What are negative calorie foods? They really do exist!
What are negative calorie foods? That is a great question and we are going to explain the answer below!
In simple terms…
As you could probably guess, negative calorie foods are edible organic items that require more energy to eat than they provide. This means that you will burn more calories chewing and digesting them than you will gain from eating them.
a few more details..
Calories are a unit of measure for energy from food, and thus, if your calorie expense for eating the item is higher than your calorie gain from the item it would be considered a “negative calorie food”. Each food has a certain energy constant (remember portion size is also a factor here). Additionally, any unused energy will be stored in the body (and often turned into fat). People use a fair number of calories (or amount og energy) just for their basic bodily functions throughout the day. Then additional calories are burned based on metabolism, health, and activity level. To maintain the same weight you would need to consumer roughly the same number of calories that you burn in a day. Minor fluctuations that average out both ways over a short period of time are generally not noticed. However, if you are always eating a calorie deficit, or surplus you will notice changes in your weight.
why would you ever want negative calorie foods?
When aiming to lose weight you need to consume less calories than you burn. One way to do this is by increasing the amount of energy you use in a day (ie, increasing exercise). Another it to decrease the calories that you consume. While on a calorie restricted diet eating very low, or negative calorie foods can be quite beneficial. It is a way to increase the intake volume and chewing time so that you may feel like you ate more without actually increasing your calorie intake by a significant amount.
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