Common Myths About Food

The most persistent nutrition myths are those that contain at least a gist of truth and some “myths” help us get to real dietary wisdom that actually might help our health. Here’s a cold, hard, science-based look at some of the myths and what really is the truth behind them.

1. Do Bananas Make You Fat

Carefully planning your every meal is one of the ways with which you can obtain an effective weight-loss campaign. Don’t be afraid that a banana will make you fat; a small banana contains about 80 calories max, a medium size banana contains 115 calories and a large size banana contains 150 calories. The false interpretation that a banana makes you gain weight is commonly based on the fact that a banana contains a relative large amount of  carbs, of which natural fruit sugars. These sugars are  broken down into glucose, which provides your body with energy to move your leg, make a step, walk etc. That’s a good thing! your brain can’t even function without glucose. To gain weight, you’ll need to eat more calories than you burn. Bananas are not in general the culprit behind the undesired weight gain. They are a natural source of many nutrients. You may have to ditch out certain foods like junkies, burgers, soft drinks, chocolates, ice creams, chips, etc. from your diet instead of bananas.

                            Suppose you ate one banana then the glucose is converted to glycogen which, provides energy to your body. Let’s say you ate more bananas and thereby taking in more glucose than you need right away. Your body stores the glucose as glycogen in your muscles and liver, saving it for energy later on. Now making it more extreme, let’s say you ate more and more bananas and thereby took in more glucose than your liver and muscles can store at that moment, a reminder of glycogen is left, which will be stored as fat.

Nutritional Facts and Benefits of Bananas

• Perfect pre-workout snack: Bananas are an excellent pre-gym snack as it condenses carbohydrates and sugars, which are essential in any workout. Moreover, the energy and nutrients packed in each banana makes for a perfect snack for any fitness enthusiast.
• Due to its high values of vitamin A and C, a banana is a great anti-wrinkle food. Iron and B vitamins make a banana a great source of important minerals and vitamins for veggies.
• The banana has positive mood influencing properties, it’s the tryptophan in it that makes you feel happy. So, if you are sensitive to depression or if you are moody in the morning, add a banana to your breakfast.
• Bananas also contain a little bit of the hormone melatonin, which makes you sleepy during night time. If you are having problems getting into sleep, indulge on eating a small banana 2 hours before going to bed.

How Many Bananas Should You Eat Each Day?

Bananas should be eaten in moderation. Most health experts recommend only one to two bananas per day depending on its size, and consider an intake of four per day as excessive. The average person should only get about one and a half cups to two cups of fruit each day. A single banana served with one or two other fruits would be the best option for your health as it could provide the best benefits.

 
2. Eating Eggs Raises Your Cholesterol Levels

• A person diagnosed with high cholesterol will go out of his or her way to avoid eggs, which is really unnecessary. The body's cholesterol levels are influenced by certain saturated and trans fats. Eggs contain very little saturated fat (1.5 grams of fat per large egg) and absolutely no trans fat.
• Cutting eggs out of your diet is a bad idea, they're a rich source of 13 vitamins and minerals. Eliminating eggs from your diet because you're concerned about cholesterol will do absolutely nothing for you, and instead may actually be harmful because you're missing out on the health benefits they have.
• The Harvard Medical School agrees, and the Mayo Clinic, suggest that if you love eggs, eat the whites and not the yolks. Both agree that even though the yolks have a lot of cholesterol, very little of it actually makes it into your bloodstream, where it matters.

 
3. Nuts Increases Your Cholesterol Levels And Weight

• A lot of people still see them as salty, fatty, and high calorie, weight gain junk food. But nutritionists say that certain nuts deserve an honored spot in the kitchen of every healthy eater as long as you're not allergic.
• Nuts have lots of protein, fiber, healthy monounsaturated fats, vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants. And many studies have shown that nuts have powerful cholesterol-lowering effects. Eating a diet that includes one ounce of nuts daily can reduce your risk of heart disease.
• The researchers found that, people who ate nuts had an increase in their good HDL cholesterol and a drop of 10% in their bad LDL cholesterol levels.
• Consuming nuts in moderation doesn’t pose a threat for weight gain and may even enhance weight loss, according to a review published in 2010 in the “Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition.” Overindulging in nuts as part of a high-calorie meal plan could cause you to pack on extra pounds.
• Nuts won’t cause weight gain, because they increase your body’s energy expenditure when you eat them. The 2010 review published in the “Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition” found that eating nuts is associated with increases in resting energy expenditure and thermic effect of food, which is the number of calories your body burns consuming and processing food.
• Your body excretes 10 to 15 percent of the calories from nuts and likely burns an additional 10 percent of the calories through the increased metabolism created by eating nuts. Once people consume nuts, they are likely to consume less of other foods, resulting in a balanced intake.
• Nuts taken in moderation ( one ounce per day ) does not lead to increase in cholesterol levels and weight gain.
•  When you're choosing nuts, make sure to get them raw and unsalted. Honey-roasted, chocolate covered, and other candied nuts give you extra calories that you don't need.

 

4. Reduced fat Milk Is Healthier Than Whole Fat Milk

• Low-fat foods do not lower calorie consumption. Low-fat versions are supposed to reduce the amount of calories that people eat, and in an absolute sense, they do. A cup of low-fat milk contains fewer calories than a cup of whole milk. There isn’t much evidence to support the idea that drinking lower-calorie beverages in general leads to lower-calorie intake.
• Reduced-fat milk may not be as filling, so we may end up compensating for the lack of calories and eating or drinking more. Scientists found that, those who drank lower-fat milks were actually more likely to gain weight slowly.
• Whole milk’s high saturated-fat content has been linked to higher cholesterol. But low-fat milk may lead drinkers to consume more high-glycemic-index foods (foods that make you more hungry and contribute to weight gain), which can increase the level of triglycerides that can amplify the effect of heart-disease risk factors such as high cholesterol and hypertension.
• This low fat version milk is not only lower in calories, but also lower in the important nutrients like calcium, zinc, vitamin A,D,E,K and B12 which are present in natural whole milk. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat soluble. Without the fat in the milk, your digestive tract won’t absorb many of the nutrients. That means your body cannot use them properly without fat.  

 5. All Fats Are Bad For You

• Healthy fats are essential for good health and they also protect us from a range of diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
• Healthy fats include monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, found in nuts and seeds, olives and olive oil, avocados, canola oils, etc. They also include omega-3 fatty acids found in soybeans, dark green vegetables and oily fish.
• Healthy fats help to decrease total cholesterol levels, while omega-3 fats in particular have many other healthy properties, including reducing blood pressure and assisting with inflammatory bowel disease.  

Conclusion :

Over the years, myths and misconceptions have arisen about certain foods and scary diseases. To make matters worse, false and undeserved claims often end up tainting the reputations of favorite foods, some of which turn out to be good for you. So remove all the misconceptions from your brain and add healthy foods to your diet.