ZERO & NEGATIVE CALORIE FOODS

A diet for weight loss commonly reduces your caloric intake by 500 to 1,000 calories per day. Zero and negative-calorie foods help with your weight loss goals by adding very few calories to your daily diet. By substituting low-calorie foods for some of the high-calorie foods you currently consume, you reduce your daily calorie consumption.

ZERO-CALORIE FOODS

Zero-calorie foods contain no calories. As listed in the U.S. Department of Agriculture publication Nutritive Value of Foods, only six food items out of 1,274 contain zero calories. These foods are: 5 sprigs of fresh dill weed; 8 fl oz of municipal tap water; one teaspoon of table salt; one teaspoon of the leavening agent baking soda; 12 fl oz of club soda; and 12 fl oz glass of a low-calorie carbonated beverage, without caffeine, except cola or pepper beverages.

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NEGATIVE-CALORIE FOODS

In theory, negative-calorie foods---also called catabolic foods--use up more calories in the digestive process than they contain, resulting in a caloric deficit. Very low-calorie foods like celery do require more energy to digest in comparison to the number of calories they provide, according to Mayo Clinic preventive medicine specialist Donald Hensrud, M.D.

WHICH FOODS RESULT IN NEGATIVE CALORIES?

Unfortunately, Dr. Donald Hensrud says that although a negative=calorie food is possible "there are no reputable scientific studies to prove that certain foods are negative-calorie." According to information provided by the McKinley Health Center at the University of Illinois, the human body burns about 10 calories as it breaks down 100 calories.

CATABOLIC DIET

A catabolic diet recommends individuals consume negative-calorie foods as the bulk of their dietary intake to promote weight loss. Replacing high-calorie foods with nutrient-rich low-calorie foods is a sound weight-loss strategy. However, when it comes to the validity of the catabolic diet, ACE-certified Personal Trainer Natalie Digate Muth, MD, MPH, RD says, "no study has ever demonstrated, regardless of the dietary make up of the food, that more calories are used to metabolize a food than the number of calories the food contains."

DANGERS

Before embarking on any diet that proposes adding an abundance of zero-calorie--and supposedly negative-calorie--foods to your diet, check with your health care professional. Dr. Donald Hensrud warns that while a weight loss plan emphasizing these foods may produce weight loss at first, a diet consisting of a limited amount of foods can cause nutrient deficiencies that may result in health problems.