8 Healthy Eating Myths Holding you Back from Living Well

Healthy eating can be tricky, and made even more confusing with the existence of so many myths about what to eat and not eat, many of which conflict with the scientific truth. Where do these myths come from? Most often they come from misinterpretations of studies turned into advice for mass consumption. They also come from mere random suggestions converted into gospel. Regardless of the sources, these myths not only make healthy eating much more challenging but they also serve no other purpose than to make life miserable.

Drinking Water Makes you Lose Weight

FALSE.

NOTHING makes you lose weight. End of story.

Keeping hydrated (preventing dehydration) does help keep your body systems (like digestion and muscle function) working well, which are necessary to be healthy but it is impossible for drinking water (or anything else) to make you to lose weight.

Some say that water is a natural appetite suppressant. I’ve never experienced that. If water suppresses your appetite, you’re very lucky! At best, drinking water may slow down eating, but not make me not want to eat.

Water does not increase calorie burning, even if it’s cold.

I’ve seen that “they” say that water is necessary to burn fat. Sure, it reacts with with triglycerides (fats) to create glycerol and fatty acids to get rid of the blubber. But it is seriously flawed logic to believe that drinking more water will make your body burn more fat any more than eating more food or breathing more air will, since energy and oxygen are also required to reduce stored fat.

So do you need to drink 8 glasses of water a day? A gallon? Who knows? Only YOU know. Nobody can tell you how much water you need to drink every day. Some days you may be more thirsty than others. Depending on your activity level, temperature, and numerous other factors you may need more or less water. So throw away those silly measuring water bottles that help you monitor how much water you are drinking.

The best thing to do is to listen to your body and drink when you are thirsty. Make sure you are not mistaking thirst for hunger. And a real benefit to drinking water is that you consume fluid that has no calories at all. Woo-hoo!

Eating sugar causes type 2 diabetes.

FALSE.

It’s more complicated than that.

Type 2 diabetes is a disorder where the body resists the hormone from the pancreas, insulin, which is necessary to  transport glucose from the blood to the cells for energy. As a result, glucose builds up in the blood and wreaks havoc on the body.

The three main contributors of type 2 diabetes are genetic mutations; unhealthy lifestyle habits — less physical activity, consuming excess calories; and being overweight or obese. Obesity is the biggest offender because fat (adipose tissue)  is actually an endocrine organ. Too much adipose tissue leads to developing a low-grade inflammatory response that can interfere with metabolic functions. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors that increase the likelihood of developing heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

Sugar is not the only thing that you eat that affects the blood glucose, and the glucose itself isn’t the source of the problem. The inability to utilize insulin correctly is.

So how can you prevent or reverse the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and other chronic lifestyle diseases? Well, first you don’t need to banish all sugar from your life forever. Instead, you’ll need to pay attention to eating foods that do not spike your glucose levels drastically like refined carbohydrates like highly processed junk foods. Foods that contain fiber and/or protein slow the conversion to and absorption of sugars so they don’t spike glucose levels and create problems. The slower the absorption of sugars, the more likely they won’t overwhelm the action of insulin. And exercise also improves the action of insulin, thereby keeping the glucose levels from getting out of hand.

So bottom line is, to prevent type 2 diabetes you need to exercise regularly, eat real, whole, quality foods, don’t overeat, and keep your weight at a healthy level, which is basically the advice to keep yourself healthy in general.

This was the quickest, most lickety-split explanation of the type 2 diabetes. If you want more information, CONTACT ME. I am a CDC-certified diabetes prevention lifestyle coach and can help you avoid developing this hot mess of a chronic lifestyle disease.

Myth: Eating at night will make you fat

FALSE.

Here’s how you get fat. You start storing fat in your fat cells when you consume more calories than you need to operate your body, regardless of when you eat them.

This myth probably has its origins in the truth that eating close to bedtime can interfere with digestion. During sleep the body should be regenerating and healing. But when you go to bed on a full stomach that energy is diverted to digestion, which means all the other functions are slowed.

Also, chances are that if you are eating in the middle of the night you are not making mindful choices about what kinds of foods you are eating, which can definitely affect your weight in the long term. I mean, do you eat celery sticks in the dark out of your fridge, or are you eating pizza or cookies? There is a difference.

Generally, if you move your body after meals it will help to minimize blood sugar spikes which can lead to insulin resistance or metabolic disorders. But we can not necessarily assume that the opposite is true, especially for people who are not at risk.

