Top 11 Nutrition Myths from the Media
Today, you will find almost any health and nutritional advice in the internet. In fact, there are endless health solutions on the internet every day. Bloggers, pharmaceutical companies, food associations, and food companies keep feeding people with lies regarding what they think is right or wrong. You will come across information on food that you should avoid when you want to lose weight such as adhering to a certain number of meals or even a diet to follow when you want to drop pounds quickly. A lot of this information is wrong and you might, in fact, end up following the wrong nutritional diet or worse, end up gaining weight as a result of bad advice.
If you asked people what they think is right or wrong regarding a particular food, even without surfing the internet, you would definitely get different answers. The people are not to blame because most of them will give you information depending on what they have been told or what they have read. Confusion on nutrition and diet is getting worse and worse each day, and medical researchers and dietitians are working to debunk such myths by researching in relation to what people think about certain foods and diets.
This article will review 11 of the most common misconceptions that you will find on the internet, outline the myths, discuss the truth and about it, and provide you with the ultimate and valid solution. The analysis is dependent on various research that has been carried out by professional medical health researchers and dietitians.
Myth 1: Saturated fat is not good for you.
There has been a lot of information relating to the consumption of saturated fat with increased risks of heart disease. For this reason, people have been doing almost everything possible to eliminate saturated fat from their diet. Recent research, however, found out that eliminating saturated fats from your diet does not actually reduce the chances of a person getting heart-related diseases.
Truth: You need saturated fats for normal body function.
The myth on saturated fats was propelled by the sugar industry when they funded Harvard to document information that saturated fats are related to heart diseases. However, this discovery was made when quite a number of people had already opted out of using saturated fats and had, in fact, started using partially hydrogenated and hydrogenated oils. At this point, a lot of damage had already been done. Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils (like margarine) have much higher ratios of omega 6s to omega 3s leading to an imbalance of the 2 in the body. This imbalance leads to chronic inflammation and chronic inflammation leads to disease such as cancer and other cardiovascular diseases.
Additionally, in a study by The Women Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial of postmenopausal women that was conducted over a period of 8 years, it was discovered that contrary popular misinformation, a low-fat diet does not reduce colorectal cancer. Another study that was conducted on out on about 50,000 postmenopausal women indicated that consuming low fat had no relation to the reduction of breast cancer.
Lastly, the Mediterranean diet has been controversial and resulted in a lot of debate and research. The truth, however, is that Mediterranean diet high in good fats and has been shown to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
Diet hack: Incorporating healthy saturated fat in your diet is good for your health.
You may have come across information on coconut oil from the American Heart Association criticizing coconut oil. The truth is that coconut oil is among the healthiest food, is easily digested, comes with anti-microbial properties such as lucid acid, and is heat resistant.
Another common healthy fat is ghee which comes with fats soluble vitamins A, D and E. If you need oil for raw applications, avocado oil, almond oil, and olive oils can come in handy.
Myth 2: Keto diet is not good for you.
The myth with regard to keto has always been a blurred one. The first is the primary reason for one going into the ketosis. Initially, the keto diet was been associated with losing a lot of weight. The keto diet however, primarily improves how the brain functions. Ketosis has been associated with the reduction of epilepsy. Ketosis is not the same as diabetic ketoacidosis, a dangerous symptom experienced by some diabetic patients.
The primary source of energy in the body is glucose. During ketosis, however, the body utilizes ketones as the primary source of energy instead of glucose.
The keto diet can reverse some disease symptoms and can also help you lose weight. The ketogenic diet is good for exercise, improving energy, building muscle mass, and also beating brain fog and, on top of all of these great benefits, you will definitely lose weight. By eating keto-friendly foods, you can limit the carbohydrate intake which in turn transitions the body to a fat burning state.
Truth: You can lose weight by going keto and reverse disease symptoms.
By following this diet, you will be veering from common myths regarding weight loss such as counting your calories. It is also helpful for avoiding and treating diseases such as diabetes, abnormal cholesterol levels, epilepsy, schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, manic depression, autism, PCOS, and cancer (especially brain cancer).
Diet hack: Try a 30-day keto diet.
You can try following the keto diet in your daily life periodically since it can significantly restrict the health benefits you can get from foods such as sweet potato and quite a number of fruits. Try cycling it with other healthy diets for 30-90 days at a time. If you have diabetes, on the other hand, you should consult your health provider for a perfect guide.
Myth 3: Buying organic foods is not worth the extra cost.
