Following the latest trends in dieting and taking advice from every “expert“ you stumble upon online might not be such a good idea in terms of your weight loss goals. After all, some fat loss techniques can seem far beyond questionable even to the average amateur lost in the mysteries of nutrition.
The worst thing about misleading information is that it can greatly hinder your progress instead of accelerating it, leaving you confused and disappointed – almost ready to give it all up and go back to your daily outbursts of dissatisfaction with your appearance. And it wouldn’t even be your own fault you couldn’t succeed, you just read the wrong article.
If you need some assistance in spotting the fallacies in the world of dieting, let us warn you about four absolutely awful fat loss myths you should stay away from.
1. There is always superior diet
Well, not really.
Studies have concluded that the same diet can work differently for different people. So don’t follow blindly what others tell you will be great for you – or at least don’t be surprised when it doesn’t turn out that way. You may need some time to find the right diet for you, and that’s okay. Just listen to your own body – it will be the first to let you know how certain nutrients affect it. And remember, you need to give the body a few weeks to fully adjust to a new diet before you can see any significant results. So don’t jump right into a new diet plan only few days later because the first one „doesn’t work“.
You are guaranteed to have more success with sticking with one diet for a longer time, even if it isn’t the perfect one, than changing your mind three times in one month and torturing your body with every single „miraculous“ diet you pick up during lunch break at the office.
The most important thing is to stay healthy and feel good about your lifestyle – this is not a trend, it’s a mindset. Making the commitment to a healthier way of life should make you feel like you’re doing the right thing and provide you with enough motivation to make lasting positive changes in the way you treat your body.
2. All calories are equal
No, they’re not, and this is a rather damaging myth.
The calories found in vegetables don’t affect our bodies the same way as the calories that come from meat. While it’s true that all calories have the same amount of energy, the body digest them differently and their impact on metabolism and satiety can also vary greatly. Furthermore, different foods go through different biochemical pathways, some more efficient than others, and have different effect on our hormones. And the more efficient a metabolic pathway is, the more of the foods energy can be used for work.
Have you heard of the “thermic effect of food“? This is a measure of how much different foods increase energy expenditure, i.e. how much energy is required to digest and metabolize their nutrients. In these terms, when you consume food with a higher thermic effect that requires more energy to be metabolized, your body will burn more calories in the process of digestion, resulting with a greater metabolic boost. For example, protein requires a lot more energy to metabolize than fat and carbs, which makes its calories less fattening – that’s the reason why high protein diets can be so efficient at fat loss. Overly processed foods and simple sugars get digested quickly, while natural and whole-grain foods are harder to break down, so they can help you burn more fat by using it as a fuel for the digestive process.
One study compared two sandwich meals that had the same number of calories and macronutrients, but one was made with whole-grain bread and cheddar cheese while the other was made with white bread made from refined grains and processed cheese.
And guess what? Those who ate the whole grain sandwich burned twice as many calories during the digestion of the meal. The conclusion here is quite simple: eliminate overly processed foods from your diet and get the most of your calories from complex carbs, proteins and healthy fats found in quality food in as natural state as possible.
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