Nothing gets me more animated than a good nutritional myth. Well, maybe a new Bruce Willis movie, but that’s another topic all together. Unfortunately there are plenty anachronisms, misinterpretations, and just plain stupid stuff to go around when it comes to food and health. The hard part is limiting them to just five, sort of like how hard it is to limit the reasons why I hate loud mouth talk show hosts.
1) Being skinny means your healthy. My mom used to always tell me that it’s not what a girl looked like on the outside, but what is on the inside that counts. Try telling that to a hormonal hurricane of a 16 year old male with a river of testosterone coursing through his pubescent veins. She was right of course, on many levels. A person can be skinny appearing externally and be all squishy fat on the inside. News flash…this is not healthy! Skinny folks who don’t exercise and starve themselves tend to have a high percent body fat, often more than their hefty peers, and it is this percentage that increases their risks for heart disease, stroke and premature death. An active, fit overweight person with a lower percent body fat is at lower risk for all of these things.
2) All sugar is bad for you. As many of you know, I generally think sugar is right up there with Hitler memorabilia and small pox, but some sugar is actually very good for you. The caveat here is that you have to be physically active and use this sugar for fuel. Carbs and sugar are great and immediate sources of energy for muscles and absolutely essential for the active individual (remember carb loading?). The problem arises when we eat a pound of Sugar Pops and lay down on the couch and binge watch Game Of Thrones. Perspective and context folks…perspective and context.
3) Diets wouldn’t be so popular if they didn’t work. That’s like saying death is a good thing because everybody does it. There is no one size fits all when it comes to nutrition. Simply because a diet may work in the short term…and most do, doesn’t mean they are healthy, sustainable, and easy to adopt (most aren’t). The reason the diet industry is a multibillion dollar industry is that most folks who diet do it repetitively. A diet works for a brief time, then you go back to abusing yourself, then you try another diet. Many times the most weight you lose is from the dollars leaving your wallet.
4) All high fat foods are bad. Try telling that to a salmon. Cold water fish, for example, are very high in fat content but they are considered some of the healthiest choices to eat on the planet. They contain fat, but it is predominantly polyunsaturated fat which actually heart healthy. They literally ooze omega 3 fatty acids which are super efficient antioxidants that promote health in a number of ways. After all, our brain is around 70% fat, so the next time someone calls you a fathead, say thank you.
5) Natural substances like honey are safer than table sugar. A rose by any other name is still a rose, and honey is just…sugar. Honey contains predominantly glucose and fructose and table sugar (sucrose) contains glucose…and surprise! fructose. When either is ingested, enzymes break both into their components and from then on they are essentially the same. Always remember “natural” doesn’t necessarily mean safe or better. Strychnine and arsenic are natural and I’m not putting those in my coffee.
