Comments on: Top 10 Food Myths Debunked

By: jlhuff

jlhuff — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:55:04 +0000

Whoa, I am so sorry that post was so long!

By: jlhuff

jlhuff — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:54:14 +0000

I had a doctor tell me there’s no such thing as negative calories. The salt thing is not how people think it is, it is more if you have more salt that potassium that is bad or if you have more potassium than salt that can cause problems but if they are balanced then you won’t have problems. So yes, it has an impact on your blood pressure but salt is not the cause of high blood pressure. And as far as fast food, it is bad because the portions are needlessly large and have way more fat, calories, and salt than you need to consume in a single meal. Fast food places usually serve portions that have the caloric equivalent of what a person needs to take in in one day. That’s why it’s bad. However, it doesn’t mean you can’t ever eat fast food, but you should choose things that don’t come in those gargantuan portion sizes and that aren’t going to be the equivalent of your entire days salt, fat, cholesterol and calorie intake. I have those Eat this, Not that books, and they show how incredibly bad the serving sizes and fat/salt/calorie contents are at places like McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, etc. I have a whole other reason for not eating fast food, I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and fast food aggravates it. I get horrible pains in my stomach, nausea, and it tends to cause me to visit the bathroom a lot when it gets aggravated (my way of trying not to be totally gross about this particular symptom) I had a very bad flare up of my IBS last year, I think it was triggered off by my having the stomach flu, I was so ill I was in the emergency room twice, and afterwards I had trouble eating, my stomach would go nuts when I ate pretty much anything. It took me 7 months to be able to eat things without my stomach go insane. In order to keep my stomach from going nuts anymore I have changed my eating habits. I don’t eat beef, fried foods, breaded foods, raw veggies, spicy foods, or dairy products. The dairy is because when I got sick last year, I ended up being severely lactose intolerant to the point even a little butter in something I ate made me sicker than a dog. I used to have a little bit of an issue with dairy, but after I got sick my dairy issues went nuclear. I don’t eat fast food often, and usually it’s a grilled chicken sandwich and just recently I started being able to eat french fries (the one fried thing I can eat, and I think my stomach handles them because they are potatoes and potatoes are really easy on my stomach) Because I had such problems eating last year I had to do the 6 small meals a day thing, as my gut got used to only eating small meals because I couldn’t tolerate a lot of food. It was weird because I would get nauseous if I went more than 2 or 3 hours without eating, so I would eat 6 meals and they’d be 2 or 3 hours apart and my belly was happy. Over 7 months I lost 70 lbs because of how little appetite I had and how I ate 6 small meals a day because of it. I never eat pizza hut anymore, they don’t have anything on their menu that doesn’t upset my stomach, neither does KFC(too spicy) plus pizzas have cheese on them, so that’s another reason it’s out of the question. I have had to give up pretty much all processed foods because they mess with my stomach, and many of them have dairy in them in some form. I have to be really careful about where and what I eat because of my IBS and lactose intolerance because just a little bit of dairy or one of my other trigger foods and I can get really sick. It sucks. I even had to give up lunch meat which never cause me any problems before I got sick, because it there’s actually milk products(like whey) in the liquid they’re preserved with. Lunch meat now makes me very sick. I have to get those Ore Ida Steam and Mash Potatoes when I want to make mashed potatoes and make mine with margarine because I can’t have dairy in my mashed potatoes. That is how I learned that I was now suddenly severely lactose intolerant after I was ill, I had some mashed potatoes for dinner last Easter and was sick for a week. So my point with all this was to show that the 6 meals a day thing can work, if you’re truly eating small meals. I was, and those meals added up to fewer calories than I used to eat and so I went from 180lbs to 110lbs in 7 months and have pretty much kept it off since then. The bottom line though on weight loss is fewer calories + more exercise=weight loss. And the only people who can truly give you medical advice are doctors, nutritionists, dietitians, etc. that have gone to school for it and are professionals.

By: knowsnothing

knowsnothing — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:28:38 +0000

The reason they say celery has “negative” calories, is because of its high fiber, because of this the calories may be eaten, but they are not absorbed, and thus may as well be negative.

By: devchushka

devchushka — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:50:43 +0000

Да уж. Как говорится в устоявшемся выражении:
Это в НАШЕЙ стране на каждую некрасивую девушку приходится 42 литра водки.

By: k

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:45:09 +0000

fast foods are a boon to medical industry in US. plz eat them daily

By: kro

kro — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:20:32 +0000

does the one about the giant woodlice that eat you count because if it does its quite a good one

By: beefcakex

beefcakex — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:24:05 +0000

I’m sure with all the comments here someone has mentioned this already, but I’ll say it anyway, #6 is absolutely not a myth.

“It is all too easy to turn six small meals into six large meals.”
That would be irrelevant to the fact that 6 SMALL meals would be better than 3 LARGE meals. I’m not going to argue that people may end up doing this, it’s their own personal issue if they don’t follow their diet properly. It does not debunk the fact!

The Myth: It is better to eat six small meals during the day instead of three larger meals

“This myth again comes down to the whole “calories per day” rule. If your three large meals contain as many calories as your six small meals, there is no difference at all.”

False, it is not about the calories. Actually,I don’t even count calories when cut back to my weight class. I cycle my carbohydrates and eat. Why? Because frequently eating small meals will prevent blood sugar levels from rising. This causes the body to release insulin, insulin is an anabolic hormone. Therefore, it will cause you to gain weight/slow down weight loss. Bigger meals = Bigger insulin spike.

