Contents
- Myth number 1 – on an empty stomach you need to drink lemon water with lemon
- Myth number 2 – you need to sleep as much as possible
- Myth number 3 – for the best result, you need to eliminate all sugar from the diet.
- Myth # 4 – It is best to choose low-fat foods when dieting.
- Myth number 5 – weight loss bars and sports nutrition in general help you lose extra pounds without harm to your health.
- Myth number 6 – the lack of vitamins in the diet can be replaced by taking dietary supplements
- Myth number 7 – freshly squeezed juices
- Myth # 7 – Gluten Free Diet
- Myth # 8 – Coconut Oil
- Myth number 9 – teas to cleanse the body
- Myth # 10 – The best result is the quickest result.
Today, a healthy lifestyle is becoming more and more popular, and that’s great. But then a whole army of those who know best how to properly take care of themselves, their body and health appeared. Seemingly harmless “helpful” advice can be useless or even harm your health. To understand popular theories, we turned to an expert.
Physician-therapist, allergist-immunologist of the international medical center ON CLINIC
Myth number 1 – on an empty stomach you need to drink lemon water with lemon
Lemon water is used in various detox programs and is recommended for all kinds of diets. Also, water with lemon helps to alkalize the body, which is necessary, since acidification leads to problems such as decreased immunity, edema, fragility of bones, and even the growth of cancer cells is possible.
Nevertheless, the therapist does not recommend mindlessly drinking lemon water without knowing the measure.
Here you need to understand who can use it, because in the morning on an empty stomach such water has contraindications. It should not be taken by people who have gastrointestinal diseases: gastritis, esophagitis, stomach ulcers. For a short period of time, taking water with lemon is like preventing diseases, it starts the body’s work and replenishes it with vitamins and minerals. But if we notice that heartburn or belching has appeared, then such water must be excluded, advises Lyudmila Vasilenko.
Myth number 2 – you need to sleep as much as possible
Sleep rate is an individual concept. A child needs about 12 hours of sleep, while an older person’s norm is 6-8 hours. For men and women, the sleep rate is 7-9 hours. It so happens that we have not slept for a long time and now we need to get enough sleep, or there was a lot of physical activity and it is worth gaining strength. But what happens if you constantly abuse sleep?
Excessive sleep is detrimental to health. It should be remembered that sleep disturbance does not appear on its own and is a consequence of disease. Sleep is an important health characteristic. If a person often sleeps more than normal, then there may be pain in the spine. Doctors now recommend that if there is pain in the spine, choose a hard bed and exercise to strengthen the muscles. Also, the headache may worsen. Scientists have also shown that obesity is more likely to be suffered by those who do not get enough sleep or sleep more than normal. Diabetes mellitus is the same story, says the doctor.
Myth number 3 – for the best result, you need to eliminate all sugar from the diet.
But it turns out that the newfangled diet, which is also called “anti-aging”, can greatly harm health and disrupt metabolism.
When a person consumes too little sugar or excludes it altogether, the body experiences stress, the brain and liver cells suffer. This will affect your overall health – drowsiness, fatigue, headaches, fatigue will appear, the skin will become worse, hair loss may begin. Also, the exclusion of glucose from the diet can provoke the development of thrombosis, the therapist assures.
Myth # 4 – It is best to choose low-fat foods when dieting.
According to doctors, 0% fat, or fat-free foods, are considered a myth in medicine. By the way, there is a dangerous misconception – the fewer calories in a product, the more you can eat it. It turns out that this is not entirely true.
The problem is that low-fat foods are loaded with carbohydrates and salt. Carbohydrates are absorbed quickly, soon the body requires a new portion. As a result, the number of calories grows along with the extra pounds, and the stomach stretches, ”says Lyudmila Vasilenko.
Salt, in turn, retains excess moisture and harmful substances in the body, loads the heart, liver and kidneys. So think a few times before taking a product with 0% fat in the store.
Myth number 5 – weight loss bars and sports nutrition in general help you lose extra pounds without harm to your health.
Many of us, when we start to play sports and regularly go to the gym, think about proper nutrition. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to carry containers of food everywhere, hence the need for a healthy snack that will not harm your health. Special shelves with sports snacks and protein drinks have already appeared in stores. But are they useful? And is it really possible to snack like that?
