Rex Trulove
Most dieters are acquainted with calories. Even though a calorie is a measurement of heat energy, foods contain calories and every activity we have burns them. Having a diet that is excessively high in calories usually means that a person may experience weight gain. It is no wonder that people who are wanting to lose weight often focus on the calories that are in the foods they eat. Different foods contain varying numbers of calories.
Diets that are based on caloric intake must also consider the activities of the person on the diet. For example, a healthy 150-pound person who sits for a half-hour burns about 40 calories. The same person who takes a leisurely walk or who cleans the house burns about 103 calories in a half-hour. If the person works in the garden, they can expect to burn 153 calories in a half hour.
All of this is old news. What lots of people don’t consider, though, is that calories are also burned when food is digested. Depending on the food, some of the things we eat can actually take more calories to burn than the food contains. These are called negative calorie foods because the net result of consuming them is negative calories in the caloric intake. You might be surprised to learn that there are quite a few negative calorie foods. One example that has already been written about is celery, but there are more.
#1 Beets or beetroot
#2 Turnips
If you like turnips, they are also negative calorie, while being healthy. Turnips are good sources of vitamin C, B6, folate, and potassium.
Note here that these are only some of the negative calorie foods. There are more foods that take more calories to digest than the food contains. As interesting, all of these foods have a glycemic load index of under 5, which makes them excellent for diabetics.
#3 Spinach
High in vitamin A, C, K, and folate, spinach is also high in manganese and has a glycemic load index of 0, so it is great for diabetics. This is a negative calorie food.
#4 Kale
#5 Radishes
#6 Celery
#7 Tomatoes
As popular as they are, raw tomatoes are also negative calorie. Tomatoes have iron, vitamin C, and several anti-oxidants, yet they have a low glycemic load index.
#8 Asparagus
Asparagus is very high in vitamin C and Folate. It is also high in vitamin A, E, K, Riboflavin, Niacin, Folate, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper, Manganese, and Selenium. Asparagus has a glycemic index of 1.
#9 Broccoli
Broccoli is another negative calorie food that is healthy. A cupful has 135% of the daily allowance of vitamin C. It is also high in vitamin A, folate, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, and magnesium. The glycemic index is 3.
beets and juicy and sweet, as well as add some bold color to a green salad.
I don’t think we’ve tried them in salad though I’m not opposed to the idea.
i mostly like eating, or drinking beets, in green smoothies, because the sweeten a green juice as well as give it bold color…
The girls are especially fond of pickled beets. :))
I have to pass on beets.
Have you tried them pickled, Carol?
No I haven’t, many have tried to get me to try them but not yet. Maybe one day!
You like vinegar, so I’m thinking that you’d like pickled beets. :))
You are right, I do need to try them.