It might sound strange to some people but the truth is that eating too little or starving yourself can act as an impediment in getting a healthy, lean and fit body. What actually happens is that your body starts burning muscles and in lieu of that starts storing fat. This is response due to ‘Starvation Metabolism‘. In this scenario the body when not provided sufficient calories, start to adapt to the changed condition by intake of less calories for functioning. As a consequence, it is found that dieters frequently put on the weight that they had lost again, as they have converted their bodies into fat-storing machines by starving themselves unnecessarily.
Now the natural question that can arise in the mind of any person is that how can weight loss be actually achieved. The answer is by ‘being vigilant’. You have to know one thing for sure, and that is the fact that there is no wonder/magic pill that can deliver you instant results, whatever the advertisements might claim. Of course, certain isolated situations remain, where grapefruit consumption has worked wonders. But that is not the general rule. Fad diets are mere gimmicks and majority of the so-called ‘scientific’ ones are far from effective. In spite of these truths, people in U.S. spend in excess of 50 billion per year on these stuffs. So the motto for succeeding in your weight loss endeavor should be “Spend calories in greater amount than that consumed”. This would lead to the dual E’s. (Eat correctly and Exercise). This is what any reputed healthcare practitioner or dietician would tell you to do if you are really serious about losing weight. You need to have the perseverance and the will-power to stick with a rigorous dietary and exercise regime over a long period in order to see the desired results in your body.
So, the most widely prevalent myths are listed below for your convenience.
MYTH NUMBER – 1: If you skip meals you can achieve your goal of weight loss faster. This is a totally erroneous statement. In reality, the effect produced is just the opposite. Dieting depends on the robust theory of greater quantity of calories burnt than that taken in, and fat combustion automatically starts to occur. So you must stick with regular intake of meals, especially during morning. If you start to deprive your body the requisite nutrients and enter into the mode of starvation, more harm than good is done. The metabolism rate drops within your body and your body gets accustomed to little or no food. Such is the vagary of nature. The harm that you inflict on the body is long-lasting. It becomes difficult to bring the metabolism levels back to track. Till the metabolism rate regains its original level, any kind of normal eating would lead to fat accumulation and weight gain. It is really a vicious cycle from which it becomes extremely difficult to come out. Additionally, avoiding meals might give you feelings of lightheadedness and fatigue. It can also jeopardize the levels of cholesterol in your body which can be fatal for diabetic patients. So, briefly speaking, crash diets and fasting are nothing more than sabotaging the body. Therefore one should eat moderately and frequently to elevate the metabolic levels and get a filling effect.
MYTH NUMBER 2 – Starches have a fattening effect. This is a baseless and unscientific statement. It is never really feasible to totally avoid intake of starches as they constitute a major part of the staple food items like pasta, bread, grains, potatoes, fruits, rice and corn. If someone cuts out starches entirely, he would be depriving his body of the core nutrients that act as primary fuels for the body. Starches are essential in maintaining the body system function in a balanced manner. There are 3 fundamental macronutrients or substances that are present in food, which are carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Starch is nothing but a form of carbohydrate.
MYTH NUMBER 3 – Vegetarian diets are healthier than mixed diets. If you consume a diet which consists of solely French-fries and rice, or of cheerios and bananas, then that is termed as vegetarian diet. But this type of diet is not recommended in the long-run. The development and the evolution of the human body have occurred in such a manner that a varied and diverse diet providing all the requisite nutrients is essential. Meat, for a long time has been an important component of this diverse dietary regime and it is not always available in plenty. Hence, the specific animal proteins which are present in meat cannot be compensated by any other dietary item. Vegetarians need to ensure that they adequately make up for this avoidance of meat intake. Luckily, there are some vegetable items, beans and nuts which have proteins in sufficient quantities. Hence these need to be taken in plentiful amounts. Also elements like Zinc and Vitamin B12 tend to be missing in diets which are of vegetarian nature. So, external doses of these substances are often required.
MYTH NUMBER 4 – Sweating helps in weight loss. This statement is partially true. If sweating is produced due to exercises then definitely that is a good sign. Otherwise, if are just sitting idle and sweating due to heat, you are only dehydrating yourself by losing essential water content from your body. Sweating is nothing but an amazing mechanism of cooling the body due to evaporation of the water particles from the skin. It is not an indicator of your weight loss progress. If you lose excess water you would suffer from acute dehydration which might also turn fatal. Your electrolyte-balance gets affected and you start suffering from muscle cramps and other side-effects.
MYTH Number 5 – If anything is fat-free it can be considered as calorie-free. This is true if the fat-free criterion is exactly met. However, in reality most of the foods that are claimed to be fat-free, like, many dairy products, ice-creams, cheese, and butter contain fat in concealed amounts. Even the manufacturers know that manufacturing these items in total absence of fat would render them dry and flavorless.
