This is an archived article and the information in the story may be outdated. Please check the time stamp on the story to see when it was updated last.
Counting calories is one of the least enjoyable things you can do with your time. But, if you’re trying to lose weight, calorie counting can also keep you on track and prevent you from going overboard and consuming too many calories in one day. Luckily, there are a handful of calorie-burning foods that provide energy and add barely any calories to your diet.
What Are Calorie-Burning Foods?
Calorie-burning foods are kind of like unicorns. No one is quite sure they exist because they sound way too good to be true.
By definition, according to Mayo Clinic, calorie-burning foods are “foods that supposedly take more energy to digest than they provide in calories. Many of these foods are vegetables and fruits, which can be part of an overall healthy diet plan. But they're probably not negative-calorie.”
So maybe this amazing food can’t actually deplete calories just by eating it — it’s still amazing at helping you burn fat and calories and lose weight.
Berries
They’re naturally delicious and surprisingly low in calories — berries are a kind of wonder fruit that can help you shed pounds and get healthier (and you won’t mind eating them one bit).
Adding just one cup of berries to your breakfast (they’re amazing in oatmeal) helps make you feel fuller for longer, thanks to one important nutrient: fiber.
“Raspberries, in particular, have the best ratio of carbohydrate to fiber. Of their 15 grams of carbohydrates per cup, eight are fiber,” registered dietitian Cynthia Sass, MPH, MA, RD, CSSD, wrote for Self.
In addition to being a fiber powerhouse, berries can help you lose weight and stay healthy because they contain antioxidants called flavonoids that fight cell-damaging free radicals in your body and encourage weight loss.
One study published in BMJ found that adults who consumed more flavonoids were less likely to gain weight over a 24-year time period.
All berries have incredible properties, but strawberries, in particular, lead the way when it comes to helping to lower your blood sugar levels, reports Shape.
According to Shape: “Scientists believe that a key antioxidant in strawberries blocks the activity of an enzyme responsible for breaking starch into simple sugar, which means fewer simple sugars are released into the blood stream, lowering the blood sugar and the corresponding insulin response. This is key for weight control because insulin shuttles excess sugar into fat cells.”
Out of all of the berries in the berry family, raspberries have made a name for themselves as an excellent fat-burning food, thanks to a component they contain called ketones. There are even raspberry ketone supplements on the market that vow to burn fat for you (though eating natural foods like fruit is always a better way to go).
“Raspberries are chock full of fiber and contain essential nutrients including vitamins C, manganese, and vitamin K,” reports Fox News. “Manganese helps burn fat by boosting your metabolism, while fiber helps slow down your digestive process, leaving you feeling full for longer. A single cup of raspberries packs 8 grams of belly-filling fiber, more than 25 percent of your total daily needs, in only 64 calories.”
Regardless of the type of berry you prefer, adding one or more berries like strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries to your diet is a surefire way to benefit from fat-burning fiber and other nutrients. And it’s one low-calorie food that you can eat every day without worrying about it causing weight gain.
