zero cal foods, count them or no?

Options
2»

Replies

  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    edited July 2017
    Options
    ritzvin wrote: »
    If it's negligible in any reasonable quantity and doesn't have any nutrients I bother to track, then I don't count them. So, pretty much lettuce (which is like 1 calorie-ish per leaf) - I consider it free volume/bulk for the stuff going on it. Most fruits aren't negligible. A lot of vegetables aren't either. Stuff that is <5 calories that you don't consume often during the day - sugar-free water flavor drops, gum (not wise if you have like >20 a day though). Oil spray that doesn't register to 1 gram on the scale (yes- you really can use the <0.5g in spray form that is quoted on the label)(most <$20 scales only have 1 gram resolution).

    But it is also worth noting that I did indeed weigh out my very large plate of lettuce that very first time and check the database, BEFORE I decided it wasn't worth logging then (or ever again).
  • ninavalentine
    ninavalentine Posts: 131 Member
    Options
    I take it a step further. I don't count low calorie green vegetables like lettuce, broccoli, spinach, etc. I figure I eat more of them that way (don't have to make "room" for them in my calorie count) and if I go over 100 calories or so on green veggies it will be a tiny (and healthy) blip on the overall radar. I've lost 60 lbs. so far and it seems to work well for me.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
    Options
    nykole56 wrote: »
    So I keep seeing these lists of zero or negative calorie fruits and veggies and my question is do I even count them or not? You know the ones it says takes more energy to chew the food them it has calories..,what's everyone's opinion?

    They are low calorie...but no, their TEF doesn't wipe out all of the calories. When I logged I was a lot more loose with vegetable logging, but I typically logged something unless it was just a piece of celery or something.
  • Bonny132
    Bonny132 Posts: 3,617 Member
    Options
    If it goes into your mouth you count it.
  • MommaGem2017
    MommaGem2017 Posts: 405 Member
    Options
    ninavalentine wrote: »
    I take it a step further. I don't count low calorie green vegetables like lettuce, broccoli, spinach, etc. I figure I eat more of them that way (don't have to make "room" for them in my calorie count) and if I go over 100 calories or so on green veggies it will be a tiny (and healthy) blip on the overall radar. I've lost 60 lbs. so far and it seems to work well for me.

    The only problem would be if someone is tracking fiber intake, then the amount of fiber our veggies eaten is important to track.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Options
    French_Peasant wrote: »
    Negative calorie foods is a great example of utter woo. They still have calories, you can still eat a lot of them, and they still add up. (And I surely burn calories chewing a cookie, but I don't give myself a 15-calorie discount or whatever on the cookie). If you got fat chewing every day, it is probably inadvisable to give yourself credit few chewing if you are trying to get thin--it is included in your daily life activities.

    Of course, as I started writing this, I was thinking of celery and lettuce, but I hit the googles and, naturally a list of 20 foods from Dr. Oz hit the top of the list: "negative calorie foods that boost metabolism!!!!" These include lentils, beans, oatmeal, apples, bananas, sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, corn, citrus, peas and pineapple. These foods have a LOT of calories--far more than lettuce or celery. Holy crap! If you are a smaller woman trying to lose weight on a 1200 calorie diet, you just shot yourself in the foot if you do not log these foods. http://www.doctoroz.com/gallery/20-negative-calorie-effect-foods-boost-metabolism

    These are fantastic foods to include in your diet, but you need to weigh and log them. Also, if you are tracking carbs, fiber, and various micronutrients in order to achieve a healthy, balanced diet (seems like an important goal to me), it is important to have even the lower-calorie veggies reflected in there.

    Great post.

    OP - whatever sites you are going to that are advertising negative calorie foods, I would stop visiting those sites because they probably have other ridiculous nonsense like "10 foods to avoid in order to lose belly fat" and "Never Eat THESE if you want to lose weight!" kind of clickbait.

    There is no gimmick, short cut, or magic pill. Eat a varied, balanced diet at a reasonable calorie deficit, logging as accurately as possible. That's the secret to weight loss.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    Options
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    That list of negative calorie foods is a complete crock of doodie. It has absolutely no basis in fact. It's just another piece of misinformation that continues to thrive thanks to social media. Count them. Because even if you don't your body will.

    You mean my lb of celery doesn't actually give me 100 exercise calories for chewing it? Damn.

    ;)
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    Options
    MommaGem2017 wrote: »
    ninavalentine wrote: »
    I take it a step further. I don't count low calorie green vegetables like lettuce, broccoli, spinach, etc. I figure I eat more of them that way (don't have to make "room" for them in my calorie count) and if I go over 100 calories or so on green veggies it will be a tiny (and healthy) blip on the overall radar. I've lost 60 lbs. so far and it seems to work well for me.

    The only problem would be if someone is tracking fiber intake, then the amount of fiber our veggies eaten is important to track.

    The ~nil calorie stuff usually doesn't have much fiber (like lettuce..I track fiber and would log it if it did). Bananas, beans, green beans, which do have a good quantity of fiber all have significant calories. Exception probably being (a small amount of) sugar-free stuff that uses locust bean gum.
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,493 Member
    Options
    Of course!! There are no negative calorie foods lol. I usually add extra 100 a day to account for all the gum, pickles, mustard, hot sauce, spices, truvia, 0 cal coffee syrup, walden farms dressing, etc I have.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
    edited July 2017
    Options
    I don't bother with the calories in coffee or most spices in the diary. I figure I have plenty of other measuring errors that make up for those few calories. I do periodically keep track of sodium and when I'm doing that I'm more careful to make sure not only that I list EVERYthing but that I check the USDA database to make sure the numbers are right.
  • dfwesq
    dfwesq Posts: 592 Member
    Options
    The estimate of the calories you burn every day just by being alive and conscious already includes calories needed for activities like eating, chewing, digesting, etc. If you treated vegetables on some list as zero-calorie or negative-calorie, you'd be deducting those same calories a second time.

  • MommaGem2017
    MommaGem2017 Posts: 405 Member
    Options
    ritzvin wrote: »
    MommaGem2017 wrote: »
    ninavalentine wrote: »
    I take it a step further. I don't count low calorie green vegetables like lettuce, broccoli, spinach, etc. I figure I eat more of them that way (don't have to make "room" for them in my calorie count) and if I go over 100 calories or so on green veggies it will be a tiny (and healthy) blip on the overall radar. I've lost 60 lbs. so far and it seems to work well for me.

    The only problem would be if someone is tracking fiber intake, then the amount of fiber our veggies eaten is important to track.

    The ~nil calorie stuff usually doesn't have much fiber (like lettuce..I track fiber and would log it if it did). Bananas, beans, green beans, which do have a good quantity of fiber all have significant calories. Exception probably being (a small amount of) sugar-free stuff that uses locust bean gum.

    The poster I was responded to specifically said broccoli and spinach which do have a good amount of fiber. A good amount of my daily fiber does come from low cal veggies.

  • kaygold
    kaygold Posts: 92 Member
    edited July 2017
    Options
    Even though I know they aren't zero calories, I don't log splenda (unless granulated), walden farm products, pam, gum, liquid water flavoring, or spray butter. Honestly, I don't eat huge volumes of these items, nor do I eat them every day...well with the exception of splenda packets in my coffee, and gum. I think the amount of calories they have are negligible in the big picture. I've continued to loose weight despite not logging these items.

Categories