Some people think that it is better to stay away from starchy carbohydrates. That is not necessary because starchy foods are a form of complex carbohydrate. There is more benefit in using the starchy food in its whole form rather than a processed form. In a grain food the whole form is kept intact, including its bran layer; the vitamins and minerals are not stripped out of it. The same holds true if you eat a whole potato. You are getting fiber when you eat a potato in its whole form. If you eat instant mashed potatoes, you have a processed food which does not contain or provide the same good nutritional benefit.
Healthy foods don't have sugar or fats
This is not true. To say that a healthy food cannot have sugar in it is not entirely correct. Healthy foods can have sugar or fat which may occur naturally in the food. For example, milk or fruit actually contain sugar, but it is in a natural form. These foods have nutritional value and should be included in a healthy diet.
As far as fat is concerned, you cannot have a healthy diet without some fat. Certain types of fat are essential to good health. Fats are a part of every cell, and are found in the cell membrane. We need fat for brain development. Fat is also necessary for the absorption of certain nutrients. Vitamin A and vitamin D are examples of fat soluble vitamins, which require fat in order to be absorbed by the body. So, when choosing healthy foods, look for those that have natural sugars and healthy fats.
Eating after 8 PM will cause you to gain weight
It is a commonly held belief that our metabolism shuts down at eight o'clock at night. This doesn't happen. There are actually no human studies that would prove that calories eaten at night are metabolized differently than those eaten during the day. Regardless, you do see people who are nighttime eaters putting on weight.
You have to look at some of the other reasons why that might be happening. For example, if someone tends to skip meals during the day, they may arrive home exceptionally hungry and over-consume calories at night. Also, at night we tend to be less active: watching TV or using the computer, etc. If you are eating while engaged in other activities, it is known as “mindless eating”. Mindless eating means not paying attention to how much food you are consuming; the result can add up to a lot of extra calories without realizing it.
So, there is no magical time at which everything shuts down, it's a matter of how much food is being consumed and how active you are over the course of the day.
Certain foods like grapefruit or lemons help you burn fat
This is not a significant weight loss aid. Using either citrus fruit can have some positive health effects, however. For example, eating grapefruit, which has a lot of fiber yet not a lot of calories, can help you feel full. You could add some lemon juice to a glass of water, which may help you to drink more water. If used in this way, grapefruits or lemons could actually help you lose weight. There is some evidence that eating either of them can have a positive influence on our insulin levels, but you cannot simply eat a lot of grapefruit or lemons in the hope that they will burn body fat. That is not going to happen.
You do get some health benefits from eating grapefruit or lemon, but it certainly does not take the place of a healthy diet and exercise program for weight loss.
There are supplements and special foods that help boost your metabolism
These days it seems that everybody's looking for something to help boost their metabolism. We all know that our metabolism naturally declines as we get older. It is also affected by our gender, body size, activity level, and general health. Note though that there is not really a single food or a safe supplement that you can take which is a magic bullet to instantly boost your metabolism and help you lose weight.
However, there are some things that you can do to increase your metabolism:
•Eat breakfast. When you eat at the beginning of the day, the digestion of your food causes an increase in your metabolism.
•Eat smaller meals throughout the day. Again, as you digest your food your metabolism increases. You feel more energetic if you are not hungry, and you are less likely to binge on unhealthy food.
•Avoid starvation. If you go all day without eating you actually suppress your metabolism. You may believe that you are saving calories, but not eating contributes to a slowing of your metabolic rate. If you repeatedly go without eating, your body may adjust to a lower caloric intake and try to conserve as much energy as possible.
•Consume protein. Eating a small amount of protein at each meal will help to increase your metabolism because it requires an extra amount of energy to digest.
•Eat spicy foods. This will cause a temporary increase in your metabolism.
•Stay well hydrated, which means drinking plenty of water throughout the day. A rule of thumb is to drink 6 to 8 glasses of water per day.
•The most effective way to boost your metabolism is to remain active throughout the day. Don't just sit for hours on end, especially if you have a desk job. Get up and move around, at least periodically.
•Include some weight resistance training in your exercise program. If you do this two or three times a week you will increase your lean muscle mass. Lean muscle is more active metabolically, so it burns more calories than stored fat does.
•Make sure that you get enough sleep.
•Supplementation with a B complex vitamin may be of some help. It doesn't have to be a high potency vitamin supplement.
•There is some evidence that drinking green tea or using a green tea extract may cause a slight boost in metabolism as well.
Drinking milk is bad for you because it has sugar in it
This is not true. When people learn about the harmful effect of sugar in foods and start looking at labels, they become alarmed because the milk carton (whole milk, skim milk, etc.) shows that it contains carbohydrates and sugars. That does not mean milk has to be taken out of your diet, even if you're watching carbohydrates. People with diabetes may be watching their carbohydrate intake, but they can still include milk in their diet. The natural sugar that is in milk is called lactose. You should include milk (or an equitable substitute) because it has high quality protein and is an exceptionally good source of calcium and vitamin D.
There have been some studies that show that people who include a couple of servings of non-fat milk or non-fat dairy food in their diets on a fairly regular basis have more success with weight loss. That is probably because when you drink a glass of low fat milk with a meal, you are actually consuming something that is low in calories but helps to fill you up. This prevents consumption of empty calories from other foods and at the same time provides good nutrition.
Some people are lactose intolerant, which means that they have difficulty breaking down the lactose that is in the milk. This causes gastrointestinal problems. For people with this problem there are lactose-free versions of milk - the milk is treated with an enzyme that breaks down the lactose. This eliminates any gastrointestinal issues.
You shouldn’t drink milk because it is not meant for humans… it is meant for cows
This is not true. Most of us can digest cow’s milk without any ill effect. One exception to this is the newborn or young infant, who should not drink cow’s milk. Perhaps this is where the idea comes from. You should not feed a newborn infant cow’s milk because it contains a very high percentage of protein; much more than human milk. The infant has an immature digestive tract and kidney function that does not handle high concentrations of protein well.
This remains the case until the infant reaches the age of approximately two years old. Infants must receive either human breast milk or baby formula until that time. Baby formula