Have you ever heard that chewing celery can help you lose weight because celery actually has less calories than the calories you burn when eating it? That's one example of the so-called "negative-calorie foods", those foods that actually are more work to eat than the calories that they actually contain.
Well, that's pretty cool news for those of us who are actively trying to lose weight or keep the weight off (like I am, keeping off 100 pounds), but is it actually true? Can these negative-calorie foods actually help you lose weight? Well…
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According to nutritionist Monica Reinagel in her "Can 'Negative-Calorie' Foods Help You Lose Weight?" on the Huffington Post, the answer is yes and no. You see, digesting these foods burns more calories than are in the foods themselves, which COULD help you lose weight. However, it's not all as easy as that, since you can't really have a grapefruit with your piece of cake and pretend like this is healthy.
If you REALLY want to lose weight with some negative-calorie foods, then more power to you! However, that means putting down the sweets and junk and eating a whole bunch of celery or a grapefruit instead of the other fattening things you were thinking of consuming. Actually, the even better trick is to eat it before you were thinking of eating that brownie and, with any luck, you'll be too full to have the not-so-great-for-you food afterward.
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The thing I really love about this strategy is that it's similar to my weight-loss tip about drinking a glass of water about 20 to 30 minutes before you're planning to eat. I like drinking the water because it helps to fill me up, and eating a negative-calorie food (like carrots, chili peppers, garlic, papayas, mangoes, grapefruit, pineapple and others) has the same effect.
So, next time that you want to reach for that mid-day sweet snack, why not reach for a mango instead? They won't cancel each other out if you have them together but having the mango WILL help you lose weight for sure. And that's what we all want, right?
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