NEGATIVE CALORIE DIET
The Negative Calorie Diet is exactly what it sounds like; it involves putting the body in a position where the total caloric value is negative. This was developed by a US Navy Training Coordinator to whip the Armed Forces into shape. The theory is that certain foods take more calories to process and digest, and cause the body to go into a calorie deficit while processing these foods.
Foods Emphasized: Fruits and vegetables in negative state
Foods Discouraged: Foods that are high in calories
Premise and Guidelines: The Negative Calorie diet asserts that certain foods can have a negative calorie effect on the body. Foods that use more energy to burn than what they provide are called ‘negative calorie foods’. Foods that are claimed to be ‘negative calorie’ include asparagus, beets, green cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, papaya, zucchini, cranberries, tangerines, lettuce, apples, grapefruit, and onions.
Eating these types of foods will cause rapid weight loss and tremendous fat-burning results. Naturally, it couldn’t be completely easy- to achieve the weight loss, these foods must be consumed raw with no additives to duplicate the negative-calorie state.
The results sound promising, but is it truly effective? Recent objective research has shown that eating raw fruits and vegetables does actually result in weight loss, although the jury is still out over whether this can be attributed to the ‘negative calorie’ theory or to the healthful eating of these types of foods. The suggested diet of the Negative Calorie plan includes many enzyme and fiber-rich foods that can help speed up fat loss and metabolism, and that may be what is driving the weight loss. This type of diet speeds up the metabolism and makes digestion more efficient, even with little or no exercise, according to the studies. However, if the negative effect was certain, a lifetime of eating ‘negative’ foods would earn someone a disappearing act, and although weight loss can seem magical, it’s probably best to take this diet at face value- eating raw fruits and vegetables can be healthy for you, and subsequent weight loss can be only attributed to that at this point in time.