Controlling insulin levels is one the most important parts of a diet. That’s why sugars are a huge ‘No’!

http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/7habits.htm
There is a great link.

Chuck Rudolph and Tom Venuto also preach this, check out their books. They debunk all the myths surrounding weight loss and gives you the scientific truth.

To add to it the ISSA, who I am certified by also agree.

“For the majority of people it is easier to put the time aside for three meals – so this is still the best choice for most. As we have discussed on a previous list (item 1), the time of day that you eat does not have a bearing on weight gain or loss.”

I do agree, having 3 meals is more convenient and it is easier, but it is not the best choice.

The night time myth is very annoying, I agree on that one.
“According to the Mayo Clinic, 10 – 35% of your daily dietary intake should be protein – whether trying to gain weight, lose weight, or maintain weight.”

Also you mentioned something about protein shakes. Doctors/Clinics will always recommend a healthy diet/food pyramid style. This is not the most effective way to lose weight, it’s a great way to maintain a healthy lifestyle and gain/maintain lean body mass coupled with working out. Losing fat, lots of it will require carbohydrates low on the glycemic index, lower carbs, clean fat sources, lower fats in general.(not lower on fats if you decide to follow a ketogenic diet, I am not a fan of this, but it works) Well? Now you don’t have that large percentage of your calories coming from fats or carbohydrates. So now your protein intake has to make up for the rest of it.

BUT, you are correct about the whole weight gaining part. Ridiculous amounts of protein will not allow you to gain any more muscle mass. Whey protein is good though, it absorbs quickly post workout.

I could keep on going on this, but I think I’ve already rambled on enough.

By: Don

Don — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:21:11 +0000

1. A fat free product is better for you than the same product containing fat.
2. 540 calories of Big Mac is considerably worse for you than 530 calories of chicken salad (the extra salt isn’t that bad).
3. Body builders drink protein shakes because of the type of protein they deliver, not necessarily the quantity. They also contain other nutrients that aid in building strong muscles.
4. This is retarded, you say that fresh fruit isn’t better than dried but then offer no reason WHAT SO EVER as to why dried is better. The lack of vitamin C clearly makes fresh fruit better.
5. Smaller meals are better NOT because of the ‘calories per day’ rule, but because eating smaller portions throughout the day keeps your body satisfied. This prevents you from becoming hungry and eating until you feel full, at which point you’ll have likely eaten far too much food.
6. Eating 10 sticks of celery an hour will result in negative calorie burn. If you eat an equivalent of just about anything else, you’d be eating a ton of food and gain some serious weight. FYI, it’s entirely possible to consume too much of ANYTHING. Heck, drinking too much water can kill you!
7. Drink Tea, it’s better all around.
8. There are different types of cravings and I have never heard of anyone that had a craving for ‘chocolate’. People are craving the SUGAR in chocolate and those people just happen to like chocolate more than other confections. This is why the people in the study had their cravings satisfied when fed the substitute.
9. Salt does in fact increase blood pressure temporarily, however it does not cause high blood pressure. The reason it’s bad to eat a lot of salt if you have high blood pressure is thus; the water retention caused by excess salt can cause your (already) high blood pressure to soar to dangerous levels, leading to a stroke or heart attack. Listen to your doctor, mmmkay?
10. This is just plain ridiculous. Any amount of raw vegetables is infinitely better for you than an equal amount of fast food. A ‘moderate’ amount of fast food over a long period of time is quite unhealthy, as almost every type contains corn and corn byproducts (high fructose corn syrup, etc…). Seriously, why would you advocate the consumption of ANY type fast food?

I’m seriously starting to hate these kinds of lists. People will believe any amount of nonsense if you itemize it.

By: shingie

shingie — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:43:46 +0000

Fast food isn’t bad for you? Are you kidding me? They use table salt — which you said in previous lists is incredibly unhealthy. Also, they add preservatives to maintain the freshness food — in reality the fast-food isn’t fresh at all. They don’t even use real ingredients, and through processing the food loses much of its nutritional value. Not to mention the high calorie count, and the sources of fat they use.

You’ll have to eat more food to make up for the nutrition that you didn’t get from the fast food.

Also, why is it that the calorie & fat count is the only consideration when calling foods healthy? You have to look at the source of fat — olive oil fat is healthier than bacon fat. Calories are a measure of energy. This is why the “fat-free” or “low-calorie” foods are scam, because people think that those are the only two considerations to look at when dieting. Occaisionally cholestrol too.

If you go, “Oh, I’ll diet by eating only 1000 calories a day by eating fast food, candy bars, and soda”, you’d better off be eating the regular 2000 calories by consuming veggies, fruits, meats the more natural way.

Fresh fruit IS best — the companies who manufacture canned fruits, dried fruits, fruit juice add copious amounts of sugar & syrup that you’ll be needing to exercise a whole lot to burn them off. I’m diabetic so because of lack of sugar in my diet, I’m very sensitive to the cane sugars. Cane sugar tastes a whole lot different from fruit sugar, and when it goes through your digestive system it feels different; I can taste that they’ve added plenty of sugar.

What I don’t understand why people want to eat low-fat foods to lose weight, but seldom pay attention to the sugar intake.

Dieting shouldn’t just be fixated on burning more calories than you eat; you should focus where you’re getting your calories from, and focusing on proper, more natural ways of getting nutrition.

By: Bryn

Bryn — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:35:44 +0000

Uh cool, i didn’t know these weren’t ture