Dieting Myths

Four Popular Diet Myths Exposed

Dec 5, 2008 Brittany Golledge

If you're on a diet you've likely heard that eating after 7 p.m. will cause you to pack on the pounds. But will a late night snack really sabotage your diet?

People tend to think they need to follow rigid dietary guidelines to lose weight, but the key to dieting is simple; consume fewer calories than your body burns and the pounds will start dropping off. Regardless of when you eat and what foods you exclude from your diet, reducing your caloric intake and upping your level of physical activity should produce weight loss. So before you start locking up the fridge at night or throwing out every "white" food in your pantry, let's separate fact from fiction and debunk some common dieting myths.

Diet Myth #1: Don't Eat After 7 p.m

Diet gurus warn us not to eat late in the evening. The logic seems to be that calories consumed at night are more likely to be stored as fat due to lack of activity. But what time you eat really has no bearing on how much weight you lose. Whether you snack early in the day or right before bed, the weight loss equation is still the same; if you consume more calories during the day than you burn with physical activity, you won't lose any weight.

Diet Myth #2: Sugar is Bad for You

Sugar is not necessarily the enemy. When it comes to sugar intake and reading food labels, your focus should not be limited to counting grams. There's a big difference between consuming snack foods with added sugar and consuming a moderate amount of healthy foods that contain natural sugars (like fruit). So instead of cutting all sugar out of your diet, focus on reducing your intake of foods that contain high fructose corn syrup and added sugar.

Diet Myth #3: Drink Water to Lose Weight

We've all seen someone around the office or at the gym lugging around a gallon of Sparkletts in the hopes that drinking water will help them lose weight. While there is certainly nothing harmful about indulging in this diet myth, there is no connection between consuming water and losing weight. The truth is that water does give you the energy you need throughout the day to burn calories and CAN help you feel fuller (temporarily), but it does nothing to reduce the body's need to consume food. So rather than gorging on water all day, the best course of action is to drink enough water to keep your energy level up and to substitute water for any high-calorie drinks currently in your diet.

Diet Myth #4: A Low-carb, High-protein Diet is Key

Anyone who has tried a low-carb, high protein diet knows that you can lose weight relatively quickly on this plan. But the fact is you don't need to cut out carbs to lose weight. According to most weight loss experts, the benefits of a high-protein, low-carb diet are generally short-lived. Low-carb dieters tend to regain the weight they lose within a year due to the restrictive nature of the diet. So rather than completely cutting carbs from your diet, follow a more sustainable eating plan that focuses on cutting portion size instead.

Think Before You Eat

Dieting is frustrating: one minute you're told that certain foods are bad for you, the next minute the media is hyping the benefits of those same foods. Before you begin your diet make sure you do your research. While some of the diet myths out there may be harmless, there's no reason to make your weight loss journey more complicated than it needs to be by following every tip you hear or read.

The copyright of the article Dieting Myths in Weight Loss is owned by Brittany Golledge. Permission to republish Dieting Myths in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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Dec 15, 2008 7:39 AM

Guest :

I am not agree with myth 1. Of course it has matter when you eat your food. Its not the same when you eat your food in the morning or before bed. In the morning you have so called "Glucose window", which helps you to absorb carbohydrates from the food much easier. If you eat before bed time you will store the carbos as fats.

Jan 4, 2009 8:33 AM

Tsveti Georgieva :

I also think that #1 and 3 are not myths. Every time I gain weight, late eating is involved and every time I lose weight this is due to exercise, moderate eating and not eating in the evenings. This has been so for many years, so it is not a myth for me.

Jan 15, 2009 5:25 PM

Guest :

Although some people may not view these as myths, each person's body racts differently. As to all things there are pros and cons. The Low carbs is essentially bad since your body needs the carbs to funchtion (especially the central nervous system!) which is why the "glucose window" is in the morning, to jump start your day. Water is essential for the body, but too much can cause chemical imbalances in the body and upset natural occuring reactions. One of the reasons that people think eating after 7pm is bad, is becuase (for most) their body has begun to relax and begin preparation for sleep, therefore the metabolism is not as high as it would be during the daytime, when you are up and moving. It would be okay to eat after 7, just not right before you go to bed.
My suggestion for anyone thinking of starting a diet/excercise plan is to talk to your doctor, thoroughly research it, and possibly look at talking to a nutritionist or dietician they can help you better understand the concept of proper nutrition and diet.

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