Negative Calorie Foods

Also known as the thermal effect of food, negative calorie foods, unlike zero calorie foods, are those whose digestion burns more energy than the food itself, that is, food that has fewer calories than energy. that the body spends to digest this food.

Vegetables and fruits are examples of foods that require more energy for digestion than the number of calories they have.

Vegetables and fruits

In addition to being nutritious, some vegetables and fruits are allies in the balance and have negative calories. This is because they have less energy than they spend during digestion.

In addition, experts say that, in general, high-fiber foods use more energy during digestion.

Protein, Carbohydrates and Fats

Among these three types of food, proteins lead the scale of foods that require a large amount of energy for digestion. Digesting protein is an arduous task, which causes the body to burn more calories than other types of food.

Carbohydrates come in second place. They are divided into two large groups, simple carbohydrates, such as sugar, which are easily digested, and complex carbohydrates, such as rice and beans, which require, as well as protein, more energy to digest.

Fats, in turn, are easily digested by the body, which means that few calories will be burned in the process of digesting this type of food.

How does this process work?

When you eat a 1000-calorie piece of cake at dinner, refined sugar and carbohydrates, which are part of that cake, are easily digested by the body.

This means that very few calories will be spent on the digestion process of these foods, approximately 3%, resulting in 970 calories to be burned, with exercise, for example, or stored in the form of fat.

The next night, you decide to be a little more responsible about your diet and decide to eat a portion of chicken breast, also with 1000 calories. Although the amount of calories is exactly the same, the difference is that your body will need more energy to digest chicken breast than it would need to digest the piece of cake.

This means your body will burn more calories, approximately 30%, simply because you chose chicken instead of cake.

Disadvantages

It is noteworthy that foods with negative calories bring benefits to those whose main goal is to lose weight. However, no diet should be restricted to this kind of food alone, as the body also needs energy. Therefore, balancing food is crucial.

Negative Calorie Foods - Science Based Fat Loss? (April 2024)