In this article we will talk about so-called negative calorie foods. You will find out whether it is a myth or truth, whether such products really help with weight loss. Also in the article we will provide a table with a list of such products.
Before writing this article, I carefully studied many sources and several studies on this topic and found out whether there really is such a miraculous weight loss effect from negative calorie foods? Opinions vary, but let's try to find the truth.
Negative calorie concept
Foods that are consumed raw or cooked while preserving their beneficial properties, vitamins and minerals, when they enter the stomach, force them to spend more calories on their digestion than they contain themselves.
Negative calories do not contribute to weight gain, speed up metabolism, stabilize the functions of the digestive tract, and improve overall well-being.
Their beneficial nutritional properties are that they do not provide extra calories and contain a lot of water and fiber, which fill the stomach and dull the feeling of hunger.
Berries - raspberries, blueberries, blueberries, cranberries, lingonberries, strawberries, wild strawberries, currants.
The main misconceptions of those who want to lose weight
1. Food with negative energy can be combined with fatty dishes , since it is able to bind and block fat, preventing it from being absorbed, but simply being removed from the body along with waste products.
Vegetables, berries and fruits cannot prevent the entry of cholesterol and fats into the body. Junk food is difficult to digest. The secreted fat, which exceeds the body's needs, accumulates in the form of extra pounds deposited on the buttocks, waist, and hips.
Excess cholesterol that appears due to uncontrolled eating of fats is especially dangerous. Fried, oily foods are one of the causes of cholesterol plaques on the heart and blood vessels.
2. Negative calories burn fat. There is no need to waste time on diets and sports activities. To bring yourself back to normal, you just need to eat exclusively vegetables and fruits for a few weeks.
Low-calorie foods promote quick satiety, improve digestion and metabolism, but cannot destroy previously accumulated kilograms. Correctly selected physical training, a balanced diet, and massage will help you cope with excess weight. In severe cases, medications may be prescribed to normalize weight.
3. By eating only fruit and vegetable foods, you can eliminate extra pounds , remove fat folds, restore and maintain health.
This hypothesis is denied by nutritionists. In addition to liquid, natural microcellulose, antioxidants and enzymes of natural origin, the body vitally needs cellular polymers, organic compounds of animal nature, polyunsaturated acids contained in meat and fish products.
Refusal of carbohydrate-protein foods will undoubtedly help eliminate extra pounds, but will create a deficiency of nutrients and energy required for the normal functioning of cells. As a result of such nutrition, the body will be harmed.
This diet negatively affects not only absolutely healthy people, but is also simply dangerous for people with dysfunction of the pancreas, liver, and gastrointestinal tract. Vegetarianism is strictly contraindicated for children .
The lack of organic nutrition can provoke a delay in the growth and development of a child, become the basis for the appearance of pathologies of internal organs and systems, and disrupt metabolism.
Thermic effect of food
As we found out in the article “Metabolism. Daily Diet” , the body always spends calories, even at rest: on the functioning of organs, heating the body, breathing and internal processes that need energy. This is your basal metabolic rate and is about 1,200 calories for women and 1,800 for men.
However, this is not the only item of calorie expenditure. There is also TEF, the thermic effect of food - what proponents of negative calories base their theory on. The thermic effect of food is the calories spent on digesting and assimilating food.
On average, this takes 10% of all calories consumed from food. From 20 to 30% is spent on protein digestion, from 2 to 4% on fats (yes, our body loves fat very much), on carbohydrates - from 4 to 7%. Thus, on a 2,000 calorie diet, approximately 200 of them are spent on digestion and absorption of food.
Let’s take the “leader in negative calorie content” - celery. Per 100 grams it has only 16 kcal and 3 grams of carbohydrates: sugar - 1.4, fiber 1.6 For simplicity, we will not count fiber , which carries practically no calories. We get 12 calories per 100 grams of celery.
As we saw above, the body spends about 10% of the calories received on digestion and assimilation of food: 12 - 1.2 (10% of 12) = 10.8 calories, which still remain in the black . And we removed the fiber in advance, which is what proponents of the negative calorie theory rely on! By the way, remember that fiber may well be harmful to your health? Don't believe me? Then the article “Is fiber as safe as is commonly believed?” for you!
