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| The Negative Calorie Diet |
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The Negative Calorie Diet is based on the assumption that certain foods require the body to use more calories to burn than the food itself provides. The premise of this diet sounds very logical because we all know food requires calories in order for the body to digest them.
No matter what foods you consume, the body burns calories during the digestion progress. In fact, when eating a normal diet, the body uses as much as 10% of the calories consumed in digesting foods eaten. |
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The Negative Calorie DietWith the Negative Calorie Diet, a person who wishes to lose weight must select all their food choices from a rather narrow list of negative calorie foods. Because the selection of foods permitted on this diet are very limited, it is not recommended that this diet plan be followed for a long period of time. However, it can help a dieter get the motivation to drop a few pounds to be able to enter into a healthier lifestyle in order to control weight on a long-term basis.
In fact, the inventors of the diet suggest that all of the foods mentioned for the short-term diet should be incorporated as a portion of any healthy diet. For those that have moved past the Negative Calorie Diet, these foods should still be used to help develop a healthy eating pattern to maintain your weight once you have achieved your weight loss goals.
In order for the diet to help a dieter shed those unwanted pounds, every negative calorie food must be eaten in its natural state. The foods cannot be cooked or have butter added. Adding sauces, dips, or even salt will cause the negative calories provided by the food to be turn into positive numbers with the addition of condiments to the food.
Because the Negative Calorie Diet restricts diet food choices to only a few options, if this diet is attempted for more than a week or two, it is likely that the dieter will become unsatisfied and begin adding poor food choices to their diet. For this reason, this diet should be used only as a means to “kick-start” weight loss before beginning a low calorie, low fat, healthy diet which incorporates each of the food groups contained in the food pyramid.
The main components of the diet include focusing on foods that are low in protein and carbohydrates, have no fat, and are high in fiber. Drinking lots of water -- at least eight glasses per day -- helps the body remove the toxins from burning body fat during this diet period.
Negative Calorie Diet FoodsThe foods permitted in the Negative Calorie Diet include only fruits and vegetables and only specific members of these groups. Remember, each food must be eaten raw and without any addition of condiments or spices. Choices include: broccoli, beats, green cabbage, cauliflower, celery stalks, celery root, cucumber, dandelion leaves, carrots, water cress, endive, garlic, papaya, radishes, spinach, turnip, zucchini, apples, oranges, lettuce of all kinds, cranberries, grapefruit, pineapples, tangerines, strawberries, raspberries and onions.
Clearly, the Negative Calorie Diet limited food choices, but the dieter can make some very interesting salad combinations and snacks from the foods that are permitted. Remember, this diet should not be followed for more than one, or at the very most two, weeks because it does not permit a balance of vitamins and minerals to be consumed. During the diet, it is wise to take a daily vitamin and mineral supplement to ensure your body gets the necessary nutrition required to maintain health.
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