5 Food Myths BUSTED!

Posted on March 22, 2014
Location: London
5 Food Myths BUSTED!

A calorie is a calorie, no matter what type of food it comes from. There is a growing amount of research showing it is the type of food, not the number of calories that makes us gain weight. The amount of calories can be same for different foods but the effect they have on the metabolic function can be quite different. A 2011 Havard study that examined factors linked to weight gain found foods such as nuts, avocados, whole grains and even whole milk are associated with weight loss, while the same amount of calories from refined grains and fatty foods such as French fries and crisps lead to weight gain 

Eating fat makes you fat. Fat does not make us fat. Sugar and excess carbohydrates make us fat. When we eat excess carbs or sugars, our glucose level rise, which sends a message to our pancreas to secrete more insulin to break down the sugar. Insulin is a fat storage hormone – it lowers our blood glucose levels but it also tells our body to store fat. Whenever we have extra glucose in our blood, the body stores some as fat. Dietary fats, on the other hand, do not mobilise insulin. The body requires fat to keep its metabolism properly functioning. 

Coconut oil is a dangerous saturated fat and should be avoided. For many years, we were told that the tropical fats such as coconut oil were unhealthy and contributed to heart disease due to high amount of saturated fat. We now know the type of saturated fat they contain is very different to the saturated fat in animal foods, and that it does not cause heart disease. In fact, coconut oil is now considered to be one of the healthiest oil on the planet, even healthier than the olive oil.

Eating egg raises cholesterol levels. While eggs contain large amount of cholesterols, it has been recently proved that consuming them does not raise the bad cholesterol in blood. Eggs are among the most nutritious foods on the planet – high in number of nutrients, along with antioxidants that protect our eyes. To top it off, including eggs regularly in our diet is proved to aid weight loss.

Canola oil is healthy. The food industry promotes canola oil (oil pressed from rape seeds) as a healthy salad and cooking oil. However few realize canola oil is a hidden source of trans-fats, which raise artery-clogging bad cholesterol levels and have been implicated in obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The food industry touts canola oil as a healthy oil because it contains omega 3 fats, known to aid weight loss, lower the risk of heart disease and ease depression. However these fats are very fragile and their molecular structure lends for a very easy conversion to Trans-fats; when the oil is processed and deodorised with high heat and chemicals before being bottled and sold for cooking.

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