Logic of Negative Calorie Foods

• Negative calorie foods are naturally low in calories. Therefore, the belief is that the body expends more energy--or calories--than the food contains. For example, a cucumber slice has only around 2 calories. Between the chewing, digesting, and elimination, the body might spend 20 calories digesting a 2-calorie cucumber slice. Thus, your net loss of calories is 18. If you then eat a 100-calorie cookie, you only consume 82 calories' worth because of the "negative calorie" food eaten earlier.
  
  

Negative Calorie Foods

• Negative calorie foods are usually fruits, vegetables and leafy greens. These foods contain few calories and have simple cellular structures that make it easy for the body to digest. Fruit, for example, is full of simple, natural sugars that the body easily breaks apart for energy. These foods are also water-rich, which the body can digest quickly.
  
  

Flawed Logic

• The calorie count of food stays in tact regardless of the digestion process. While the body can break apart some foods, like cucumbers, with more ease than a piece of cheesecake, digestion does not burn an amount of calories anywhere near the calorie amount found in any food. Dr. Nancy Snyderman explains in her book, "Diet Myths that Keep Us Fat," digestion does not burn calories. Basic day-to-day functions do require calories, but the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you consume.
  
  

Still Aid Weight Loss

• Even though negative calorie foods might not actually result in a net loss of calories, these foods should still be eaten frequently. Fruits and vegetables are beneficial in any diet because of their nutritional properties. These foods are rich in vitamins, antioxidants, fiber and water---all of these nutrients help you lose weight because your body feels nourished and hydrated. Fruits and vegetables, when substituted for other less-healthy foods, can aid weight loss because efforts because of better food choices that result in eating fewer calories. Selene Yeager and Bridget Doherty state in their book, "Get Thin Get Young Plan," that a group of 21 people who kept weight off for 4 years said that eating more fruits and vegetables coupled with exercise was the key to their success.
  
  

Summary

• Eating a 500-calorie piece of cheesecake along with 60 calories' worth of cherries will result in a net gain of 560 calories. If, however, those cherries can cause a feeling of satiety that leads to your eating just 400 calories' worth of cheesecake, then you saved 40 calories by making a healthier choice.