The alleged miracles of “exorcibes”, the foods that should help you lose weight – WWN

In the age of social chatter, certain foods work miracles. They are the «exorcisms»as the anthropologists Elisabetta Moro and Marino Niola call them in their essay Eating as God commands (Einaudi): fruits, vegetables and drinks that should free the body from extra pounds. The truth, secularly, is that a healthy diet as a whole works and that there are no single magic ingredients.

Negative calories

The fashion of the so-called resists negative calorie foods, which would make you lose weight by eating. Since they have few calories, digesting them would burn more of their energy intake. It is true that diet-induced thermogenesis exists, i.e. an energy expenditure for chewing, breaking down and absorbing, but it still takes a caloric fraction than what was introduced. Of the 21 kilocalories in 100 grams of celery, in the best case scenario just three will be burned for digestion and 17 will be retained by the body.

The pineapple

The presence of bromelain has earned pineapple its reputation as a fat burner. False: theenzyme speeds up protein digestion, but it does not directly affect fats ingested with the rest of the meal.

Coconut oil

Coconut oil has become popular in recent years, due to its supposed qualities of eliminating bacon and curbing appetite. Too bad that 80-90 percent of his fats are saturateda larger share than the much-maligned palm oil (which has 49.3 percent): based on a review of seven controlled studies, evidence emerged that coconut oil increases harmful levels of cholesterol Ldlone of the main causes of plaques that block the arteries.

Water and lemon

There is a widespread belief that drinking warm water with a little lemon in the morning on an empty stomach helps weight loss. There is no evidence. However, it is known that the habit could worsen the symptoms of those suffering from stomach acidity, gastritis or gastroesophageal reflux.

* The review is by Stefania Ruggeri, first researcher at Crea (Food and Nutrition Research Centre).