When it comes down to losing weight it is as simple as counting your calories!
This zero-calorie foods list contains the best superfoods we consume on a regular basis to maintain our healthy weight and live a healthy lifestyle. The rumor about negative calorie foods is based on the idea that the body burns more calories to digest food than it actually contains. These are the same zero-calorie foods that helped me lose over 40lbs!
Table of Contents
20+ Zero Calorie Foods That Will Change Your Life
1. Asparagus
Calories Per Cup: 27
Asparagus is historically referred to as a detoxifying low-calorie food, as it contains high levels of amino acids that act as a drug, flushing excess fluid out of your system. It additionally helps speed the metabolism of alcohol (hangover hack). Asparagus is additionally a powerhouse of vitamins, minerals, iron, and even protein.
We love to steam or grill our asparagus with a little salt and pepper. A great side dish to any meal. #YUM
2. Best Superfoods Broccoli
Calories Per Cup: 31
Broccoli is astonishingly low in calories. It is filled with fiber, vitamins, and minerals. It contains powerful antioxidants that will improve your odds against many types of cancers.
We have broccoli with our meals a few times a week, it’s a superfood so why not fuel your body with it! Mostly steamed, sautéed, or grilled with burgers, stir fry, breakfast omelets, etc.
3. Cabbage 
Calories Per Cup: 22
Another very low-calorie vegetable is cabbage. Cabbage is packed with vitamins, minerals, fibers, and several other nutrients to fight cancers. Who knew that so many vegetables would also have health benefits!
Not on the top of our list for favorite vegetables, but it’s great in soups in the crockpot, stews, and salads.
4. Lettuce
Calories Per Cup: 5
Literally, if you eat lettuce raw you will burn more calories digesting than what you actually consume. Do the math that equals weight loss! Lettuce by itself is a nice supply of B vitamins and nutrients. Choose different colors of lettuce to get different tastes. A rule of thumb is the darker the lettuce the better it is for you.
Lettuce is a staple in our diet. We regularly have salads with a few meals a week to make sure we are getting enough vegetables in. A key to eating lettuce is not wasting its low calories by drenching it in heavy cream salad dressings. Use a low-fat, low-calorie oil-based dressing.
5. Cauliflower
Calories Per Cup: 17
Like other veggies, cauliflower is packed with cancer-fighting nutrients and contains a great supply of water-soluble vitamins. Cauliflower is like a brother/sister to broccoli and is just as much a cancer-fighting superfood.
Cauliflower regularly gets to our dinner table as a broccoli and cauliflower salad. Also, very good steamed and mashed like potatoes with a little milk, salt, and pepper. Thanks for the recipe mom!
6. Lemons and Limes
Calories Per Cup: 20
Citrus fruits are loaded with antioxidants and, consumed whole, they are an excellent supply of fiber and vitamins. They have also been shown to have the effect of curbing an appetite.
We love adding a splash of lemon to zest up our recipes. Often tart and typically sweet citrus flavors add a punch of flavor with very few extra calories. Throw some lemon wedges in your water too!
7. Teas
Calories Per Cup: ZERO!
Tea makes our list of superfoods as well. With black, green, and white teas enjoy them hot or cold. A true tea is high in polyphenols, an inhibitor that protects cells from cancer and a variety of diseases. Tea also boosts your brain power, keep you skinny, and helps you sleep better.
A good tip is to sip on some hot green tea when you have a late night craving. I also used sipping on tea as a mechanism to keep me busy while watching TV and not eat because I was bored.
8. Coffee
Calories Per Cup: ZERO!
Black coffee is amongst the lowest-calorie drink decision around, and it’s an excellent weight loss trick. Black coffee alters your level of hunger for zero calories, on top of providing you a great energy boost in the morning. Plus the caffeine can speed up metabolism and fat-burning throughout your entire body.
It can be very hard to start drinking your coffee black, but give it a shot. Start to wean off the creamer and sugar and in no time you will enjoying yourself a great healthy drink with many benefits! Brittany lay off the double-doubles.
9. Tomatoes
Calories: 22 per normal sized tomato
Tomatoes contain a great amount of fiber and vitamins. Many people are unaware that although ketchup is based on tomatoes the amount of sugar added is outrageous. Ketchup is one of the worst condiments you can use on your food. As my grandpa always said, “ketchup is to kill a flavor that you don’t like”.
Tomatoes are extremely versatile in cooking, though. We regularly use them for tacos, spaghetti, burgers, kebabs, and salads.
10. Onions
Calories Per Cup: 64
Stop crying! Cutting onions is no joke, I think everyone has shed a tear or two while cutting them. These wonderful, succulent, powerful tasting vegetables have plenty of vitamins and fibers to keep you coming back for more.
By far one of the most used vegetables in our house when it comes to cooking. Regularly showing up in omelets, stews, soups, dips, and more.
