Thursday, February 20, 2014

Popular Nutritional Myths

By James Spann


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 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

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.

Eating eggs for breakfast is bad for your heart.

Eggs include a significant quantity of cholesterol in their yolks. An above-average dimension egg consists of about 210 milligrams of cholesterol. We all know that cholesterol may assist in blocked arteries and cardiac arrest. Still, research has revealed that an otherwise healthy individual can eat an egg every day with no problems. Why is this so? The cholesterol we eat-in eggs does not trigger a substantial impact on raising our blood cholesterol. The main heart-disease culprits are saturated and trans fats, which have a greater effect on raising blood cholesterol. A regular egg consists of 2 grams of saturated fat and no trans fats. You need to limit your cholesterol consumption to less than 300 mg daily. When you eat a large egg, you are simply obtaining 10 % of this quantity. One huge egg a day is well as long as you don't go over 300 milligrams of cholesterol with the rest of your daily diet regimen.

Eating fatty meals, such as bacon and sausage, will certainly make you fat.

This statement is not always true. Foods high in fat do have cholesterol and saturated fats that are instrumental to having cardiovascular diseases. Nevertheless, calories from sugars-- not fatty foods-- are the major root cause of weight gain. Yes, bacon and sausage most certainly contain calories, yet not as many as carbohydrates - that are metabolized to form different types of simple sugars. These simple sugars are the primary sources of energy - calories - for our physical body.

So, what is the take home point? If you want to lose or keep from gaining a lot of weight, you should reduce your consumption of high-sugary foods, such as buttermilk pancakes with layers of mocha cream topped with chocolate and whipped cream. Instead of eating high-sugary carbohydrates, eat complex carbohydrates which are high in fiber and vital nutrients, such as broccoli, beans, spinach, and fruits.

If you are not sure whether a particular food practice is a nutritional myth or not, research it online. If you find that the behavior is a myth, congratulate yourself on becoming one of the many nutritional myth busters.




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