Negative Calorie Foods: Oh Really?

When you ask a fitness expert the best way to loose weight, the answer you most commonly hear is to consume less calories than you burn up. I like that answer because it seems to make sense.

Well, I liked it until recently when I broke my hip making it impossible for several months to 'burn' much of anything.

Of course we are burning calories all day long and even during the night while we sleep. But to be limited in mobility and try to burn more calories than we consume is a very hard task to perform.

I remember when I finally graduated from the wheelchair and walker to crutches, I ventured out for daily walks. I had a certain route that I knew equaled one mile, so this became my path to exercise for strengthening my hip. I felt comfortable with not being too far away from home and knew how far my home was when I was feeling too much pain.

Returning home after crutching it for 1 mile, I would go to my exercise calculator and see how many calories I had burned. The questions would include: what kind of activity I performed, how long I performed it and what level of exertion I felt.

Well, I never broke a sweat, so I had to put in low as my level of activity. Filling in my information the first time, the calculator would calculate- 90-100 calories. No way!! That was like burning one pat of butter. It hardly seemed worth it for all that effort and pain I was putting my body through.

Then I discovered Negative Calorie Foods. Well, I didn't actually discover them, but I heard this term for the first time and researched it further.

All food has calories. But not all calories are created equal. I knew this. If you ate 100 calories of broccoli, it would be significantly better for you than 100 calories of sugar if you were trying to loose weight.

So the idea of Negative Calorie Foods had my attention. Basically to explain what Negative Calorie Foods are- they are foods that burn more calories while digesting them than the foods themselves contain.

An example would be, if we eat a high calorie dessert containing 400 calories but only use 150 calories to burn them, 250 calories would be added to our body as fat. If we continue to eat like this, we will only have gained weight as the result. Now if we eat from the Negative Calorie Food list something that contains 25 calories and it takes 150 calories to burn it up, we will loose 125 calories from our bodies fat storage.

Hmmmm, now this got my curiosity up. Because I had very few options for exercise, I needed information like this to help me eat better and loose weight. I didn't have the patience to wait until I had full use of my hip again before I could resume normal exercise and take off weight. The Dr said my recovery would take 6 months to a year.

Let me show you what I found in my research. I found a list of foods that would actually cause weight loss by eating more of them. Here is a partial list for those who are interested in adding Negative Calorie Foods to their diet. This is a great list for those who are limited in time to make it to the gym or like myself, recuperating from an injury or illness that won't allow stringent physical activity.

This list will not surprise or shock anyone. I believe we all have been aware of these super foods as healthy options for weight loss. What I want you to understand is the reason these foods find it to a list that is titled Negative Calorie Foods. I also want to preface this list with the fact that you cannot live solely on Negative Calorie Foods. Although this is a partial list, these foods are claimed to be the best Negative Calorie Foods burning more calories than the food itself actually contains.

Use this list to enhance other good eating practices such as lean meat or meat substitutes and small amounts of good healthy oils daily.

Negative Calorie Foods (partial list)

apples 80 cal., apricots 50 cal., cabbage 20 cal., carrots, 45 cal., cauliflower 25 cal., celery 20 cal., cucumbers 5 cal., grapefruit 40 cal., lettuce 5 cal., oranges 60 cal., peppers- hot 20 cal., strawberries 45 cal., tangerines 45 cal., tomatoes 25 cal., watermelon 50cal., zucchini 25 cal.

So, for me personally, the list has been invaluable during my recovery time. I have actually lost close to 20 lbs by adding large amounts of these foods to my other healthy food choices. As I continue to mend, I am slowly able to get more physical activity. I will continue to include foods from the Negative Calorie Food list as I gradually increase my exercise program.

I'm so glad I became aware of using a Negative Calorie Food list to help me through my difficult recovery time.