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Fitness and diet myths that just won't go away
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Oh thank you - now I know how to increase the calorie count for my breakfast when winter camping and make it delicious.
And I was just adding dried fruit - how foolish, and not enough calories.1 -
Not to mention when people think brown sugar is more healthy than plain old white granulated sugar.MargaretYakoda wrote: »My personal pet peeve
“Cut out all sugar”
“White sugar is the devil”
And all variations of the same.
If I have the spoons for it? I generally respond with a deadpan “If you don’t eat sugar you will die very quickly.”
I also really hate this one’s corollary “It doesn’t have sugar in it. I used honey”
Which will, if I have zero spoons, earn a hard eye roll. If I do have spoons I will inform them that a person’s pancreas can’t tell the difference between white sugar and honey. And their “it doesn’t have sugar, I used honey!” can be very harmful to a diabetic.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
But you have to admit it tastes SOOO much better sometimes, like with pumpkin, or apples, or caramel popcorn, or—-3 -
Which can be a detriment to some. So much easier to overindulge.corinasue1143 wrote: »
Not to mention when people think brown sugar is more healthy than plain old white granulated sugar.MargaretYakoda wrote: »My personal pet peeve
“Cut out all sugar”
“White sugar is the devil”
And all variations of the same.
If I have the spoons for it? I generally respond with a deadpan “If you don’t eat sugar you will die very quickly.”
I also really hate this one’s corollary “It doesn’t have sugar in it. I used honey”
Which will, if I have zero spoons, earn a hard eye roll. If I do have spoons I will inform them that a person’s pancreas can’t tell the difference between white sugar and honey. And their “it doesn’t have sugar, I used honey!” can be very harmful to a diabetic.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
But you have to admit it tastes SOOO much better sometimes, like with pumpkin, or apples, or caramel popcorn, or—-
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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My partner’s mother was told that of she went on too long a bike ride, her body, having depleted carb stores, would start cannibalizing muscle.3
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Which can be a detriment to some. So much easier to overindulge.corinasue1143 wrote: »
Not to mention when people think brown sugar is more healthy than plain old white granulated sugar.MargaretYakoda wrote: »My personal pet peeve
“Cut out all sugar”
“White sugar is the devil”
And all variations of the same.
If I have the spoons for it? I generally respond with a deadpan “If you don’t eat sugar you will die very quickly.”
I also really hate this one’s corollary “It doesn’t have sugar in it. I used honey”
Which will, if I have zero spoons, earn a hard eye roll. If I do have spoons I will inform them that a person’s pancreas can’t tell the difference between white sugar and honey. And their “it doesn’t have sugar, I used honey!” can be very harmful to a diabetic.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
But you have to admit it tastes SOOO much better sometimes, like with pumpkin, or apples, or caramel popcorn, or—-
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Which brings me to another myth:
Portion control takes too much effort.
Because no, it does not.
The right tools do help. But it’s a habit that really doesn’t take too much to develop (assuming the individual isn’t living with food insecurity)
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To completely deplete carbs stores would stop someone dead in their tracks and they'd lay on the ground. Some people read too many bro magazine articles.My partner’s mother was told that of she went on too long a bike ride, her body, having depleted carb stores, would start cannibalizing muscle.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition 4 -
My aunt says she can eat as much guacamole as she wants and goes through a tub a day because she says "it's healthy fats it helps burn fat". She doesn't understand the concept of calories despite explaining it to her AGAIN and AGAIN.4
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Bella_Figura wrote: »Re myths - here's a new one (at least, new to me).
I was chatting to my neighbour today and she bemoaned the fact that she'd been on a controlled 1000 calorie a day diet since 1/1/2020, consisting of pre-prepped ingredients and meal plans which are delivered weekly to her door by courier at an exorbitant cost, but that instead of losing weight she was actually 19lbs heavier than when she started 18 months ago despite "sticking 110% to plan".
It must be, she said, because she works in the village chippy, and therefore absorbs fat from the fish and chip frying "because the oil is super-heated and aerosolised and coats my hair and skin, and enters my bloodstream through my pores."
I think this myth must be doing the rounds in my little corner of the UK because she's the third person who's said something similiar to me in the past month.
Hahahaha, this really made me laugh !
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Antiopelle wrote: »Bella_Figura wrote: »Re myths - here's a new one (at least, new to me).
I was chatting to my neighbour today and she bemoaned the fact that she'd been on a controlled 1000 calorie a day diet since 1/1/2020, consisting of pre-prepped ingredients and meal plans which are delivered weekly to her door by courier at an exorbitant cost, but that instead of losing weight she was actually 19lbs heavier than when she started 18 months ago despite "sticking 110% to plan".
It must be, she said, because she works in the village chippy, and therefore absorbs fat from the fish and chip frying "because the oil is super-heated and aerosolised and coats my hair and skin, and enters my bloodstream through my pores."
