Can Eating Negative Calories Make You Lose Weight?

Author: Stella Giese

Can eating negative calories make you lose weight?

People seem to always be on the lookout for newest and easiest ways to lose weight. Rather than working out, many search for something they can eat or diet fads they can follow to make the pounds melt with minimal effort.

Perhaps you have heard of negative calories and are hoping to lose weight by eating a diet consisting solely of negative calorie foods. Negative calorie foods take more energy for your body to digest than it contains. The most commonly known negative calorie food is celery. This has likely caused people to munch on celery all day thinking that they are burning calories.

However, TIME Magazine states that there is actually no such thing as a negative calorie food, including celery. Chief medical editor at NBC News, Dr. Nancy Snyderman explains, "The calories your body burns in fueling the digestive cycle are minuscule compared with the calories in the food itself. Although chewing celery might seem like a strenuous activity, it burns about the same amount of calories as watching grass grow."

Therefore, if you are hoping to lose weight, do not snack on celery thinking that you will burn a noticeable amount of calories, snack on celery because you want to improve your overall eating habits. Losing weight is not rocket science and once you make yourself stick with a healthy eating regime, it can be quite simple. Commit to eating a diet high in fruits, vegetables and lean protein during the week and pig out on weekends, for example.

So from now on, don't worry about what calories are negative. Worry about what calories provide your body with healthy nutrition!  

In Brief

  • People seem to always be on the lookout for newest and easiest ways to lose weight.
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