whats the worst "food myth" you have heard?

RilantheFirebug

That there is no such thing as a "good fat" or that you should never eat ANY kind of fat. My MIL says she eats a 100% fat free diet -- uh huh....sure you do. :grumble:

crisanderson27

eating egg yolks will give you high cholesterol

Ok...so just had a health screening today. Have borderline high cholesterol for the first time in my life. The only thing I have changed is that since I have been exercising regularly I have been eating 2 eggs every morning for breakfast. The nurse told me to cut back on the eggs or to stop eating the yokes.

So...that's not true? So what does give you high cholesterol?

Sorry to come across as dumb, but I've never had high cholesterol before!

I didn't know the answer to this either so I looked it up. Apparently saturated fats cause high cholesterol. Dietary cholesterol like what is found in eggs has little effect on blood cholesterol levels.

Hmm, I'm an avid fan of saturated fats (I grew up on a cattle ranch, and my diet pretty much reflects that)...and last bloodwork I had was dead on.

*shrug*

mturgeon05

eating egg yolks will give you high cholesterol

Ok...so just had a health screening today. Have borderline high cholesterol for the first time in my life. The only thing I have changed is that since I have been exercising regularly I have been eating 2 eggs every morning for breakfast. The nurse told me to cut back on the eggs or to stop eating the yokes.

So...that's not true? So what does give you high cholesterol?

Sorry to come across as dumb, but I've never had high cholesterol before!

The most common things that raise cholesterol are the wrong types of fats and/or refined carbs. For most people dietary cholesterol doesn't have much affect but for some it does

For most people, the amount of cholesterol eaten has only a modest impact on the amount of cholesterol circulating in the blood. (37) For some people, though, blood cholesterol levels rise and fall very strongly in relation to the amount of cholesterol eaten. For these "responders," avoiding cholesterol-rich foods can have a substantial effect on blood cholesterol levels. Unfortunately, at this point there is no way other than by trial and error to identify responders from non-responders to dietary cholesterol.
Source: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-full-story/index.html#cholesterol

ETA: the link above has a lot of interesting information on cholesterol and the conflicting evidence from various studies.

Thanks!!!

SGRhapsodos

Ok, back on the subject, the craziest one I've heard is: 'if you don't eat the most nutritious, most important meal of your day 15 minutes after you work out, you will store fat and it will be as if you hadn't worked out at all. Basically work put gone to waste.' yes, trainer, I carry a lunchbox full of baked chicken, sweet potato, a green salad and olive oil in my gym bag!

bcattoes

The underlying assumption that anything "natural" is healthy. (Reminder: Hemlock and cyanide are natural.)
That this or that extreme diet is healthy (with the implication that it will work long-term).

You just made me think of a quote I was on pinterest yesterday. "People say that _________ is good for you because it's natural, but they don't realize that just because it's natural doesn't mean it's safe. Wanna know what else is natural? Bears."

Bears are good for you if you cook them right.

SGRhapsodos

That there is no such thing as a "good fat" or that you should never eat ANY kind of fat. My MIL says she eats a 100% fat free diet -- uh huh....sure you do. :grumble:

I was raised on that mentality too.... And then I wondered why I was breaking out, getting, inflammation, constipated, etc. No it couldn't have been the corn flakes and the fat free milk I was having for breakfast.

SofaKingRad

Ice water is a negative calorie drink.

forgtmenot

eating egg yolks will give you high cholesterol

Ok...so just had a health screening today. Have borderline high cholesterol for the first time in my life. The only thing I have changed is that since I have been exercising regularly I have been eating 2 eggs every morning for breakfast. The nurse told me to cut back on the eggs or to stop eating the yokes.

So...that's not true? So what does give you high cholesterol?

Sorry to come across as dumb, but I've never had high cholesterol before!

I didn't know the answer to this either so I looked it up. Apparently saturated fats cause high cholesterol. Dietary cholesterol like what is found in eggs has little effect on blood cholesterol levels.

Hmm, I'm an avid fan of saturated fats (I grew up on a cattle ranch, and my diet pretty much reflects that)...and last bloodwork I had was dead on.

