With abundant nutrition articles, weight loss campaigns, herbal product launches, and what not flooding the web, you, must be inundated with information. But keep in mind that not all of this is correct. Misconceptions and myths about nutrition saturate the internet.
To our dismay, people regard nutrition as something that does not require research. “Hmmm it’s just food, how wrong can it go?” is the phrase often used by laymen. Well, it can go very wrong. Think of a health issue and then look at your plate, you are likely to find the cause in your plate. Buried deep under tasty spices and seasoning there are various bombs in your food that might explode and take you down with them.
I am aware of how difficult it is to decipher what is right and what is wrong. Getting slapped with information from left and right you must be confused, but I am here to help you clear out the common myths about nutrition.
Common Myths About Nutrition And Food
Here are a few of the common misconception and myths about nutrition
I Eat A Single Roti
“I don’t eat much just one chapatti at mealtimes.” You too often use this phrase to justify your increasing weight and shift the blame from your overeating to your genetics.
The usual roti made in Pakistani households consists of two servings. A single serving of roti is just six inches long roti, about the size of your hand. This by no means says that you can not eat your usual roti but if you do so, count it as two servings.
Brown Sugar Is Healthy
With you longing for a way to satisfy your sweet tooth, sugar can be a common misconception. Avoiding white sugar and loading your chai with heaps of brown sugar will do no good to your health. The only difference between the two is of color.
Brown sugar contains molasses which comes with some minerals, but these minerals are too little in quantity that they don’t make any difference. Brown sugar contains the same amount of calories as white sugar and goes through the same processing. Much like white sugar brown sugar comes with a risk of obesity, heart disease, and hormonal imbalance.
Natural Means Healthy
This is the most common misconception. People deem everything natural and organic as healthy and don’t waste a minute buying them. Well, not everything natural is good, and not everything processed is bad. If that were the case venom would have been good and medicines would have been your worst enemy.
Although organic foods can be a good version of their inorganic counterparts, it still doesn’t exclude the harms of sugar, salt, and other natural ingredients added into them. It is always important to check labels and focus on each and every ingredient rather than the stamp of organic.
Fruit Juices Are The Best
Fruit juices pack a punch. They are loaded with vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes. But a much ignored fact is that they are loaded with calories and sugars too. There is no denying, that fruit juices provide benefits beyond just good taste but if you are chugging down glass after glass, STOP.
Fruit juices contain almost the same amount of sugar as coca-cola. If you are looking forward to losing weight and satisfy your cravings for sweets, whole fruits are your best bet.
I Can Eat As Much As I Want Because I Exercise
Exercising daily does not allow you to eat as much as possible. First, the exercise you are talking about, might not be considered as exercise even. Simple walking and climbing the stairs should be part of your daily routine.
Now, even though you exercise vigorously, it is important to maintain a balance between calories consumed and calories burnt. If you eat more than you burn you will definitely gain weight, which is something people don’t want.
Certain Foods Burn Fat
There is no food that can directly burn fat. So stop stuffing yourself with the grapefruits, you think are burning your fat. These are only providing you extra sugar and calories.
Only a calorie-restricted diet can help you in losing weight. Other foods can help in regulating your metabolism but can not guarantee weight loss on their own.
Eat Plenty If Healthy
Eating healthy doesn’t mean you can eat plenty. Keep in mind that healthy foods contain calories, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, too. An excess of calories or any of the macro or micronutrients is as deleterious as their deficiency.
This is particularly harmful if you are seeking to lose weight. The first step to lose weight is to restrict your calories and eating plenty of food does not allow that.
Gluten Is Bad
The recent propaganda against gluten on social media, endorsed by various celebrities is wrong. Gluten is neither bad nor good. It only matters if you have a gluten sensitivity or intolerance. Gluten can trigger an aggressive reaction in people with celiac disease but for normal people it does nothing.
Keep in mind that foods that contain gluten are extremely healthy and important for you. So jumping into the bandwagon of avoiding gluten could cause more harm than good.
The Bottom Line
It is important to make an educated decision about whatever you include in or exclude from your diet. Doing your own research and consulting a nutritionist is the way to go. To know better you should read and research more. You can do so by reading the nutrition blog.
Book an appointment now, to answer all your queries. You can book an appointment with top nutritionists in Pakistan through Marham by calling at Marham helpline: 0311-1222398 or by online appointment booking facility through the website or Marham mobile app.
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