Despite the fact that organic foods are more expensive, you can always start by replacing the top most toxic inorganic foods with organic. If you study the information released by the Environmental Working Group, you will notice that you might have been consuming a lot of dangerous and contaminated inorganic foods. Each year, they publish the Dirty Dozen list which includes the top 12 most toxic foods. Start by switching to organic for this list to lower your toxic load.
Truth: You will save thousands of dollars by buying organic food.
Animals raised for meat are always fed with a lot of antibodies as well as injected with dangerous hormones while the vegetables and fruits are sprayed with a lot of pesticides chlorpyrifos, and neurotoxic. All these can be detrimental to your health as much as they can be cheap. In turn, you will end up spending a lot of money to pay hospital bills after contracting diseases from the foods.
Diet hack: Buy organic when you can.
When buying organic, you can use a list from the Environmental Working Group to avoid the items in the dirty dozen lists. When buying meat, on the other hand, you should avoid buying processed meat which are loaded with a lot of chemicals.
Myth 4: Too much protein is hard on the liver and kidney.
It is common to hear people assert that eating a lot of protein may result in one developing kidney and liver complications. In fact, some people relate the issue to osteoporosis. This is however not true, although it has led to many people avoiding proteins to curb kidney and liver problems.
Truth: You need proteins for hormone building and bone health.
The cell building process requires proteins. You also need proteins for building your bones because they have essential amino acids which promote bone health. For your body repair, you need enough proteins, and lack of adequate protein can lead to osteoporosis
Diet hack: It is essential to add protein to your diet.
Adding protein to your diet is essential. You should, however, ensure that you rely on organic proteins and avoid conventional meat and other inorganic proteins.
Myth 5: All fish is healthy.
When choosing your fish, it is essential to consider the process through which the fish has been sourced. You may be eating fish that is toxic, this list includes the majority of the farmed fish which often contains high levels of mercury. Additionally, farm raised fish such as tilapia is associated with a bad balance of omega 3: omega 6 ratio (too much omega 6s to omega 3s.
Truth: The type of fish/seafood you get is important.
You need to consider quite a number of things when purchasing seafood as many other problems, in addition to mercury poisoning and improper omega ratios, have arisen from bad fish farming practices. You can consider things such as the manner in which the food was sourced.
Diet hack: Opt for uncontaminated and sustainable fish products.
Instead of going for fish that is not good for your health, you can go for fish such as Pacific sardine’s sablefish, Atlantic mackerel, and woven wild-caught Alaskan salmon which are all high in Omega 3s and sustainably sourced.
Myth 6: Eggs are unhealthy and cholesterol is bad.
It was only recently, in 2016, when it was discovered that there is no relationship between coronary heart disease and consumption of eggs. Initially, it was believed that the saturated fat and cholesterol in eggs were related to heart disease.
Truth: Eggs are not the enemy, and cholesterol is important.
According to a study published by the journal of clinical nutrition, it was discovered that there is no relation between egg yolks (which contain all of the fat and cholesterol, as well as many vitamins) and heart disease. In fact, eggs can significantly help in increasing lutein and zeaxanthin levels which are good for the eyes.
Diet hack: Enjoy eggs from farm-raised or free range chickens, and monitor cholesterol levels.
Eggs are extremely good for you since they are always packed with vitamins A, B5, and B12, fats, phosphorus, and folate. They also have the added benefit of being quick and easy to cook! When choosing your eggs, however, you should opt for farm fresh or free-range eggs. The healthier the chicken, the better for you and better tasting the eggs will be!
Myth 7: Eating five to six meals a day is essential and stimulates metabolism.
A lot of people believe that consuming small meals throughout the day can actually boost your metabolism, increase the process of food digestion, and lead to weight loss. This is a false belief, and the truth is that it is the total amount of food that you eat in a day that will impact your metabolism. Some people may even find that intermittent fasting works best for them.
Truth: Eating frequently may interfere with burning fat, and it does not increase metabolism.
Recent studies have shown that eating frequently throughout the day really doesn’t help your body lose weight. To the contrary, intermittent fasting has shown to really help in the metabolism process since it increases the rate at which fats are burnt. More about the different types of fasting and its health benefits can be found here.
Diet hack: Be careful with your daily diet and try intermittent fasting.
