Negative Calorie
Foods! Are They For Real?
Negative Calorie Foods ~
Vegetables
Negative calorie
vegetables: Asparagus, Bean sprouts,
Beets, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery,
Chicory/Radicchio, Cucumbers, Endives, Green beans, Jicama,
Kale, Leeks, Lettuce, Radishes, Spinach, Squash, Tomatoes,
Turnips, Zucchini.Negative Calorie Foods ~
Fruit
Negative calorie
fruits: Apples, Blueberries, Cantaloupe,
Cranberries, Grapefruits, Honeydew, Lemons/Limes, Mangoes,
Oranges, Papaya, Peaches, Pineapple, Raspberries, Strawberries,
Tangerines, Watermelon.
Negative calorie herbs and
spices: Anise, Cayenne, Chili peppers, Cinnamon, Cloves,
Coriander/Cilantro, Cumin, Dill, Fennel seeds, Flaxseed,
Garden cress, Garlic, Ginger, Parsley, Onion, Mustard
seeds, Watercress.
The quote below came from the Negative Calorie Foods
Site:
"All foods have some calories. No food is actually "negative
calorie" food. BUT the overall effect of certain foods in our
body is that of "negative calories". Negative calorie foods are
foods, which use more calories to digest than the calories the
foods actually contain!
Calories from these foods are much harder for the body to
breakdown and process. In other words, the body has to work
harder in order to extract calories from these foods. This
gives these foods a tremendous natural fat-burning
advantage.
A piece of dessert consisting of 400 calories may require
only 150 calories to be digested by our body, resulting in a
net gain of 250 calories which is added to our body fat!
According to this theory, for example, if you eat 100 calories
of a food that requires 150 calories to digest, then you've
burnt an additional 50 calories simply by eating that
food."
Get instant access to the entire list of Negative Calorie
Foods, The Grapefruit Diet and the Popular Cabbage Soup diet in
the Negative Calorie Food List Report.
Negative calorie diet
Reprinted with permission from
the
NFPT Personal Trainer Magazine
Is this possible? Can a food actually have not only no
calories, but even negative calories? And, if it is possible
what effect would ingesting negative calories really have?
Could you literally eat your way to fat loss...the more you eat
the more you lose?
And, on the down side would the ingestion of “negative
calories” potentially offset your “positive calorie” energy
reserves, canceling out the effectiveness of your bodybuilding
training? Because, as we all know we need calories to
manufacture energy both for exercise and for recovering from
exercise.
When this subject was first brought to our attention, we
immediately dismissed it as not only ludicrous, but impossible
as well. We have since done some homework, and determined that
in a twisted sort of way, there may actually be some truth to
this innovative perspective on the composition of some
foods.
Negative calorie food concept
We already know what you’re thinking, “If there’s really
anything to this ‘negative calorie’ food concept, I could get a
list of these foods and use them to help me lose weight next
spring, or to cut-up for my next show!?” Well, we who are on
the NFPT Review newsletter staff are not going to burst your
bubble, because in a sense... SURPRISE, you may be right!
All right, we give up, there really is no such thing as
negative calorie food. That is to say, not until these
particular foods have been ingested. What happens after that
however, may come dangerously close to what could ultimately be
interpreted as truly a fat loss response on the part of
resulting internal metabolic processes.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, consider this. All foods have
a caloric (calories), nutrient (carbohydrate, fat, protein),
and vitamin & mineral (enzyme producing) content.
For the purpose of this article, we will concern ourselves with
the calorie & enzyme producing components of foods. While
it is true, enzymes are not found in foods, it has been
simplified by researchers, that vitamins can be considered
biochemicals found in foods that, among their many other
functions, stimulate living tissues to produce enzymes that
ideally are sufficient to breakdown that particular food’s
caloric nutrients. Therefore, for our purposes the relative
result of vitamin ingestion is the production of enzymes.
As a side note, this lay definition of vitamins paves the way
for a more clear understanding of empty calories (junk food) as
well. Foods falling into this “empty calorie” category would be
foods with too little enzyme producing vitamin & mineral
content, while containing a surplus of calories.
The ingestion of empty calorie foods requires the body to
produce its own enzymes (usually in the lining of the
intestinal tract) to be able to convert these “empty calories”
into usable energy. Obviously, these enzyme producing functions
in the body should be reserved for the performance of other
internal, and more vital metabolic reactions.
It is a given these days, that it is difficult to find foods
that contain a sufficient amount of vitamins & minerals to
alone break down their own “host” caloric nutrients (purely
natural food). This situation can be attributed to nutrient
robbing pesticide application, processing, the use of
preservatives, and various commonly used poor cooking
practices.
Surprisingly, in the case of the negative calorie foods in
question not only do they contain sufficient vitamins &
minerals to break down the host calories there is actually a
surplus of these enzyme producing biochemicals. This simply
means that once ingested these “negative calories” foods
provide for enzyme production in quantities sufficient to break
down not only its own host calories, but possibly additional
calories present in digestion as well.
Is this discovery truly a tremendous breakthrough? Not really.
Unless of course research is performed confirming that these
surplus enzymes produced in digestion are in some way
transported into the bloodstream. As likely as this enzyme
transport would seem, until now there has been no real evidence
to support this conclusion.
Negative calorie research
Reference #1:
According to a recent study performed by Dr. Dean Ornish, M.D.,
of the University of California, at San Francisco, a vegetarian
diet consisting mostly of fruits and vegetables, was adhered to
by research subjects as an experimental study on the reversal
of heart disease. As a result each of the research subjects
(all suffering from heart disease), lost an average of 20
pounds without cutting calories or limiting serving sizes.
In light of the fact that these subjects were 40 years and
older (with relatively slowed metabolisms) and the research
performed involved no prescribed exercise program, this
constitutes a dramatic weight loss that could only be
attributed to the consumption of various fruits &
vegetables.
Reference #2:
In an article in the January, ’94 Issue of Self Magazine,
contributed by Dr. Neal Barnard M.D., author of “Food For Life”
(Harmony Books), he basically supports the concept of “negative
calories” foods (keep in mind there were no research studies
referenced in this article to support his claims).
Let’s speculate for a moment, shall we? With the above
information in mind, while obviously not conclusive, let us
assume the transport of these “surplus digestive enzymes” into
the blood is a given and pick it up from there. The fact is,
enzymes are responsible for the acceleration of ALL chemical
reactions in the body. The acceleration of chemical reactions
in the body then equates to a faster metabolism (this effect is
implied by the earlier referenced studies performed by Dr. Dean
Ornish, M.D.).
If CONCLUSIVE this discovery would truly be a tremendous
breakthrough. The greater value then, in identifying and
ingesting these negative calorie foods is not in their ability
to break down other existing calories in digestion at all.
The true potential benefits lie in the increased enzymes
produced being absorbed through the mucosa in the small
intestine thus entering into the bloodstream where they can
positively effect the rate of metabolism.
In building upon the above conjectures, to optimize this
metabolic acceleration, these researched & identified
negative calories should preferably be ingested in the absence
of additional enzyme robbing “empty calories” (junk food). This
would insure that an optimum amount of enzymes are produced for
absorption into the bloodstream and not wasted during digestive
processes on assimilating calories from foods with poor vitamin
and nutrient content.
The article above came from the NFPT Personal Trainer Magazine
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