The Three Most Popular Food Myths We Believe In

Nutrition is very confusing. Now there are so many theories, false information and different views on how we should eat. Thus, we feel lost when it comes to what to do to lose weight or start eating healthier. In this article we will tell you all about the three most popular food myths.

Scientific studies have disproved all these food myths over the years. Thus, they have little to tell us about the best way to eat. For each of them, you will find an explanation of why people thought they were true and what ended up disproving them.

Where do food myths come from?

Nutrition, such as psychology or medicine, is a science that is directly related to humans. Many times it is quite impossible to perform ideal clinical studies regarding nutrition. This makes knowledge in this area much more difficult to develop than in other fields such as physics or chemistry where the rules of manipulation are less limited.

Most nutrition studies are based on statistics. Although the data that statistics provide us tend to be useful, statistics do not generally allow us to establish causality. This explains why researchers sometimes do not seem to find out why a particular result occurs.

Nutritional data will always be incomplete until a clinical study is performed. Therefore, this young science still lacks all the answers to what is healthy and what is unhealthy. In recent decades, however, new information has emerged in this field, mainly due to the obesity epidemic that arose in many developed countries.

Without further ado, here are three of the most popular food myths:

Eating lots of eggs is not healthy

One of the most popular food myths is that eating many eggs (especially the egg yolk) can cause all kinds of problems. This idea comes from the belief that it is to  consume lots of cholesterol affect cholesterol levels. That sounds logical, does it?

Recent studies, however, show that eggs do not affect the body’s cholesterol levels. We now know that our body produces this substance four times more than we can eat in a day, so adding eggs to our diet will not affect us.

2. Eating fat makes you fat

Another big food myth is that eating too much fat can cause us to gain weight. Today, however, it is known that this is not exactly how it works.

This belief comes from counting the calories that are included in each type of macronutrient. While carbohydrates and proteins have 4 calories per gram, fat has 9. Therefore, it is logical to think that if we want to lose weight, we must eat more of the first two types of nutrients and less of the latter.

Recent studies, however, suggest that, within normal parameters, adding an appropriate amount of fat to the diet will actually cause us to lose weight. The reason for this is that this drug is involved in a large number of fundamental weight loss-related processes such as testosterone production, satiety or acceleration of basal metabolism (the rate at which we naturally burn calories).

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day

My grandmother used to repeat a popular saying that sums up one of the great food myths:  “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a poor person”. This saying is based on the old belief that having a great breakfast will ensure that we function properly all day.

Although a nutritious breakfast (such as vegetables and proteins) can give us energy during the day, the truth is that the typical western breakfast does not. When we eat sugary cereals or pastries for breakfast, our body suffers from a series of insulin kicks that give us short-term energy.

Therefore, these are the two most recommended options according to breakfast experts:

• Eating foods low in sugar,  but not low in fat and protein.
• Skip breakfast, also known as ” fasting “.

The information in this article may have surprised you. We are aware that it goes against what we have traditionally learned about nutrition. The good thing about science, however, is that it evolves a bit as new evidence emerges. Who knows what we will discover in the future regarding this important field?