*shrug*

Of course there are other things that cause it too. I didn't mean to say that to mean saturated fats are the only thing that causes high cholesterol and all people who eat a lot of saturated fat will have high cholesterol... Sorry I wasn't more specific.

mkozmik

Well, when you sautee the mushrooms in butter then put them in gravy an slather them on a buttery cheesburger, I guess they would have a lot of fat attached to them..... ;-) Just sayin....

angryguy77

It's healthy to eat sugary foods in the morning, like donuts, because your body needs to replenish sugar after sleeping.

thanks for taking all I had away

budhandy

I also i like the one where Im not supposed to drink diet pop its going to give me cancer!

xlolitabandita

I swear, everytime I pull a banana out my purse (yes, I keep fruit in my purse...ya know, for fruit emergencies), atleast one person I'm with will say "Aren't you dieting? Bananas make you fat." or something along those lines *eye roll*

I pulled one out (emergency) at Wendys the other night while my husband scarfed down a half pound of greasy burger and fries!

hahaha I'm so glad I'm not the only crazy lady with food in their purse!

mkozmik

One of my favorites is "Coffee will turn your belly button brown."

AlabasterVerve

That ground turkey is better for you than lean ground beef. This one really pisses me off because not only did I believe it, I acted on it and for the last 5 months I've been using ground turkey in place of ground beef.

I was making chili and was out of ground turkey so I grab some steak filets and chopped them up instead. And when I was imputing the recipe I couldn't figure out why the calories were so much lower than my usual recipe. Turns out there were less calories, fat AND saturated fat (the reason why they say beef is so bad for you to begin with!) in the 1/2 a pound of lean beef than the freakin' 1/2 a pound of ground turkey. Not to mention that for some recipes I need to use added olive oil because the turkey is so dry and that just bumps up the calories even further. It's pretty frightening what you'll believe if you hear it repeated often enough...

bbriscoe13

I was told earlier this week that wheat poisons your body.

RilantheFirebug

That there is no such thing as a "good fat" or that you should never eat ANY kind of fat. My MIL says she eats a 100% fat free diet -- uh huh....sure you do. :grumble:

I was raised on that mentality too.... And then I wondered why I was breaking out, getting, inflammation, constipated, etc. No it couldn't have been the corn flakes and the fat free milk I was having for breakfast.

People flip out about healthy fats...like avocados....so good for you but considered a "fatty" food. It is monosaturated -- the good kind that can LOWER cholesterol levels.

I do drink fat free/skim milk though -- only because I prefer the taste. I get my good fats elsewhere.

jesslaur75

Vegan eating is healthy. I find this hilarious considering the amount of supplements you need to take to get what you need, plus the amount of processed foods these people eat to have fake meat products which are just as bad as the processed foods the meat eaters eat.

angryguy77

Spunk is a good protein source

...Isn't it? :O

The more women who believe that the better

naswegan

Not a "food" myth per se, but I hate it when people think that every thin person MUST unarguably be healthier than anyone who is overweight. Even with a little extra padding, my habits are MUCH healthier than when I was literally starving to keep my weight down. Along the same lines, the perception that every thin person must be eating healthfully and exercising is a similar myth. I know a few people who are naturally thin and do not eat well at all, do not exercise, and also partake in other unhealthy personal habits.

I am also hoping that "a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips" is a myth. The occasional brownie cannot possibly stick around forever, can it? I think it's a scare tactic (which doesn't really work most of the time). I don't know anyone, even the strictest eater, who doesn't partake in an indulgence every now and again.

joeburchett2

Your trainer SHOULD have asked, "Where do your calories come from?" A calorie is a calorie...but 400 calories of broccoli IS different than 400 calories of doughnuts!

robin52077

Vegan eating is healthy.

oreos are vegan.
just sayin' ANY vegan/vegetarian/omnivore/whatever lifestyle can be healthy OR NOT healthy depending on what that person eats...I agree with you that blanket statements like "vegan is healthy" are a pile of crap

All my favorites have already been said...

Oh, I can add "anything Dr. Oz EVER said."

Neahpata

if you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding. how can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

LOL

FrostyFour

A friend of mine thought that all the white stuff on a newborn baby was LARD! Apparently if you eat a high fat diet when you're pregnant, your baby is born covered in lard!!
:huh:

WTF? right because we walk around with a uterus full of lard for 9 months:huh:


please tell me they don't plan on procreating?