I think this myth must be doing the rounds in my little corner of the UK because she's the third person who's said something similiar to me in the past month.
Hahahaha, this really made me laugh !
I particularly liked the 'aerosolised' comment - gave a real ring of scientific truth to what was otherwise a load of tosh!2 -
Lol, her skin must be fabulous.Bella_Figura wrote: »Re myths - here's a new one (at least, new to me).
I was chatting to my neighbour today and she bemoaned the fact that she'd been on a controlled 1000 calorie a day diet since 1/1/2020, consisting of pre-prepped ingredients and meal plans which are delivered weekly to her door by courier at an exorbitant cost, but that instead of losing weight she was actually 19lbs heavier than when she started 18 months ago despite "sticking 110% to plan".
It must be, she said, because she works in the village chippy, and therefore absorbs fat from the fish and chip frying "because the oil is super-heated and aerosolised and coats my hair and skin, and enters my bloodstream through my pores."
I think this myth must be doing the rounds in my little corner of the UK because she's the third person who's said something similiar to me in the past month.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Very off-topic, but that was actually one of the first questions my dermatologist asked me (what job I had) when I went to him for my acne. When I looked puzzled at this (for me irrelevant) question, he went on to explain that some people get acne from for example working in a 'chippy'!3 -
I have said it before but I keep hearing about how bad carbs are, including fruit. There is nothing wrong with fruit. Fruit is one of the healthiest food on the planet with tons of vitamins and fiber.7
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Not to mention when people think brown sugar is more healthy than plain old white granulated sugar.MargaretYakoda wrote: »My personal pet peeve
“Cut out all sugar”
“White sugar is the devil”
And all variations of the same.
If I have the spoons for it? I generally respond with a deadpan “If you don’t eat sugar you will die very quickly.”
I also really hate this one’s corollary “It doesn’t have sugar in it. I used honey”
Which will, if I have zero spoons, earn a hard eye roll. If I do have spoons I will inform them that a person’s pancreas can’t tell the difference between white sugar and honey. And their “it doesn’t have sugar, I used honey!” can be very harmful to a diabetic.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This has got to be because people believe that brown food > white food.
Rice, bread, pasta...if you simply MUST eat it, at least make sure it's BROWN because it SO much more healthy!
I know there's some benefit to whole grain products, but not to the extent that people seem to think.6 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
Not to mention when people think brown sugar is more healthy than plain old white granulated sugar.MargaretYakoda wrote: »My personal pet peeve
“Cut out all sugar”
“White sugar is the devil”
And all variations of the same.
If I have the spoons for it? I generally respond with a deadpan “If you don’t eat sugar you will die very quickly.”
I also really hate this one’s corollary “It doesn’t have sugar in it. I used honey”
Which will, if I have zero spoons, earn a hard eye roll. If I do have spoons I will inform them that a person’s pancreas can’t tell the difference between white sugar and honey. And their “it doesn’t have sugar, I used honey!” can be very harmful to a diabetic.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This has got to be because people believe that brown food > white food.
Rice, bread, pasta...if you simply MUST eat it, at least make sure it's BROWN because it SO much more healthy!
I know there's some benefit to whole grain products, but not to the extent that people seem to think.
Many think it's less processed or less additives being whole wheat or whatever.
I have some whole wheat wheatberry bread in the cupboard kiddo and running experiment with - approaching 1 year old - no mold. And I didn't squeeze half the loaf to handball size to get rid of air. It's normally processed and additives like most breads.
Then we'll test if birds willing to eat it, maybe.3 -
My sister-in-law got very upset when she was told that our hole-in-the-wall Thai place did not offer brown rice as an option.
She refused to eat the white rice, because it's "so unhealthy."
3 -
Science gets manipulated by scammers. Remember when chitosan was a thing? You'd watch infomercials of fat being poured into a glass of water and you can see the separation. Then chitosan was poured on top and the fat magically disappeared. And voila now you have a supplement that breaks down fat after taking. But of course it DOESN'T work that way once it has to pass through the stomach first.I have said it before but I keep hearing about how bad carbs are, including fruit. There is nothing wrong with fruit. Fruit is one of the healthiest food on the planet with tons of vitamins and fiber.
Since just about everyone eats carbs what better way to make a bunch of money by manipulating information and getting people to by the solution to a problem they create.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
3 -
Science gets manipulated by scammers. Remember when chitosan was a thing? You'd watch infomercials of fat being poured into a glass of water and you can see the separation. Then chitosan was poured on top and the fat magically disappeared. And voila now you have a supplement that breaks down fat after taking. But of course it DOESN'T work that way once it has to pass through the stomach first.I have said it before but I keep hearing about how bad carbs are, including fruit. There is nothing wrong with fruit. Fruit is one of the healthiest food on the planet with tons of vitamins and fiber.
Since just about everyone eats carbs what better way to make a bunch of money by manipulating information and getting people to by the solution to a problem they create.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Remember Olestra? And the side effects?