This is by no means an invitation to start pigging out at midnight. It’s just not the best idea, however, if you come home late and you’re starving, there is no harm in eating a light snack to stop your stomach from growling and keeping you up.

Just use common sense and do not put strict time limits on eating.

As I finish this, it’s 8:30pm and my husband walks in with birthday cake from a coworker party. Of course I ran over there to get a bite!

Myth: Eat alkaline foods and avoid acidic foods to heal your body and prevent disease.

MOSTLY FALSE.

Ok so the claim is that eating acidic foods change the pH level of your body, and that promotes cancer and chronic diseases. Specifically,

• acid in the body lines the vessels with fatty plaques to prevent life-threatening leaks, but causes arteriosclerosis;
• too much acidity creates mucus as a waste product that causes infection;
• acid in the body causes cataracts, osteoporosis, gout, cancer, migraines, constipation, morning sickness, stroke, allergies, diabetes, obesity, etc.

There is absolutely no scientific evidence to back any of this up. And,

• plaque in the arteries is made of fats, cholesterol, calcium and other substances, and are not generated by acid.
• mucus is a beneficial substance secreted by glands to help you trap dust and particulate matter that you inhale and helps to fight infections, it does NOT cause infections;
• and acid does not cause poor health conditions.

In fact, the food you eat can not change the pH levels of your blood and organs or you would be in dire trouble. Your body’s pH is tightly regulated and difficult to alter, no matter what you eat. Testing the pH of urine is ineffective to determine the pH of the body because the pH of urine does not indicate the pH of your body or organs, but only of wastes from what you ingested.

Now, the only helpful part of this myth is that if you look closely at the food pH charts, look what types of foods are acidic and which are alkaline. Clearly, the fruits, and vegetables are all concentrated on the alkaline end. Eating lots of fruits and vegetables do help the body heal itself and prevent chronic diseases, but not because of their pH levels. They are good for your health because they are packed with valuable nutrients, antioxidants, water and fiber! But there is no need to avoid all of the other healthy foods like nuts, dairy, fish and whole grains because the acid will not harm your body.

Myth: Now is the Time to Cleanse/Detoxify your Body!

Every single year in January we hear about this.

You need to cleanse or detoxify your body after a bout of decadent foodie revelry.

FALSE.

All the food you ate will be processed naturally and any waste will be eliminated by your liver and kidneys if you’re a generally healthy person. There really isn’t anything that you can eat that will remain trapped or build up in your body poisoning you to death because your body is an expert at removing waste.

Detoxes and cleanses are really nothing but hype. They do not achieve any benefits whatsoever. Although you may lose a pound or two, you’ll surely just gain it all back as soon as you finish. So what you should do instead is just add plenty of nutrient dense fresh fruits and vegetables to your normal diet and you’ll be just fine.

Myth: Food is Medicine.

FALSE.

Food is not medicine, food is just food. Now, I’m not talking about when experts mean that food is a better way to maintain your health (if you’re healthy) than pharmaceutical products. That’s actually true.

But when there is talk about “healing”, and which foods have the “power” alleviate what ailments, I think it’s gone off the rails. Right now, my office mates are driving me batshit crazy about making some infused waters. They have a nice dispenser and there are hours long conversations swirling around my head about which fruits magically fix what health problems.

Foods have different properties, yes, but they just are not nearly as specialized or concentrated as sources would have you to believe. If they were, you’d need prescriptions for food so that you don’t overdose and cause great harm to yourself. Your body is not that fickle.

You’re probably wondering about what harm lies in treating food like medicine.Well, thinking that food can be medicine ultimately leads to magical and usually wrong thinking about what it actually can and can not do. Not only that, it’s a slippery slope towards whole good food bad food thinking, which creates really a toxic relationship with food. At a time when disordered eating and obsession with following the fantastical “perfect” diet, we really shouldn’t promote these food fantasies.

Food is not meant to be treated in a cool, feelingless clinical way, with you dutifully following super specific instructions on what to eat and when. To maintain good health long term, there needs to be comfort and no anxiety around what to eat and how to live your life in general.

That’s why I dedicate my efforts towards helping food lovers who are at risk of developing chronic lifestyle diseases to learn to listen to their bodies, eat mindfully and practice realistic healthy eating without all the nonsense and drama. Healthy eating should be easy and not take over your entire life.

Myth: Struggling to Lose Weight? You May Have a Slow Metabolism.

