Top Three Diet Myths Debunked
There are a lot of diet myths out there. Many of them have been repeated so often by so many people – some of whom are well-known – that they are accepted as fact. Yet the research will often debunk the myths that some people are basing their workouts on. Here are the top three myths so you can learn the truth.
- Don’t eat if you’re not hungry.
This is a common bit of advice that seems to make sense. After all, overeating is one of the things that makes you gain weight, right? Yes, but just because you are not feeling hungry does not mean that you body doesn’t need nourishment. Just like you should drink water even when you are not feeling thirsty, you should eat at regular intervals and in moderation. Start with breakfast, then eat five or six small meals through the day at evenly spaced intervals if at all possible. Small, healthy snacks count. You will be better nourished, have less mood swings, and be able to think more clearly. Your weight will also be much easier to control if you avoid overeating.
- If you eat in moderation, no food is bad.
This sounds like a dream come true. If no food is bad, then you can eat whatever you want in moderation without worrying about any bad effects. In reality, this is a very bad myth. It can lead people to actually eating whatever they like with no thought to just how bad it is for them. Some foods just do not offer the nutrition that you need. Baked potatoes are much healthier than potato chips for example. Even worse, some people are triggered to binge eat when certain foods are around, like cookies. If that’s the case, as soon as there are cookies nearby they will eat them all if they can. This would mean that cookies should not stay in the house. You can eat bad foods like cookies or ice cream once in a while, but treat them as a special treat, not an everyday indulgence.
- Your body will flush out calories if you have a low carb diet.
This myth can actually backfire and cause the body to go into starvation mode, which means it will try to hold onto as many calories as possible and you will not lose any weight. The idea is that if you eat a low carb diet, the body will flush ketones (fat fragments) in your urine, flushing the calories right out of your body. Studies, like one done by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, have found no correlation between losing weight and ketone levels in the urine. In fact, so many foods are restricted when carbs are cut that overall calories are cut, often resulting in too few calories consumed in a day. This low carb diet leads to starvation mode and an end to weight loss.