whats the worst "food myth" you have heard?

bcattoes

"Legumes are poisonous" Heard it on MFP from a Paleo fanatic.

Some people have peanut allergies, if they eat them they could die. Peanuts are legumes therefore you can extrapolate to legumes are poisonous ;P

Kidney beans have a mild toxin in their skin, thats why when cooking dried beans you need to rapid boil for a min of 10 mins.

The only reason paleo "fanatics" say that is because they can cause really terrible allergic reactions that can be poisonous

There is quite a difference in a food allergy and a poisonous food. People can be allergic to just about any food. Some are more common than others, but it still doesn't make them poisonous.

Lactose is a common food allergy. Milk is not poisonous. Chlorine bleach is poisonous.

Chipmaniac

Soy/tofu/soy milk is healthy for you!

To say that it's unhealthy would also be a myth. You can overdose on any substance, even ones that are so-called "clean" foods.

crisanderson27

Soy/tofu/soy milk is healthy for you!

To say that it's unhealthy would also be a myth. You can overdose on any substance, even ones that are so-called "clean" foods.

Hmm, I've never heard of anyone overdosing on whole chicken breast.

bcattoes

Someone once told me that burnt BBQ food gives you cancer!!!! ooooh, come on.......give me a break!!! :noway:

That's more of an exaggeration than a myth. Meat cooked at high temperatures, such as a very hot grill, does increase your risk of certain cancers.

VMarkV

Soy/tofu/soy milk is healthy for you!

To say that it's unhealthy would also be a myth. You can overdose on any substance, even ones that are so-called "clean" foods.

TRUE! Toxicity is a quantity issue, not a quality issue

dentedearmuffs1

- you can eat healthy without ever eating any vegetables (my sister)

- my friend who once told me that she eats food groups separately for each meal and doesn't ever mix them because the body only knows how to process one food group at a time. i.e. only vegetables one meal, carbs next meal, meat another meal. she said that if you eat them all together, the body gets confused and doesn't know how to break them down together so you get fat. she's pretty crazy.

bcattoes

Soy/tofu/soy milk is healthy for you!

Why would that be a myth?

crisanderson27

Someone once told me that burnt BBQ food gives you cancer!!!! ooooh, come on.......give me a break!!! :noway:

That's more of an exaggeration than a myth. Meat cooked at high temperatures, such as a very hot grill, does increase your risk of certain cancers.

Is that what they're saying this week??

Good to know.

Jesstruhan

Sorry in advance but I have to dork out a little. Cheese may have sugar in it. Bacteria will "eat" the sugar (lactose) in milk in the normal cheese making process, but the bacteria doesn't necessarily eat all the sugar so there may be some left. How much sugar is left in the final cheese is very dependent on what type of cheese you are making/eating, though likely very low it might still be there. I realize this is nitpicky of me.

:flowerforyou:

Cheese-family! http://distribution-plus.com/files/media/Cheese Pdf/HowCheeseisMade.pdf

rainydaze613

In my opinion, these are myths.
-White rice and other carbs are direct links to weight gain.
-Everyone's lifestyle needs 60+ grams of protein a day.
-Soy products are the worst things ever. (I understand the GMO concern in America, but frankly people have been eating soy in various cultures for ages, and there are things far worse.)
-Natural sugars are broken down exactly the same way as other sugars are. (Even HFCS, eh?)
-Eating fat makes you fat.
-Going along with the above myth, the myth that your body doesn't react differently in terms of weight loss with saturated and unsaturated fats.

Chipmaniac

diet sodas are equivalent to water since it has zero calories

OMG THIS ONE!! that diet sodas are ok on a diet bc they dont have calories in them!!!!!

They are OK. Calories in, calories out.

Chipmaniac

Soy/tofu/soy milk is healthy for you!

To say that it's unhealthy would also be a myth. You can overdose on any substance, even ones that are so-called "clean" foods.

Hmm, I've never heard of anyone overdosing on whole chicken breast.

Really? So you are saying that if a person ate only chicken breast in high quantity that it wouldn't be deleterious to their health?

Alice_Liddell

A diabetic woman once told me that she can't eat frosting anymore but she can still eat cake because "all of the sugars cook out in the baking process." :huh:

crisanderson27

Soy/tofu/soy milk is healthy for you!

To say that it's unhealthy would also be a myth. You can overdose on any substance, even ones that are so-called "clean" foods.

Hmm, I've never heard of anyone overdosing on whole chicken breast.

Really? So you are saying that if a person ate only chicken breast in high quantity that it wouldn't be deleterious to their health?

You didn't say eating only. You said overdose. If you change the argument to suit your position, then of course you're right.

chelseathinspired

Being a Vegetarian or Vegan doesn't get you adequate amounts of protien in your diet.

ATOLLIT

Broken biscuits don't count, because they aren't whole biscuits.
Biscuits that you eat in the dark don't count, because you can't see them.
Really thin biscuits don't count if you eat them side-on, I guess because they are really thin and therefore you kind-of can't see them either...

