Tag Archives: food myths

What is more important than sugar, saturated fat, carbohydrates and calories?

July 26, 2016 By in Nutrition that works Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

A banana is 13% sugar, and has a greater percentage of sugar than soft drink.

Yet the banana also contains potassium, magnesium, dietary fibre, Vitamin C and (when partially unripe) is one of the richest sources of resistant starch. It’s consumption, as part of a diet that contains a variety of other fruits, helps to protect you from heart disease and stroke, weight gain, and helps to prolong your life.

Cheese is typically rich in saturated fat, and has a very similar fatty acid content to butter.

Yet cheese also contains calcium, protein, magnesium, Vitamin B2 and Vitamin B12. It’s consumption lowers cholesterol when eaten in replace of butter, is not actually associated with weight gain, and may (slightly) help to protect you from cardiovascular disease and Type 2 Diabetes.

Extra-virgin olive oil and nuts are both extremely rich sources of calories and fat, and provide a denser source of both than a doughnut.

Yet both extra-virgin olive oil and nuts are very rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, phenols and other antioxidants. The liberal addition of these foods to the diet protects against both cardiovascular disease and Type 2 Diabetes (substantially), whilst also appearing to potentially reduce body weight and waist circumference.

Wholemeal bread is rich in rapidly-digested carbohydrates, and results in a greater spike to blood sugar than table sugar does.

Yet wholemeal bread also contains dietary fibre, Vitamin B1, Vitamin E, folate, various minerals and phytochemicals, particularly phenolic antioxidants. It’s consumption, as part of a diet containing a variety of other whole or fibrous grains, helps to protect you from Type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, bowel cancer, weight gain, and helps to prolong your life, too.

Why do we believe the presence of a ‘negative’ nutrient – whether it is sugar, saturated fat, carbohydrates or calories – means a food is unhealthy or fattening?

Much more important, is to look for the abundance of positive nutrients found in minimally processed foods, instead.

Why you shouldn’t eat like Elle Macpherson

November 2, 2015 By in Nutrition that works Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

One of the main reasons I see for all the confusion in nutrition today?

People seeing association as causation.

Association is 2 things that occur at the same time. This doesn’t mean that one causes another.

Causation is a description of cause and effect. One only happens directly because of the other.

Yes, it’s sunny when you’re at the beach, and raining when your umbrella is up. But going to the beach or reaching for your umbrella won’t change the weather, of course.

If we understand this, why believe that eating how Elle Macpherson eats is the right thing to do?

3 reasons why you can skip the detox diet this year

October 5, 2015 By in Quit the dieting Tags: , , , Leave a comment
  1. There is no strong scientific evidence whatsoever to suggest detox diets remove toxins from the body. You see, because detox diets rarely define the toxins they aim to remove, or the process in which they eliminate them, their claims can rarely even be tested scientifically.
  2. The concept of detox dieting itself is flawed. Our liver, lungs, kidneys, intestines and immune system already remove harmful substances that enter our body, often within hours of their consumption.
  3. Detox diets often bring with them a number of unwanted side effects: low energy levels, nutritional deficiencies, headaches, constipation, and lost money on the unnecessary laxatives or supplements sold with the diet, are just some of the many examples. 

Yes, the promise of better health, weight loss, increased energy, glowing skin and greater confidence, in as little as a few days time, sounds too good to be true, because it is.

But whilst detox diets are a marketing exercise, and not a science, perhaps the biggest concern for me is that they make us believe that we have to do something drastic for better health.

We don’t.

Making small changes today that we can actually stick with leads to better health over time.

And when we make changes that do stick, we build the confidence and motivation that allows us to continue making more of them, long into the future.

The 3 dangerous myths we believe about our body weight

August 31, 2015 By in Love your body Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Far too many people today face stigma and discrimination for being overweight.

What’s more, this discrimination is often rationalised as OK.

But please don’t be fooled: there is nothing that is OK about this.

The presence and tolerance of this discrimination is largely a result of these 3 dangerous myths we believe about our body weight:

1. Overweight and obesity are the direct result of overeating and inactivity. It’s your fault if you’re fat.
2. Being overweight is always unhealthy. For you to be healthy, you need to lose weight.
3. Sustainable weight loss is easy. If you just had the willpower to continue eating better and moving more, the weight will stay off.

Each of these 3 beliefs are very, very wrong.

First, scientific research shows body weight is a highly heritable trait. Our genes directly affect how our appetite and metabolism respond when we overeat, and in this way determine how sensitive we are to gaining weight. Indeed, the heritability of our body weight has been estimated by some to be as high as the heritability of our body height.

Second, weight loss is not a prerequisite for good health. Research shows good health is possible at a wide range of body weights, and that better health can easily be obtained without losing a significant amount of weight. Not only is it more important to live healthily and happily than it is to lose weight, but we are now seeing a growing understanding that dieting and the pursuit of weight loss often causes more problems than it solves.

Third, once we are overweight, our bodies fight hard to keep it. Decades of research shows that almost all persons who lose weight regain it within the next 5 years. Our bodies have a biological set-point that means our weight typically remains stable over the long-term, no matter how much willpower we may have.

We should all be made aware of the myths that we believe about our body weight.

Not just because we are currently buying into a worldview that is wrong. But because we are also currently buying into a worldview that helps to foster a discrimination that’s hurtful and dangerous.

When we are told and believe that how we are is wrong, not enough and less than, we feel lost, hopeless and worthless.

Slowly but surely, it breaks us down and damages the very core of who we are.

It is essential to understand too that harmful words are not helpful. Shaming and belittling others does not create greater motivation or encourage one into eating better or moving more. Indeed, research suggests shame may erase the very part of us that believes we can change and do better.

So, how can we help to reverse this stigma and discrimination?

Together, we can speak up. When we hear someone making comments about someone’s weight, we can tell them that it’s not OK and that it hurts. It doesn’t matter if the person they are talking about is us or someone else. It doesn’t matter if they are in the room or not. And it doesn’t matter if they are talking about someone specific, or just people in general. We can tell them that saying hurtful things is never OK by us.

Together, we can say sorry. If we have ever said something hurtful to someone based on their weight, it’s not too late for us to apologise. We all make mistakes and say things we regret, and it will likely do them the world of good to know that we are sorry and that we care.

And together, we can love ourselves. Research tells us that we judge people in the areas where we are vulnerable to shame, especially those who are doing worse than we’re doing. When we feel good about our body, we lose the need to make others feel bad about theirs. Loving ourselves also gives us the leverage to tell someone we know who has been affected what we really think about them: that they are beautiful, both inside and out.

Doing these things are important and they truly make a difference.

We are all deserving of being loved, and accepted, for exactly the way that we are.

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