I am constantly amazed at what floats around as accepted “fact” for the weight loss industry. After more than 14 years in this field I would love to dispel some common myths. If after reading this, I at least haven’t made you reconsider your stance on a few items, then I think it may be safe to say you still believe in unicorns, mermaids and Santa Claus…
MYTH 1: A calorie is a calorie. All weight loss is, is a calorie deficit.
TRUTH: Not all calories are created equal.
160 calories of Oreos® is a fat-storing, hormone-interfering, chemical laden landmine. In that 160 calories (just 3 cookies) 24g of carbs get converted into 4.8 teaspoons of glucose (sugar) in your blood. A normal blood sugar for adults is one teaspoon. Now take 160 calories of my Chocolate Chia Peanut Butter Cup recipe, it has 2.8 g of impact carbs; less than a teaspoon of which gets turned into blood sugar. It also has real ingredients to nourish your body with healthy fats, fiber and protein instead of just empty calories. Now you can see that option one, the store bought industrial made cookie, with the same amount of calories will produce insulin, the fat storing hormone that also stimulates hunger, leaving you on the hunt for more food when your blood sugar drops back down. It also signals FAT STORAGE expanding your waistline. Option two helps you feel full and satisfied, using healthy fibers and fats to keep your blood sugar steady and your belly happy without packing on the pounds.
MYTH 2: A high protein diet will lead to quick fat loss.
TRUTH: Excess protein; anything more than your body can use immediately for repair and to build the body will be turned to glucose and stored as fat.
Want to sound really smart at your next cocktail party? When you turn down the extra cut of meat tell them you don’t want your body working overtime on “gluconeogenesis” – meaning the generation of sugar from a non-carb source. Say that 5 times fast! My nutrition clients learn to portion out protein in a moderate manner which allows for adequate bodily repair and support without flooding your system with excess proteins. Instead of living off tons of protein at every feeding, aim for more moderate amounts and combine it with substantial healthy fats and vegetables for more sustainable weight loss.
MYTH 3: A low fat diet will help me lose body fat.
TRUTH: The initiators of low–fat, fad diets should be hung out to dry.
Low fat diets typically mean higher sugar intake and have led to our obesity epidemic, high blood triglycerides, high blood pressure, heart disease, insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes, an increase in arthritis, skyrocketing cancers and devastating Alzheimer’s, brain and mood disorders. Low fat is also not very satiating so we tend to overeat in search of real nutrients. Low fat also inhibits proper hormone production over time, so we end up doing more metabolic damage than good. Shall I continue? But we LOVE our carbs don’t we? It’s amazing when you realize we consume foods multiple times a day that lead to all these terrible problems, but we still refuse to give them up. My F…The Diet program will help transition you into a well-formulated, low carb, higher fat lifestyle with wonderful recipes to replace those health hazards we call baked “goods”. Eating a bit smarter can make all the difference in how you feel and how you look. Getting adequate fats combat inflammation, boost mood and brain power and will help heal an ailing metabolism.
MYTH 4: Substituting gluten-free options for cookies, breads, pastas etc makes that food much healthier.
TRUTH: Gluten is a protein that found in wheat, barley and rye, i.e., the stuff that makes bread “doughy”.
It is a big buzz word among hipster dieters and product branding experts. If we hear gluten-free we think “must be good for me”. Yes and no. Gluten is a “glue-like protein substance” that is inflammatory for the body and causes digestive distress for many people now that we are bombarded with it in so many processed products. Avoiding gluten would tremendously heal the body, but just switching to gluten-free processed items doesn’t necessarily make that food good for you or your positively impact your fat loss goals. In fact, some of the refined gluten-free flours cause more of an insulin spike because they lose the fiber content that the whole grains had. They also increase the use of starches or syrups, like rice syrup, which again sends blood sugar soaring, signally fat storage in the body. This means a cookie is still a cookie and bread is still bread, making them all poor health choices whether they are gluten-free or not. Instead opt for whole food, gluten-free, higher fiber (low impact carb) ingredients.
MYTH 5: You can out exercise a bad diet.
TRUTH: NOPE! Huh Uh. No way! Exercise can burn calories, true. BUT it cannot reverse the damage excess carbs, chemicals and junk put into your body and you can’t make real and sustainable physique changes without fixing your food
Exercise can’t take away how hard your body has to work to deal with those offenders/invaders in processed foods. Why on earth would you want to spend hours upon hours of your life in a gym trying to undo what you put in your mouth? You miss out on so many other things in life that way and you are still no better off. Why not have food and fitness be in harmony so you can optimize your time on this planet and love the body you are in while here? I have seen incredible athletes look they never stepped foot in a gym until they got their food right, then they looked and felt the part!
MYTH 6: Females have to go easy lifting weights because they put on muscle really easy and bulk up.
TRUTH: This one DRIVES ME NUTS! Hate to break it to you ladies, but the reason your jeans fit tighter when you start working out is because 99% of the time you started eating more too.
Your muscles will gain volume from requiring more water to do their job and a bit more blood volume (“the pump”) but it takes longer than a couple of workouts to really build muscle. Often we reward ourselves with over eating after a great workout. We think we earned that cocktail, are entitled to a spoonful more of this and a dollop more of that and what we end up doing is eating our way out of the workout we just accomplished. Women do not have enough testosterone to produce Hulk-like muscles without the help of some serious (and illegal) synthetic injectables. Stop worrying about “bulking up”, when you develop more muscle over time with hard training, your muscle will weigh more than fat, but muscle also requires more calories to survive, so each day you live with more muscle is a day you burn more fat at rest, keeping you leaner and more compact than if you were mostly fat pounds.
Muscle is dense; it takes up less space per pound than fat so in actuality you won’t be getting bigger, you will be shrinking, toning and tightening. If you have ever seen a picture of me you will know I am not a “big” gal. I am just shy of 5’7″ and range from 136-144 lbs. I easily bicep curl 35 lb dumbbells in each hand and I leg press over 680 lbs… and guess what…I am not green and ripping out of my clothes. The heavier I tend to lift, the more sculpted and petite my body actually appears and I am getting STRONGER… and that’s awesome! If you fear lifting weights or explosive movements then you a missing out on a wonderful world of strength building, metabolism boosting and confidence.
Knowledge is POWER. POWER can lead to CONSISTENT POSITIVE ACTIONS which can lead to GREAT CHANGE.
To learn more about ways to better your health and drop stubborn, frustrating fat pounds consider joining “F…The Diet” 60 Day Transformation Group –click here for details and next start date
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