Zero calorie diet

Latest buzz word in dieting is zero calorie food. Why is it called so? Actually, some food, takes so much energy, that it takes up some calories when they are digested. It burns some calories when the food is digested. Water is the zero calorie nutrient. When it comes to solids, mainly high fiber content fruits and vegetables consumes some energy to digest. And also, by eating such high fiber rich zero calorie food, the enzymes produced for the digestion of that particular food accelerates many chemical reactions in the body that leads to a higher metabolic rate.

On the other hand, there are certain foods that take so much energy to digest that you actually lose weight by eating them. Sounds great right! These are known as Negative Calorie Foods.

For example, 100 gms of broccoli has about 25 calories. When this quantity is consumed, it will take 80 calories to digest the quantity taken. wonder! Even a little baby carrot has calories, about 15 calories per ounce. It takes more calories to digest the 15 calorie carrot than the 15 calories the carrot provides.

So here is the list of fruits and vegetables of zero calorie food and negative calorie food.

Vegetables:
Asparagus, beet, broccoli, carrot, celery, cauliflower, cucumber, garlic, green bean, hot chili peppers, lemon, lettuce, onion, radish, spinach, tomato, turnip, zucchini.

Fruits:
apple, blueberries, cranberry, cantaloupe, grapefruit, honeydew, mango, orange, papaya, peach, pineapple,raspberries, strawberries, tangerine, watermelon.

It is important to take all the fruits and vegetables, without adding any fat to it like, the salad dressing, sugar, meat etc; You can use lemon, salt, pepper, Ginger, olive oil etc for seasoning.

Dieting becomes much easier if you go for zero and negative calorie food. Any diet should normally take 1200 calories per day to get the energy. But it is also very important that you need to take in well balanced foods that contain the essential nutrients needed for the body. Those are proteins, carbohydrates, unsaturated fats, vitamins and minerals that should be included in our daily intake of nutritious foods. It is vital that you consult a dietician or medical professional before you start such diets. Researchers feel that this type of diet is effective for obese person and without careful supervision the technique would be very dangerous, so a zero calorie diet is not a realistic option for the general public.

Eating fresh vegetables and fruits has huge benefits of its own. For example, it has been shown that a decreased risk of heart disease, certain cancers such as colon and breast, stroke, diverticulitis, cataracts, and muscular degeneration are outcomes of eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. But, we should also make sure that we get the balanced food during each meal.