FALSE.

OMG not another b.s. story about boosting your metabolism!

I’m on an all-out “mission from gahdt” to put the metabolism nonsense to rest.

I’m not even going to link to the silly story about metabolism boosting that appeared in my feed this morning. Do they not know who I am!? LOL.

Ok, I’ve already explained metabolism the best way I could (as a non- but wannabe scientist). But here is a good primer video from Khan Academy.

Just so you know, metabolism is much, much more complicated than you simply “burning” up enough fat to look good in your swimsuit. Metabolism is actually all of the chemical processes in all living organisms of breaking down  and building up, that sustain life. All of it. I think if you had a so-called slow metabolism, you would die. You cannot use weight loss as an overall measure of metabolic output.

Now that we have that out of the way, there are specific metabolic functions that will affect how much fat you’re storing. While this is not an exhaustive list, in fact, it’s quite abbreviated, here are a few common hormones that work together to increase or decrease appetite and fat storage. Keep in mind that none of these exist in a vacuum. Your body is a highly complex set of reactions that affect other reactions.

• The  hormone ghrelin from the pancreas is over-stimulating your appetite to make you eat more than you need;
• The hormone leptin secreted from fat is not effectively signaling that you already have plenty of fat stored on your body and don’t need to be hoarding more;
• Insulin resistance could be impairing the ability of insulin to properly transport glucose into the cells for use as energy;
• The stress hormone, cortisol, levels are elevated and your body is in a chronic, low grade stressed state, causing you to store fat for potential imagined fight or flight scenarios.

It is extremely important to stop characterizing your body as somehow flawed or broken just because you don’t like the shape and size of it. Instead think in terms of making sure that your whole body is in healthy condition overall. The best way to correct any imbalances and the imbalances caused by those imbalances is to re-learn how to listen to your body’s signals and make adjustments to your lifestyle to give it what it needs to operate at its optimal level. Health is your body’s default condition, and each and every one of the hormone disorders can be treated with a balanced diet and regular, consistent exercise.

Instead of talnbout “boosting your metabolism”, change that to “getting your damn healthy lifestyle act together”.

Myth: Going Vegan is the Best Way to Healthy Eating

FALSE.

Going vegan is good for some, but not necessarily for most of us.

Vegan means eating no meat, dairy or other animal products like honey at all. But veganism is actually nothing but a label, and wearing that label does not automatically make anyone healthy. In some cases veganism has developed into something like a religious food cult. Essentially, it’s a diet.

The truth is, I eat vegan all the time. And you should too.

But the extreme restriction to ONLY vegan food can be problematic. People often  get so caught up in the right to bear the vegan label that they often develop disordered eating habits and anxiety around being super strict about food. They often live a greatly diminished quality of life due to the disruption in their social lives (unless they abandon their non-vegan friends and family). There is no such thing as healthy if you’re not genuinely happy.

Even worse, proliferation of all kinds of usually expensive fake-ass meat and dairy products jam packed with artificial nonsense can end up being way worse than regular old real meat and dairy.

Do not believe all the hype you see about veganism being a magical elixir to every ailment known to humankind because it’s absolutely not true.

Vegans catch colds and even get cancer just like everyone else. Sure, most people who become vegan do experience some improvement in health condition, but it’s not because of they’re running around telling everyone they’re vegan, or the strict rejection of animal products. They become healthier because they are very mindful about everything they eat, and usually, but not always, they greatly increase their intake of vegetables, fruits and legumes.

So flawed logic strikes again. Rejecting animal products is not what makes vegans healthy, concentrating on vegetables, fruits and legumes and being mindful of what they put in their mouths is what makes them healthy.

So, you can go vegan if you want but all you really need to do is focus on eating more real, whole plant based foods and be mindful about what you put in your mouth. And you can maybe even eat some ribs, eggs or a steak from time to time, imagine that!

Forget about wearing that vegan label like some silly badge of honor that makes you special and instead just listen to your body’s signals to determine how much or little animal based food to eat, and you will experience all the benefits but none of the pains in the ass of veganism.

There are hundreds more healthy eating myths not covered in this post, but do you want it to go on forever and ever? Whenever you hear some healthy eating advice that either sounds too good to be true, or too bad to be true, it’s probably based on myth, not science. Instead of blindly following it, get curious and do some research. Be wary of bad sources of science and entities who are trying to sell you something. And stay tuned to LifeBliss Foodie because I will be covering more of these myths in the future.