You’ve probably heard of the Negative Calorie Diet, sometimes referred to as the Catabolic Diet. On the surface, it sounds like a dieters dream. The more you eat, the more weight you lose. Can this be real?

Of course all food contains calories, but the idea behind the Catabolic Diet is to eat foods that require more energy to process than what is supplied by the food. Seems like a great idea, the more you eat, the more weight you lose. In theory the numbers back up this idea, although there has not been clinical research to support the belief.

Suppose you eat an orange that contains 80 calories, but your body expends 110 calories digesting the orange, where does the other 30 necessary come from? You body will draw those extra calories from stored fat energy. So if you munched on nothing but oranges every day, the pounds would melt away. Ok, that won’t really work but there are other fruits and vegetables that are considered to be catabolic foods.

Here are a few examples:

Vegetables:

Asparagus
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Cucumbers
Fennel
Leeks
Lettuce
Peppers
Spinach
Tomatoes
Turnips

Fruits:

Apricots
Blackberries
Cantaloupes
Grapefruits
Guava
Honeydew Melons
Lemons
Mandarin Oranges
Peaches
Plums
Raspberries
Strawberries
Tangerines
Watermelon

The biggest challenge to the Negative Calorie Diet is that you can not get all of the vitamins and minerals you need from fruits and vegetables alone. Some nutrients can only be found in dairy, grains or meats.

Of course vegetarians do it all the time and they seem to be doing alright, but the bigger question would be if you are willing to switch to an all vegetarian diet? If you are used to eating meats, dairy, and grains, would you be able to do that?

The best solution is to incorporate fruits and vegetables heavily into your diet. They will satisfy your hunger and prevent you from overeating other higher calorie foods.

The Negative Calorie Diet may not be the cure-all for your weight problems, but it’s a step in the right direction. The biggest factor in your health and fitness is the foods you eat.