Such bars can be on the shelves in stores for a long time, so the manufacturer does not allow himself to use only natural ingredients. The bars contain preservatives, flavors, coarse processed vegetable fats. Also in the composition you can often find palm oil, which contains trans fats and metabolites. Those who often consume such bars and protein drinks often turn to doctors with metabolic disorders and even with the problem of hair loss and allergies, ”says the allergist-immunologist.
Myth number 6 – the lack of vitamins in the diet can be replaced by taking dietary supplements
Again, this is not entirely true. Dietary supplements are different: useful, useless and even harmful. Only a doctor can choose the right supplements.
How does a dietary supplement differ from a medicine? In medicinal preparations, the composition, dosage is clearly indicated, for dietary supplements, the composition is simply indicated. The drug substance that will affect your well-being can be 0.00001 in the content. In dietary supplements, the placebo effect is also often used, that is, taking the drug itself does not affect the patient’s well-being and health in any way, ”says Lyudmila Vasilenko.
Myth number 7 – freshly squeezed juices
We all know how healthy fruits and vegetables are. Some even try to replace a full meal with such fresh juice. But not always freshly squeezed juices can be taken on an empty stomach, and there it is more to replace food intake.
It is recommended to dilute freshly squeezed juices with boiled water, because a concentrate of certain substances can affect the gastric mucosa. Pomegranate juice, for example, can cause thickening of the blood, if you drink such juice, you need to drink a lot of water, otherwise you will have a headache. Citrus juices can exacerbate gastrointestinal diseases. They also cannot be consumed in large quantities. The consumption rate of fresh juice is no more than 2 glasses a day, otherwise they can lead to obesity and metabolic disorders, ”the therapist says.
Myth # 7 – Gluten Free Diet
Recently, more and more information appears that gluten is harmful to our body. Hence, there are more and more different diets that imply a complete rejection of foods containing gluten.
Contrary to popular belief, gluten intolerance is not related to allergies, but to an autoimmune disease that affects the small intestine. Now it is fashionable to take even tests for gluten intolerance. It is important to understand that this is detected, as a rule, in childhood, accompanied by pain, diarrhea, vomiting, numbness of the limbs, pain in the joints, can lead to anxiety and depression. Scientists suggest that only 6-7% of the world’s population has a slight sensitivity to gluten, but this does not mean intolerance. By giving up gluten, we doom ourselves to a deficiency of fiber and some trace elements of group B. These vitamins are very important for our nervous system. A complete rejection of gluten leads to a lack of iron and folic acid, which are involved in the formation of hemoglobin, and are also necessary for our cardiovascular system, musculoskeletal system and reproductive system. The latest research findings are that a gluten-free diet can lead to type 2 diabetes and diseases of the cardiovascular system, ”emphasizes Lyudmila.
Myth # 8 – Coconut Oil
Another “trendy” product for healthy lifestyle advocates that has been imposed. Many different articles on the Internet call for almost replacing all oils (olive, corn, sunflower, etc.) in the diet with coconut.
The coconut oil on the shelves has lauric acid, which is slowly absorbed and metabolized slowly. This acid raises bad cholesterol levels. Recent studies have shown that lauric acid can trigger cardiovascular disease, ”the doctor warns.
Myth number 9 – teas to cleanse the body
Such teas, according to manufacturers, help not only cleanse the body of toxins and toxins, but also significantly lose weight in the shortest possible time. It would seem, what could be bad and harmful in tea, where there is only natural composition?
These teas may contain diuretics or laxatives. In small quantities, it can be consumed with slagging of the intestines, with edema, constipation. But if you abuse it, the positive components are washed out from the body. Intestinal dysbiosis may begin, which affects the immune system. If you have gastrointestinal diseases, you should also avoid such teas, ”says Lyudmila Vasilenko.
Myth # 10 – The best result is the quickest result.
Any diet is still stress for the body. And what happens when a person abruptly begins to exhaust himself with training, uses teas and dietary supplements for weight loss? According to doctors, such experiments will soon make themselves felt by metabolic disorders. In addition, all the lost kilograms will quickly return, and even in greater quantities, because the body has experienced stress and it needs to restore “reserves” for the future in case of repeating such experiments. The best thing is to lose weight gradually, without creating stressful conditions for our body. Smoothly adjust to a healthy diet, eliminate junk food and drinks, start playing sports – and you will be in great shape, and the kilograms will not return for a long time, or maybe never will. We all want a quick result, to become younger and more beautiful. But still there is no special product for this. The truth is simple, as before: proper balanced nutrition, healthy sleep, physical activity are the key to excellent health and an ideal figure.