By Staff
Let's take for instance the Atkins diet, which in layman's terms means practically no carbohydrates. Now how can that be healthy when you are taking out one of the sections of the food pyramid? When a person is on the Atkins diet they are not only eliminating carbohydrates but they are mainly eating protein, more precisely red, fatty meat. This is a problem because meat has a lot of animal fat in it, which is bad for your heart. It is also low in calcium, which leads to problems with bone density. It lacks many vital nutrients such as good carbohydrates. Remember your brain uses carbohydrates for energy. After awhile people are going to get sick of this diet and will put the weight right back on. It is said at first people will lose weight on this diet but after a year the weight usually does not stay off. I have said it before, and I will keep on saying it: the way to lose weight, be healthy and keep it off is to eat in a way that you can stick with for a lifetime and include exercise. Let's take a look at what I consider "FAT LIES."
You can eat as many low-fat calories as you want and not gain weight.
Yeah, I wish! Even though the fat in the low-fat goodies is less, the sugar content is often higher which equals out to be close to the same.
Eating sugar and take out foods is what makes me obese.
There is no doubt that these types of foods are not good for you, but they are not necessarily what make you obese. There are many people who eat sugary foods and still maintain a healthy weight. What is their secret? No it is not luck, it all goes back to not over-eating, not super-sizing and not double-dipping. Remember everyone is human, and I do not know anyone no matter their weight who does not splurge here and there.
Eating a salad will keep the weight off
Here is a big one that will get you every time. You will hear it all the time. "Have a salad, it's healthy for you." It depends if you have a salad with bacon bits, croutons, regular salad dressing, eggs, ham, olives, cheese and sunflower seeds. You might as well go eat that Big Mac that you really want. A salad like this can cost you over 700 calories and over 60 grams of fat.
Diet sodas help you lose weight.
My answer to this one is, then why are more than half of Americans obese? Diet soda is not going to help you eliminate calories when you order a burger and onion rings to go with it.
Juice is a good diet food.
Not necessarily. An eight-ounce glass of orange juice can have 110 calories when you could eat a medium size orange and only use 60 calories. Plus, that glass of juice is probably going to contain a lot of unwanted sugars.
Don't eat after 6 p.m.
A calorie is a calorie. It does not matter if it is 10 a.m. or 10 p.m. If you eat your dinner at 8 p.m., those calories do not mysteriously double in value. The reason people believe that they gain weight by eating in the evening is because people tend to sit around in the evening and just munch on whatever. In the evening you are more sedentary so, if you over-eat, there may be slight amount of fat storing but it is such a slight amount that you would never notice it on the scales.
Too many times people get hung up on the "latest diet" trends. Clearly, if you eat properly and in the correct proportions you will do better for yourself then listening to all of the "FAT LIES."
Thought of the week: We spread God's love through our caring for others.
-Scott O'Grady