Celery is highly vaunted as the ultimate diet food. Little wonder. Composed primarily of water and indigestible fiber that scrubs your intestinal tract, celery provides nutrition but barely has any calories.
Calories
A medium sized, 8 in. stalk of celery has a meager six calories. Eat five stalks -- over a half a pound of food -- and you get 520 mg of potassium and 80 mg of calcium at the slight caloric cost of about 30 calories.
Thermic Effect
The calories you expend digesting food is called the thermic effect. You expend some 10 to 15 percent of the calories contained in celery to chew, swallow, digest and eliminate this calorie-frugal vegetable.
Thermic Adjustment
Making a conservative adjustment for the 12 hour journey your celery will take after you eat it, the ½ pound of food in 5 stalks costs you around 25 or 26 calories. If you weigh at least 150 pounds, you can burn off those calories plus a few extras by watching TV for 20 minutes.
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