Category: Health

What are the most popular diet beliefs for weight loss?

Are these beliefs true or just myths?

In this blog we go in detail about some popular diet myths.

Written by Ms Dilara Kamisli; Updated by Ms Rowinda Dimech

As a dietitian I continuously hear diet myths from people all around me – family, friends, colleagues and clients. In my opinion diet myths are dangerous beliefs as they impact your quality of life, especially your psychological and emotional well being. This is why in this blog we are going in detail about some of the most common diet myths.

 Myth #1 CONSUMING BREAD MAKES YOU GAIN WEIGHT

The myth that bread cannot be eaten on a regular basis in your diet is a myth! Unfortunately, I believe that this myth has always been preached. We, dietitians, have been hearing a lot of people saying ”I don’t consume bread” based on this believe. Research shows that bread is one of the best carbohydrate resources that needs to be part of our daily food intake. Bread helps you not to get hungry so quickly. This is because bread is a complex carbohydrate. Therefore, one of the most important things about consuming the bread is the portion size of bread you are eating, rather than totally eliminate it from your diet. In addition, if you suffer from diabetes, it would be ideal if you consume wholemeal bread instead of white bread. Wholemeal bread bread will help you control your blood glucose levels and calorie intake since it is rich in dietary fiber.

Myth #2 FAT BURNING MIRACLE FOOD

Flavored water, vinegar, pills, branded smoothies, etc. Unfortunately, people always expect to lose weight (which they gained in a long period of time) fast by consuming these kind of products. Actually, it sounds very tempting: “weight loss in a short period of time” but what about the consequences. What does these miracle foods do to your body? What is the long-term effect? Is it possible that a fast weight can really be  lost?

We, healthcare professionals often hear, ‘’I’m drinking  lemon water,  green tea , herbal  teas,  etc and I am lost 10 Kg in 2 weeks.’’ To start explaining this think about it this way: if weight loss can be done with any tea, pills or any food product, there would be no such problems with ‘obesity’ in this world. So, now let’s explain it more scientifically. Rapid weight loss will occur due to huge calorie deficit in your diet. This will be much less than the minimum calories/energy your body needs. This will result in muscle loss rather than fat loss. Therefore, it is important to lose weight slowly over time so that it doesn’t alter your metabolism. And as I always emphasize in my blogs, there is no food that will  make you gain or lose weight. It all depends on the portion sizes consumed throughout the day.

Myth #3 THİNKİNG THAT YOU WİLL LOSE WEİGHT BY STARVİNG

I don’t eat anything all day long, I eat very little, why can’t I still lose weight? You might think that the less you eat the more weight loss you will achieve. Actually when we skip meals, this leads to a slower metabolism. In fact, when you try to lose weight in this way, muscle loss will occur and hence the slower metabolism, leading to malnutrition. Since a diet like this is not sustainable for a long period of time you will quit the diet. So when this happens and you start having a normal diet again you will end up gaining weight faster due to a slower metabolism.

Myth #4 CONSUMİNG HEALTHY FOODS WİTHOUT LİMİTS (SUPERFOODS)

There is this believe in today’s society that ‘‘I can consume as much as I want if it is healthy’’. There is nothing that can be eaten in an unlimited amount in nutrition and any excess food you eat will be stored as fat in the body. Therefore, it is important to eat a healthy diet by having an adequate and balanced diet.

Myth #5 COMPARISON OF SOMEONE ELSE’S DİET AND POPULAR FAD DİETS

It is of utmost importance that nutrition is individualized. This is because diet varies according to gender, weight, height, age, level of physical activity, hormonal problems, lifestyle and eating habits and medical conditions such as diabetes, Irritable bowel disease, Irritable bowel syndrome and other metabolic syndrome. The  only reason you should want to lose weight is to be healthier and improve your quality of life.

