Everyday Nutritional Myths

By James Spann


As we try to make proper food choices for our daily meals, we must always be aware of nutritional myths. Their prevalence on the internet, and other types of media, makes it very difficult to discern what's true, and what not true. Eating low-fat foods because they are better for you, is one instance. A food labeled "low fat" in the supermarket is usually synonymous with "loaded with salt and useless carbohydrates." For example, consider Smucker's Reduced Fat Peanut Butter. Smucker's added a quick-digesting carbohydrate called maltodextrin to substitute for the fat it replaced. Maltodextrin contains more calories than the fat it replaced. That's not going to benefit your weight loss program.

Additional nutritional myths:

Sea salt is more beneficial to your health than regular table salt.

According to a survey taken by the American Heart Association, many people believe that it's true. However, the statement is false. Sea salt is not a low-sodium alternative to table salt. Table salt is produced in underground mines. Sea salt is produced from the evaporation of sea water. Although they have different tastes, both are composed of sodium and chlorine.

All chocolate is bad for you

This is a true statement. However, most Americans believe that drinking more wine will increase its benefit to their heart. This is not true. More is not better. The only thing drinking more wine will do for you is give you a possible hangover and liver cirrhosis along with other severe health issues. The American Heart Association suggests that women only consume one drink a day and no more than two drinks a day for men. Therefore, mild consumption of wine, not excessive drinking, benefits the heart.

Ingesting eggs for breakfast is bad for your heart.

Eggs do contain a significant quantity of cholesterol in their yolks. You will find 210 milligrams of cholesterol in a large size egg. It is common knowledge that the cholesterol may add to blocked blood vessels and cardiovascular disease. However, a study has shown that the majority of healthy individuals could eat an egg every day with no difficulties. Why is this so? The cholesterol in eggs does not create an enormous impact on increasing our blood cholesterol. The principal heart-disease perpetrators are saturated and trans fats, which have a great effect on increasing blood cholesterol. A common egg has two grams of saturated fat and no trans fats. You must limit your cholesterol consumption to less than 300 milligrams daily. When you consume a large egg, you are only obtaining 10 % of this amount. Hence, a large egg a day is okay as long as you don't exceed that 300 mg of cholesterol in the rest of your daily meals.

Consuming bacon and sausage will certainly make you fat.

This is not necessarily true. Fatty foods do contain cholesterol and saturated fats which contributes to having cardiovascular diseases. However, calories from sugars - not fat - are the main culprit that causes weight gain. Yes, bacon and sausage most certainly contain calories, but not as much as carbohydrates - which are broken down to forms different types of sugars. These sugars are the main sources of energy - calories - for our body.

The take home point: If you desire to lose or keep from obtaining a whole lot of weight, you must lower your consumption of high-sugary foods, such as cookies, cakes, and pies. Consume complex carbohydrates as opposed to the high-sugary carbs, Complex carbohydrates have less sugar and are higher in fiber and vital nutrients. Examples are vegetables, whole-wheat bread and cereals.

If you are uncertain as to whether a specific meal practice is a nutritional myth, research it on the internet. If you find that the behavior is a misconception, congratulate yourself on becoming a nutritional myth buster.




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