- With Mayo Clinic preventive medicine specialist
Donald Hensrud, M.D.
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Donald Hensrud, M.D.
Donald Hensrud, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.
Dr. Donald D. Hensrud is chair of the Division of Preventive, Occupational and Aerospace Medicine with a joint appointment in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, Metabolism, & Nutrition at Mayo Clinic. He is an associate professor of preventive medicine and nutrition at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. Dr. Hensrud directed the Executive Health Program at Mayo Clinic for more than 10 years.
He received his B.S. from the University of North Dakota, M.D. from the University of Hawaii, M.P.H. from the University of Minnesota and M.S. in nutrition sciences from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed residency training in internal medicine and fellowship training in preventive medicine at Mayo Clinic and completed a clinical nutrition fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Dr. Hensrud is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, the American Board of Preventive Medicine and the American Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists, of which he is a past president.
His career interests have combined nutrition, weight management, and prevention. He is the author of many scientific articles and book chapters and was editor of Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight for EveryBody; The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook, which won a 2005 James Beard Foundation award; The Mayo Clinic Plan: 10 Essential Steps to a Better Body & Healthier Life; and The Mayo Clinic Diet, published in January 2010.
Dr. Hensrud says healthy lifestyle habits in diet and physical activity are extremely important as evidenced by a large body of scientific evidence. He also says implementing these lifestyle habits is realistic, sustainable and enjoyable. A primary goal of his work is to help people achieve this.
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Mayo Clinic diet (1)
- Weight loss: Better to cut calories or exercise more?
Diet and exercise (4)
- Weight loss: Better to cut calories or exercise more?
- Can I use yoga for weight loss?
- Negative calorie foods: Diet gimmick or weight-loss aid?
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Question
Negative calorie foods: Diet gimmick or weight-loss aid?
I've heard that eating negative calorie foods might be a good diet strategy. But what exactly are they?
Answer
from Donald Hensrud, M.D.
The Internet abounds with lists of purported negative calorie foods — foods that supposedly take more energy to process and digest than they provide in calories. The theory is that you can lose weight by eating lots of these negative calorie foods. Proponents claim, for example, that you will burn 80 calories digesting a 25-calorie piece of broccoli, for a net loss of 55 calories.
Celery is another commonly cited example of a negative calorie food because it's made mainly of water and cellulose, an undigestible vegetable fiber. Other foods sometimes labeled as negative calorie include asparagus, berries, broccoli, cauliflower, grapefruit and cabbage.
Here's the reality. Throughout the day, about 10 percent of your total energy expenditure goes to digest and store the nutrients in the food you eat. Foods that contain few calories, such as celery, require a relatively large amount of energy to digest compared with the amount of calories they provide. That means it's theoretically possible to have a negative calorie food, but there are no reputable scientific studies to prove that certain foods are negative calorie or that they aid in weight loss.
The bottom line: Many of the foods touted as negative calorie foods are vegetables and fruits that can aid in losing weight as part of an overall healthy diet plan. But they're probably not negative calorie and they're not a magic bullet for weight loss. In addition, following extreme diets that promote eating only a few foods can cause you to miss out on important nutrients. The key to successful weight loss is adopting a healthy lifestyle that includes a balanced diet and regular exercise.
Next questionWalking: Is it enough for weight loss?
- Weight loss with negative calorie foods. Negative calorie foods and recipes eBook. http://www.negativecaloriefoods.com/. Accessed Nov. 23, 2009.
- Duyff RL. The American Dietetic Association's Complete Food and Nutrition Guide. 3rd ed. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley and Sons; 2006.
- Zeratsky KA (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Dec. 11, 2009.
- Redmon GL. The positive attraction to negative calorie foods. American Fitness. January/February 2007.
- USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 22. U.S. Department of Agriculture. http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4&tax_level=1. Accessed Nov. 16, 2009.
- Bray GA, et al. Pathogenesis of obesity. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 20, 2009.
- Hensrud DD (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Dec. 17, 2009.
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