Uncovered truth about myths on food and fitness to feel better, stronger and create a long lasting habits.
Nowadays dilemma
You made up your mind to turn your life around. New your set of rules include quality sleep, diet, exercise and discipline. Oh yes! Discipline will get you to your destination and soon your upgraded version will be noticed by everyone. You’re proud of yourself already and you love this feeling of empowerment.
You look up on the internet to check out the latest best of the best methods. It’s not hard to get overwhelmed after a few minutes of online research. Millions of results will show you a pre and post photos, list of top diet, programme books and celebrities recommendation. Naturally, you also will consider the path your friend, neighbour or gym mate took.
Don’t beat yourself up if after a few hours you haven’t written down your discipline rules. After all, you want the result and you want the long lasting habits, right? This is an important decision for you. The aim is to lose a few pounds and get toned. Whatever the reason behind your motivation, you want to transition the vision of you in your head to the vision of you in your mirror.
The best of the best in diet and fitness
The truth is that if there would be a one diet or a one fitness programme that would work, this industry wouldn’t survive a week.
It’s totally normal to feel a bit confused. In your journey to fuel up your life and your dream, you clash with various opinions and recommendations because of 2 reasons.
- Reason 1 is that everyone has unique needs, backgrounds and predispositions. Things that work for others might not work for you too.
Recommendations that would work for you would need to be tailored specifically to you. For that you need a budget and subject matter experts.
- Reason 2 is that some corporations prioritise profits over clients. In other words they care about quantity of sales over quality products and customer satisfaction. Hence it is very tricky for you to choose ‘best of the best’ when you’re in one ring with PR & Marketing specialists.
What is the alternative?
There is a pleasure and pain in discovering yourself. But hey! It’s a process and path well worth taking.
From tries and errors you learn about your body reactions, adaptations and changes. This knowledge gives you leverage during challenging times.
The good news is that you don’t have to start from zero. There have been many before you who clashed with misinformation in this field. With scientific help I’ll uncover the truth about some of them for you in this blog.
Myth #1: Healthy diets and exercise guarantee you a long and healthy life.
Nothing can guarantee a long and healthy life. But when it comes to increasing chances of this goal, nothing beats a well-balanced diet and weight lifting.
So remember that there is no single diet and exercise programme that will work for everyone.
Mind what you’re eating. Put trans fats and heavy loaded fat food at the bottom of your priority list and have fun with some weight lifting. It’ll take you between 6-8 weeks to see really awesome results.
If you don’t have time to visit a gym often, this post will help you – click here.
Myth #2 : There is a healthy way to eat and exercise that will work for everyone.
Not true. Best way is to tune into your own body needs. By learning more about yourself, you can recognise signals that will help you in craving times. You will be able to create a nutrition and fitness regimen that is optimal for you. This means that it suits not only your needs but also your lifestyle.
You’ve probably noticed that you eat differently in different seasons of the year. Your appetite and nutrition needs also change when you’re sick, pregnant, unwell etc.
When you consider how to fuel up for fitness, follow these 2 rules:
- Learn to listen to your body and enjoy the process.
- Question unscientific fitness anecdotes.
Myth #3: The best diet for all of us is to eat 3 meals a day.
Scientific studies have found that eating multiple smaller meals during the day is successful in unwanted weight gain. Its foundation rests in better energy use.
In other words, when you consume a smaller energy portion (in form of food and beverages) at one sitting then that energy is better transitioned into energy you burn during any activities.
Always be mindful of diet and fitness claims that are not supported by independent, peer reviewed, double blinded scientific studies.
Myth #4: It’s important to fuel up just prior to exercise so that you will have maximum energy available.
Not true. It has been proven that eating a light meal (circa 200kcal) about 1-2 hours before exercise is enough. This meal should be low in fat, moderate in protein and high in complex carbs.
This time will be enough for your meal to reach your stomach and intestine during the digestion process and get to your bloodstream. However, if you had a large meal a few hours prior to your exercise then your energy will be used to digest what you consumed rather than being used for your muscles to work efficiently. So look at this from a big picture perspective and make sure that your stomach is empty by the time you start your exercise.
