The REAL List of Negative Calorie Foods

Here's a list of negative calorie foods...

1.  
2.  
3.  

That's it. Nothing.

There's no such thing as "negative calorie foods". The idea that some foods require more energy to digest and metabolize than the calories they contribute is nonsense.

At least in the time I've spent dieting and losing weight, and educating myself about nutrition, that's what I've learned. Even as something as low calorie as celery, it still doesn't suck calories out of you. The idea that the more you eat, more you lose weight, is just baloney.

Evidence shows that the people who originated the idea that some foods contain negative calories are those associated with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). PETA is a vegan group, trying to convince people to stop eating meat.

As it turns out, these people published lists of "negative calorie foods", and the list contained only fruits and vegetables. So, it was an attempt to capitalize on the diet craze, hoping they would lure more people away from eating meat.

If fruits and vegetables were negative calorie foods, then people who ate only fruits and vegetables would have lost ALL their body mass by now, and died.

It seems like the lower the calorie food, the less energy it takes to digest and metabolize. You can just never find a food that takes you into the negative calorie range.

But that doesn't make a celery any less effective a diet food. It's still a great snacking alternative. It's ultra low in calories. I like to buy the celery sticks cut into five-inch lengths, and sold in water-filled plastic containers. Each one of those sticks is just 1-3 calories each.

When you consider how easy it is to burn off celery, you could just as well think of it as a negative calorie food. A few stalks of celery can burned off just by standing for 10 minutes, or brushing your teeth.

But don't limit your diet to lots of celery. It contains so little nutrients, that you'll harm your body by eating too much of it.

Either way, when you hear someone talk about negative calorie foods, realize that it's just propaganda perpetuated by the vegan movement.

Here are some more articles that disspell the myth of negative calorie foods...

• Negative Calories Foods: Fact or Fiction - Answer Fitness


• There Are No Negative Calorie Foods - Time Magazine

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Grapes As a Dieting Food

Have you ever thought about using grapes as a dieting food?

It's tough to beat grapes as a healthier alternative to snacking in terms of convenience. Very few other foods can match the portability, cleanliness, politeness, and storage of grapes, all while offering a wonderful taste that few people can resist.

Compare grapes to potato chips, for example. Potato chips are convenient because they're ready to eat. Just open the bag. Potato chips have no clean up, in that there's no dishes or silverware to clean. And if you have leftovers, you don't have to put them into a tupperware container and find room in the fridge. You just roll up the bag and leave it somewhere.

Grapes offer the same convenience.

Consider the following...

• A bag of grapes are ready to eat. No preparation, no skinning, and no dishes to clean up. The only waste is the branches you pull the grapes off of, but still easily disposable.



• They don't make your hands oily or smelly, nor do they make your breath smelly. They might leave some trace amounts of stickiness, but nothing you can't lick off.



• Grapes are polite to eat at work. They don't make noise when you eat them, and they don't stink up the office. You don't even have to store them in the office refrigerator, just leave them on your desk.



• They also provide lots of water which is essential for dieting. And that extra water will help fill you up.



• They have a bite sized form factor, which frees up your hands to do other things. Compare that to an apple, banana, or pickle, where you typically eat the whole thing before using your hands to do something else.

Grapes are quite high in sugar compared to other fruits, but in terms of convenience, the water volume, and great taste, it's hard to beat grapes as an alternative snack food.

The only drawback to grapes is that you should rinse them first. But here's a secret: (I never wash my grapes, I'm just lazy that way!)

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Can You Urinate Calories Away?

I received a question from a reader who wanted to know if it's true you can burn calories urinating.

Not that I know of.

There's another popular myth going around that urine itself contains calories, and hence if by urinating you're removing some of the calories traveling through your bloodstream. But as far as I know, urine doesn't contain calories. It's mostly water, acid and minerals.

However, consider this...

It's often said that drinking lots of water is essential to weight loss. Well, if you can get yourself to a point where you're drinking about six bottles of water a day (typical 0.5 liter bottle), along with whatever water your body can extract from fruits and vegetables, then you'll find yourself having to urinate often.

That means having to get up out of a chair, walk to the bathroom, urinate, and walk back. If you're overweight, that's a low impact exercise. The heavier you are, the more energy it takes to do that.

I happen to live in a two-story house. My home office is upstairs. I have a bathroom downstairs and upstairs. I ought to walk downstairs, just because walking back upstairs is a good exercise, particularly if you're overweight.

