Benefits Of Negative Calorie Foods For Weight Loss

Negative calorie foods are not foods that have calories below zero. Rather they are foods with very low caloric values that require greater calories to be metabolized by the body. This body burn more calories than the actual calories they contain, which makes them really great for weight loss.

Negative calorie foods are preferably eaten in their raw state. Cooking and pasteurizing increases the calorie content of fruits and vegetables, so the intended calorie deficit will not be achieved anymore if you heat negative calorie foods.

Negative calorie foods

Here’s a list of negative calorie foods that you can incorporate into your daily meals:

Vegetables: Broccoli, celery, asparagus, cabbage, lettuce, onion, leek, green onion, turnip, jicama, carrots, raw mung sprouts, cauliflower, cucumber, raw lentil sprouts, garlic, spinach, kale, alfalfa sprouts, chili, bell peppers, radish, zucchini, eggplant

Fruits: Apples, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, tomatoes, grapefruit, lemon, lime.

Eat as much as you want– BUT follow these rules:

The idea is to eat as much of these negative calorie foods on a daily basis if you want permanent weight loss and vibrant health. To maximize the health benefits of negative calorie foods there are some “rules” that are better followed than broken.

Rule number 1: wash your fruits and vegetables really well. Alkaline water, a fruit and vegetable ozonizer, an all-natural vegetable wash, food-grade hydrogen peroxide, and good old baking powder and white vinegar solution can all help clean your raw fruits, vegetables, and sprouts.

You can scrub the skins of your organic vegetables with a vegetable brush. Peel them if they’re not organic. Soak broccoli and cauliflower in very salty water to kill off the worms, if there are any.

Rule number 2: use only stevia or natural xylitol as your sweetener. Other types of sweeteners, even if healthy, will add more calories to your meal. The exception is if all you’re eating/drinking are negative calorie fruits or a smoothie prior to a workout.

You can add some coconut nectar, coconut sugar, maple syrup, yacon syrup, natural xylitol, or raw sugar to your smoothie or drink if it’s not sweet enough for you.

Rule number 3: always eat negative calorie foods before cooked meals with animal foods. Yes, even if your negative calorie food is a fruit. People normally eat fruits last, after eating meat or cooked vegetables.

Raw fruits and vegetables digest much faster than cooked food. You don’t let an 80s Volkswagen drive ahead of a Lamborghini on a one way street. You put the faster car in front so that no collision would occur.

Let raw food pass through the digestive tract first to avoid fermentation, which is what happens when you eat cooked food before raw food. The other reason for eating your negative calorie meal first is for you to have less room left for cooked food. You want a faster weight loss and a healthier body don’t you?

That’s it. Just 3 simple rules. They aren’t really that hard to follow, so I hope you’re not kicking and screaming after reading them.

3 suggestions to maximize the benefits of negative calorie foods

Now we’re off to a few suggestions that you can either take or leave. It would be a good move to take them though…

Suggestion number 1: cut the oil. Cold pressed oils have about 110 calories per tablespoon. If you must use oil choose good ones such as flax, hempseed, and extra virgin olive oil. Forget about cooked oils like regular sesame oil.

You can use cold pressed oil if you are eating a salad or marinating your veggies overnight in the ref. You can also add raw oil or chopped raw nuts and seeds if you are eating a fully raw meal to make it more filling. Raw fats also make meals digest more slowly for sustained energy and longer satiety.

Suggestion number 2: decrease your salt consumption. Yes, even if you’re using Himalayan or Celtic salt. Salt increases your tendency to retain water, and you don’t want additional water weight.

You can use celery seed powder, kelp powder, and dulse granules to add saltiness to your food. You can also sprinkle your food with spices and herbs such as garlic powder, dried basil, onion powder, dried leeks, or chili flakes/powder to season your food.

Suggestion number 3: invest on helpful cutting implements such as a mandolin slicer, spiralizer (for zucchini pasta or noodles), or 10in1 slicers. These kitchen gadgets will make food prep a lot easier and quicker for you. The veggies will look more attractive too if they’re sliced, diced, or julienned uniformly.

In the next part of this article, we are going to talk about a few recipes ideas!

Alright, after learning about some the benefits of negative calorie foods we’re now ready for some recipe ideas. Here they are:

Starters

Apples, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and grapefruit can all be eaten on their own. You don’t exactly need a recipe to eat them raw. Just be sure to eat them ahead of cooked food or partially raw meal.

You can slice your apple and sprinkle some cinnamon if you like. To turn this into apple sauce just puree in the blender or food processor until the right consistency is achieved.

