Deciphering between diet and nutritional myths and realities

With the new year upon us I know a lot of people out there are getting ready to attempt to shed the holiday (or last year’s) pounds and some of us will be successful and other will fail again. Usually what distinguishes between the two is will-power and those who diet correctly and those who diet incorrectly.

First lets take a look at some dieting myths…..

A)   Eliminating all fat from your diet- while a good goal would be to eliminate all unhealthy (saturated) fats would be a good goal, there are certain fats the body needs for promotion of testosterone levels. These are omega 3 fats such as higher fat fish such as salmon, tuna and trout that can actually help burn unwanted fats.

B)   Eliminating all carbs from your diet- see the reoccurring theme here, moderation not elimination is the key. If you are going to be exercising regularly like anyone who plans on succeeding with a weight-loss plan should, you need carbs at certain times of the day. Your body needs carbs before you workout for energy and to make sure you are not burning muscle and also within 30 minutes post-workout to start rebuilding and repairing muscle. So instead of eliminating carbs altogether make sure to take them in at the proper times (pre and post workout and at breakfast) then limit them throughout the rest of the day.

C)   Over-eating to bulk up- This is one that I see a lot that I really hate for some reason. Eating as many calories from sugar, saturated fats and whatever you can get your hands on to “gain size”. Yea, eating loads of simple carbs right before will help you gain size alright, but unfortunately it’s not usually the kind of size most of us are hoping to add. Instead of doing this, you should load up on carbs (some even simple, ie: honey) pre and post workout and maybe even breakfast but still limit them more-so at night.

D)   Eating as little as possible to lose as much weight as possible- While this may have a quick short-term effect this approach is going to backfire in the long run for several reasons. If you go too long throughout the day without eating (typically longer than 3-4 hours) your body will start eating up your muscle for energy thus slowing down your metabolism. Also if you are limiting your caloric and/ or carb intake too much you won’t have the energy to have an effective workout and can burn muscle during the workout!

Now that we know what not to do, what we should do……

A)   Limit your carbs at night and at meals not surrounding your workout- the carbs that store and become sugar and eventually fat are the ones that we don’t use throughout the day so if you eat carbs right before bed you’re not giving your body a chance to use them.

B)   Eat 1- 1.5 times your bodyweight in protein- This is going to ensure that your muscles are fully repaired after your workouts also is a proven way to promote fat-loss.

C)   Eliminate all sugary soft drinks and limit alcohol consumption- this includes sports drinks  as well, I say limit alcohol because I usually will drink every other week or so I’m not going to say eliminate because I won’t tell you to do something I don’t do, but if you can totally cut it out even better. While beer is loaded with calories most mixed drinks are loaded with sugar and even alcoholic beverages low in both still break down muscle. But when you do consume alcohol I recommend bacardi and diet coke.

D)   Drink a lot of water throughout the day- not only will this help you stay hydrated and re-hydrate you from your workouts, it has also been proven to promote fat-loss and give you better skin.

E)   Drink coffee preworkout- if you read most fat-loss supplement labels one of the first ingredients you will usually see is caffeine, the reason why is because caffeine not only gives you energy for your workout but can actually help you burn more calories during your workout.

F)   Eating in moderation is the key- this is also going to make sticking with your diet more realistic!

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