ARE THERE NEGATIVE CALORIES?
THERE HAS BEEN A LONG-STANDING RUMOR THAT THERE ARE FOODS THAT CONTAIN SO FEW CALORIES THAT YOU COULD LOSE WEIGHT IF YOU ONLY EAT THESE "NEGATIVE FOODS". BUT IS THAT TRUE? ARE THERE SUCH ANY NEGATIVE CALORIES?
Losing weight while eating is the dream of many who want to lose weight. One key to this could be so-called "negative foods". These are said to contain so few calories that you burn more calories while chewing and digesting than you consume when eating. These negative foods mainly include vegetables such as lettuce, cucumbers or celery.
Almost too good to be true. Watching the pounds melt away while you eat. And unfortunately, the dream is just that. Because there is a crucial error in thinking. Although there are foods that contain hardly any calories, they contain a large amount of fiber, which the body can only metabolize with a great deal of energy. But there are no negative foods.
Due to its low calorie count, celery is one of the foods that is said to have a negative calorie balance. A stick of celery, for example, has around 10 kilocalories (kcal). The body needs 2 kcal to digest it. This leaves 8 kcal, which must be counted as calorie intake. Celery would only be negative if the digestion of one stick exceeded 10 kcal, which is biologically impossible.
DIGESTIVE LOSS IS ABOUT 10 PERCENT.
In simple terms, the body needs around 10 percent of the total amount of energy contained in food for digestion, which is also called digestive loss (see also: THE ENERGY BALANCE ). There is always something left over. This also applies to low-calorie foods such as cucumbers or lettuce. When dieting, you should primarily rely on these low-calorie and high-fiber foods, as they promote natural satiety and provide little energy. This makes it easier to keep the calorie/energy balance in the negative range, i.e. to burn more calories than you take in throughout the day. However, you won't lose weight by eating.