Does celery have negative calories?

The idea behind the myth

Your body uses energy to digest, absorb and process food. That cost is called the thermic effect of food. The myth says celery takes more energy to chew and digest than the stalk contains, so eating it leaves you with a calorie deficit. The part that is true is that digestion costs energy. The part that is wrong is the size of the cost.

What celery actually contains

USDA FoodData Central lists raw celery at 14 calories per 100 g. It is about 95% water, with about 1.6 g of fibre and 1.3 g of sugars, which is why a large, crunchy stalk contains so little energy. Here is what that means for common portions:

Portion	Weight	Calories (≈)
Small stalk (5 in)	17 g	2
Medium stalk (7½–8 in)	40 g	6
Large stalk (11–12 in)	64 g	9
1 cup chopped	101 g	14

What digestion costs

A widely used estimate puts the thermic effect of food at about 10% of the calories you eat. It varies with what you eat: a 2004 review by Westerterp found it is higher for protein and lower for fat. Apply the 10% figure to a medium stalk and digestion uses about 0.6 of its 6 calories, leaving a net of about 5. For a whole cup of chopped celery, about 1.4 of 14 calories is spent, leaving about 13. Even if the real cost were double or triple that, the net would still be above zero.

Low calorie is not negative calorie

The useful fact is that celery is a very low-calorie, high-volume food, so you can eat a lot of it without adding much to your day. That is worth something, and it is the honest version of the myth: celery is useful because it is filling for its calories, not because it is a trick. NutritionFacts.org reaches the same conclusion: celery does not put you in a negative energy balance. What it does is take up room on the plate for very few calories.

Where the calorie savings disappear

The snack stops being "free" when the dip arrives. A tablespoon of peanut butter, ranch or cream cheese adds far more calories than the stalk carrying it. If you want to see how fast spreads add up, look at the calories in peanut butter, and read does eating fat make you fat for how to think about the fat in dips.

What to do instead

• Enjoy celery for crunch and volume, not as a calorie cancel.
• Log the dip, because it is usually where the calories are.
• Pair low-calorie vegetables with protein, such as hummus or yogurt, to feel full for longer.
• Track your snacks for a week to see what really adds up.