Dieting Myths & Facts

Myth: Eating late at night will pile on extra weight

Recent experiments carried out at the Human Nutrition Research Centre in Cambridge revealed that people who ate their main meal at 8pm burned up exactly the same calories as others who had theirs at lunch time. Over eating at this time of night though, is worse because there is not much time left in the day for your body to actively burn up any extra calories
Fact: Having a drink before dinner stimulates appetite
Dutch researchers did tests on 40 men and women, which revealed that those who drank alcohol 30 minutes before a meal ate more quickly and consumed more calories. Water is best!

Myth: Obesity is genetic

Only 1% of obese people can blame their parents for passing on a ‘fat gene’. The obesity epidemic is down to sedentary lifestyles with energy-rich and fat-laden diets.
Fact: Breakfast is the most important meal and can help with weight loss
The body’s internal chemistry is at its most active first thing in the morning, so anything eaten then will used to the maximum.

Myth: Yogurt is the perfect food for people on a diet

Many dieters swear by it, but some yogurt can be as fattening as ice-cream. Greek yogurt has 10% fat.
Fact: An apple a day keeps the doctor away
People who eat temperate fruits (such as apples) rather than tropical fruits, have less chance of getting heart disease. Apples are part of the low carbohydrate group and are known only to slightly raises blood-sugar levels.

Myth: Calories derived from fat make you fatter than calories from carbohydrates

It makes no difference whether excess calories are from fat such as butter or a carbohydrate like bread, both will make you gain weight.
Fact: People who diet are supposed to live longer
A low-calorie, yet nutritionally balanced diet, has been shown to slow down the ageing process dramatically.

Myth: Exercise only makes you want to eat more

Often people shy away from doing exercise using this excuse. However, research has shown that after 20 minutes of exercise, people ate no more than those who had done nothing.
Fact: Drinking a litre of water every day helps dieting
Not only does water flush out and purify the system but drinking a glass of water 30 minutes before a meal helps weight loss. It fills you up and makes you eat less.

Myth: Chocolate makes you fat

Most diets tell you to avoid chocolate. But in scientific studies no individual food has been implicated as the sole cause of weight gain.Fact: Becoming a vegetarian helps weight loss
Red meat contains a great deal of saturated fat, so cutting it out will reduce your fat intake, as long as the red meat isn’t replaced by other high calorie foods.

Myth: You can change your body shape through dieting

People often diet not because they are overweight but because they are unhappy with their body shape. Sadly, they are wasting their time. You can only modify and streamline your given shape. If you are carrying no extra weight and you are still unhappy with your shape, then exercise is the answer.
Fact: ‘Grazing’ helps dieters to lose weight According to Professor John Blundell, from Leeds University, eating four or five high-carbohydrates, low-fat snacks daily, can result in people consuming fewer calories and grams of fat daily than if they ate three square meals. Grazing does not mean eating all day long though!

Myth: Reduced fat foods help you to lose weight

Most diets promote low-fat foods. They can help but many are bulked out with other ingredients to replace the fat, which means that the calorie count (the crucial factor in determining whether the food will make you put on weight) is barely reduced.
Fact: Dieting is hard work.
Who ever said dieting was easy! If you are determined to lose weight though, you will! Remember, you have put the weight on and it is the same physical equation to put on weight , as it is to lose it! You
have put it on and you can lose it!