Fat Loss Falacies - 5 Myths That Are Keeping You Fat

     If you want to look and feel better, then you need to eat better. The problem is that working hard at things that don't work won't make them work. Make sure that you are investing your time and energy wisely. Here are the top 5 nutrition myths that keep people from the fat and weight loss that they want:

#1. Food Labels Are Truthful

Let's get this out of the way right now, food labels are designed to sell food, not to tell the truth. It is perfectly legal for food manufacturers to put out-right lies in big, bold letters on their products. Case in point: PAM.

PAM cooking spray is sold as "fat free." Normal people would think that "fat free" means that there is no fat inside that can of "fat free" PAM. Ironically, fat free PAM is actually 100%, PURE FAT. Check the ingredients list, the first ingredient is "corn oil." All oils are, by definition, 100%, pure fat and nothing else

How can they possibly be allowed to label pure fat as "fat free"? A simple FDA labeling loop-hole (and there are many!) that says, "so long as there is less than 0.5g of fat per serving, then you may label your food as fat free." So, the serving size of "fat free" PAM is .3g, or a 1/3 second spray - there should be over 700 serving per can (you and I both know you cannot make 700 meals with a single can). Since, there isn't .5g of anything in the serving it can, with all legality, be labeled as "fat free."

Solution: Read the nutrition facts label (ignore the %), and look at the serving size, total number of calories per serving and read the ingredients. This is where the actual truth of the food lives. Food manufactures have the FDA's blessing to lie to you on the front. It is buyer beware.

#2. Skipping Meals Will Help You Drop Fat

In fact, the opposite is true. In Japan, sumo wrestlers have discovered something very effective for massive weight gain (fat, with not much muscle) - skipping breakfast! When you wake up you've been without food for 6-12 hours, depending on how long before bed it was you ate your last meal, this means that your body has essentially nothing to run off of. This, in turn, means that your metabolism stays depressed until your first meal, and that in the mean time your body is burning muscle - NOT fat - for fuel. This is great if you are interested in losing muscle and water, but bad news if you were hoping to drop body-fat.

Solution: Eat breakfast (duh!), no matter how short on time you think you are. There are a lot of quick breakfast ideas on my web-site that won't leave you fat and tired - one is as quick as 1 minute to prepare. If you can't wake up 5-10min. earlier (prepare and eat) to take care of your physique, then you should probably give up now.

#3. Smoothies Are Healthy

While my smoothie recipe would make a very healthy, lean-body breakfast or post workout meal, what you will find commercially available would be the equivalent of drinking almost two an a half 12oz. cans of regular, high-fructose corn syrup filled Coca-Cola. They also have NO protein to speak of either - that's a recipe for weak flabby arms, and a big old jelly belly. (A medium Banana Berry Smoothie from Jamba Juice has 93g of sugar and 4g of protein, and a 12oz. can of Coke has 39.9g of sugar).

Solution: The next time you get a smoothie tell the guy at the counter "just fruit, yogurt and protein powder. No juice or sweetener.". Pick the flavor you want, and tell them to hold the sugar (honey, juice, sorbet...), and pay for a scoop or two of protein powder so that you end up with just fruit, yogurt, protein and ice and maybe Splenda too. Or, just make it yourself at home.

#4. Low-fat Fruity Yogurt Is Good For You

Low-fat or fat-free "fruit" containing and/or flavored yogurt is essentially candy in a cup. An 8oz. serving of fruit flavored fat-free yogurt has 250% more sugar than it's non-fruit flavored counterpart. There are 43 grams in a single cup! That's the equivalent of eating 1.5 cups of mini-marshmallows! Tooty-fruity, big-fat booty:-)

Solution: Buy your own fat-free yogurt, preferably FAGE, and add real fruit to it. It tastes better, actually has protein and fiber, and no where near as much sugar as the pre-mixed stuff.

#5. Moderate Drinkers Live Longer

From very respectable sources, you've heard over and over again, "people who drink 1-2 alcoholic drinks per day live longer than those who do not drink at all." What they don't tell you is that the research that "proves" this is questionable at best. The researchers divided people up into three categories: Group A: heavy drinkers, Group B: moderate drinkers, Group C: non-drinkers. Then, over time they gathered data on how long these groups lived. The problem is with Group C which had both those who do not drink because they choose not to (a very small number of people), AND those who CANNOT drink because they are either former alcoholics or are so sick that they just can't drink. Former alcoholics, and people who are so sick that they can't drink do not live very long. When you average the life spans of the super-sick and the former alcoholics, you get an artificially low number.

Furthermore, if you currently average 1-2 drinks per day you could drop between 13.5 and 27 pounds in a year if you stopped (those numbers are for very small drinks: 5oz. of wine, 12 oz. of beer - you have never seen a 12oz. glass of beer at a bar in your life).

Solution: Don't kid yourself. Drinking is something you do because you like to do it, NOT because there are any well established health benefits associated with it. Red wine has some good stuff in it because it's made from whole grapes, not because there is something special about alcohol. So, you'd be better off eating the whole grapes. The less you drink, the better off you will be. That doesn't mean don't ever drink, it just means be aware of what moderation really means - infrequent.

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