Strangest thing someone has said to you about health/diet??

pcw65

I just had a surreal discussion with the lady that cleans for us once a week.

She know I am trying to lose weight right now and asked me "why do I have high cholesterol as my blood is hot".....?! That was literally how she worded it.

I was obviously TOTALLY confused and asked her to try to explain why she felt the two were linked. She explained that fat when it gets hot it melts and so therefore surely the cholesterol in her blood should melt and..., I really don't know, vanish?!

Lets just say it was a fairly odd discussion. I tried to explain the best I could (at the same time wishing like hell my wife was home today, she is a biologist!)

This lady really is a sweet person but some of the things she says. I could write a book.

DebLaBounty

Ha! I guess since I've had lots of hot flashes I should have burned away fat and that troublesome cholesterol years ago! The weirdest fad diet secret I was told was that every three hours you are supposed to drink a glass of water with maple syrup and cayenne pepper and lemon in it. Supposedly that makes the fat disappear faster and is more satisfying than regular water. And it allegedly speeds up your metabolism. The woman who told me this was able to continue doing this for one week, then admitted it was a bunch of hooey.

ashliedelgado

XD that is excellent logic though...

Unknown

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usmcmp

I've heard lots of crazy things in the last 8 years. I feel that social media is partially to blame, along with fitness magazines and lack of proper nutritional/fitness education in schools. Not trying to take a high road here, but I'm not going to share some of what I heard because I believed some pretty strange things when I started and am mildly horrified about that when I think back.

seltzermint555

pretty much just the people who believe it is Diet Coke and artificial sweetener that makes us all obese and if you just eat produce and organic whole milk you can have as much as you like, 24/7. I know a lot of people who say this stuff. Usually they are in their twenties and have never had a weight problem. So you know...experts

AnvilHead

The people who say it's insulin, not too many calories, which makes you fat.

sofchak

Omg - I heard an interesting one last night. A very good friend of mine said he had success losing weight recently because he reduced his beer intake considerably. But it wasn’t the calories in the beer he was blaming... It was the wheat (or gluten - he couldn’t figure out which) that was the actual culprit!

Le sigh... meanwhile, I am gluten intolerant so I might know a thing or two about that particular topic. However, he refused to believe CICO was the correct rationale and instead bought into the hype that gluten is EVIL!!!

Pro tip: gluten is only evil if you have a negative reaction to it. Period.

singingflutelady

Leaky gut syndrome

shadow2soul

I had someone tell me if I did a water fast for 2 weeks I could lose 10 lbs of pure fat. They were very determined to convince me that all weight lost would be fat. :noway:

Alatariel75

The whole fasting thing gets me. A few years ago, it was called starving, and it was bad. Now its called water fasting and it apparently cures everything you can imagine. I just don't get it.

shadow2soul

Alatariel75 wrote: »

The whole fasting thing gets me. A few years ago, it was called starving, and it was bad. Now its called water fasting and it apparently cures everything you can imagine. I just don't get it.

I still call it starving.

I understand 5:2 fast or the 16:8 fast. I even understand going a day or 2 without food as prep for surgery. I do not understand intentionally going without food for days on end to weeks.

Alatariel75

shadow2soul wrote: »

Alatariel75 wrote: »

The whole fasting thing gets me. A few years ago, it was called starving, and it was bad. Now its called water fasting and it apparently cures everything you can imagine. I just don't get it.

I still call it starving.

I understand 5:2 fast or the 16:8 fast. I even understand going a day or 2 without food as prep for surgery. I do not understand intentionally going without food for days on end to weeks.

Exactly. I pretty much do 16:8, just out of personal preference for eating times. But this whole "I'm going to do a 7 day water fast! things gets to me. No, you're planning on starving yourself for 7 days. That's not at all good.

lilolilo920

sofchak wrote: »

Omg - I heard an interesting one last night. A very good friend of mine said he had success losing weight recently because he reduced his beer intake considerably. But it wasn’t the calories in the beer he was blaming... It was the wheat (or gluten - he couldn’t figure out which) that was the actual culprit!

Le sigh... meanwhile, I am gluten intolerant so I might know a thing or two about that particular topic. However, he refused to believe CICO was the correct rationale and instead bought into the hype that gluten is EVIL!!!

Pro tip: gluten is only evil if you have a negative reaction to it. Period.

SanaAnum

Eat as much fruit. It doesnot makes you fat.

But the most important one on which i have not researched is. All the elders around me say some people have soft fat and they lose it quickly but gain it quickly aswell. Some people have hard fat they lose it slowly and gain slowly aswell. This doesnot makes sense to me.

its_me_april

very interesting theory your cleaning lady has! lol . . . I wonder if it was a cultural thing? Some cultures have very interesting ideas about health / fitness, etc. . .