You can easily incorporate intermittent fasting into your routine. For instance, you can simply forgo breakfast then start eating at around noon until about 8 pm. This schedule leaves your body 16 hours to fully digest everything you have eaten and go into a fasting state. For women, fasting can be a little more difficult since they can experience hormonal changes if they practice IMF on a daily basis so it may be better for them to do it every other day instead. It is advisable that they seek the advice of their health provider in advance.
Myth 8: All sodium is bad for your health.
For a long time now, people have used salt or sodium as a scapegoat for heart complications. The Dietary Guidelines for America suggests that one should take eat/drink no more than 2300mg of salt per day, with the preference below 1500mg per day. This is just over 1 tsp of salt per day! However, you actually need sodium for your health and your heart.
Truth: You should probably reduce your salt intake but not as low as the guidelines suggest.
The dietary guidelines tend to quote a lower amount of salt than one needs, although most Western diets contain far more salt than we need already. Research shows that the ideal amount of salt per day is about 3200-6000mg or 1.5-3 tsp. When you lower your salt intake, you can reduce your blood pressure but if you reduce it too much, you can put yourself at risk for several other health complications such as insulin resistance, increased risk of death with diabetes, and added risks for heart disease. On the other hand, you should avoid excessive salts since it may lead to diseases such as osteoporosis, kidney stones, high blood pressure and autoimmune diseases.
Diet hack: Be careful with salt intake.
Apart from being careful with the salt intake, you should also consider not using iodized table salt and instead opt for other options such as Celtic sea salt or even pink Himalayan salt as these will provide you with the healthy sodium you may need.
Myth 9: All sugar is bad.
People tend to avoid sugar because they believe that it is terrible and can cause diabetes. However, not all sugar is bad for you. Instead, only refined sugar is bad since it is high in calories and affects the production of insulin which can lead to type 2 diabetes, pancreatic cancer, and heart disease.
Truth: Natural sugars actually have some health benefits.
All sugars are not bad as much as you have been led to believe your whole life. Your body actually needs various nutrients to thrive and natural sugars are one of them.
Diet hack: Use natural sweeteners, but not too much.
There are a lot of varieties of natural sugars in the market. Instead of using artificial sweeteners such as sweet ‘n’ low or splenda (which are horrible for you), you can choose to use natural sugars, but with a lot of moderation. Examples of natural sugars include raw honey, manuka honey, or even blackstrap molasses which have a lot of vitamins, minerals, and even several other health benefits such as boosting the immune system.
Myth 10: You can compensate bad diet with supplements.
This is one of the most common myths you will find on the internet today. Masses of people try to compensate for their bad diets, consisting of processed foods, refined sugar, or even whole grains which do not have the nutrition and fiber your body requires.
Truth: Choose nutrient-dense whole foods.
While there are certain vitamins and minerals that can be properly supplemented (as needed, due to a deficiency) outside of food (such as probiotics, magnesium, B vitamins, and calcium), you cannot use supplements to compensate for a bad diet. You need to get as much nutrition as you can from real food. The body needs fiber, fats, oils, carbohydrates, and proteins and supplements cannot supplement all these. If you do choose to take supplements, be sure that they are food based which will make them more easily absorbable by the body.
Diet hack: Eat whole healthy foods.
One of the most important reasons why you should focus on whole foods is because they are easy to digest and they produce the greatest amount of nutrients the body requires. If you must use supplements, only use them when you have, but you also need to reverse the deficiency with the whole foods.
Myth 11: Counting calories are the only way to control your weight.
Quite a number of people are into the calories in/calories out a diet which they believe (as this has been widely taught for years) is the only way to control their weight. As much as controlling weight is important, there are a lot of other options apart from counting calories
Truth: There are better ways to lose weight than counting calories in and calories out.
While exercise and diet are important, if you want to reduce obesity level, then you need to take note of the types of food that you consume and not necessarily the amount of food you eat. For instance, 300 calories of chips are not processed the same way as 300 calories of raw nuts!
Diet hack: Focus on the quality of food, not the quantity.
Rather than focusing on the amount and portions of the food you intake, you should ensure that you consume the right quality of food. The best way for one to lose weight is by choosing to reduce the carbohydrate intake and increase the intake of healthy fats in the body. By eating nutritionally dense food, you will get full and stay full longer.
Bottom-line
Instead of getting hammered with false information on a daily basis, you should consider doing some proper research from credible sources. Most importantly, avoid picking up random information along the way and believing it: You may be inviting more diseases into your body. Consider trying out Phenofen, along with a healthy diet and exercise routine, to increase you weight loss results.
