Busting Weight Loss Myths: Don’t Fall for the Lies Spread by Social Media
There is a lot of diet advice available. Maybe too much. After all, it can be challenging to distinguish between legitimate evidence-based advice and pseudoscience, flashy promises, and useless fads when all the weight loss information (and disinformation) in the world is readily available on your smartphone.
So how do you go through this treacherous terrain? Simple warning signs like those listed below can be helpful. Any of these seven myths should be absent from any diet advice you read if you want to lose weight.
The Red Flags to Spot:
Detox
Any meals or supplements that advertise helping your body “detox” should raise red flags. Nothing we eat will alter the fact that our liver and kidneys are our body’s primary detoxification organs.
Superfoods
The majority of fruits and vegetables fall into the category of foods that are “good” for you and that you can consume in large quantities. However,’ superfoods,’ which are merely foods with good PR, do not exist.
The Good or (the Bad) Fat
The most crucial question to ask is where the fat comes from, regardless of whether you belong to the brigade that believes that fat is either GOOD or BAD for you.
It is saturated fat if it comes from a land animal and is likely to be solid at room temperature. While coconut oil is a rare exception, if it comes from fish or plants and is likely to be liquid at room temperature, it is unsaturated fat. As per the available data, eating more unsaturated fat than saturated fat lowers “all-cause mortality,” or your risk of passing away before your time.
Natural Sugar
Sucrose makes up the vast majority of the sugar we eat. It is the white powdered substance that we use to cook and add to tea, and it contains both glucose and fructose.
What about sugar made from agave nectar, maple syrup, or honey? They are frequently sold as natural, making them healthier for you, or, more oddly, as “sugar-free” substitutes. Simply said, this is untrue. Since one is essentially bee poop, another is tree sap, and a third is concentrated cactus juice, they do taste different from sugar and so naturally each adds a unique flavor to various recipes. But glucose and fructose are what give them all their sweetness.
ALSO READ: The Intricate Connection Between Your Heart and Kidneys
High-(pH) Alkali Water Will Revitalise You
Our blood has a pH of 7.4, which is slightly alkaline (pH values below 7 are acidic, and over 7 are alkaline). Therefore, some people believe that we must consume alkali foods, including water with a high pH.
Do not consume Kool-Aid! The stomach, the area of the body with the highest pH at 1.5, is where all food and liquids that we consume are processed. As it enters the small intestine, it is then neutralized to a pH of 7. The pH of our blood won’t change no matter what we eat. Spending money on diets and alkali water is a waste.
Don’t Eat Something You Can’t Pronounce
The movement to eat “natural” or “clean” foods includes this. But all foods contain chemicals, whether they are natural or heavily processed; you just don’t know what their scientific names are.
Should you be afraid of “phenylthiocarbamide,” for instance, just because you can’t say it correctly? Simply put, this is the substance that gives brassicas—plants related to mustard and cabbage—their bitter flavor. Advice of this nature is merely a scare tactic.
Not More Than Five Ingredients
Even though simple foods might be incredibly pleasant, they may not always be the healthiest options. The Chinese five-spice powder, for example, would probably count as one of the five ingredients if used in a dish. What if, though, we used individual amounts of the traditional five-spice powder ingredients—star anise, fennel seeds, Szechuan peppercorns, cloves, and cinnamon—instead?
Does that imply that the fact that this dish of more than five components makes it suddenly bad?
ALSO READ: The Psychological Effects of Regularly Indulging in Junk Food, check out experts’ opinion
Conclusion
You may be familiar with many of the same myths if you’re attempting to lose weight. Given that they are prevalent in Western culture, you might have even bought into some of them. Of note, most of these misconceptions are untrue. The connection between food, your body, and your weight is far more complicated. Try learning about evidence-based dietary and lifestyle adjustments you can make if you’re interested in losing weight.
