No one really knows how it started. Was it the product of someone’s failed experimentation or just a made-up fact? Regardless of the reason, misconceptions about food and healthy eating have a tendency to spread like wildfire. From the hiked MSG content in Chinese food to the detrimental effects of egg yolks, the amount of water you should drink in a day to foods that help boost your metabolism, there are as more myths than we can count on fingers. So today, on World Food Day, we at Fitternity.com decided to select the particularly sneaky myths, which we’re buying into without really questioning them, and check them out for facts and functionality and start working out today with OnePass, Use code : ARTSELECT to get an exclusive discount on OnePass Virtual
Myth: Skipping breakfast helps you lose weight
Fact:
While it may seem logical that skipping a meal and thus cutting down on the calorie intake will help with weight management, this is not so where breakfast is concerned. As a matter of fact, people who have a tendency to skip breakfast are likelier to weigh more than those who fuel up in the mornings. When you skip out on the first meal of the day, your body’s efficiency in burning up the energy from the food that you eat during the day drastically lowers.As it’s rightly said, breakfast is breaking the fast after the long hours of not eating during the long night’s sleep. Your insulin levels drop drastically . As a result of this, you are actually more likely to snack and overeat later in the day, usually on foods that are less nutritious and have far more kilojoules than a simple bowl of cereal.
Status: Busted!
Myth: Avoiding carbs after 5pm helps you lose weight
Fact:
There is nothing magical about not eating carbs after 5pm - this is an arbitrary cut-off point. A search of the National Library of Medicine Medline database of more than 4800 scientific journals failed to find a single study that lends support to the theory that carbs need to be cut after 5pm in order to lose weight. There are also no health authorities that endorse this type of approach.
Does a carb curfew work for weight loss? Carbs are the basic source of energy needed by the body. By cutting down on carbs, you are forcing the body to use other substrates for energy. Of course, fat as a concentrated source of energy gets utilized but much before the fats get broken down, one tends to lose the protein from the muscle that is a much readily available source of energy.For those who tend to eat large meals at night, this is an easy calorie cutting strategy – without having to count calories. The strategy works, simply because it helps you eat less. However, if you are trying to lose weight, you could also cut down on the overall amount of food you usually eat at your evening meal rather than just focusing on the carbs. Every nutrient carries energy and hence gives calories..So, anything in excess needs to be cut down, not only carbs. Increasing the amount of vegetables on your plate in relation to all other foods can also help, since this can make you fee fuller and at the same time not increase your weight as it contains a whole lot of fiber and water, preventing you from eating more..
Status: Busted!
Myth: Fresh vegetables are more nutritious than frozen
Fact:
Research has consistently found fresh and frozen vegetables to have a similar nutritional value – with frozen vegetables often having higher nutrient values. What it ultimately boils down to is the quality of the fresh vegetables. Vegetables, when frozen, are usually snap-frozen very soon after harvesting. Conversely, fresh vegetables are transported in trucks over long distances, not always in the best conditions. Even at the local vegetable vendor, they reach after many days of transportation – and a few more days in the fridge before being eaten. This makes their nutritional value definitely debatable. In conclusion, frozen vegetables can be an important part of a nutritious diet, and as many people struggle to eat enough vegetables each day, they can be very handy to have in your freezer. That being said, growing your own vegetables in nutrient-rich soil and eating them shortly after picking, may offer more health advantages.
Status: Busted!
Myth: Taking a Vitamin C supplement will prevent the common cold
Fact:
This is a popular myth but Vitamin C supplementation to prevent a cold is not necessary for most people – unless you’re a marathoner, skier, or a soldier on sub-Arctic exercises. While a minor group of people – such as those under heavy physical stress or exposed to very cold environments – may benefit from taking extra vitamin C, regular supplementation has no effect on the incidence of developing a common cold in the general population. The only definitive conclusion which has been reached is that the duration of a cold reduces a little with the aid of Vitamin C, nothing more.
Status: Busted!
Myth: Keep bread in the fridge
Fact:
Refrigerating anything makes it last longer, right? Actually, no. Bread goes stale at around six times the speed when kept in the coolbox, as it speeds up the process known as retrogradation – in which water separates from the starch and the starch begins to reharden. Toasting stale bread temporarily reverses the process. You should store bread at room temperature, in a bread tin or wrapped in a tea towel inside a paper bag. *Resort to the fridge only in times of heavy rain when bread left outside will only catch fungus that much faster!*
Status: Busted!
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