The Negative Calorie Diet - Part II The Thermic Effect of Food & Negative Calories The concept behind the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) and the idea that it is possible to eat Negative Calorie Foods is the fact that eating any food causes your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) to increase because you use energy to eat, digest, and metabolize the food you’ve just eaten. The rise occurs soon after you start eating and peaks two to three hours later. This rise in the BMR can range from between 2-3 per cent, up to 25-30 per cent, depending on the size of the meal and the types of foods eaten. The idea of Negative Calorie Foods is based on the belief that there are certain foods, which use more calories to digest than the amount of calories actually contained in the food! Calories from these foods are much harder for the body to use. In other words, the body has to work hard in order to extract calories from these foods. Even though different foods may contain equal amounts of calories, in Negative Calorie Foods much less of these calories turn into fat, as fewer calories are actually available to the body. This allegedly gives these foods a tremendous natural fat-burning advantage. The Theory of How it Works There are six essential nutrients that the human body requires to keep it nourished and healthy; these include; protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water. Foods have a macronutrient (carbohydrate, fat, and protein), caloric (calories) and vitamin & mineral content. Vitamins stimulate living tissues to produce enzymes that breakdown the caloric nutrients of that food. It is generally accepted that the various categories of macronutrients that are present in the diet will increase BMR by different amounts as shown below: · Fats - raise the BMR 4 per cent · Carbohydrates - raise BMR 6 per cent · Proteins - raise BMR 30 per cent (It is suggested that hot spicy foods can also have a significant thermic effect: for example foods containing chilli, horseradish and mustard). The overall “Thermic Effect of Food” is considered to utilize roughly 10% of the total calories of food ingested in the “average” diet. However, Negative Calorie Foods are supposed to contain enough vitamins & minerals to produce enzymes in quantities sufficient to break down not only its own calories, but additional calories present in digestion as well. This is the “secret” of The Negative Calorie Foods and the reasoning behind why Negative Calorie Foods may be regarded as “Fat burning Foods” (The Negative Calorie Foods will tend to have maximum benefits when eaten without any “empty calorie foods” i.e. junk foods). There is much disagreement about the negative calorie diet and some experts are unconvinced about the claims made. Some believe the amount of energy used may be relative to the amount and complexity of the meal ingested. In other words the energy used to digest and absorb may be set as a general percentage of the energy contained in each specific food, thus there cannot ever be foods with negative calories. However, some research has proved that celery does cause a negative energy intake but this is mainly because the energy is "sealed" making the digestive system work harder to obtain its energy content. It is unclear therefore as to whether negative calorie foods are fact or fiction. There needs to be more research done in order to prove or disprove the theory. Although it seems reasonable to believe that if negative calorie foods help people consume fewer calories AND eat healthier foods, then including lots of these foods as part of an overall balanced diet, can be a positive start to permanent weight loss!