Negative Calorie Food List
Many people misunderstand the meaning of the term “negative calories.” All it means for a fruit or vegetable to contain negative calories is that your body spends more energy digesting the food than it gives you in return. These foods are not a guaranteed way to lose weight, but should be included in any calorie-controlled diet.
Many nutritionists now argue that the traditional method of counting calories is inaccurate and that we need to take into account the amount of energy expended in digesting various foods. Different foods, such as fats, require less energy to digest than they give you, and therefore you need to exercise more to use this energy or it will turn into fat.
Fruits that fall on the negative calorie foods list include apples, blueberries, lingonberries, honeydew melons, lemons, limes, oranges, strawberries, watermelon, tangerines, and plums. There are other fruits on this list, but these are the easiest to find in supermarkets. They are all affordable and appetizing, and you should try to eat at least five of these fruits every day.
As for vegetables, there are plenty on the negative calorie foods list, but not all of them are high enough in nutritional value to be worth eating. Celery can be a nice addition to a salad, but it contains very little other than hard cellulose and water. While eating celery will help you lose weight, the amount you’d have to eat to show significant weight loss would likely wreak havoc on your digestive system.
There are many ways to use the negative calorie food list for weight loss, but there are also many reasons why this list can be detrimental to dieters. Your body needs a certain amount of energy each day to keep working. Give more than this and you get fat, give less and you lose weight. If you only ate the items on the negative calorie food list, your body would eventually not have enough energy to keep your basic metabolic processes going. You will experience fatigue, loss of appetite, lack of concentration, headaches, dizziness, and many other worrisome symptoms.
The best way to eat the items on the negative calorie food list as part of a healthy diet is to make sure they make up at least half of a meal. This way, your body will get the right amount of energy, but use more just by eating. You’ll get all the important nutrients you need from the fruits, vegetables, and protein you’re eating, and you’ll be able to keep your calorie intake low enough to sustain weight loss or maintain your current weight.
It’s important to remember that no diet alone can make you lose weight. A calorie controlled diet that contains items from the negative calorie food list is a great way to boost your metabolism, but to make use of that metabolism you need to stick to a disciplined exercise program. Keeping your protein intake at a reasonable level will help control your appetite, as many of the items on the negative calorie food list can leave you feeling unsatisfied.
No type of food or food group alone can maintain the human body, and a regular and balanced diet is the only way to lose weight. The negative calorie foods list is a good guide to some of the fruits and vegetables to eat if you want to lose weight, but you also have to remember to eat foods that provide you with fuel to stay active.
