The Internet is rife with advice on food; each nutrition website has its own perceptions about what to eat, how to eat, and when to eat. Often contradictory, these nutrition maxims can derail your diet plan.
If you are a competitive or recreational body builder or just someone who is procative about your fitness, read on to find six food myths blown to bits.
Myth 1: Microwaving Your Food is Bad
Since its introduction to kitchen countertops in 1967, the microwave oven has often been charged with destroying food’s nutritional value. Any cooking process (including boiling and frying) inherently strips food stuffs of nutrients. The amount of nutrients lost depends on three factors: cooking duration, cooking temperature, and amount of water used.
Usually, the nutrients leach out into the cooking water. In microwave cooking, the effects of high temperature are generally offset by the shorter cooking time. Some food items are better when prepared by microwaving: spinach loses 77% of its folate content when boiled but retains almost all of it when microwaved.
Myth 2: Coffee Will Dehydrate You
Fitness enthusiasts who fear dehydration after intensive workouts or just because of living in hot climates tend to steer clear of coffee, assuming it to be dehydrating. While it is true that coffee has a diuretic (water drawing) effect on the human body, a cup of coffee will usually deliver more water than it takes away.
Hence, don’t skip coffee thinking it will dehydrate you but don’t forget to drink water- it is the best hydrator.
Myth 3: Salad Dressings Should be Fat-free
Salads are the leading low-calorie diet option today and people often avoid using fat-based dressings in them to further skimp on the calories. Many nutrients found in fruits and vegetables are fat-soluble, that is they need fat to be able to work. For example, tomatoes contain lycopene which lowers stroke and cancer risk.
Lycopene is fat-soluble and needs the tomatoes to be consumed with a fat delivering food. Hence, skip the fat-free dressings and add a dash of olive oil, avocadoes, or nuts to your salad to reap the benefits of fat-soluble nutrients.
Myth 4: Multigrains are the Way to Go
Multigrains may sound healthier because they contain more grains that your regular flour. However, the truth is that the individual grains may have been processed to a degree where all their nutrients are wiped off. Check the ingredient list for “whole” prefix to grain ingredients, and make sure the whole grains are listed towards the top of the ingredient list.
Also, check the nutritional value chart printed on the label for the amount of fiber that the product is actually delivering. Still, grains are better than processed white flour because they contain more fiber and vitamin B.
Myth 5: White Vegetables Aren’t of Much Value
Nutritionists have traditionally tied the nutritional value of a fruit or vegetable to the vibrancy of its color. While this is true, it isn’t always valid. White food stuffs like garlic, onions, and cauliflowers are packed with antioxidants and potassium. Even white potatoes can deliver huge amounts of fiber, making you feel full after eating just a little.
Myth 6: Do the Juice Cleanse
Women’s beauty and health magazines seem to be insistent that its readers try the latest celebrity-vouched juice cleanse to detox. Remember that your body already has a big fat organ devoted to keeping it detoxed, and it’s called the liver. You can go on a juice cleanse for a day or two but using it as a weight-loss option will starve your body of several important nutrients.
With this, I hope, I have laid to rest the six most prevalent food myths. A nutrition myth’s proposition may be true under some circumstances but it can’t be held as a universal truth.
Drink that coffee, skip the juice cleanse, check your multigrain ingredient list, and don’t yet pawn your microwave oven. Check out Dave Ruel’s Anabolic Cooking cookbook to learn more about bodybuilding nutrition.