Everybody knows that your metabolism is the gatekeeper when it comes to weight loss. Despite your best efforts, your metabolism makes the final call about how many calories get burned and how many get stored as fat, and when to start burning off those fat reserves for energy.

Of course, for this reason, many people have come to realize that diet success comes from working with your metabolism, and getting it to work better for you, is the key to weight loss.

But, did you know that there are certain foods you can eat that give your metabolism such a boost that you actually burn more calories than the food as in it – just from chowing down? These foods are called negative calorie foods, and they can be a dieter’s best friend.

Misnomer, But True

It almost sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? The idea that you can increase your metabolism simply by eating certain foods almost sounds as unbelievable as some of the commercials for diet pills and fad diet plans you see. However, the idea of negative calorie foods is absolutely true and it is has been proven and accepted by the medical community.

What makes a food a so called “negative calorie” food? A negative calorie food is a food that requires so much energy to digest that your body burns more calories from processing it than was actually in the food to begin with. If you eat one of these negative calorie foods, you end up with a calories deficit.

The reason the negative calorie foods take so long to digest is that they are packed with fiber. In general, any food with fiber causes your metabolism to work harder than it normally would, and high fiber foods are an important part of any diet.

In negative calorie foods, however, the original calorie count is so low compared to the high level of fiber, that your body needs more energy to burn it up than is actually in the food.

What Foods to Eat

Some examples of negative calories food dynamos include

blueberries, grapefruit, carrots, broccoli, oranges, tangerines, lemons, beets, cabbage and asparagus.

Each of these foods is so calorie light and fiber dense that you burn them up and then some after you eat them.

Of course, you cannot subsist on negative calorie foods alone. If you overdo it, your metabolism will eventually begin to slow down because it will enter starvation mode. The best way to get the most from these foods is to incorporate them into your meals.

Add lots of negative calorie veggies to every meal you have, and you will feel fuller while adding fat burning potential to your plate.

Have a piece of fruit with a piece of string cheese for a snack to give your body a jump start on burning that bite. In fact, adding a piece of negative calorie food to every meal or snack you eat can be the jumpstart you need to get the weight falling off. Fill your plate with fat burners and watch the pounds slide off.