So urinating itself doesn't burn calories, nor does it remove calories from your body, but the physical activity of getting yourself to the bathroom does. That's another reason why you should drink more water!

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Riding a Motorcycle Can Burn Calories

Did you know that riding a motorcycle can help you burn calories?

You'd think that riding a motorcycle is largely a sedentary activity since you're doing little more than sitting. But actually, it presents a number of factors that can burn calories.

I'm an avid motorcycle rider, and during the time I spent dieting and losing weight, I noticed a trend where on days I spent a lot of time on motorcycle, I found myself losing some weight when I didn't expect to.

Here are my observations...

• Cold temperatures - when your body temperature falls below it's normal temperature, it burns calories trying to heat itself back up. Riding a motorcycle on colder days will cause this happen. Even if you wear a leather jacket and a sweatshirt, the cool wind on your legs will cool the blood down.


• Strong winds - If you ride a motorcycle without a windshield, the winds you experience will push against your body, forcing you to on tighter to the handlebars, and squeeze your legs against the gas tank. I've noticed my forearms and legs tiring after long rides.


• Hand and foot activity - if you're riding along tight twisty roads, or in stop and go traffic, you're constantly using your hands and feet to work the controls. Squeezing the hand brake and clutch lever is like exercise. I also find myself keeping my right foot hovering just above the rear brake while navigating through tight twisty roads, which forces me to use a little muscle to hold it there.


• Holding a motorcycle upright - while you're stopped at a traffic light, I find that just being stopped can burn some extra calories in that you're using your balance to keep the motorcycle upright. The heavier the motorcycle, the more muscle you're using to maintain balance.


• Pushing backwards - Often I'll back out of a parking space by sitting on the motorcycle, and using my feet to push backwards.


• Wearing extra gear - the weight of wearing a helmet, leather jacket, leather boots, and any other safety gear requires your body to use a little bit more muscle as you to and from your motorcycle.


• Hot days - on hot days I find myself drinking a lot of water at gas stops or at a lunch stop. The water fills me up, and as a result I don't often eat as much.


• You can't snack - you can't really munch on snacks while riding a motorcycle in the way you can while driving a car. If you like go out on joy rides, the time you spend on a motorcycle is more time you're not stuffing your face.

You put all these things together and you realize that you're burning more calories riding a motorcycle than you would driving a car. It's subtle, and you don't really think of it as exercising. But these are several little factors that tend to add up.

After a day of motorcycle riding, I often feel exhausted, even if it's just mentally exhausted from having to concentrate. That makes me tired enough to where I get a full night's sleep. And getting deep, full sleep also burns calories.

And you don't necessarily have to be on a motorcycle, it can be on a scooter as well.

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Eat More Meat For Breakfast

It might seem contrary to popular belief, but eating more meat for breakfast may actually help you lose weight more quickly.

The idea is two-fold.

First, breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it gets your metabolism going. Skipping breakfast, delays your metabolism and makes it harder to burn fat. Hence, you always want to eat breakfast, and make sure you do it early, before you leave for work.

Second, meats are very high in protein, which takes longer to metabolize into energy. Hence, your metabolism runs longer and harder to convert this into energy.

So if you eat a breakfast high in meats, you'll jump start your metabolism right away, and you'll be able to maintain a high metabolic rate for a longer period of time.

Meat also happens to make you feel full longer, which can curb your appetite later in the day.

And of course, it's high in protein, which you're going to need to prevent against muscle loss. The more muscle you have on your body, the more your body must metabolize to keep that muscle fed.

But shoot for meats lower in fat, try turkey breast, canned tuna, or beef jerky.

Here's a video from CBS News that goes more into detail on this...
http://news.yahoo.com/video/newyorkcbs2-15751042/beef-for-breakfast-it-could-be-good-for-you-17997309

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How To Use the Apple Test for Dieting

The "apple test" is commonly offered as a way to test if you're adhering to a proper weight loss diet. It's used to decide if you're physically hungry, or psychologically hungry.

Phyically hungry means your body is giving you signals that it needs food, such as a stomach grumble, headaches, shakiness, fatigue. Whereas psychologically hungry means that you want to eat something out of habit, or some external factor is casuing you crave food.

The apple test works as this...

