MYTH: Eating Negative Calorie Foods Helps In Weight Loss

To nudge in the negatives or not?

FACT: Negative calorie foods, by coined definition, are those food types that utilize more energy in terms of calories to get digested than they carry. But do these negative calorie foods really help us lose weight?

Firstly, calories can scientifically never be in negative, hence the term negative calorie is figurative. Secondly, we need to understand that although our body uses internal energy resources to digest food we consume, only a small fraction of the total energy is utilized for it since there are other vital processes and systemic functions that use up the same resources. Yes, there do exist certain negative calorie foods like celery, carrot, cucumber, water, etc. which are low in calories due to their high water concentration and may take longer to digest owing to their fibre content, thereby keeping the consumer satiated for a longer time and preventing further consumption of unwanted calories.

These food types can be incorporated into our daily diet along with other essentials but the question remains if they are sufficient to support the nutrient requirement of an individual. A diet comprising exclusively of water, celery, cucumber, lettuce, onions and other negative calorie foods although tops the list of crash-diet planners, is impractical and unsustainable for a healthy functional body and it would leave you extremely low on energy and nutritionally deficient. Realistically, there is no single magical food or a group of foods that can take the credit of weight loss. A more convincing way of burning down calories would be to club regular exercise with a balanced meal that can nevertheless be scattered with a few negative calorie foods as well.

To conclude, however tempting this catchphrase may sound, negative calorie foods do not necessarily help in weight loss.

Adding the negatives may not always show a positive result!