Myths about Weight Loss and Nutrition

There are several myths that one has in mind regarding what to eat and what to avoid in order to lose weight. Here is a  list a few of such myths along with what is the reality behind it-

1. Fad diets don’t help you keep off the weight in the long term. So what does work? The best diet is not a diet at all, but a way of life that includes food you enjoy, exercise, and healthy habits. When you go on a fad diet and exclude necessary nutrients, you’re putting yourself at risk for becoming ill. Getting too little of any nutrient may not cause an immediate problem. But if it’s lacking for a long time, you may find you have health problems.
2. Many people think carbohydrate-rich foods like pasta, bread, potatoes, cereal and rice are the bad guys when it comes to losing weight – and the popularity of low-carb diets several years ago has done little to dispel the myth. Added to this, it’s not uncommon to read that wheat, found in foods like bread and pasta, can cause bloating leaving many of us believing that cutting them out of our diet will help us lose weight. This has left many people feeling confused about whether or not they should include high carbohydrate foods in their weight loss diet. Most health experts agree there’s no proof that high carb foods are more likely to make us gain weight than any other food. Ultimately, it’s an excess of calories that makes us pile on the pounds – and it really doesn’t matter where those extra calories come from.
3. Health experts are beginning to explore the idea that people who eat all they want and don’t gain weight are actually more active than the rest of the population, and therefore burn more calories. However, these folks don’t necessarily spend more time at the gym. They probably engage in a practice known as non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). When you stand up and pace while talking on the phone, chop cabbage for dinner or even twiddle your thumbs sitting at your desk, you are engaging in NEAT. So that friend who can pig out without consequence probably fidgets more than you do and stands on her feet while you’re sitting down. Engaging in NEAT throughout the day can increase your metabolism by up to 50 percent–so if you normally burn 2,000 calories per day while sedentary, NEAT can help you burn up to 3,000 calories per day.
4. Those who skip meals throughout the day make up for those lost calories by eating larger meals in a later sitting. The impact of this eating pattern on the body may be different from those who skip meals but do not make up for the lost calories later. In particular, skipping meals tends to cause cravings for foods high in fat and sugar. Essentially, when your body believes it’s starving, it will crave foods that pack more calories per volume to supply the energy you need to be alert and active. One study in “Metabolism” found that when people skipped meals throughout the day, but ultimately ended up consuming greater amounts of food at later meals, they were at a greater risk for some dangerous metabolic changes. These included weight gain, elevated fasting glucose, and a delayed insulin response – all three dangerous precursors to diabetes.