When it comes to nutrition, the facts and the myths can be difficult to separate. Making the most of your daily meals is easier, if you have the right information to clear up your dietary confusion. Whatever your goals are for dieting, it helps to have reliable information about what works or doesn’t work. This is essential to the successful progress of any diet.
So how can you separate the myths from the facts about dieting? A little research is generally a good place to start. Begin by going online or reading up on the subject yourself. A first hand understanding is always an asset, when your goal is to create a diet that will meet your personal needs. To make the entire dieting process easier, use the following list of 8 top nutrition myths to get you started off right.
Read each one of these nutritional myths, so that you can eat smarter and diet successfully.
Nutrition Myth 1: Eggs Put You At Risk For Heart Problems
You’ve probably heard this myth many times, but eggs aren’t necessarily bad for your heart. Eggs actually contain higher levels of dietary cholesterol, not blood level cholesterol that is associated with heart attacks and atherosclerosis. Eggs also have several health benefits. Egg yolks have recently been found to promote eye health, but also are rich in proteins and vitamin B-complex choline. The latter promotes improved neurological functions. By eating one egg daily, you can reap all the aforementioned benefits and still intake a minimal amount of cholesterol.
Nutrition Myth 2: Honey Is Good For You Because It’s Natural
Honey isn’t really healthier, when compared to it’s popular alternative – processed sugar. Honey is primarily fructose, but even this natural form of sugar isn’t good for you in large amounts. Although honey contains more nutrients, it also has over 55 percent fructose and that is simply sugar in a large concentrated portions. Such high levels of fructose are equally likely to cause heart disease, liver problems and obesity. In reality, honey is as bad or even worse for your body, because it still contains fructose sugars.
Nutrition Myth 3: Fat From Beef Should Be Avoided
A big juicy steak is filled with nutrients that are hard to find in other lean meats. O.K., you don’t want to eat red meat every day, but a little steak helps the body by promoting fat burning. Red meat is beneficial, if it comes from animals that are grass or vegan fed. The old school thought on red meat says it contains high levels of saturated fats, but this just isn’t true with most red meat today. Red meats also are rich in proteins, amino acids, and other vitamins that promote muscle tissue while keeping the physique lean.
Nutrition Myth 4: Higher Protein Drinks Are Dangerous
Don’t believe the hype and take a little friendly nutritional advice. Protein shakes are not dangerous, but you should always offset the potential for dehydration by drinking equal amounts of clean water. Another myth about protein drinks says they deplete bone calcium, but this isn’t true either. Plenty of research studies have found this information to be false. So drink up, those higher protein shakes are great, if you remember to balance them with daily water intake.
Nutrition Myth 5: You Shouldn’t Combine Carbohydrates and Fats
This is another misconception, but a balanced diet should actually combine proteins, carbohydrates and fats. These are all necessary to achieve the best dietary results. A combination of healthy fats, complex carbs and lean proteins gives more nutritional value, while making you feel full. This is better for the body, because it keeps your overall energy levels more stable.
Nutrition Myth 6: Gluten Free Diets Mean Weight Loss
Gluten is bad for anyone whose body isn’t able to digest it properly, but most people don’t have this problem. Just avoiding gluten in your diet isn’t going to make weight loss happen overnight. When you reduce your intake of processed foods, along with lowering your intake of calories, then a gluten free diet will accelerate weight loss. Simply replacing foods with gluten and switching to gluten free alternatives, this might actually cause you to gain weight.
Nutrition Myth 7: Eating More Frequently Boosts Your Metabolism
At first a metabolic boost to spur fast weight loss seems reasonable in theory. Simply lose those pounds by eating more frequently throughout the day. Even if eating frequently might appear to be helping you diet, the myth of supercharged metabolism doesn’t actually explain what is happening to your body. Any metabolic boost is in direct proportions with your intake of calories. Essentially, eat more and you burn more calories, if you eat less then you burn less calories. What really matters is your total daily calories, not the number of meals you consume. Eating more frequently can lead to consuming an excessive amount of calories, such that your body maybe unable to burn a proportional amount. This dieting method can have the reverse effect and cause the individual to gain unwanted weight.
Nutrition Myth 8: Detox Is Great For Weight Loss
Detox dieting or weight loss detox diet isn’t something to undertake recklessly. Any so called, kick start or fast track methods for losing weight are just another trendy bandwagon, but not a legitimate dieting method. Some detoxes load your body up with very healthy antioxidants, but offer extremely low protein and calories for the body to use. The result being a rush as the body cleanses itself of chemicals, toxins and impurities, but sends your metabolism crashing hard and gaining weight back after recovering. Think carefully before joining up with any of the current detox gurus and their bandwagon dieting methods.
The best way to cleanse your body requires these simple steps be followed and continued on a daily basis. Drink plenty of water, eliminate all processed foods, eat fresh fruits and vegetables, but also incorporate an appropriate amount of proteins and calories. All this should be done on a daily basis and works best with a regular exercise regimen on several days each week.
