You have probably heard of the Negative Calorie Diet, sometimes referred to as the Catabolic Diet. On the surface, it sounds like a dieters dream. The more you eat, the more weight you lose. Can this be real?
Of course, there is no such thing as a food that contains negative calories. Every food contains calories. The idea behind the Negative Calorie diet is to eat catabolic foods, or negative calorie foods that burn more calories to digest that what they put back.
Surprisingly, strictly based on numbers, this is entirely possible, but it should be noted that there is no scientific evidence to verify it.
For example, if you eat an orange that hypothetically contains 80 calories, you gain 80 calories. But if that same orange uses 110 calories to digest, you lose 30 calories.
Since your body needs 110 calories to digest the orange and the orange only provides 80, where does it get the other 30 calories? It would come from the stored fat in your body.
Now all you need to do is eat a crate of oranges every day and you will be thin in no time.
OK, that is not very practical. But there are many other catabolic foods to choose from, but as you might expect, they all belong to the fruit and vegetable families. You can chew that cheeseburger until your gums bleed, but you will still consume more calories that you burn.
The biggest drawback to the Negative Calorie diet is that fruits and vegetables lack some important nutrients found in meat, dairy, and grain foods. Can we be healthy eating only fruits and vegetables? Of course. Vegetarians do it all the time. Fruits and vegetables are a very important part of a healthy diet. But they are not the only part.
The bigger question would be if you are willing to. If you are used to eating meats, dairy, and grains, would you be able to switch to an all vegetarian diet?
The better solution would be to incorporate fruits and vegetables into your regular diet. They not only help you burn more calories, but they also provide vital nutrients. They also help fill you up, so you eat less of the other foods.
The foods you eat play the most important role in your health and fitness. Like the saying goes, "You are what you eat".
To see a partial list of negative calorie or catabolic foods, go to
http://www.fit4lifeclub.com/diet/diet-programs/negative-calorie-diet.htm |
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