NUTRITIONAL MYTHS

Nutritional myths hover over our heads and minds, and they are hard to get rid of. The only way to confront them is to debunk them with evidence. Since we can remember, we have received messages about what to eat, when to eat, why to eat, and how to eat. These guidelines come to us first from our parents and grandparents, and from the people who care for us; after all, they are the ones who feed us from childhood. This already implies a significant bias, because depending on their nutritional beliefs and their nutritional culture, they guide us in a more or less accurate way. A few years later, we are taught to eat in the school cafeteria. There we interact with other children, and the first prejudices towards certain foods are created. In addition, from very early on, we are subject to another powerful influence: TV and the media, and now also YouTube and other platforms to which we Children are subjected to it from a very young age.

 

Nutritional education is the best weapon against nutritional myths.

 

At very early ages, it is advertising that quickly instructs us about products to eat and drink without any filter, without taking into account our ability to choose the best and reject what we should not.

The influence of our school or high school classmates is also important. If a product becomes fashionable and everyone consumes it, we will surely end up doing the same.

If it turns out that it is very “cool” to drink a certain energy drink, even if its effects are monstrous, note the irony, we will end up drinking it, we want to be part of that fashion.

It is about that feeling of belonging to the group, almost nobody wants to be different, so they do whatever they can with such as to be accepted.

Who makes one product or another fashionable? Clearly marketing and advertising.

 

 

And who is behind it?

Obviously, the industry food.

So we have now reached the crux of the matter, the big industry, the one that ensures the approval of governments and even medical societies.

That big food industry that with stratospheric economic interests dictates what we should have for breakfast, tells us how to satisfy our hunger and gives us ideas for an energy-packed snack.

But the audacity of these companies does not end there; in each of those advertisements with “suggestions and advice” that are good for you, a label appears that indicates that “To maintain a healthy life you must have a varied diet and exercise”.

Incredible, right?

They tell you one thing and the opposite at the same time.

 

Many nutritional myths have been created and promoted by the food industry.

 

And it is precisely this industry, the enormous and grandiose food industry, that has created a series of nutritional myths to make us consume certain products with a certain frequency.

When I say “certain products” I am referring to those that bring the most profit to the industry, mainly sugar and wheat, as well as other cereals and all the processed and ultra-processed products that are made from these.

And when I say “with a certain frequency” I mean that we are constantly told that we have to eat 5 times a day, when the reality is that 3 times is more than enough.

For all these reasons, I am going to list some of the most widespread nutritional myths that we have all heard at some point.

They are the kind of statements that you will see written in headlines and that even today many dietitians and nutritionists repeat endlessly.

What I intend is to try to explain the reasons why these phrases are not true.

 

VERY COMMON NUTRITIONAL MYTHS:

 

MYTH NUMBER 1 – You have to eat everything.

Right off the bat, saying that you have to eat everything sounds a bit grandiloquent and too generic.

If we take the literal meaning of the phrase “everything” it means “everything”.

I think this statement does not need much explanation, just remember that you DO NOT have to eat everything, you HAVE to eat food in its natural and original form, just as it comes from nature.

Yes, you can eat food that have been minimally processed, such as nuts or tomatoesnatural crushed, sauces like hummus, healthy processed foods with labels that list what they contain and don’t go beyond 4 or 5 ingredients.

But we also have to be careful with natural foods that are not healthy.

Clear examples are cane sugar, syrups, dried fruits or honey itself.

And what we should always avoid are processed and ultra-processed products with multiple ingredients, sometimes very suspicious.

 

You don’t have to eat everything and there are bad foods.

 

 

MYTH NUMBER 2 – No food is bad.

Sorry to disappoint you, but there are bad foods. I’ve already given you some clues in the first point.

The worst are industrial products, the result of complex processes that They do not seek to create a nutritious product but rather a palatable and profitable one for the manufacturer.

These types of products usually contain saturated fats, trans fats, and low-quality vegetable oils. They are also rich in starches and are made with the lowest quality refined flours.

Industrial pastries, including cookies, pre-cooked meals, sugary drinks, juices, and flavored and hyper-sweetened dairy products are some examples.

The food industry and the nutritionists, chefs, and cooks who support it with their advertising campaigns will try to convince you that nothing is bad, that you can eat any product without remorse from time to time.

They will tell you that the only thing that matters is the dose, that “once a year doesn’t hurt.”

And it’s true, you can do it, but you must know the truth and not live in the ignorance of the “nothing happens”, because if you settle there, nothing happens today and nothing happens tomorrow either.

You must keep in mind that excessive consumption of sugars and fructose are the main trigger of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

The foods that should predominate in your diet are those that are presented as they come from nature, which only require simple processing at home, whether it be soaking, cooking, cooling, etc.

