Commandment or myth?

I quite liked this post on ninemsn:

Read on for the truth about 10 common diet commandments.

Thou shalt not... eat carbs after 5pm
Or 8pm or 3pm or noon, depending who you believe. The 'no carbs at night' rule is a relatively recent decree and, says Glenn, one of the most nonsensical. While our body's processes run in roughly 24-hour cycles called circadian rhythms, there's no evidence to suggest we digest food differently at different times of the day. 'I've worked with elite athletes who don't get home from training until after 7pm and you wouldn't say to them, "You can only have steak and salad". They'd fade away,' he says.
He adds: 'Inherent in this comment is the belief that carbohydrates are fattening but if, over 24 hours, the amount of kilojoules coming in is the same as the amount going out, the time at which you consume whatever you consume is not going to make any difference.' KEEP IT OR KICK IT? Kick it - and have pasta for dinner.

Thou shalt... drink 6-8 glasses of water every day
It's the holy grail of diet myths, the one we all know and repeat without thinking. But guess what? Eight glasses is something of an arbitrary figure. While proper hydration is important, there's no real reason to chug down all that H_0 daily. How much water you need all depends on your diet and lifestyle. Fruits and vegies, for example, contain lots of water so if your diet is full of these, an extra eight glasses may be excessive.
'If it's a cold, wet day you don't need so much but if you're working outside in 36-degree heat you probably need eight glasses by 10am,' Glenn says. 'There's no physical reason why you should drink six to eight glasses a day. There's nothing wrong with it but there's nothing that says you must.' KEEP IT OR KICK IT? Keep it when you need to, kick it when you don't.

Thou shalt... eat thy last meal of the day before 7pm
For many of us, evenings involve a hearty dinner and a couple of hours sprawled in front of the TV. As we're far less active after dark, anything we eat will go straight to our thighs, right? Wrong. 'Anybody who says you can't eat or you should eat a certain food or combination of foods at a certain time is a crank,' Glenn says. 'It's kilojoules in versus kilojoules out, not the time at which you consume them.' It's fine to eat dinner before 7pm if you like but for some people eating later is actually better. 'A teenager or an active child may need dinner at 5.30pm and something else at 8pm or before they go to bed,' Glenn says. KEEP IT OR KICK IT? Kick it. Eat when it suits you - but eat well.

Thou shalt not... eat protein and carbs in the same meal
This is a corker of a ****-and-bull story whose origins stretch back 150 years. 'We believe this originated around the 1850s among lay preachers who designated themselves the upholders of morality and spirituality,' Glenn explains. 'They felt they could control people through their food. They'd claim you shouldn't eat certain foods together because it was not good in the eyes of the Lord.' But even longer than this myth has been around, evidence has existed to refute it.
As far back as 1822, experiments revealed it doesn't matter what combination of foods we put into our stomachs - it's all digested. What's more, many foods - such as rice and some vegetables - naturally comprise both protein and carbohydrate. 'You won't find this statement in any physiology book or by any professor in the world - they'd be embarrassed,' says Glenn.

KEEP IT OR KICK IT? Kick it, pronto!

Thou shalt not... drink anything with thy meal

The thinking here is that drinking while you eat dilutes your digestive juices, allowing calories to slip through the net and make a beeline for your backside. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? And it is.

'Digestive enzymes are hydrophilic - they require water to digest. If you drink water you're going to make the digestive process a little easier,' Glenn explains. 'If you don't drink water with a meal your body takes it out of your bloodstream and funnels it into your small intestine and that waters the food down to give it a medium in which digestion can occur.'

KEEP IT OR KICK IT? Kick it - water makes digestive enzymes more effective.

Thou shalt... eat five small meals a day
Recent research suggests eating small, regular meals helps stabilise blood sugar levels, staving off hunger and cravings. In theory, if you've had carrot sticks and hummus at 11am you're less likely to want that Mars Bar at 4pm. But if you've been a 'three square meals' person all your life, don't feel you must suddenly squeeze in two snacks every day. 'There are plenty of people who prefer three main meals and that's all they require. There's no problem there,' Glenn says. 'How you divvy up your food is not the issue, it's what foods you choose. Having a lamington at 10am and a sausage roll at 11.30 is not eating well.' KEEP IT OR KICK IT? Either - it depends what works for you.

Thou shalt not... eat before exercising
Surely eating breakfast before hitting the gym means we'll only burn the kJ in our scrambled eggs and not make a dent in our muffin tops? Like many myths, this one sounds plausible - but it's still incorrect.
'When you exercise you're burning a mix of body fat and carbohydrate, which is stored in your muscles as glycogen,' Glenn says. 'The more intensive your exercise, the higher proportion of carbohydrate you'll burn.' KEEP IT OR KICK IT? Kick it - fuel your body properly before raising a sweat.

Thou shalt not... bother with detoxing
Some people swear by detoxing.Others insist juice fasts and their ilk are just diet industry hoo-ha. So who's got it right?
'You're detoxing regularly anyway. You've got lungs, a liver and kidneys - they do all the detoxification you'll ever need,' Glenn says. 'If you believe that fasting or just eating fruit for a day or two will make your body better, what were you eating beforehand? Improve the quality of your eating and you don't have to even contemplate detoxing.' KEEP IT OR KICK IT? Keep it - your body does just fine on its own.

Thou shalt... sit down and eat slowly
We've all heard the one about it taking several minutes for the brain to register that the stomach is full. Is our speedy scoffing making us fat? 'When you eat, a whole range of hormones change. If you eat slower you're allowing time for those signals to get through compared to those people who eat very quickly,' Glenn explains. But spending two hours lingering over lunch won't do you any favours if what you're eating is unhealthy. 'Eating on the run suggests you're under pressure or stress and so what you choose to eat might not be as good as if you made it yourself,' Glenn says. KEEP IT OR KICK IT? Either - what you eat counts, not how long it takes.

Thou shalt... consume only diet drinks
So you've broken your three-cans-a-day cola habit and swapped to the diet version instead. But while you're consuming less sugar and fewer kJ, your pearly whites could still be suffering. 'Remember that sugary drinks don't rot your teeth - acidic drinks do, and both diet and regular soft drinks are acidic,' says Glenn.
KEEP IT OR KICK IT? Kick it, and kick regular soft drinks while you're at it. Water or herbal tea are best for both your waistline and your smile.

Source: http://health.ninemsn.com.au/dietandnutrition/nutrition/695180/the-ten-weight-loss-commandments