I’ve heard of this concept before. But it’s not been a mainstream ‘thing’. Until, maybe, now. Sister Erin recently spotted the compelling headline: ‘Study Finally Confirms Eating Celery Burns More Calories Than It Contains’.
Even this big bruiser knows instinctively that eating more celery is good for you…
A food with ‘negative’ calories? Really? That’s long been the holy grail of diet cultists worldwide. And now, it appears their dream has been realized…
The usual suspects
Leafy greens, in general, have traditionally been the targets of preference for research into zero- or negative-calorie foods. And I guess it was only a matter of time before one of them was confirmed as a ‘winner’. Sure, we usually eat the stalks of celery, not the leaves. But that’s just splitting hairs. C’mon. We’re all grownups, here…
Anyway…
Negative-calorie foods are defined as those that burn more Calories in the act of eating them than they contribute to your daily calorie intake.
You couldn’t help but lose weight if you filled up on them after consuming a relatively small amount of other foods, calculated to deliver your daily recommended ‘dose’ of essential nutrients. And cel-ery, in particular, is high in mechanical and dietary fibre. You couldn’t imagine a more effective regime to support colon health.
But until the study we’re reporting on today, there had been no conclusive, scientific evidence for any zero-Calorie – let alone any negative-Calorie – food.
What they did
Food & Wine writer Aly Walansky reports: “[UK] scientists from University Hospitals Coventry, Warwickshire NHS Trust and the University of Warwick placed Matt Tebbutt of Channel 4’s Food Unwrapped in a metabolic chamber, which measured the calories ingested and burned while he ate celery in various forms over a period of 12 hours.
“After being fed both celery raw and in a smoothie – each containing 53 calories — Tebbutt burned 72 calories while eating the raw celery and 112 while drinking the smoothie. In both cases, he burned more calories digesting the celery than the celery contained.”
There IS a community
I’ll call it a ‘community’ rather than branding it a ‘cult’. One reason for that is, a leading guru of the negative-Calorie food movement is celebrity chef Roco DiSpirito. He’s a well-known TV food show host and cook book author. And he’s long been an avid advocate for negative-Calorie foods.
In fact, Rocco has written a book focusing on the subject: The Negative Calorie Diet: Lose Up To 10 Pounds In 10 Days With 10 All You Can Eat Foods.
Rocco’s ‘magic’ foods
DiSpirito’s list of 10 ‘magic’ foods includes: almonds, apples, berries, celery, citrus fruits, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower), cucumber, green leafy veggies, mushrooms and nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, sweet/bell peppers, eggplant).
And there’s one more… “One of my favorites is water!” DiSpirito reveals. “It contains no calories yet burns [only] one calorie per ounce consumed. It’s like a magic trick!”
Makes healthy sense
“Negative calorie foods can help your body burn fat and lose weight. They can boost the rate at which your body burns calories, both temporarily and in the long run. And they can help you feel full after you eat them – so you actually eat less food overall,” DiSpirito claims. “If it’s not a processed food and it’s eaten in its whole natural state, there is a good chance it is a negative-Calorie food.”
My take
DiSpirito’s overall notion of negative-Calorie foods may be oversimplified. But it strikes me as fun-damentally sound. And, as a truly natural and ‘clean eating’ idea, it gains additional respect in my estimation.
Erin isn’t exactly sanguine about paying $4 for a 6-stalk bunch of fresh celery. But I have to admit, I’m leaning toward working more if it into our diet…
~ Maggie J.