1. If you feel like eating something, ask yourself if you'd like to have an apple.


2. If an apple sounds really satisfying right now, then you're likely physically hungry.


3. If it doesn't sound satisfying, then you're probably psychologically hungry.


4. It doesn't have to be an apple, in fact if you happen to love apples, then think about another food that you feel indifferent about.

If you find yourself physically hungry, then you're going about dieting the wrong way. That's what the apple test truly tells you.

When you're physically hungry, just about anything will seem delicious. The lack of protein, vitamins and minerals will cause your body to go into "survival" mode, blocking out your food preferences, and making you desire anything with some nutritional value.

A proper weight loss diet should involve eating at least three meals a day, but eating healthy foods, never going hungry, and counting your calories. See my previous weight loss tip, "How to Lose Weight by Constantly Eating".

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Taking a Shower Burns Calories

As ridiculous as it seems, taking a shower really does burn calories, and a decent amount of calories at that. It's actually a good, low impact, exercise.

If you're already at your optimum weight, you might not get much benefit from standing in a shower, but if you're overweight, you'll be surprised at how many calories you can burn taking a shower.

Here's how many calories are burned taking a shower...

• A 150 pound person can burn about 75 calories in a 15 minute shower.


• A 200 pound person can burn about 100 calories in a 15 minute shower.


• A 250 pound person can burn about 120 calories in a 15 minute shower.


• A 300 pound person can burn about 140 calories in a 15 minute shower.

The calories are doubled for a 30 minute shower.

The reason is because a shower requires standing, and because to wash your body you're having to move your arms and stretch yourself. All the while, the muscles in your legs are constantly flexing to maintain balance.

On top of that, the few minutes you spend drying yourself off with a towel is the same low impact exercise of standing, moving your arms, and stretching.

Tips to Burn Calories While Showering

Try taking three showers a day, and wash yourself each time. Depending on your weight, you could burn 300-500 calories a day just doing that alone.

If you find yourself at home with nothing to do, then take a shower. For one, it'll prevent you from resorting to food as a way to beat boredom, and two it will give you time to think about other activities you can do.

You can burn even more calories by setting the water temperature as low as you can tolerate. If you can lower your body temperature just a bit, it will increase its metabolism in an attempt to raise the temperature back up.

Always stand up in the shower, that's how you'll get the most exercise out of showering.

Don't sabotage those calories you burned off in the shower by eating more food. Your goal is to lose weight, not put more weight back on!

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How Many Calories In a Glass of Wine?

Ever wanted to know just how many calories are in that glass of wine you're having with dinner? I've put together a chart that breaks down the varietals.

A typical glass is about 5 ounces. But some people pour only 4 ounces. I also provided a column for an entire 750ml bottle (standard sized bottle)...

	Calories 4oz	Calories 5oz	Calories 750ml
red, Barbera	100	125	634
red, Burgundy	100	125	634
red, Cabernet Franc	96	120	609
red, Cabernet Sauvignon	96	120	609
red, Carignane	88	110	558
red, Claret	96	120	609
red, Gamay	92	115	583
red, Lemberger	96	120	609
red, Merlot	96	120	609
red, Mouvedre	104	130	659
red, Petite Sirah	100	125	634
red, Pinot Noir	96	120	609
red, Sangiovese	100	125	634
red, Syrah	96	120	609
red, Zinfandel	104	130	659
white, Chenin Blanc	96	120	609
white, Fume Blanc	96	120	609
white, Gewurztraminer	96	120	609
white, Muller Thurgau	88	110	558
white, Muscat (Blanc or Canelli)	100	125	634
white, Pinot Blanc	96	120	609
white, Pinot Gris	96	120	609
white, Riesling	96	120	609
white, Sauvignon Blanc	96	120	609
white, Semillon	96	120	609

Late Harvest Wines

Late harvest wines are higher in calorie, anywhere from 40% to 50% higher. This is because with late harvest wines, the grapes are allowed to sit on the vines longer, ripen more fully, producing more sugar. The yeast is killed off by the alcohol before it can consume all the sugar, producing a sweeter, heavier wine.

Champagne

Champagne doesn't really offer any more or any fewer calories. It's pretty much the same as white wines.

It's the Alcohol

While wine seems like it contains a lot of sugar, it's actually the alcohol content that produces the most calories. Wines do contain a fair amount of sugar, particularly the sweet wines, dessert wines, and late harvest wines.

