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Where to find negative-calorie foods?

Contrary to popular belief, no food provides negative calories. What the fresh produce aisle does offer, however, are snacks that people watching their weight needn’t worry about overeating.

For years, stories have circulated about miracle fruits and vegetables that supposedly give negative or zero calories. These terms are used for foods that take more calories to digest than they contain. Celery is the most common example of a negative-calorie food. 100 g of celery contains roughly 15 calories, and followers of negative-calorie eating claim that eating this green leafy vegetable acts like a mini workout.

Restrictive diets

In reality, there are no foods that provide negative calories. Digesting food and absorbing the nutrients in it takes a certain amount of energy, which is known as the thermic effect of food. With a normal mixed diet, it accounts for roughly 10% of the body’s total daily energy expenditure, and in some cases it can reach up to 20%.

The thermic effect of food is most pronounced when digesting protein-rich food, where energy expenditure can in some cases reach up to 25%. Breaking down dietary fat is considerably easier than breaking down protein, so the energy loss is significantly smaller. Studies have shown that processing food lowers its thermic effect, which means the consumer ends up with more net energy. So it is worth choosing fresh, unprocessed food over semi-prepared products, because digesting it takes more energy.

It is not known where the negative-calorie myth began, but it has since grown into many diet plans and even books. The zero-calorie concept has no scientific basis, yet the rumor of weight-reducing foods has spread like wildfire. Some diet plan authors have gone so far as to credit certain fruits and vegetables with speeding up calorie burning. Negative-calorie diets are extremely restrictive and cause weight loss that results from nutrient deficiency.

But despite the controversial nutrition plans and scandals, the fruits and vegetables promoted in negative-calorie diets should not be dismissed entirely. Thanks to their low calorie content, they make excellent snacks and appetite suppressors. They mostly contain vitamins and minerals and are good for your health.