Negative Calories: Works, But Not Like That

It turns out that not all products fill our body with energy. A number of products, on the contrary, are "eat" calories when digesting this food

Rumor has it that there are foods that, due to their negative caloric value, can subtract calories, for example, from a sweet treat at night or an extraordinary portion of French fries. Haven't you heard of them yet? Then we come to you! Confirm the theory or debunk the myths.

Negative caloric content is when the body spends more calories processing a certain product than it received with it. It is difficult to believe in such magic. Moreover, the fact of negative caloric content, unfortunately, has not received scientific confirmation. Tim Harvey, a member of the Department of Nutrition at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, told the BBC about this phenomenon that "in theory it is possible, but in practice it turns out differently."

According to nutritionists, the only product that is really zero in calories is water. And by drinking this liquid, we can really speed up the metabolism and burn calories. The effect of negative caloric content is obtained only with very cold (or hot) water: the body spends approximately 1 kcal to heat (or cool) 1 liter by 1 degree. The benefits of such tricks are minimal. By drinking 5-6 cups of ice water a day, a person can lose weight by only 500 grams in a year.

The rest of the products always contain proteins, carbohydrates and fats in different amounts. But why are vegetables and fruits such as celery, apple and, for example, ginger, called negative in terms of calories? Digesting any food, the body burns calories, this fact is called the thermogenic effect. On average, about 10-15% of calories are spent on processing vegetables and fruits, and since they are low-calorie products (they contain less than 30 kcal per 100 grams), this balance is practically zero. If a stalk of celery contains 6-10 kcal., the body will spend a tenth of this number on its digestion, the rest will still go to the plus side.

The theory of negative calories refers primarily to products with a high fiber content. The second on the list are protein products, the body spends more calories on their digestion than on fats or fast sugar, it is about 20-30%. Carbohydrates remove 5-10 percent of calories, fats - only 3%.

One of the American studies in 2005 showed that using such low-calorie vegetables and fruits in the diet, you can lose about 6 kilograms in 14 weeks without additional efforts. This happens due to the replacement of harmful products with more useful ones. A study of the chewing process using the example of chewing gum showed that we spend 11 kcal per hour of chewing. It is too little to build your diet plan on this theory.

Let's take a closer look at products that are endowed with so-called negative, but actually close to zero, calories:

– Vegetables : various types of cabbage (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli), beets, asparagus, zucchini, celery root and greens, cucumber, salads (watercress, arugula, lettuce), radish, spinach, parsley, sorrel, eggplant, bell pepper , artichokes, carrots, Jerusalem artichoke, garlic, onions (green, onion, leek, chives), legumes (chickpeas, lentils), pumpkin;

– Fruits and berries : apples, pineapple, tangerine, grapefruit, lemon, mango, strawberry and raspberry, cranberry, peach, watermelon;

– Spices : ginger, flax seeds, dill, coriander, cinnamon, cumin, mustard seeds, chili pepper;

– Other products : mushrooms, algae, seaweed, some non-starchy cereals (steamed buckwheat).

How to use the theory of negative calories to your advantage:

– Eat more non-starchy vegetables with lean types of meat and fish instead of the usual side dishes;

- Add spices to food - they are excellent substitutes for salt;

– Give up white sugar by consuming fruits every day, but with the exception of bananas and grapes, and no more than 300 grams per day (the daily norm is about 2 medium fruits);

- Dress vegetable salads with vegetable oil, lemon juice or low-fat yogurt, instead of sour cream and mayonnaise.

Products with a "negative calorie content" really help to lose weight, but due to the ability to quickly fill the stomach and satisfy hunger, as well as provide a minimum of calories compared to the dishes we are used to. They cannot burn calories gained during other meals.