One of my very overweight friends in school would purposefully fidget all the time--like over the top fidgeting because she said she read somewhere that people who fidget are more likely to be thin and she believed it was helping her lose weight. It's probably true that people who fidget more burn more calories, but then I remember her bringing an entire block of cheddar cheese and a beef stick + ritz crackers and I'm pretty sure she was undoing all the "work" she'd done fidgeting!

ccsernica

I friend I've known long enough to remember from when he was skinny -- now he's not -- asked if I lost weight on purpose or if there was some... medical... reason for the weight loss.

netitheyeti

my grandma thought stuff like cucumber was high in calories and asked if I "should be putting so much of it in my bowl of salad" ... could not explain that I would NOT be gaining weight by eating a cucumber/vegetables (I was logging my food at the time, too), I even googled the nutrition for her... but the concept of volume vs calories just went right over her head... large salad (which was maybe 250 cal?) = "you're gonna get fat, there's so much food in your bowl"

yoliyoda

I had a friend tell me the reason should could not lower her weight is because she was not eating according to her blood type. According to her, there are special diets based on blood type.

CattOfTheGarage

wex65 wrote: »

She explained that fat when it gets hot it melts and so therefore surely the cholesterol in her blood should melt and..., I really don't know, vanish?!

That actually strikes me as a really interesting technical question. She's right, you know, blood heat is warm enough that most fats are liquid at that temperature, so I'd expect them to stay liquid and keep flowing round the system (or be stored in cells), not build up in deposits.

If you pour fat down the sink (DON'T DO THIS, PEOPLE) it clogs the pipes because it cools down. So why does cholesterol build up? I assume it's stickier than other fat, or has a higher melting point, or something?

SLLeask

yoliyoda wrote: »

I had a friend tell me the reason should could not lower her weight is because she was not eating according to her blood type. According to her, there are special diets based on blood type.

She's probably talking about this book... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eat-Right-4-Your-Type-ebook/dp/B0089WCD1U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1518162154&sr=8-2&keywords=blood+type+diet

It's utter rubbish, but there are diets out there that allegedly work for your blood type...!! I looked at it once and immediately put it back on the shelf, according to the book I shouldn't eat cheese. Hahahaha, not eat cheese? Me? Hahahahah!!! I'd rather be fat thanks!

yirara

I once was told that eating a grainy black scandinavian bread would help me lose weight. So I ate an additional slice after my lunchtime workout. Same with smoked macarel or pickled herring, which I ate additionally as well. I eas the one who told me it would be good

ElkeKNJ

DebLaBounty wrote: »

Ha! I guess since I've had lots of hot flashes I should have burned away fat and that troublesome cholesterol years ago! The weirdest fad diet secret I was told was that every three hours you are supposed to drink a glass of water with maple syrup and cayenne pepper and lemon in it. Supposedly that makes the fat disappear faster and is more satisfying than regular water. And it allegedly speeds up your metabolism. The woman who told me this was able to continue doing this for one week, then admitted it was a bunch of hooey.

been there, done that tasted ok though

pcw65

In the same discussion I had with her yesterday re cholesterol she asked me if switching out pasta for spiralised squash pasta would be healthier for her. Bear in mind she finishes EVERY evening with 10-12 Oreos and two glasses of ovaltine with full fat milk. When I told her to keep the regular pasta and just cut out the 800+ calorie evening snack she looked horrified.

I had to explain that her intake should probably be 1400'ish calories (she is 5' 1") and she was eating maybe 60% of that as an evening snack. Switching pasta types is not the low hanging fruit in terms of an improvement to her diet.

I will try to steer her into a healthier lifestyle slowly. She wants help and told me as much. I suspect it will be like turning an oil tanker though, baby steps!

CattOfTheGarage

Changing any of our eating habits is like turning an oil tanker. You're doing a good thing by helping her. Good for you.

WilmaValley

"If you eat after 6:00 at night you will gain weight."

smolmaus

"Wheat is poison"

Not just for ceoliacs (like me) or people with intolerances, just everyone. Wheat is poison. And she still eats wheat products.

Alatariel75

Oh, oh, oh:

Moderation when you're trying to get to your goal is no good and if you want to live a healthy lifestyle, then throw moderation based thinking out the window completely. Otherwise, just have an ounce or two of gasoline to wash down your baked fish and greens if one thinks moderation is good for you!

deputy_randolph

From 2 different people:

"Peas make you fat, b/c they're made from sugar."
"Carrots make you fat, b/c they're made from sugar."

Go_Deskercise

Had someone tell me: "I can't lose weight because I don't have the money to buy healthy/organic food and have a gym membership"

lightenup2016

"If you eat a potato, that whole thing turns into SUGAR in your body! No more potatoes for me!!" with horrified look on face...