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"Common Diet Myths Exposed"

By Max Hoyt

There's a ton of information out there on diet and how to lose weight. But there's also a lot of misinformation out there that can hinder your progress and in some cases can even hurt you. I'm going to expose many of these diet myths so you won't have to go through weight loss trial and error.

After reading this article you will have a clear idea of the types of diet choices that work and you'll know why those diet choices work. You'll be in a great position to change your diet and your eating habits so you can lose weight safely and keep it off!

Fat is the enemy: Fat is essential for your body to run properly. Fat lubricates joints and it also regulates hormonal activity. Cholesterol is also necessary because along with fat, it help regulates hormones. Both fat & cholesterol help build and maintain cells in your body.

The problem is not fat & cholesterol, the problem is eating way more fat & cholesterol than your body need to perform these functions. Around 30% of your calories should come from fat. Try to keep your saturated fat to 10% or less.

Skip Meals to Lose Weight: The worst thing you can do is skip a meal! Even a Mcnasty burger has nutrients your body needs. When you skip a meal your body goes into survival mode because it's thinking to itself "I don't know when my next meal is coming!" So two things happen: When you finally do eat, you will eat too much and your body will store everything you ate because it isn't sure when the next meal is coming.

Your body will slow down your metabolism so you don't need as many calories to survive. It does this by metabolizing your muscles. People that only eat once or twice a day will lose a little weight because their bodies are metabolizing muscle but then their metabolism slows down and the weight loss stops and they've lost muscle which will make it even harder for them to continue to lose weight than when they first started.

Don't eat late at night: It doesn't matter when you eat. What matters in your diet is what you eat and how much you eat. Calories in -vs- calories out is what produces a weight loss or a weight gain. If you want to have a snack in the evening then make sure you budgeted for it from a caloric standpoint. My wife & I recently had our first child and she finally falls out around 9pm. So guess when we have our dinner? Because we know we are having a late dinner, we make sure not to eat too much during the day so even with a late dinner we are still within our range for calorie intake.

High Protein / Low Carb Diets are healthy: Our Bodies are hard wired to run on carbs as our primary energy source. For example, our cars are meant to run on gas so you wouldn't put coffee in the tank and expect it to run, it wouldn't.

Well, our bodies are wonderful machines so instead of just shutting down, our bodies will take what you give it (protein) and they use it to perform the roles that carbohydrates do within the body. However this process leads to unwanted by-products in your body and they can have a negative affect on your health.

Here's the specifics: The long-term health effects of a high-protein/low-carbohydrate diet are unknown. But getting most of your daily calories from high-protein foods like meat, eggs, and cheese is not a balanced eating plan. You may be eating too much fat and cholesterol, which may raise heart disease risk. You may be eating too few fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, which may lead to constipation due to lack of dietary fiber.

Following a high-protein/low-carbohydrate diet may also make you feel nauseous, tired and weak. Eating fewer than 130 grams of carbohydrate a day can lead to the buildup of ketones (partially broken-down fats) in your blood. A buildup of ketones in your blood (called ketosis) can cause your body to produce high levels of uric acid, which is a risk factor for gout: (when your joints swell).

Ketosis may be especially risky for pregnant women and people with diabetes or kidney disease. You shouldn't have to eliminate an entire class of food from your diet in order to lose weight. Eating a balanced diet that includes carbs (veggie and starch and grains) protein and fat will allow you to have a wide variety of foods as well as help you lose weight safely.

Quitting smoking makes you gain weight: WRONG! What makes you gain weight is replacing one oral fixation with another (food for smoking) People also eat for comfort when they feel a craving for a smoke. Quitting smoking doesn't cause weight gain. People's coping mechanisms (most often food) lead to the weight gain. You don't have to eat more when you quit smoking and some don't. Most people however replace one habit with another so the perception is that if you quit smoking, you get big.

Don't eat nuts & legumes because they are high in fat: Nuts & legumes are high in unsaturated fats, which are the heart healthy fat. They are high in protein and will keep you full for longer than other snacks. There are many studies that show dieters who consume nuts and legumes regularly lose more weight than those who don't. Peanuts actually don't fall into this group so if you eat a lot of mixed nuts, skip the peanuts and make sure you go for the unsalted versions.