Of course, the body receives almost no calories from food, which consists of fiber and water. But it never goes “minus” in terms of calories .
The only real way to lose weight is you know, boring and old-fashioned: the difference in calorie intake and expenditure. Either you increase activity or reduce the amount of food. Well, the ideal option is to eat a little less and exercise a little more.
If you eat only celery, parsley and grapefruit in all varieties every day, you will lose weight. But this will happen only by reducing the total daily caloric intake, and not by “accelerating” metabolism . But eating only these foods, even temporarily on some kind of fasting diet with detox soups, is wrong. You deprive your body of nutrients - proteins, fats and calories.
Cleansing the body: detox deception of the 21st century
Rating of food products with negative calorie content
Rating of the most popular low-energy foods:
- Green vegetables: cucumbers, zucchini, celery, onions of all kinds, white cabbage, radish, garden spinach, green beans.
- Red root vegetables: beets, regular and cherry tomatoes, carrots, radishes, bell peppers, pumpkin.
- Fruits: orange, lemon, tangerines, nectarines, pineapples, plums, quince, pears.
- Berries: blueberries, wild strawberries, red and black currants, cranberries, serviceberry, blueberries, watermelon.
- Mushrooms of any variety.
- Seaweed.
- Greens and herbs: dill, arugula, cilantro, basil, parsley, lettuce, mint.
- Any spices that help digestion: cinnamon, saffron, nutmeg, oregano, curry, black pepper.
- Drinks: still mineral water, green tea, coffee, freshly squeezed juices.
Particular care should be taken when adding seasonings, as they have the ability to stimulate appetite. You should not be on a low-calorie diet all the time. Nutritionists strongly recommend a gap of at least 40 days. In addition, a purely vegetable diet is contraindicated for people with gastrointestinal problems.
Cruciferous vegetables are sure fat burners
Beverages
Products with negative calorie content: list and table of recommended drinks:
Name | Proteins % | Fat % | Carbohydrates % | Total calories |
Herb tea | 0,01 | 0 | 0,12 | 0,01 |
Black tea without sugar | 0,03 | 0 | 0,24 | 0,23 |
Coffee black | 0,43 | 0,01 | 0,35 | 0,3 |
Herbal decoction of medicinal herbs | 0,31 | 0 | 0,24 | 0,2 |
Ginger drink | 0,56 | 0 | 0,61 | 1,2 |
Still mineral water | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Freshly squeezed juices without added sugar | ||||
Apricot | 0,89 | 0,23 | 9,3 | 38 |
Orange | 0,87 | 0,17 | 8,38 | 35 |
Apple | 0,54 | 0,39 | 9,89 | 42 |
Peach | 0,84 | 0,12 | 9,12 | 37 |
Carrot | 1,52 | 0,11 | 9,48 | 36 |
Citric | 1,27 | 0,13 | 3,26 | 17 |
Cherry | 0,39 | 0,01 | 10,67 | 48 |
Pineapple | 0,21 | 0,25 | 11,46 | 44 |
Pomegranate | 0,26 | 0,12 | 11,18 | 59 |
Bread kvass | 0,24 | 0,01 | 5,54 | 25 |
It is recommended to take up to 1.5 liters of various liquids per day, preference should be given to clean drinking water. Juices can only be drunk freshly squeezed, without added sugar. If you want to sweeten, it's best to use cinnamon or stevia, an herb with a sugary-honey flavor. It is not recommended to add milk, sugar, honey, jam, or heavy cream.
Dietetics recommend drinking coffee and tea before 16:00, no more than 3-4 cups. These drinks are rich in caffeine, which can cause insomnia. Persons prone to increased psychological excitability, migraines. Women during pregnancy should completely abandon them, replacing them with green tea, herbal infusions, and mineralized water.
