root
* Cranberries
* Cucumbers
* Eggplant
* Endives
* Garden cress
* Garlic
* Grapefruit
* Green beans
* Green cabbage
* Lamb's lettuce
* Lemons
* Lettuce
* Onions
* Papayas
* Pineapples
* Prunes
* Radishes
* Raspberries
* Spinach
* Strawberries
* Tangerines
* Tomatoes
* Turnips
* Zucchini
Please use this free list of negative calorie foods wisely.
