Debunked! Diet Myths - Let the Truth Be Told!

by Kris Pitcher

Battling the diet myths is a constant struggle. Misinformation is worse than the black plague in the pursuit of health and fitness. The trouble is, there's a lot of money to be made in the industry and there's just a lot of bad information out there.

Let's look at a few of the old standbys...the ones that just keep creeping back up like your worst acid reflux.

Eating late at night will cause you to gain weight - Weight gain happens when you consume more calories than you expend. The time of day isn't the culprit here. The reality is the kinds of choices people make late at night are questionable at best. Likely if you've skipped meals during the day you are more likely to over eat at night. We have 24 hours in the day. Choosing the right kinds of fuel is the key to success.

Skipping meals is a good way to lose weight - Skipping meals actually leads to over eating. It also sends a chemical and physical message to your body to store fat...your body wants consistent fuel it can rely on. Maintaining a constant blood sugar level by eating regularly is important to helping you keep your cool, and to maintaining a strong metabolism. We want to keep burning - not send the message to shut things down.

Rapid weight loss can be maintained - Extremely restrictive diets result in fast weight loss. Programs promising 10+ pounds of weight loss per week are dangerous at best. Much of the loss is water and lean mass leading to a permanent reduction in metabolism. The mindset that you can do something short-term and then "go back to how you used to eat" is a recipe for disaster. You're smart enough to know this is a lifestyle. You only have to do it as long as you want it to work.

You have to stop eating your favorite foods to lose weight - A healthy lifestyle allows for all foods in moderation. The most successful approach to maintenance is to make permanent lifestyle changes including healthy eating and exercise. This means including the things you love into your plan in a moderate and controlled way. Remember, you've got to be able to live with this.

There's no magic to making this work for you. The science works, and we have to keep doing the hard work. It's important to create lasting changes we can live with and incorporate those into our lifestyle. Question new, fancy, "too good to be true" quick fix ideas. With a little information you can debunk the best of the diet myths!