Green tea
Fruits and berries
Products with negative calorie content: list and table of fruit and berry foods approved by nutritionists:
Name | Water % | Proteins % | Fat % | Carbohydrates % | Total calories % |
a pineapple | 85,78 | 0,73 | 0,01 | 11,88 | 47 |
watermelon | 93,76 | 0,65 | 0,13 | 5,65 | 26 |
quince | 86,54 | 0,42 | 0,01 | 8,69 | 36 |
cherry plum | 88,63 | 0,25 | 0,01 | 7,49 | 35 |
apricot | 85,12 | 0,86 | 0,01 | 9,87 | 43 |
pear | 85,94 | 1,43 | 0,23 | 11,86 | 44 |
cherry | 84,59 | 0,83 | 0,01 | 12,39 | 48 |
apple | 85,46 | 0,46 | 0,01 | 12,36 | 45 |
peaches | 87,12 | 0,89 | 0,02 | 10,65 | 47 |
plums | 86,34 | 0,68 | 0,01 | 9,87 | 44 |
orange | 85,57 | 0,78 | 0,01 | 8,46 | 39 |
lemon | 86,94 | 0,43 | 0,01 | 4,12 | 33 |
grapefruit | 89,95 | 0,75 | 0,01 | 6,90 | 35 |
mandarin | 87,51 | 0,86 | 0,01 | 7,69 | 37 |
blackberry | 87,54 | 2,31 | 0,01 | 4,95 | 34 |
blueberry | 85,98 | 1,22 | 0,02 | 7,78 | 43 |
cowberry | 86,34 | 0,89 | 0,01 | 8,57 | 39 |
wild strawberry | 85,57 | 1,94 | 0,01 | 9,01 | 42 |
blueberry | 87,97 | 1,49 | 0,01 | 7,88 | 35 |
white currant | 89,32 | 0,29 | 0,01 | 8,76 | 39 |
black currant | 85,12 | 1,61 | 0,12 | 8,54 | 42 |
Red currants | 86,47 | 0,65 | 0,01 | 8,23 | 36 |
cranberry | 87,63 | 0,56 | 0,01 | 3,94 | 24 |
sea buckthorn | 76,34 | 0,95 | 0,02 | 6,51 | 31 |
gooseberry | 89,32 | 0,65 | 0,01 | 8,97 | 29 |
raspberries | 86,12 | 0,89 | 0,01 | 9,34 | 42 |
Fruits and berries are tastier than vegetables, but higher in calories. It is recommended to eat berries and fruits before 13:00; in the evening, give preference to vegetable dishes. For a complete daily diet, it is necessary to combine berry desserts with low-fat fermented milk foods that contain prebiotics.
Vegetables
Products with negative calorie content: list and table of vegetables for weight normalization:
Table (list) of foods (vegetables) with negative calorie content
This list contains products that help maintain your figure. It is almost impossible to gain extra pounds while consuming them.
Citrus fruits – grapefruit, lemon, orange, tangerine, lime
Herbs and spices
Products with negative calorie content: a list and table of herbs and spices, compiled on the recommendation of nutritionists:
Spices are best used fresh; as they dry, the number of calories in them increases. In addition to the above list, it is recommended to use ginger, saffron, and oregano. Sweet lovers can add cinnamon, stevia, a natural low-calorie sweetener to their tea or coffee.
Invaluable helpers for eliminating excess fat are:
- cayenne pepper – contains capsaicin, which prevents fat absorption;
- ginger – interferes with the absorption of cholesterol;
- cinnamon – lowers the level of glucose in the blood fluid, promotes the digestion of carbohydrates;
- black pepper – speeds up metabolism, helps absorb nutrients;
- mustard seeds – normalize digestion after consumption.
Spicy cinnamon
“Fat-burning” spices also include ginger, cumin, coriander, curry, and pepper - they must be included in the diet daily.
Mushrooms
Mushrooms are foods with minus energy value. This list and table discusses the nutritional characteristics of the most famous representatives of the mushroom family:
Name | Water % | Proteins % | Fat % | Carbohydrates % | Total calories % |
Boletus | 86,89 | 5,65 | 0,43 | 3,38 | 41 |
boletus | 87,50 | 6,12 | 0,68 | 2,59 | 37 |
Boletus | 86,43 | 4,72 | 0,78 | 2,12 | 34 |
Milk mushrooms | 90,12 | 1,78 | 0,49 | 4,37 | 31 |
Chanterelles | 91,32 | 2,54 | 0,34 | 3,95 | 32 |
Butter | 91,12 | 2,81 | 0,42 | 3,64 | 27 |
Honey mushrooms | 91,65 | 2,34 | 0,51 | 4,89 | 28 |
Saffron milk caps | 91,78 | 3,65 | 0,21 | 3,65 | 27 |
Morels | 98,12 | 3,87 | 0,67 | 4,12 | 36 |
Russula | 94,01 | 2,65 | 0,57 | 1,78 | 21 |
Champignon | 92,07 | 4,65 | 1,82 | 0,11 | 28 |
Only fresh mushrooms prepared by stewing should be added to food. Dry ones do not contain water, due to which their energy value increases sharply.
