NEGATIVE CALORIE FOODS

dfunk06
dfunk06 Posts: 56
edited September 26 in Food and Nutrition
Ive heard bits and pieces about negative calorie foods. What are these? Anyone have any examples? Thanks!
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Replies

  • EmilyAnn89
    EmilyAnn89 Posts: 564 Member
    watching :)
  • EmilyAnn89
    EmilyAnn89 Posts: 564 Member
    watching :)
  • Onesnap
    Onesnap Posts: 2,819 Member
    It's a theory that when you eat something like a plain veggie it takes calories to burn it down to fuel so the calories become negative. Kinda like how weight watchers does not count fruits and veggies now.

    I think the word theory needs to be stressed here because it's just some fitness trainer's idea. You have to count those veggies and log them so you get the nutrition content.
  • aflane
    aflane Posts: 625 Member
    Found an article on it. Here's the link:

    http://www.brighthub.com/health/diet-nutrition/articles/74386.aspx

    In my opinion, there's really no such thing. A lot of the fruits they have listed are high in water, but also have a decent amount of sugar.
  • tdonlin
    tdonlin Posts: 934 Member
    Cucumbers and dill pickles. 0 calories, therefore you burn calories as you eat.
  • Kminor67
    Kminor67 Posts: 900 Member
    Here is a list of negative calorie foods. It simply means that it takes more calories to digest the food than it contains. http://www.fatfreekitchen.com/negative-calorie-foods.html
  • As for foods, you don't want food with a lot of calories that come from saturated fat, or are high in sugar or salt. For drinks, a lot of times they can have "empty calories" meaning they have calories which don't provide any nutrition. For your caloric intake, you should always make sure that the calories in the foods also have good nutrition value.
  • aflane
    aflane Posts: 625 Member
    Cucumbers and dill pickles. 0 calories, therefore you burn calories as you eat.

    Cukes and pickles are low, but not 0 cals... sorry. A large whole cuke is about 25-30 cals (depending on size). I love cukes and eat them for lunch every day -- so VERY familiar with those. Pickles are just pickled cukes.
  • lipt8611
    lipt8611 Posts: 60 Member
    if I were in your position, I would still log these "negative calorie foods" in your diary. It's important to see them as the day goes on. Also, pickles are crazy high in sodium- they can spike your day.
  • CeleryStalker
    CeleryStalker Posts: 665 Member
    Cucumbers and dill pickles are not zero-calorie foods.
  • Negative Calorie Foods do not exist!
  • exacerbe
    exacerbe Posts: 447 Member
    Cucumbers and dill pickles. 0 calories, therefore you burn calories as you eat.

    If you can physically eat something, it has calories (unless it was something like artificial sweetners). A calorie is a calorie -- whether you burn it off or not. They all add up in a day.

    There is no such thing as a negative calorie.
  • Not even Celery?! oh no! Oh wait...I don't really like celery.
  • I would think that the calories we burn to digest food is being figured into our BMR, so if you don't count supposed "negative calorie foods" you are double dipping so to speak.
  • dfunk06
    dfunk06 Posts: 56
    Haha thanks everyone :)
  • Marjorielk
    Marjorielk Posts: 202 Member
    I always heard that you burn more cal chewing celery than you take in from celery ! ??????
  • Sarahr73
    Sarahr73 Posts: 454 Member
    I wouldn't ever log negative calorie foods as negative calories since there is no proven study that they are truly a certain amount of negative calories for every person. I would just use those foods as your snacks instead of higher calorie foods. They say ice water is negative calories since your body has to warm it up to digest it. With that said, I drink 2 cups of ice water on my way to work every morning and then I eat when I get to work. It helps me stay full longer when I have the ice water versus luke warm water.

    Also, be careful when eating negative or lower calorie foods. Like pickles, some are higher in sodium or sugar or what have you. If you eat a bunch of pickles because they are low in calories, you might be bloated from all the sodium.
  • This is a list of neg cal foods that I eat:

    spinach
    cabbage
    brussel sprouts
    strawberries
    apples
    pears
    peppers
    cucumbers
    broccoli
    string beans
    celery ---make sure you drink lots of water according to your bodyweight. Water flushes salt
    chives

    Theres a whole lot more neg cal foods but more than likely I dont eat them. These foods are healthy and nutritious IE: Apple 80 calories, the body uses 100 to break down the fibers/or digest. You're left with -20 cal toward ur weightloss. You eat these foods the weight will fall of you.
  • The body uses 100 calories to digest an apple? That sounds kind of high.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    Check out the article I linked to in this thread http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/226926-negative-calories-foods about this topic, one of the best laid out ones on the subject I've found.
  • Myssrenee
    Myssrenee Posts: 24
    Call me naive, but I honestly did not realize that there are calories in pretty much EVERYTHING that you eat...Something as simple as a grape, or carrot...I am learning A LOT with MyFitnessPal...and it makes me very aware of what I’m putting in my mouth and how much.
  • LJSpady
    LJSpady Posts: 311 Member
    i"ve always wondered abot "negative calories"
  • Check out the article I linked to in this thread http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/226926-negative-calories-foods about this topic, one of the best laid out ones on the subject I've found.

    Thanks Wolf, that's perfect. It seems like all of it is great theoretically, but in practice it's just kind of silly.
  • LuckyLeprechaun
    LuckyLeprechaun Posts: 6,296 Member
    I would think that the calories we burn to digest food is being figured into our BMR, so if you don't count supposed "negative calorie foods" you are double dipping so to speak.

    THIS!
  • paul977
    paul977 Posts: 11
    saw this topic and though I would talk to my trainer about this. He agreed that some foods take more calories to digest the foods then consumed however you still need to enter them as you need the nutrient information as well as its better to over estimate the calories you consumed then under estimate. The bigger the deficit the more easy the pounds will fall
  • bmontgomery87
    bmontgomery87 Posts: 1,260 Member
    1429754-1253930_this_thread_again_super_super.jpg
  • brewingaz
    brewingaz Posts: 1,136 Member
    Ice water has this effect. Water has zero calories, and the colder it is the more energy it takes your body to warm it up to body temp. Energy is calories so you actually burn calories with ice water.
  • kimmerroze
    kimmerroze Posts: 1,330 Member
    Oh my goodness guys! I think this is taking counting calories a little too far... Just eat your fruits and veggies and consider them freebees... dont' start making this more difficult than it is...

    Count your calories, don't stuff your face, eat as many veggies and fruits as you would like and exercise... HONESTLY!

    Negative calories??? next thing we know, people are going to be sitting on ice blocks so their body's have to work harder to bring their temperature back up to normal.

    Lets be realistic about this now.
  • exacerbe
    exacerbe Posts: 447 Member
    I wish bacon was a negative calorie....
  • kimmerroze
    kimmerroze Posts: 1,330 Member
    I wish bacon was a negative calorie....

    haha and chocolate!
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