Five Nutrition Beliefs Debunked Articles | Nutrition

With so many myths circulating about good nutrition, it's no wonder people find it so hard to follow a healthy lifestyle. Here's an attempt to clear up a couple of those myths.

1. Detoxes are a useful way to cleanse your organs and body of the accumulated buildup of poisons and pollutants resulting from modern society.

• Your liver does not need to be detoxed.

• A detox is nothing but a quick fix. It does nothing towards learning the consistent nutritional habits that are necessary for continued progress. You wouldn't decide to join the gym for just two weeks to undo a years worth of inactivity, so why would you eat detox style for two weeks to undo a years worth of poor eating?

2. Carbohydrates should not be eaten after 12pm, or 1pm, or 6 pm.

• This is one of the more popular myths around these days. But there can actually be an element of truth in it. Carbohydrates give you the fuel to exercise and are even more important for replacing fuel AFTER exercise. So if you are exercising at 6pm, then you need a carbohydrate rich meal to aid in recovery and repair of muscles and to replenish your glycogen (energy) stores. However, if you exercise in the morning and sit at a desk the rest of the day, then the first one or two meals after exercise should be emphasizing carbohydrates, but the rest of the day emphasizing vegetables, fruit and healthy fats. Note the word 'emphasizing' doesn't mean you have to cut the carbs out completely, perhaps just decrease the portion of carbs and replace it with lots of vegetables. Or if you can't handle a plate full of veg, then at least focus on high fiber, low GI carbs like brown rice, lentils and beans. And of course don't forget to add lean protein to all these meals.

3. Low fat and 'lite' foods are good to eat to prevent fat gain.

• Unfortunately, clever marketing of foods has confused a lot of people out there. So many foods are now available in some form of 'diet version' with reduced fat, no fat, low fat or lite labels. The long and the short of it is, that most of these foods either had no fat in them anyway- marshmallows for example are made of pure sugar. So they have zero fat, but do you really think they are good for you? By simply adding the words low fat to the packet, consumers can feel justified in buying them.

• Other foods have had the fat reduced.....but the fat is simply replaced with sugar to ensure the product still tastes good. So again, no real improvement there.

4. Eat low fat to lose fat.

• This misconception is what has lead to the demand for the above mentioned lowfat foods. But in reality our bodies need about 25-30% of the total food energy to come from fat. Fat is important for the absorption and transport of certain vitamins and minerals around the body, it contributes to the construction of nerve cells, and is a powerful anti inflammatory agent. Cutting fat out of the diet too severely can lead to other problems such as??????? The average person needs between 50-80 grams of fat per day. This can easily be met with some olive oil on the salad, 1-2 handfuls of raw nuts, some avocado and a piece of fresh salmon.

5. Ricecakes and crackers are good for you.

• Well they are low in energy, which may be of benefit if you just have a few. But foods like these that don't weigh much aren't that satisfying and thus, more often than not, the entire packet gets consumed. Then there are the creamy dips that are eaten along with them. Also, highly processed foods like rice crackers have a high GI, which raises blood sugar levels rapidly, causing high insulin levels as well. High insulin leads to increased fat storage.

• Switch the rice crackers for vegetable sticks or wholegrain crackers. Try salsas and hummus instead of cheeses and creamy dips.