What is the Catabolic Diet?

The concept of the Catabolic Diet began in 1929 when Dr. Victor Lindlarh (who was the son of a famous nutritionist) discovered how certain foods consume high amounts of calories in order to be digested – more calories than the food itself contains. Dr. Lindlarh started referring to these foods as having “negative calorie values.” Ten years later, he published his studies.

The Premise

If you’re one of the many people today who are trying to lose weight, then you probably think of eating a piece of food as adding more fat and calories to your body and that the only way to burn these is through exercise. What you might not realize is that digesting the food you consumed also requires the body to expend energy. This is because digestion involves several complex processes that take place within the body – chewing, the production of acids and enzymes that will break down the food, the movement of food through the intestines, the extraction of nutrients from the food and the distribution of these nutrients throughout the body. The Catabolic Diet states that if you consume food that requires a lot of energy to digest, you will actually burn more calories than if you eat nothing at all. Dr. Lindlarh proved this by conducting an experiment where he compared people who ate catabolic foods to another group of people who ate nothing at all. He found that the group that ate catabolic foods lost more weight.

The Diet

The ideal Catabolic Diet consists of foods that are very low in calories, fats and carbs but high in fiber. Remember that it is the high amount of fiber that will cause the body to exert more energy in digestion. A lot of fruits and vegetables are considered catabolic. If you want to try this diet, be sure to consume plenty of fruits like apples, tangerines, grapefruits, pineapples and grapefruits. You might also want to load up on various kinds of vegetables like celery, spinach, lettuce, carrots and cauliflower. To avoid eating only fruits and vegetables everyday, you can add some lean meat to your meals.

Things to Consider

The experiment done by Dr. Lindlarh decades ago proves that the Catabolic Diet is effective when it comes to weight loss. One of the good things about this diet is that it allows you to lose weight without requiring you to starve or abstain from food. Another advantage of the Catabolic Diet is that it can address problem areas where it is difficult to lose weight – such as double chins or pouch stomachs.

As with a lot of diets, the foods recommended under the Catabolic Diet do not contain all the nutrients you need for a balanced diet. For instance, most of the catabolic foods are lacking in protein which you need in order to function and be healthy. The diet should also not be followed for a long period of time, as it can result in malnutrition.

The Verdict

The Catabolic Diet is undoubtedly a good way to lose weight and to introduce healthier foods to your diet. However, once you have reached your target weight, it’s important to add other types of healthy foods to your daily consumption to make sure that you are getting all the nutrients you need.


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