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Do negative-calorie foods really exist?

Do negative-calorie foods really exist?

No food burns more calories digesting it than it gives you - even celery, one of the lowest, leaves you with about 14 of its 16 kcal per 100 g. These foods still help weight loss because a big serving fills you up for almost no calories, not because they melt fat away.

12 Jul 2026 · Burnie Academy
myths weight-loss low-calorie vegetables

Some foods - like celery and cucumber - need more calories to digest than they give your body, so eating them burns fat and you lose weight.

mostly false

Mostly false. Digesting food does burn energy - about 10% of the food's calories for a mixed meal. But even celery, one of the lowest-calorie foods at 16 kcal per 100 g, only costs about 1.6 kcal to digest. You still keep around 14 kcal. No common food flips into negative.

Sources: NutritionValue - Celery, raw (USDA FDC 169975) · Wikipedia - Specific dynamic action (Thermic effect of food)
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