Yikes! 🤣💩🤣1 -
MargaretYakoda wrote: »
Which can be a detriment to some. So much easier to overindulge.corinasue1143 wrote: »
Not to mention when people think brown sugar is more healthy than plain old white granulated sugar.MargaretYakoda wrote: »My personal pet peeve
“Cut out all sugar”
“White sugar is the devil”
And all variations of the same.
If I have the spoons for it? I generally respond with a deadpan “If you don’t eat sugar you will die very quickly.”
I also really hate this one’s corollary “It doesn’t have sugar in it. I used honey”
Which will, if I have zero spoons, earn a hard eye roll. If I do have spoons I will inform them that a person’s pancreas can’t tell the difference between white sugar and honey. And their “it doesn’t have sugar, I used honey!” can be very harmful to a diabetic.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
But you have to admit it tastes SOOO much better sometimes, like with pumpkin, or apples, or caramel popcorn, or—-
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Which brings me to another myth:
Portion control takes too much effort.
Because no, it does not.
The right tools do help. But it’s a habit that really doesn’t take too much to develop (assuming the individual isn’t living with food insecurity)
I'm unconvinced, even while having had pretty much the same experience you did in that respect.
What's hard or not hard is subjective and individual. Portion control was not an unmanageable effort for me. I'm not convinced that's a universal.
I read threads here sometimes from people who are struggling with sitting on the floor in their kitchen, eating whole boxes of cereal, sleeves of crackers or cookies, things they don't even want, that they don't enjoy eating, and they don't even know why; they're crying - inside if not outside; they don't know why they can't control something that's objectively in their control. Reading some of those threads, I believe every word is true for them. I've never felt anything like that, so I can't really empathize, just hear and care.
I don't think portion control is a manageable effort for everyone. Some people need to reconstruct their psychology of food from the ground up. That's hard, a huge effort, IMO.14 -
Science gets manipulated by scammers. Remember when chitosan was a thing? You'd watch infomercials of fat being poured into a glass of water and you can see the separation. Then chitosan was poured on top and the fat magically disappeared. And voila now you have a supplement that breaks down fat after taking. But of course it DOESN'T work that way once it has to pass through the stomach first.I have said it before but I keep hearing about how bad carbs are, including fruit. There is nothing wrong with fruit. Fruit is one of the healthiest food on the planet with tons of vitamins and fiber.
Since just about everyone eats carbs what better way to make a bunch of money by manipulating information and getting people to by the solution to a problem they create.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
I don’t remember that one but it does seem the anti-carb trend has been persisting for a while now……. It is really ridiculous. 😋
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My partner’s mother was told that of she went on too long a bike ride, her body, having depleted carb stores, would start cannibalizing muscle.
To completely deplete carbs stores would stop someone dead in their tracks and they'd lay on the ground. Some people read too many bro magazine articles.My partner’s mother was told that of she went on too long a bike ride, her body, having depleted carb stores, would start cannibalizing muscle.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
High intensity endurance exercise can deplete your glycogen stores, it's called bonking or hitting the wall. It's a thing that happens every day. You don't have to completely empty the tank, because your brain isn't exactly disinterested, it needs glycogen too, when it realizes you're burning through the stuff and there isn't much left, your brain tells you your legs are on fire and your lungs are inside out on the sidewalk. It doesn't eat your muscles, but it makes you overwhelmingly exhausted and comes out of nowhere. Last time I bonked I was skiing cross country, dripping with sweat, surrounded by snow, unable to go on.
Just a long bike ride won't do it, for most people you'll need to spend an hour or two near threshold.5 -
That's basically what I mentioned above. Hardly anyone really knows what complete depletion means because hardly anyone actually experiences it. One can feel low on energy, but it's not the same as bonking. I've seen the effects of bonking (last one was a guy finishing the last leg and collapsing to the ground short of the finish line).NorthCascades wrote: »My partner’s mother was told that of she went on too long a bike ride, her body, having depleted carb stores, would start cannibalizing muscle.
To completely deplete carbs stores would stop someone dead in their tracks and they'd lay on the ground. Some people read too many bro magazine articles.My partner’s mother was told that of she went on too long a bike ride, her body, having depleted carb stores, would start cannibalizing muscle.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
High intensity endurance exercise can deplete your glycogen stores, it's called bonking or hitting the wall. It's a thing that happens every day. You don't have to completely empty the tank, because your brain isn't exactly disinterested, it needs glycogen too, when it realizes you're burning through the stuff and there isn't much left, your brain tells you your legs are on fire and your lungs are inside out on the sidewalk. It doesn't eat your muscles, but it makes you overwhelmingly exhausted and comes out of nowhere. Last time I bonked I was skiing cross country, dripping with sweat, surrounded by snow, unable to go on.
Just a long bike ride won't do it, for most people you'll need to spend an hour or two near threshold.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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