Food Myths and Truths

Eating is a part of our everyday lives. It's unavoidably human. As are the myths circulating about food. Calories, weight loss, skipping meals, water needs, carbs, and sugar, it's a tall order to weed out the factual from the fantastic in many instances. Here are a few myths and truths about food that may be helpful in your quest for the perfect diet.

When you are overweight and desperate to lose some inches and pounds without having to give up eating you just may believe the myth that calories don't count. The truth is that calories do matter when it comes to healthy eating, especially if you are overweight. Calories are a measurement of energy. Your body needs the energy you get from the food you eat. Reducing your caloric intake allows you to lose weight. If you increase your caloric intake and decrease your activity, you will gain weight. It really is just that simple.

Fad diets where a person is suppose to eat just one or two kinds of foods in order to lose weight guarantee weight loss. This is also a myth that many people fall for. You have probably heard of diets like these, the grapefruit diet, the popcorn diet etc., Diets that are so restrictive that an individual limits their intake to one or two types of food are eating in an unhealthy manner. The truth is that you may indeed lose weight because you will most likely be taking in a lot fewer calories, but your body will not be getting the nutrients it needs for building and maintaining healthy tissue. You will also soon become bored eating the same food over and over and over again.

Everyone at one time or another has skipped a meal. Some skip meals when they are running late, or forget to pack lunch or bring lunch money. Some individuals intentionally skip meals because they believe the myth that doing so will help them to lose weight. The truth is that when you skip meals, your body goes into slow gear because it will think that it needs to go into survival mode because it is starving. The result is that your metabolism will slow, you will digest food more slowly, you will get hungrier, and then when you do give in and eat, because you are so hungry you will pig out and overeat. Studies show that the best way to stop from getting so hungry that you overeat is to learn how to control your appetite. Nutritionists believe that the best way to control your appetite is to graze (several small meals throughout the day and evening) so that you don't get hungry and your metabolism stays within the normal range, so you are able to burn calories instead of storing them.

Another myth about weight loss is that reducing fluid intake will make you lose weight. This is totally false. Your body craves water because it needs it to survive. The only thing you will accomplish by not drinking is that you will faint from dehydration. Even when you are not drinking your body still sweats, it still produces and eliminates urine. If you are not consuming enough water, you lose water weight. Since your body still needs fluids to survive and you are not giving it enough to do that, it will pull liquids out of the body such as the blood volume. Your blood will then thicken. Because you lack the fluid needed to conduct electrical signals between the cells in your body, your movement and thinking processes will slow down. Your body is wired to preserve itself. You will become dehydrated and you will suffer. Eventually you will have to go back to drinking, or be forced to go back to drinking by medical personnel who will put an intravenous (IV) fluid drip into your vein to re-hydrate you. Cutting back on fluid intake is not a smart thing to do.

Hopefully these facts will help you with those ideas about ways to lose weight and control your appetite. Good luck with dieting.