But it takes only 4 calories to burn off 1gm of sugar, compared to 7 calories to burn off 1gm of alcohol. And wine has more alcohol than it has sugar.

A typical 5oz serving of wine weighs about 142 grams. Of that, anywhere from 15 grams to 18 grams is alcohol. Sugar comprises about 4 grams. The rest is water.

Dieting With Wine

People tend to drink more than one glass of wine with their meal because a typical glass of wine is quite small (about 5oz). If you and your date share a full bottle of wine (750ml), each person is adding another 300 calories to their meal.

The sweetness in wine also hides the alcohol very well, and invites you to drink more.

Wine also enjoys a wide social acceptance, making people feel comfortable about drinking more. Someone who drinks a lot of wine is considered cultured and refined, while someone who drinks a lot of beer is considered a meat head. But yet, wine contains more alcohol, and more calories than beer, about three times more.

The good news is that much of wine is still water, and most of the weight gain will come from that water. You can easily pee it out. But because of its sweetness, and social acceptance, it's easy to go overboard and pack on the calories.

Keep a glass of ice water with your meal if you need to quench a thirst, instead of asking for another bottle of wine.

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How Do You Calculate Body Mass Index?

How do you calculate body mass index (BMI), what is a normal BMI, and why is knowing your BMI important?

To calculate your body mass index...

1. Convert your weight into kilograms (1 pound = 0.45359237 kilograms)


2. Convert your height into meters (1 inch = 0.0254 meters)


3. Divide your weight by your height squared.
   
   For example...
   
   I'm 150 pounds = 68.0388 kilograms
   I'm 5'8" (68 inches) = 1.7272 meters
   BMI Formula = 68 / (1.7272 * 1.7272) = 22.79
   
   My body mass index is 22.79

What Is A Normal BMI?

Most physicians consider a BMI range of 18.5 to 24.9 as normal BMI.

A BMI range of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight.

A BMI of over 30 is considered obese.

Why Is Knowing Your BMI Important?

Knowing your body mass index is important because it tells you if you're "normal". Getting your body between the "normal BMI" range is your weight loss goal. If you're still over that BMI range, then you know to keep losing weight.

But the BMI is not a foolproof way of knowing how much fat you have on your body. In fact, it doesn't measure how much fat is on your body. All it does is express your weight is comparison to your height.

People with a lot of muscle mass can cause their BMI to register above 25.

But assuming you are not muscle-bound, shoot for a BMI around 20 to 22.

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Grocery Shopping is a Key Weight Loss Tool

In my own personal weight loss efforts, I found that grocery shopping is perhaps one of the best things you can do to help you lose weight.

It provides a triple benefit, in terms of education, burning calories, and keeping you busy...

1. Educate Yourself Through Grocery Shopping: If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you have to educate yourself on what foods to eat, and what foods to avoid.
   
   Just by picking up each food item and reading the nutrition label and ingredients list, will tell you so much about the foods you eat. It'll also surprise you to learn that the foods you thought were innocent were the ones making you fat, and the foods you thought were bad, are actually good for dieting.
   
   I never realized that I when poured ketchup on my french fries, I added another 200 calories, and another 2,000mg of sodium, not to forget all the sugar that's in there. And when I had always thought that pickles were bad for dieting, it turns out they have no fat, and very few calories.
   
   With foods that don't come with nutrition labels (fruits, vegetables, meats), use the USDA Nutrient Database.



2. Grocery Shopping Burns Calories: Just the fact that you're walking down each aisle of the grocery store you're getting exercise. And then carrying the groceries from your car to your house, is exercise.
   
   When you go to the store, I recommend using the hand basket, it actually provides some good resistance training for the arms. Alternate arms every once in awhile, and it's like you've done some light weightlifting.
   
   You'll burn about 300 calories in 60 minutes of grocery shopping, assuming you're using a hand basket, and assuming you weigh 150 pounds. That's been my experience. If you weigh 300 pounds, you'll burn double that, about 600 calories.



3. Grocery Shopping Prevents Snacking: You might think that going to a grocery store will encourage you to buy bad foods, just by looking at them on the shelves. But think again.
   
   I found that one of the biggest reasons why we get fat is because we get bored. Whenever we take a break from our duties, our minds almost always turns to food. You might find yourself looking in the refrigerator, the pantry, hitting the vending machine, or visiting the snack bar. Read my previous article on how "Boredom Can Create Weight Gain".
   
