You may have heard the expression, “negative calories.” This refers to certain foods, such as asparagus or lettuce, which have a high thermic effect and a low calorie density. It’s almost impossible for these foods to be stored as fat because most of their calories are burned off just to digest them!
When fat loss is your goal, your diet should be heavy in foods with a high thermic effect, including fibrous vegetables and lean proteins. You’ll never get fat eating lean proteins and green vegetables/salads –it’s virtually impossible. Lean protein foods like chicken breast, fish and egg whites have the highest thermic effect of all and that’s why weight loss programs should be centered on protein, with carbohydrates built
around the protein. Lean protein is a “metabolic stimulator.” The magnitude of the thermic effect can vary from 3% to 30%. Protein foods elicit a thermic effect of up to 30% of the meal’s total calories. Natural starchy and fibrous carbohydrates are a close second at around 20%. Fats and refined carbohydrates have a very low thermic effect (fats only elicit a 3% thermic effect).
For more information check out the members resource section of Http://www.fit4younutrition.com