Stay away from red meat if you want to lose weight: While it is good to limit your intake of red meat to a couple of servings a week because they do contain saturated fats and cholesterol, you don't need to cut it out entirely. Red meat provides great levels of Zinc, Iron and Protein. Choose lean cuts such as extra lean ground beef, sirloin and tenderloin and limit your portion size to 3-6oz depending on how many calories you want to take in.

Eat three meals a day and no snacks: Three squares in your diet is better than nothing, but if you want to optimize your metabolism then you should aim for 5-6 smaller meals/snacks a day. Try to eat every 2-3 hours to avoid over eating. When you eat, your body releases insulin. Insulin tells your body to store what you've eaten.

The more insulin released when you eat, the more calories your body will store. By eating smaller meals more often, you ensure that the amount of insulin released is smaller, therefore you don't store as many of the calories you take in. Now this doesn't mean eat more to lose weight. It means space your meals and snacks out so you never go too long without eating. If you don't want to eat more than 1800 calories a day in your diet, then you need to divide that number by 5 or six instead of 3 and you'll learn how many calories to consume at each meal. If you go over on one meal, go under on another to balance it out. Remember: calories in -vs- calories out is how you lose weight.

Cut out deserts: Obviously you don't want to eat many deserts if your trying to lose weight. But on the other hand, if you constantly deny yourself things you enjoy for the sake of your diet and weight loss, you will eventually fold. There's no reason why you can't enjoy a desert occasionally so long as you know that it will have to be burned off later.

If you are out with someone, split a desert, that's half the calories right there. If you want to give up deserts for a while because you're focused on your weight loss goal, go for it! Just remember that all things in balance and if you want to have desert, you can and you shouldn't feel guilty about it because you know that eating one desert occasionally is not going to be the deal breaker for your diet.

Don't weigh yourself: The theory behind this is that if you constantly weigh yourself you will become fixated on your weight in an unhealthy way. Well, I think you should be fixated on your weight! If you're trying to lose weight and you've changed your diet and you are exercising, then the scale can be a great way to hold yourself accountable.

Of course you should realize that there are other measures of health such as body fat percentage, circumference measurements, the clothes test (think old jeans) and the mirror. But you shouldn't avoid the scale. The scale is a tool to track progress and should be used with the other tools I mentioned to give you a complete picture of how you are progressing in your weight loss endeavor.

Avoid all starchy food: foods like bread, pasta, beans, cereals, fruits, beans, yams and potatoes are low in calories and fat. It's what we put on these foods that are bad for us: High fat dressings, thick sauces, sour cream, butter etc? These foods are valuable sources of energy, just remember to control your portions!

Dairy Products are unhealthy: Dairy products contain many nutrients we need like calcium, vitamin D and protein. Dairy products also contain something called conjugated linoleic acid. CLA has been shown to aid in weight loss. Skim products don't have this in it as the skimming process removes it, so opt for 1% in your diet. Again, all things in moderation. One serving a day in your diet will provide more health benefits for you than any negative effects on your weight loss goals.

Avoid fruits if you want to lose weight: Followers of this theory will tell you that fruit has so much sugar that you shouldn't eat it if you're serious about losing weight. Some fruits do have more sugar in them than others.

For instance, bananas have more sugar than apples. Understand this: No one has ever become fat or unhealthy because they ate a diet high in fruits. I understand cutting fruit from a diet temporarily to hasten weight loss, but lose it altogether and you're denying your body countless vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that it needs for healthy function. If you're concerned about sugar in your diet, then no more sodas, no more Gatorade, no more fruit juices. Cutting those will help you greatly and fruit juices don't have that much vitamin content anyway.

Always buy fat free/reduced fat foods: Just because a food has little or no fat doesn't mean it's good for you. Calories are what's important and many of these foods just add sugar in place of fat. Many fat free foods actually have more calories than their normal counterparts. Read the nutrition label before you buy to make sure that you aren't getting a fat free calorie bomb!

Some Foods actually burn fat: You may have heard that certain foods (celery, grapefruit) actually burn fat. No food can burn fat!!! The best you can do is eat something that speeds up your metabolism (anything with caffeine in it)

Now that you have the truth about these myths you can make educated decisions about how you will change your diet so you can stay healthy for the rest of your life.

About the Author:

Max Hoyt is an IFPA certified Personal Trainer training in Orlando. He is a regular contributor to Ch.13 Health & Fitness TV segments. his website is www.orlandofitcamp.com