Rules for preparing negative calorie foods
The list of foods with negative calorie content given in the tables requires compliance with certain cooking rules for good digestibility of dishes:
- Low-energy foods should be minimally cooked. The ideal option to help preserve microelements, antioxidants, natural digestive enzymes, and natural microcellulose is stewing and using a double boiler. You can bake food on parchment paper without adding fat, boil it, grill it, or microwave it.
- When making salads, it is best to refrain from vegetable oil. Lemon juice or wine vinegar is best as a dressing. Various binding fatty substances prevent negative calories from fully exerting their beneficial effects, promote faster digestion, and add energy value. The same rules apply to sour cream and mayonnaise.
- Fruit desserts are combined with natural yogurt, which does not contain sugar, food additives, or dyes. A wonderful sweet dish is jelly made from berries and fruits. Whipped cream and sugar as an addition are strictly contraindicated due to their high calorie content.
Useful tips
The daily diet should not be limited only to foods with low calorie content. It should act as a mandatory element of a well-designed balanced menu. Legumes and all kinds of grains cannot be excluded; it is imperative to cook fish or lean meats, and eat chicken and quail eggs. Only proper nutrition will help you quickly get rid of those hated pounds. When consuming only foods with minimal calorie content, there is a high probability that the weight lost over a certain period of time will come back, and with a healthy diet, metabolism is significantly accelerated, thanks to which a person steadily loses extra pounds.
When preparing dishes, do not use margarine or other animal fats. If you don’t like the taste of steamed or boiled foods, you can bake them with a minimum amount of vegetable oil.
What can't be combined with
When trying to lose weight and improve digestion, you should not combine negative-calorie foods with:
- Fatty, fried, smoked foods, confectionery, bottled lemonade, alcohol. The calories and harmful substances it contains hinder weight loss.
- Mayonnaise, any oil, and fatty dairy products should not be used for salad dressings.
- Sugar is rich in calories and interferes with the elimination of excess weight.
- The final daily meal should be 2 hours before you are supposed to go to bed. The ban on overeating applies to low-energy foods to the same extent as to all others.
The record holder for burning fat is celery.
Diet for weight loss based on foods with minimal calorie content
To lose weight, your daily diet should be based on low-calorie foods with the addition of lean meats, fish and poultry.
Sample menu for 3 days:
1st day.
- Breakfast – 300 gr. buckwheat/rice/rye porridge, boiled in water, 150 gr. low-fat grainy cottage cheese, tea with lemon.
- 2nd breakfast – 250 gr. fruit salad seasoned with bio-yogurt.
- Lunch – 250 ml of chicken broth soup with vegetables and herbs, 150 g. stewed chicken fillet with white cabbage, onion, garlic, apple juice.
- Afternoon snack – 160 gr. mixture of grated carrots, apples, radishes, 50 gr. dried fruits (preferably dried apricots).
- Dinner – 300 gr. stewed mushrooms with onions and tomatoes, 150 gr. mixed finely chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, dill and parsley, seasoned with wine vinegar, green tea with lemon.
Second day:
- Breakfast – 220 gr. omelet with skim milk without butter, 60 g. low-fat cheese, coffee with cinnamon without added dairy products and sugar.
- 2nd breakfast – 200 gr. berries combined with low-calorie cottage cheese or natural yogurt.
- Lunch – 250 ml of pureed vegetable mixture, 280 g. fish fillet baked on parchment with broccoli, spinach, leeks, orange juice, assorted fresh vegetables to taste.