 

MYTH NUMBER 3 – It is important to eat 5 times a day.

This is one of the most widespread nutritional myths.

No, it is not important to eat 5 times a day, there are people who do well with small snacks between the main intakes, while others feel better eating 3 times a day, there are those who prefer to have 2 full meals and others only 1.

And if we have to give a general guideline, it is best to have 3 full daily intakes, leaving at least 12 hours of fasting between the last and the first, without eating snacks to ensure that at least 4 hours pass between each one.

 

No meal is more important than another.

 

MYTH NUMBER 4 – Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

False, there is no more important than another, they are all equally important. I go back to what I was saying in the previous point, for some people breakfast is the most important meal because they wake up hungry and enjoy it, but for others it can be dinner. For our body, none is better or more essential than another. What is peculiar about breakfast is that it breaks the fast of many hours and that is why it should be composed mainly of proteins and healthy fats, regardless of the time it is consumed. It is important to leave a minimum of hours between one meal and another, to begin with, it is a good idea to maintain 12 hours of fasting between the last meal of the day and the first of the next day (at least). If you are later able to extend that time and reduce the eating window, so much the better. And it also seems to be decisive when it comes to losing weight to establish lunch and dinner times earlier. It has been studied that individuals who eat their lunch later than 3:00 p.m. are able to lose less weight than those who do it before, eating the same, and the same thing happens with dinner.

 

MYTH NUMBER 5 – The brain needs sugar.

How so? Well, it seems no, what it needs is glucose, and that glucose can be obtained from complex carbohydrates such as vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains.

Furthermore, glucose can be synthesized by the liver,

So forget about the idea that children need to eat sugar or buns and cookies for their brains to function properly. work.

What children and adults need is to consume complex carbohydrates in the right amount, and that’s where nuts, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and legumes come in (without being essential).

That’s why a good breakfast can be hummus with carrots, or some rye crackers with quality ham, add an apple and that’s it.

There are many more examples like this, but don’t let them convince you, breakfast cereals are not complex carbohydrates, they are refined carbohydrates with a lot of sugar.

Oats are not a particularly nutritious food, it is a cereal that can be whole grain, yes, and it can also be certified gluten-free, but it is not, by far, the best breakfast option.

 

The brain does NOT need sugar to work.

 

In that first daily intake, regardless of what time you do it, choose proteins and healthy fats, if you think you need them, you can provide some carbohydrates from vegetables and greens.

 

 

For example, avocado with nuts and fresh cheese, add red berries or an apple, you can also have northern bonito, ham, canned mackerel or some sardines. And egg! scrambled, boiled or in an omelette.

Do you want bread? 100% rye flour crackers are a good option, but so are flourless almond crackers or seed crackers.

The possibilities are many without falling into the typical bowl of breakfast cereal, oatmeal porridge or white bread toast with tomato and oil.

These last three options have very little nutritional density, which will make you feel hungry after a few hours.

Always choose foods with high nutritional value and low carbohydrate levels, you will notice the difference.

 

 

Nutritional education should begin in childhood, without interference from the food industry, with the sole interest of improving people’s health.

 

I don’t know if these nutritional myths have been part of your nutritional “education” (or rather, your non-nutritional education), I don’t know if you have ever suffered from them or if you have already overcome them, in any case, take note and adapt each one of them to your situation.

Tell me what you think about it and if you have made changes in your life to improve any of these situations. I’ll read you in the comments!

Cheers!

 

Related studies:

• Ma, X., Nan, F., Liang, H., Shu, P., Fan, X., Song, X., Hou, Y., & Zhang, D. (2022). Excessive intake of sugar: An accomplice of inflammation. Frontiers in immunology, 13, 988481. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.988481

 

• Jensen, T., Abdelmalek, M. F., Sullivan, S., Nadeau, K. J., Green, M., Roncal, C., Nakagawa, T., Kuwabara, M., Sato, Y., Kang, D. H., Tolan, D. R., Sanchez-Lozada, L. G., Rosen, H. R., Lanaspa, M. A., Diehl, A. M., & Johnson, R.J. (2018). Fructose and sugar: A major mediator of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.Journal of hepatology, 68(5), 1063–1075. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2018.01.019

 

• MacDonald, A. J., Yang, Y. H. C., Cruz, A. M., Beall, C., & Ellacott, K. L. J. (2021). Brain-Body Control of Glucose Homeostasis-Insights From Model Organisms.Frontiers in endocrinology, 12, 662769. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2021.662769

 

• Lopez-Minguez, J., Gómez-Abellán, P., & Garaulet, M. (2019). Timing of Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. Effects on Obesity and Metabolic Risk. Nutrients, 11(11), 2624. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11112624