Healthy Life: Nutrition Myths

There have been so many wrong ideas about most nutritious food, that before getting any food item in the store, you’ll have to double-tripple check what you’re buying. But some of them are just misinformation. This is how AskMen puts it....

Here are the top 11 biggest lies, myths and misconceptions of mainstream nutrition, and the real truth..... by AskMen....

Eggs Are Unhealthy

Can you believe this?? The worst example is eggs, which happen to contain a large amount of cholesterol and were therefore considered to increase the risk of heart disease.

But recently it was proven that cholesterol in the diet doesn’t raise the cholesterol in blood. Eggs primarily raise the good cholesterol and are not associated with increased risk of heart disease. Eggs do not cause heart disease and are among the most nutritious foods on the planet. Eggs for breakfast can help you lose weight. Eating eggs for breakfast is proven to cause significant weight loss.

Saturated Fat Causes Heart Disease

The idea that saturated fat raised the risk of heart disease was an unproven theory that somehow became conventional wisdom.

Newer studies have proven that saturated fat does not cause heart disease. Natural foods that are high in saturated fat such as, meat, coconut oil are good for you.

Everybody Should Be Eating Grains

It’s not advisable to base all your diets on grains. The most common grain in the Western diet is Wheat, and Wheat can cause a host of health problems, both minor and serious. Modern wheat contains a large amount of a protein called Gluten. Eating gluten can damage intestinal lining, cause pain, bloating, stool inconsistency and tiredness.

Grains are fairly low in nutrients compared to other real foods like vegetables. They are also rich in a substance called ‘phytic acid’ which binds essential minerals in the intestine and prevents them from being absorbed.

Eating a Lot of Protein is Bad for Your Bones and Kidneys

A high protein diet has been claimed to cause both osteoporosis and kidney disease. It is true that eating protein increases calcium excretion from the bones in the short term; but the long-term studies actually show the opposite effect. Additionally, studies don’t show any association of high protein with kidney disease in otherwise healthy people.

Two of the main risk factors for kidney failure are diabetes and high blood pressure. Eating a high protein diet improves both. High protein also improve bone health and a lower risk of fracture.

Low-Fat Foods Are Good For You

Regular food with all the fat taken out of it, tastes like cardboard. In all these low-fat products, natural fats are being replaced with substances that are extremely unhealthy. They are highly associated with various diseases like obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, premature delivery and depression.

Low-fat foods are usually highly processed products loaded with sugar, corn syrup or artificial sweetners. They are extremely unhealthy.

You Should Eat Many Small Meals Throughout The Day

It is true that eating raises your metabolism slightly while you’re digesting the meal, but it’s the total amount of food that determines the energy used, not the number of meals.

There is no evidence that eating many small meals throughout the day is better than fewer, bigger meals. Not eating from time to time is good for you. Increased meal frequency is associated with colon cancer.

Carbs Should Be Your Biggest Source Of Calories

The mainstream view is that everyone should eat a low-fat diet, with carbs being around 50-60% of total calories. This sort of diet contains a lot of grains and sugars, with very small amounts of fatty foods like meat and eggs.

This type of diet may work well for some people, especially those who are naturally lean. But for those who are obese, have metabolic syndrome or diabetes, this amount of carbohydrates is downright dangerous.

The low-fat, high-carb diet is a miserable failure and has been proven repeatedly to be vastly inferior to lower-carb, higher-fat diets.

High Omega-6 Seed and Vegetable Oils are Good For You

Eat your omega-3s and consider supplementing with cod liver oil, but avoid the industrial seed and vegetable oils.

Humans need to get omega-6 and pmega-3 fats in a certain ratio. Eating excess omega-6 seed oils raises your risk of disease.

Low-Carb Diets are Dangerous

Many of the health professionals that are supposed to have our best interests in mind have the audacity to claim that these diets are dangerous, then continue to peddle their failed low-fat dogma that is hurting more people than it helps.

Low-carb diets are the healthiest, easiest and most effective way to lose weight and reverse metabolic disease. It is a scientific fact.

Sugar is Unhealthy Because it Contains “Empty” Calories

It is common believed that sugar is bad for you because it contains empty calories. It’s true: Sugar has a lot of calories with no essential nutrients. But that is just the tip of the iceberg.

The harmful effects of sugar go way beyond empty calories. Sugar wreaks havoc on our metabolism and sets us up for weight gain and many serious diseases.

High-Fat Foods Will Make You Fat

It seems kind of intuitive that eating fat would make you get fat. But isn’t that simple. Despite fat having more calories per gram than carbohydrate or protein, high-fat diets do not make people fat. As with anything, this depends on the context. A diet that is high in fat and high in carbs will make you fat, but it’s not because of the fat. In fact, diets that are high in fat and low in carbs cause much greater fat loss than diets that are low in fat.