Not diet related, but my boss and all my coworkers at Sonic tried to tell me that the baby doesn't grow in the uterus, it grows on TOP of the uterus... you know, with your heart and lungs and all that.

And if you take castor oil, you poop the baby out.

Because castor oil magically teleports the baby into your intestinal tract.

Starsighter78

Hahahah. My parents used to tell me that if you ate the tails off of shrimp, they would grow and swim in your belly.

And don't forget bubble gum stays in your stomach for seven years if you swallow it! :laugh:

contingencyplan

oh and apparently i live under a rock what the hell is a negative calorie food? no doubt a mythical creature of sorts but I've never heard that term until this post

I think they are supposed to be things that take more calories to digest than what they contain.. is that correct, anyone?

I've never really thought much about it, but I thought I heard somone try to argue that once.

Supposedly the theory behind it goes like this: Since many vegetables are of a fibrous nature and are extremely low in calorie, the body burns more calories working to digest them than you ingested by eating them. Supposedly.

Also, one I like is how people talk like carbs are the devil. Carbs are one of the key fuel sources for an active, healthy lifestyle. Keeping my carb count high has, in my case, increased recovery after workouts so that I'm able to get back to the next workout sooner.

crisanderson27

eating egg yolks will give you high cholesterol

Ok...so just had a health screening today. Have borderline high cholesterol for the first time in my life. The only thing I have changed is that since I have been exercising regularly I have been eating 2 eggs every morning for breakfast. The nurse told me to cut back on the eggs or to stop eating the yokes.

So...that's not true? So what does give you high cholesterol?

Sorry to come across as dumb, but I've never had high cholesterol before!

I didn't know the answer to this either so I looked it up. Apparently saturated fats cause high cholesterol. Dietary cholesterol like what is found in eggs has little effect on blood cholesterol levels.

Hmm, I'm an avid fan of saturated fats (I grew up on a cattle ranch, and my diet pretty much reflects that)...and last bloodwork I had was dead on.

*shrug*

Of course there are other things that cause it too. I didn't mean to say that to mean saturated fats are the only thing that causes high cholesterol and all people who eat a lot of saturated fat will have high cholesterol... Sorry I wasn't more specific.

It's ok, I understood what you mean...I was more making a counter point for the sake of it. SO many people are terrified of this food or that food, or this fat or that fat...etc. I eat only whole eggs. I eat craploads of gravy. I eat tons of red meat. Bacon is a multi weekly event for my family. I fry anything I need to fry, in whole lard (or the grease left over from the bacon) and/or whole butter. I eat fried foods often and regularly, and when i have vegetables (which is quite often), they are most often accompanied with a seriously generous amount of whole butter lol.

I'm healthy as a horse (including bloodwork etc), I'm very strong for my height/weight, and I recover from serious injuries very quickly. I attribute this to staying as active as I can, as well as to all of the natural things that come to me through my diet. It's the same diet that my great grandfather lived to be 93 on, my grandfather lived to be 87 on (with MS), and my father, who is currently 63 and stronger than anyone I've ever met his age (two years ago we were at a race, he came in with a flat, the jack broke, he got out and LEG PRESSED the back half of the car up while we changed the tire) is still living on.

linzirussell

my friend who has tried many diets (none have worked) always tries to convince me that you can eat as much PASTA, fruit, vegetables as you want & lose weight. she gets quite defensive when i say you can't, it just doesn't seem to click in her head that you can eat massive amounts of ANY food and expect to lose weight lol

Rae6503

Worst myth I've heard:

You HAVE to eat clean to be "lean".

RilantheFirebug

A friend of mine thought that all the white stuff on a newborn baby was LARD! Apparently if you eat a high fat diet when you're pregnant, your baby is born covered in lard!!
:huh:

WTF? right because we walk around with a uterus full of lard for 9 months:huh:



please tell me they don't plan on procreating?

Not diet related, but my boss and all my coworkers at Sonic tried to tell me that the baby doesn't grow in the uterus, it grows on TOP of the uterus... you know, with your heart and lungs and all that.

And if you take castor oil, you poop the baby out.

Because castor oil magically teleports the baby into your intestinal tract.

WTF. lol.

Oliviamarie05

My dad used to tell me that if I ate a watermelon seed I would grow a watermelon in my stomach. :huh: