Myths About Nutrition

When it comes to nutrition lots of us grew up with bad advice or downright lies about was it is good for us. We also are misinformed quite regularly by information from the internet.

The first myth I want to address is that fat makes you fat. While fat itself doesn’t create fat, “Fat, whether its margarine, olive oil, or butter, is a concentrated source of calories. If you eat a lot of fat in your diet, you’re going to consume a lot of calories, and yes, that can make you gain weight.”

Before you axe fat from your diet, note that all fats aren’t bad. Unsaturated fats, as well as omega-3 fatty acids, are essential for optimum health, and omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to lower the risk of heart disease and stroke. You should bet twenty to thirty per cent of their daily calories from healthy fats, so choose wisely. No better way to make sure you keep a trim waist, especially after pregnancy.

Another myth is that wine lowers blood pressure. We were told that drinking wine every day can lower it. However drinking MORE than two glasses of wine a day can actually boost it.

Most of us believe that it is carbohydrates that make you fat. This is not quite true. I f you eat more than you need, whether it’s fat, carbohydrates, protein, you’ll store those extra calories as body fat, period.” If you’re a carb lover, make friends with the gym; burning the extra calories with regular exercise is the best way to eat a diet high in carbohydrates without losing your waistline in the process.

Many of us grew up believing that brown eggs were more nutritious than white eggs. This is simply not true either. The nutritional content between brown eggs and white eggs is exactly the same; the difference is just the colour of the shell, and that’s only because the brown eggs are laid by a different breed of then.

The same goes for the old white sugar versus brown sugar debate. Brown sugar is just white sugar with molasses added to it. It is not any more nutritious in any way.

Did you grow up believing that it is okay to eat whatever you want while you are pregnant? This is one of the biggest myths going! Calorie requirements only increase by 300 calories in trimesters two and three. Unfortunately y some moms take the idea of 'eating for two' much too literally.

In the next blog I will explore nutritional myths just like this.