Diet Myths That Stop Your Weight Loss
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012By Richard Lipman M.D.
Thousands of tips and stories by endless “experts” tell you how to lose weight. One says low carbs, one says low fat and another says you should count calories or points. Who should you believe? The key to choosing a proper diet is knowing which myths to disregard. In fact, the best diet is one that includes the foods you like, can afford and convenient.
Here are some of the important diet myths.
Diet Myth: Drinking Lots of Water Makes You Lose Weight
Drinking eight glasses of water a day does not make you lose weight, other than to fill you up so you eat less. Numerous recent scientific studies fail to show that drinking water can increase energy expenditure. Water, like any food, should be consumed in moderation and in response to thirst. Too many people waste time and effort, and thus lose focus on their food choices, when concerned with drinking glass after glass of water.
Diet Myth: Eating Eggs Raises Your Cholesterol
This myth started because egg yolks are a concentrated source of cholesterol. However, the cholesterol in egg yolks is not the type that causes heart disease. Research at Harvard Medical School shows that it is not the total fat in the diet, but the specific type of fat that can cause heart disease. While the cholesterol in eggs is mostly of the large LDL—or bad cholesterol—it is not the one that does cause heart disease. Only 20 percent of the cholesterol in your blood comes from your diet. The majority is produced by our own liver. Eat eggs, as they are a good source of protein and have easy portion control. (See the myth of low-fat diets).
Diet Myth: Eating Late In the Evening Makes You Fat
The common assumption is that night is the worst time to eat. The logic: metabolism is slowest at night. Makes sense, but no conclusive studies prove that eating late meals causes weight gain more than eating early meals. Calorie intake, type of foods, and hormones play the most important roles. the metabolism has already slowed down, are trivial compared with what happens when you end up eating two large meals a day.
Diet Myth: Low-Fat Diets Are Better than Low-Carb Diets
This grandma’s tale could easily be turned around to say that low-carb diets are better than low-fat diets. In fact, at the end of one year, there is no difference between dieters who chose low-carb diets over low-fat diets. For many reasons, low-carb dieters may have an advantage in the first few months, but that quickly changes. The key is to lower your overall food intake.
Diet Myth: Diet Soda is Bad for You
Without question, this is my favorite myth. The evidence is in! Diet sodas do not cause cancer, heart disease, cellulite, or anything else except weight loss. While water may be even “healthier” for you, diet beverages have many additional advantages to a dieter. The carbonation produces fullness and the sweet taste of the new sucralose-based drinks often helps with cravings
Diet Myth: Bread Makes You Fat Calories are calories. It does not matter where they come from. A ton of bricks weighs the same as a ton of feathers. Same thing with calories. If the bread you eat contributes to excess calories for the day, then fat accumulates in the same way it would if you eat an excess of brown rice, chocolate, or apples for that matter.
Board certified endocrinologist, internist & weight loss expert Richard Lipman MD has treated 1000′s with HCG. Author of 4 books, he relates his experience using the HCG Diet in his new book, NEW Pounds & Inches. He offers an HCG food plan & the strongest, safest HCG at http://www.BestBuyHCG.com