11. Peppers
Calories Per Cup: 60
Hot or gentle, peppers are filled with fiber for negligible calories. The warmth in hot peppers signals the presence of capsaicin, a compound that will propel the body to scorch an additional fifty to a hundred calories following a spicy meal. So start eating that Mexican food baby! Just remember however hot it is going in, it will be just as hot coming out the other side.
We love spicy low-calorie foods. We normally use green peppers with a bunch of our meals. You can never go wrong with some hot stuffed peppers! Always taste a little bit before going all in when it comes to peppers. Better safe than sorry right Emeka and Ryan? =)
12. Berries
Calories Per Cup: 64
Blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries are filled with anti-inflammatories, that scale back your risk of a heart condition and cancer. These inhibitor powerhouses are bite-sized immunity boosters, particularly after they grow within the wild. Be careful when eating them on a hike though always test one or two and wait for a little while to see if it affects your body, if not then eat away.
These berries are the best on top of oatmeal, with healthy smoothies, and even raw as a snack.
13. Grapefruit
Calories Per Cup: 39
The grapefruit diet might actually have some truth to it. A powerhouse for heart health, grapefruit contains an antioxidant, folic acid, and potassium. Pink and red varieties even have fat-soluble vitamins.
Grapefruits are a great way to start the day. A full grapefruit is under 100 calories! Add a little sweetener and you have yourself a very yummy breakfast to start your day off right.
14. Spinach
Calories Per Cup: 7
Tender and flush, this foliage is wealthy in iron, folic acid, and fat-soluble vitamin. It additionally contains disease-fighting antioxidants carotenoid.
Use as a substitute for lettuce in a salad to get your superfood boost. Remember I said before that the greener the vegetable the better for you, well you can’t get much greener than spinach. Our favorite use for this is omelets. If you see a trend here it’s because we are obsessed with a good breakfast on the weekends, or even for dinner some nights.
15. Celery
Calories Per Cup: 16
Another great example of negative calories. Eat some celery to start boosting your metabolism and burning more calories than you are consuming indigestion alone. High in fiber and vitamins like many other negative calorie foods on this list.
Crunchy with high water and fiber inside. An extremely high volume food, you can eat celery all day. A great snack for someone like myself who loves to snack on crunchy foods, much better than a bag of chips. Add a little peanut butter on top and you have yourself a great post-workout snack. #winning
16. Carrots
Calories Per Cup: 22
Carrots are extremely low in saturated fat and cholesterol. These colorful vegetables are full of fiber to help regulate you on the potty. Carrots are also great because they are so cheap!
Great to add to salads, soups, stews, and as a side dish.
17. Mushrooms
Calories Per Cup: 15
Portobello, White Button, and Shiitake are some of the most common mushrooms. Luckily, basically, all mushrooms contain some style of immune-boosting antioxidants, in conjunction with metal, B vitamins, and fiber.
I know a lot of people that are not fans of mushrooms; I used to be one of them. After I had some mushrooms sautéed and put on top of a nice medium well steak it was game over. Mushrooms can be a great addition to almost any salad, omelet, and stew. Stuffed mushrooms are one of our favorites, but most of the time they are drenched in butter so it negates the health effects of eating a vegetable.
18. Pickles
Calories Per Cup: 16
Pickles can be a great snack as they are very low in calories. Watch out for the sodium content in these little guys though they can be quite high, so don’t eat them in high volume. A great crunchy, sweet and salty snack on any summer day. We love these as a snack while dieting.
19. Mustard
Calories: 3 calories per tsp……basically ZERO!
This is not much of a food, but I thought it deserved some credit on this list. Most condiments put on food regularly i.e. ketchup, BBQ sauce, mayo, ranch, etc. are terrible for you. They are very high in sugars, fats, and calories. If you are dieting and trying to lose weight mustard can become your best friend. We love putting mustard on pretzels as a great snack, also very good on burgers. After finding out for myself that mustard was basically zero calories, I started using it exclusively on my foods.
20. Franks RedHot
Calories: 1 per serving….ZERO
Franks RedHot sauce is a freaking life changer! After finding out it was zero calories, I started putting it on EVERYTHING. We talked about hot peppers above and how it triggers your body to burn an extra 100 calories while consuming, well Franks is right in that category. For zero calories the options are endless. Putting hot sauce on foods always seems to make me eat slower, which in turn makes me eat less. Franks RedHot is an absolute beast when it comes to losing weight.
Who would have thought that Franks Redhot would make a list of best superfoods?!
21. Green Beans
Calories Per Cup: 31
Green beans are a great way to limit your intake of calories. Negative calorie foods will make you lose weight without having any extra effort, so go ahead and add these healthy vegetables in! A diet high in fiber-rich fruits and vegetables can help reduce cholesterol levels too – perfect if you want an attractive figure with clear skin for summertime parties this year!
Don’t worry, your grocery budget will not change by purchasing more produce. Trade out the chips for a bag of carrots and hot sauce. Low-calorie foods that make you feel full are far better for you than those nasty chips.
