5 Dieting Myths

There are a lot of myths out there about how to lose weight and get in shape.  Some of these myths have been around for a long time but I’m here to talk about five different ones that I know you or someone you know thinks works.

Fat free foods will help me lose weight

Before you nuke it, check it

Fat free foods mislead a lot of people who wish to lose weight.  Fat free doesn’t mean there it’s going to help you lose weight, or there’s no other fat causing ingredients in the food.  In fact, most fat free foods are loaded with a lot of sugar per serving.  Sugar can sometimes be worse than fat because it stores and then changes into fat later.  It’s important to read the nutrition facts before planning your next diet meal because eating a fat free packaged meal can contain other ingredients that can prevent you from losing weight just the same.  Not to mention the amount of sodium per serving you may be getting in these pre-packaged fat free meals.  Fresh food is the best alternative when trying to lower your fat intake.

Milk does a diet good

Neither does beer

Milk used to do your body good when you were five months old.  Like Arnold said, “Milk’s for babies.  When you grow up, you drink beer.”  All kidding aside, calcium is important for our bodies and bones in particular.  Especially when we consume high amounts of protein on a daily basis, we tend to negate our calcium levels.  So a good way of keeping those levels balanced would be to supplement with a calcium magnesium combo vitamin.

The problem with milk when dieting is that there is fat and sugar in every serving.  If you are trying to lean out this would prevent you from doing so.  While we still consume dairy products in our daily lives, it’s important to understand that milk along with any other dairy product can become your enemy while on a diet.

 

I’ll lose weight if I become a vegetarian

They aren’t hunting tofu

We all know how important vegetables are when it comes to nutrition, but eliminating meat from your diet doesn’t mean you will lose weight.  In fact, many vegetarians that I’ve come across struggle with not only losing weight but keeping it off.  One problem with the vegetarian diet, when it comes to losing weight, is that it can involve many tasty pastries and other high carbohydrates on a daily basis.

You see if we were all living 1,000 years ago, there would be no pastry shops in our communities or vegetarian restaurants to go grab that tasty tofu cuisine.  1,000 years ago, if you were a vegetarian you may not survive on plants alone after working all day in the hot sun.  Today, we have created a new way of manufacturing meat tasting products and carbohydrate filled recipes to pacify our hunger because of the many opinions on eating meat.

So in short, eating a lean high protein diet does not only build muscle but it aids in burning fat.

 

Fruity smoothie diets

Don’t drown your fruits

People like their fruit smoothie blended drinks, but sometimes they get a little carried away with them.  They start to make the fruit smoothie drinks an everyday thing.  Just because there are real fruits mixed with these drinks, they tend to believe this is a healthy diet and will somehow aid in their weight loss.  This is farthest from the truth, even when you do add a scoop of protein it doesn’t take away from the fact that they are packed with sugar.  These sugar blended smoothies are nothing more than a sugary dessert.

Don’t make the mistake of seeing a sign that says “All Natural, Real Fruit” and think this will supplement a proper meal.  If you want your fruits, eat your fruits, but don’t make that the base of your diet.

 

I don’t really eat, I just snack

You’re not the cookie monster, are you?

How many times have I heard that?  The truth is that we all love snacking.  But just because you only snack, doesn’t mean that you’re any better off than the rest of us who happen to eat full course meals.  Matter of fact you’re in danger of creating a slow metabolism that’s going to store all the fatty snacks you’ve been eating on a daily basis.  And just because you take in less calories, doesn’t mean you won’t gain weight.

So the next time you think about grabbing a snack, make that snack a chicken breast and some oatmeal.

In closing these myths are just some of the problems and excuses people make because of either ignorance or they somehow have been mislead.  The fact is if you want to have a healthy diet, there’s nothing new under the sun.  Eating lean protein, lots of green vegetables, moderate complex carbs and plenty of water is and has and always will be the best diet on the market.

Curtis Fisher is a personal trainer, diet consultant and body builder.  You can find more fitness and diet tips at his blog Diet What Nots | Training, Eating, Science.