   By keeping yourself busy, you'll prevent boredom, and thereby keep your mind off of snacking.

In fact, when you go grocery shopping, only use a hand-basket, and only buy enough food to last two or three days. That way you'll go to the grocery store more often, and get all three of the above benefits more often.

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Do Weight Loss Drugs Work?

Do weight loss drugs really work? Well my only experience has been with Phentermine. And yes, it works.

It gets rid of the hungry feeling.

But it comes with some side effects. First, Phentermine gave me this "buzzy" feeling, as if my body was humming, or vibrating. It's hard to describe. I didn't enjoy it, though maybe you will.

Second, Phentermine caused my kidneys to ache. At first, I thought the kidney pain was an odd, temporary thing that came out of nowhere. It wasn't until the pain continued that I finally wondered if Phentermine was the cause. I stopped taking it, and the pain subsided. I started taking Phentermine again, the pains came back. That's when I knew to stop taking it. I looked online, and found other people complaining of kidney pains caused by Phentermine.

I told my doctor about this, and he said "Then just stop taking it." I wish he had told me of the side effects. All in all, I lost about 10 pounds on Phentermine, and then gained it back trying to find a new solution.

But weight loss drugs don't really help you in the long term, they only mask over the problem. That is...

• They don't teach you how to eat healthy.


• They don't teach you how to control your urge to eat.


• They don't teach you to count calories, read ingredients lists and nutrition labels.


• They don't get you in the habit of exercising.

And even if you were to lose a lot of weight from taking weight loss drugs, all you are is dependent on drugs.

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How to Get Rid of Your Pooch Belly

If you have a pooch belly that you're trying to get rid of, you're probably tired of all the crunches and core exercises, that doesn't seem to help one bit.

Sean Croxton of Underground Wellness suggests it's due to poor posture causing your pelvis to tip forward, and thereby your intestines pushing forward against your abdominal wall.

He also says its due to constipation, and that we should be pooping three times a day.

Watch his video...


I doubt Sean's explanation that it's due to the pelvis tipping forward, though I don't doubt that many people have this posture.

I continue to believe that it caused by two things, mostly extra skin in the belly that was leftover when you lost all the weight, and that you still have fat inside the body cavity, attached to your organs.

But I do agree with him on one thing, you cannot burn fat from your belly, by doing belly exercises. That is, you cannot "spot burn" fat. Fat comes off whereever your body wants to take it from.

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Find a Weight Loss Buddy for Lunch

One of the tough things about losing weight while working in an office, is when co-workers invite you out to lunch.

The temptation to join them for chinese, or italian, and then partake in the conversations over lunch, is what makes a long work day more tolerable. But it has the effect of throwing your diet plan off track.

Instead, find a co-worker who is also trying to lose weight, and arrange to have lunch with them. If you can, find a few people all of whom trying to lose weight.

That way if you find the need to break up the daily grind by getting out of the office and hanging out with others, at least you'll be with people who want to eat light as well, and will more likely agree with your restaurant suggestions.

If you're tracking your calorie intake, you really ought to pack your own lunch, so that you can manage your weight loss efforts more effectively. But sometimes you just have to get away from the office for that one hour. By finding a few weight loss buddies in the office, you'll create a scenario more conducive to staying on track with your goals.

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Start a Weight Loss Blog

Publishing a blog on your weight loss efforts actually helps you stay to focused on your goals.

That's because when you have people following your blog, reading about efforts, learning of your successes and failures, it actually keeps you more honest. It's kinda like having a "virtual" fitness trainer.

Most of us tend to cheat every once in awhile throughout our dieting and exercise. But if you have a loyal following of people, reading about your weight loss efforts, and responding back to you through their comments, it tends to keep you true to your goals.

Write the blog regularly, at least two to three times per week. Tell your friends, co-workers, even family members about your blog, and encourage them to post comments on each new entry you write.

Over time, your blog will get indexed into Google and other search engines, and more people will find you. Soon, you'll have a small but regular readership who for one reason or another, identifies with your specific situation and personality.

Make a promise to write a new entry regularly, so that your readers will expect to see something new from you regularly. You'll find yourself having to "answer" to your readers, and that will actually put pressure on you stay focused on your goals.

I started a personal weight loss blog of my own: http://www.beefjerkydiet.net

You can start a blog of your own for free (and easy) at either:

• http://www.blogger.com


• http://www.posterous.com

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