Weight loss diet myths exposed
Posted on August 24, 2008
Filed Under weight loss |
Here are six of the biggest myths about losing weight
Many people looking to lose weight are exposed to many inaccuracies being bandied about concerning weight loss.
While it’s true that any attempt to reduce your intake of food will have an initial effect, very often the effects are short lived, and before long you could end up in worse shape than before.
The First Weight Loss Myth: Stay away from Carbohydrates.
This teaching is prevalent in well known high protein diets like the Atkins diet, South beach and a bunch of other popular diets that promote a high protein, low carbohydrate diet.
These types of diets may help you to lose quite a lot of weight fairly quickly, but the results tend not to be that long lasting so as soon as you begin to eat normally again, you end up with the same weight gain problem as before, and sometimes it may be even worse.
The Second Weight loss Myth: It’s all in the genes.
Sure, genetics can play a part when it comes to the speed of your metabolism, but dont let the condition your parents or grandparents where in become a reason to give up. There is hope.
Here’s what’s important when it comes to weight loss:
Calorie intake - What you eat and how much of it, so if you eat low calorie foods, you’re already on the right track.
Exercise, physical activity - Whether you walk or jog is up to you, but that all boils down to how many calories you burn up in a day.
Your genetic makeup does play a part in how many calories you’ll use up in a day, seeing that if you have a slower metabolism you burn calories slower than those with a faster metabolism.
There are ways to speed up a slow metabolism though, so genetics or not, there is a way.
The Third Weight Loss Myth: Avoid eating food with high fat content.
The key to effective weight control lies in reducing your intake of “Bad” fats and replacing that with eating more of the “Good Fats”.
You should make every effort to avoid taking in any Trans fat and saturated fat while at the same time increasing your intake of the healthy fats like polyunsaturated fats and Omega-3, which you get from foods like fish, olive oil (preferably cold pressed), and avocados.
The Fourth Weight Loss Myth: Skipping your meals
When you skip meals you slow down your metabolism so your body converts more calories into fat. A short fast may be good for your health for other reasons, like detoxing every now and then, but eating regular meals is important.
What you need is to eat more of the good foods, like more salads and vegetables. Nuts and fruit are also good for you.
You could also try substituting sweets and chocolates for something like dried fruit (unsweetened of course), or even better, an apple.
It takes some discipline at first to get your mind around it, and you may even experience mild withdrawal symptoms from all the sugar, but if you stick it out long enough, your system will adjust.
Weight Loss Myth number Five: Avoiding the white foods
This one is way too simplified to be taken seriously. Sure, there are certain white foods that may be bad for you, and - or high in calories, but there are plenty of white foods that are excellent sources of nutrition like fish, pears, nuts etc
The Sixth Myth about Losing Weight: The Grapefruit Miracle
There are some people who say that eating grapefruit will help you lose weight, supposedly due to a magical enzyme that helps to burn fat. Just how true this is has yet to be proven by any substantial research.
While grapefruits may be rich in lycopene, which is a good source of ingredients that provide nutrition and health right down to the cellular level, and helps prevent cancer and heart diseases, we have to leave weight loss out of the equation.
It’s my viewpoint, and the viewpoint of many, that the most effective weight loss programs and diets for long term sustainable weight control, should focus on a healthy intake of the right foods to supply the body with all the nutrition it needs, while at the same time reducing the calorie intake to below the number of calories used up by the body on a daily basis.
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