I:6:T Everyday Nutritional Myths What are nutritional myths? Why should you be concerned about them? Simply stated, nutritional myths mean just what it says. They are statements about nutrition that are not completely true. Why are they important? Look at it this way. More people are becoming concerned about their overall physical fitness, nutrition, and well-being. If these people are following a diet plan, based on nutritional myths, they could be harming themselves.
So, this could affect their overall physical fitness. Some nutritional myths have been around for a long time. Therefore, they are accepted by a lot of people. Consider the following example. Some people believe that high fructose corn syrup is worse than table sugar. However, both HFCS and table sugar, or sucrose, are composed of two sugars, fructose, and glucose - a disaccharide. Therefore, they're both just sugar. It's best to reduce all sugars. However HFCS's role as nutritional culprit has been greatly exaggerated.
Other examples of nutritional myths are found below:
Sea salt is better than regular table salt.
The FDA has not made a diligent effort to regulate the use of the word "natural" on food labels. For example: 7UP claims that it's produced with "100% Natural Flavors" when, actually, the soda is sweetened with an un-natural dose of high fructose corn syrup. "Corn" is natural, but "high fructose corn syrup" is manufactured by man.
Drinking red wine is good for the cardiovascular system, including the heart.
Research has proven that this statement is not one of many nutritional myths. However, a survey found that most Americans believe that increasing their daily intake of wine will increase its benefits to the heart. This is a myth. Drinking too much wine can cause many serious health problems because it contains alcohol. The American Heart Association recommends only one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men. In other words, moderate drinking of wine, not excessive drinking, is good for the heart.
Ingesting eggs for breakfast is bad for your heart.
Eggs do include a significant amount of cholesterol in their yolks. An above-average size egg contains about 210 milligrams of cholesterol. I'm aware that cholesterol may contribute to clogged arteries and heart attacks. However, research has shown that most healthy people can consume an egg every day with no complications. Why is this so? The cholesterol we eat-in eggs does not cause a massive effect on raising our blood cholesterol.
The chief heart-disease culprits are saturated and trans fats, which have a lot higher impact on raising blood cholesterol. A typical egg contains two grams of saturated fat and no trans fats. You should limit your cholesterol intake to less than 300 mg daily. When you eat a large egg, you are only getting 10% of this amount. So one large egg a day is fine as long as you don't go over that 300 mg of cholesterol with the rest of your daily diet.
Eating fatty meals, such as bacon and sausage, will certainly make you fat.
This is a nutritional myth. Meals high in fat do have cholesterol and saturated fats which contributes to having heart attacks. Nevertheless, calories in sugars - not fatty foods - are the main offender that triggers weight gain. It is a fact that bacon and sausage contain calories, also. But they do not have the amount of calories found in carbohydrates - which are broken down to form different types of sugars. These sugars are the major sources of energy - measured in calories - for our body.
The take home point: If you wish to shed or keep from gaining a great deal of weight, you should lower your intake of high-sugary foods, such as buttermilk pancakes with layers of mocha cream covered with delicious chocolate and whipped cream. Rather than consuming high-sugary carbs, eat the good carbohydrates which are high in fiber and crucial nutrients, such as broccoli, grains, green spinach, and fruits.
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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