Negative calories and weight loss
The human body uses energy to produce energy. This means that, during the metabolic processes of converting foods to energy, energy is consumed. Every day, digesting and absorbing food uses about 10% of total calorie intake. For someone eating 2000 calories daily, 200 calories are used to digest and absorb the 2000 calories.
Considering how many calories are necessary to digest a specific food, there are some foods which are so low in calories that it is considered that the body burns more calories in the digestive process than the food contained. Many of these foods are vegetables and fruits, which can be part of an overall healthy diet plan.
When your main purpose is weight loss, it is great to include low calorie, high fiber, and water-rich foods in your daily diet. These foods add nutrients, bulk, and volume to your diet, but they do not have too many calories. Some of them are: asparagus, broccoli, carrots, celery, chili peppers, endive, lettuce, papayas, turnips, beets, green cabbage, cauliflower, chicory, cucumbers, garlic, onions, spinach, zucchini, artichokes, green beans, string beans, beets, Brussels sprouts, beet greens, tomatoes, corn, dill pickles, dandelion greens, eggplant, garlic etc.
From fruits, apples, blueberries, cranberries, figs, grapes, kiwi, limes, muskmelons, papaya, pineapple, quince, and tangerines seem to be negative calorie. Many nutritionists believe that, due to their surprising lack of calories, these foods can essentially be consumed in high quantities without you gaining weight (body fat). They fill up the stomach and increase satiety, keeping you in the same time away from ingesting more calories.
In theory it is possible to have a negative-calorie food, but there are no reputable scientific studies to prove that certain foods have this effect. All foods contain calories and the negative effect only refers to the calorie amount left after subtracting the calories your body uses to eat, digest and eliminate these foods. Anyway, if you decide to follow a diet based on the foods listed above, you have to make sure that you won’t miss out on important nutrients. It is not safe to consume a diet that consists of only negative calorie foods, because the result may be malnutrition. Usually high-calorie snacks or side dishes should be replaced with negative-calorie foods. The key to successful weight loss is adopting a healthy lifestyle that includes a balanced diet and regular exercise.