Spreading "wisdom" you must ignore - part two

In the last part we have already refuted some frequently circulating misinformation. Today, let's take a look at another one.

It's the twenty-first century, and we've never had better access to information about our health. Science and medicine continue to improve, and our constant contact with the media means that we are often bombarded with articles, programs, advertisements, and many gurus telling us how to stay healthy along with their list of do's and don'ts. A lot of the "knowledge" around nutrition being spread around is not true at all. Below you will find a list of some of the worst diet advice ever.

Replacing natural products with dietary alternatives

Grocery store shelves are filled to bursting with diet versions of natural foods that people have been eating for centuries. Why? Food industry companies have learned about our fears of getting fat. But they equally know that we like to indulge. So they started offering what at first glance seems to be the best possible choice - our favorite product, only with fewer calories. Butter is an example. According to many studies, butter is actually good for us - it's a natural product made up of a few ingredients. Margarine, which is supposed to be a more dietary version of it, is not. We have started to confuse the terms "low-calorie" and "healthy" . If by diet you mean fewer calories, then you seem to be missing the original point of a diet - one that deals with what you eat. A healthy diet is not just low calorie. It's one that gives you all the nutrients you need.

With margarines, the problem is trans fats, fats produced industrially by solidifying. Smaller amounts of trans fats are also found in butter, but large amounts are created just by solidifying the oils. For this reason, they have, especially in the past, largely made up margarines. Nowadays, their content in margarines is fortunately on the decline.

TIP: Avoid highly processed foods and try to eat the least processed ones. Watch out for trans fats. A more natural product is almost always the better choice.

Exercising crunches removes belly fat

The belly is always mostly about diet. Your abdominal muscles will only peek out if you have little fat in that area. If your body tends to deposit fat in this area, then practicing crunches or other exercises every day will not help you unless you adjust your diet. Besides, local weight loss does not exist. Although every body stores fat individually in more places (some people's stomachs, some people's legs, etc.) , if you want to remove fat from a certain part of your body, you will simply have to lose weight everywhere.

TIP: Instead of over-exercising your abdomen on the mat, modify your diet and try to exercise your whole body. It's great to firm and strengthen your midsection, of course, but you won't get as good an abdominal workout with any exercise on the mat as you will with a squat, for example.

If I train hard, I can eat whatever I want

If you're trying to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you take in, it's simple math. If you exercise, and eat five through nine, you may not visibly gain weight, but you will slow your progress many times over, or your physique won't change at all. The other possibility is that you will put on some muscle through exercise, but it will be encased in fat. As we have already made clear above, when it comes to appearance, diet is most often reflected on the belly. In addition, we also need to think about health and recovery, which we get mainly from a sufficient quality diet.

TIP: Do not neglect a proper diet not only for the sake of appearance, but also for the sake of health and important regeneration. By eating unhealthy food you usually only get a negligible amount of protein into you. You'll find that if you think about what you eat, you'll exercise better too.