Cauliflower rice

Make cauliflower (turnip, jicama, or radish) rice by grating the vegetable manually using a grater, or by pulsing your chosen veggie in a food processor until you have something that looks like rice.

Add some chopped green onion, mung sprouts, chopped asparagus, lentil sprouts, finely diced carrots, broccoli florets, finely shredded cabbage, and chopped bell pepper with some salt and your seasonings of choice such as chili, cayenne pepper, cumin, paprika, Chinese 5 spice, curry, or turmeric.

Add chopped parsley or cilantro if desired. You can drizzle a bit of oil as well if you’re not eating any cooked food.

Raw soup

Make raw soup by blending your 2 cups of your chosen greens (lettuce, spinach, or kale), a clove of garlic, a small shallot, 1 chopped medium to large zucchini, 23 stalks of celery, 3 medium tomatoes, and 1 red bell pepper. Blend using a high speed blender. Season to taste. Add some water if you want a thinner soup.

You can also use peeled cucumber instead of zucchini. Add half an avocado and the juice of half a lemon if you want to eat the soup as a standalone meal. You can also add fresh herbs such as basil and cilantro if you like. Garnish with a handful of alfalfa sprouts.

Note: There are many raw soups that you can make using negative calorie vegetables such as tomato, gazpacho, and beanless chili soup. There are plenty of raw sites and blogs that offer free recipes. Try looking them up to get more ideas and inspiration to create satisfying, low calorie, and nutrient dense meals.

Raw popcorn

Air dry some cauliflower florets to make raw popcorn. Get a zip lock bag and shake the florets with your chosen flavoring. Add nutritional yeast if you want cheese flavored popcorn.

Compared to Parmesan cheese nutritional yeast has zero fat, zero sodium, zero cholesterol, more B vitamins, and more protein.

You can also use barbecue, chili, curry, or wasabi powder with a bit of salt. Cajun , Mexican, or some other seasoning blend like Spike would be fine too.

Raw veg with steamed brown rice

Broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, mung sprouts, bell peppers, and lentil sprouts combine well with steamed brown rice.

The raw vegetables can serve as your viand if you want a partially raw meal. It’s okay if you eat raw veggies with cooked brown rice together because you are not eating any animal food.

Add some oil, spices, and herbs to your veggies to improve their taste. Just remember that you have to eat your negative calorie fruit before your partially raw veggie and brown rice meal to avoid fermentation in the gut.

Raw French fries

Cut turnips or jicama French fry style. Shake with spices or flavoring powder using a zip-lock bag.

Tomato salsa with veggie chips

Prepare your favorite salsa recipe (tomatoes, onions, lime, jalapeno, green bell pepper, garlic, chili powder).

Substitute chips with cucumber and zucchini discs, chopped cabbage and lettuce, or celery sticks.

Raw spaghetti with marinara sauce

Make spaghetti by spiralizing 1 large zucchini (2 if you won’t be eating any cooked food) to your desired thickness. Use a regular vegetable peeler and to make fettuccine pasta if you don’t have a spiralizer.

Make your marinara sauce by soaking 1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes for a few hours, then throw into the blender with 1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes, 1 clove of garlic, 12 tablespoons minced onion, ¼ cup chopped red bell pepper, salt, black pepper, and spices of your choice (dried basil, oregano, or Italian blend).

Add some of the sun dried tomatoes’ soaking water if too thick. Mix enough sauce to coat the zucchini noodles well. Refrigerate leftover marinara and use within 3 days.

Negative calorie salads

Toss a huge salad made of your chosen negative calorie vegetables. For an oil free dressing use unpasteurized apple cider vinegar, as much chopped onion, garlic, and chili pepper as you like, some salt, and freshly cracked black pepper.

If you want some raw eggplant in your salad you’d have to slice it thinly and marinate it overnight inside the fridge with enough lemon juice and salt. Take out of the fridge about an hour before adding to the rest of your salad so the eggplant won’t be cold anymore.

Negative calorie smoothies and juices

Make a fruit smoothie by blending one fruit or a combination of fruits with a cup or two of water with some crushed ice. Add a few drops of stevia if needed. Increase weight loss by adding a teaspoon or two of wheat-grass, chlorella, or barley powder to your fruit smoothie. The picture here shows a blueberry smoothie.

You can make a glass of lemonade with the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Sweeten with a few drops of liquid stevia. Mixing a teaspoon of barley grass powder would make your lemonade more alkaline and healthy.