If your activity will last longer than 1 hour, then you will need some additional small calories intake. This can be an additional 50 kcal from carbohydrates for each hour.
When you’re ready to eat after your workout, then apply a healthy plate rule:
- Veggies and fruits – half plate
- Lean protein – quarter of your plate, e.g. fish, poultry, tofu, nuts
- Complex carbs – rest of your plate, e.g. grains, whole wheat bread
Myth #5: When you weigh in lower after exercise this shows how much you burned fat.
This is definitely not true. All it shows is how much water you lost and you should top it out to have the same weight as you had prior exercise.
It takes about 1 hour for a quarter and a half of water to leave your stomach and get to your tissues including muscles. The good guideline is to drink 430 mil 2-3 hours before beginning your exercise.
Then about 280-430 mil every 15-20 min during long and hard workout.
If you exercise longer than 1 hour then you need to add more water with about 10% carbs in the form of simple sugars and sodium.
Thirst is a perfect indicator of dehydration. If you feel it then it means you’re already in the less desired state to be. Act quickly.
Myth #6: You can control your weight by reducing or eliminating fat, protein or carbs.
Balanced eating is all about proportion and quality of food and beverages you consume. Some diets promote eliminating carbs. However, you might benefit to know that there are 2 types of carbs to consider in pursuit of this statement.
There are fast acting carbs like white bread, juices, sweets and others that have high glycemic index. They are recognised as those that can create weight gain.
But there are also slow acting carbs or in other words ‘complex carbs’, like whole grain and vegetables. They support your digestion process and are a key source of fibre and nutrition.
Next time, when you hear about a super fat loss miracle diet based on low carbs meals, think twice. They will indeed make you lose weight in a few first weeks or months. But that will not be a fat weight loss but a water loss.
The summary is very simple: if you eat more calories than you burn then you gain weight. If you eat less. Then you lose weight. In this caloric balance what you want to consider is the body composition. Your weight on the scale doesn’t reflect the fat % of your body.
If you want fast results then eat a balanced diet and do weight lifting. Click here for insight.
Myth #7: If I eat a large meal, I can burn it off on my next visit to the gym.
Not true. An average large meal in fast food can be between 1,150 kcal to over 2,000 kcal.
The gym equipment doesn’t show you how much fat you’re actually burning. Have you considered why you need to type your height, weight and hold on to bars that monitor your heart beat?
1 kg of fat is 7,700kcal. Your body will consume kcal every day for everyday organ activity needs. And that’s what you can see on your gym equipment, well…plus a bit more because your blood pressure is high so everything is a bit increased.
Check how many hours you’ll have to exercise to burn off kcal from that meal? Remember that to do so you can’t eat anything until you burn it off. If you think that few hours is not enough, you’re right.
You should also consider the fact that fat is burned at lower intensity. The harder you train then energy is used from your carbs energy tank.
To lose weight successfully, you need to burn more calories and eat less as well as keep exercising.
Myth #8: It’s possible to burn fat in selective body areas.
Not true. There is absolutely nothing you can do to remove fat from specific areas. Your fat distribution is built in your DNA.
Good practice is to maintain a healthy body composition, balanced diet and build your strength.
Myth #9: If you eat before bed or late at night, you will gain weight.
Many scientific studies have shown that there is no difference about the time you consume your meal and beverages as long as you consume the right amount of calories per day.
In the long run, if you’ll consume more calories than you’ll burn then you will gain weight but timing has nothing to do with it.
So timing how and when you eat won’t get you anywhere.
Myth #10: If it’s natural then it’s healthy.
Potent poisons on earth are natural. Lifesaving naturally found drugs can be dangerous if a wrong dose is given. A proper dose at the right time for the right person is key.
When it comes to food, naturalness is not regulated. For example, kidney beans can contain toxins that can make you sick. Soaking and cooking kidney beans can remove these toxins.
There are also other methods that can make food safer like pasteurisation that makes cow’s milk safe to drink.
