Weight Gain 13 Diet Myths Exposed
Menopause Weight Gain 13 Diet Myths Exposed
3 Registered dieticians were asked by Business Insider to debunk 13 weight loss myths.
For instance, you don’t need to cut out fat or carbs to lose weight and why skipping meals can backfire.
Myth #1 Skipping meals to lose weight
You do not need to skip meals and starve yourself to lose weight
Skipping meals will have a negative effect on your body, with the result that when you do finally eat, you are more likely to overconsume.
Myth #2 All calories are created equally
A calorie is not just a calorie, it depends on the source of your calorie, whether it’s coming from caloric-dense food or nutritional dense food.
Caloric dense food are things like cookies or cakes
For instance, you can have a cookie that contains 100 calories, which will digest really fast, causing your blood sugar levels to spike, after which they will crash, leading you to crave more sugar for that energy pick-me-up, leading to weight gain.
A banana is an example of a nutritionally-dense food and will be a much better choice.
Bananas are a great source of potassium and for those 100 calories, you’re also going to get the fiber and the nutrients that your body needs at a cellular level.
You definitely need to keep your body nourished if you’re trying to lose weight.
Myth #3 You have to starve yourself to lose weight
When you are restricting calories, you are restricting the energy source of your body.
You’re also restricting the energy source of your brain and when that happens your body senses this as a physiological threat and shifts your metabolic balance to burn less because it’s getting less fuel.
Starving yourself can also shrink your muscles.
Myth #4 Eating at night makes you gain weight
Timing of day is not going to affect weight loss.
Calories are what affects weight loss or body-fat loss.
If you eat surplus calories late at night, then yes that will cause weight gain.
Myth #5 Skipping breakfast helps you lose weight
This depends on your body and it also depends on your relationship with food.
That being said, your body runs on fuel and food is your fuel.
If you have breakfast, you will feel that you have more sustained energy throughout the day.
Myth #6 Cut out fat
Fat is very necessary and you should not be afraid of fat.
Fat is necessary for things such as absorbing nutrients, including the fat-soluble nutrients, Vitamin A, D, E, K.
Fat specifically cholesterol helps produce your, hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone.
Not only is fat healthy and necessary but fat-free foods are often loaded with sugar or salt.
Myth #7 Cut out carbs
It’s almost impossible to have a carb-free diet.
Even fruits and vegetables are known as carbohydrates, and you need them for their wonderful nutrients.
Carbs have a bad name, because of the simple carbs, such as cookies, cakes, soda, chips.
They are known as simple carbs because of their chemical structure, which is usually one to two glucose molecules put together, making them easy to break away.
However, with complex carbs, these are long chains of carbon, that take a while to break down, which is exactly what you want, because it helps balance your blood sugar and the fiber keeps you full for longer, preventing you from snacking.
Myth #8 Cut out gluten to lose weight
Gluten-free for weight loss can be a big marketing ploy.
There are a lot of people that do indeed have an intolerance to gluten or some have celiac disease, which causes the body to start attacking itself.
Most of us don’t need to cut out gluten, or fat, or carbs to lose weight.
Myth #9 Diet soda helps you lose weight
Diet sodas have a lot of additives and preservatives in them as well as hidden sugars.
A lot of the added sugars are synthetic sugars, which are supposed to be great because they don’t release insulin, which then doesn’t cause a spike in blood sugar levels.
However, if you don’t stimulate the release of insulin, those synthetic sugars end up in the liver and build up around the liver, impacting liver function, which can then lead to non-alcoholic fatty disease.
You can have a soda, as long as it’s not on a regular basis.
Better yet, drink water, flavor it with lemon, or mint, or cucumber.
Myth #10 Juice cleanses work
If you are having juices regularly, you will be getting the antioxidants and nutrients, but you are missing out on the fiber. Fiber is key for the body to support gut health.
Juice cleanses can also be expensive, and even though you might feel as if you are cleansing your body, most juice cleanses come from fruit sugars and vegetable sugars that have a high amount of fructose.
When you have excess fructose, it has a spasming effect on the GI tract, which can lead to the cleansing effect.
You are better off actually eating the apple, eating the spinach, and eating all the other fruits that are in that cleanse because fiber is your natural detox.
Myth #11 Fast intermittently to lose weight
This can restrict calories and at least temporarily help you lose weight, but you need to be mindful that when you do eat, you don’t feel as if you need to make up for lost time and end up eating double what you would have eaten if you had not fasted.
Myth #12 The keto diet is the solution
The ketogenic diet is very popular at present, requiring you to eliminate carbs, which is why the keto diet is hard to sustain.
Your body needs carbohydrates to function properly.
Also, the keto diet does have side effects, such as impacting your metabolic health and cardiovascular health, because of its high-fat content.
Myth #13 Health is determined by weight
One of the biggest myths is that overweight equals unhealthy and normal weight equals healthy as defined by the BMI category.
BMI is a very inaccurate measure of health because it just looks at your height and weight, without taking into account, your metabolic factors, your physiological health, your physical health, your sleep, your mental health, and your relationship to food.
It’s really important to factor those in when defining health.
Source: businessinsider.com
