If you are a desperate dieter, you may be willing to try anything to lose weight when nothing else has worked. Weight loss myths have always been popular, from the grapefruit diet and cabbage soup diet to the more sophisticated carbohydrate-restricted diets. Before believing a myth, it's important to learn about popular myth traps and know how to spot them.
Significance of Nutrients
Weight loss and nutrition myths commonly attempt to convince dieters of potential drawbacks to important nutrients. The popularity of the low-carb diet has convinced many people that carbohydrates are bad for you. Actually, carbohydrates are very important to your body. They are your body's primary calorie source. Harvard University says "good carbs, not no carbs" should be the guideline. Carbohydrates in the form of fruits would be an example of a good carb, and cake would be an example of a bad carb. Another myth is that fats are bad for you. While fats such as trans fats can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease, other fats such as omega-3 fatty acids may potentially decrease your risk of cancer.
Exaggerated Features
Weight loss and nutrition myths often feature a quick remedy to lose weight. These myths may exaggerate results, giving you a false perception of reality. Discovery Health reminds viewers that the claim "that you can lose 54 pounds in 6 weeks” is not true. It argues that to lose that amount of weight in six weeks, you must burn 4500 calories per day, and that the only way to do this would be to "eat nothing AND run a marathon every day for 42 days." Even when results are guaranteed, don't blindly buy into an impossible premise.
Fads
Often a weight loss myth revolves around the latest fads. The Weight-Control Information Network website provides factual information that fad diets do not promote permanent weight loss. In fact, fad diets will often lead to unrealistic restrictions that cause immediate weight gain once the diet is stopped. This network also reminds dieters that "fad diets may be unhealthy because they may not provide all of the nutrients your body needs."
Effects of Fat-Free Foods
As a consumer, you are bombarded with new low-fat and fat-free foods each time you visit the grocery store. An uninformed shopper could easily be led to believe that fat-free food is also calorie-free, with the shopper eating much more than she otherwise would have. Labels of reduced fat and fat-free products should be scrutinized, as many of these products are also high in sodium. It is a nutrition myth that fat-free manufactured products, such as cookies or crackers, are all good for you.
Late-Night Myth
The nutrition myth that you will gain weight by eating late in the evening is likely related to the fact that eating late in the evening often means eating more than you need to eat. A calorie is a calorie no matter what time of the day it is consumed, and eating too many regardless of the time of day will lead to weight gain. The Weight-Control Information Network says that in the evening, people also relax and grab a snack to end the night, and "it may be easier to overeat when you are distracted by the television."
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