Debunked Food Myths
Separating food facts from fiction
Most conventional food wisdom or eating advice can often seem confusing, and are not always wise to follow. Here are some common food myths and how to make healthier choices.
1. “You can eat as much healthy
fat as you like”
While olive oil, packed with monounsaturated fat, is better for your heart than the artery-clogging saturated fat in butter, both have 100 to 120 calories per tablespoon. In fact, all fats have roughly the same number of calories, says Samantha Heller, RD, author of Get Smart: Samantha Heller’s Nutrition Prescription for Boosting Brain Power and Optimizing Total Body Health. So go easy.
2. “Fresh fruit is better
than dried fruit”
If you are looking for vitamin ‘C’, then fresh fruit is best. But, dried fruit contains just as many nutrients and sugar for energy as fresh fruit. If you subscribe to the notion that you should eat 5 fruits a day, then you only need one tablespoon of dried fruit per portion – so five tablespoons of dried fruit fulfills your daily need. The same is true for canned or frozen fruit. Fruit juice is also able to be used as a daily fruit portion, but only one per day should be made up of juice only.
3. “Dark bread is better
than white”
Dark bread is no better than white bread as it might contain artificial caramel coloring, University of Scranton psychology professor Michael Oakes, PhD, says. Always look for the words “whole grain” or “100 percent whole wheat” on the package. That means the bread is made from unrefined wheat, which has more than double the fiber and is also higher in potassium and magnesium.
4. Is “natural” better for you?
The word “natural” is not defined by the The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and can mean just about anything. Even products labeled “all natural” can be highly processed and can contain high fructose corn syrup; a manufactured sugar that some researchers think is a contributor to the spike in obesity. Now, the word “organic,” is regulated by the CFIA and simply means the food is made without most conventional pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, growth hormones, and antibiotics.
5. “Fat-free food is
calorie free”
This is a very common myth – so common that food manufacturers market to it. Fat free is so loosely used that marketers emphasize it as a major part of their marketing strategy. This is the reason why so many products are labelled “fat-free,” “low in fat,” “fat reduced,” etc. People who want to lose weight will chow down on all of these “low fat” foods thinking they are going to lose weight. But in actuality, they often tend to eat more calories. What really matters when trying to lose weight is monitoring your calorie intake - eat fewer calories than you burn, and you will lose weight. In addition, when fat is removed from food, a lot of the flavor is removed as well. Consequently, extra sugars and chemicals are often added to give back the flavor. Be wary of fat-free food as they can often be far worse than regular foods.
6. De-caffeinated coffee
=no caffeine?
International standards require decaf coffee to be 97% caffeine free. The process of removing caffeine is complex, and as a result the many chemicals (up to 400) that are essential to the taste of coffee are lost. If you have an allergy to caffeine, you should keep away from all forms of coffee, including decaf. But if not, you should just opt for regular coffee, as the chemical often used in decaffeinating coffee beans (dichloromethane) is also used as a paint stripper.
7. should You eat
A LOT of protein”
Whether trying to gain weight, lose weight, or maintain weight, 10 to 35% of your daily dietary intake should be protein. Most of this protein comes from our regular food, so we seldom need to take protein supplements. Two recent studies in the Independent Sport Medicine journals, found that excessive levels of protein did not necessarily indicate larger quantities of muscle development. Dr. Richard Krieder from the University of Memphis states: “Although it is important for athletes to get an adequate amount of protein… consuming additional amounts of protein does not appear to promote muscle growth.”