- Afternoon snack – 150 gr. salad of avocado, tomatoes, turnips, cucumbers, bell peppers, 60 gr. dried apricots or 2 fresh peaches.
- Dinner – 280 gr. roast stewed veal with carrots, onions, eggplant, tomatoes, 100 gr. sliced vegetables seasoned with lemon juice, herbal tea with mint and jasmine.
3 days:
- Breakfast – 2 hard-boiled chicken eggs, 150 gr. low-fat yogurt, black tea with seviia.
- 2nd breakfast – 200 gr. fruit and cottage cheese casserole, citrus cocktail.
- Lunch – 250 ml cabbage soup, 200 gr. boiled beef with grilled vegetables, 100 gr. grated beets with ground nuts, peach juice.
- Afternoon snack – 210 gr. finely chopped mixture of cabbage, beets and mint.
- Dinner – 250 gr. fish baked with pineapples, 100 gr. vegetable salad with herbs, green tea.
Nutrition rules:
- You need to replace one of the snacks with foods with minus calorie content. It is advisable to eat vegetables and fruits in their natural form.
- Instead of a potato or cereal side dish, use a vegetable, grilled, stewed or boiled root vegetable.
- Low-energy foods should not be fried, especially those with added fat.
- Be sure to season your food with spices. Those with a sweet tooth can be encouraged to drink coffee and tea with cinnamon or ginger. A natural sugar substitute, the herb stevia, has proven itself well.
- Consume at least 1.5-2 liters of pure mineral water without gas per day. There is no need to replace the liquid with coffee, tea, juices or other drinks.
- Completely eliminate fatty foods, foods containing carcinogens, dyes, and food additives from the diet. Refrain from sweet confectionery and lemonade. You can allow yourself a bar of dark bitter chocolate once a week.
- Be sure to include rice, buckwheat, rye cereals, cooked in water and boiled eggs in your diet.
- Fruits, berries, salads made from them with the addition of natural yogurt, homemade fruit and berry jelly with the desired inclusion of currants are allowed as dessert.
- One serving should not exceed 500 g. fruits and vegetables.
- Nutritionists strongly recommend adding seaweed to your diet, especially kelp, which contains only 24 calories. Sea grass is rich in minerals, iodine, nutrients necessary during the weight normalization process.
- Getting your body into ideal shape requires a combined approach that includes a low-energy diet and exercise. Those wishing to lose weight before starting any experiments should consult with a nutritionist to draw up the correct diet and individual strength training regimen.
- After an abrupt end to a diet program, there is a high probability of rapid weight gain again, so it is necessary to constantly monitor your diet, abstaining from fatty foods, sweet confectionery, industrial production, harmful foods rich in carcinogens, food additives, and dyes. Ideally, you should not neglect physical exercise; you should constantly walk, swim, dance, do morning exercises, and do cardio exercises.
“Minus” calories of dairy products are the right path to beauty and slimness
Ways to maintain and enhance negative calories
Their proper consumption and storage will help preserve and enhance the negative energy qualities of foods. During the cooking process, under the influence of high temperatures, food loses its beneficial properties: enzymes, fiber, and mineral compounds disintegrate.
The same process occurs during long-term storage or drying of products. Antioxidants dissolved in it, natural bioblockers of calories, evaporate along with water. So, peaches have only 50 calories, and dried apricots have 245.
Longer digestion of food helps:
- Cooling food.
- Adding ice to negative calorie foods and drinks.
- Separate consumption of vegetable, fruit, protein foods.
- The predominance of low-energy foods in the diet before 13:00.
- Slow chewing process.
- Abstain from drinking for 35-40 minutes. after finishing the meal.
- Exclusion of oil, fat, salt, food flavoring additives.
- Adding spices, especially those recommended by nutritionists: cayenne and black pepper, ginger, cinnamon, mustard seeds.
- Abstinence from honey, sugar, jam, jam, even homemade ones.
The vegetables, fruits, berries, mushrooms and drinks given in the lists and tables, which supply the body with less energy than is spent on their absorption, are an important addition to the diet of any person trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle and have good health and physical fitness.
Products with negative calorie content help normalize digestion and maintain a toned figure.
Article design: Vladimir the Great