In this article, we will discuss some of the best negative calorie foods. If you are looking to lose weight or maintain a healthy body weight, you should always look for starting your diet with a sensible combination of foods. Altering your diet can be quite difficult and frustrating. Instead of making some huge changes, you can add some negative calorie foods.
You might be surprised to know that eating more can help you lose weight. There are many “negative-calorie” foods which can be very useful to maintain right weight. Negative foods are those foods which take more energy to digest than they provide to the body. Although, these foods can be an excellent source of phytonutrients but they are not loaded with fatty calories.
Many foods are known to be beneficial for weight loss and they even help you burn calories. Certain foods can help in increasing the metabolism, giving fullness for a longer time, raising the temperature of your body, and provide chemicals which are beneficial for promoting weight loss. Including these foods to your diet plan, along with some regular physical exercise, will help you lose weight fast and easily. Below is the list of negative calorie foods.
List of Negative Calorie Foods for Weight Loss:
1.) Low-Fat Yogurt as Negative Calorie Foods
As per a research done at the Tennessee University, consuming a diet with minimum three daily servings of low-fat dairy products such as yogurt can speed up the process of losing weight and accumulated body fat in obese people as compared to a diet with lesser dairy products consumption.
Low-fat yogurt has a fine amount of calcium which helps prevent hunger and strengthens teeth and bones. Also, yogurt is rich in Vitamin D and protein, which helps the body keep on going throughout the day. Along with low-fat yogurt, you can also include other dairy products such as low-fat milk and cheese in your diet plan.
2.) Grapefruit as Negative Calorie Foods for Losing Weight
Grapefruit is another negative calorie food that is beneficial for maintaining right weight. This fruit is rich in fiber and has very fewer calories. In fact, grapefruit is considered one of the best and popular “negative calorie” foods. This means that you burn more calories digesting it than a number of calories you get in.
Plus, grapefruit is helpful for lowering insulin level. It regulates blood sugar and metabolism in your body. To lose weight fast, you will need to eat more fresh grapefruit with its fleshy white membranes. You can also take grapefruit juice with a fair amount of pulp in it.
3.) Cayenne Pepper as Negative Calorie Foods
Including cayenne pepper in your diet will also help speed up the metabolism process by burning calories and fat at a faster rate. The presence of capsaicin in the cayenne pepper helps heat up the body, which burns calories at much faster rate.
You can eat cayenne pepper cooked, raw, dried, or in powdered form as well. As per several studies, consuming a single cayenne pepper can help promote your metabolism by up to twenty-five percent. And, the process of calorie burning can last for up to three hours after you consume it.
4.) Green Tea as Negative Calorie Food
Green tea, doesn’t matter hot or cold, is one of the best negative calorie foods that help promote weight loss fast. This healthy beverage is loaded with antioxidants like EGCG, which works effectively to burn calories throughout the day and it also helps in keeping your metabolism rate high.
Another benefit of green tea is the presence of caffeine in it as caffeine helps in speeding up the heart rate. The faster your heart beats, the more calories your body burns. It is also known to lower appetite to some degree, which helps in weight loss.
5.) Nuts as Negative Calorie Food
Nuts such as almonds and walnuts have a healthy amount of monounsaturated fats, omega-3 fatty acid, and alpha-linolenic acid. Monounsaturated fats are beneficial to burn a large amount of fat and boost the metabolism rate.
They are also useful in building muscles and reducing cravings. Add a handful of dry roasted or soaked walnuts and almonds (with skin intact) in your daily diet to promote weight loss in a healthier way. Also, make sure that you do not opt for the salted variety.
6.) Soybeans as Negative Calorie Foods
Our body requires energy to digest foods that we eat, and protein is considered to be at the top of the list of foods which require more effort to get digested in the body. So, while our digestive system works hard to digest protein, it burns very few calories. Therefore, in order to promote weight loss, you can include more soy protein-based foods in your diet.
The best soy protein food is considered to be soybeans. Soybeans are known to have healthy unsaturated fat, which helps reduce “bad” cholesterol and lowers the risk of numerous heart diseases. Soybeans are also one of the few plant sources of Omega-3 fatty acids. These fatty acids play a major role in maintaining right body weight. They also offer a fantastic boost of both soluble and insoluble fiber that helps suppress hunger.
7.) Brown Rice as Negative Calorie Foods
Substituting your regular white rice to brown rice will help you lose weight quickly and naturally. Brown rice is considered one of the best whole grain foods. It also contains a fine amount of B Vitamins, Vitamin E, fiber, iron and magnesium that help maintain bowels, hunger, and metabolism rate.
The brown texture and nutty taste of brown rice go well with vegetables and lean chicken dishes, and it keeps you feeling full for a long duration. But make sure that you drink plenty of water when you consume brown rice because of its high fiber content. Water will also help in making you feel full faster which will prevent you from overeating.
8.) Salmon as Negative Calorie Foods
According to a research it has been concluded that people who have a low-level of leptin have faster metabolisms. This helps them burn fat more quickly when compared to those people who have a higher level of leptin. Leptin is a hormone which plays a major role in regulating energy level and metabolism level.
Including fish like salmon is an ideal solution to reduce the level of leptin in the body. The presence of omega-3 fatty acids in salmon can help reduce the level of leptin in the body. Some studies have proven that leptin influences your metabolism significantly. It helps in determining whether to burn calories or store them as fat. To lose weight, go baked or roasted salmon dishes and not for the deep-fried versions.
9.) Apples as Negative Calorie Foods
Apples are an excellent fat-burning fruit because of their high soluble fiber content. Not only this, apples are loaded with a great amount of antioxidants which promote smooth digestion.
Plus, the pectin in apples prevents your cells from absorbing fat. It also helps in encouraging water absorption, which helps get rid of fat deposits from the body easily. Having apples every day will help in reducing fat cells and also encourage your body’s overall health. Make sure that you eat the skin along with the apple.
10.) Oatmeal as Negative Calorie Foods
Including oatmeal in your breakfast can help you get a noticeable improvement in your weight loss quickly and easily. Oatmeal is considered among the slow-digesting carbohydrates. Te slow rate digestion helps keep your blood sugar and insulin levels balanced while speeding up the fat-burning process in your body.
Oatmeal is also known to have soluble and insoluble fibers that can help greatly with fat reduction while making you feel full for a longer period. Oatmeal has also been shown to reduce the LDL (bad) cholesterol level and lower high blood pressure. Therefore, including oatmeal in your diet is an excellent way to lose and maintain weight.
Things to Remember Before Including Negative Calorie Foods in your Diet
Always keep in mind that along with above changes in your diet, you may also need to make several changes in your lifestyle too to achieve your weight loss goal. Following things will help you lose and maintain weight easily and healthily.
- You should exercise daily. Apart from exercise, you can also practice yoga, running. Even a brisk walking early in the morning and at the afternoon helps weight loss
- Keep your body well hydrated. Drink 10-12 liter of water in a day.
- Avoid drinking alcohol.
- Get adequate sleep and try to avoid stress. Stress and inadequate sleep are some of the primary causes of weight gain.
- Avoid eating junk food. Eat a nutritious meal at a regular interval.