İn today’s web one finds a lot of myths about food and diet. The truth is that all type of food contains a certain amount of calories. Calories are used by the body in the same way since all our physiology and metabolic pathways work the same since we are all human beings. Therefore, I would advise that if you would like to lose weight and not sure what to follow as a diet, it is best to leave it in the hands of a dietitian. If, you would to seek professional advise kindly contact us. İn addition, please subscribe to our website for more nutrition information and free recipes.

Are artificial sweeteners beneficial or harmful to our health?

Are artificial sweeteners really effective in reducing blood sugar levels in diabetics?

If so, at what cost?

What are artificial sweeteners?

Artificial sweeteners offer a sweet taste without any calories. There are different types of sweeteners such as saccharin, acesulfame, aspartame, noetame and sucralose which are approved for consumption by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In order for the approval of these sweeteners in the food supply chain there has been a comprehensive safety assessments and experiments.

In addition, the American Heart Association (AHA) and American Diabetes Association (ADA) also agreed with the use of artificial sweeteners to replace white sugar. The reason behind this is that since sweeteners do not contain any calories they can reduce overweight, obesity and the risk of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome refer to a group of metabolic disease such as diabetes, cardiovascular, kidney and liver diseases. But, is there a cost?

Effects on health

It is argued that since sweeteners are calorie free these can be a way of calorie and carbohydrate control. It is known that overweight and obesity is mainly caused by high calorie intake from overeating. Therefore, by adding sweeteners to food instead of sugar they help reduce obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.

On the other hand, there is a positive correlation between sweetener consumption and obesity. Till now there isn’t a reason for this but it could be psychologically. A person consuming sweeteners may think “these are diet biscuits so it’s all right to eat as much as I want.” In fact, I encounter this type of thinking frequently in my profession and usually leads the person eating a whole packet of biscuits. This will result in an enormous amount of calories being ingested at one go and therefore contribute to obesity instead the other way round.

Another drawback of sweeteners is that they are much sweeter in taste than white sugar. Therefore, people who use sweeteners on a regular basis may have changes in their taste buds. They may start to find naturally sweet food such as strawberries, sour meaning unpalatable. This may also suggests that sweeteners may have a tendency to be addictive for an individual too.

Sweeteners and health impact

Sweeteners are not metabolized by our body like the other foods we eat. It is known that sweeteners are digested by our intestinal bacteria. Therefore, these may have an effect on our gut health. A study shows that individuals who consumes sweeteners on a daily basis have higher body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and blood glucose levels. In addition, people who did not usually consume sweeteners were given 5 mg/Kg/day which resulted in half of them developing poorer glycemic control meaning high blood glucose levels. This type of research is still in the early stages and further research and studies are required for evidence based data.

One of the sweeteners known as aspartame contains phenylalanine. This is an amino acid which must be avoided by people who suffer from Phenylketonuria (PKU). PKU is a rare condition where the amino acid phenylalanine is unable to be metabolized by the body. When aspartame is one of the ingredients it must be labelled ‘contains aspartame (a source of phenylalanine).’ So, it is important that if you suffer from PKU you check all the food labels properly.

Conclusion

As you can see from the information above sweeteners can be both beneficial and harmful to health. If, you have a normal weight I suggest that you don’t consume sweeteners or food containing sweeteners. On the other hand, if you are trying to lose weight I would suggest the use of sweeteners with caution. In other words, the use of sweeteners should be limited as much as possible. When it comes to food there are always plenty of options to choose from so I suggest to choose wisely. I will end this blog by an answer from an obesity and weight-loss specialist at Harvard-affiliated Boston Children’s Hospital. When he was asked about sweeteners his answer was:

“Sugar-containing foods in their natural form, whole fruit, for example, tend to be highly nutritious—nutrient-dense, high in fiber, and low in glycemic load.

On the other hand, refined, concentrated sugar consumed in large amounts rapidly increases blood glucose and insulin levels, increases triglycerides, inflammatory mediators and oxygen radicals, and with them, the risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other chronic illnesses.”