Does Eating Celery Really Help Burn Calories?

There is no magic food to carry a significant weight loss result at short time, including for celery! However, there are a lot of opinions say that celery may work in helping burning calories and induce weight loss. Is this true or only a myth?

Whatever the answer of that question, don’t rely on certain foods (including celery). Losing weight is not only about what to eat, but also involves comprehensive strategies (particularly regular exercise). Sleeping well at night and your stress management may also have an effect.

And if you’re a fan of celery, adding this vegetable is always worth a try. Here are some FAQs about celery and weight loss.

Do you lose calories when you eat celery?

Yes, you do. In fact, many online resources and books praise celery as one of good choices for a negative caloric food – even some experts believe that it may burn more calories than we expect.

The calorie of the celery itself is ignored, since some evidences show that it may burn more calories than it has. Therefore, it is also often called as a negative caloric super food.

However in general, eating it too much is also not too good, especially if you don’t get used to high-fiber diet. It’s much better to eat celery moderately in long term.

Don’t jump directly to increase your fiber drastically when your stomach is not ready yet – otherwise you may experience some digestive problems, particularly such as diarrhea. Instead, increase your fiber gradually day by day until you reach the minimum level of your fiber intake per day!

Celery is pretty high in fiber! And we know well that fiber plays a key role in losing weight. Eating plenty of fiber from your diet can help make you feel full longer, which is a good thing to help suppress your appetite.

How many calories do you burn while eating celery?

Although celery is high in fiber, it also contain some calories. About one 7.5 – 8 inch stalk of this vegetable contains;

1. 6 calories,
2. 1.4 gram of carbohydrates,
3. 104 milligram of potassium,
4. and 16 mg of Ca (calcium). 

Furthermore, it is free of cholesterol and only contains about 0.1 gram of fat (very low in fat). This means, though the link between celery and weight loss is not your concern, celery still provide some essential nutrients for your body!

As mentioned before, celery is categorized into a group of negative calorie foods. This means that this kind of vegetable can provide negative caloric balance – your body will burn greater calories to digest celery than the calories received from the food.

In other words, the caloric content of celery is lower than the calories for the thermic effect (calories ‘energy’ needed to digest the food).

For instance, if we eat two stalks of celery that have a total of 12 calories, our body will burn about almost two of those 12 calories processing the food. However, this calculation may vary from person to person – depending on the metabolic rate, lifestyles, and other factors.

Nevertheless, this explanation doesn’t mean you are allowed to eat celery too over! Some experts say that excessive consumption of celery may be counterproductive for your weight loss goal.

Therefore again, eat it in moderation along with other appropriate weight-loss strategies! See also the effectiveness of spicy food for weight loss!

Other celery nutritional benefits

As well we know that when it comes to fighting free radicals, antioxidants are the answer and you can get them from your diet. There are a lot of of foods high in antioxidants, and celery is one of them.

Free radicals can hurt healthy cells of the body and cause DNA damage. Over time, this damage can put you at high risk of serious diseases such as cancer.

Not only antioxidants, here are other things why you need to add celery into your meal plan.

Like most vegetables, celery is a good source of vitamin K. This kind of vitamin plays key role for blood clotting.

If the body doesn’t have blood clotting mechanism, you are easier to lose your blood when you get a wound or even a small cut on the nail.

Getting plenty of fiber is important for your digestive system, including for colon (large intestine). And as written before, celery is also great source of fiber.

Fiber is not only helpful to make you feel full and to suppress your appetite, but also great to promote better health for your colon.

People who eat plenty of fiber in their diet are likely to have lower risk of colon cancer, according to a study published on the European Journal for Cancer Prevention in 2011.

Fiber from celery also can help improve the blood flow and promote good health for your heart.

Eating plenty of fiber integrated with a well-balanced diet is associated with lower risk of heart disease, according to a research published in the Achieves of Internal Medicine.

What’s more?