5 Nutrition myths you need to stop believing

Every day, something new is discovered in the field of nutrition, and new guidelines for healthy eating are implemented. However, there are some nutrition myths that just refuse to die, and people keep on following them as if they are the truth.

Well, don’t be fooled, read more to find out the 5 most common nutrition myths you need to stop believing.

1. Low-fat products are healthier

Eat fat, gain fat. This theory has been around for decades, and it just seems it won’t go away. However, it’s untrue.

To lose weight, you need to be in a caloric deficit, and you can achieve this whether by eating fat or not. So, eating fat does not automatically mean gaining fat.

Also, your body needs a certain amount of omega- and3 omega-6 fatty acids, so you need to consume some fat daily. However, try to stay away from trans-fat since they are proven to be unhealthy.

Another reason why low-fat products are not healthier is the fact that such food is often highly processed. Also, when you strip fat from the food, it usually becomes less tasty. To make up for this, producers add extra sugar and artificial flavors to the product. In fact, this often makes low-fat products unhealthy.

Conclusion: Whether you are trying to lose fat or eat healthier, there is no need to avoid healthy fats in your diet.

2. Everyone needs a regular detox

In the last couple of years, detox became quite popular among celebrities, and it seems that every actor, model, or musician has a method of detox they use on a regular basis. However, the evidence to support these claims is scarce, and studies that support them are often flawed or conducted on animals.

So, is detox really necessary for you?

The answer is: as far as we know, no. If you eat a healthy and balanced diet, your body will do the job of detoxing alone, since it already has a detox-machine: your liver. A healthy liver can detoxify almost everything an average person eats and has no need for detox.

You don’t need to eliminate toxins from your body since your body does it naturally. And if you really do have an excess amount of some toxin in your body, you don’t need a green smoothie, but a medical emergency. 

Rather than doing a detox diet, choose other ways to improve your liver health, such as:

• Limit alcohol intake

• Avoid unnecessary over-the-counter medications

• Avoid potentially dangerous chemicals

• Rinse fruit and vegetables to wash off pesticides

• Drink plenty of water

One of the most common side-effects of detox diets, the one that made them so popular, is a quick weight loss. However, this weight loss does not happen because toxins are leaving your body, but simply because you have deprived your body of nutrients, achieved caloric deficit, and thus lost weight.

Conclusion: Eat and live healthily, and your body will do all the detox for you. 

3. You shouldn’t skip breakfast

Breakfast comes from the expression ‘’breaking fast’’, meaning it’s the first meal you eat in the day. However, it’s most commonly perceived as a meal you eat as soon as you wake up.

So, is breakfast really the most important meal of the day you should never skip? No.

If we are speaking about breakfast as a meal you eat early in the morning, soon after you wake up, then no, it’s not crucial. As a matter of fact, skipping breakfast for the purpose of intermittent fasting can have many benefits for your body, since intermittent fasting:

• Helps you lose weight

• Reduces symptoms od diabetes

• Reduces inflammation

• Delay the symptoms of Alzheimer’s

Make sure that meal you are breaking your fast with (as all other meals in a day) is nutritiously rich and healthy, no matter what time of the day you are eating it.

Conclusion: You don’t need to eat breakfast, but you don’t need to skip it either. If you find that you cannot function without meal early in the day, by all means, eat breakfast.

4. Fresh food is more nutritious than frozen

Were you led to believe that fresh food is more nutritious than frozen and that freezing process takes away the nutrients from food? This turns out to be wrong.

Fresh food is often harvested while not yet ripe, and it ripens during the transport. During this process, food can lose some of its nutrients. On the other hand, frozen food is harvested and processed ripe.

Due to this, frozen food can be even more nutritious than fresh, but mostly they have very similar nutritional content.

Conclusion: Frozen food is as healthy as fresh food, so you can pick whichever suits your lifestyle more.

5. Eating too much protein will damage your kidneys

Protein has been blamed as potentially dangerous for you for some time now. Today we know that protein intake has several health benefits:

• Reduces cravings and late-night snacking

• You can burn more calories on a high-protein diet

• Increases muscle mass and strength

• Can lower blood glucose in type 2 diabetes

• Can lower blood pressure

But, will protein also be dangerous for your kidneys? No. As Healthline sums it up: high protein intake can hurt people with diagnosed kidney disease, but not to people with healthy kidneys. On the other hand, two main risks for kidney disease are high blood pressure and diabetes, and protein intake benefits both.

Conclusion: Unless you have kidney disease, there is really no reason to be afraid of proteins.

Takeaway 

There are plenty of nutrition myths that need to die but refuse to do so, but these are the most stubborn ones. To sum up:

1. Low-fat products are not necessarily healthier

2. You don’t need detox

3. You don’t need to eat breakfast

4. Frozen food is as nutritious as fresh

5. Protein is perfectly safe for your kidneys (unless you have kidney disease)

What are the nutrition myths you think people should stop believing? Let us know in the comments!