By Yuki Shoji
You truly can't believe everything you read, and you most especially can't believe everything you see on television. If you’re struggling to lose weight on the guidelines you learned from some diet commercial or ad in either of these media outlets, then there's a good chance that you're going about dieting the wrong way, or at the very least you have picked up many of the common misconceptions preached about on television and in books -- which set most people who are dieting up for failure.
The following are some of the more common misconceptions you may wrongly believe.
#1: Skipping meals will help you lose weight
Wrong. Skipping meals actually slows down your metabolism, which means that when you do finally eat again your metabolism will not be running optimally enough to properly process the calories and nutrients you're eating.
#2: Carbohydrates cause weight gain
We can thank the Atkins diet for this myth. This misconception is both true and false. You see, when you eat a large amount of food that is saturated with carbohydrates your body uses it for energy. However, if you're not a very active person and don't exercise, then your body is not using up the carbohydrates you ingested. This creates an excess of carbohydrates in your body, and your digestive system, not knowing what to do with this excess, converts it to fat. This is what has led to the general belief that carbohydrates cause fat. Carbohydrates are needed for energy. Eating the right amount, combined with a decent amount of exercise, will ensure that you don't have problems with excess carbohydrates.
#3: Eating only fat-free foods will help you lose weight
The next time you buy a box of fat-free cookies take a look at the nutrient label and see how many calories are in a serving. You will be surprised to see that the calorie content is probably in the triple digits and that a serving is somewhere around one or two cookies. Just because a product is fat free does not mean you can eat as much of it as you want.
#4: All fat is bad for you
This is not true. Your body needs fat for energy in order to be well balanced. However, your fat intake should only constitute 15% of your daily diet. Most people get two or three times this amount, which is why they gain weight, and is also why some self-proclaimed fitness experts have latched on to this as being the only cause of weight gain.
This is just a short list of the most common myths, but there are plenty more, including lesser known ones. These just happen to be the most detrimental to the success of those individuals striving to live a healthier lifestyle. Always make sure and get the facts about your diet from a credible medical source. Just because you see something on television, the Internet or in print does not make it true. Always look at everything with an ounce of skepticism when the source is one you're unfamiliar with.
Source: articlecircle.com