Anyone seeing a recurring theme here?!

I also read on here somewhere the other day - if you eat too much fat your liver turns it into insulin so that will make your insulin resistance worse.

Also I feel a need to comment on some other things I've seen, though I haven't read the whole way through this thread.
Fruits are full of sugar which is bad, IF you eat a lot of them IF you are, for example, diabetic. High blood sugar is not conducive to weight loss.
Dietary fat clogs your arteries. Someone said this is one of those myths. If not from your diet, where do you think that circulating fat comes from? Why do you think things like the Atkins diet that encourage people to eat more fat result in statistically higher rates of heart disease and atherosclerosis? It is absorbed from your gut, metabolised by your liver and packaged into lipoproteins to be transported around your body for storage. Too many lipoproteins of a certain kind get eaten up by other cells and sit in the walls of your blood vessels. Ergo, fat clogging arteries.

cuatromommy

How about the good old "you are eating for two now" when you are pregnant. Yeah, well that's a bunch of BS!!!

DrKittyCat

The only way to be healthy is eliminate animal fats and meat altogether...

beckajw

Fruits are loaded with sugar (natural sugar), which hindered me from losing weight.

dansls1

In my opinion, these are myths.
...
-Natural sugars are broken down exactly the same way as other sugars are. (Even HFCS, eh?)
...

Actually this is kinda true - sugars all ultimately break down the same. The problem is that HFCS, table sugar and other processed sugars are too broken down to start, so your body uses them quicker giving extreme highs and lows of blood sugar, rather than processing the complex sugar at its own pace to spread out the use.

kellicruz1978

If it's low in points, it's good for me.

(Weight Watchers).

FrostyFour

That a gluten free diet can help cure autism. I want to punch people who say that in the face. Repeatedly.

As someone with autism this one bugs me. The gluten free/dairy free diet that they talk about on autism forums is the biggest crock and is nothing more than more new-age medicine, like healing crystals.

My daughter has autism. My husband has a regular customer who comes in all the time spouting about how when a child has autism it's the mother's fault because she ate gluten while she was pregnant. I want to sell him to Jigsaw lol

Adina81

Anyone that says 'you shouldn't eat...'

Humbug. I'll eat it if I want thank you.

GenesisandEden

dont drink water during a meal

littlebuddy84

Eating crusts will make ur curly
Eating porridge makes you glow
Eating crisps and chocolate at the same time is so much more calories than eating them separately :laugh:

Asiral

If you are raw eating for a long period of time, cooked foods make you sick. (Didnt happen to me.)

Chipmaniac

...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.

This reminds me a of a doozy and off-repeated myth: Processed foods are automatically bad for you.

Fake meat products, in general, are not "as bad" as meat products in the metrics that people usually track. One Yves jumbo meatless hot dog has 16 grams of protein, 3 grams of fat, 0 grams of which is saturated, and only 110 calories. Oh, and it only has 5 grams of carbs. They are also delicious. I had 3 of them last night for dinner.

For comparison a Ball Park Frank has 16 grams of fat, 6 of which are saturated, 160 calories and only 6 grams of protein. The carbs are about equivalent with only 4 grams per frank.

emczech5

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:

lol, my parents always told me that if you swallow bubble gum, you'll blow bubbles out of your bum!!!! lol :laugh:

beckajw

Broken biscuits don't count, because they aren't whole biscuits.
Biscuits that you eat in the dark don't count, because you can't see them.
Really thin biscuits don't count if you eat them side-on, I guess because they are really thin and therefore you kind-of can't see them either...

Anyone seeing a recurring theme here?!

I also read on here somewhere the other day - if you eat too much fat your liver turns it into insulin so that will make your insulin resistance worse.

Also I feel a need to comment on some other things I've seen, though I haven't read the whole way through this thread.
Fruits are full of sugar which is bad, IF you eat a lot of them IF you are, for example, diabetic. High blood sugar is not conducive to weight loss.
Dietary fat clogs your arteries. Someone said this is one of those myths. If not from your diet, where do you think that circulating fat comes from? Why do you think things like the Atkins diet that encourage people to eat more fat result in statistically higher rates of heart disease and atherosclerosis? It is absorbed from your gut, metabolised by your liver and packaged into lipoproteins to be transported around your body for storage. Too many lipoproteins of a certain kind get eaten up by other cells and sit in the walls of your blood vessels. Ergo, fat clogging arteries.

Actually, just to clarify, high blood sugar makes you lose weight. Low blood sugar causes you to gain weight. High blood sugar is really bad for you and has negative long term effects, but it does not stop weight loss.

Chipmaniac

How about the good old "you are eating for two now" when you are pregnant. Yeah, well that's a bunch of BS!!!

You're right. You could be having twins. In that case you are eating for three. What are people thinking?